Alan reviews this gorgeously-rendered 2017 Todd Haynes film, which received a three-minute-long standing ovation when it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
Mr. Neutron is beguiled by the many flavors of Pacific Northwest pop music, as it infectiously invades his brain and heart with a mishmash of resplendent gravity and joy.
The Lone Reader takes aim at Henry Ford's incredible and futile effort to farm rubber trees and bring Midwestern small-town life to the Amazon jungle. A story of technological hubris and cultural arrogance, it's "Fordlandia," by Greg Grandin.
Music: "Tango," by Mischa Elman, Josef Bonime, I. Albeniz, Elman
A sweet love story set in 1970s Harlem. "Beale Street" features a hypnotically poetic environment, gorgeous cinematography, haunting music, exacting screenplay and incredible performances.
Alan Jacobson supplies "The Treatment".
Mr. Neutron searches his record closet for twang and bonyfidy country western stars from the Pacific Northwest.
Mr. Neutron is Ron Averill of Everett Public Library (WA)
Frank Herbert's "Dune": Interstellar intrigue! Psychedelic mind trips, swordplay, and a righteous triumph! It's time to re-read the most enduringly popular science fiction book in history.
Music: "Music for String Instruments, Percussion, and Celesta." Bela Bartok. Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, Harold Byrns, conductor. Recorded 1949.
Alan gives "the treatment" to Hiromasa Yonebyashi's anime masterwork, a worthy successor to such masterpieces as "Princess Mononoke," and "Spirited Away."
Jug band, hokum, whatever you call it, the Pacific Northwest has it.
Cameron Johnson is the Lone Reader. Kranz's book is the inside story of the geek squad that made the space program possible: Mission Control.
Music: "Beats," by Crooked Vision.
Alan pays homage to a film that "transcends the superhero genre to emerge as an epic of operatic proportions."
Mr. Neutron's panegyric to the varieties of current Pacific Northwest Punk.
The Lone Reader holds forth on David Buerge's magisterial take on the life and significance of Chief Seattle.
Music: Wind Quintet op. 43, by Carl Nielsen, performed by James Galway and the Carion Quintet.
Alan gives The Treatment to Kathryn Bigelow's riveting depiction of Detroit's 12th Street Riot of 1967.
Mr. Neutron pontificates on the profusion of fine surf bands in the Pacific Northwest
The Lone Reader talks about Dr. Coll Thrush's book Native Seattle, which credits native peoples' contributions to early Seattle. The book's second edition was published in 2017.
Music is "Klincek stojo pod oblokom," by Tomo Sombolac.
Alan Jacobson's Treatment of Bill and Turner Ross's 2012 film Tchoupitoulas, an immersive documentary about three teenaged brothers rambling on New Orleans' Tchoupitoulas Street at night. It's an impressionist travelogue, a hybrid of dream and documentary, a rite of passage.
...it's not your electropop or your indie pop or your synth pop. Today is about...Power Pop.
The Lone Reader previews this Harvard Law professor's take on the two-edged constitutional tool called "impeachment."
Music: The Firebird Suite, by Igor Stravinsky
The Lone Reader previews this Harvard Law professor's take on the two-edged constitutional tool called "impeachment."
Music: The Firebird Suite, by Igor Stravinsky
Alan gives the Treatment to the newest, and one of the more inclusive and absorbing works of Wenders, the once-towering figure of the New German Cinema of the 70's, which included such monumental works as Buena Vista Social Club, Wings of Desire, The End of Violence, and Paris, Texas.
Mr. Neutron spotlights the soundtrack for the 2017 film Baby Driver, and marvels at its melding of audio and visual.
The Lone Reader looks at Thi Bui's haunting graphic memoir of the Vietnam War and its enduring scars.
Music: Petits planets: Hanoi Funeral
Alan treats Edgar Wright's sublimely slap-happy stylish blockbuster Baby Driver, whose plot is propelled by machine-gun editing, tough as nails genre writing & performances, brooding noir cinematography, and the best use of a pop music soundtrack you’ll find anywhere.
Mr. Neutron is Ron Averill of Everett Public Library (WA). Focus is on music of the Ram Rams, Choke the Pope, and Kulululu.
Writer/director Paul Schraeder directs an echo of the 1976 film Taxi Driver, which Schraeder wrote. First Reformed follows a troubled loner and priest of a small, dying church congregation as he grapples with dark visions and a troubled past.