Author: Chad
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Why the Nicole Kidman AMC ad matters
If you’ve been to a movie at AMC in the last two years, you’ve seen their now-legendary in-house commercial starring Nicole Kidman where she walks into a theater extolling the magic of movies, moviegoing, and AMC: It’s sincere, borderline saccharine, and immediately after its debut in September 2021 became a lightning rod for hot takes…
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How to make time for art
I noticed three writers posted about similar things around the same time, so I thought I ought to pay attention… Oliver Burkeman: In the end, the reason actually doing things matters so much isn’t because it’s the right way to raise a successful adult, complete a novel, or achieve some other beneficial future goal. It’s…
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Insects inspected
This summer I managed to snap pics of a few cool and colorful critters spotted around our yard and house. And thanks to my phone’s aforementioned Visual Look Up, I actually know what they are. Here’s an ailanthus webworm moth: And a two-striped grasshopper: And a grapevine beetle: And some kind of mantis (species unknown):…
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Somehow I interviewed Glenn Frankel
One of the great things about running an online magazine like Cinema Sugar is that I can just decide that I want to try to interview someone, and then watch as that dream miraculously becomes reality. That happened recently in conjunction with Westerns Month. I remembered that I’d read two excellent books about westerns by…
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Tools of the moment
An ongoing series Not Spotify. The only reason I used Spotify was to listen to the Armchair Expert podcast, which was part of the unfortunate trend of podcasts going Spotify-exclusive a few years ago. But now it’s back out in the open internet, which means I can finally stop using Spotify! Not Disney+. Last year…
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Quarterback
Didn’t think I’d actually watch Netflix’s new 8-part Quarterback miniseries, but I got sucked in. The series follows Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota throughout the 2022 season both on and off the field. I haven’t seen Hard Knocks so I don’t know how it compares in terms of tone or content, but this…
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Journalism is just the art of capturing behavior
The opening monologue of the 2003 film Shattered Glass: Some reporters think it’s political content that makes a story memorable. I think it’s the people you find… their quirks, their flaws, what makes them funny, what makes them human. Journalism is just the art of capturing behavior. You have to know who you’re writing for.…
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The Ben Folds principle of ignorance
Something I think about a lot are these lyrics from the Ben Folds song “Bastard”: You get smaller as the world gets bigThe more you know you know you don’t know shit“The whiz man” will never fit you like “the whiz kid” didSo why you gotta act like you know when you don’t know?It’s okay…
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Towards a better masculinity
The Washington Post essay by Christine Emba called “Men are lost. Here’s a map out of the wilderness” has made the rounds over the last month, and for good reason. Emba takes stock of the currently tenuous state of American masculinity, with insightful commentary from Of Boys and Men author Richard Reeves and professor Scott…
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I don’t know, I need to learn
Here’s an exchange I had with my 4 year old while on a recent walk around the pond: “Papa, guess what: penguins cannot fly.” “Why is that?” “I don’t know, I need to learn.” We were walking past some ducks when he said this so that must have triggered the fact about penguins, which I’m…
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Bye bye, butterflies
Recently my aunt got my 4 year old a “something special for the new big brother” gift: a popup butterfly garden with a cup of live caterpillars. The cup came in the mail prefilled with caterpillar food, which they ate over the course of a week as they grew and eventually retreated into their own…
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Bye bye, book bans
My adopted home state of Illinois has got 99 problems but now book bans ain’t one: Illinois has become the first state to legislate against the banning of books in public libraries, a practice that has been on the rise across the United States as conservatives look to suppress some books dealing with race, history…
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It’s a me, Super Mario on N64
Recently my father-in-law unearthed my wife’s old Nintendo 64 console, which was accompanied by the Super Mario cartridge. I was skeptical it would still work after all these years, but we plugged it in and it fired up like a charm. I didn’t have video game consoles at home growing up, so my exposure to…
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series Reality. Riveting recreation of the arrest of whistleblower Reality Winner, played by Sydney Sweeney. This was my first encounter of Sweeney and was thoroughly impressed. Just released on (HBO) Max. Queer Eye season 7. A quality hang as usual. Ted Lasso season 3. Hard to top season 1 but have enjoyed watching…
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How ‘Hairspray’ and ‘Once’ made me love musicals
Originally published at Cinema Sugar Josh, you’re in a musical. That’s how musicals work. When you’re too emotional to talk, you sing. When you’re too emotional to sing, you dance.” — Melissa, Schmigadoon I went through a phase as an adolescent when I didn’t get musicals. Not only that: I actively resented them. They’re cheesy…
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Recent Views
More photography here and on my Instagram. Spotted these two lights reflecting off the Whole Foods cafe counter, the rainbow from outside and the fluorescent light from above: Investigating a hail storm from our porch: Tunnel vision at the children’s museum: It’s a shame our neighbors live in a bubble: Baseball diamond? Nah—giant sandbox:
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Burning the midnight typewriter oil
Got these cool artifacts from my dad’s friend, whose late mother kept them with her ancient typewriter for lord knows how long. Perhaps a member of the Typosphere can help with dating them, and explaining the “FR 25” on the oil can?
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Seagulls patrol the shoreline
A poem ⁂ Seagulls patrol the shoreline, murmurating against the gusts and peeking down for fish beneath the surf. We patrol for rocks in the sand and swoop down for skipping stonesthat soon will join the fish.