Category: Politics

Film, Politics1 Comment

Twenty Performances, or The Folly of Working Without Annette

Dan Seeger

As per tradition, I follow my countdown of the top ten films of the year by turning my attention to the acting that most enthralled me while the previous calendar was still tacked to the wall. The guidelines I set for myself are simple: I draft up the version of a nominating ballot I would submit were I a member of the Academy’s Acting Branch, ranking the five performances in each category and forcing myself to be assiduously honest. That means setting my own sentimental preferences and occasionally ignoring the strategic category shifting that takes place. Both of those factor … Continue reading Twenty Performances, or The Folly of Working Without Annette

Comics, PoliticsLeave a comment

My Misspent Youth: Marvel Team-Up Annual #6 by Bill Mantlo and Ron Frenz

Dan Seeger

I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. Around 1983, anguished teen superheroes were all the rage. Marvel’s Uncanny X-MenUncanny X-Men was establishing a stranglehold on the top of the sales charts, and DC’s revamped take on the Teen Titans was a rare sensation to emerge from that publisher at that time. There was perhaps no clearer proof of the trend than the emergence of Cloak and Dagger. Introduced in the pages of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, Cloak and … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Marvel Team-Up Annual #6 by Bill Mantlo and Ron Frenz

Music, Politics1 Comment

Clear blue holds its breath

Dan Seeger

For some indiscernible reason, today’s date is weighing on me a little more heavily than in past years. I think the pervasive attempts to use the ever-distancing tragedy of that 2001 day to prop up political agendas and inspire cheap shots against the other side have simply done me in this year. It’s worth noting that the disheartening spectacle is coming from all parts of the political spectrum, even from those I consider fairly closely aligned with my own views on the issues of the day. With that in mind, I’ll just yield the space to a track from what … Continue reading Clear blue holds its breath

PoliticsLeave a comment

Strong and warm and wild and free

Dan Seeger

I recently watched the 1979 film Real Life, the first feature directed by Albert Brooks. There’s plenty to say about it as a film and a comedy, especially in light of its retroactive relevance as a satire of reality-based filmmaking in a programming era in which no city’s pampered, appalling self-absorbed housewives are safe from the profitable scrutiny of Bravo’s fleet of cameras. Separate from the facets that are the usual fodder for cinematic analysis, I found something particularly striking. At two completely different points, Brooks uses the word “abortion” in punchlines. Indeed, in the second instance, the word is … Continue reading Strong and warm and wild and free