Alchemy and Afternoon Beers: The Beauty of Lodge 49
by“What is it about the light on Sundays? It’s brighter but more empty.” “Sundays are haunted.” THE PAST FOUR YEARS HAVE BEEN A GAUNTLET OF BAD NEWS, every fresh horror…
Film & TV
Superstitions
by“…human solidarity… is to be achieved not by inquiry but by imagination, the imaginative ability to see strange people as fellow sufferers…” Richard Rorty “When you believe in things that…
Bruce Wayne, Gotham’s True ‘White Knight’: Repentance, Redemption, and Resurrection in the Dark Knight Trilogy
byMYRIAD COMIC SERIES, TELEVISION SHOWS, MOVIES, ACTION FIGURES, and other various capitalistic ventures have grossed billions on the back of the Caped Crusader. It seems nearly impossible to step into…
Coping With the Kardashians
byAS A TWEEN LIVING IN WHITE SUBURBIA, I spent most of my young existence inhaling all of Taylor Swift’s lyrics like I was snorting smarties, Miley Cyrus’s media scandals while…
No True West
byTHERE IS NO LONGER SUCH A THING AS A TRUE MEMORY OF THE AMERICAN WEST, if there ever was. What remains is only the dream life distilled through multiple lenses,…
2001: A Space Mystery
byIT IS NOW OVER FIFTY YEARS SINCE THAT ICONIC SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE, 2001: A Space Odyssey—based on the short story, “The Sentinel” by Arthur C. Clarke, who went on to…
The Great British Bake Off: A Moment of Tradition and Hope in the Days of Brexit
bySOFT MUSIC AND THE SOUNDS OF WHISKING AND POURING PROVIDE THE GENTLE TITLE SEQUENCE OF THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF. The European classic has captivated audiences at home and across the…
Eight Reasons to Love “Love” (“Amour” by Michael Haneke)
byOne. Visibility. We can watch the entire movie, beginning to end, without having to hide behind a newspaper once. No over-the-edge cruelty is displayed, in other words—quite an unexpected gift…
Love Actually, Not
by‘TIS THE SEASON WHEN FAMILIES GET TOGETHER AND ARGUE ABOUT WHETHER LOVE, ACTUALLY IS ANY GOOD. I hereby unconditionally surrender. It must be doing something right. It’s clearly lovable, or people…
On Womanhood in the Twilight Zone
byI HAVE NEVER TRUSTED THE ENDING OF THE FAMOUS THE TWILIGHT ZONE EPISODE “EYE OF THE BEHOLDER”. We’re supposed to believe that this Janet Tyler, the beautiful, dangerous woman with the…