On Reviewing The Matrix

Honestly, I love movies, but I’m not much interested in writing film reviews. Not that they’re not worth writing - just that there are plenty of that kind of writing to go around. If you think of any movie, someone out there has described it, told you whether you should like it, and we’ve all …

Newsletter: October 1, 2020

Hello, innocent bystander. This is either my attempt at contributing something positive in These Trying Times, or it’s me finally cracking up. Either way, thanks for being here to witness whatever this is. I want to add a little light, a little levity, in what are at best uncertain times. Yes, I am a hero. So, …

On What I Do Best

So, I wondered to myself recently, what is the tell-tale sign that we’ve stopped writing about dystopias and are instead living in one? Just a random thought. Have you ever looked at your life skills, or lack thereof, and thought, “I would be absolutely useless in a Mad-Max-style global apocalypse”? I know it’s not just …

On Being a Lyrics Guy

It’s a curse, being a lyrics guy. It can, I’m fairly confident, drive a person mad. I have a for-instance, you'll be relieved to learn. We’re currently watching the excellent Ken Burns series on Country Music, learning so much and being reminded of how great those songs were. Remember Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight”? A …

On the Prince Essential 100

So, Prince’s death was a surprise and a shock. He seemed like he would live forever. But this is about one of the inevitable consequences of his death: the loosening up of control of his work and his image. During his lifetime, control was a central theme of Prince’s work. Once he was gone, it …

A Few of My Favorite Things

I'm a compulsive list writer. I write lists for everything - favorite books and movies, obviously. But lists of bad movies too. And a timeline of my life (under construction...my memory is really working against me there...). I have a shitlist, so I can remember the names of the truly terrible people in this world. …

On Unsuitable Songs

I’m at “that age”, especially when it comes to music. I listen to almost zero new music. I don’t know who’s cool now, unless they’re also famous for something else. I know Kanye West, for example, but I have no idea if I’ve ever heard any of his music. I am, in musical terms, an …

Best of 2017

2017 was bad. Let’s not pretend otherwise. At least globally. And nationally. And possibly even locally. But, personally, it could have been worse. I remain, somehow, in full employment. My family moved from an apartment with what seemed like a family of tap-dancing rhinos above us to a house with a yard that the dogs …

On the Best Concert I Ever Saw

Austin is the self-styled "Live Music Capital of the World", which is mostly wasted on me. I wasn't brought up to appreciate live music – the only communal experience I was used to was going to the movies. I didn't know anyone who went to see live music when I was growing up. That lasted …

On Why We Like What We Like

Everything you've done, everything you've experienced, everything someone said to you has a chance of adding another facet to your character. It's enough to make you never want to leave the house, isn't it? But what about the media we absorb every day - not the news, views, and eye-bleeding hate that passes for political …