Laughing Matters — Taxi Driver, the sitcom
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. Before I ever watched … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Taxi Driver, the sitcom
The New Releases Shelf — Live Forever
When I write about music, I rely on comparisons. After learning the mnemonic device that asserted that all well-behaved youths of the male persuasion merited a reward of a chocolatey dessert, every other bit of musical instruction that brave souls … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Live Forever
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #431 to #429
431. Bow Wow Wow, When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going (1983) The English band Bow Wow Wow were one of the earliest beneficiaries of the upstart cable network MTV. Bolstered by the distinctive look and cool charisma … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #431 to #429
Outside Reading — The Care Divide edition
Who Dies by Sarah Jones As the national tragedy of the the COVID-19 pandemic has amassed miseries, it has also exposed a multitude of flaws in our existing systems. Many of these flaws are basically known to the monied individuals … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Care Divide edition
This Week’s Model — Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers, “Iris”
It started with a promise: Well, it really started with a fan who posted a joking rendition of the Goo Goo Dolls hit in the style of Phoebe Bridgers, catching the eye of the artist herself. Then, on Election Day, … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers, “Iris”
Then Playing — The Hitch-Hiker; Shoes; The Way Back
The Hitch-Hiker (Ida Lupino, 1953). Widely credited as the only classic Hollywood film noir directed by a woman, The Hitch-Hiker is a nasty hard knot of a movie. Inspired by a real crime spree that took place across the Western … Continue reading Then Playing — The Hitch-Hiker; Shoes; The Way Back
Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Seven
#7 — Little Women (Greta Gerwig, 2019) “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. So begins Little Women, the novel by Louisa May Alcott that was first published in two installments of 1868 and … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Seven
Then Playing — Martin Eden; Sea Fever; The Invisible Man
Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello, 2020). In adapting Jack London’s 1909 novel, Martin Eden, director Pietro Marcello moves the action from the U.S. to Italy and nudges forward in time to better capture the tumult of the middle, embattled years of … Continue reading Then Playing — Martin Eden; Sea Fever; The Invisible Man
My Misspent Youth — Daredevil #203 by Steven Grant and Geof Isherwood
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. Marvel’s man without fear, the costumed do-gooder known as Daredevil, went … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Daredevil #203 by Steven Grant and Geof Isherwood
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #434 to #432
434. Brian Eno/David Byrne, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) In between making the second and third albums by Talking Heads, David Byrne and Brian Eno took a side trip. Two restless explorers, the Talking Heads frontman and … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #434 to #432
Coffee for Two 