2021 recommendations Uncategorized

December 31

Getting this one in just under the wire, so that I will have fulfilled my resolution to write at least one post a month. I know it’s not an original sentiment, but this has been a weird year— one in which time has seemed especially elastic. 2021 went by very fast, but at the same …

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recommendations

Recommendations for May 29, 2016

Article: “Sunk” by Mitch Moxley A few years ago, I read somewhere that there are only four countries in the world where most of the music people purchase is made by artists from their own country: the US, the UK, South Korea, and Japan. I don’t know if that’s still true— it seems like China …

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2015 recommendations

Recommendations for July 19, 2015

Obviously, it’s been a while, so this one is a little long, and it goes back a little further than usual to some stuff I’ve had queued up for a while. Article: “To Build a Better Language” by Sam Dean A short history of the artificial and proposed “universal” language Esperanto, occasioned by the availability …

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2015 recommendations

Recommendations for April 20, 2015

Big conference this weekend, at which my panel presented to an empty room. Now that all of that is done, here are some new things to read and look at. Song/video: “The Rest of Us” by Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld Colin Stetson has made some of my favorite albums of the last few years. …

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2015 recommendations

Recommendations for March 22, 2015

A bit lake this week as it is finals time and I had stacks of grading to get through. Video: “A Message” by Kelela I was not as blown away by Kelela’s first release, Cut 4 Me, as many critics seemed to be, but this is very nice. Minimal production on the verses—basically just percussion— …

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2013 movies Review

Movie Review: Wadjda

Wadjda, dir. Haifaa al-Mansour Saudi Arabia, 2013 Note: this review contains spoilers It is easy with a film that has a backstory like this one to let that backstory take precedence over the film itself. That it was shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, a country where film in general is only grudgingly permitted (and film …

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2013 recommendations

Recommendations for July 12, 2013

I took last week off for the July 4th holiday weekend, but this week we are back to normal (so to speak).   Video: Gary Hecker – Veteran Foley Artist SoundWorks Collection: Gary Hecker – Veteran Foley Artist from Michael Coleman on Vimeo. Foley artists make the sound effects for movies and television. This video …

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