The Civil Discourse and the silent majority
The great irony of the Civil Discourse is that it’s neither civil nor a discourse. Its closest cousin is the bathroom wall.
Mike Southard
Contributor
POLITICS
Cynicism in American politics
Even in my relatively short lifetime, I struggle to remember a more pronounced period of American political pessimism than 2011.
FILM
Hidden in Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s filmic allusions
Hugo is a jarring departure from Scorsese’s filmography—it’s a children’s movie with lots of tenderness and without any blood-soaked murder montages choreographed to The Rolling Stones.
Missing David Foster Wallace
Is it possible to miss someone you’ve never met?
FILM
The many manifestations of Don Draper
While many people may associate the show with Don Draper and his infidelity—or basically the rampant bad behavior of the men on the show—it’s crucial that Mad Men is a show that examines honestly and painfully the root causes of this particular strain of all-American masculine ugliness.
FILM
Films of the near future
So, we used the Delorean to track down Bill and Ted, who let us borrow their phone booth. We dialed in the digits of some highly anticipated films and decided to share some of what we saw.
FILM
Books and films: The Rum Diary, decoded
The Rum Diary, directed by Bruce Robinson and starring the uncanny Hunter S. Thompson stand-in Johnny Depp, failed to bring the unique qualities of the book to the silver screen.
FILM
Moneyball: not your average baseball film
At heart, Moneyball is a very funny drama about statistics and probabilities.
FILM REVIEW
Taking a ride with Drive
You’ll enjoy it for the great performances, the deliberately cheesy, 80s-flavored soundtrack and, theoretically, all the film references. It’s worth seeing.
FILM REVIEW
Woody Allen's filmic roots
Woody Allen would call himself the most derivative, referential director working today. So, it should be no problem discerning what may have led him to make Midnight in Paris.
FILM REVIEW
The subtleties of Super 8
Whether or not you respond to their movies, Spielberg and Abrams are sentimental and optimistic filmmakers: their enthusiasm for their work shines through the best of their films.
BACHELOR & BACHELORETTE
Mr. & Ms. September
Seniors James Hubbard and Kristine Walters are enjoying their final year on the Hill and keeping an eye open for love.
LGBT
This week in queer cinema
The Kids Are All Right comes from a tradition of films that calls into question – either explicitly or implicitly – the strict definitions of sexual attraction and gender that dominate conventional thinking.
FILM REVIEW
Loose Canon: True Grit it and quit it
The Coen Brothers usually make films with their own flavor, and sprinkle in the spice of director’s long past. With True Grit, it is the opposite; they have made a film using the flavors of the director’s long past, with mere hints of their own spice.
FILM REVIEW
“You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger”
Our goal is to give the reader reference points for his or her favorite movies, in order to help spark an interest in film history. We will discuss the antecedents of a popular movie in reverse chronological order–working backwards through film history. This week, we will focus on Inception.
MUSIC REVIEW
Radiohead’s new album proves again that they can be intelligent without being pretentious
I'm writing this review on Friday, February 18th (the day that the album was released) so honestly, it is going to be a while before I really have something to say about The King of Limbs.
I like that Radiohead announced this album a mere five days before its release, and that before Friday, nobody knew how many tracks it had, or the names of the tracks, or (before five days ago) even the name of the album.
It is important to know just how unimportant we all are
For a million reasons, I am remarkably unremarkable. So what exactly is it that makes me feel exceptional?
BACHELOR & BACHELORETTE
Mr. and Ms. September
This month's bachelor and bachelorette are single and looking for love.