Eight Long Goodbyes, part 2
5. "This Dust Makes That Mud" by Liars, which closes their album They Threw Us All In A Trench And Put A Monument On Top This is a weird one with a few asterisks. "This Dust Makes That Mud," the last track on Liars' debut
Alex Rudolph
Eight Long Goodbyes, part 1
"It sorta starts off real slow and then fizzles out altogether." Neil Young said that on the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album 4 Way Street, introducing the song “Don’t Let It Bring You Down.” The version of that song on that record is three minutes
Touching the Void at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
In 2005, for reasons that justify my use of the passive voice here, I found myself in Arlington National Cemetery, watching the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, surrounded by 40-50 other high school kids. We stood in long, tight lines, watching a soldier march
The Spirit of Halloweentown Compels Us
For the past few years, I've "worked with" (read: "sat back and watched") two of my favorite directors, Brett Whitcomb and Bradford Thomason, as they made a documentary. In the planning stages, it was one thing and then it was another thing and then
My favorite movies of 2024
The list of new movies I wanted to see in 2024 is, as usual, three or four times as long as the list of new movies I actually watched last year. If you've already seen every movie you've ever wanted to, you probably don't
movies
Jason Reitman v Brick Wall
You Won't Make SNL Funny, Jason!
An Italian Word For "The Feeling of Missing Something You'd Barely Notice Had Gone"
"Jesus, Tom." A dozen characters in the Coen brothers' Miller's Crossing are pissed at Tom Reagan, and half of them sigh or mutter or yell "Jesus, Tom" as the character, played by Gabriel Byrne, crosses them. Like many noir protagonists, Tom's
movies
This May Be The Last Time.
This May Be The Last Time. The Iron Claw and Doubling Down I heard people whisper "Jesus" at different points, from different places in the theater, as I watched The Iron Claw two or three weeks ago. If you've taken in much about wrestling history, this
memories
Perfect Moments
* In my high school writing class, in 2006 or 2007, Robbie said “I’ve got a pretty good joke. What do Saddam Hussein and a potato named Richard have in common?” There was some silence as people thought, and then C_____ answered, “They’re both brown?” * In Palm Springs, in
Dave Chappelle, Standing In Front of His Living Room Window, 3pm, Sunday
He was looking at a bird when it happened, but it didn’t have anything to do with birds and who knows why your brain makes these connections, if there are even connections to make, if getting an idea isn’t just a spasm that pitches something deep in the
memories
Pumpkin Pie Forever
My dog died. Last Thursday, Johanna took Pumpkin Pie to the vet for a check-up on Pump's chronic kidney disease, and was told our sweet dog probably had less than a year of living left. On Friday, some test results from the previous day's visit came
movies
A Catalog of Villain Deaths in Disney's Theatrical Animated Feature Films
The worst Disney movie death is clear in my mind. In 1994, the company remade its 1967 Jungle Book adaptation as Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, a naming scheme lifted directly from Bram Stoker's Dracula and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This was Disney's first