Bacchanal to Basics: Low Ceilings & Loud Music in ’80s San Diego
Back before the earth cooled and life crawled from the primordial ooze, nightclubs dotted San Diego’s map. The Spirit (off of Morena Boulevard) always had great bands running through and if they knew my I.D. was fake, they never made a big deal out of it.
Interview w/ Jamie Loftus
The incredibly funny, insightful, and steampunk-loathing tandem of Jamie Loftus and Caitlin Durante formed The Bechdel Cast in November of 2016. The show’s premise is to explore the disparity of roles played by women in cinema.
Life
There is no escaping the comparison to Alien (full disclosure, Ridley Scott’s Alien is one of my all-time favorite films), but Life is not a cheap copy of the 1979 sci-fi opus.
Recordlection: Bachelor No. 2
Bachelor No. 2 (or, the last remains of the dodo) is not only one of the key records in the official turning point for my taste in music as I approached the Sweet Sixteen, but it would continue to endure throughout key moments in the rest of my high school days, and well beyond.
Personal Shopper
To describe Olivier Assayas’ slate, often times inscrutable Personal Shopper would be to hack into the growth rings of a perfectly opaque mystery.
Raw
Writer and director Julia Ducournau’s sticky, blood-flecked Raw doesn’t necessarily fall into the grisly chambers of body horror even though the film’s carmine color palette screams out to the genre.
Funeral Pyres & Fancy Hats: Cléo from 5 to 7
It’s difficult to process the debilitating sensation of horror in everyday life. Pockets of birds are still perched on tree limbs. Cats tumble on floorboards and chase flowing articles of clothing.
Dudes, Stop Bragging About Music
Whatever you do, please don’t be the guy mansplaining the merits of an aughts Kasabian record. It’s cool to like a band, but you don’t need to cradle their vinyl in your hands as if you’re giving a lecture at a museum of photographic arts.
The Rallies on the Pop-Prowess of ‘Serve’
The Rallies are the real deal when it comes to power pop — music that fills your heart and soul with joy, even if the basis of the song is not always a happy ending.
The Last Word
MacLaine burrows into the minutia of Stuart Ross Fink’s limp script, attempting to elevate poorly written dialogue with everything she has (although there’s not much you can do when you’re required to shout “all up in your business” in a suggestive lilt).
