Author: Chad
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Ratatouille
Rewatching Ratatouille recently made me think of a line from the Guardians of the Galaxy Honest Trailer, which portrays Marvel as so dominant and drunk on its own power—and its fans so eager—that a weird movie with a trash-talking raccoon and monosyllabic tree can be a smash success. Their tongue-in-cheek name for the studio: “F—…
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The Lion King
It’s hard for me to watch The Lion King objectively as an adult when it’s so deeply ingrained into my being, having been released when I was 7 years old and subjected to countless subsequent rewatches in our family VCR—not to mention inspiring my own adult creative endeavors. But rewatching it now—with my 4-year-old son…
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Links of the moment
An ongoing series The Internet Archive has a collection of digital calculator emulators. Why Jack Black’s performance in School of Rock is uniquely excellent. A taxonomy of tooth acting.
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Tools of the moment
An ongoing series Pretty much everything from my last update. Kindle Paperwhite. After years of holding out, we got one last Black Friday and I finally started using it. I wasn’t against e-readers before; I just usually prefer print or audiobooks. But the e-ink screen and appealing handling of the Paperwhite is quite nice. Safari…
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Jack would NOT have fit on the door in ‘Titanic’
I’m sorry, but it’s true. I say that in spite of the apparently real investigation into this internet-famous debate by National Geographic and James Cameron himself: All the evidence you need is from the scene itself: When Jack tries to get on the door, it almost capsizes. Putting two grown, soaking-wet adults on it amidst…
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My son’s media of the moment
A spinoff of an ongoing series Yoto. He uses his mini Yoto audio player every day, which is an excellent screen-free source of “edutainment”. He’s always ready to spout facts he’s learned from the many nonfiction cards he enjoys. (Some terms he’s learned and repeated: hominid, pyroclastic flow, and bioluminescence among others.) Current favorite cards…
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood. Hilarious and insightful memoir/biography of Lockwood’s Catholic priest father and her experience living with her parents. Blankets by Craig Thompson. A stunning graphic novel memoir about small-town life, religion, young love, winter, and so many more things. The Climb. An excellent indie film told through episodic, slice-of-life sequences…
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Links of the moment
An ongoing series Find your mouse pointer. Chicago still has a few wooden alleys. Jerry Seinfeld deep-faked into Pulp Fiction. Guess the year of historical photos.
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My ‘Back to the Future’ bonanza
Well, I finally did it: I finally revealed my decades-old collection of Back to the Future memorabilia. With it being Sci-Fi Month at Cinema Sugar, I thought the timing was right to show-and-tell such items as: I had a blast doing this, so please watch, enjoy, and share:
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A ‘Bluey’ song exploder
One of my Christmas presents was Bluey: The Album on vinyl. My wife got it as a joint present with my son since we’re both big Bluey fans. The first song on it is an extended version of the theme song I’d never heard before called “Bluey Theme Tune (Instrument Parade)”: After the standard opening,…
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A COVID movie journal
As I’ve been going through my old journals and digitizing the entries—a tedious and time-consuming process that will eventually yield a much more accessible and searchable archive—it’s been fun and enlightening to rediscover things I was thinking about at any given time. Like this entry from March 10, 2020: I hadn’t seen Contagion at that…
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Quotes of the moment
An ongoing series “To be an artist, you don’t have to compose music or paint or be in the movies or write books. It’s just a way of living. It has to do with paying attention, remembering, filtering what you see and answering back, participating in life.” – Viggo Mortensen “The modern dogma is comfort…
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Links of the moment
An ongoing series The opening of Top Gun: Maverick as a perfect pop song. Power to the Ukrainian librarians. Amazing photos from NASA’s Artemis I mission to the moon. A short history of the Avatar Papyrus logo and the amazing SNL sketch that mocked it. No more very.
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Recent Views
More photography here and on my Instagram. A sunbeamed leaf as seen through our car windshield: The yin and yang of a backyard bonfire remnant: At work in his corner office: Cloudy with a chance of a refill: The bubbles are back, and they’re multiplying: Mr. 3 Year Old is eager to shovel at the…