This last month saw two significant items come up on the primary ballot in my home state of Illinois. One was a non-binding ballot question concerning whether or not the state should develop a plan to legalize marijuana for recreational use; the other asked whether or not the governor should …
Armando Iannucci makes deeply political comedies that are not actually at politics at all. This is not the only good thing about his latest project, The Death of Stalin, such a remarkable thing, but it is perhaps what makes it a great film and it’s definitely what saves it from being …
As noted when we talked about John Merriman’s Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune, my reading project for this year, where the only nonfiction I read will be about the Paris Commune of 1871 and the French revolts of May 1968, will begin at the end. Massacre, while an …
Let’s preface this review by discussing something that made me feel older than anything else has in my entire life: When Straight Outta Compton was released in 2015, AARP — the American Association of Retired Persons — nominated it for “Best Intergenerational Film” and “Best Time Capsule”. This means three things: …
After a seemingly endless hiatus of two entire years, during which this beleaguered country’s weekly exposure to abnormally cheerful handsomeness golem Ryan “Toothpaste” Seacrest plummeted by as much as 30%, American Idol is back! Yes, that’s right, a new reboot/remake/re-release of the original big daddy of televised singing competitions has returned, …
Mass shootings are now as prevalent as NFL games in the United States; even when there isn’t one happening, they’re all anyone can talk about. (Both are also responsible for horrible and easily preventable injuries and only exist to like the pockets of the already rich, but let’s not run …
