2010, Books, Fiction

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet (2010) by David Mitchell

This is my first Mitchell. I found it in a Little Free Library or on someone’s lawn and I just grabbed it because I’d seen Cloud Atlas (though never read it) and figured it could be interesting. I had zero knowledge of the story or setting.

2014, Movies

Chaos on the Bridge (2014, William Shatner)

This is an entertaining but brief and hilariously over-directed documentary about the beginnings of Star Trek TNG. It feels like it was made as a DVD extra or for some TCM-type special but it turns out Shatner has made a few of these so maybe there was a series of them for some channel.

2022, Basketball, Movies, Sports

Untold: The Rise and Fall of AND1 (2022, Levin Wilson Jr.)

This is an interesting but too brief documentary about the AND1 clothing brand and, particularly their Mix Tape Tour. All I knew about this whole thing was Rafer Alston came from it, so I was definitely the intended audience.

2015, Movies

The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015, Robert Schwentke)

This film – a film where the title really wants you to know it’s a sequel, in case you’re too dumb to figure that out yourself – begins with a truck with a video of Kate Winslet’s character summarizing the plot of the first movie. It’s literally a Plot Summary Truck. It has to be …

2021, Movies

Werewolf Castle (2021, Charlie Steeds)

This is an extremely low budget fantasy/horror film that fails at both genres. It’s not scary and it doesn’t have any of the magic of fantasy. I knew that going in, of course, but this is one of those films that bad in many ways but it competent enough in terms of the production that …

2013, Music

West Side Story (2013) by the Joe Policastro Trio

This is the first of their albums and the the last one I’ve heard. That’s because it wasn’t available online until recently and I’ve stopped buying CDs, instead buying digital copies when I actually want to support the artist. (Too often I default to streaming, which doesn’t help them much.)

2015, Books, Non-Fiction

The Headspace Guide to Meditation & Mindfulness (2015) by Andy Puddicombe

I have never had any interest in meditation. “Zero interest” isn’t far off. I’ve never found the idea of sitting still for an hour appealing, and I’ve never been attracted to the supposed benefits. (There are people who claim they get ecstatic after meditating for hours or days and I couldn’t care less about that.) …

2015, Movies

Heart of a Dog (2015, Laurie Anderson)

Most of my awareness of Laurie Anderson comes from Big Science and her relationship with Lou Reed. I’ve never listened to United States Live and really haven’t encountered much else of her work. (I’ve definitely encountered something else other than Big Science and some live stuff, but I can’t remember off the top of my …

2022, Movies, Sports

Untold: The Race of the Century (2022, Chapman Way, Maclain Way

This Untold didn’t grab me at first. I don’t care about sailing. I’ve watched some bits of the America’s Cup here and there, but never paid much attention. I’ll watch a documentary about just about anything but this one really didn’t grab me to start.

1956, Movies

Un condamné à mort s’est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut [A Man Escaped] (1956, Robert Bresson)

Somewhere in this film is one of the greatest prison escape movies ever made. But I think there are enough nitpicky little things that sap it’s full potential that I’m not sure it’s deserving of the the title.

2023, Movies

Wham! (2023, Chris Smith)

This is a fascinating documentary about the British pop duo. Wham! does nothing for me and I can imagine younger me even having some ill will towards them – they are basically anti punk in ethos. (The one album of theirs I’ve heard is way too wannabe Motown for me.) But their story is far …

2016, Movies, Music

The Phantom Carriage (2016) by KTL

I feel like, when an early silent feature gets a new soundtrack, it regularly tries to (at least partially) ape the sounds we associate with early silent films. So there’s often a lot of Steinway piano and the sounds are often vaguely jazz-ish. Now, it’s been some time since I’ve seen a lot of early …

2023, Movies

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein)

From the makers of Horrible Bosses and Game Night comes…an actually good RPG adaptation that people who don’t play it will actually enjoy? Wait…what?

1958, Movies

Jalsaghar [The Music Room] (1958, Satyajit Ray)

This is a pretty classic drama about an old, rich man failing to keep up with the times. There are echoes of lots of other films with this theme. I feel like I’m reminded of The Leopard, but I haven’t seen that movie in years and haven’t read the novel in decades, so I’m probably …

2023, Music

The Bad Plus Live at The Horseshoe Tavern Sunday July 2, 2023

This was my third time seeing The Bad Plus, the jazz piano trio piano-less quartet. Though I’ve listened to a number of their albums many times, I didn’t fully realize what had happened to them as a band over the last couple of years. So this was like seeing a new band.

2021, Movies

The King’s Man (2021, Matthew Vaughn)

It’s hard to exaggerate how much worse the third Kingsman movie is compared to the first two. It almost feels like one of those sequels made by someone else, like The Sting 2 or whatever. But, it’s made by Vaughn. It just feels like it misses the mark almost the entire way through. SPOILERS

1999, 2022, Music, TV

Trainwreck [aka Clusterfuck]: Woodstock ’99

I think Jenn and I both thought his was the HBO documentary Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage. But instead it’s a mini series. It seems like some of the interviewees might have been in both, which sort of makes me want to watch the film, too.

1921, Movies

Körkarlen [The Phantom Carriage] (1921, Victor Sjöström)

This is an early pseudo horror movie slash morality drama that makes extensive use of special effects and flashbacks. It’s not quite as significant as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari but it’s still major landmark in film.

1965, Movies

Simón del desierto (1965, Luis Buñuel)

This is a bizarre surrealist religious satire caught somewhere between a short and a feature (as it is 43 minutes long). It is acclaimed as one of Buñuel’s best films but I think you really have to be steeped in Catholicism to appreciate it.

1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, Basketball, Sports

The Raptors Super Team that Never Was

Every so often I think about a Raptors team that could have existed in an alternate history of the Raptors, in which they potentially contend for a championship in the early aughts with players they acquired through the draft and trades, but whom they traded away over the course of what now looks like a …

2018, Movies

The Predator (2018, Shane Black)

I have seen every Predator movie except for the prequel and every Alien vs. Predator movie and I think it’s safe to say that this one, for most of its runtime, is the most intentionally funny film in the series. That makes it probably the most entertaining film in the series since the first film. …

2018, Books, Non-Fiction

Educated (2018) by Tara Westover

I’m not sure there’s a better word for this memoir than “harrowing.” So much about Westover’s story was shocking to me, shocking because of the behaviour of her family members, but shocking because this all takes place at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century in a country that …