An Attempt to Care About the Oscars
Blog? What is this blog you speak of? Continue reading
Arts: Page 425
‘Battlestar Galactica’ 4.12: “A Disquiet Follows My Soul”
I took too long to write about last Friday’s episode of Battlestar Galactica, and hereby vow (with fingers only a little bit crossed) to do better in the future. But there are a couple of things I want to scribble down before tonight’s episode airs … So this is longer than intended. It happens. Continue reading
‘Battlestar Galactica’ Really Is the Best Thing You’re Not Watching
I dithered. I didn’t want to. I never cared. Etc. What a pack of hooey. Battlestar Galactica isn’t perfect. Television almost never is, even the television I love best. (OK, Deadwood comes fucking close, and if you’ve ever seen it, you understand why it was vital I swear in the middle of that sentence.) But it’s astonishingly good, and powerful, and sometimes beautiful, and incredibly acted. Continue reading
Oh, Oscars
Ho, hum. I realize it’s a little bit weak to comment when you’ve not yet seen all the films, so I’ll be brief: Even the surprises this year (Melissa Leo, Richard Jenkins) don’t feel like surprises. Slumdog Millionaire ceased being an underdog even before it got here, and while it a perfectly fine film, it is not a Best Picture. Not, not, not. I think I’m attached to exactly one category: Man on Wire had really best win Best Documentary. Continue reading
Oregon Arts Commission Fellowships Include Two Eugeneans
Yesterday, the Oregon Arts Commission announced the recipients of its annual fellowships, given to “performers and writers of exceptional talent and demonstrated ability, professional achievement and continuing dedication to an artistic discipline.” The cash awards ($3,000 each) can be used “to complete work in progress or embark on a new body of work, undertake research, study or experiment with new materials or media.” Continue reading
Spring 2009: Get your established indie rock here
Yesterday, I got one of those makes-your-heart-skip-with-joy press releases: a new And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead album, Century of Self, comes out in just over a month! They’re independent again! MTV News says they’ve “amped up the guitars!” And they’re coming! To Portland! Well, you can’t have it all. (You apparently can’t have anything, if you’re me: Mates of State are passing us by again, too. What gives?) Continue reading
Looking Ahead: A few (hopefully) good films
One of the quirks of living in Eugene — or any other secondary or tertiary film market — is that one cinematic year is usually not over until about a third of the way through the following year. Continue reading
They Didn’t Fit: More books for giving and/or reading
The week of Winter Reading, you could give us the whole paper and we’d still want more space. And, for that matter, more time; it’s the time needed to read, consider and review that keeps Winter Reading somewhat under control. Continue reading
Bad Time for Book Lovers — and Editors, Designers, Publicists…
I’ve been saving links for nearly two weeks now for this post — since December 3, when the publishing industry, by all accounts, imploded. Dramatically. Continue reading
What Are You Playing? Books!
Don’t love Nintendo? Love books? What if they crossbred? In the UK, people will soon be able to read classics on the Nintendo DS. COOL. Nintendo, the Japanese video games has announced a deal with the publisher HarperCollins to make the classics available to read on its DS games consoles. Continue reading