Author: Luke
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Charles Schulz Drawing Peanuts
“I wish I had a better education but I think that my entire background made me well-suited for what I do. If I could write better than I can, perhaps I would have tried to become a novelist and I might have become a failure. If I could draw better than I can, I might…
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Recently Read
Two massive tomes I finally conquered: The Stand and The Pale King. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend either but I am glad I read both. Of course I love reading about movies. After making a list of my favorite (read: not the ones I think are the best) films, I realized two filmmakers had four films on…
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TV Reviewed
(Previously on Hackneyed) The Bear (Seasons 1-2): Second season surpassed the first. The bottleneck episodes, “Fishes” and “Forks,” were easily my two favorite single episodes of a show the last year. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Seasons 1-8): Just what I needed. Not quite Parks or The Office, but a solid sitcom from start to finish. Better Call…
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American Movie, Chris Smith
Re-watched this wonderfully weird film last night and still love it as much as I did 25 years ago, but agree that it now hits different: “Today Mark Borchardt looks less like an amusing hustler, and more like a poetic and even tragic hero; the living embodiment of unfulfilled dreams. Even that scene with the unforgiving cabinet…
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From The Journal of Kurt Cobain, Gone 30 Years Ago Today
Don’t let your opinions obstruct the aforementioned list.
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Amoeba Music, San Fransisco
Didn’t actually pick up any tapes, but did fill my bag with jazz records: Weather Report’s self-titled debut, The Jazz Experiments of Charles Mingus, Tomorrow Is the Question! The New Music of Ornette Coleman! and Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda.
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Greetings from Detroit
So nice, I went and turned 21 twice. Spent the birthday with Adri in Detroit, getting prayer beads from Dabls, strolling thru Heidelberg, having drinks with DJ Ladylike at Spot Lite, and stopping by my favorite tiki spot Mutiny before getting grooves on at Boogie Fever. Pretty close to a perfect day.
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Pop (T)art(s)
From Wikipedia: “Introduced in 1964 and initially called Fruit Scones, the name was soon changed to Pop-Tarts as a pun on the then popular Pop Art movement.” (File under “things learned watching Jeopardy!)
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2024. Day One. So Far, So Good.
Got eight hours sleep. Sent the first newsletter of 2024 and spent my morning at the club. Played basketball, soundtracked by Funkier Than a Mosquito’s Tweeter radio on Spotify. Ran for a bit, swam for a bit longer than I ran, then ended the trip in the hot tub and sauna. Went grocery shopping and…
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The Sears Wishbook
I had a lot of these toys so this is not me complaining, but one of my funniest Christmas memories is my stepmom handing me one of these and telling me to circle everything I wanted for Christmas. I went to town, greedily circling every item imaginable. That holiday morning, I believe I received exactly…
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Hulu: Top 15
Since Hulu launched a “top 15” list of their most popular shows and films, I decided to counter with the fifteen things currently on Hulu I’d recommend. If you are stumbling on this list decades later and something is no longer on Hulu or Hulu is now just Disney+ or none of these words make…
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Days Between
Since seeing Dead and Co. in Colorado last month, the Grateful Dead have been in heavy rotation since. Perfect summer music. Since we are now in what Dead Head’s call “The Days Between” (the days between Garcia‘s birthday and the date of his passing), if you’ve never listened, I think their run from ’70 to…
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I believe RetroDuck truly made it once we could be found in an annotation on Genius.
I like the song, but might be biased.
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Best Debut Albums
I know I just mentioned him, but longtime music critic Steven Hyden recently ranked 100 debut albums for your reading pleasure. Some that stood out to me: The Go-Go’s, Beauty And The Beat (1981): “This band is in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, and this album is 90 percent of the reason why.”…
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Roger Ebert Passed 10 Years Ago Today.
Before the Internet, or at least any Internet I knew of, Siskel & Ebert was my best resource for what was coming out. By the time I hit the age where I wasn’t supposed to be seeing certain things but wanted to, those two were a gateway drug. Very few things sounded more interesting to…
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Benedict Cumberbatch and Ian McKellen Read Letters by Kurt Vonnegut
From two Letters Live events, great letters filled with great advice from one of the twentieth century’s best minds. Key takeaways: Reduce and stabilize your population. Stop poisoning the air, the water, and the topsoil. Stop preparing for war and start dealing with your real problems. Teach your kids, and yourselves, too, while you’re at…
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Herzog’s Advice for Filmmakers
Apparently this list is on the back cover of A Guide for the Perplexed. Need to pick this up ASAP. (Via Kottke)
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Round Midnight (1986)
I often want to live in films, but seldom ones this dour. But jazz clubs in the 50s, that’s my love language. Especially when it’s shot this beautifully, this dreamy. The faux-Paris streets at night are as out of this world as the soundtrack. Round Midnight unfolds so nonchalantly, there’s almost no exposition. Things just…