January 2012
132 posts
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December 2011
80 posts
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Roger Ebert: I'll tell you why movie revenue is... →
1. Obviously, the absence of a must-see mass-market movie. […]
2. Ticket prices are too high. […]
3. The theater experience. […]
4. Refreshment prices. […]
5. Competition from other forms of delivery. […]
6. Lack of choice. Box-office tracking shows that the bright spot in 2011 was the performance of indie, foreign or documentary films [this has arguably been the case since 1989 with...
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“Failed movies we will pretend we always liked in five years
Baker: Country...”
– I would like to speak to this. I loved that movie. Not in the sense that I thought it was “good” or involved “talent.” But I loved it for being a disgusting cliche-filled garbage can of amazingness that had musical breaks. And you know what? Those songs were kind of...
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“The most successful comedy lineup on cable is, in fact, the antithesis of HBO’s...”
– Grantland’s Andy Greenwald discusses HBO’s comedy problem. Good stuff in here, which includes a discussion of the ”Nicki Minaj” approach to television, trying to class-up sci fi genre series: “(Game of Thrones’s humorless majesty was at least powered by a shrewdly...
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“Look back at some of the biggest doping busts of the previous decade. A pattern...”
– This is where I run into problems. Should professional athletes take preformance-enhancing drugs and essentially cheat? No. Should we devote public resources, like cops and FBI agents and customs officials, to monitoring their activity and arresting them? I can’t say that makes sense to...
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“24. Keith Olbermann leaves MSNBC to go to Current TV, is never heard from again....”
– The NY Times’ 75 things in 2011. Well played.
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“I have my account linked to my phone, so it’s really easy,” said Tiffany...”
– This is like a perfect little microcosmic description of everything it means to be American these days.
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“‘Portlandia’ is an extended joke about what Freud called the...”
– That is about as succinct a definition of hipsters as I’ve ever read.
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“I think that the ability to sit at your desk and check everything against...”
– Between this interview and watching Page One, I have decided I need to read more David Carr.
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“In 2010 we conducted the world’s largest experiment: We sifted through a billion...”
– Pretty interesting look at what people actually do on the internet. One of Utne Reader’s 5 most popular articles in 2011 — all are worth a look.
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“4 gate agents, 3 flight rebookings, 2 delays, 1 grounded jet and a partridge in...”
– Merry Christmas.
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“AS a malformed Grey Gardens sort of bachelor, I have only one fork, but,...”
– Jonathan Ames on the mess he lives in. It’s a damned shame this guy’s show was cancelled. If nothing else, Ted Danson’s character was one of the best I’ve seen in a while.
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“Wild Flag — Wild Flag
The entire population of Portland, Oregon.”
– Stereotyping you based on your favorite album of 2011 (via flavorpill) Well played. However, what always amuses me about this sort of list is that, whatever your favorite album is, you’re kind of an asshole and there’s something wrong with you.
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“Roosevelt helped assemble the volunteer cavalry, a ragtag regiment of cowboys,...”
– Sarah Vowell. File under historical humor.
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“I find, on the other hand, somewhat to my surprise, that I actively like...”
– Joan Didion
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Watch“Louis Vuitton’s Tambour employs complex mechanics to display one time while being able, upon request, to chime an alternative ‘home’ time. Hamdi Chatti, Louis Vuitton’s Vice President of Watch and Jewelry, explains: ‘No matter where you are, you always have two times. One of travel—often the one of business—and the one the watch guards for you. It’s romantic to think...
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“BP said Friday that Cameron International, one of its contractors in the oil...”
– Hey remember that oil spill that spewed into the Gulf for a solid 5 months last year? Don’t worry, BP is settling up damage claims with their contractors. As for paying the damages they owe…moving a bit more slowly.
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“One of our lunches, at Café Milano, the Rick’s Café of Washington, began at 1...”
– Christopher Buckley on his friendship with late, great Christopher Hitchens. Say what you will about him, but he was fearless.
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“After an investigation that lasted more than three years, the civil rights...”
– God this guy needs to get his. What a slimy bastard. Profiling, intimidation, mistreatment and degradation. The report doesn’t make mention of his tent city jails, with no services and regular abuse. For all that, read this.
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Best of 2011 →
I confess, I love of end-of-the-year lists. I really do. I love the sheer proliferation, judging them, stealing from them, finding out about stuff I missed, feeling validated in my own little grudge matches. As such, in no particular order, my best tracks of 2011. In addition to being the year of the lady band (huzzah!), I welcome the return of R&B, because there has not been enough...
“I feel like if the cab is a hybrid/Prius, I shouldn’t have to pay the fuel...”
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“I heard a lot of scuffling and giggles a couple of cubicles over and wanted to...”
– Vanity Fair’s Carly Holden participates in the spectacular takedown of GQ’s oral history of menswear bloggers.
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“If men’s magazines do, on occasion, speak pejoratively of women, women’s...”
– Agreed. (via cheatsheet) Yup. The lady mag paradox continues.
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“The motive is simple: Republicans are dangerously close to having none of their...”
– It does sort of feel like this election season is waiting for some kind of disruption, something to happen. Because Newt Gingrich outshining Romney and Perry is not only fairly unexciting, it’s not remotely surprising.
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“We Need to Talk About Kevin,” with help from Seamus McGarvey’s fever-flushed...”
– I’d say this sums it up pretty accurately. It’s so disturbing and affecting, I almost don’t want to recommend it. But it’s so well done and finely acted that any film lover needs to see it.