From the Archive: Margot at the Wedding
Since the new Noah Baumbach movie, The Meyerowitz Chronicles, has arrived, the time seems right to dig out this old review of the director’s fourth feature, released ten years ago. It was Baumbach’s follow-up to The Squid and the Whale, his most successful film, by several measures, to that point, amping up expectations for what proved to be a fairly sour cinematic experience. That was Baumbach’s goal, to be sure, but the segue into Bergmanesue drama didn’t particularly suit him. While generally very good, Margot at the Wedding perhaps could have used a little less dedicated approach to maintaining … Continue reading From the Archive: Margot at the Wedding
One for Friday — Big Pig, “I Can’t Break Away”
I need to acknowledge the walls of the college station where I made my home from 1988 to 1993 (and beyond, truthfully). Not the college issued white blandness, but the scrappy, unkempt cover-up provided by student programmers over the years. … Continue reading One for Friday — Big Pig, “I Can’t Break Away”
Now Playing — Blade Runner 2049
I wouldn’t have thought it was possible for a film to be laudably ambitious, resolutely intelligent, clompingly obvious, and archly indifferent at the same time. But here we have Blade Runner 2049, a distant sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 science … Continue reading Now Playing — Blade Runner 2049
The New Releases Shelf: A Deeper Understanding
I readily concede that at this melancholy moment there’s a greedy desire to hear echoes of Tom Petty just about everywhere. But, whenever I now cycle back to A Deeper Understanding, the new album from the War on Drugs, I … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf: A Deeper Understanding
STRATEGIC ACTS DONATION — OCTOBER 2017
With the occasional exception, I haven’t used this space to promote an ongoing charitable effort my household has undertaken since the most recent U.S. Presidential election. This month, however, I want to put these words wherever I can. The following … Continue reading STRATEGIC ACTS DONATION — OCTOBER 2017
College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 1
1. General Public, “Tenderness” The Beat had just had their biggest hit in the U.K. when the breakup happened. A cover of the pop standard “Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” a song first elevated to hit status by Andy Williams, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 1
From the Archive: A Prairie Home Companion
I don’t have much to add to the review below (originally published at my former online home), except to note that every great director deserves to have a final film as perfect of a closing statement as this one is … Continue reading From the Archive: A Prairie Home Companion
One for Friday: Tom Petty, “Wildflowers”
It’s very possible Wildflowers was the last album I purchased while living in my college town. I stuck around for roughly a year and a half following my graduation, working a thankless movie theater management job and soothing my post-collegiate … Continue reading One for Friday: Tom Petty, “Wildflowers”
Beers I Have Known: Fort George Brewery The Optimist
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. I’m learning to be less precious about the beers I collect in my … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Fort George Brewery The Optimist
Now Playing: Battle of the Sexes
On September 20, 1973, Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, with great ceremonial adornments, strode to the center of the playing field of the Houston Astrodome, where a tennis court had been put in place. The event was billed as … Continue reading Now Playing: Battle of the Sexes
Coffee for Two 