My Writers — Rebecca Traister
When the moment called for an evaluation comparing and contrasting the respective testimonies of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, The New York Times couldn’t have tapped a better … Continue reading My Writers — Rebecca Traister
The Long Haul — Amy Poehler in Parks and Recreation
These posts are about great acting performances sustained across the full run of a television series. Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation (2009 – 2015) Sometimes I feel like Parks and Recreation was single-handedly saved by the … Continue reading The Long Haul — Amy Poehler in Parks and Recreation
Great Moments in Literature
“Fiona had written poetry when she was Adam Henry’s age, though she had never presumed to read it aloud, not even to herself. She remembered quatrains daringly unrhymed. There was even one about death by drowning, of sinking deliciously backward … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #832 to #829
832. Ry Cooder, Borderline (1980) As the nineteen-seventies were giving way to the eighties, Ry Cooder was the musician’s musician. His solidly prolific solo career was bolstered by appearances on other performer’s records, many of which were likely far more … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #832 to #829
From the Archive — Superman Returns
Officially, director Bryan Singer has a new movie out this weekend. The reality is a little more complicated, but it’s a reasonable enough prompt to dig out this old review, especially since it’s looking like there might be a sizable … Continue reading From the Archive — Superman Returns
One for Friday — The Replacements, “Cruella De Ville”
Thirty years ago, in the autumn of 1988, A&M Records released the compilation Stay Awake. Adorned with the description “Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films,” the album was perfectly calibrated to endear to the brash sentimentalists around the … Continue reading One for Friday — The Replacements, “Cruella De Ville”
The Art of the Sell — Dark Tower commercial
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. The U.S. movie industry has a long history of cruelly casting off figures who were once titans, … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Dark Tower commercial
Beers I Have Known — Foothills Brewing Hoppyum IPA
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. This has been a long, rough day of travel. But at least my … Continue reading Beers I Have Known — Foothills Brewing Hoppyum IPA
Playing Catch-Up — The Sisters Brothers; Our Brand is Crisis; A Bigger Splash
The Sisters Brothers (Jacques Audiard, 2018). The English-language film debut of French director Jacques Audiard rambunctiously tinkers with one of most storied Hollywood genres without ever quite figuring out what sort of neo-Western it wants to be. Sometimes it aims … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — The Sisters Brothers; Our Brand is Crisis; A Bigger Splash
Now Playing — First Man
Damien Chazelle’s First Man is a remarkable technical feat. The filmmaker takes the unofficial once-per-generation challenge to intensify the verisimilitude in the cinematic depiction of space travel and rises to it. The title refers to the historic 1969 touchdown on … Continue reading Now Playing — First Man
Coffee for Two 