Let me interrupt the regular flow of pop culture commentary for a quick note on the World Cup. First, briefly, the substance (more…)
Archive | June, 2010
Why I Don’t Cry At The Movies
21 JunMovies don’t make me cry, not even in private. I think the last time I cried in a movie theater must have when I saw Free Willy when I was about seven. I get close to crying, though, and quite often, too. That beautiful prologue with the Händel aria in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist? Just barely dry-eyed. The recounting of Carl and Ellie’s marriage in Up? Same thing. But although nothing seems able to push me just over the edge, I revel as much in this feeling of emotional cleansing as any other guy. For a few minutes, it feels like what I’m watching is no longer fiction, it’s life. That’s where I should have been able to let go of all my inhibitions. I just never have. (more…)
‘Mysterious Skin’ Will Make You Feel Bad About How Good It Is
16 JunEven people who have seen and loved it, tend to shake their heads when I tell them that I rewatch Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin (2004) at least twice a year. It’s a great movie, they say, but isn’t it enough that it has burnt itself onto my memory once? I see their point – a physically and emotionally brutal drama, it’s not exactly feel-good material – but at the same time, I sense that there’s something else to their reluctance: Is it even possible to love a movie about child abuse? And, if so: Should you feel bad about it? (more…)
The 25 Best Hanson Songs
11 JunOne of the multiple upsides of watching Hanson’s re-broadcast of their 5 of 5 concert series (during which they played their way, chronologically, through their five studio albums, from 1997′s Middle of Nowhere to Shout It Out, released this week), was that I got a chance to think about what it is I love about this band. Some perceptions were altered – relatively bland Underneath tracks like Broken Angel and When You’re Gone really came alive for me, and so did Hand In Hand from This Time Around and Blue Sky from The Walk – while other previous assessments held up pretty well. (more…)
The Wheelchair In The Room
4 JunThere’s one thing about me that you wouldn’t be able to tell if you hadn’t seen pictures of me. A quick glance at the blog would reveal that I’m gay, and the generally nostalgic bent of my writing would probably give away my age, if you hadn’t already read the About page at the top of the site. But you wouldn’t know that I have cerebral palsy, or that I’m in a wheelchair. It may sound odd for someone who writes a blog with the tagline Introspection masked as culture criticism to not disclose something like this; don’t I think that being disabled is an important part who I am? Don’t I encounter the fact that I’m disabled when I’m doing said introspection? I certainly do. But not as much as you might think. (more…)
‘Shout It Out’ Is More Hanson Than Ever
2 JunNot long ago, I was still hoping that the new Hanson album Shout It Out (out June 8, full preview here) would sound more like the Taylor Hanson-helmed supergroup Tinted Windows (whose 2009 debut album has accompanied me throughout the spring) than their last album, The Walk (2007). I know that that may sound like a breakdown in trust between Hanson and me, and maybe it was. (more…)
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