Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Eleven
#11 — Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010) In the society where Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) grew up and still persists, the rules are tricky and unyielding. Ree is a teenager residing in the Ozarks. Family woes mean she is charged … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Eleven
Beers I Have Known — New Glarus Brewing Co. Staghorn Octoberfest
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. Look, there are reasons to be happy that it’s fall. Previous entries in … Continue reading Beers I Have Known — New Glarus Brewing Co. Staghorn Octoberfest
Now Playing — Dick Johnson is Dead
Dick Johnson made his movie debut in Cameraperson, the exceptional documentary directed by his daughter, Kirsten Johnson. The earlier feature is a memoir rendered through spare footage, mostly material Johnson shoot in her capacity as a cinematographer on dozens of … Continue reading Now Playing — Dick Johnson is Dead
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman” and “Do It Again”
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. The Kinks always felt like the underdogs … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman” and “Do It Again”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #449 to #447
449. The Allman Brothers Band, Enlightened Rogues (1979) Enlightened Rogues is one of the clearest examples in nineteen-seventies rock of a band rising from the ashes of their own self-destruction. The infighting after the Allman Brothers Band’s 1975 album Win, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #449 to #447
Outside Reading — America’s COVIDland
Wisconsin Is on the Brink of a Major Outbreak by Robinson Meyer This article is a week old as I post this, and it’s been weighing on me ever since. This is the state I was born in, this is … Continue reading Outside Reading — America’s COVIDland
This Week’s Model — Goat Girl, “Sad Cowboy”
I think it’s the probing, slightly spooky synth line opening the song that takes me back to the college wonderments of decades past. And yet “Sad Cowboy,” the new single from Goat Girl, doesn’t sound like a throwback to me. … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Goat Girl, “Sad Cowboy”
Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Twelve
#12 — Her (Spike Jonze, 2013) The basic plot description of Her, written and directed by Spike Jonze, implies that the film is a despairing broadside against modern technology. In an indeterminate near future, Theodore Twombley (Joaquin Phoenix) is a … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Twelve
Laughing Matters — Veeps
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. About the only good … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Veeps
Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirteen
#13 — Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019) Looking back, it’s remarkable that Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite was the first foreign language film to claim the Academy Award for Best Picture. There’s first the oddity that no film reliant on subtitles to reach … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirteen
Coffee for Two 