Tag: movies
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Booksmart
Booksmart, the directorial debut of the actress Olivia Wilde, was charming as hell. Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever star as Molly and Amy, two friends and straight-A students on the eve of high school graduation who realize their academic drive kept them from enjoying the more party-heavy pursuits of their peers. They seek to remedy…
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Benediction for the Groundhog
I’ve mentioned the podcast This Movie Changed Me before. In its new season, Naomi Alderman talks about how the transformation of Phil Connors in Groundhog Day inspired her to look at the world differently. Once in a while she’ll experience what she calls a “benediction”: I will suddenly become aware of the incredible beauty and…
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Get Thee Back to the Future
Whether it’s my podcast-heavy diet or baby-induced reduction in mental bandwidth for extended concentration, I haven’t been doing much book-readin’ lately. Which is OK, as not reading is fine too. That doesn’t stop me from trying. While browsing the new releases at a neighboring library I spotted Ian Doescher’s Get Thee Back to the Future,…
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series on books, movies, and music I’ve encountered recently. Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion. Their Mozart Meets Cuba and Classical Meets Cuba mashups are great for people who want to get into either classical or Latin/jazz. What is the Bible? by Rob Bell. I much prefer Bell in audiobook form, where his engaging…
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This is his song
One day I was trying to soothe my fussy baby with some bouncing and singing. I faced him toward me and then out of nowhere started singing a melody that popped into my head. The combination of the song and how I swayed and bounced him calmed him right away, and even elicited a smile.…
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Media of the moment
An ongoing series on books, movies, and music I’ve encountered recently. A Clockwork Orange. Had been putting this off based on what I’d heard of its disturbing content, but finally bit the bullet for the sake of the AFI 100. Typically impressive Kubrickian cinematography and dark satire. An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago…
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Media of the moment, post-baby edition
An ongoing series on books, movies, and music I’ve encountered recently. The Baby Book by William Sears. This has been helpful thus far. Though don’t think we haven’t also randomly Googled things at odd hours. The Cider House Rules. Filling in the gaps of my 1999 movie viewings. This gets less compelling once Homer leaves…
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Going to the movies is a gift
As the due date of my first child approaches, I’ve tried to account for and appreciate things I can do now, pre-parenthood, that won’t be quite so easy soon. Quiet nights reading, hassle-free dining, uninterrupted sleep, and keeping a tidy home come to mind. But chief among these activities is moviegoing, one of my most…
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Refer Madness: Librarian as Point Guard
Refer Madness spotlights strange, intriguing, or otherwise noteworthy questions I encounter at the library reference desk. On Tuesday I hosted a discussion at the library on the films of 2018. It was an informal time to swap favorites (or least favorites) from the year, and discuss the Oscar nominations that had just been announced. Opinions abounded, of course. I brought…
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Perfect Bid
Remember Terry Kniess, the guy who made the perfect bid on the Showcase Showdown of The Price is Right? Someone made a documentary about the guy behind that bid, and it’s surprisingly thrilling. Ted Slauson is a math whiz and The Price is Right superfan who’s attended dozens of tapings of the show and even…
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Why I love Kanopy, Hum, and System Information
Want to give some love to three services I’ve enjoyed lately: Kanopy Kanopy is a free streaming service available through your public library. (If it isn’t, ask them to get it!) Abundant with titles from A24, The Criterion Collection, and other high-quality providers, it’s rife with a delightful array of foreign films, indies, and documentaries…
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The Seventh Seal
Because the only screengrabs of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal I’ve ever seen are of a knight playing chess with Death, I really thought that would be the whole movie. Just a Very Serious Film that would be more film-buff obligation than an enjoyable experience. But wow, am I glad to be mistaken. It’s a profound, disturbing,…
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Gary Rydstrom on Rear Window’s ingenious sound design
Northwestern’s Block Museum hosted a screening of Rear Window that was introduced by Gary Rydstrom, Oscar-winning sound designer for Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, Jurassic Park, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and many other movies you love. Though I didn’t stay for the movie (I’ve already seen it on the big screen), I was eager to hear Rydstrom’s perspective…