Category: Everything Else

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Beers I Have Known: Leinenkugel’s

Dan Seeger

This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. When I was in college, “craft beer” wasn’t a term I or any of my peers knew. We had only three categories of that particular potable: cheap beer, slightly-less-cheap beer, and imports. Luckily, I lived in a state where the culture of local breweries endured nicely, even toughing it out through prohibition. This meant that even my cheap beer options were pretty good. Stevens Point Brewery was right down the road from my … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Leinenkugel’s

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The Art of the Sell: Wes Anderson, “My Life, My Card”

Dan Seeger

These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art.  Wes Anderson is rightly earning a fleet of social media raves for his new Christmas-themed ad for H&M. Thankfully, it’s far better than what he came up with the last time he pointed his camera at Adrien Brody on a train. It also got me thinking about other commercial spots Anderson has directed, including his contribution to the American Express “My Life, My Card” campaign. The meticulous detailing that can swerve towards preciousness can get wearying across … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: Wes Anderson, “My Life, My Card”

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From the Archive: Hear No Evil

Dan Seeger

This was written in late March of 1993, putting it near the end of my five years as an undergraduate college student and my three years as a film critic on radio station WWSP-FM. As for the latter experience, the weariness was clearly starting to show, at least when it came to sitting through the steady procession of drab thrillers that followed the runaway success of The Silence of the Lambs.  Since I use the Academy Awards as an entryway into the review, it’s worth noting that the four freshly-named acting winners at this point were Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, … Continue reading From the Archive: Hear No Evil

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The Chicago National League Ball Club

Dan Seeger

To Ernie Banks, who I never saw play but who I knew was Mr. Cub… To Billy Williams and Ron Santo… To Ferguson Jenkins, who I did see pitch, and who improbably hit a triple in a game I watched in 1983, his last season. I remember that extra base knock being cited in a WGN package as proof that anything could happen, maybe even the Cubs making the postseason… To every last member of that 1984 team, who provided happiness and heartache like I’d never know when they did actually make the postseason… To Ryne Sandberg, still my favorite player… To Jack Brickhouse, who I’m … Continue reading The Chicago National League Ball Club

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Beers I Have Known: Revolution Brewing Bottom Up Wit

Dan Seeger

This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. It’s fun to chase after certain potables at beer festivals, whether established personal favorites or those grand rarities that will perhaps only ever be sipped in the strange rugby scrum of park-bound tipsiness. I think I’m most fond, however, of those completely unexpected discoveries, the instances when no particular hype or corresponding anticipation precedes a head-turning drink. When I attended the ludicrously abundant Great Taste of the Midwest this past August, I had utterly fantastic … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Revolution Brewing Bottom Up Wit

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The Art of the Sell: “Chicks Dig the Long Ball”

Dan Seeger

These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art.  1999 was a heady time for baseball. Just a few years earlier, Major League Baseball delivered a nasty self-inflicted wound with a labor dispute that cancelled a sizable chunk of the season, including the World Series, an event that world wars and devastating natural disasters couldn’t wipe off the calendar. Fan animosity was justifiably at a riotous high, and it seemed likely that legions would turn their back on the sport for good. Then Cal Ripken, Jr. … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Chicks Dig the Long Ball”

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Laughing Matters: George Carlin, “Baseball and Football”

Dan Seeger

Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. When I was young, I chose baseball. I lived in a state where the yard-by-yard battle over the pigskin reigned, thanks to an irresistible fervor stirred up around the Green Bay Packers. (I use “irresistible” because I am not immune to the magnetic pull of the green and gold, especially when the playoffs come banging at the calendar.) But I also grew up at … Continue reading Laughing Matters: George Carlin, “Baseball and Football”

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Beers I Have Known: Big Boss Brewing Harvest Time Pumpkin Ale

Dan Seeger

This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. It might be hard to fathom now, but there was a time, not so long ago, when one could walk through a grocery emporium during the months of September and October without encountered a seemingly endless array of products with pumpkin flavor temporarily imposed upon them. Now that the takeover of our nation’s most insistent winter squash is all but complete, there are a dizzying array of beers that would be suitable substitutions … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Big Boss Brewing Harvest Time Pumpkin Ale

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Laughing Matters: Martin Scorsese in “The Muse”

Dan Seeger

Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. This will be two straight weeks with a clip from an Albert Brooks movie in the space. That seems fine to me. As we traipse into the annual part of the film calendar overstuffed with fare that is desperately seeking Oscar, there are little flares of especially intriguing news here and there. For example, after months of speculation as to whether or not Martin … Continue reading Laughing Matters: Martin Scorsese in “The Muse”