Then Playing — Stillwater; Platoon; Freebie and the Bean
Stillwater (Tom McCarthy, 2021). Stillwater is a fascinating hybrid. It begins and ends like a more realistic, sober-minded riff on one of Liam Neeson’s Taken or Taken-adjacent movies, with a Oklahoma roughneck in place of a well-trained oak tree with … Continue reading Then Playing — Stillwater; Platoon; Freebie and the Bean
Medium Rotation — Expert in a Dying Field; Cool It Down
THE BETHS Expert in a Dying Field (Carpark) — Elizabeth Stokes, frontwoman for the Beths, describes her band’s output as ““sweetly sung melodies and super-depressing lyrics.” That’s not only a very suitable description of the Beths’ material, particularly on the … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Expert in a Dying Field; Cool It Down
Then Playing — Confess, Fletch; Montana Story; See How They Run
Confess, Fletch (Greg Mottola, 2022). Jon Hamm fought hard to get Confess, Fletch made at time when the showbiz ecosystem is especially inhospitable to genially loose movies that rely on charm rather than aggressive cymbal crashes of familiarity with established … Continue reading Then Playing — Confess, Fletch; Montana Story; See How They Run
Laughing Matters — Teen Girl Squad
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. The fifty-third time Strong … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Teen Girl Squad
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #119 to #117
119. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Get Happy!! (1980) The back cover of Get Happy!!, the fourth studio album by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, features a fine-print note from producer Nick Lowe: “Hi! You’ll have noticed that there are … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #119 to #117
Outside Reading — Tweet, Tweet Against the Dying of the Light edition
Two Weeks of Chaos: Inside Elon Musk’s Takeover of Twitter by Kate Conger, Mike Isaac, Ryan Mac, and Tiffany Hsu I begin with a low opinion of the emerald mine scion who fancies himself some sort of revolutionary thinker — … Continue reading Outside Reading — Tweet, Tweet Against the Dying of the Light edition
This Week’s Model — Channel Tres, “6am”
The new Channel Tres single, “6am,” is built on a anxious, post-house groove, which is perfectly suited to the song’s pledge of enduring through a long, hearty night of revelry. The repeated refrain couldn’t be more clear: “We ain’t leavin’/ … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Channel Tres, “6am”
My Misspent Youth — Namor, the Sub-Mariner by John Byrne
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. According to writer-artist John Byrne, one of the first projects pitched … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Namor, the Sub-Mariner by John Byrne
Now Playing — Tár
For his third feature as a writer-director — and first in more than fifteen years — Todd Field takes a mighty swing. Tár recounts the fall of Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett), an esteemed conductor on the verge of a monumental … Continue reading Now Playing — Tár
Now Playing — The Banshees of Inisherin
It is the spring of 1923 in the humble community on the island of Inisherin, off the coast of Ireland, and Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) is confused by what he’s just been told by his longtime friend Colm Doherty (Brendan … Continue reading Now Playing — The Banshees of Inisherin
Coffee for Two 