Mutants and misfits
You should know right away that I am not a fan of black-and-white comics. Oh, make no mistake — it doesn’t matter to me whether or not a book is printed on four-color pages. What I mean to say is, I like stories I read to move past the traditional good vs. evil, light vs. … Continue reading
Beefy forearms and emulsions
I don’t know about you, but I almost don’t eat a sandwich without a nice layer of mayo between the bread and whatever is in the middle. (Unless what’s in the middle is peanut butter, because that would be gross.) Now mayonnaise is terribly easy to buy in the store, and I’m even pretty satisfied … Continue reading
March 12-16, 2012
Apparently, you can go home again, but it doesn’t mean you’ll like what you find, especially when where you are (and who you are while you’re there) isn’t any better. Kevin Mattison watches Young Adult in “In the wink of a young girl’s eye”
You owe it to yourself to catch up with NBC’s Parks and Recreation. Ana Holguin tells you why in “Treat yo’self to Parks and Rec”
Virtue can be deceiving. Jill Kolongowski shares that while her shopping cart may look healthy, but her weakness for snacks is just as bad as anyone. Read “On snacking”
Kelly Hannon travels to AWP’s annual meeting in search of fellow writers, and finds making connections harder work than it should be. Read “Getting together to be alone”
In the wink of a young girl’s eye
Director Jason Reitman (Son of Ivan Reitman, a pretty well known director himself) has made some of the most easily digestible, yet incredibly smart films of the past few years. He has an impressive level of discernment when choosing projects and a penchant for protagonists who are hard to like but impossible to resist. His … Continue reading
Treat yo’self to Parks and Rec
Awaiting Mad Men’s return and having missed the boat on Downton Abbey (I’ll get there, don’t worry), I’m left in a bit of the television doldrums at the moment. Though I’m enjoying the zombies of The Walking Dead gnawing on delicious face meat once a week, I can’t honestly say it’s my favorite thing to … Continue reading
Getting together to be alone
Last week I travelled to Chicago to attend a writers’ conference, AWP. AWP is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. They have a yearly conference in late February where all of the people who belong to AWP, or programs that are associated with AWP, can get together. We attend panels about writing, go to … Continue reading
On snacking
When I lived in Boston, most of my paycheck went to rent my drafty, crooked-floored apartment, and the rest went to food. And alcohol, if I’m being truthful. I didn’t have a car, so I only bought as many groceries as I could carry. That meant there was no room (or money) for me to … Continue reading
March 5-9, 2012
Mike Vincent looks back at The Verve’s album Urban Hymns, and exactly where he was in his life when he was listening to it. Read “Have you ever been down?”
It’s one of the underrated superhero films of the 1990s, but it’s available on Netflix. Slam evil with Daniel J. Hogan in “The Phantom”
In new comics column “Bag and Board,” Matt Santori-Griffith reads Greg Rucka and his amazing imperfect super-heroines. Read “Super-heroines, stains and all”
Gavin Craig is trying to lose weight (just a little — it happens to the best of us), and is finding that being a food columnist can be difficult when your eating options are intentionally limited. Read “My own private food desert”
Have you ever been down?
Sweet Jesus that song, that song. That sound, that sample, that lyric. Every time I hear The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” every single solitary time I hear the opening refrain of the song I sigh, droop my shoulders, and hear the hairs stand up on end all over my frame. I can remember Australian streets, … Continue reading
The Phantom
Ah, the mid-to-late 1990s. It was a new Golden Age for the cinema, and 1996 was a banner year: it brought us Barb Wire, Dragonheart, and the Billy Zane superhero film, The Phantom. I have a soft-spot for The Phantom. Which should not come as a surprise, since my film collection runs the gamut from … Continue reading
