Two Hollywood classics and a little reflection on life In the summer of ‘19, a few friends and I were making conversation on a patio—ice cold soda in tow. On impulse, one fellow recommended that we go shoot pool at a nearby dive. One thing led to another, and what followed was a summer of regular games and good times that’s become as sentimental as it gets. Two obsessions have lingered since then...
Being among strangers is an exploratory experience. To get to know a yet unmet friend is a turn-based game of social maneuvers; two or more codebreakers attempting to break a cypher that gives way to common interest. Often, no matter the person or place, to talk about movies is to resort to a robust master key. After that it’s only a matter of level of interest: self-proclaimed kinophile, passing...
It’s been quite a good year for the period epic. The silver screen was graced with many films that were not only realized with prestige production and mainstream release, but which have been met with a vindicating fanfare which shows that history continues to earn a place at cinemas. On the heels of Oppenheimer’s existential autobiography and Killers of The Flower Moon’s poignant tale of colonial...
Around a year ago, I developed a surprising taste for a specific band’s sound that I otherwise never thought I would have enjoyed. What’s all the more peculiar is that this particular band is still very much part of the super-genre I listen to: Rock ‘n roll. Rock is the bread and butter of my musical taste—or “dad rock” to be specific (even if disparaging). Even those outsiders to the genre would...
The legendary Johnny Cash album turns fifty-five in May of this year. Isn’t the live album something of an oddity? It makes one yearn for that incomparable experience of being serenaded by the shattering acoustics of an artist (or artists) on stage and in the flesh. On a record, however, the loud cheers, the back-and-forth chatter between audience and band, and that lively dynamism become...
An obscure court martial drama rears its DVD cover once more. People I meet rarely miss the chance to learn that I was a history major, and prospective historian, before I made Osgoode my home. It is only natural, then, that I might be billed as a creature of the period legal drama, and that the red “O” emblazoned on me was just the excuse my inner cinephile needed to catch up on the great legal...