Then Playing — Don’t Look Up; Paper Moon; The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay, 2021). Following the inspired The Big Short and the unwatchable Vice, director Adam McKay continues his run as a satiric auteur of lefty outrage with this onion skin–thin allegory of political indifference to the climate … Continue reading Then Playing — Don’t Look Up; Paper Moon; The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “New Freezer”
These posts are about the songs that fell just short of crossing the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. In the music biz — like anywhere, … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “New Freezer”
Then Playing — Spencer; No Man of Her Own; The Southerner
Spencer (Pablo Larraín, 2021). Chilean director Pablo Larraín brings the airy, arty approach of his 2016 film Jackie to another iconic female figure on the world stage. As in the earlier drama, Larraín keeps the focus on a few days, … Continue reading Then Playing — Spencer; No Man of Her Own; The Southerner
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #248 to #246
248. Culture Club, Colour By Numbers (1983) Culture Club made a hit record with their 1982 debut, Kissing to Be Clever. Early beneficiaries of MTV attention, there was no guarantee they’d be able to repeat the achievement with their follow … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #248 to #246
Outside Reading — Shame Game edition
In Defense of Shame by Julia Claire Writing for Gawker, Julia Claire makes the most important argument of our age, and she does it effectively and with enviable wit. The flagrant rejection of accountability and honest assessment of wrong social … Continue reading Outside Reading — Shame Game edition
This Week’s Model — Hurray for the Riff Raff, “Pierced Arrows”
Alynda Segarra, the creative wonder behind Hurray for the Riff Raff, knows how to pack feelings into a song. So when she explains that her new single “Pierced Arrows” is about felling discombobulated when knocked asunder by heartbreak, there’s little … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Hurray for the Riff Raff, “Pierced Arrows”
My Misspent Youth — Excalibur by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis
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. Round about the late late nineteen-eighties, there were a few things … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Excalibur by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis
Then Playing — The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ; The Sea of Grass; Times Square
The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ (Alice Guy-Blaché, 1906). As the title implies, this early silent film from director Alice Guy-Blaché covers the whole life of Jesus Christ in its relatively brief running time. It’s primarily a … Continue reading Then Playing — The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ; The Sea of Grass; Times Square
Actors’ Director — Peter Bogdanovich
Before Peter Bogdanovich made movies, he loved movies. That doesn’t seem all that unique, but it was still a relatively new trajectory into the artform in the late nineteen-sixties, when the grand old men of Hollywood’s Golden Age (and it … Continue reading Actors’ Director — Peter Bogdanovich
Sidney Poitier, 1927 – 2022
By the time I was old enough to pay attention, Sidney Poitier was already an icon, one of the few figures in entertainment genuinely deserving of that term. The major career-capping laurels — the lifetime achievement Oscar, the Kennedy Center … Continue reading Sidney Poitier, 1927 – 2022
Coffee for Two 