Beltmann

I'm not sure why, exactly, but I've been asked to provide a cover blurb for a novel by a new author that will be published this fall. I start reading this week. After that, I'm going to jump into Cymbeline, in my quest to read at least one Shakespeare play each summer until none are left. Only nine more to go!

If we can have a running list of strong albums, why not movies, too? Here are my favorites of the year so far, based on availability in southeast Wisconsin: 1. The Past / Asghar Farhadi / France 2. The Wind Rises / Hayao Miyazaki / Japan 3. The Selfish Giant / Clio Barnard / UK 4. The Grand Budapest Hotel / Wes Anderson / USA 5. Ida / Pawel Pawlikowski / Poland 6. Caesar Must Die / The Taviani Brothers / Italy 7. The Immigrant / James Gray / USA 8. The Rover / David Michod / Australia 9. Museum Hours / Jem Cohen / Austria 10. Life Itself / Steve James / USA Asghar Farhadi has a rare gift a

The albums that have found a serious spot in my psyche: Lydia Loveless, the Eels, Jack White. I'm surprised by the lack of enthusiasm for Jack White in this thread. I think Lazaretto improves upon Blunderbuss, which was strong but perhaps a tad monotonous. Each track on the new one has a distinct, catchy personality, and plenty of unusual stuff going on without ever losing sight of the distinct melody. To these ears, it's the best thing Jack's done since Get Behind Me Satan, the Stripes album that this new record most resembles.

Welcome! I lurked for a long time, too, before officially joining!

Love the Elbow cover of that, too.

I saw the terrific Milwaukee show, so I'm trying not to be envious... but "Radio King" and "Laminated Cat"? Jealous!

Fountains of Wayne. They were a terrific band even before "Stacy's Mom," and sometimes I wonder whether they regret that song--whatever its merits, that song came to define them, for good and a lot of bad. I adore the Eels, but I never thought of Mark as someone who ever had a "hit." Was "Novocaine for the Soul" really a breakout? I suppose the video did get lots of airplay on MTV in '96. Nice call on Better Than Ezra, too. I wouldn't have remembered that one, but I really liked that album.

That was my first thought, too!

Yes! I scored two excellent tickets for Milwaukee in today's pre-sale.

Milwaukee! Yes.

I find that appealing, too. Knowing it was a limited time commitment is one of the reasons I decided to give the show a chance.

I finished watching the latest episode about ten minutes ago. Best one yet; the ironies are piling up in a very satisfying way.

Fargo is much, much better than I expected. I'm happy that it eschews imitation, offering instead unfaithful variations of characters, situations, and themes from the movie, but at times that's distracting--I keep finding myself thinking about how things have been re-arranged into unexpected permutations. That'll wear off, I think, once it sinks in as its own thing.

I attended one of the shows. A-man, I remember you being slightly miffed that we didn't meet in person that night. Sam Jones paid me $1 to film me standing in line. He filmed a bunch of people for the planned DVD. I still have that dollar bill somewhere...

Indeed.

Chiming in with another endorsement. Her latest album is one of my favorites of the year so far.

Ditto, on everything. I really can't remember a time when I didn't view him as the gold standard, perhaps because he came on the scene during my formative years. His free-for-all style of comedy at the outset definitely helped shape my sense of comedy.

This July they are headlining our county fair (southeastern Wisconsin, in the middle of farmland). I might go. It's a five-minute drive.

I posted this on Facebook yesterday, and thought it might be worth re-posting here: Harold Ramis once asked for my thoughts about Jay Gatsby. It was 2006, and Ramis was at the Oriental Theatre as a guest of the Milwaukee International Film Festival. I was there on assignment, and happened to have the theater lobby all to myself in between screenings when I saw Ramis escorted into the room. He was instructed to stay put while festival staff readied the auditorium for his presentation. This meant that he and I were alone in the lobby. Neither of us had anything to do, so we started talking

To be fair, writers don't always get to write the headlines that accompany their pieces. I have contributed to various print outlets for more than 20 years, and I have never written my own headline or cutline. (Trust me, it definitely wasn't my bright idea to headline my Jurassic Park review with "Dino-Mite!" My friends still won't let me forget that one.) I have written my own headlines for some web pieces, but not all.

Thanks for sharing this, Donna. Awful news. Heaps of positive thoughts on the way to Sue and the family.

"We're Just Friends." It doesn't get a lot of respect, but it's one of my favorite Wilco songs. I like to think of it as a soft and wounded miniature--simple yet beautiful, with something real, honest, and touching about it, all while sounding like an exposed raw nerve. The ache in Jeff's scratchy, tremulous vocals is palpable.

I stopped making a point to watch the SOTU years ago, but not because I find it uninteresting. Instead of watching, I prefer to read the transcript in its entirety. First, it's (much) quicker when you don't have to endure all the pageantry, the dramatic pauses, the neverending applause. Second, reading the speech transforms it from theater into a policy paper, which makes it easier to judge the ideas within. There's nowhere for the ideas to hide; it's all there on the white page, unable to hide behind images, flags, and vocal tones. It just seems like a better way to engage with the conte

Due to a quirk in the Oscar rules, Blue Is the Warmest Color was not eligible for the foreign-language category (it needed to be released in its home country by the end of September, and then officially submitted by that same country). If it had qualified, I suspect it would have been a shoo-in for nomination. The Academy still could have nominated the film in other categories, but foreign-language films rarely score such nods, especially when caught in the foreign-language purgatory. The worst part? Since it was eligible for most categories this year, it will likely not be considered next