Category: Culture

My Picks of the Year for 2024

Complex pieces, whether successful or not, dominate my end of year list for 2024

2024 was a complex year on many fronts in my life. We moved. Politics and culture seemed to daily turn the world upside down and inside out. And for some reason the movies, TV, and books I enjoyed the most were, while not necessarily the top of class, very complex.

I certainly didn’t see or consume everything during the year. Heading into the holiday movie release schedule I found myself thinking it had been a better year for streaming TV than it had for movies. I think that still holds. Some titles may have been released prior to 2024, but they didn’t cross my radar until this year soon to pass, so they get included.

For the record I don’t believe in “Best of.” As I continue to say, there’s too much good being created by too many good (and some not so good) folks out there, that I pick what attracts and holds my attention.

This year that leaned towards complex pieces that may or may not have been utterly successful. There’s also just some well done entertainment. There is still lots of mediocrity out there, but here’s the complex cream that rose to the top of my list. If I wrote something about the titles, there will be a link.

Movies

Streaming TV

Other Video

I’m not sure where to put YouTube videos on this list, but this presentation of Ubu and The Truth Commission by the Handspring Puppet Company was high on my list of favorite viewing this year.

Books

  • James by Percival Everett
  • The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
  • Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
  • On Freedom by Timothy Snyder
  • The Freaks Came Out To Write by Tricia Romano
  • Infinite Detail by by Tim Maughan

Apps

Either I’m slowing down or software App development is. There’s only one new App that landed on my devices that I would recommend:

  • Croissant. A social media cross-posting app by Ben McCarthy and Aaron Veigh. It’s still got some quirks, but it is handy enough that I use it frequently hoping they’ll work the kinks out.

Have a Happy New Year!

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Sunday Morning Reading

What do ugly Christmas sweaters, physics, the post office and pernicketies have in common? Check out this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.

Here we are with the last edition Sunday Morning Reading for 2024. As usual there’s links to subjects and writing I’ve found particularly interesting. I hope you do as well. Enjoy this week’s edition and see you next year.

 Christmas has come and gone, and it’s time for the decorations to come down and the ugly Christmas sweaters to be put away. Jennifer Ouellette takes a look at The Physics of Ugly Christmas Sweaters. You may want to consider how you fold yours up for seasonal storage after reading this.

I’ve laid off politics during most of this year’s holiday season, but I’ve been peripherally aware that apparently a Civil War has broken out between the tech bros and the MAGAts over immigration. Not to worry, Heather Cox Richardson has a running account of the blows and counter blows in her Letters From An American for December 27. 

One of the numerous things many are worried we might actually lose during the next administration is the troubled U.S. Postal Service. Steve Herman gives a nice rundown of some history, context, and what we might lose in Going Postal. As the son of a former post master, I appreciate Steve’s efforts here.

Thinking about how big projects get started, Joan Westenberg takes on The Ego-Legacy Complex: On Ancient Monuments and Modern Malaise. 

ProPublica writers Asia Fields, Nicole Santa Cruz, Ruth Talbot, and Maya Miller conducted a series of interviews with homeless individuals. A feature of the article is the re-printing of the notecards some of the interviewees wrote describing their losses. Check out I Have Lost Everything to see what they have lost.

Most folks have a love/hate relationship with services they subscribe to and of course that includes streaming video services like Netflix. If you subscribe to Netflix and you’ve ever wondered why Netflix gets on your nerves, check out Will Tavlin’s Casual Viewing. You’ll never stream it the same way again.

You have to love the title, but you’ll also love the article. Check out Pet Peeves and Other Pernicketies from NatashaMH.

Have a Happy New Year! 

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

The Fun Of Early Morning Movie Going

Movie magic without the crowds.

My wife and I had a holiday tradition of going to see movies around the holidays. We always chose the earliest morning showing because, hey, they are the cheapest ticket. One of the other benefits was the crowds were less. At times it felt like a private screening.

A gentleman siitting alone in a movie theatre, with popcorn and refreshments

All of that was pre-pandemic, and of course that tradition got shelved during those years, and has remained so even longer. But this year we kicked things back off again as my wife gifted me tickets to see Wicked.

If I’m being honest, I like the private screening feel.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Jon M. Chu’s Wicked Is Wicked Good

Whether big and splashy or small and detailed, Wicked hits the right notes in telling this story.

Cutting right to the chase, Jon M. Chu has done the best job of directing a musical film I have seen since Singing In The Rain. Chu’s Wicked shows what a modern day movie musical can and should be.

Wicked cynthia erivo arrianna grande

My wife and I used to have a post-Christmas tradition. In the days following Christmas Day, we’d go to an early showing of whatever movie was the hot ticket. That carried over for most of our movie going rituals as we continued to hit the earliest (read cheapest) shows available when we wanted to go to see something on the big screen. Like everyone else we broke those habits and traditions during COVID. And, though we miss it, we’ve never started it back up again post-pandemic.

Well, this year my wife kicked the tires and got us started again by gifting us tickets to an early morning showing of Wicked, a film we both were looking forward to seeing. Great gift and great time at the movies.

Speaking of, I won’t go on about the performances, they are stunningly good. If nominated in the same category for acting, it will be tough for awards show voters to pick between Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, but they aren’t the only actors who are excellent. I also won’t go on about the production design. Again, stunningly good.

I will rave about Chu’s direction and the way he handled Christopher Scott’s choreography. For once, we get big, splashy musical numbers where the director actually wants us to see the details of the choreography and the character and small touches Scott brought to his dancers. It’s a revelation. I’ve enjoyed Chu’s previous work, especially Into The Heights, but even there the storytelling gets overwhelmed by the spectacle. Here, the storytelling is always front and center, even when the screen is bursting with spectacle.

There’s an intimacy to the story telling that I’ve often found in the music of Wicked, but have seldom seen play out on stage. That same intimacy applies to the small scenes as well, and Chu and his cast pull it off without a hitch.

Wicked is probably winding down its theatrical run as it is due to head to streaming soon, but if you can catch it in a theatre it’s quite a gift.

Highly recommended.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Red One Will Make You Wince and Laugh

Red One won’t save Christmas, but it is quite jolly.

Red One, now streaming on Amazon Prime isn’t a classic, nor is it a loser. It’s fun in all the right places, and bad in all the right places. In the end, it’s worth streaming if you’re looking for some good brainless streaming fun over the holiday.

Overflowing with familiar names in the cast including The Rock, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons, among others, it’s a romp that tosses a bunch of Christmas themed traditions into the mixer, shakes them up, and sprinkles enough one liners and almost too many special effects on top to keep it entertaining.

I’m not sure it’s quite family fare if you have wee young ones, but for an older mix of generations it’s might be worth the sleigh ride. Explaining Santa Claus might never been the same again.

The different world creation is a well done enough that the movie creates its own Christmas world view allowing a pretty insane mix of mythic magic and technology to propel the story  as the characters try to save Christmas.

If you’re like my families, silly and goofy Christmas movies are a part of the holiday tradition. This one probably makes the cut going forward.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Sunday Morning Reading

Some festive fare, and some not quite so for this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.

Christmas and Hanukkah are almost upon us. There’s that traditional feeling of magic in the air, but it’s tempered a bit by apprehension about what may come in the New Year. But it’s Sunday and it’s before all of that, so it’s time to share some Sunday Morning Reading.

First up are a couple of Christmas gifts that seem appropriate both for their historical holiday context and in today’s current one. Shannon Cudd takes on The Surprisingly Corporate Retail Origin Story Behind ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’ Feels appropriate in this approaching age of oligarchy even if that age seemed a bit more innocent.

Follow that up with Olivia Jordan’s A Christmas Carol in Context: Dickens’ Beloved Festive Fable. Having directed many a production of ‘The Carol,’ I’m always amazed that its story of goodwill and redemption is at once so popular, yet always so quickly forgotten. It’s a puzzler. But then the great messages told around Christmas typically lose their resonance once we move away from the season.

Speaking of puzzlers, Generative AI is still on everyone’s mind and Gary Marcus thinks Generative AI Still Needs To Prove It’s Usefulness. Yes, he means beyond the hype it’s generated that has made some fabulously wealthy.

Journalism is having a moment and not a good one in today’s political climate. Most of that is of its own making and a good deal of it is by the owners. Podcaster and tech journalist Kara Swisher might be fed up enough to try and do something about it. She is seeking to round up investors to fund a bid to buy The Washington Post, after Jeff Bezo’s weak capitulation to the incoming Trump regime. I hope she succeeds. Meanwhile, John Gruber has written a terrific piece on this titled Journalism Requires Owners Committed To The Cause. He’s spot on.

Meanwhile Om Malik takes a look at the just how dark things may be for traditional media in these dark days in Musings On Media In The Age of AI. Here’s a quote:

None of the media business models will work in the future — neither advertising nor paywalls. Today’s content deals, like the one The Atlantic signed with OpenAI, are akin to the sugar high you get from soda. The sugar high is followed by the inevitable crash.

Jennifer Berry Hawes, Nat Lash, and Mollie Simon for ProPublica take a look at The Story Of One Mississippi County Shows How Private Schools Are Exacerbating Segregation. Good reporting on a story that somehow feels more than a little Dickensian.

Folks seek validation in many ways. Climbing mountains and overcoming obstacles can be a part of that game. So too is recognizing that “not everything in life needs to be conquered.” Check out Ain’t No Mountain High Enough from NatashaMH.

And to close out this week’s Sunday Morning Reading with a bit of grace, check out The Laundromat On Sixth Avenue by Grace 🎶 @notesofgrace

May whatever holiday you celebrate this time of the year bring you some peace and perhaps some joy. Here’s hoping we all can find that comfort surrounded by the company of family and good friends.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

Black Doves Makes A Play To Be A Deadly Christmas Movie

It’s no Die Hard, but Black Doves does make a play to be a deadly holiday thriller.

There’s a long standing debate that rolls around this time every year about whether or not the classic Bruce Willis film, Die Hard, is a Christmas movie or not. I happen to think it is, so there’s my $.02 on that. Netflix is making a play to join the violent Christmas movie genre with its recently released spy/gangster thriller Black Doves.

BlackDoves FirstLook Image 1-H-2024.

Does Black Doves stack up as a Christmas movie? For some probably so, for most I’m guessing not. It has a great sense of comedy amongst the dire circumstances, and almost enough holiday charm and romance to qualify it as a Hallmark holiday movie. Semi-stuffed with holiday trappings and none of the ticking clock pressure of trying to solve it by Christmas Day it sorta works.  That’s not to its detriment.

Black Doves does stack up as a decent spy/gangster tale with very good performances from Keira Knightly and Ben Whishaw, and it’s the spy game/gangster game plotting and sub-plotting that makes it work, though not necessarily with edge of your seat suspense. Which at times seems strange since  World War III keeps threatening to break out.

In any case, it’s not perfect, but it’s fun. I’d recommend Black Doves as a good stream if you’re looking for good entertainment over the holidays, whether you want things wrapped up with a pretty bow or not.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Sunday Morning Reading

Drones may be circling and society may be circling the drain, but there’s always time for Sunday Morning Reading.

Drones may (or may not) be circling the skies overhead, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep our eyes peeled for some good writing and good reading. This week’s Sunday Morning Reading features a usual mix of writing on tech, Artificial Intelligence, politics, and culture. Buckle up and enjoy.

A man reading a newspaper on a porch with a sky full of drones and a cityscape background. AI generated

Speaking of Artificial Intelligence, Arvino Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor tell us that Human Misuse Will Make Artificial Intelligence More Dangerous. I’ve been saying that for a while and so have any number of science fiction writers. Still, this short piece is worth a read.

Matthew Ingram asks and answers the question Are AI Chatbots Good or Bad For Mental Health? Yes. Good read.

Reed Albergotti chronicles an interview with Google’s Sundar Pichai on Google going all in on AI and the next move,  Agentic AI. Check out Why Sundar Pichai Never Panicked.

Rounding out this group of links on AI, take a look at this intelligent and very human piece from NatashaMH. In No Society Left Behind she posits that AI will still leave us with uneven playing fields across the different strata of society.

John Gruber has an interesting piece On The Accountability of Unnamed Public Relations Spokespeople. It’s politics specific but it also speaks more broadly about the, in my opinion, decline of PR as an effective tool.

We still haven’t come to grips with the shooting of the United Health Care executive and the reaction to it. Adrienne LaFrance takes that as a cue for Decivilization May Already Be Under Way. I would argue it’s been under way for quite some time now. Itt’s just accelerating.

David Todd McCarty says We’re All Going to Need To Hunker Down For A Long-Ass Storm. I concur, although I fear it’s going to be looked back on as a major climate shift.

Dave Troy in the Washington Spectator gives us The Wide Angle: “Project Russia,” Unknown In The West, Reveals Putin’s Playbook. It will never ceae to amaze me how we let this one slip by us.

Looking back a bit in history take a look at this piece from the Atlantic’s 1940 issue called The Passive Barbarian by Lewis Mumford. With the exception of a few references in the article and the publication date, I bet you would think it had been written in this current moment.

And finally, with the holiday drone buzzing around us David Todd McCarty offers up Struggling To Find Peace In The Midst of Exuberant Joy.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

Breaking All The Molds: Emilia Pérez

A cross between a musical and a pop-opera, Emilia Pêrez is a unique story of transformation.

Breaking the mold is one way to describe the movie Emilia Pêrez. Breaking all of them is more apt. Imagine taking the making of movies, more specifically the making of movie musicals and creating something new, different, in the end probably not completely successful, yet you can’t take your eyes off of it.

Now imagine the story of that movie is about a ruthless Mexican drug cartel leader, who hires a lawyer to seek a sex change operation to become their true self, a woman. Put it all together and it is an intriguing adventure in story and cinematic story telling.

I won’t say it completely holds together, because I’m not sure it does. But it keeps turning in on itself and musical movie making in ways as daring as the titular character’s mission. In that lead role Karla Sofía Gascón is excellent, as are Zoe Saldaña as the lawyer, and Selena Gomez as the wife of the cartel boss.

But, it is Jacques Audiard’s work as a director that stands above all. Unfurling a story of transformation and redemption, this isn’t the first film featuring a story about a trans character, but it is certainly the one that spins out its story this way. I’d call it a pop-opera, but that too simple a definition as is calling it a musical.

The film was controversial when it debuted and won awards at Cannes, and in today’s climate I’m sure it will remain so. Quite frankly, that’s what gives the film some of its allure.

At its heart it is a story of transformation, mashed up with music, love, violence and full of surprise. Again, I’m not sure it holds together completely, but if you’re looking for something that plays around with convention while telling a surprising story, it is more than worth a watch.

Emilia Pêrez is playing on Netflix and you can watch the trailer below.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s a cold late Fall morning, with some crisp and cold writing for you in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.

Sunday, it’s a Sunday. The Sunday after Thanksgiving and Black Friday, although every Sunday these days feels like it’s the Sunday after yet another Black Friday. Even so, it’s time for some Sunday Morning Reading. This week’s edition contains some somber writing, fitting for the onset of a winter of discontent and reflection, along with some thinking on the tech scene and vaccines. For good measure, there’s a history of dive bars at the end. Enjoy.

Leading off, David Todd McCarty’s piece I Was F*cking Wendy Under The Stars, The Night Elvis Died, reflects on the risks we take, and perhaps don’t take, in building a life.

Promises and Scars by Kelly Gawitt is an excellent piece of writing on second chances. We all need them.

Joan Westenberg says We’re Dying. Here’s How to Make Better Decisions. Joan’s Mortality Matrix is something to see.

Sam Roberts gives us a look back at a real heroine in Madeline Riffaud, ‘The Girl Who Saved Paris,’ Dies at 100. I’m thinking we might need some Madeline’s going forward.

Patrick Fealey offers a harrowing and personal inside look at homelessness in America in The Invisible Man.

Tim Berners-Lee, who conceived the World Wide Web is taking a crack at a new way our digital lives are stored online with a new venture called Solid. Harry McCracken takes a crack at explaining it all in The Man Who Gave Us The Web Is Building A Better Digital Wallet. Hope it works.

Christopher Mims says that Googling Is For Old People. That’s A Problem For Google. The lede is fantastic:

If Google were a ship, it would be the Titanic in the hours before it struck an iceberg—riding high, supposedly unsinkable, and about to encounter a force of nature that could make its name synonymous with catastrophe.

Vaccines. Who in their right mind thought we’d ever be debating anything about the miracle of vaccines? Donald G. McNeil Jr. says that Vaccines Will Have To Prove Themselves Again. The Hard Way. Warning: the “hard way” isn’t a pretty way.

And after all of that if you need a drink or two or three, check out Linze Rice’s piece on The History of Chicago’s Dive Bars, Once Called ‘The Vilest Holes In The City.’ Bottoms up.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.