This Week’s Model — Shilpa Ray, “Manic Pixie Dream Cunt”
For our household, it started at the Hideout. Looking for concert stops to make on a road trip a couple years back, we went to a little club in Chicago and bought our tickets for a performer we’d never heard … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Shilpa Ray, “Manic Pixie Dream Cunt”
The Art of the Sell — Scarecrow Didn’t Start the Fire
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. Truly, I have rarely more admired a promotional video. Other entries in this series can be found … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Scarecrow Didn’t Start the Fire
Laughing Matters — John Mulaney, “There’s a Horse Loose in the Hospital”
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. As good and proper … Continue reading Laughing Matters — John Mulaney, “There’s a Horse Loose in the Hospital”
Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Four
#34 — True Grit (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2010) The primacy of language in the work of Joel and Ethan Coen makes invites speculation about the meaning of the outside authors they choose to associated themselves with through their … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Four
The Last One — Sword of Trust
Sometimes in pop culture there are clear end points, and they can provide insights to a whole series, oeuvre, or discography. Sword of Trust has a hooky comedic premise. A gruff Birmingham pawn shop proprietor named Mel (Marc Maron) is … Continue reading The Last One — Sword of Trust
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #512 to #509
512. Depeche Mode, Music for the Masses (1987) For Music for the Masses, Depeche Mode’s sixth studio album, the band was in search of a new approach in the studio. Since their first recordings for Mute Records, Depeche Mode always … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #512 to #509
Outside Reading — Essential edition
Legalize All Essential Workers by Alfredo Corchado Don’t Blame Econ 101 for the Plight of Essential Workers by Annie Lowery Tuition-Free College For Workers by Michelle Miller-Adams A UW System crisis a decade in the making by Nicholas Fleisher and … Continue reading Outside Reading — Essential edition
This Week’s Model — The Beths, “I’m Not Getting Excited”
Buzzy guitars, a relentless beat, keening vocals racing through intricate lyrics, an irresistible hook that somehow gives was to another hook and maybe yet another hook, a squalling guitar solo, a false ending, and it’s all over in just over … Continue reading This Week’s Model — The Beths, “I’m Not Getting Excited”
Then Playing — American Made; Dark Phoenix; Hellboy
American Made (Doug Liman, 2017). Now that Tom Cruise has moved entirely into the phase of his career that involves constantly putting his own well-being in peril to the delight of the audience, more serious fare — even something as … Continue reading Then Playing — American Made; Dark Phoenix; Hellboy
That Championship Season — Freaks and Geeks, Season One
For some, the following statement is sacrilege: I’m grateful Freaks and Geeks only lasted one season. The brainchild of Paul Feig and arguably the true starting point of Judd Apatow’s ascendency to brand dominance as a producer of comedies, Freaks … Continue reading That Championship Season — Freaks and Geeks, Season One
Coffee for Two 