2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007

Albums
Movies
Books
Plot

2023 Albums

New Blue Sun [2023] by André 3000
Madres [2023] by Sofia Kourtesis
Scarlet [2023] by Doja Cat
Daddy's Highway [1987] by The Bats
II [1984] by Meat Puppets
If You're Reading This It's Too Late [2015] by Drake
Iroko [2023] by Avishai Cohen and Abraham Rodriguez, Jr.
The Greater Wings [2023] by Julie Byrne
Heaven Is A Junkyard [2023] by Youth Lagoon
Picture of Bunny Rabbit [2023] by Arthur Russell
Coney Island Baby [1975] by Lou Reed
Outside Problems [2023] by Andrew Bird
Sundial [2023] by Noname
Fountain Baby [2023] by Amaarae
Wave [1979] by Patti Smith Group
Lion and the Cobra [1987] by Sinéad O'Connor
My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross [2023] by Anohni and the Johnsons
Camoufleur [1998] by Gastr Del Sol
Timber Timbre [2009] by Timber Timbre
Odelay [1996] by Beck
Mellow Gold [1994] by Beck
So Tonight That I Might See [1993] by Mazzy Star
Shleep [1997] by Robert Wyatt
Soundtracks [1970] by Can
Maps [2023] by billy woods & Kenny Segal
Station to Station [1976] by David Bowie
Death of a Ladies' Man [1977] by Leonard Cohen
Songs of Leonard Cohen [1967] by Leonard Cohen
Praise a Lord Who Chews but Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) [2023] by Yves Tumor
Nightlife [1974] by Thin Lizzy
Radical Romantics [2023] by Fever Ray
Spirals of Everlasting Change [1987] by Robert Turman
The Legendary Sun Classics [2010] by Charlie Feathers
Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night [1999] by Stereolab
Words & Music, May 1965 [2022] by Lou Reed
Songs in the Key of Life [1976] by Stevie Wonder
Nancy & Lee Again [1972] by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood
Nancy & Lee [1968] by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood
A Light for Attracting Attention [2022] by The Smile
blueblue [2022] by Sam Gendel
In These Times [2022] by Makaya McCraven
Facts Of Life [1973] by Bobby Womack
Harvest Moon [1992] by Neil Young
Barnstorm [1972] by Joe Walsh
Thirds [1971] by James Gang
James Gang Rides Again [1970] by James Gang

2022 Albums

Capricorn Sun [2022] by TSHA
SOS [2022] by SZA
Continua [2022] by Nosaj Thing
Cherry [2022] by Daphni
And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow [2022] by Weyes Blood
Hiding in Plain Sight [2022] by Drugdealer
Live in Paris [1971] by Ahmad Jamal
This Here Is Bobby Timmons [1960] by Bobby Timmons
God Save The Animals [2022] by Alex G
I Love You Jennifer B [2022] by Jockstrap
Reset [2022] by Panda Bear & Sonic Boom
BEGBORROWSTEEL [2005] by Count Bass D
Pre-Life Crisis [1995] by Count Bass D
Florist [2022] by Florist
Wet Leg [2022] by Wet Leg
Big Time [2022] by Angel Olsen
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers [2022] by Kendrick Lamar
The New Breed [2016] by Jeff Parker
Universal Beings [2018] by Makaya McCraven
Deciphering The Message [2021] by Makaya McCraven
Ivory [2022] by Omar Apollo
MAHAL [2022] by Toro y Moi
Exile In Guyville [1993] by Liz Phair
The Blues And The Abstract Truth [1961] by Oliver Nelson
Pompeii [2022] by Cate Le Bon
Willis Alan Ramsey [1972] by Willis Alan Ramsey
The Essential Carter Family [2013] by The Carter Family
Tiffany Transcriptions, Vol. 2 [1993] by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You [2022] by Big Thief
Modern Vampires of the City [2013] by Vampire Weekend
Father, Son, Holy Ghost [2011] by Girls

2021 Albums

The Asymptotical World [EP] [2021] by Yves Tumor
Laroyê [2021] by Àbáse
Fatigue [2021] by L'Rain
Forfolks [2021] by Jeff Parker
BLACK METAL 2 [2021] by Dean Blunt
Juju [1981] by Siouxsie and the Banshees
Space 1.8 [2021] by Nala Sinephro
Changed for the Better [EP] [2021] by Weval
Old No. 1 [1975] by Guy Clark
Prize//Reward [2018] by Good Morning
If I Am Only My Thoughts [2020] by Loving
LOVING [EP] [2016] by Loving
Loving in Stereo [2021] by Jungle
Vignettes [2017] by Damu the Fudgemunk
Conversation Peace [2021] by Damu the Fudgemunk
Star-Crossed [2021] by Kacey Musgraves
Untourable Album [2021] by Men I Trust
Modern Lovers '88 [1988] by Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers
If This Isn't Nice, I Don't Know What Is [2021] by Still Woozy
Mamari [2021] by Muito Kaballa Power Ensemble
Köln, Germany, February (Live) [1975] by Terry Riley & Don Cherry
Mood Valiant [2021] by Hiatus Kaiyote
Music [2021] by Benny Sings
The Space Lady's Greatest Hits [2013] by The Space Lady
I Know I'm Funny ha ha [2021] by Faye Webster
Thru My Window [2021] by Your Grandparents
Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds [2019] by Vegyn
Veteran [2018] by JPEGMafia
Doomin' Sun [2021] by Bachelor
Black Friday [2019] by Palehound
Secret Name [1999] by Low
Things We Lost in the Fire [2001] by Low
Seek Shelter [2021] by Iceage
The Off-Season [2021] by J Cole
Diptych [2021] by Growing
Vulture Prince [2021] by Arooj Aftab
Ice Melt [2021] by Crumb
Bug [1988] by Dinosaur Jr
Playing With Fire [1989] by Spacemen 3
Lazer Guided Melodies [1992] by Spiritualized
Orbvs Terrarvm [1995] by The Orb
Electrically Possessed [2021] by Stereolab
Yellow Magic Orchestra [1978] by Yellow Magic Orchestra
Solid State Survivor [1979] by Yellow Magic Orchestra
BGM [1981] by Yellow Magic Orchestra
A Rainbow in Curved Air & Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band [1968] by Terry Riley
Promises [2021] by Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders
The Coming [1996] by Busta Rhymes
Supa Dupa Fly [1997] by Missy Elliot
The Lo-Fis [2020] by Steve Lacy
Fear [1974] by John Cale
La Perla [2021] by Sofia Kourtesis
Vertigo Days [2021] by The Notwist
Sticky Thumb [2021] by Hether
Immunity [2013] by Jon Hopkins
The Moon and the Melodies [1986] by Harold Budd & Cocteau Twins
The Pearl [1984] by Harold Budd
Ambient, Vol. 2: The Plateaux Of Mirror [1979] by Harold Budd & Brian Eno
Mount Vision [2018] by Emily Sprague
The Sacrificial Code [2019] by Kali Malone
Sound Ancestors [2021] by Madlib
2017 - 2019 [2020] by Against All Logic
2012 - 2017 [2018] by Against All Logic
Holy Pond [2020] by Flora Yin-Wong
Hill, Flower, Fog [2020] by Emily Sprague
Peel [EP] [2020] by KMRU
Double Bind [2020] by Geneva Skeen
Because of a Flower [2020] by Ana Roxanne
Six Songs For Invisible Gardens [2020] by Green-House
7G [2020] by A.G. Cook
Parallel [2020] by Four Tet
Be [2020] by Jogging House

2020 Albums

Bricolage [1997] by Amon Tobin
Hannah [2020] by Lomelda
Ampersands [2020] by mei ehara
SIGN [2020] by Autechre
Ctrl [2017] by SZA
Blonde [2016] by Frank Ocean
Magic Oneohtrix Point Never [2020] by Oneohtrix Point Never
songs [2020] by Adrienne Lenker
Syro [2014] by Aphex Twin
Apolonio [2020] by Omar Apollo
The Outsiders [2017] by Ross from Friends
Om Shanti Om [1976] by Don Cherry
Eternal Now [1974] by Don Cherry
Acid Mt. Fuji [1994] by Susumu Yokota
Zen [1994] by Ebi aka Susumu Yokota
The Dead Texan [2004] by The Dead Texan
The Weighing of the Heart [2013] by Colleen
And Their Refinement of the Decline [2007] by Stars of the Lid
The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid [2001] by Stars of the Lid
Homegrown [2020] by Neil Young
Abracadabra [2020] by Jerry Paper
The End Of Comedy [2016] by Drugdealer
U.F.O.F. [2019] by Big Thief
Iss006 [2020] by Skee Mask
Iss005 [2020] by Skee Mask
Look Up Sharp by Carla dal Forno
Top of the Pops [EP] by Carla dal Forno
Anicca [2019] by Teeb
Zombie [1977] by Fela Kuti & the Africa '70
Gentleman [1973] by Fela Kuti & the Africa '70
Open & Close [1971] by Fela Kuti & the Africa '70
Roforofo Fight [1972] by Fela Kuti & the Africa '70
Why Black Man Dey Suffer [1971] by Fela Kuti & the Africa '70
Talking Book [1972] by Stevie Wonder
Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? [2020] by The Soft Pink Truth
Colossal Youth [1979] by Young Marble Giants
The Raincoats [1978] by The Raincoats
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus [1964] by Charles Mingus
Untrue [2007] by Burial
Suite for Max Brown [2020] by Jeff Parker
Cannonball's Sharpshooters [1958] by Cannonball Adderley
Scenes and Sketches from the Lab [2018] by SCNTST
RTJ4 [2020] by Run the Jewels
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One [1970] by The Kinks
how i'm feeling now [2020] by Charli XCX
Tim [1985] by The Replacements
Desire [1976] by Bob Dylan
Music From the Edge of an Island [2019] by Luke Abbott
Lunatic Harness [1996] by mu-ziq
Cymande [1972] by Cymande
Radio Ethiopia [1976] by Patti Smith Group
Cloud Room, Glass Room [2013] by Pan-American
Fly Me to the Moon [1969] by Bobby Womack
Innervisions [1973] by Stevie Wonder
Amber [1994] by Autechre
Drukqs [2001] by Aphex Twin
Stay Down [1998] by Two Lone Swordsmen
Heaven to a Tortured Mind [2020] by Yves Tumor
Safe in the Hands of Love [2018] by Yves Tumor
Settle [2013] by Disclosure
The Kinks Are the Village Green Society [1968] by The Kinks
Crooks & Lovers by Mount Kimbie
Radio Amor [2003] by Tim Hecker
Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again [2001] by Tim Hecker
A Written Testimony [2020] by Jay Electronica
Conference of Trees [2020] by Pantha Du Prince
Sixteen Oceans [2020] by Four Tet
All Things Must Pass [1970] by George Harrison
The Legendary Riverside Albums [2019] by Chet Baker
Suddenly [2020] by Caribou
Captain of None [2015] by Colleen
[self-titled] [2012] by Jessica Pratt
Heaven or Las Vegas [1990] by Cocteau Twins
Water Memory [2017] by Emily Sprague
Forgotten Hill [2019] by Chihei Hatakeyama
Love What Survives [2017] by Mount Kimbie
Constant Hitmaker [2008] by Kurt Vile

2019 Albums

Iowa Dream [2019] by Arthur Russell
Compro [2018] by Skee Mask
Bridges [EP] [2019] by Kiefer
Superbloom [EP] [2019] by Kiefer
Flight Patterns [2018] by Marley Carroll
Flux [1981] by Robert Turman
Aerial Ballet [1968] by Harry Nilsson
Antiphon [2007] by Alfa Mist
Young Americans [1975] by David Bowie
The Return [2019] by Sampa the Great
Metronomy Forever [2019] by Metronomy
Let the Sun Talk [2019] by mavi
Crush [2019] by Floating Points
Paraiso [1978] by Haruomi Hosono & the Yellow Magic Band
Philharmony [1982] by Haruomi Hosono
Juju [1981] by Siouxsie and the Banshees
Mangy Love [2016] by Cass McCombs
All Mirrors [2019] by Angel Olsen
Sleep Cycle [2016] by Deakin
Fields [2010] by Junip
Close It Quietly [2019] by Frankie Cosmos
House of Sugar [2019] by (Sandy) Alex G
Mirrorland [2019] by Earthgang
Forever Turned Around [2019] by Whitney
How To Live [2019] by Modern Nature
What Chaos Is Imaginary [2019] by Girlpool
Volume 5 by Dur-Dur Band
Anima [2019] by Thom Yorke
[self-titled] [1997] by Aerial M
Revenge of the Dreamers III [2019] by Dreamville & J. Cole
A Bath Full of Ecstasy [2019] by Hot Chip
Jessica Pratt [2019] by Jessica Pratt
Reward [2019] by Cate Le Bon
Jinx [2019] by Crumb
Apollo XXI [2019] by Steve Lacy
Atlanta Millionaires Club [2019] by Faye Webster
Flamagra [2019] by Flying Lotus
Lately [EP] [2019] by Still Woozy
Live From a Shark Cage [1999] by Papa M
Yawn Zen [2014] by Mndsgn
Crab Day [2016] by Cate Le Bon
Buoys [2019] by Panda Bear
City Pop [2019] by Benny Sings
Titanic Rising [2019] by Weyes Blood
Souvlaki [1994] by Slowdive
Honey Oat [2019] by Honey Oat
Stratosphere [1998] by Duster
The Weight [2019] by Weval
La Bella Vista [2005] by Harold Budd
Golden Hour [2018] by Kacey Musgraves
Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? [2019] by Deerhunter
Tracks and Traces [1976] by Brian Eno & Harmonia
Rat's Spit [2019] by Julian Lynch
Soul Trash [2019] by Toro Y Moi
Outer Peace [2019] by Toro Y Moi
Sparkle Hard [2018] by Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
Bottle It In [2018] by Kurt Vile

2018 Albums

Expert Knob Twiddlers [1996] by Mike & Rich
Oxnard [2018] by Anderson .Paak
Childqueen [2018] by Kadhja Bonet
Room 25 [2018] by Noname
Finding Shore [2017] by Tom Rogerson & Brian Eno
Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records [2001] by Jan Jelinek
[self-titled] [2018] by The Messthetics
Honey [2018] by Robyn
Heaven and Earth [2018] by Kamasi Washington
Live at the Austin Outhouse by Blaze Foley
In a Silent Way [1969] by Miles Davis
Music for Nine Post Cards [1982] by Hiroshi Yoshimura
Green [1986] by Hiroshi Yoshimura
Replicas [1979] by Tubeway Army
And Nothing Hurt [2018] by Spiritualized
Geogaddi [2002] by Boards of Canada
Music Has the Right to Children [1998] by Boards of Canada
What Now [2017] by Sylvan Esso
[self-titled] [2014] by Sylvan Esso
Superclean Vol. II [2018] by The Marìas
Superclean Vol. I [2017] by The Marìas
I Need to Start a Garden [2018] by Haley Hendrickx
[self-titled] [1975] by Di Melo
Samba Esquema Nova [1963] by Jorge Ben
Força Bruta [1970] by Jorge Ben
Happysad [2018] by Kiefer
Dedicated To Bobby Jameson [2017] by Ariel Pink
(It Was) Because I Was in Love... [2017] by Sharon Van Etten
Age Of [2018] by Oneohtrix Point Never
Tell Me How You Really Feel [2018] by Courtney Barnett
God Is Saying This To You... [2009] by Kurt Vile
If Blue Could Be Happiness [2017] by Florist
Persona [2018] by Rival Consoles
Haiku From Zero [2017] by Cut Copy
Vessel [2018] by Frankie Cosmos
Sex & Food [2018] by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Room Inside the World [2018] by Ought
Cluster & Eno [1977] by Cluster and Brian Eno
Leave Me Alone [2016] by Hinds
Twin Fantasy [2018] by Car Seat Headrest
Phases [2017] by Angel Olsen
Next Thing [2016] by Frankie Cosmos
Powerplant [2017] by Girlpool
Somerset Avenue Tracks (1992 - 1995) [2013] by mu-ziq

2017 Albums

Modern Driveway [EP] [2012] by Luke Abbott
Wysing Forest [2014] by Luke Abbott
Holkham Drones [2010] by Luke Abbott
Black Noise [2010] by Pantha du Prince
Diamond Daze [2011] by Pantha du Prince
Weval [2016] by Weval
Joli Mai [2017] by Daphni
Mise En Place [2017] by Alex Napping
Lotta Sea Lice [2017] by Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile
MASSEDUCTION [2017] by St. Vincent
Liquid Swords [?] by GZA
ATLiens [1996] by Outkast
Pink [2012] by Four Tet
Rocket [2017] by (Sandy) Alex G
Run the Jewels 3 [2016] by Run the Jewels
1983 [?] by Flying Lotus
Spare time [2008] by Damu The Fudgemunk
The Disintegration Loops by William Basinski
Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill [2011] by Grouper
Skiptracing [2016] by Mild High Club
Timeline [2015] by Mild High Club
Replica [2011] by Oneohtrix Point Never
Sales [2016] by Sales
XTLP [2014] by µ-Ziq
Blood Visions [2006] by Jay Reatard
The Iceberg [2017] by Oddisee
Glue Trip [2015] by Glue Trip
World Spirituality Classics 1: ... [2017] by Alice Coltrane
Abandoned Mansion [2017] by Dr. Dog
Steve Lacy's Demo [?] by Steve Lacy
DAMN. [2017] by Kendrick Lamar
The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid [2001] by Stars of the Lid
All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ [2017] by Joey Badass
Who Is William Onyeabor? [2013] by William Onyeabor
Elaenia [2015] by Floating Points
Big Pop For Chameleon World [2014] by Jerry Paper
Tune Time Raw! [2016] by Jerry Paper
Fuzzy Logic [?] by Jerry Paper
Drunk [2017] by Thundercat
Black on Both Sides [?] by Mos Def
Fresh Air [2017] by Homeshake
The Photographer [1982] by Philip Glass
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill [1998] by Lauryn Hill
New York–Addis–London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965–1975 [2009] by Mulatu Astatke
4 Your Eyez Only [2016] by J. Cole
Solid Gold [1981] by Gang of Four
Under the Bushes Under the Stars [1996] by Guided by Voices
American Beauty [1970] by Grateful Dead

2016 Albums

Emotion [1995] by Papa Wemba
Scenery [1976] by Ryo Fukui
Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space [1997] by Spiritualized
Melted by Ty Segall
Maggot Brain [1971] by Funkadelic
Through The Looking Glass [1983] by Midori Takada
Odyssey [2014] by HOME
Nocturne [2012] by Wild Nothing
Beach Fossils [2010] by Beach Fossils
Fratres [1977] by Arvo Part
Turiya Sings [1982] by Alice Coltrane
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 [1992] by Aphex Twin
Dots and Loops by Stereolab
Help [2009] by Thee Oh Sees
Sun Coming Down [2015] by Ought
Evening Star [1975] by Fripp & Eno
Electric Warrior [1971] by T. Rex
Entertainment! [1979] by Gang of Four
2014 Forest Hills Drive [2014] by J. Cole
Viet Cong [2015] by Viet Cong
Tonight's the Night [1975] by Neil Young
Selected Ambient Works Volume II [1994] by Aphex Twin
Modern Lovers 'Live' [1978] by The Modern Lovers
1999 [2012] by Joey Badass
Born Sinner [2013] by J. Cole
Nat Love [2016] by Kweku Collins
A Seat at the Table [2016] by Solange
The Visitor [2016] by Kadhja Bonet
Lemonade [2016] by Beyonce
Kindness for Weakness [2016] by Homeboy Sandman
The Catastrophist [2016] by Tortoise
Painting With [2016] by Animal Collective
Teens of Denial [2016] by Car Seat Headrest
The Birds Outside Sang [2016] by Florist
Perks [2016] by Redspencer
The Psychedelic Swamp [2016] by Dr. Dog
My Woman [2016] by Angel Olsen
A Moon Shaped Pool [2016] by Radiohead

2015 Albums

Beautiful Rewind [2013] by Four Tet
Rock And Roll Juice [2014] by Ciggie Witch
Playing With Fire [1989] by Spaceman 3
Brokeback and the Black Rock [2013] by Brokeback
Caramel [2013] by Connan Mockasin
Locus [2014] by Chicago Underground Duo
Ambivalence Avenue [2009] by Bibio
Apollo [1983] by Brian Eno
[self-titled] [2011] by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Monster Movie [1969] by Can
Who's Your New Professor [2005] by Sam Prekop
The Noise Made By People [2000] by Broadcast
Burn Your Fire For No Witness [2014] by Angel Olsen
Day of the Dog [2013] by Ezra Furman
Future Days [1973] by Can
II [2013] by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Vintage Violence [1970] by John Cale
Beach Music [2015] by Alex G
Fading Frontier [2015] by Deerhunter
Another One [2015] by Mac Demarco
By Dom Kennedy [2015] by Dom Kennedy
Morning / Evening [2015] by Four Tet
b'lieve i'm going down... [2015] by Kurt Vile
Why Make Sense? [2015] by Hot Chip
The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam [2015] by Thundercat
The Republic [2015] by Sam Prekop
Range Anxiety [2015] by Twerps
Melbourne, Florida [2015] by Dick Diver
Many Levels of Laughter [2015] by J Fernandez
The Message [2015] by Kamasi Washington
The Witness [2015] by The Eastern Sea
Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit [2015] by Courtney Barnett
Currents [2015] by Tame Impala
Summertime '06 [2015] by Vince Staples
Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper [2015] by Panda Bear
Multi-Love [2015] by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
To Pimp a Butterfly [2015] by Kendrick Lamar

2014 Albums

Tomorrow's Hits [2014] by The Men
Sunbathing Animal [2014] by Parquet Courts
Glad Music [1986] by R Stevie Moore
94 Diskont [1995] by Oval
Storytone (acoustic) [2014] by Neil Young
[self-titled] [1979] by Rita Lee
This Land [1994] by Bill Frisell
Odetta and the Blues [1962] by Odetta
More Than Any Other Day [2014] by Ought
pom pom [2014] by Ariel Pink
You're Dead! [2014] by Flying Lotus
Love is Overtaking Me [2008] by Arthur Russell
What The F*ck Is A Jay Electronica [2009] by Jay Electronica
Law and Order [1981] by Lindsey Buckingham
Slave Ambient [2014] by The War on Drugs
Gideon Gaye [1994] by The High Llamas
Can't Buy a Thrill [1972] by Steely Dan
Solo Piano [1989] by Philip Glass
Red [1974] by King Crimson
Milestones [1959] by Miles Davis
Ocean Songs [1998] by Dirty Three
Salad Days [2014] by Mac DeMarco
Atlas [2014] by Real Estate
J Stay Paid [2009] by J Dilla
[self-titled] [2014] by PRhyme
Everest Records Archive of Folk & Jazz Music [1970] by Sarah Vaughan
[self-titled] [1969] by Townes Van Zandt
Smiley Smile / Wild Honey [1967] by The Beach Boys
In the Shower [2014] by Homeshake
Songs of Love and Hate [1971] by Leonard Cohen
Nancy [2014] by Purples
La Isla Bonita [2014] by Deerhoof
Heavy Profession [2009] by St Helens
[self-titled] [2014] by St. Vincent
Passages [1990] by Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar
Section.80 [2011] by Kendrick Lamar
Journey in Satchidananda [1970] by Alice Coltrane
Piñata [2014] by Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
Tusk [1979] by Fleetwood Mac
Donuts [2006] by J Dilla
[self-titled] [2014] by Bad History Month
Tender Buttons [2005] by Broadcast
Phases and Stages [1974] by Willie Nelson
First of a Living Breed [2012] by Homeboy Sandman
Our Love [2014] by Caribou

2013 Albums

Beware and Be Grateful [2012] by Maps & Atlases
Jiaolong [2012] by Daphni
Spaced Out [2012] by Ketamines
Art for Sale [EP] [1997] by Count Bass D
Batholith [2011] by Whiskey Shivers
Calendar Days [2013] by Dick Diver
Grownass Man [2013] by The Shouting Matches
I See a Darkness [1999] by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Big Wheel and Others by Cass McCombs
B Room [2013] by Dr. Dog
II - From the Westside, With Love [2011] by Dom Kennedy
11/19/12 [2012] by Chocolate Lab
Mellow Cruisers [2012] by Audacity
Children of the Future [1968] by Steve Miller Band
9 songs [2013] by Daniel Francis Doyle and The Dreamers
An Awesome Wave [2012] by Alt-J
Images Du Futur [2013] by Suuns
Light Up Gold [2012] by Parquet Courts
Stray Currents [EP] [2013] by Baptism of Uzi
Wondrous Bughouse [2013] by Youth Lagoon
The Slow Wonder [2004] by A.C. Newman
The Moonlight Butterfly [2011] by The Sea and Cake
Monomania [2013] by Deerhunter
Acid Rap [2013] by Chance The Rapper
Solos (1940) [1990] by Art Tatum
The Terror [2013] by The Flaming Lips
Classic Blues [1993] by The Blues Collection Vol. 9: Bessie Smith
Deep Time [2012] by Deep Time
Floating Coffin [2013] by Thee Oh Sees
Lines [2013] by Julian Lynch
Yeezus [2013] by Kanye West
Jungle Music [1993] by The Blues Collection Vol. 5: Bo Diddley
Twins [2012] by Ty Segall
Roll the Bones [2011] by Shakey Graves
Brilliant Corners [1956] by Thelonius Monk
Face to Face [1966] by The Kinks
Statesboro Blues [1995] by The Blues Collection Vol. 43: Blind Willie McTell
Mug Museum [2013] by Cate Le Bon
Carry the Wood [EP] [2005] by The Teeth
Soul Food [1995] by Goodie Mob
good kid, m.A.A.d. city [2012] by Kendrick Lamar
Wakin on a Pretty Daze [2013] by Kurt Vile

2012 Albums

The Idler Wheel... [2012] by Fiona Apple
T.I.M.E. [1993] by Leaders of the New School
Amazonico Gravitante [2012] by Mati Zundel
Diesel and Dust [1987] by Midnight Oil
Convicts [2006] by You Am I
Humor Risk [2011] by Cass McCombs
Pre-Life Crisis [2005] by Count Bass D
Innerspeaker [2010] by Tame Impala
Symphony in D minor [1888] by Franck
Echoes of Silence [2011] by The Weeknd
Smoke Ring for My Halo [2011] by Kurt Vile
Palimpsest [1981] by Essendon Airport
Bedroom Databank Vol. I, II, III [2010] by Atlas Sound
Henge Beat [2011] by Total Control
Silent Hour/Golden Mile EP [2012] by Daniel Rossen
Double Natural [2012] by Boomgates
Bloom [2012] by Beach House
Be the Void [2012] by Dr. Dog
[self-titled] [2001] by Major Organ and the Adding Machine
Until the Quiet Comes [2012] by Flying Lotus
[complete recordings] [1993] by Kleenex/LiLiPuT
Gossip [1986] by Paul Kelly
[self-titled] [1980] by The Birthday Party
Ex Tropical [2011] by Lost Animal
Centipede Hz [2012] by Animal Collective
Horse Stories [1996] by Dirty Three
In Our Heads [2012] by Hot Chip
[self-titled] [2001] by Chicago Underground Quartet
Shields [2012] by Grizzly Bear
Key to the Kuffs [2012] by JJ DOOM
Tramp [2012] by Sharon van Etten
The Jazz Workshop Concerts, 1964-65 [1965] by Charles Mingus
WIXIW [2012] by Liars
Live at the Pershing: But Not For Me [1958] by Ahmad Jamal
Breakup Song [2012] by Deerhoof
Cut [1979] by The Slits
Days [2011] by Real Estate
Armed Forces [1979] by Elvis Costello
Rework: Philip Glass Remixed [2012] by Philip Glass
Love This Giant [2012] by David Byrne and St. Vincent
Lonerism [2012] by Tame Impala
Mature Themes [2012] by Ariel Pink
Fucking Despair [2011] by Fat History Month
Dwight Spitz [2002] by Count Bass D
[self-titled] [1985] by Beat Happening

2011 Albums

Kaputt [2011] by Destroyer
Ritual Union [2011] by Little Dragon
Father, Son, Holy Ghost [2011] by Girls
Helplessness Blues [2011] by Fleet Foxes
The Whole Love [2011] by Wilco
Wolfroy Goes to Town [2011] by Bonnie Prince Billy
Tassili [2011] by Tinariwen
[self-titled] [2011] by Twerps
[self-titled] [2011] by James Blake
Shangri-La [2011] by YACHT
[self-titled] [2011] by Bon Iver
Watch the Throne [2011] by Kanye West & Jay-Z
New Start Again [2011] by Dick Diver
The King of Limbs [2011] by Radiohead
Biophilia [2011] by Bjork
w h o k i l l [2011] by tUnE-yArDs
undun [2011] by The Roots
House of Balloons [2011] by The Weeknd
Goblin [2011] by Tyler, The Creator
Deerhoof vs. Evil [2011] by Deerhoof
Tomboy [2011] by Panda Bear
goal oriented music [2011] by Jason Murphy
Parallax [2011] by Atlas Sound
D [2011] by White Denim
Mirror Traffic [2011] by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
Strange Mercy [2011] by St. Vincent

2010 Albums

There is Love in You [2010] by Four Tet
Penny Sparkle [2010] by Blonde Redhead
Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty [2010] by Big Boi
Plastic Beach [2010] by Gorillaz
One Life Stand [2010] by Hot Chip
Dark Night of the Soul [2010] by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse
Perch Patchwork [2010] by Maps & Atlases
Swim [2010] by Caribou
Have One on Me [2010] by Joanna Newsom
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [2010] by Kanye West
Sisterworld [2010] by Liars
Halcyon Digest [2010] by Deerhunter
The Archandroid [2010] by Janelle Monae
Teen Dream [2010] by Beach House
Shame, Shame [2010] by Dr. Dog
Cosmogramma [2010] by Flying Lotus
Last Day of Summer [2010] by White Denim

2009 Albums

Rain Machine [2009] by Rain Machine
Hospice [2009] by The Antlers
No More Stories... [2009] by Mew
Unmap [2009] by Volcano Choir
Farm [2009] by Dinosaur Jr.
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [2009] by Phoenix
Wilco (The Album) [2009] by Wilco
Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free [2009] by Akron/Family
Love 2 [2009] by Air
Album [2009] by Girls
Born Like This [2009] by DOOM
Popular Songs [2009] by Yo La Tengo
The Crying Light [2009] by Antony & the Johnsons
Dark Night of the Soul [2009] by Sparklehorse (with Danger Mouse)
Other Truths [2009] by Do Make Say Think
Logos [2009] by Atlas Sound
Catacombs [2009] by Cass McCombs
Signal Morning [2009] by Circulatory System
Fits [2009] by White Denim
Actor [2009] by St. Vincent
Embryonic [2009] by Flaming Lips
Veckatimest [2009] by Grizzly Bear
The Ecstatic [2009] by Mos Def
Beacons of Ancestorship [2009] by Tortoise
Merriweather Post Pavilion [2009] by Animal Collective

2008 Albums

[self-titled, aka Red Album] [2008] by Weezer
Santogold [2008] by Santogold
Antidotes [2008] by Foals
Stay Positive [2008] by The Hold Steady
You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into [2008] by Does It Offend You, Yeah?
The Odd Couple [2008] by Gnarls Barkley
Digi Snacks [2008] by RZA as Bobby Digital
[self-titled] [2008] by Conor Oberst
Car Alarm [2008] by The Sea & Cake
Walk if Off [2008] by Tapes n Tapes
Jamais la Paix [2008] by Mademoiselle K
[self-titled] [2008] by Flight of the Conchords
The Hawk is Howling [2008] by Mogwai
Universal Mind Control [2008] by Common
LP3 [2008] by Ratatat
Rabbit Habits [2008] by Man Man
Thing of the Past [2008] by Vetiver
Evil Urges [2008] by My Morning Jacket
808s & heartbreak [2008] by Kanye West
Dear Science [2008] by TV on the Radio
Third [2008] by Portishead
Rising Down [2008] by The Roots
Receivers [2008] by Parts & Labor
Life Like [2008] by The Rosebuds
Devotion [2008] by Beach House
Heretic Pride [2008] by The Mountain Goats
Trouble in Dreams [2008] by Destroyer
Modern Guilt [2008] by Beck
Oracular Spectacular [2008] by MGMT
[self-titled] [2008] by Vampire Weekend
Ode to Sunshine [2008] by Delta Spirit
You and Me and the Mountain [2008] by Maps & Atlases
Fate [2008] by Dr. Dog
The Renaissance [2008] by Q-Tip
Passed Away Vol. 1 [2008] by Dr. Dog
Parc Avenue [2008] by Plants and Animals
Offend Maggie [2008] by Deerhoof
Dreaming of Revenge [2008] by Kaki King
Made in the Dark [2008] by Hot Chip
[self-titled] [2008] by Fleet Foxes
For Emma, Forever Ago [2008] by Bon Iver

2007 Albums

In Our Bedroom After the War [2007] by Stars
Cookies [2007] by 1990s
Living with the Living [2007] by Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
Pocket Symphony [2007] by Air
Myth Takes [2007] by !!!
You, You're a History in Rust [2007] by Do Make Say Think
FutureSex/LoveSound [2007] by Justin Timberlake
PROG [2007] by The Bad Plus
Some Loud Thunder [2007] by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Everybody [2007] by The Sea and Cake
Volta [2007] by Bjork
Graduation [2007] by Kanye West
Together We're Heavy [2007] by The Polyphonic Spree
All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone [2007] by Explosions in the Sky
SK2 [2007] by Simple Kid
Sky Blue Sky [2007] by Wilco
23 [2007] by Blonde Redhead
Mirrors [2007] by Battles
Sound of Silver [2007] by LCD Soundsystem
Friend and Foe [2007] by Menomena
Kala [2007] by M.I.A.
Armchair Apocrypha [2007] by Andrew Bird
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank [2007] by Modest Mouse
Neon Bible [2007] by Arcade Fire
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga [2007] by Spoon
Writer's Block [2007] by Peter Bjorn and John
Andorra [2007] by Caribou
We All Belong [2007] by Dr. Dog
In Rainbows [2007] by Radiohead

2024 Movies

Dune: Part Two
date: Mar 15, 2024
where:
AMC Assembly Row 12
comments: This movie was SO LOUD. I blame the theater (we saw it in IMAX). It was also SO LONG. Plus thirty minutes of trailers at the beginning. Why does every movie we want to see in theaters now require taking half a day off of work to see? Anyway, sorry, I really loved this movie. As Jess pointed out, where Part One was slow and hypnotic, this one was so loud and fast and full of explosions. Still, it was good. There were two scenes that really blew me away: First, the scene where Paul becomes all aggro and is like NO ONE CAN DEFEAT ME. It was awesome (in the literal meaning) and terrifying and fascinating. Everything leading up to that part too. And then the second scene was when he first rides a worm. So thrilling and fun. Man what a good pair of movies, this one and the first.
Dune: Part One
date: Mar 13, 2024 – Mar 14, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: How is this movie so slow and yet so GOOD?! Also Chalamet is such an awkward teenage alien and yet somehow also good?
Office Space
date: Mar 12, 2024
where:
United Airlines
comments: Entertaining, but to be honest I probably never actually cracked a smile. Interesting that there were two future Veep actors in this movie.
The Bad Guys [part]
date: Feb 19, 2024
where:
Bailey
The Breakfast Club
date: Feb 12, 2024 – Feb 13, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: The font used in the title credits is so good. It seems to be Bernhard Gothic maybe? It's awesome. Anyway, this movie was still just as entertaining as I remembered it being. And it's so quiet! Just the dialogue, but with lots of silences. All the characters are just so fun to watch. There's lot of silent emoting. It's just kind of hypnotizing. The only part I didn't like was the monologue near the end from Emilio Estevez about why he got sent to detention.
School of Rock
date: Feb 05, 2024 – Feb 07, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: This was way better than I remembered/expected. So wholesome but actually genuinely fun/funny. The song during the end credits is great. Seems like those kids are genuinely musicians?
The Conversation
date: Feb 01, 2024 – Feb 02, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: I liked this less than I remembered liking it, but I still thought it was pretty good. Nice tone. But a little slow, and honestly, the worst fake saxophone playing I've ever seen. Comically bad even.
Murder on the Orient Express
date: Jan 18, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: Man, what a solution to the mystery! And such a fun one too. I guess I was 2/12ths right, in terms of who I guessed was the guilty one. The funny thing is that the train director guy who shouts "They did it!" after each interview---he was actually right every time!
Mad Max: Fury Road
date: Jan 13, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: What an incredible movie---I can't believe I didn't like it the first time! Though I do agree with my first assessment that it is a pretty funny plot: We drive one way, and then we turn around and drive right back.
Strange Days (1995)
date: Jan 11, 2024 – Jan 12, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: This was great, and really fun! I really warmed up to it. Pretty rare that a movie can have such a slow first act and still end up being good. Though I definitely think the movie could be drastically cut to be like two hours long instead of 2.5 hours. Anyway, this movie's aesthetic was perfect---you could tell from the fonts alone. Also, fun trivia is that this movie is the source of the main sample in Fatboy Slim's "Right here, right now."
X-Men (2000)
date: Jan 07, 2024 – Jan 08, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: For a superhero movie from 2000, this was surprisingly good! The toad character is so funny/ridiculous too.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
date: Jan 04, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: We watched this totally randomly, since we had no options but this one also had good reviews. All-star cast, but I had no idea what the relevant back stories were. Such a random vibe to this movie too.
The Nice Guys
date: Jan 02, 2024 – Jan 03, 2024
where:
Bailey
comments: I had very low expectations for this one. Netflix recommended it to me for a long time, and it just felt like it thought I was a sucker. (Of course I love Ryan Gosling, of course I love Russell Crowe!) But actually, we loved it! I was not expecting how goofy it was, and we had lots of good laughs. Bad/dumb plot, but very fun to watch.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
date: Jan 19, 2024
where:
Delta Airlines
Bailey
comments: It's the score! That's what I love about this movie. I didn't realize it until I watched a video about the last song, and now re-watching it from the beginning has really sealed it in for me: The score and songs are amazing, and often really moving to me.
Barbie
date: Jan 14, 2024
where:
United Airlines
Bailey
comments: Meh. Though I did finally understand why Ryan Gosling was cast as Ken once it got to the mojo dojo casa house part. That was pretty funny. Overall though, I agree with Jess that the vibe was kinda "Feminism 101."

2023 Movies

Elf
date: Dec 25, 2023
where:
5441W
Deck the Halls [part]
date: Dec 23, 2023
where:
5441W
comments: Has to be up there in a list of the worst movies ever.
Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker
date: Dec 21, 2023 – Dec 22, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This was the worst one. I don't even know what these people are saying half the time, it's so meaningless.
Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi
date: Dec 18, 2023 – Dec 20, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Too corny. The Rey/Kylo battle was cool, but otherwise, so many corny/cringey lines and moments. And man Laura Dern's character was horrible.
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens
date: Dec 16, 2023 – Dec 17, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Still thought it was pretty good, even though I've seen it 4 times now. Leia and Han's scenes together are definitely the worst though.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
date: Dec 26, 2023
where:
Bailey
5441W
comments: Way more fun than I expected it to be. Bowser's song had us all laughing.
The Killer
date: Nov 23, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: I had fun watching it, but the ending was very weird. Almost like the end of a TV episode instead of a movie. Why did he not kill him? I'm confused. Also Tilda Swinton's death was cool, but the whole part with her just felt like a cameo rather than part of the movie. Lots of unnecessary references to corporations. Similar to Fight Club maybe in that way.
Gone Girl
date: Oct 22, 2023 – Oct 23, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Great movie, I'm just sad we had to watch in two different sittings. Amazing how a movie with only a single act of violence at the very end can feel like a horror movie basically from the very beginning.
Killers of the Flower Moon
date: Oct 20, 2023
where:
IMAX, Jordan's Furniture, Reading, MA
comments: I enjoyed this. It was so great seeing this on such a nice imax screen (the landscape scenes were the parts that this stood out to me most). Overall, I felt like the trailer really threw me off on what to expect, because I thought Leo was going to be the good guy! I loved Molly, and wish she hadn't been drugged out of her mind for so much of the movie. My main criticism is that I wasn't very moved, emotionally, even though I really expected to be when the movie started out. I feel like I'd like to see a version of this movie co-directed by P. T. Anderson and Jordan Peele. Finally: If a movie is more than 3 hours long, you need to have an intermission.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
date: Oct 19, 2023 – Oct 22, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: I don't think I'd ever seen this before? It was fun. The vampires were my favorite. Jordan liked Jack.
Reptile
date: Oct 18, 2023 – Oct 19, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This is what I get for randomly picking a movie on Netflix, I guess. The best part of this movie was Benicio del Toro saying what should have been the movie's title: "Piece of shit real estate agent." Benicio del Toro was also great. But otherwise, this was a pretty bad movie. Just all over the place.
Edge of Tomorrow
date: Oct 13, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
favorite
Heathers [part]
date: Oct 01, 2023
where:
Bailey
Spirited Away
date: Sep 17, 2023 – Sep 18, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: The boys definitely aren't old enough for this one (Jess's reason for screening this). It was so different than I remembered! I liked it a lot, though I don't really understand what trait it is of Chihiro's that lets her connect with the "bad guys" when everyone else cannot.
The Dark Knight
date: Aug 26, 2023 – Aug 27, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Still so good, with so many good Joker pranks and moments.
Batman Begins
date: Aug 23, 2023 – Aug 24, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Great. Not much to say, except that I'll be sad when Katie Holmes gets replaced in the next movie.
The Outsiders
date: Aug 19, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie was so surprising and interesting. So many famous men in it. I loved the camera angles and the shots in general. Also just in terms of quality it almost felt like maybe this was Francis Ford Coppola's first movie, when in fact it was made after his most famous movies.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
date: Aug 15, 2023 – Aug 16, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: The music was so different in this one! Way more obscure songs on average, I thought. As for the story, I was a little disappointed: No Rocket really, and a different dynamic in general for the whole crew. Also the whole animal torture thing just seemed like a little too much. Like cheap shots. I didn't like that.
Finding Nemo
date: Aug 14, 2023 – Aug 16, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: I think this was my first time watching this all the way through? It was pretty good, definitely teared up in a few spots (though I'm a sucker for parents/kids stuff now). The sea turtles were by far the best part.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
date: Aug 13, 2023
where:
AMC Assembly Row 12
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
date: Aug 09, 2023 – Aug 10, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This series is soooo so good about using fairly common classic rock songs and making them feel so fresh and incredible. Also, I forgot about this iconic line: "I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!"
Lego Batman Movie [part]
date: Jul 31, 2023
where:
Bailey
They Cloned Tyrone
date: Jul 27, 2023 – Jul 28, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Really fun and reminded me of so many movies and TV shows: Attack of the Block, Westworld, Stranger Things...
Oppenheimer
date: Jul 26, 2023
where:
AMC Assembly Row 12
comments: Very good, with some really great scenes. The one that stuck with me most is the speech he gives right after the bomb drops, and he starts hallucinating so it's unclear who is cheering versus mourning. Also the Trinity project scene, where it's pure silence. I wish we'd been able to see it on an IMAX screen, but oh well.
Source Code
date: Jul 24, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Found this movie when looking for movies like Edge of Tomorrow, and that is definitely true about this movie. Although, definitely super corny and predictable at times. But still a very fun idea so we had a blast watching it despite the trite parts.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse [part]
date: Jul 15, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: I was so bored within the first five minutes. And the wigs just make it kinda unwatchable for some reason. Will not finish.
Twilight: New Moon
date: Jul 11, 2023 – Jul 12, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie is so much more angsty and serious than the first one. Way fewer awkward scenes, and way less fun, but still somehow cringy enough to be very entertaining. I'm still team vampire, but MAN is Edward just the most gaslighting, uptight dick ever. It's pretty entertaining how absolutely unlikable he is, just in terms of the words he says to Bella alone. It's so funny.
Twilight
date: Jul 08, 2023 – Jul 09, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: So good, so fun, how could anyone not be so entertained by this movie.
L.A. Confidential
date: Jul 01, 2023 – Jul 02, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: It was a weird movie, in that basically it's all about cops, and they all suck, so I felt really reluctant to like literally anyone until like the last twenty minutes when Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe suddenly become friends. But their friendship was pretty fun, to be honest. But yeah, cop-wise, maybe a movie that doesn't age very well.
Hot Fuzz
date: Jun 30, 2023 – Jul 01, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: I'd read some reviews that made me feel like I'd missed something, so I wanted to rewatch. But eh, it's fine, I dunno.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier [part]
date: Jun 29, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie is so boring, even just the first 30 minutes felt like an eternity.
Fight Club
date: Jun 18, 2023 – Jun 19, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie was...disturbing. The goreyness, the one scene where he threatens shooting up his workplace, and the ending. It's shocking! It's so funny to think that in high school, this movie was like as cool as it gets. I mean, it was very entertaining, and very entertaining when already knowing the ending, but still: I was shocked.
Moonrise Kingdom
date: Jun 18, 2023 – Jun 25, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Kind of a dull movie. Felt like kids playing dress-up. But there were a few fun moments.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
date: Jun 16, 2023
where:
Kendall Square Cinema
tags:
favorite
comments: The movie had me tearing up and feeling emotional within seriously like the first 30 seconds. I don't know how, but this series just does that for me. I'm definitely a sucker for any kind of emotional appeal to the challenges of being a parent, and this movie had a lot of that. But also, this movie was just so fun, so nostalgic, so funny, so cool...it really had it all, and I was entertained the entire way. In fact, the ending took me so much by surprise—I'd assumed we still had another hour or so left in the story! Similar to how we felt when we watched Dune: Part One. I will say my only criticism is that the introduction to the "multiverse" idea felt a little cliche: we've seen this idea so many times by this point, in Rick and Morty, Dr. Strange, and Loki. Otherwise, this movie was basically perfect.
Spider-man: Homecoming
date: Jun 11, 2023 – Jun 12, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
favorite
comments: This movie is just so fun and so good, it's very straightforward.
Bruce Almighty
date: Jun 10, 2023 – Jun 15, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie is SO BAD WHY DID I FINISH IT
Attack of the Block
date: Jun 03, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This was fun. My one complaint was that the ending did not make sense at all tonally (with people chanting "Moses!" like this was supposed to be meaningful for some reason). Also, very entertaining British accents/slang.
Enola Holmes 2
date: May 31, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: I don't know why these movies are so good.
The Firm
date: May 27, 2023 – May 28, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: For the most part, this was actually a pretty good book adaptation. And in some ways, even better than the book, because while the book dragged, the movie was much more efficient. I loved Ed Harris's character; Tom Cruise was kinda boring though (not his fault--the chracter is too). And oh man, Gary Busey was incredible, though shortlived. Anyway, the ending went totally off the rails relative to the book, and turned the whole story into a joke about lawyers: "A lawyer admitting that lawyers overbill! Can you believe it?!" A pretty funny change, but strange.
Dazed and Confused
date: May 13, 2023
where:
United Airlines
tags:
favorite
comments: It's just the best high school movie ever. So much nostalgia for me of public high school in Dallas in the 00's, and it's amazing how similar it apparently is to high school in Austin in the 70s.
Wakanda Forever
date: May 10, 2023
where:
United Airlines
comments: This was better than expected. Maybe it's just because I was on a plane, but I even teared up a couple of times.
No Time To Die [part]
date: Apr 29, 2023
where:
Bailey
Top Gun: Maverick
date: Apr 14, 2023 – Apr 15, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Surprisingly very good. Also insane that the actors actually flew all those planes (or at least, flew in them). Basically this movie was a remake of the original, but better.
Top Gun
date: Apr 02, 2023 – Apr 03, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: I'd been wanting to see this for a while. And oh man was it so ridiculous and over-the-top (the love story, the death of a best friend) and perfect. We had such a fun time watching it.
The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild
date: Apr 02, 2023 – Apr 03, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Oddly barely about "Buck Wild" at all.
Free Guy
date: Apr 01, 2023 – Apr 02, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Fun idea and with some very fun moments, but ultimately a very bad movie that is way too long. Like, a very bad movie. Specifically, every single scene that didn't take place inside the video game world.
The Matrix Reloaded
date: Mar 13, 2023 – Mar 15, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie was very long, and it really was never very clear to me what was going on at all.
M3GAN
date: Mar 12, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: It was short and sweet, and pretty fun. Not like mind-blowing or anything, but very fun. Probably would have been more fun to see in theaters. But yeah, just the right amount of scary for me, in terms of what I can handle.
The Bourne Identity [part]
date: Mar 11, 2023
where:
Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal
Ruthless: Monopoly's Secret History
date: Feb 28, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This was such a cool story! I had no idea that Monopoly was a folk game. And the origin story I'd heard (which I now know is wrong in a funny way) is that a professor invented it to make a point about how monpolies are bad, but that was Anti-Monopoly! I won't spoil any more of the story, but this was so good.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
date: Feb 22, 2023 – Feb 24, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: We watched this over two different nights, and the second half was FAR superior to the first. The first half felt very cheesy, but not in a very fun way. Just fight after meaningless fight. The second half though was very fun, much more goofy it seemed, and actually more of a fun story. More body horror in this one than the others though.
John Wick: Chapter 2
date: Feb 18, 2023 – Feb 19, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Very fun, and just comedically over-the-top-violent. The whole "Are you working again John?" bit reminds me so much of Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
date: Feb 17, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Very fun; also very campy and slapstick. Sean Connery's character is just ridiculous, though the way he is so totally unimpressed with his son (Indiana Jones) is very funny. Beautiful locations in this movie--it was fun to read about them afterward.
Men in Black
date: Jan 30, 2023
where:
Jetblue
tags:
favorite
comments: This movie is so fun and so good--I will always love it. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are just such a perfect duo.
Spider-man 2
date: Jan 25, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This was a strange one for sure. I loved all the awkward/painful moments, like him struggling with the brooms in the closet, and grabbing appetizers at the party. But the middle of the movie, man it dragged so hard. Like okay, we get it, you don't want to be Spider-man yet...
Spider-Man
date: Jan 21, 2023 – Jan 22, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Way better than I expected/remembered. Dafoe is amazing and always entertaining, especially when doing the split-personality bit. Also just in general, this movie made me realize just how fun the Spider-man origin story is. Learning you can swing from buildings on webs, sticking to walls, etc. So much fun.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
date: Jan 16, 2023 – Jan 17, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: This was better than I expected. It was fun! The ending dragged on sooooo long—meaning like, the falling action part. Also, I only really cared about the nomag and his girlfriend.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
date: Jan 13, 2023 – Jan 15, 2023
where:
Bailey
White Noise
date: Jan 10, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: Mom and Dad both recommended this to me, and so had Kottke. It's not many movies---if any, ever--that can say that! This movie was very bizarre, and as a result not predictable at all. Eventually I got used to it. I don't think I really like the last third or so of it (excluding the dance scene at the end), but up until then it was great. I loved their kids. I loved/hated the way everyone talked. My favorite scene though is when they're finally coming to terms with having to evacuate, but still clinging onto normalcy, even as a Jeep flips over and wrecks everybody in front of them. Very strange, but great.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
date: Jan 07, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: My review is a raspberry noise. This movie just felt like it was trying too hard to impress with pop culture references, and they weren't very funny so it just got old. Also pulling out a surprise identical twin halfway through is a little cliché. The murderer was also way too easy to guess. Blah. Basically I'm just bummed how far this movie was from being as good as the original.
Cars 3
date: Jan 10, 2023 – Jan 08, 2023
where:
Bailey

2022 Movies

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
date: Dec 25, 2022 – Dec 26, 2022
where:
Bill & Cindy's Condo
comments: This is great. If I've seen this at all, I've seen it once, and probably close to when it came out, but I didn't remember it at all! Very fun though.
Monsters, Inc. [part]
date: Dec 08, 2022
where:
Bailey
Knives Out
date: Dec 02, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
favorite
comments: This movie was amazing. I knew from seeing it was a whodunnit by the director of Looper that it would be worth watching, but I did not expect to enjoy it was much as I did. I loved the characters, though Daniel Craig's accent was ridiculous--it basically sounded like an impression of Tom Hanks doing a Southern accent. Jess actually predicted the twist about 45 minutes in, which was very impressive. As soon as she said it, I knew it had to be right, it was just so good. (Good job Jess!)
Zombieland
date: Oct 31, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: For an R-rated, zombie horror comedy movie, this was extremely wholesome. Not one single bad thing happens to any of the main characters in that movie.
Toy Story 4
date: Nov 07, 2022 – Nov 17, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Robin tears up at the end and exclaims "I'm just not feeling well today!"
Set It Up
date: Oct 21, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Fine but definitely not good.
About Time
date: Oct 17, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie was surprisingly/consistently unpredictable, but we realized at the end that that was because we'd been told it was a romcom. But it is definitely not! Honestly a lot of the movie was pretty dumb and not very funny, but the pay-off was very good and inspirational. Bill Nighy's character is definitely the best part.
Fantastic Fungi
date: Oct 15, 2022 – Oct 16, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Such a cool movie that made me love mushrooms even more than I already did--even though it was very corny at times (see: all of Brie Larson's narration), and even though it shared a lot of footage with the Michael Pollan series episode about psilocybin. I loved the visuals of the mycelium networks, and I also had no idea that when you pick a mushroom, it's basically like you're picking the fruit off a tree-sized network that lives underground.
Toy Story 2
date: Oct 03, 2022 – Oct 05, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: The prospector's angry flare-up made Jordan cry this time for some reason. And now the idea of Zurg terrifies Robin.
The Little Mermaid
date: Sep 26, 2022 – Sep 27, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Ursula is a little too scary for toddlers I think---by the end, they were both bawling out of fear (I then fast-forwarded).
SLC Punk! [part]
date: Sep 16, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: I think I would have thought this movie was pretty cool in high school. But it was pretty boring, and empty. 30 minutes of it felt like so long.
Clueless
date: Sep 14, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Tonight I realized I'd never actually seen Clueless, so we watched it, and MAN was this movie good. Just amazing in every way. Clearly a precursor to Legally Blonde. Alicia Silverstone is perfect.
Thor: Love and Thunder [part]
date: Sep 13, 2022
where:
Bailey
This is 40 [part]
date: Sep 12, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Way too much Apple product placement. Six separate full screen shots of Apple devices in the first 45 minutes or so!
Booksmart
date: Sep 11, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: This was great.
Wall-E
date: Sep 10, 2022 – Sep 13, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie was not nearly as moving/memorable as I'd remembered. Not much even really happens!
Untold: The Rise and Fall of And1
date: Sep 07, 2022 – Sep 08, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: This was so good. And it ended on just the topics I hoped it would. (It did seem immediately very suspect to learn that And1 was founded by white guys!)
Cars [part]
date: Sep 06, 2022
where:
Bailey
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor [part]
date: Sep 02, 2022
where:
Airbnb
comments: Absolutely awful. Not worth continuing.
Kiki's Delivery Service [part]
date: Aug 28, 2022
where:
Bailey
Thor: Ragnarok
date: Aug 26, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Much better than the other Thor movies, and with more star power. Kind of a Guardians of the Galaxy-like movie in terms of style (humor, music). Also crazy that the main protagonist, antagonist, and director are all Aussies/Kiwis!
My Neighbor Totoro
date: Aug 28, 2022 – Aug 31, 2022
where:
Bailey
Everything Everywhere All At Once
date: Aug 17, 2022
where:
Kendall Square Cinema
tags:
favorite
comments: I absolutely loved this movie. It was so full of funny ideas and strong emotions. I enjoyed watching it 100% nearly the entire way through (probably until the third act). Even if in retrospect, while talking with Jess, we realized the message was a little incohesive. As for the genre of this movie, I'm going to call it "existential kung fu fantasy." It reminded me of a sort of more modern version of the movies that came out in the late 2000s, like The Science of Sleep, I Heart Huckabees, etc.
Lightyear
date: Oct 14, 2022 – Oct 20, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Not the most amazing Pixar movie by any means, but I'm mostly just happy to not have to watch one of the actual Toy Story movies for the fifth time in a row.
Toy Story
date: Aug 09, 2022 – Aug 11, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Compared to the sequels, this version looks like a very rough edit for a final version. The rendering, the animation, the writing...all of it! Also much less kid-friendly, in terms of how often Woody is calling someone an "idiot." And really just in general, Woody is kind of a jerk in this movie. I also remembered the aliens having more of a role in this movie, but they really only have a very brief appearance.
Toy Story 3
date: Aug 02, 2022 – Aug 04, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: The middle was okay but the ending is soooo good and sentimental. Still made me cry. (It also made Jordan cry, but out of fear, after they fall down toward the incinerator.)
Kick-ass [part]
date: Aug 01, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Wow this movie is BAD. The dialogue alone, sheesh.
Tenet
date: Jul 30, 2022 – Jul 31, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Okay, so everything makes sense enough until you start seeing people moving backwards (about halfway through). Then when that happens, I think it's just so confusing that nothing makes sense anymore, even if it normally would. Despite this, it's amazing how watchable the movie is even though you understand very little about what is actually happening.
Toy Story 4
date: Aug 05, 2022 – Aug 08, 2022
where:
Bailey
Thor: The Dark World
date: Jul 28, 2022 – Jul 29, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Much better than the first one.
The Sound of Music [part]
date: Jul 23, 2022
where:
Bailey
Thor
date: Jul 21, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: This was fine. Surprisingly, the love story was the best part about the movie (though it wasn't that great). Though I did like Loki a lot too. (Also, easy definition for a "fantasy" movie: There are characters that look like orcs.)
Synchronic
date: Jul 15, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Kinda bad, overly bro-ey dialogue, but a fun idea. Reminded me a little of Octavia Butler's Kindred in concept.
Toy Story 2
date: Jul 05, 2022 – Jul 07, 2022
where:
Bailey
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
date: Jun 27, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: I realize this could be said about basically every MCU movie, but this one was a little ridiculous. I wasn't expecting Wanda to be the villain, or that she would be so powerful.
Prometheus [part]
date: Jun 20, 2022
where:
350Pgh
comments: I watch the last 30 minutes or so
Iron Man 3
date: Jun 19, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: What was with the corny voiceover at the beginning and end of this movie? Cut that and it would've been much better. Overall, it was pretty good. Iron Man 2 was my favorite though. Also, it's funny to me that in every single Iron Man movie, the villain also has an Iron Man-like suit at some point.
Iron Man 2
date: Jun 17, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Okay yeah, this movie was waayyyy better than Iron Man. Lightyears. Fits much more in the whole Marvel universe in terms of asthetics, comedy, and just general quality.
Iron Man
date: Jun 15, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: In retrospect, I don't think I'd ever actually seen this movie? Man was it a trip back in time. The aesthetics...phew. Almost more like a Bond movie in terms of the way it aged, with the dated "high-tech" stuff. Also, what awful music. I mean, don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed watching this, mostly given where I know his character ends up, but this movie was surprisingly out-of-touch overall with the tone of the later ones.
Spider-man: No Way Home
date: Jun 12, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: This was a good one--way better and more entertaining story than the second one. But less high school movie, more traditional bad guy vs. good guy. Also what happened to all his Iron Man gear? That was honestly like the coolest part.
Spider-man: Far From Home
date: Jun 11, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Not as good as the first one, but fun. I felt like the plot of this one was a little lazy, but it was fine. I miss Iron Man. Though overall, for sure, Spider-man is so great because it gets to be a superhero movie AND a high school movie, which is a very fun combo.
Avengers: End Game
date: Jun 06, 2022 – Jun 07, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Wow, we have been on a rampage with Marvel movies lately. I think this is our 7th in the last two weeks! I really liked this one--much more than the 2nd and 3rd in the series. The ending, when Iron Man died, actually made me cry, which I am definitely slightly ashamed of. Also somehow I like Thanos.
Spider-man: Homecoming
date: Jun 05, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Loved it. High school movie that's also a superhero movie. Really fun.
Avengers: Infinity War
date: Jun 03, 2022 – Jun 04, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: God, so much going on in this one. So many characters it was genuinely taxing for me to try to keep track of it all. So it's hard for me to say I 'liked' it, since it was just a lot. But I liked the ending, in that it surprised me. And Thanos was actually a surprisingly interesting character.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
date: May 30, 2022
where:
Bailey
Mission: Impossible
date: May 28, 2022 – May 29, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: I wasn't expecting this to be so good. Super campy at the beginning, but ended up being so entertaining. That scene in the CIA where he's suspended from a cable is just so well done, it was perfect.
The Avengers
date: May 27, 2022 – May 28, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: We were both surprised at how much we both enjoyed this. It blew Ant-man and Dr. Strange out of the water. The jokes were actually very funny! Plus, Hulk is the best. So is Iron Man. And even Captain America isn't as boring as it first seems like he'll be.
Dr. Strange
date: May 25, 2022 – May 26, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: I liked this one way more than Ant-man. The only bad parts were when they tried to be funny (just dumb jokes). The real reason anything was happening was basically unfollowable, but that was fine, I had fun.
Ant-man
date: May 23, 2022 – May 24, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Pretty bad overall, but the last third or so was more entertaining than the beginning. Some funnyish parts but not that many.
War of the Worlds
date: May 22, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: The first 2/3's of this movie was actually pretty fun. The ending was super dumb though. Nothing at all explained!
Old
date: May 15, 2022 – May 16, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Unbelievably (and entertainingly) awful
Near Dark
date: Apr 30, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: It's a neo-noir horror western vampire movie. There's really not much more to say about this one. It was dumb, bad, but fun enough.
Lego Batman Movie
date: Mar 30, 2022 – Mar 31, 2022
where:
Bailey
Summer of Soul
date: Mar 29, 2022 – Apr 01, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: So good, so many amazing performances. I loved the ones I didn't recognize almost more than the ones I did! But has anyone ever been as cool as Nina Simone was?
Turning Red [part]
date: Mar 22, 2022
where:
Bailey
Toy Story 3 [part]
date: Mar 20, 2022
where:
Bailey
Hitch
date: Mar 19, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: If you cut out the last 20 minutes or so, this movie still held up for me. I don't know why I always held a soft spot for this movie, but it really held up. It's a silly rom-com, but it's also peak Will Smith. Also genuinely/surprisingly wholesome.
John Wick
date: Mar 11, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: So good. I know I didn't appreciate it the first time we saw it, but this time I did. Such a fun action movie.
Toy Story 2
date: Mar 08, 2022 – Mar 12, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: They loved it. Mostly the "green t-rex!!!" I think.
The Batman
date: Mar 06, 2022
where:
Kendall Square Cinema
comments: Our first movie in theaters since becoming parents. Three hours long! It was pretty, and star-packed (John Turturro was my favorite), but ultimately not surprising in any real way, just a sort of natural continuation of the Christopher Nolan vibe but with different actors. Twilight guy makes a great Batman. But yeah, it didn't need to be three hours.
Incredibles 2 [part]
date: Mar 04, 2022
where:
Bailey
Colossal
date: Feb 25, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: "Definitely unique." -Jess. I found this one off a really great list (https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/best-sci-fi-movies-last-15-years/) of the best sci-fi movies of the last 15 years.
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
date: Feb 20, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: This was surprisingly not that bad, and kinda funny.
Terminator 2
date: Feb 03, 2022 – Feb 04, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Pretty fun movie. Jess is always good at picking action movies. Arnold was great. It was weird how about halfway through the movie, Sarah Connor is suddenly giving voiceovers all the time?
Deadpool
date: Jan 30, 2022 – Jan 31, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Very stupid, some fraction of it kinda funny. Fairly entertaining.
Jungle Book
date: Jan 30, 2022 – Feb 01, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Such a good one. Great ending too.
Skyfall
date: Jan 28, 2022 – Jan 29, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: This one was definitely more like a normal good movie in terms of story and character and overall quality. Javier Bardem was amazing. But I still liked Casino Royale better.
Casino Royale
date: Jan 26, 2022 – Jan 27, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: I don't know why I enjoyed watching this movie as much as I did, but man, I really did have a great time.
The Bourne Supremacy
date: Jan 24, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Eh, fine. I'll take the blame for picking this one.
21 Jump Street
date: Jan 22, 2022 – Jan 23, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: So stupid but truly pretty funny.
Cars [part]
date: Jan 12, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Never seen this before. It's alright.
My Neighbor Totoro [part]
date: Jan 05, 2022
where:
Bailey
Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me [part]
date: Jan 01, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: Only caught the last half of this, but man, what an amazing entertainer. Also, he looks so much like Tim Meadows.
Ratatouille [part]
date: Jan 01, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: A little too old for the boys I think, in terms of the story being hard for them to follow.
Don't Look Up [part]
date: Jan 01, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: An hour or so of this was mildly entertaining, but it was also enough.

2021 Movies

101 Dalmations
date: Dec 31, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: It was the the most the boys have ever paid attention to a movie, which I attribute more to their age than anything, but they seemed to get a lot of out repeating "They look like a bad guy" every time the bad guys came on screen. And surprisingly to me, Cruella DeVille didn't scare them at all.
Polar Express
date: Dec 22, 2021 – Dec 24, 2021
where:
5441W
comments: This movie was hard to watch. The kids look like little freaks and I hated all of them, I think. The message at the end is very sweet and touching (no sarcasm actually), but the animation is just too dated looking overall.
Looper
date: Dec 11, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie was definitely bad, in many ways. And yet...it was also good? "Satisfying," as Jess said. Definitely some good parts, some fun ideas, and most importantly/surprisingly, the climax was great.
The Beatles: Get Back (Part 3)
date: Dec 05, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: In retrospect, this whole series could have been a lot shorter. I loved it, and overall really got a lot out of it, but I feel like it really could have been about half as long. On the positive side of things though, I loved how the sound and images made it possible to hear so many of these songs with fresh ears, and appreciate just what amazing song writers they were. For example, the song "She came in through the bathroom window" sounded incredible. I'd never appreciated or even really liked that song before (or after). But seeing/hearing them rehearse it was just unreal. Also "Don't Let Me Down" on the rooftop...Whoo boy was that good. Gave me chills and made me tear up, out of nowhere.
Gremlins
date: Dec 03, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: What a bizarre movie. Pretty funny.
The Beatles: Get Back (Part 2)
date: Nov 28, 2021 – Nov 29, 2021
where:
Bailey
The Beatles: Get Back (Part 1)
date: Nov 27, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Just amazing. They are gods and yet also humans? So weird. And the music is so amazing. The editing is a trip though. Seems like nearly half the shots are aligned with completely different audio. Best performance was "She came in through the bathroom window"
Gladiator
date: Nov 25, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: In Jess's words: "Not a bad movie."
You've Got Mail
date: Nov 14, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Now that I think about it, this movie is such a mix of When Harry Met Sally (setting, tone) and Sleepless in Seattle (stars). That aside, it was very fun to watch, but the ending was a little...catfishy?
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
date: Nov 09, 2021 – Nov 10, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Entertaining. But why/how have I seen this three times? (This time, at least, Jess basically made me.) Also, in retrospect, they did a good job at hinting that P.S.H's character was actually good without giving it away.
eXistenZ
date: Nov 03, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
favorite
comments: Just watched the second half or so, but it blew me away for a second time. So much fun!
His House
date: Oct 31, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: I think Jess set my expectations a little too high for this one, both in terms of goodness and scariness, but I enjoyed it. One thing I can say is that it wasn't corny at all, and it was also very beautiful. I had fun.
The Thing
date: Oct 29, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Such a great movie. Way more body horror than I remembered.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
date: Oct 28, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: It took me a while to get into but by about halfway through I was loving it. So many similar elements and humor as the TV show, which was interesting to see, but the characters were very different, which was fun. It's almost like each season of the TV show should have been a different vampire crew (even though I love the real version very much).
Dune: Part One
date: Oct 23, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: I had no idea this was only a "part one." It was so good! Jess and I both loved it. I reeeeeally really would have kept watching if it were like an hour longer even. My only criticism is that Chalamet's delivery was often a little too much like a normal American kid.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
date: Oct 12, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Very entertaining. I can't believe we watched nearly all of these the last few weeks. I'd never enjoyed them at all until now! Snape really is the best character by far.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
date: Oct 09, 2021
where:
Bailey
The Guilty
date: Oct 07, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Interesting, kind of. A little predictable, in that I knew within about five minutes that we were never going to leave the call center, and about halfway through I saw the twist coming. A little too much Jake G for me.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
date: Oct 06, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: This was my favorite one so far, easily! Light-hearted but still with a fun plot. Not too dark, not too silly.
The Tigger Movie
date: Oct 03, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Jordan and I actually watch it two times in a row.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
date: Sep 30, 2021 – Oct 03, 2021
where:
Bailey
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
date: Sep 29, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Extremely tense like the whole time. Not nearly as lighthearted and fun as the one we watched the other night.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
date: Sep 25, 2021 – Sep 26, 2021
where:
Bailey
Edge of Tomorrow
date: Sep 18, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: This was so much fun, just immediately. Groundhog Day as a war/action movie, with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. This movie made me wonder: Why is there not a version of Groundhog Day for every single genre?
The Pelican Brief [part]
date: Sep 12, 2021
where:
Bailey
The School of Rock [part]
date: Sep 05, 2021
where:
Bailey
Midnight Run
date: Sep 02, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: It took a while to warm up, but it really grew on me, and then by the end I was completely engrossed and cared about both of the main characters. Also super similar in a lot of ways (overall plot and set-up, but also some of the scenes in specific) to The Last Detail.
Scream
date: Aug 27, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: I'd been waiting to watch this for a long time, and it (surprisingly) did not disappoint at all! The first scene got right to it and was so scary. The movie got less scary overall as the movie went on, but I liked that. Perfect 90s/00s' silliness with actors of the time. So much fun. The ending was a little weird but overall, what a great slasher movie.
A Quiet Place
date: Aug 14, 2021 – Aug 15, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Really fun idea, but I don't really get why there was so much hype about this movie.
The Fugitive
date: Aug 12, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie was so good. Reminded me of Die Hard: Non-stop action, with a protagonist (Harrison Ford) who just won't give up. Except here he's a doctor and he just can't stop helping people while on the run (which is very funny but admirable). Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones were great, though how the hell is Harrison Ford five years YOUNGER than Tommy Lee Jones (who looks 10+ years older).
Legally Blonde
date: Aug 08, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: So satisfying.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
date: Aug 07, 2021 – Aug 08, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Surprisingly really entertaining. Also if he'd ever used that vegetable peeler this should have definitely qualified as "horror" and not just "thriller."
Mystic River
date: Aug 03, 2021 – Aug 04, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Took kind of a while to get going, but the second half was really thrilling. Tim Robbins was amazing. I loved Kevin Bacon too. My only complaint is that the movie should have ended about five minutes earlier, because that scene with Laura Linney calling Sean Penn "the king" was really creepy and weird.
Tron (1982)
date: Aug 01, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: This was such a weirdly awful movie. There really was no plot to follow, so it was easy to stop paying attention. Just one shiny lit-up geometric mesh exploding into another shiny lit-up geometric mesh, without any real explanation. I think a better use of this movie would be to have it cut up and made into a ~5 minute montage of all the truly pretty animated parts, and then on the end a sort of supercut of all the funny Jeff Bridges parts. But really, as it stands, it was actually about as awful as the new Space Jam movie, and with an essentially identical plot.
Self/less
date: Jul 29, 2021 – Jul 30, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Really fun idea, but overall really lazy execution. Also, I spy the Mardi Gras garages near Taylor and Jake's house!
Ready Player One
date: Jul 27, 2021 – Jul 28, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: This movie was trash--absolutely filled with clichés without even the slightest regret. Also, in classic based-on-a-book form, it left out the really key pieces necessary for anyone who hadn't read the book to follow the plot. But we finished it anyway.
Twilight: New Moon
date: Jul 25, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: So cringey and everything is just filled with drama, it was almost hard to keep watching. But still very entertaining. Also, as much as I hate Jacob, the werewolves themselves (culturally) were surprisingly very cool--I liked them a lot.
Fear Street Part 3
date: Jul 17, 2021
where:
Bailey
Possessor
date: Jul 17, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Sci-fi/horror is a pretty special genre. This one was written/directed by Cronenberg's son, which was pretty clear at many points. But man, I really liked this one. Way more serious and interesting than your average horror movie, and so in that way is was more like a gorey sci-fi movie. The story was hard to follow at many points, in a way that reminded me of Primer. But overall, really great--definitely would recommend it.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
date: Jul 16, 2021 – Jul 18, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: Such a dumb, bad movie. I only finished it out of a sense of completion.
Fear Street Part 2
date: Jul 10, 2021
where:
Ben & Rene's House
Blast From the Past
date: Jul 09, 2021
where:
Ben & Rene's House
comments: This movie shouldn't have been good, but I actually really enjoyed it. Maybe it's because my expectations were about as low as possible, given that it stars Brendan Fraser--but honestly, he was kinda perfect for it. The plot reminded me a lot of My Idiot Brother, in that it's about a person with a heart of gold, where the people closest to him don't recognize him for what he's worth until they seem him through the eyes of the people around him.
The Castle
date: Jul 03, 2021
where:
Bill & Cindy's House
comments: What a perfect movie. (Except for some of the unnecessary immigrant jokes.)
A League of Their Own [part]
date: Jul 02, 2021
where:
Ben & Rene's House
comments: always impossible to not watch when it's on tv
The Last Detail
date: Jun 26, 2021
where:
Bailey
comments: This was a slow burn, because it was so hard to tell what the vibe of the movie was supposed to be or where it was going. Turns out it wasn't going much of anywhere, but it was really fun. I kind of wish he hadn't tried to run away at the end--I don't think that was necessary, plot/emotion-wise. And Jack Nicholson is such a fool.
Bo Burnham's Inside [part]
date: Jun 11, 2021
where:
Bailey
The Good Dinosaur
date: May 09, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: This movie actually made both of them upset, and Jordan even CRY. We had never seen them react to a show before like this, it kinda blew our minds
Tenet
date: May 05, 2021 – May 06, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: I won't even pretend to have followed a lot of this, but I don't think it really mattered. It was super entertaining and Jess and I had a lot of fun watching it.
Mank
date: Apr 29, 2021 – May 01, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: Didn't feel like a David Fincher movie at all. Also the black and white was so low contrast it was hard to watch at first. And this story felt so heavily based on history that it assumed we already knew and so never explained, which made it very hard to follow. All these things aside, it was very entertaining, and I really liked Gary Oldman and all the leading ladies
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
date: Apr 24, 2021
where:
Welfer
Nomadland
date: Apr 21, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: After last year I've learned that I can never really enjoy a movie if I'm watching it after I've learned it won best picture, so I wanted to see this one now before it wins--which I feel like it has to, because it was so good. I wasn't into it at first. It started off as a sort of pseudo-documentary, where you could tell that basically everyone except for Frances McDormand was a real person. So that just had me thinking too much about her acting while everyone else had this as their real life. But about halfway through, it became more like a real movie, and I got into her character, her relationships, her issues, and I really loved it. Then I could really appreciate the real life people sprinkled in there as well. Plus, the movie was just beautiful, taking place almost entirely outdoors. It was a great movie. Seems like something Dad would like.
Burning
date: Apr 17, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: Jess and I just spent our entire evening watching this movie, which I'd seen as being "the best Korean film ever" on a list that looked really good. Jess liked it, but I don't think I did. It was interesting. Definitely way more subtle than any Korean movie I've seen so far, at least that I can remember. And I can appreciate that. But I'd read that it was a "psychological mystery thriller" and that really just gave me certain expectations that were not met.
Three Identical Strangers
date: Apr 14, 2021 – Apr 15, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: Absolutely crazy. Starts off so amazing and happy, and ends pretty depressingly. But super interesting. I wish they had addressed the legality of what they did! As in, presumably now this sort of thing would be illegal. And why was it then? Anyway, another interesting aspect was the irony of the triplets despising the fact that they were treated like lab rats (obviously!) but them also wanting to know what the results/conclusions of the study were. I guess it's maybe them wanting to at least get some sort of meaning/use out of it all. So fucked up though.
I Care A Lot
date: Mar 18, 2021 – Mar 20, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: Parts of this movie were really fun--specifically the scene with the lawyer (played by the husband in Julie & Julia, oddly enough). Overall it was entertaining, but not great.
Blow Out
date: Mar 13, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: The beginning of this movie was so great--I was very hooked. The middle dragged. The very ending (where he uses her scream in the slasher movie) was shocking and very funny. Overall it was alright, but definitely some really interesting parts to this movie.
The Lady Vanishes
date: Mar 10, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: This took a while to get going, but it was really fun once it did. Very goofy at times, but great ending. (Jess loved it.)
Julie & Julia [part]
date: Mar 11, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: Sadly this move is really not very good. Amy Adams's character is just really pathetic.
Puberty Blues
date: Feb 25, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: An Australian 80's movies about two teen girls joining a surfing gang. I wasn't into it at first, but the characters really grew on me in the end, and I loved how the movie sort of floated along without anything ever getting too intense, even though lots of meaningful things were happening. Kinda interesting.
Bicycle Thieves
date: Feb 21, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: I loved this. All of the characters were super likable, the story was perfectly simple but really compelling, and the ending was really good.
The Last Unicorn
date: Feb 20, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: What a bizarre movie. I did not like the story, despised the title song (performed by America), but some of the characters (especially the butterfly) were just so bizarre and wonderful that I am glad I finally watched this.
Badlands
date: Feb 14, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: What a crazy story and a beautiful movie. I loved the way Martin Sheen looked the whole way through, and his accent reminded me of a Nebraskan one almost. The dialogue and voiceovers were also goofy and quirky. It reminded me of Harold and Maude (what I remember of it at least) in how everything was so absurd and yet pretend-realistic.
Ratatouille
date: Feb 11, 2021 – Feb 12, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
favorite
comments: This might be my favorite Pixar movie. It's so good! I love the little fireworks Remi gets when he tastes food. And also the ending. It's so rare that a movie has as satisfying an ending as this one. What's interesting is that Remi never actually has any struggles to overcome or lessons to learn in terms of his cooking. He's just the best chef in Paris from the start. Instead, all of his struggles are just from him being a rat.
Toy Story
date: Feb 07, 2021 – Feb 09, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: and lots of Pixar shorts
Paths of Glory
date: Feb 03, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: Started off slow and extremely dialogue heavy, but ended up being so good and full of drama. I didn't expect the story to go where it did--it was like it just kept zooming in closer and closer on one moment (the trial), when part of you kept expecting it to move forward, like most war movies do. Really interesting movie.
Hoop Dreams
date: Jan 31, 2021 – Feb 01, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
favorite
comments: This movie was so good. It was long, but worth it. A really intimate view of the lives of two high school basketball players (and their families). It's amazing how their future trajectories seem to completely diverge really early on, only to come somewhat back together at the end. A really complex movie that is really good at not oversimplifing anything, or casting much judgment, except on the richer white school. Spike Lee's quote in this movie is amazing and unforgettable, and to me is really the spirit of the movie, even if the movie itself isn't that direct about it.
He Got Game
date: Jan 25, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: This was...a lot different than I expected. Much less realistic than Love and Basketball, or at least, a million times less melodramatic, and with better acting. But it was definitely interesting, in the way that so many Spike Lee films are just all over the place, especially in their mixture of real people and actors. I think this is one I'll need to read and think about some more.
Rising Phoenix
date: Jan 24, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
homies-movie-club
comments: This was a tear-jerker. And just in general, it was a little much in terms of how dramatic they made everything. But saying that, the competitors and their stories were really incredible, and the movie definitely changed the way I think about the Paralympics. As Jess put it, it's not just like "the olympics for people with disabilities." These are entirely different sports, because they have completely different constraints on how they can compete, and that changes everything! Plus, what an amazing backstory, in terms of the man who created it and why.
Love and Basketball
date: Jan 23, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: Jess and I both really loved this movie. So many subplots going on! I'd been wanting to watch this for a while based on how much it comes up as a favorite basketball movie, and it still exceeded expectations. I definitely didn't expect the woman to be the protagonist--plus, written and directed by a woman! It was a great movie with a lot to think about.
Swingers [part]
date: Jan 21, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: This was incredibly boring. Nothing happened! Not even a semblance of a story! Did they think that their conversations were really just that interesting? Very surprising how dull this was.
Catch Me If You Can
date: Jan 17, 2021
where:
Welfer
Signs
date: Jan 16, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: I was only half watching this, but it looked pretty awful. Jess said she really liked it though, and I have no idea why.
Blair Witch Project
date: Jan 11, 2021
where:
Welfer
Scanners
date: Jan 09, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: This was fun--such a fun idea. The movie wasn't quite as perfect as I remembered it being, but it was still super entertaining. As Jess pointed out, the only intense parts are in the first-ish and last-ish scenes, and other than that it's fairly straightforward!
Sleepless in Seattle
date: Jan 07, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: Not nearly as good as When Harry Met Sally. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan don't even meet until literally the very last scene, and they barely say two words to one another! This was extremely upsetting to me--it should have been half the movie!
When Harry Met Sally
date: Jan 02, 2021
where:
Welfer
comments: We watched this one on a whim, but it was so good! Reminded me of a more accessible Annie Hall. Very predictable at times, but it didn't matter. (Maybe because later movies have since ripped it off so that its jokes now seem cliché?) I had no idea that Nora Ephron wrote this movie and the other two big Meg Ryan romantic comedies!

2020 Movies

Soul
date: Dec 30, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: A really sweet movie.
Total Recall
date: Dec 28, 2020 – Dec 29, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
favorite
comments: Such a good movie, I still can't believe it. Such a fun story!
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [part]
date: Dec 27, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: Let the record show that Jess watched the trilogy again this week. I have tried to ignore it as much as I could.
Die Hard
date: Dec 24, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: Just as good the second time. We each made one good observation: Jess noticed that at the very end, Hans dies by taking with him the watch "Mrs. McClane" that she won for her work, symbolizing her return to being "Mrs. McClane". And then my observation was simply the fact that the person who played "Little Johnson" is named "Grand Bush".
The Fifth Element
date: Dec 09, 2020 – Dec 10, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: I've seen this movie so many times for some reason. It's so goofy. But still fun and entertaining to watch for some reason, despite how ridiculous it is. Chris Tucker's character is the best.
The Abyss
date: Dec 05, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: only half-watched
The Cabin in the Woods
date: Dec 05, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: Didn't see the start of this one, but it was really fun! Love the idea.
My Octopus Teacher
date: Nov 30, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: I watch most movies that I have multiple friends/family recommend to me. This was good! About a man who goes diving in a "kelp forest" in the Atlantic Ocean, meets a tiny common octopus, and then visits her basically every day for 300+ days. It was very sweet.
Frequency
date: Nov 27, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: I loved this--it was way better than I had any hope of it being. Hadn't seen it since sixth grade when I was studying for the morse code part of the exam I think. The only genuinely bad part was the ending credits song, which was so bad that it very well ruined the whole thing. But overall, I thought the story was super fun, and with lots of really fun ideas for how they could communicate and even share physical objects. I loved it.
Contact
date: Nov 26, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: What a stupid movie. The message/moral just grossed me out and I suddenly couldn't stand any of the rest of the movie as a result. Matthew McConaughey's character was the worst part of the story, and it just so happened that he was the driving moral force of the movie. The moral being that science and religion don't need to be enemies because they're both just about "seeking the truth." Yuck. Two big issues with this point: First, the movie conflates spirituality with Christianity. If they'd rephrased key parts of the movie to be about spirituality in general, and not specifically about believing in GOD, it would have gone a long way towards being less gross. Second, religion, as it's implemented, is not at all about seeking truth--it seems more like the complete opposite, at least in my experience. Kinda seems like the difference between communism in theory vs. in implementation.
The Speed Cubers
date: Nov 24, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
short-film
comments: This was so good! I learned so many things from this documentary. For example, that "cubers" memorize hundreds of different rules for how to handle different cube configurations, so that solving one quickly is a lot about pattern recognition, and knowing which approach is best suited. Anyway, I think I would watch an episode made in this style about basically any professional fringe sport.
Okja
date: Nov 21, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: It was entertaining, but I don't think I really liked this movie. Or more accurately, I didn't like the things it made me feel. Mostly because dramatic stories about human-animal relationships feel kinda like emotional cheapshots. But also, too many of the major turning points in the plot seemed unmotivated and/or just lazy. I did really like Okja (the pig), and the protagonist, but other than that no one was too likable.
Predator
date: Nov 19, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: From Ben Filio's box of movies he dropped off for us, along with a USB DVD player. Starring two future governors, and another who also ran for governor, which is ridiculous. The predator being invisible was pretty fun. I expected the movie to be taking place in outer space and/or mostly in darkness, for some reason. Anyway, the score was horrible and obnoxious, otherwise I probably would have liked this more.
I Am Mother
date: Nov 09, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
homies-movie-club
comments: Jake's pick, a 2019 Australian sci-fi about "mother," the conscious AI and the only life on Earth, who is trying to raise the perfect human to reintroduce the species. The first scene with this giant robot mother raising a baby from infancy was soooo eerie, and gave me extremely weird feelings. The whole thing was like that really, with all the A.I./mother vibes. It's like taking the sex out of Ex Machina and replacing it with mom. Anyway, Jess and I saw the Hilary-Swank-being-baby-#1 thing coming, but it was still super unpredictable, and very thrilling. I loved it.
Johnny Mnemonic
date: Nov 08, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: I think this was actually the worst movie I have ever seen. Keanu in a pre-Matrix sci-fi, co-starring Henry Rollins and Ice-T (who were actually the only two good characters in the whole movie). The main bad guy's catch phrase was "Jesus time!" and the hero was a cyborg hacker named Jones who turns out to be a dolphin. As funny as that sound, it was just...bad. The dialogue especially.
The Sword in the Stone
date: Nov 07, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: What a horrible adaptation of such a great book. They had to make villains out of basically everybody, and Merlyn into a total fool. Very dumb.
Blade II
date: Oct 31, 2020 – Nov 01, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: Not nearly as good as the first one, but there were some good (and funny) moments. This one seemed to rely too much on really long fight scenes.
Slumber Party Massacre
date: Oct 30, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
homies-movie-club
comments: This was Adrian's pick for our "movie club," and in the end I really liked it! Jess was way more on top of it than I was, in terms of seeing things coming. Turns out it's one of (or the) only slasher franchise written and directed by women. The metaphor of drill-as-phallus was super funny, and the killer's final little monologue ("I love you...It takes a lot of love, to do what I do") was so creepily awesome. Jess was reading someone's English master's thesis about the movie. Man, lots to love about this movie!
Monty Python's Life of Brian [part]
date: Oct 25, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: I thought I had watched this before, but apparently I hadn't. I...wasn't a fan. It just seems like a series of not-that-funny disconnected skits, as opposed to an actually entertaining story. I only made it through maybe 40 minutes or so though.
The Social Dilemma [part]
date: Oct 25, 2020
where:
Welfer
High Fidelity
date: Oct 24, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
favorite
comments: I've always loved this movie, but I feel like this time I appreciated it in a whole new way. I think it takes being a little older and more jaded than I was seven years ago, when I last watched it. The script is just so good and so funny, as is John Cusack and Jack Black. My two favorite scenes are where you learn about why the most recent breakup is happening (with cuts to Laura, the ex-gf, explaining these reasons to a mutual friend), and then the imaginary encounters beating up Tim Robbins's character.
Train to Busan
date: Oct 18, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: Sad to say it, but maybe my least favorite Korean movie I've seen? It was relentless, and fun, but I just wasn't that into any of the characters. They all seemed a little too simplistic. But there were definitely some fun and funny moments.
Blade
date: Oct 14, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
favorite
comments: This feels like a really odd movie to be my first "favorite" in a while, but it was just perfect to me. I knew it was a keeper in the first ten minutes. One of those movies where you know not to try poking holes in it because there are too many other fun things to point out. I loved the body horror elements, and the laughable Ghostbusters-quality CGI. Also the bad guy's side kick and his commitment to keeping his arms. But of course, nothing in this movie is as cool as Wesley Snipes.
The Social Network
date: Oct 12, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: Lots of fast dialogue in this movie. I love how somehow Armie Hammer's characters are the more likable ones in this movie.
Enola Holmes
date: Oct 08, 2020 – Oct 09, 2020
where:
Welfer
The Host
date: Oct 03, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: This was amazing! I wasn't expecting it to be good when Jess put it on telling me it was a monster movie, but I also didn't know that it was Bong Joon-ho. (Another family movie with a viral theme.) A lot of the shots (especially the ones of them eating?) were really beautiful, and the music was usually pretty good too. Also kind of timely, given that there's a virus in the movie (which turns out to be fake), and everyone's masked and worried about infection.
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
date: Sep 30, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
favorite
comments: This was so much fun. I meant for us to just watch ten minutes or so of it but we ended up watching the whole thing. First off, it was fun enough just trying to see who could identify the movies fastest. (Lots of Sleepy Hollow, oddly enough. Also I could never beat Jess at recognizing the Forrest Gump clips.) But story-wise, it was really just amazing how clear the story actually was. Like, even though the characters and scene are changing practically every second, you can still follow through the repetition: clips of eating, eating, eating, followed by kissing, kissing, kissing, etc. It's a really cool idea and was very entertaining.
Honeyland
date: Sep 16, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: This was such a good documentary--it had so many good things going for it. For one, it's beautiful, and in a beautiful place. (North Macedonia, which I honestly didn't even know was the name of a country.) It's also a great/horrible story about arguably the worst neighbors ever. But it also just has so many amazing moments where you're just sitting there wondering what it was like to be there, to be filming that, and also: how the hell did they film that? It was just as interesting watching it as it was reading about it afterwards. I'm so glad we watched this.
The Vast of Night
date: Sep 13, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: Super low-budget. I loved the setting--1950's New Mexico. The movie could have been a podcast, with how much it used monologues to move the story forward. I did like the idea that the aliens come and visit only when they know people are all in one place, so they can prey on those who are alone. Overall it felt kind of like a short sketch of a story though.
The Ides of March
date: Sep 10, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: The thing that stood out this time for me was the acting. Ryan Gosling and George Clooney are just so charming and likeable. Then on top of that, you've got Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti being just generally perfect sharp/shady characters. How could it go wrong with that? This time I also noticed what a huge parallel there is in the end between Stephen and Molly. Like how when Stephen tells Molly she's fired, he says "if you make a mistake, you lose the right to play." And then in the next scence he's basically being told the same exact thing. Jess also pointed out that the last 45 minutes or so basically becomes a noir, and I think she's right. It gets sooo dark and nihilistic. At the end you're getting everything you thought you wanted at the beginning of the movie (Morris winning the primary), but all the joy has been sucked out of it.
Nightcrawler
date: Sep 06, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: This was great. We didn't know what we were getting into at all, though I did have a feeling it might be somehow based on J.G. Ballard's Crash. And that was right at least in terms of the setting: A guy who's really into being a sort of "first media responder" and filming carnage that happens in cities. Anyway, Jake Gyllenhaal's character is just incredible. It's like Patrick Bateman but if he never cracked. The theme seems to have a lot to do with negotiation/power. I don't know. Lots of thoughts after this one, but what a crazy movie.
Uncut Gems
date: Aug 20, 2020 – Aug 21, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: Holy shit this movie was nonstop tension and chaos. It's odd that sound mixing ever stands out, but it felt like you were always in a crowded room. And the music was constant, and very varied. I liked that. Adam Sandler's character is front and center, the only real character, and he's not a bad person, but he makes bad decisions at all the right times to just continue making his life shittier. There's barely a single quiet moment until about an hour in. Adrian tells me it's because the directors are opposed to the "quiet on the set" idea. But also, such a perfect ending! I did not expect to be so relieved when he died, given that I didn't dislike him at all. He just needed to relax!
Mary Poppins
date: Aug 16, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: Such a great movie. And Dick Van Dyke is so likeable even though his accent is so atrocious. Also it's always so weird to me how cold and proud Mary Poppins is most of the time. It's like people only like her for her magical powers and they ignore her horrible personality.
Moana
date: Jul 04, 2020 – Jul 06, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: I loved this movie! I hate it how quickly Pixar movies can get you all welled up--I think a lot of it is the music. Anyway, I thought it was a really great story, and the chicken was very funny. It was also really cool to see a female adventurer protagonist.
Hamilton
date: Jul 03, 2020 – Jul 04, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: The songs were great, and impressive, and it made me really interested to read about the actual history and all the people involved. HOWEVER, it was pretty overwhelming how non-stop the songs were. They were so dense! And there was zero non-singing dialogue! We watched it in two parts and each hour still felt incredibly long. Probably better in real life.
The Little Mermaid
date: Jun 27, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: (Not that the boys paid attention at all.)
The Cable Guy
date: May 29, 2020
where:
350Pgh
comments: The beginning was super slow, but once he turned evil it was much better. Jim Carrey had some funny moments here and there (especially during the dream sequence), but overall, nothing special. Was the moral at the end (with the guy picking up a book after his cable went out) meant to be laughable.
Risky Business
date: May 17, 2020
where:
350Pgh
comments: This movie was hilarious. We were skeptical at first, but it was just too ridiculous to not be funny. We were definitely not expecting it to be satirical, or as dark as it ended up being. Would definitely recommend.
Parasite
date: Mar 08, 2020
where:
Elise & Harrison's House
comments: Great movie--definitely the most I've ever enjoyed a movie when seeing it for the first time after it's won Best Picture. The story was predictable in just the right way: You can see where it's going, but you're excited to see exactly how it plays out. One of my favorite aspects of the storytelling was how, based on all their actions the protagonist family was just COMPLETELY evil/manipulative/selfish. But because they all clearly loved each other and looked out for one another, that simple fact alone trumped the evil part and made them so likable. It's pretty interesting how successful that was, and what a weird pairing it made of them as characters.
Inherent Vice
date: Mar 04, 2020 – Mar 05, 2020
where:
350Pgh
comments: It's actually really impressive how closely the movie tracks the book! Almost every line is direct from the book, and at least to about halfway through so far nothing has happened that didn't also happen in the book. Pretty rare! But also, what a confusing plot, especially for a movie. We had to pause it like four times for me to catch Jess up.
Yesterday
date: Feb 27, 2020 – Mar 01, 2020
where:
Southwest Airlines
comments: As stupid as I knew it would be, but the trailer was so fun it was worth a shot. In this movie, a guy wakes up and realizes that no no one knows who The Beatles are, so he records them all and becomes famous. It was dumb/lazy that they turned the whole plot into a romcom. But it was pretty fun how there were other various concepts that had also been forgotten (cigarettes, Coca Cola, and Harry Potter).
Yes Man
date: Feb 16, 2020
where:
350Pgh
comments: Not Jim Carrey's best by any means. But it was funny enough to be fine.

2019 Movies

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
date: Dec 01, 2019
where:
350Pgh
If Beale Street Could Talk
date: Nov 09, 2019 – Nov 10, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: I'd been wanting to see this movie for a long time, especially after reading that interview with Barry Jenkins in The Believer a while back. I didn't know anything about the movie at all, content-wise, which I always appreciate. Overall, it was nice, and the lighting/coloring was all very pretty, and the characters were all very likeable. I thought the writing was really great for the most part--the non-linear aspect of it was really well done. But I didn't really follow the ending. It caught me unexpectedly. Possibly that's just because we watched it in two sittings.
American Factory
date: Oct 06, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: This was a story of the Chinese vs. American way of working, but with a power heirarchy (Chinese managers, American workers; Chinese owners, American factory). The Chinese work ethic seems super intense: 12 hour days, only one day off a month (no weekends!) The best part though was the friendship between Wong and Rob, a Chinese and American worker. Because other than that, it was pretty much just awful corporate shit.
Snowpiercer
date: Sep 21, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: I had kinda mixed feelings. I was excited about this movie just because it was produced by (I thought it was actually directed by) Park Chan Wook, but was ultimately disappointed. At the same time, I thought the premise was cool (all of humanity currently only exists on a single train), and it was also really nice how that setting structured the plot (the people at the end of the train are on a mission to get to the front of the train). However, it was super lame that both the main protagonist and antagonist were both white guys, despite having an otherwise diverse cast. That really ruined it for some reason.
The Matrix
date: Aug 08, 2019
where:
350Pgh
Stranger Than Fiction
date: Jul 30, 2019 – Jul 31, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: Second time seeing this. I remembered liking it before, but in a "That was actually not that bad" kind of way. But I think this was actually pretty good! Or at least, I was surprised by how much I still enjoyed it this time. It kinda got better as it went along even, and I was expecting the opposite.
My Idiot Brother
date: Jul 25, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: Just as surprisingly-entertaining as I remembered.
7 Days in Hell
date: Jul 14, 2019
where:
350Pgh
Drop Dead Gorgeous
date: Jul 12, 2019
where:
350Pgh
Superbad
date: Jul 10, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: Why is this movie so funny? It's the funniest Seth Rogen movie, pretty sure.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
date: Jun 28, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: This was really fun, especially the first half.
Pineapple Express [part]
date: Jun 27, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: Jess watches the whole thing. Very stupid.
The Hangover
date: Jun 22, 2019
where:
350Pgh
Knocked Up
date: May 28, 2019 – May 29, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: I didn't remember a single part about this movie, but I know I saw it...
Frances Ha
date: Apr 27, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: I loved this movie. The acting wasn't the best, but the writing was really funny in a way that felt kind of like a Woody Allen movie sometimes. It also reminded me of Girls, but really just because it was so unlike it, despite depicting a very similar type of people in a very similar place. My favorite sequence in a weird way was when she went to visit her parents (the actor's real parents, according to the credits!) and how characterless everything was in a very perfect way. Kind of like saying visiting anyone's parents would be the same.
The Shining [part]
date: Apr 14, 2019
where:
350Pgh
Tokyo Story
date: Apr 07, 2019
where:
Row House Cinema
comments: Didn't know anything going in except that I kept hearing about this movie, so I was glad to get a chance to see it in theatres since the odds were stacked against me enjoying it fully otherwise (old, black and white, subtitles, and 2.5 hours long). Jess and I both really loved it. It took a while for me to understand where it was going--it was sort of a slow burn sort of movie. I loved all the characters, and the message seemed very genuine and even contemporary, which is crazy because this movie is 65+ years old. The music being played/sung in the funeral scene was absolutely incredible, and I wish I could find out more about what that song is (some sort of Buddhist chant?). The second half of the movie was by far my favorite--it felt like it all came together and paid off, the more the movie kept going. We both cried, and when we left--even when we got home--we stayed sad. Overall it was a really beautiful movie that made you want to be nice to your parents.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
date: Mar 31, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: We had it on in the background while we were working, but it was pretty funny, and so hard to not watch for some parts. So goofy.
Swiss Army Man
date: Mar 11, 2019 – Mar 13, 2019
where:
350Pgh
Reservoir Dogs
date: Mar 08, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: Jess had never seen this before! Fun to watch it with fresh eyes. My favorite thing about Quentin Tarantin's movies is his dialogue, so this one is always special to me just because it's almost purely dialogue. And so many good characters! Nothing beats Mr. White though. I'd never noticed before how he's essentially the protagonist, in that you experience all the characters through him.
Kill Bill 2
date: Mar 01, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: Always surprisingly good.
Anywhere But Here
date: Feb 24, 2019
where:
Menlo Park Inn, Menlo Park, CA
comments: Starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman and barely anyone else is even in it--both are great. I think if I'd seen the poster for this beforehand, I'd never have watched it. But it was on my TV in my hotel room and so it was oddly perfect.
Groundhog Day
date: Feb 17, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: We'd both been wanting to rewatch this for a while, and it didn't disappoint. Bill Murray's character Phil is a bit of a creep, so it's kinda hard to ever believe he could deserve ending up with Rita in the end, even though I do believe his transformation. As Lessons From A Screenplay suggests, it's like Phil is in purgatory until he learns to no longer be selfish. My impression was that Phil's resolve is a sense of duty to do the right thing, since he refers to his good deeds as "errands" he has to run.
Fyre Fraud
date: Jan 23, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: Nowhere near as good as the Netflix version in terms of storytelling and character development, but also worth watching, mostly because of a) the interview with Billy, and b) their point that the co-producers of the Netflix doc (Jerry Media) were directly involved in marketing the original festival. But overall, more of an outsiders view of what happened, with probably a lot of people pretending that they saw it coming all along.
Fyre
date: Jan 23, 2019
where:
350Pgh
comments: This was unexpectedly entertaining. I'm definitely starting to wonder about the effects of Instagram and influencers more and more these days. The storytelling was really good in this one, kind of like a story about a cult mixed with fraud. The insider perspective--meaning the footage and interviews with people intimiately involved in the planning and execution--are really what made this one so good.

2018 Movies

The Sandlot
date: Dec 22, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: It's crazy how much of this movie I still remembered, given my horrible memory for movies, and the fact that I was probably 12 or something when I saw this last. Overall, it's hard to separate all the things I first thought about it when I was a kid from how I feel now. Meaning, I loved it, and it was great. Very silly.
Sorry to Bother You
date: Dec 21, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: What a ridiculous movie! I really liked it a lot at first, and I do really love how original it was overall, but it kinda went too far off the rails at the end. Also dragged a bit in the middle. But yeah, I loved the vibe of the story. It reminded me of Being John Malkovich, and also a little of Eternal Sunshine, in the general helplessness of the protagonist. Overall very funny and definitely worth watching.
Battle Royale
date: Dec 07, 2018
where:
350Pgh
rating: 4/5
comments: This was so good! I've been hearing about this movie since 7th grade so I figured it actually wasn't that great. But yeah, really fun, and a good story to keep it going, and I loved having the countdown. Also Jess was quick to recognize the one girl (Chigusa) as the one in Kill Bill.
The Battle of Buster Scruggs
date: Nov 27, 2018 – Dec 03, 2018
where:
350Pgh
rating: 3.5/5
comments: A bunch of little vignettes set in the Wild West, basically. I thought they were all pretty entertaining, except for maybe the one with Liam Neeson which was a little slow. My two favorites were the first one, and the one with Tom Waits panning for gold.
Giuseppe Makes a Movie
date: Nov 18, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
rating: 4.5/5
comments: I love outsider artists--there's no type of artist that's more inspiring to me. Basically this guy, Giuseppe Andrews, makes movies starring the people in his trailer park and other various people, and he shoots them as quickly as possible, reading/yelling the lines to the cast before each shot. It's hilarious. I have also never seen anyone wipe an adult's ass, not on film or even in reality. (This was not part of the movie he was making.) The thing I love about outsider artists is that they realize that you can just make art just because you love doing it--you don't have to take it seriously in the same way that professionals take it seriously. It's a silly thing, how as we grow up we become less and less likely to try to make a shitty movie.
Dune
date: Nov 03, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Pretty disappointing. At first, I was pretty impressed with how well it was following the book: Slow at first, with too much detail. But once the Duke was killed, it just started skipping around like crazy, and changing things completely, and Jess wasn't following the story at all without me explaining what I could. I was pretty annoyed that the story itself had been changed from a story about Paul's reckoning with his powers and his desire to avoid a race war, into a simple revenge/war story. On a positive note, it was an all-star sci-fi cast where you could basically refer to every character by their other, more well-known identity: Agent Dale Cooper, the Replicant from Blade Runner, Sting, Big Ed, Eraserhead...Also, the visuals were pretty fun--pretty unique and fun to look at. Especially the shields.
Hot Fuzz
date: Oct 28, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Nowhere near as good as Shaun of the Dead. It just seemed much slower to me, like nothing was ever happening, and they were just depending on the big reveal to make it all worth it, but it wasn't real. Some chuckles, but overall not that great.
Billy Madison [part]
date: Oct 21, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Pretty awful for the most part--especially when he's speaking in that stupid voice. We only watched thirty minutes because that was plenty. Some of the scenes in the first grade class gave us some chuckles, but mostly, it was just super dumb.
Season of the Witch
date: Oct 20, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: A George Romero movie that's not about zombies at all--it's about witches, and I really loved it. Especially because it never actually got supernatural. Apparently this movie was a re-cut of a movie (Hungry Wives) that was itself a re-cut of another movie (Jack's Wife).
Enemy (2013)
date: Oct 06, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: This was completely bizarre. The whole thing required a lot of suspension of disbelief at first, because if you ever found your doppelganger, your first reaction would probably not be an existential or dramatic reaction--you'd just assume you had a long-lost twin, would you not? But the last half just got better and better, and it made more sense why the whole movie had such supenseful music. The ending was great though--completely shocking and surprising, and fun to think about afterwards. Also cool that the giant spider was a Louise Bourgeois sculpture.
Manhunter
date: Oct 05, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: The first Hannibal movie, though we didn't even realize it was a Hannibal movie when we put it on. It had some corny moments, like every time the protagonist talked to himself, but there were definitely some pretty shots and fun parts too. Jess liked it more than me I think. Kinda reminded me of David Fincher in a way.
Isle of Dogs
date: Sep 28, 2018
where:
American Airlines
comments: This was nice. Not as over the top as I was expecting. Nice amount of emotion. The most unique thing about it seemed the idea of translating things and putting them in parentheses. But I can always appreciate a movie where the bad guy repents.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
date: Sep 22, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: I loved this movie. It was dumb in parts, and a little long in the end, but overall, just very non-stop entertaining. And so similar to Eternal Sunshine! Not just in the story and manic pixie thing, but even in the lighting in some of the scenes (like when they're outside in the snow at night).
Mars Attacks!
date: Sep 14, 2018
where:
Row House Cinema
comments: I was super surprised by how ridiculous and campy this was. Also, a really ridiculous number of stars are in it. There were some very funny parts (Sarah Jessica Parker and her dog, mostly). But lots of really bad trying-to-be-funny-by-being-typical humor. (I agree with Roger Ebert's review: "To be funny, even schlock has to believe in itself.") Overall, the movie felt like a long build-up just for the last five minutes of the movie, which were actually pretty great.
The Good, the Bad, the Weird
date: Sep 12, 2018 – Sep 13, 2018 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
mubi
comments: Just watched part of this but it was really entertaining, with some really fun shots. The Weird was clearly the best character.
Living Still Life
date: Sep 12, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
short-film
comments: Great colors, and really eerie but cool idea. I got chills when near the end she repeated the opening monologue.
Suspiria
date: Sep 09, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: So much color! Beautiful lighting, often with different colors in foreground than background which was fun. Also great music, though also pretty funny at the same time with the raspy voice. The dubbing seemed off, but other than that, this was very entertaining and pretty. Did The Shining get the bathoom scene with the axe/knife through the door and the escape through the window from Suspiria? Sure seemed like it.
War Games
date: Sep 06, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Really great first half, really typical dumb-movie-stuff second half. But really, the first half was great, with so many good one-liners (Giving a biology lecture: "Does anyone know who first proposed the idea of reproduction without sex?" David: "Your wife."), and lots of fun 1980s "hacker" examples.
Djon Africa
date: Aug 27, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: Very beautiful movie. No real plot to this one, but that didn't bother me. Nice lighting--they really liked yellow/orange as backlight along with silhouettes. When the protagonist got to the capital of Cape Verde, near the taxis, it reminded me of the similar scenes in Wulu. Also beautiful landscapes.
Her
date: Aug 23, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: As Jess put it, this movie isn't that deep--it's pretty well summarized as "sci-fi romance." Not to say it isn't entertaining though! I don't know how Spike Jonze (and Joaquin Phoenix!) managed to shoot all those close-up scenes where the only thing happening is Theodore's face talking to an invisible Samantha, and still have it not be boring. Story-wise, I really hate Samantha--she spends the whole first half of the movie being jealous of Theodore, asking him to tell her everything, and then in the end, she's just like "I get to love as many people as I want--you wouldn't understand." So hypocritical!
Point Break
date: Aug 20, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: This was surprisingly good. I was pretty surprised how much I enjoyed it, given how much I hate movies like Con Air and Face Off. It somehow managed to be beautiful and star a Bill-and-Ted-era Keanu Reeves. Also Patrick Swayze's beautiful hair.
BlackkKlansman
date: Aug 18, 2018
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: This was really good. It was funny, entertaining, but also really relevant in a way that felt impactful and not just being relevant to grab interest. Ending the movie with the footage from Charlottesville fucking wrecked me, but it also immediately made it clear why the subject matter of the KKK was worth our time. Plot-wise, I found it a bit weird that one cop would speak on the phone while the other would go in person. Also, hard to believe that Chi-Raq (Spike Lee's last movie, and not at all a good one) was made on the same exact budget. Hard not to compare this movie to Django Unchained, but in a way that makes Django look very empty-headed.
Wulu
date: Aug 13, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: This was a good one. Very colorful, and very engaging. The protagonist barely said anything and was always just staring and thinking. The only thing I didn't like (or even understand at all) was the ending.
Erase and Forget
date: Aug 11, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: Documentary on Bo Gritz, apparently the most decorated special forces soldier ever. He fought in Vietnam, and was the inspiration for Rambo, and Marlon Brando's character in Apocalypse Now. And yet, despite having killed around 400 people, he's clearly a very emotional and thoughtful person. What an amazing and fascinating character. He was also a mediator in the Ruby Ridge standoff. I can't say I fully understand from this documentary any sort of static portrait of him, because it seems like he's really kinda all over the place. Film-wise, it started very slow, but picked up in the middle and got really interesting in parts. But overall, a little confusing what the message or thread was at times, since it was all just interview footage edited together.
Trainspotting
date: Aug 10, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
comments: I was really surprised by how well this movie held up, having not seen it since college. It was my favorite movie for a while, but it seemed like such a cliche favorite after a while that I guess I moved on and just figured it wasn't that good. But it is! The scenes are so beautifully composed, and the way the camera moves is very visceral. They do seem to way overly romanticize the heroin high, in a way that today seems pretty unfortunate--compared to, say, a documentary about heroin addiction. Also there's one really awful scene where Renton moves to London and there's this awful music along with a montage of London. Other than those two points, so many of the scenes are so memorable and funny. I love it.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
date: Jul 28, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Hadn't seen this movie since when I first saw it in theatres. Much less of a mindfuck and a heartbreaker than when I first saw it, but still, I really liked it. It had this real desaturated contrasty vintage feeling that I feel like must have been typical for a lot of artsy movies around this same time. Also the scenes filmed with the flashlight were cool. Also, Frodo is a creeper in this movie--especially his goatee.
Adaptation.
date: Jul 21, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: I think I actually might have loved this movie had it not been for the ending. I am a sucker for Charlie Kaufman, and self-reference in general, but the ending for me just became too "Hollywood" in exactly the way the characters mentioned earlier in the movie that it would, and I didn't really like that. I wanted an underwhelming ending. But really, other than the ending, I loved it.
City of God
date: Jul 17, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
comments: Hadn't seen this movie since high school, and I still loved it! Great characters, good scenes, and I like the coloring a lot. Hard to beleive it's based on a true story.
Heroin: Cape Cod, USA
date: Jul 16, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: It's crazy how many stories of heroin addiction start right after "I had the accident," got prescribed opioids, etc. And I didn't realize that heroin provided the same exact high as a prescription pain-killer, but just cheaper. And I couldn't help but wonder if the interview process for making this film might have made it harder for some of the interviewees to stay clean...
Paris is Burning
date: Jul 12, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Amazing documentary. I loved every single person in the movie--they were all such fascinating characters. The sad thing is, they're all dead now, with barely any living past 30, let alone 40.
Interview with the Vampire
date: Jul 09, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Tom Cruise is completely absurd in this movie. Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst were great though. The weirdest part about this world though is how some people scream in terror when they're bit (as you would), while others are in complete ecstasy/bliss and only when (or if!) they notice blood later do they ever even freak out at all.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
date: Jul 08, 2018
where:
350Pgh
Incredibles 2
date: Jul 07, 2018
where:
Waterworks Cinemas
comments: Maybe even funnier than the first one. The baby especially was hilarious.
Youth of the Beast
date: Jul 02, 2018
where:
Elise & Harrison's House
tags:
criterion
comments: Pretty fun, but very hard to follow with all the characters. Also the lead actor's cheeks were augmented artificially?
Election
date: Jul 02, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: I love this movie. It's so much fun, and all the characters are so lovable.
The Disaster Artist
date: Jun 30, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Really funny, and amazing how much James Franco looks like him. I feel like they should've also just remade the entire movie shot-for-shot
Bob Le Flambeur
date: Jun 18, 2018
where:
Elise & Harrison's House
tags:
criterion
comments: It was alright. But who in their right mind is warned by a cop not to rob somewhere but then does it anyway? Stupid.
The Incredibles
date: Jun 16, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: I was skeptical at first but I got into it. Warrants watching the next one, I'd say. The baby is the funniest part for sure though.
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
date: Jun 13, 2018
where:
Manor Theatre
tags:
favorite
comments: I was crying for basically the entire movie. What an amazing person.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [part]
date: Jun 06, 2018
where:
350Pgh
The Trial (1962)
date: Jun 04, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: Very strange movie, but some really pretty parts, and also surprisingly funny parts. I think my favorite characters were Romy Schneider's and Orson Welles's. What's the deal with the women in the movie though? It's very strange.
The Hit (1984)
date: Jun 03, 2018
where:
Elise & Harrison's House
tags:
criterion
comments: What a great cast. A hitman movie that ends up being a road trip movie. You could probably recut the scenes from this movie and turn it into a comedy about unlikely friends. It was beautiful, and also I love Tim Roth. But also Terence Stamp's character was so cool! Finally, I just assumed that young John Hurt was young Ian McKellen
The Happening
date: May 13, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: This movie was just what I needed. Also, the whole plant toxins thing seems totally reasonable to me! I mean, surprisingly reasoable at least. I was totally shocked that this movie has such horrible Rotten Tomatoes ratings because I felt like this movie was essentially perfect for what it was. (Though I did remember the iPhone product placement from when I first saw this in theatres--it might even be the most offensive use of product placement I've ever seen in a movie.) But then I remembered that the last movie I saw was Troll 2, so probably my expectations were exceedingly low.
Troll 2
date: May 12, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: This movie was so bad and the characters so annoying that it actually made me upset. But Jess just loves it.
Casino
date: May 07, 2018 – May 08, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: I love Robert Deniro. Also, this movie is strangely non-violent about 98% of the time, and then EXTREMELY violent in short bursts. Like the head vice scene. Sharon Stone is amazing, and I love how comical so much of the dialogue/banter is.
Donnie Darko [part]
date: Apr 09, 2018
where:
350Pgh
Zodiac
date: Apr 07, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: So much dialogue, but really not that bad!
The Shape of Water
date: Apr 06, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Never a good idea to see a movie after it's won Best Picture--my expectations are too high even though I know they shouldn't be. I liked it, but I found the mixture of silly and serious a little too much. Also, I realize now that I really just look down on any movie that depends on a "bad guy" to create all the conflict.
Con Air [part]
date: Apr 04, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen part of
Who Framed Roger Rabbit [part]
date: Apr 02, 2018
where:
350Pgh
Coco
date: Mar 30, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: I saw the twist coming from a mile off, and I didn't find the movie that engrossing, but I did appreciate that they almost told an entire story without a "bad guy," and I thought the setting was great. Also imagine someone saying "You're my family!" in every possible intonation and with different emphases, and it was probably said exactly like that at some point in the movie.
Jane
date: Mar 28, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Beautiful documentary about Jane Goodall. I didn't really know much about her before this besides that she worked with chimps. Really amazing how she went from 23 year old assistant with no science background, to someone experiencing first-hand for the first time what chimps are like.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban [part]
date: Mar 19, 2018
where:
Sam & Caelin's House
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle [part]
date: Mar 18, 2018
where:
Sam & Caelin's House
comments: God awful, of course.
Interstellar
date: Mar 18, 2018
where:
Sam & Caelin's House
comments: I think I liked it a lot more this time, though it could definitely be a little shorter. The scenes with the daughter (when she's a kid) really choked me up for some reason, just immediately, every time.
Making of Star Wars VII [part]
date: Mar 16, 2018
where:
Sam & Caelin's House
Annihilation
date: Mar 15, 2018
where:
350Pgh
Black Panther
date: Mar 11, 2018
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: Pretty heavy movie at times, but plot-wise it's just a superhero movie. The technology was all a little corny to me.
Marie Antoinette [part]
date: Feb 27, 2018
where:
350Pgh
A Serious Man
date: Feb 26, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: I remember seeing this with Dad in theaters when I was in college. I remember thinking it was weird and pretty underwhelming. But this time I really liked it, even if I didn't fully understand it. It was pretty funny, and I really liked how there are never any real answers given to anything. Also when the old wise rabbi's only advice is the lyrics to a Jefferson Airplane song.
Star Wars: Rogue One [part]
date: Feb 21, 2018
where:
350Pgh
Call Me By Your Name
date: Feb 19, 2018
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: A story about a gay teen in Italy and his first love, and the movie had me wanting to be 20-something and in Italy in the summer, with all that sunshine, and all the old buildings. The movie really surprised me, and got me to react in ways I don't think I have in a movie before. It was really well done, how subtle so much of the communication was, but while still being clear.
Blade Runner 2049
date: Feb 18, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: It was absolutely beautiful, and just as good as I'd remembered. Definitely one of those movies that you wish you could see for the first time again, though the re-watch was still very enjoyable. Though I just wish Jared Leto's character wasn't in it...
V for Vendetta
date: Feb 16, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: I remember really liking this movie when I saw it in high school (?), and surprisingly I still really liked it! Mostly I love how it's both a comic book movie and a sci-fi but without really feeling like either.
There's Something About Mary
date: Feb 09, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Of the popular comedy trilogy we just went on, I think this one was the best, or at least the most creative. Also, Owen Wilson was considered instead of Ben Stiller, so in that way it's like Owen Wilson was the link between all the movies of the trilogy.
Meet the Parents
date: Feb 07, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: The beginning is just relentless with all the awkwardness, but it does get pretty funny.
Wedding Crashers
date: Feb 06, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Surprisingly pretty funny.
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring [part]
date: Feb 05, 2018
where:
350Pgh
Wrong Cops
date: Jan 30, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: It was a very stupid movie, which we kinda figured it would be because Eric of Tim and Eric was in it. Also Marilyn Manson, who was oddly very good (meaning, very weird, but not in the way you'd expect). It was so bad at first though, I almost stopped watching it. But then, slowly but surely, I kinda grew into its stupidness and enjoying it quite a bit. It was very silly, but actually pretty well done.
Phantom Thread
date: Jan 27, 2018
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: Started out surprisingly serious and dramatic, and then ended just so bizarrely. You just let her poison you, and you love that about her? Such a strange turn that it had me laughing out loud before I knew I was supposed to, but then, I do think I was supposed to. Do I need to rewatch the entire movie as a comedy? I'm really not sure. But Daniel Day Lewis was great as usual, and the movie did have a very consistent, nice heavy feel to it. And the main actress had so many different facial colorings, apparently depending on her mood--it was very interesting.
Frank
date: Jan 26, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
comments: This movie could have been so dumb but it was actually wonderful. So many really funny parts, and very original, surprising parts too. The music was actually also really good.
10 Cloverfield Lane
date: Jan 13, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: It wasn't the best movie--pretty straightforward I guess. But it was entertaining. It just left way too many loose ends! How could he be both a kidnapper and there be an alien attack--wouldn't that be an extreme coincidence? It was just not really explained.
The Business of Being Born
date: Jan 09, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Wow, they really make it look like during a water birth the baby just kinda slides out nice and easy. The births were the best part, actually--super emotional.
Jackie Brown
date: Jan 04, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Wow, I loved this movie--not at all how I remember reacting to it the first time I saw it, freshman year of college. Robert Deniro's character is so different for him--I loved it. Also, Jackie and Max have a great chemistry, and Samuel L Jackson is so amazing that I often forget he's an actor and not his character. Also, only four deaths in the whole movie!
A League of Their Own
date: Jan 01, 2018
where:
350Pgh
comments: Not worth watching to the end, but the first half or so is just as great as I remember it being when I was a kid.

2017 Movies

A Christmas Story
date: Dec 24, 2017
where:
Ben & Rene's House
comments: Somehow never not entertaining
Home Alone
date: Dec 23, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Not great, but pretty funny.
Dazed and Confused
date: Dec 22, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
comments: The best part about this movie is how it captures so many tiny moments about what public middle and high school are like, not just in 1976 but probably in any year.
Jingle All the Way [part, on mute]
date: Dec 16, 2017
where:
Vince's Apartment
Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi
date: Dec 15, 2017
where:
AMC Loews Waterfront
comments: This movie was too long, and had a lot of annoying parts in it. Worst line: "I just want to smash my fist into this lousy, beautiful city." My favorite parts were Luke's storyline, and all of the ridiculous alien characters like the icy crystal wolf guys.
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens
date: Dec 14, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
comments: This movie just makes me so happy; everything about the first hour or so is just perfect, with each scene leading so perfectly into the next. Honestly the only part I don't like is Princess "General" Leia--her lines are all so corny.
Jim & Andy
date: Dec 12, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Jim Carrey is a lunatic, but I also think I love him. It really makes me wonder how much of the magic of Man on the Moon was a byproduct of Jim Carrey's method acting.
Princess Mononoke
date: Dec 03, 2017
where:
Row House Cinema
comments: I really enjoyed this movie, even with the dubs in English. (The dubs were one reason I couldn't stand Ponyo, but it didn't bother me here at all.) The spirits are obviously the best part of every Miyazaki movie, and that was definitely true here too. The story itself was entertaining, but the plot had a little too much deus ex machina for me to really get emotionally invested.
Man on the Moon
date: Dec 02, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
comments: This is one of those movies where you know within ten minutes that it's one of your favorites. I love how unpredictable he is, and how you just want to believe so badly that the movie is reality and that everything being portrayed is exactly how it happened.
The Hateful Eight
date: Nov 27, 2017 – Nov 30, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: What a ridiculous movie. But I do love his movies all the same. I love how dialogue-heavy they are, how they could be so easily translated into a play if it weren't for all the violence. Both this movie and Django are both like this: Nice and slow, then chaos.
Being John Malkovich
date: Nov 19, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
comments: Still one of my favorite movies. I didn't even know who John Malkovich was until I saw the trailer for this movie as a kid, and it really confused me. Now, knowing who John Malkovich is, the movie is a little less disturbing, but it is still funny to think about how my first exposure to who John Malkovich is was to watch John Malkovich portraying himself. Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich.
Minority Report
date: Nov 14, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I love this movie, I don't know why, but I remembered nearly every scene of it, and I even still love it.
Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs [part]
date: Nov 04, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: This was so perfectly awful--and what a climax.
Blade Runner: Final Cut
date: Oct 20, 2017
where:
Joao & Asma's Apartment
comments: This movie is so much weirder than I remember it being. This was my third time seeing it, but my first time actually appreciating it. I think a decent TV and sound system were critical for this. What a weird movie! But what's with the scene where he kisses Rachael basically by assaulting her?
Hail, Caesar!
date: Oct 08, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: It was kinda entertaining, but the story was so empty and meaningless that I felt very bored by the end of it all. Pretty costumes and sets though.
Blade Runner 2049
date: Oct 06, 2017
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: Jess and I both loved it. It was very entertaining, and beautiful, and Ryan Gosling is always great, and the music was very good as well. I was just genuinely very entertained. The sort of movie that's never better than when it's on a big screen. The only bad parts were Jared Leto's character, and Jared Leto.
Night of the Living Dead [part]
date: Oct 05, 2017
where:
350Pgh
The Fast and the Furious
date: Oct 04, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I'd never seen this before. Why did we watch it? Not sure. But it was kinda fun. Though also very ridiculous.
Ex Machina
date: Sep 30, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Just as good as I remembered it being. It's pretty perfect, actually. Last time I think the twist just surprised me so much that I got hung up on the whole femme fatale thing, but this time, knowing what was coming helped a lot for some reason. Oscar Isaac is just great in it, too.
Multiplicity
date: Sep 30, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: It was on TV, this movie with Michael Keaton, where he makes clones of himself essentially just to make himself a better family man. It was very goofy, but also very entertaining. Lots of eye-rollers, but there were some actually funny moments too.
Lethal Weapon
date: Sep 21, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I lost track of counting the plot holes, the ending (with the fist fight?) is ridiculous, and Mel Gibson is absurd. Also, for an action movie, it's pretty slow!
Hello Destroyer
date: Sep 20, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: So many things about this movie were great. The lack of music. The fact that the camera barely ever leaves the protagonist, and the empathy that you feel for him as a result. And then story-wise, the frustration of seeing a character clearly so affected by the people around him being ostracized for doing exactly what's expected of him.
The Fate of the Furious [part]
date: Sep 19, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Turns out it's really hard to find the first movie in this series anywhere online for free.
It
date: Sep 18, 2017
where:
Southside Works Cinema
comments: Basically a Stranger Things ripoff but with clowns and jump scares. It could have been half an hour shorter.
Baby Driver [part]
date: Sep 13, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Relentlessly kitchy; won't finish.
John Carpenter's The Fog
date: Sep 11, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Entertaining, but pretty silly.
The Dark Knight Rises
date: Sep 09, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: The audio for Bane's voice kinda ruins this movie. (Why did they make it sound like a voice-over?!) Also, the theatrical music is just constant in this movie. It's a pretty good movie, but having already seen it before, the ending was really the only part that was genuinely thrilling. Also it was pretty fun to see Mellon Institute in the background of all of Bane's speeches.
Jumanji [part]
date: Sep 06, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Friday
date: Sep 02, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: This actually had some really nice moments in it. Also some pretty great Chris Tucker faces. Reminds me of Do the Right Thing in a way too, in that it's just a day in a life of a bunch of characters on the same block.
Men in Black
date: Aug 31, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: One of the few movies where awful CGI doesn't really affect how enjoyable the movie is.
Independence Day
date: Aug 25, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I love it when old blockbuster movies aren't that bad (except for, you know, the climax). Also I miss Will Smith.
Sweaty Betty
date: Aug 24, 2017 – Aug 28, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: Really enjoyable to watch, even though there wasn't much of a story. Poor Charlotte...
La Grande Illusion
date: Aug 21, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: This seems like the sort of thing where it's only "one of the greatest movies ever" if you have some film history knowledge. I enjoyed it alright, but it didn't strike me as that interesting. There were some really cool shots though, like when the crowd stands up in sequence in the theatre.
Tim's Vermeer
date: Aug 20, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: This blew me away. The persistence of some people is just incredible, and definitely admirable. Why does it seem that all the examples I have of commitment this extreme come from art, such as "outsider art"? I also really want to try the technique, just of painting while looking at a mirror. It's amazing, the inventions that had just been sitting there right in front of everyone, but no one noticed.
"American Masters" John Cage, I Have Nothing to Say and I Am Saying It
date: Aug 19, 2017
where:
350Pgh
True Lies
date: Aug 16, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: This was great. The motorcycle-horse chase scene was crazy. It might be my favorite James Cameron movie.
Eldorado XXI [part]
date: Aug 14, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: Weird documentary that is really just a podcast (but in Spanish, so we had to read subtitles) on top of a single view of miners walking up some hill in Peru, in the dark. We stopped halfway. It was interesting, but unexpectedly motionless.
Casino Royale [part]
date: Aug 12, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: As campy as most of this movie was, the ending was pretty good.
The Rendez-vous of deja-vu
date: Aug 12, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: Very lighthearted, and literally absurd most of the time. I might have gotten more of the jokes if I were French.
Fear of a Black Hat
date: Aug 09, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I had apparently totally underestimated how many times I've seen this movie, because I remembered everything--especially the songs. A lot of the jokes are pretty dumb, but there are some pretty funny bits (like Tasty Taste on why he owns a bazooka: "Well, sometimes you gotta take out stuff like a bus or a building, or a bunch of mofuckas"). But most of all, the songs are great.
My Neighbor Totoro
date: Aug 07, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
comments: This movie was beautiful, and perfect, and it made me feel very happy.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
date: Aug 01, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: A nice old man who has had the same job (making sushi) for 75 years and who kinda looks like a turtle.
Dunkirk
date: Jul 29, 2017
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: Entertaining, suspenseful, but the most straightforward Christopher Nolan film ever. There was just the slightest jitter in the timelines of the three stories, and that was pretty interesting, but still very subtle and with no real consequence. Still can't believe there was no twist.
I, Robot
date: Jul 24, 2017
where:
Air Canada
comments: I think I swore to never see this movie just because of how many times I was forced to watch trailers for it, but this movie was actually really entertaining, and not even that stupid.
John Wick: Chapter 2
date: Jul 15, 2017
where:
Air Canada
Idiocracy
date: Jul 14, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Short and fun.
Inside Man
date: Jul 04, 2017 – Jul 05, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Die Hard
date: Jun 25, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: This might be the first action movie that I've ever genuinely thought was a good movie. The writing was great, the jokes were funny, and Bruce Willis was amazing.
Speed
date: Jun 24, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I don't even know how we ended up watching this. The best part is when Keanu decides to jump the train off the tracks at the end for absolutely no reason.
Wonder Woman
date: Jun 13, 2017
where:
AMC Loews Waterfront
comments: Entertaining, but very overhyped.
The Shining [part]
date: Jun 11, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
date: May 28, 2017
where:
Row House Cinema
comments: The movie started out very coherent, and fun, and I loved it. Then it started sticking on Laura Palmer, and it turned into a sort of horror movie, with some very strange scenes mixed in. I just love the FBI agents. And David Bowie's cameo was great.
Dark City
date: May 28, 2017 – May 30, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: This movie is basically awful but there are some cool ideas in it that seem to have rubbed off on other much better movies. So strange that this movie, The Matrix, Existenz, and 12 Monkeys all came out in the same year.
Inglorious Basterds
date: May 25, 2017 – May 27, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Way better than I'd remembered. Though the climax was just as overwhelming as I'd remembered. Basically it's a movie composed of five very long scenes, very dialogue driven, and the Germans are all so terrifyingly clever!
Blazing Saddles
date: May 16, 2017 – May 17, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Not very good, but at least also not as racist as I'd remembered. Gene Wilder is good, and the sheriff is pretty fun too, but everything else is dumb as shit.
District 9
date: May 13, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: It's a really cool story, and for that reason a pretty great movie. It's just a shame to think that a) we never get to find out what happens in three years, because there's no sequel!, and b) all of his other movies suck, so we probably wouldn't want a sequel anyway.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
date: May 12, 2017
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: I was pretty excited about this movie, and really I knew I was just setting myself up to be disappointed. But it really came through! Which is amazing. But it was great. Dumb parts, corny parts for sure, but also some really good funny parts. The same amount of cleverness. My only confusion is why they had to take away his god powers when Kurt Russell died?! Totally unnecessary.
Prometheus
date: May 11, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: As Jess put it: "It didn't make any fucking sense, but I enjoyed watching it."
A Beautiful Mind
date: May 10, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Really more about schizophrenia than it is about math. But I was impressed by the explanations of Nash equilibria not being just total nonsense. A not bad movie, but not great.
Superbad
date: May 09, 2017
where:
350Pgh
The Prestige
date: May 03, 2017 – May 09, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Funny People [part]
date: May 01, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Not really worth finishing.
Mad Max: Fury Road
date: Apr 28, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I loved it this time. I remember last time being much more critical, but man is that thing thrilling. I literally kept forgetting to blink. It was crazy.
Rosemary's Baby
date: Apr 25, 2017 – Apr 27, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I really liked this movie. It was kinda slow, and very deliberate, but still really fun to watch. You just watch this very slow descent...The ending was the best. And Mia Farrow is great.
Terminator
date: Apr 22, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Total Recall
date: Apr 19, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I had no idea I would ever like an Arnold movie, but I loved this one. It's so similar to Scanners, with the absurd special effects, but it also has a surprisingly entertaining plot for what I assumed was just an action movie. I was hoping for a better twist at the very end, but the first half was essentially perfect, I'm pretty sure.
Black Swan
date: Apr 15, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: It's relentless, this movie. Not a happy moment in it. I was in constant discomfort. Goddamn body horror. Still, I feel like it's a great movie. Or at least, the discomfort I felt distracted me from noticing any major flaws.
Janis Joplin: Little Girl Blue
date: Mar 30, 2017
where:
350Pgh
12 Monkeys
date: Mar 24, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: What we really want to know is, who's the old guy?
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
date: Mar 17, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I fell asleep, but seemed pretty cool. However, Jess didn't seem to understand much more than I did, and she didn't fall asleep.
Blue Streak [part]
date: Mar 12, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Get Out
date: Mar 12, 2017
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: This was very entertaining and also unsettling. I feel like it's rare that a movie can be "scary" but also smart in a way that isn't just ironic.
Lights in the Dusk
date: Mar 10, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
The Lego Movie
date: Mar 05, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: More entertaining than expected. Kinda took some getting used to, visually.
Shakespeare in Love
date: Feb 27, 2017
where:
350Pgh
The Game
date: Feb 26, 2017
where:
Delta Airlines
American Experience: Oklahoma City
date: Feb 10, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Zootopia
date: Feb 07, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: It was entertaining. That's about all I have to say though.
Arrival
date: Feb 06, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: I would say it was my favorite sci-fi since Ex Machina. It was pretty academic (mentioning but not explaining a "zero sum game", multiple uses of the word "nonlinear", a linguist as the hero), so that was fun, but my favorite part was definitely that it had such a perfect big reveal. One of those beautiful moments when watching a movie when you get chills all over because you understood something. There's nothing better a movie can achieve, in my opinion.
Hidden Figures
date: Jan 31, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: It was pretty good actually. As with most "based on a true story" movies, you essentially just have to forget about the truthiness of things and just take it. But it was moving, as it was. Also crazy to think that people called people "computers," if they were good at calculating things. Like, "I need a computer" in the way you would also say "I need a secretary."
Fences
date: Jan 29, 2017
where:
Southside Works Cinema
tags:
favorite
comments: At first it seemed like everyone was way overacting, but somewhere along the line I got completely sucked into it and I loved it. I haven't cried that much in a movie since Toy Story 3. Mostly, though, I just loved how verbal the movie was, being based on a play. Entire subplots evolve solely through dialogue about the subplots, involving characters we never even meet. Overall though, Denzel's character's psychology totally dominates the story, and his relationships with both his wife (Viola Davis) and son are equally interesting. Their end monologues were what brought me to tears. A parent's role is to give their kids the best of themselves.
Les Ogres [part]
date: Jan 25, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Death Watch
date: Jan 23, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: It's a "sci-fi" but really, today, it's not even that futuristic at all, being mostly about voyeurism and reality TV--a more realistic Truman Show, maybe. It started out kinda slow, and kinda weird, but really just built up and got better and better as it went along. My favorite scene was near the end, with the ex-husband talking about how most events in life has no significance or meaning whatsoever; that anyone who lives their lives otherwise is just "dramatizing" themselves. Dark, but probably true.
A Hard Day
date: Jan 17, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: More entertaining than I first thought it would be. Lots of really great twists! It kept me entertained, for sure.
Moonlight
date: Jan 16, 2017
where:
AMC Loews Waterfront
comments: This was amazing. I feel stronger and stronger about it the more I think about it. I was glad to have no idea what the film was about, because I think if you'd told me it was about a poor black gay kid I would have had very different expectations. One of the things that I thought was so good about this movie was how subtle it was. It really made me connect with the characters by not being overly dramatic. Also, Juan was such an interesting character and I was really sad to see him disappear to soon. And the chair scene was fantastic. My one criticism is that the whole last act felt a bit slow.
Fantasia [part]
date: Jan 13, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Caddyshack [part]
date: Jan 12, 2017
where:
350Pgh
comments: Pretty awful. It's in many ways just a movie about a girl and her boobs.
Mishen (2011)
date: Jan 09, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: Sounded interesting, but it ended up being very long, and even more confusing. Very literary, in a sense, except in a swirling, opaque way that left me having no idea what I was even supposed to feel. I had no idea where the story would go at each moment, which made it difficult to feel attached to anything. Reminded me of the one Tarkovsky movie I've seen--another (Russian) movie that was essentially impossible for me to parse.
To Be and to Have
date: Jan 05, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi

2016 Movies

Baden Baden
date: Dec 30, 2016
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: The third of the so-called "Ana Trilogy." I really love the pacing of all of the parts of this trilogy. There's just such a nice energy to them, with lots of nice silences. The characters don't talk too much. But most important is Salome Richard, the lead. Really most everything about why this movie is good has to do with her, as there's really not much of a story. But she plays such an intriguing character, and has such a great charm, that a story isn't really necessary. Overall, I just loved watching this. It put me in a trance.
Neil Young: Heart of Gold
date: Dec 28, 2016
where:
350Pgh
Love Actually
date: Dec 28, 2016
where:
350Pgh
The Big Short
date: Dec 27, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: The style was all over the place, and it was hard for me to ever really get into it with all the fourth wall stuff. Characters breaking to say things like "It didn't really happen like this, of course, but..." It's a unique idea to do that, I guess, but I didn't like it. Anyway, overall I think the story was really effective. I feel totally depressed and mixed up about investing now. Do you buy in and just hope things stay relatively stable? It's all so ridiculous.
Remember the Titans
date: Dec 23, 2016
where:
Wigglesworth House
comments: Pretty overdone, no doubt, but also pretty feel-good. "Glossy," as I think someone else put it.
A Muppet Christmas Carol
date: Dec 22, 2016
where:
Wigglesworth House
comments: The most absurd Christmas movie choice which was all Jess's idea. It wasn't bad, I guess, once I accepted the fact that we'd be watching all of it. It is a pretty great story though, whatever the adaptation. And one of the first stories of time travel! I didn't mind watching it, overall.
Key of Life
date: Dec 18, 2016
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: The first 2/3 of the movie was just perfect--it was cracking me up, and everything about it was surprising. It was the perfect mix of hitman film and romantic comedy, as promised. Very bizarre. But then once the main turn happened, it kinda changed and dragged on a bit. But overall very entertaining.
Star Wars: Rogue One
date: Dec 17, 2016
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: The movie projector was off or something, because it was so dim that I really had no idea what was going on for the first 20 minutes or so. In any case, I didn't really care about any of the characters at all. I was entertained, enough, but felt nothing for them. I felt like the whole thing overall was just kinda lazy, or uninspired. Jess liked it though. I did really love the blind character and his friend. That part got me.
Hero
date: Dec 10, 2016
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: It was so beautiful, every scene really, but also the storytelling was really effective and sort of hypnotizing. My favorite scene was the one in the trees, with the bright yellow leaves, but also the whole telling-the-same-story-in-different-ways thing had never been so enjoyable for me before. I loved it all.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
date: Dec 09, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: I used to love this movie as a kid, because it was always on TV and I liked the bizarre aspects. But MAN is this a stupid movie. It's quite incredible, actually, how lazy it is.
If You Don't, I Will
date: Dec 08, 2016
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: This one was marked "comedy" but it was definitely too depressing to be considered that. A movie about an extremely depressing couple. The one part I genuinely liked, however, was the scene in the forest with the rabbits where you wonder if she's gonna try to kill one of them, but then instead she just whispers to the rabbit: "Kill yourself...Skin yourself...Cook yourself...Your wife will be fine."
A Mighty Wind
date: Dec 07, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: This was pretty funny. Much more subtle than Best in Show and I liked that. Also, I love Christopher Guest, the actor.
The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe
date: Dec 06, 2016
where:
350Pgh
tags:
mubi
comments: It was fun to hear some french, and the movie was also pretty entertaining. Intended to be funny, I think, but mostly just entertaining.
The Secret War [part]
date: Nov 29, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: Wow, shit. Extremely depressing.
Raising Arizona
date: Nov 26, 2016
where:
Wigglesworth House
comments: It'd been a while since I'd seen this, and I really loved it. Nicholas Cage is great, with his one-eye-half-open look, and it was fun seeing so many familiar Coen Brothers actors but in what is clearly a much older movie. It's a really sweet story, too.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
date: Nov 17, 2016 – Nov 18, 2016
where:
350Pgh
Back to the Future Part II
date: Nov 08, 2016
where:
350Pgh
Back to the Future
date: Nov 06, 2016 – Nov 07, 2016
where:
350Pgh
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens
date: Oct 30, 2016
where:
350Pgh
The Thing
date: Oct 28, 2016
where:
Matt Lociano's Apartment
comments: I love Kurt Russell--and in this movie he wasn't even goofy at all. He just had amazing hair. I'm also really surprised that "The Thing" hasn't lived on as an iconic character in the way that Alien and Predator have. It's such a cool idea! And a pretty film, too. Great sets. (But also a lot of product placement.)
Rec
date: Oct 28, 2016
where:
Matt Lociano's Apartment
Videodrome
date: Oct 26, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: It really made absolutely no sense at all. I did like the stomach-vagina though, and one of the exploding bodies. But man, it was bizarre.
Dazed and Confused
date: Oct 24, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: I don't think I'd ever actually seen this movie in its entirety. It was always on TV, but I clearly never really paid attention. Watching this made me feel pretty sentimental for high school times--it did a really good job of portraying all the types of kids without stereotyping them.
The Fly (1986)
date: Oct 23, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: IF SECOND ELEMENT IS FLY, WHAT HAPPENED TO FLY?
The Dead Zone
date: Oct 22, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: How is Christopher Walken so cool? He's just got the perfect amount of attitude, and always seems slightly foreign. Anyway, the only real sign that this movie was by Cronenberg was one scene where there was a bunch of green light. Other than that, it was a pretty traditional Stephen King movie approach. But the sets were awesome, and the story was actually really good. Also, that has to be the most accepting community of psychic powers ever portrayed in film. "Oh, you know when people are going to die? That's cool." And I love the idea of a character who has so much to offer to the world, and yet the more he uses his powers the more he destroys himself.
The Sixth Sense
date: Oct 21, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: This was still very good! Despite having never seen it before, but still knowing the twist, it was definitely worth watching. A handful of good chills-inducing moments. Also, that was Donnie Wahlberg! What the fuck.
Scanners
date: Oct 18, 2016
where:
350Pgh
comments: Jess and I had seen a good handful of his movies at this point, so we knew to expect some really visceral shit, and something involving weird brothers. Our expectations were met. But! I don't think I've ever really appreciated effects before, but for this movie I really did. That exploding head! Holy shit! The expanding veins in the climax! It was unreal. It was amazing.
Se7en
date: Sep 26, 2016 – Oct 04, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
Being There
date: Sep 13, 2016 – Sep 15, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: This had some really nice moments in it, and overall it was somewhat hypnotizing. The main character is totally invincible and I am so glad the story didn't take the predictable turn of destroying this initial invincibility just to fuck with the audience's emotions. Anyway, I especially loved the end scene, which is bizarre and out of nowhere but for some reason totally appropriate. Then the bloopers kinda ruined the feeling, unfortunately. The movie did seem unnecessarily racist at times.
Full Frontal
date: Sep 11, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
mubi
comments: Only afterwards did I see what horrible reviews it's received, with Roeper saying that it was like the Special Features part of the DVD without the original movie. But I actually really liked it! It was fun, and not fourth wall breaking, exactly--something more like story breaking, where you're always slightly confused where the boundaries of all the nested stories end and begin. The only change I would have made would be to call Julia Roberts "Julia Roberts" and not some made up celebrity name.
Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?
date: Sep 06, 2016 – Sep 07, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
mubi
comments: Just hearing the music in the background makes it worth watching, practically. Yoko Ono describes his voice so perfectly: velvet. Very mundane ending, though, not often seen in documentaries: Man gets old, fat, and happy, leaving his former glory behind.
Liar Liar
date: Sep 03, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: It was actually pretty funny! Not too corny, but extremely sentimental at times (it's just in the music, really, but it's pretty hard to ignore). Jim Carrey had some pretty funny bits. Jess was cracking up like crazy though.
Le Samourai
date: Aug 31, 2016
where:
Elise & Harrison's House
comments: Not very samurai at all except that he dies honorably? This is one of those movies that at first seemed like it was going somewhere big, but instead ended up being only about the one murder. Entertaining enough--but man, very slow.
Oldboy (2003)
date: Aug 30, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: I think I liked Joint Security Area better, but I can see why this movie would have made Park Chan-wook famous. The octopus, the teeth, the tongue! Also some really unique fight scenes.
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
date: Aug 28, 2016
where:
Regent Square Theatre
comments: The movie was very thought-provoking, and filled with quotes and suggestions and moments that I wish I'd been able to jot a few notes down during the movie. The way he frames his interview subjects is also so beautiful and noticable; section V (?) with the mourning family in particular was especially striking. Holistically, though, I'd say he often got what seemed to be very off-topic, dwelling more on robots, our dependence on electricity, and the likelihood of Armageddon than he did on the Internet. Also, it was a pretty good commercial for Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon; it had me feeling pretty proud to be here, to be honest.
Joint Security Area
date: Aug 27, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
mubi
comments: This was good enough that it kept Jess from falling asleep around her normal nap time--so that was impressive. The story was very sweet. Confusing at times, and some of the acting was not very good, but the core story felt genuine enough that when the movie ended I really wanted to see more. Great ending shot.
It's Such a Beautiful Day
date: Aug 22, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
mubi
comments: This animated triptych by Don Hertzfeldt--the one who made the sentence "My anus is bleeding!" unforgettable--is short, sweet, and sometimes very pretty and sad. The scene in the grocery store is easily my favorite.
Grey Gardens
date: Aug 19, 2016
where:
Row House Cinema
comments: The sort of movie where you feel so bummed out and pathetic after watching that going home to your apartment sounds like becoming part of the fates of the people in the movie. God, was it weird and sad. I also felt like a voyeur, afterwards, just of my own actions. Making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I just felt so lame and inept. I just can't get over how similar Big Edie was to the woman in Pink Flamingos who loves the egg man. Her name was Edie, too! Anyway, this movie had no plot and no real ending, and it was very funny at times but also nearly unbearable at other times. I couldn't stand the singing. My God, I hated the singing. The first time was funny. The later times were just horrible.
Zatoichi
date: Aug 17, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
mubi
comments: This was extremely bizarre. I liked...aspects of it: The calmness, the absurd CGI blood in an otherwise realistic-looking movie, and then most of all: the rhythmic farming and carpentry. However, I'll probably never hear or even think about this movie again.
Fargo [part]
date: Aug 16, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: On TV, edited with a woodchipper.
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
date: Aug 16, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
mubi
comments: I had no idea that Pussy Riot were imprisoned for this long, and for something so completely trivial sounding. So strange though that not even Pussy Riot themselves ever try to make the point that simply being in a place is not "criminal." It's trespassing, sure, but not criminal. But clearly Russia has some sensitivities relating to religious disrespect.
Trust (1990)
date: Aug 13, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
mubi
comments: This was so quirky and great! Both of the protagonists were so realistically flawed but still lovable. The humor was absurd at times but perfect. There were a few bad mini-monologues, but there were also some really brilliant dialogues. A: "Let's run away, we'll get married, and you have your baby." B: "You're delirious." A: [defeated] "Okay."
Kill Bill 2
date: Aug 01, 2016 – Aug 02, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
Microcosmos
date: Jul 29, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: This movie is just so well-done, and so entertaining. It doesn't matter how staged some of the scenes may or may not be: It just makes bugs seem like such characters--without any anthropomorphizing!
Ghost Busters (2016)
date: Jul 23, 2016
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: In the end, Jess loved it. I was merely entertained, but no more than I am with any other stupid movie I watch in theatres. Lots of dumb parts, no doubt. But some genuine laughs here and there.
Kill Bill
date: Jul 10, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
The Secret Life of Pets
date: Jul 08, 2016
where:
Waterworks Cinemas
Vanilla Sky
date: Jul 04, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Overall I loved it, but it went on way too long. I can in fact say precisely where I would cut the movie to make it where I would have left off saying "That was a fascinating movie," which is right before Tom Cruise sees the Life Extension ad on TV in the prison and starts banging on the glass. In other words, cut the whole "This was all a lucid dream in a vat" stuff, the Ubik part of it all. Because everything that followed was not just way too drawn out and slow--it also had to do so much explaining in that bit of time to wrap up the plot, that it drowned out all the really nice symbolism and relationships in the whole rest of the movie! The things I would have been thinking about had the last 30 minutes not made me wish the movie was over; things like the significance of the mask, the dream vs. reality, Tom Cruise's reluctance to live in the present. All in all, I did really love the part of the movie before the ending--there were dumb, corny parts, but it also totally had me: I was invested, intellectually and emotionally. And what better actor than Tom Cruise for that role! Someone to give the character a long way to fall.
Lobster
date: Jun 24, 2016
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: The movie was totally absurd, in a way that I feel like I would have normally loved, but this one didn't quite have the spark for me that, say, Manderlay has. I haven't quite figured what I can even make of the story; a few turns seemed completely unmotivated, and unexplained, but it doesn't seem to matter much. All of the characters are just so stupid about relationships, interacting with each other like sixth graders might had they had some sort of formal relationship training. Definitely some interesting things to think about, and definitely a movie worth seeing just to experience it, but I can't say I loved it.
Malcolm X
date: Jun 21, 2016 – Jun 22, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: This movie is nothing like the book--somewhat disappointingly so. (Maybe I should make a personal rule to not watch biopics too soon after reading the book.) Too many made up moments and characters. Kinda unfortunate, really. The assassination scene was pretty much as I'd pictured it, though--it was just horrible. And yet, as with many famous deaths, it leaves one wondering whether we'd even know Malcolm X's name if it weren't for his murder. On a completely unrelated note, Denzel Washington looks so much like Malcolm X that now my mental image of both is all mixed up.
Guardians of the Galaxy
date: Jun 18, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: It's not a perfect movie, but for an action movie it's sooooo entertaining. All of the jokes seem like they should be bad but for some reason they're hilarious. And the music is so typical but somehow also perfect. I don't get how this is possible. But I like it.
Gattaca
date: Jun 14, 2016
where:
American Airlines
comments: More like a lazy romance with a sci-fi premise. Not worth seeing.
Popstar
date: Jun 08, 2016
where:
Alamo Ritz
comments: I went into this movie knowing absolutely nothing about it, and so it took some warming up to. But by the end, I was cracking up at even non-funny parts: a sure sign that they'd got me. Not that I'm a huge Spinal Tap fan, but I feel like this is just as successful a music spoof. And the music was impressively good!
Do the Right Thing
date: Jun 07, 2016
where:
American Airlines
comments: I hadn't seen this movie since high school but I know I loved it so much more this time. It was really just a beautiful movie all the way through for me. Jess mentioned how Shakespearian this movie felt, and I definitely agree, and not just because of Samuel L Jackson narrating it. It's definitely very theatrical; it reminded us of Chi-raq with the theatricality paired with its setting. Anyway, I felt like Sal was really the only major character who seemed consistently well-intentioned and it really offended me at first that he was the one to finally tip things into chaos. But thinking back to Malcolm X, I think the message here may be that even those who seem so genuinely level-headed and color-blind are still affected by living in a racist world, and so when they flare up there's bound to be some racist shit coming to the surface. So that's fair. I haven't quite figured out how the figure-heads of Malcolm X and MLK Jr. relate to the movie beyond the "LOVE" and "HATE" brass knuckles of Radio Raheem, but I feel like this would be a promising way of analyzing more of this movie. Jess made the interesting point that the Malcolm X quote at the end, about violence being justified if it's in self-defense, leads inevitably to destruction if it always escalates the intensity of the conflict. In fact, this is exactly what happens at the end of the movie: Sal bashes radio, Raheem escalates by strangling Sal, and then the cops escalate and strange Raheem...to death. One thing I definitely do not understand about the movie is why Mookie is the one to throw the trashcan.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
date: Jun 05, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: I love this movie. It's so goofy and clever, capturing the essence of the books, and I love all the actors. Jess was giggling the whole way through it. I just wish they'd made the sequel!
The Godfather Part I and II [part]
date: Jun 04, 2016
where:
Ben Cowley's House
comments: We watch it in chronological order (?), like 4 hours of it, after eating some lasagna
Star Trek Into Darkness
date: May 29, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Not really worth having an opinion on--I'm not really that into action movies. Khan was kinda cool when he was talking.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
date: May 27, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Stylistically, this movie is all over the place, kinda like it wants to be Trainspotting remade by the Coen brothers--but only occasionally. Story-wise, if this is true then it's amazing. I want to believe it.
The Running Man [part]
date: May 26, 2016
where:
350Pgh2
comments: Elise and Jess not until later
The Dark Knight
date: May 17, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
Deadpool
date: May 08, 2016
where:
350Pgh2
comments: A superhero movie, whatever. It was fine. Funny enough. The drink I had while watching it helped.
Room
date: May 01, 2016
where:
350Pgh2
comments: That shit was pretty dark. It wasn't bad, or cringeworthy or anything--just very sad. The main actress was really great, and so was the kid. It was pretty well done, though in retrospect it must be so glossy compared to the true events. The true events wouldn't be watchable at all. Real life is way shittier. And that makes it even more sad.
The Invitation
date: Apr 30, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Jess and I just watched The Invitation, the movie Adrian told us all about at least three times a day when we were in Marfa. Anyway, I wholeheartedly disagree with calling that movie a "psychological thriller." The first half, sure, but no psychological thriller can end in practically everyone being murdered. That's not psychological: that's physical. And yes, the psychological thriller part was great, but once it became official that people were getting murdered, I felt like "Yeah okay, I get it, etc." I'm just not into counting bullets and knowing who was what weapon, who's still alive. Nor do I like the high anxiety I have after the movie is over. Just not into creating that feeling intentionally. But it was fun.
Beyonce's "Lemonade"
date: Apr 28, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Unbelievable. This was fucking incredible. When it was over I was (and still am) in a state of catharsis, and I can't remember the last time experiencing art has made me feel like that. I cried like four times, eventually not even bothering to wipe the tears from my face. Again: Can't remember the last time watching something has made me do that. Really, it was the emotion she communicated that got me. I found it so effective, her use of single feeling words followed by songs that expressed those feelings ("Anger", especially). It surprised me, actually, to be following along. And everything she wore...man, it was just beautiful. It helped to know just the bare fact that Jay-Z cheated on her (Jess had told me that), and to be newly familiar to all of the songs (I'd listened to the album a couple of times). But man, was it good. Definitely the best thing I've seen/heard this year.
The Ladykillers
date: Apr 21, 2016
where:
Southwest Airlines
comments: A Coen Brothers movie with Tom Hanks that's kinda like a lazy precursor to O Brother, Where Art Thou? Kinda fun though.
Full Metal Jacket
date: Apr 19, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: I still wonder: If you skipped the first half of this movie and went straight to the second, would anyone really love this movie? The Gomer Pyle part is just so much better.
Requiem for the American Dream
date: Apr 03, 2016
where:
McConomy Auditorium, CMU International Film Festival
comments: This movie is just one man (Noam Chomsky) speaking for 70 minutes straight, so don't expect a thriller or anything. It was fairly good, though, with many good thoughts, and lots of pessimism about American society, but in what seemed to be a very reasonable way. One of my favorite of his perspectives was about the role of marketing in our society being the manufacturing of consumers. In economics, as he puts it, the model of the consumer is one who is perfectly informed and makes rational decisions. But if that were the case, then car commercials would be telling us just the facts. Instead, what you see is appeals to emotion: cars driving over mountains, dogs wearing sunglasses--that sort of thing. Marketing, then, is trying to create an uninformed consumer, one who makes irrational (or at least arational) choices.
A Syrian Love Story
date: Mar 25, 2016
where:
McConomy Auditorium, CMU International Film Festival
comments: Great documentary. Basically, this British guy happens to be in Syria just before the Arab Spring, and he meets this guy and his family and her wife is a political prisoner. And then the revolution happens, the wife gets freed, and everything really just goes to shit...While watching it all unfold I couldn't help but think about this article I read earlier today, about political art, art causing emotions, and whether it actually achieves anything: "Having a strong emotion is not the same thing as having an understanding, and neither is the same thing as taking an action." So what is the point of watching this film? At the very least, it gives me great sympathy for Syrians, and makes me feel appreciative for all the comforts and conveniences in my life--the fact that I don't have to see my identity as somehow at the mercy of my nationality. Will feeling these things change anything? Maybe not by me individually, but emotions felt by large groups of people can surely have nonlinear effects.
Chi-raq
date: Mar 19, 2016
where:
McConomy Auditorium, CMU International Film Festival
comments: I wish I'd known this was a comedy. For such a serious and important subject, it sure was goofy. As someone I overheard while I was walking out of the theater put it, "That was a fever dream." And as Jess put it, what's the goal of using a plot like this (based on Lysistrata, where a group of women try to stop a war by withholding sex) to tell a story about the number of black-on-black murders in Chicago? In the end, I don't know how much I got out of the film itself; the question-and-answer session beforehand with Spike Lee was almost a better way of talking about the issues in the movie.
Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser
date: Mar 06, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
Spotlight
date: Mar 05, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: This was way better than I'd been expecting! It's weird to choose a "based on a true story" movie as Best Picture though, I think, if only because so much of the movie's interest lies in it being based on fact. Still, it was very good, and extremely tasteful in that it avoided things that would evoke either cringing (e.g., scenes of children crying or flashbacks to them being molested) or eye rolling (e.g., the Catholic Church sending thugs to stop these crazy journalists from uncovering the truth).
Chappie [part]
date: Feb 28, 2016
where:
American Airlines
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
date: Feb 28, 2016
where:
American Airlines
comments: This is a really beautiful documentary. I had no idea that Arthur Russell was somehow associated with The Modern Lovers, Allen Ginsberg, and Philip Glass--let alone that they were intimate friends of his. But my favorite part has to be his parents. They're just an incredibly sweet old couple that clearly has nothing but love for their deceased (and now mildly famous) son.
Howard the Duck
date: Feb 12, 2016
where:
350Pgh2
comments: This must be some sort of joke. I wonder how it feels to be involved in the making of movies like this.
The Revenant
date: Feb 06, 2016
where:
350Pgh2
comments: As others have noted, Leonardo Dicaprio's acting in this movie mostly consists of him screaming. Which he does a very good job of! Also, Tom Hardy is such an evil villain! Mindlessly evil, which is somewhat unexciting. Overall, this movie was fun to watch but totally void of mental stimulation. The themes seem to consist of dramatic words like "revenge" and "survival" and not much else.
Burn After Reading
date: Feb 05, 2016
where:
350Pgh2
comments: The Coen Brothers always have the most twisted plots, plots so twisted that in the end it's hard to tell if there's even anything going on behind there. With this movie, as with No Country For Old Men, I really struggled to come up with anything of substance to think about. So I've been reading online...I did find one pretty fun interpretation: that each character represents a single body part (Linda's the face, Malkovich the mind, the CIA is the eyes, and so on). Also, all the characters are idiots who believe in "intelligence".
A.I. Artificial Intelligence [part]
date: Feb 05, 2016
where:
350Pgh2
The Return to Homs
date: Feb 03, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Jess and I just watched this documentary on the Syrian Civil War about this guy and his time in the besieged city of Homs. Kottke today had a video of a drone flying over the city, which I'd never heard of. Apparently Homs was the 3rd largest city in Syria (800k), but after a four war siege it's now totally destroyed. The Wikipedia page on "The Siege of Homs" pointed me to this documentary, which we then rented and watched immediately on Vimeo. All of this, after watching a Frontline documentary on the Syrian War. It's amazing that we have access to this information, to the knowledge of what it's like to be there, what atrocities are happening. And yet, as the narrator of this very documentary put it: "The world watches as we are murdered, one by one, while it remains silent as a graveyard."
No Country For Old Men
date: Jan 31, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: So much suspense. Jess seems to have gotten more out of this movie than I did. In retrospect, the movie seems to be centered conceptually on Tommy Lee Jones's character, despite him having a relatively tiny role; the other characters, though major, don't seem to have any sort of mental hang-up or dilemma. One un-answered question for me is why Tommy Lee Jones's character is spared by the demon man at the end.
The Martian
date: Jan 16, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Is this just some big joke? This is one of the worst movies I've seen in a very long time--certainly the worst movie with this amount of reception. With 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 6 Oscar nominations, I am fairly convinced that a major portion of this movie's budget went to paying people out. The movie's review on rogerebert.com, for example, explicitly lists all of the movies major flaws while somehow concluding that these are all strengths: predictable plot turns, an unnecessarily large cast of characters that achieve absolutely nothing, and a movie that is less of a story and more of a series of momentary problems like "What do I do if my helmet cracks?" Really, all this movie had going for it was some nice visuals. And the very amusing use of the word "science" as a verb.
Equilibrium
date: Jan 09, 2016
where:
350Pgh2
comments: This movie wasn't as bad as it looked like it was going to be. Christian Bale is just a more serious Tom Cruise (in general, not just in this movie). And I never thought I'd say this about a movie, but: Fun fight scenes!
The Manchurian Candidate
date: Jan 07, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Given how much being sick lowers my standards for visual entertainment, I think it probably means something that I found many parts of this movie to be totally absurd--both in terms of the sci-fi and the plot points. Still, the concept was pretty fun, Meryl Streep was great, and Denzel Washington is always fun to watch. So it wasn't all bad.
The Matrix
date: Jan 06, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Better than I remembered. Also, wonderful at times. (Granted, I was sick while watching this.)
Anomalisa
date: Jan 04, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: So many weird things about this movie. The sets were amazingly beautiful and lifelife--were those props? The breakfast scene with the voices almost makes the whole movie worth watching. Almost.

2015 Movies

Rounders
date: Dec 27, 2015
where:
5441W
comments: Being in a place with cable is weird: Sometimes you just watch movies because one just happens to be starting right at the time you're looking for one. This movie had this appeal plus an all-star cast. But it wasn't really worth dissecting or reflecting on. Its romanticization of poker players as experts in reading people's emotions was fun, but other than that, I didn't get a lot out of it.
Dead Poets Society
date: Dec 26, 2015
where:
5441W
comments: This movie was simply mediocre at times, but near the end it got corny and lazy, especially with its plot. (E.g., randomly turning the minor character of the principal guy into a bad guy just to get the movie to have a climax? Dumb.) The only scene that's really stuck with me was Robin Williams's character's first lecture on "Carpe Diem": The kids staring at all these old photos of previous students, Robin whispering about all the hopes and dreams and ambitions of these students who are now surely dead and buried. I couldn't tell if my sense of discomfort while watching this scene was due to its corniness, or if it was my discomfort at the idea itself. Probably a bit of both.
Elf
date: Dec 25, 2015
where:
5441W
Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens
date: Dec 19, 2015
where:
Manor Theatre
comments: I allowed myself the first 30 minutes of watching this before I allowed myself to whisper to Jess "This is good!" Meaning the kind of good that is a surprise at it not being bad. But really, it was very entertaining! And I liked a lot of the casting--meaning, a lot of the characters were very likable, and the older throw-back characters were probably the weakest part of the movie (Han and Leia) but they of course had to be there or else people probably would have been mad. (Or would they have? Only if the movie ended up being awful, probably. I don't know.)
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
date: Dec 18, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
comments: I think I've seen Star Wars too much in the last few years: It's official now. I've certainly seen it more than any other movie--perhaps because I've never fully "gotten" it but I am eager to understand why so many people love it so much. Anyway, this movie, the third one, it started out completely awfully and I was laughing at it as a bad joke. Though Jess swore it was way better in comparison to the first two. But then the ending came! And man--probably the whole last third of the movie or so, once Annakin goes bad, it got really good. Despite the fact that Annakin's turn seems incredibly abrupt and a bit overboard. I mean, come on--he kills children?! Just one scene later, as his first act for the emperor? That level of hate seems a bit unmotivated. All the same, the scene when Amidala rejects him and then Obi Wan fights him, chops him up, leaves him to burn to death...That's some pretty good shit. Extremely satisfying.
The Ides of March
date: Dec 15, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Amazingly, this movie stood up entirely on a second rewatch. This movie is great, the writing is perfect, the twists are fun...Also, turns out the play the movie's based on is also the writer of House of Cards! Makes perfect sense.
Bottle Rocket
date: Dec 12, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
The Hunger Games
date: Dec 05, 2015
where:
350Pgh2
comments: the one where at the end they get in the plane thing
Wicker Park [part]
date: Dec 05, 2015
where:
350Pgh2
comments: the stream stops halfway through and so we can't finish it
Pulp Fiction
date: Nov 28, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
comments: I don't remember this movie feeling so disjointed. Also, I love Vincent Vega.
Begin Again [part]
date: Nov 26, 2015
where:
5441W
Trains, Planes, and Automobiles [part]
date: Nov 25, 2015
where:
5441W
comments: Pretty awful. The idea? "Let's make a movie about a day that just keeps getting worse." I think that's as far as the idea ever got. And the ending, which is absurd, is only good in concept.
28 Days Later [part]
date: Nov 14, 2015
where:
350Pgh2
Midnight in Paris [part]
date: Nov 14, 2015
where:
350Pgh2
Miller's Crossing
date: Oct 17, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
comments: Coen Brothers at their best. This one was very reminiscent of Barton Fink, which apparently they filmed just after this one, but wrote just before. I loved it, though. Great characters, a nice twist, and the Barton Fink "brains vs. muscle" theme. I'd watch it again.
John Wick
date: Sep 13, 2015
where:
350Pgh2
comments: This was not ridiculous enough.
In the Realms of the Unreal
date: Aug 29, 2015
where:
350Pgh2
comments: This documentary was beautiful but mostly heartbreaking. It's the true story of a man named Henry Darger who, unbeknownst to everyone around him (mostly because he had no true friends) created more than 15,000 pages of illustrated fictionover the course of his life. Despite his life as a hermit, his struggles with life seemed to be aimed at God, due to him not being granted any of his few wishes: being allowed to adopt a child, for example, or recovering a photo of a murdered girl that he cut out of the paper but then lost. Jess is still just lying in bed whispering to herself how she "just can't get over it." His story is sad. His artwork is beautiful. I would love to read the writing.
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
date: Aug 23, 2015
where:
350Pgh2
comments: This movie made me cry, and it made me feel extremely angry at the world we apparently live in, and it made me understand why so many people feel so strongly about Aaron Swartz.
Tangerine
date: Aug 16, 2015
where:
Harris Theater
comments: Hard to believe this movie was shot on an iPhone! It was pretty, as well as fully entertaining. On second thought, "amusing" might be a better word given its overall lack of depth.
Welcome to Me
date: Aug 13, 2015
where:
350Pgh2
comments: This movie was completely ridiculous and very amusing in a Tim & Eric sort of way. Except this never went too far over the top, which I think was a good thing. All the absurdities were totally reasonable within the given context. The story was nearly nonexistent, but who cares?
It's My Turn
date: Jul 24, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: Started out so charmingly but ended so poorly. Still, I really loved this movie--the beginning of it at least. (And God, the title credit music! Yikes...) Really fun characters, and really fun sassy conversation. Realistic awkwardness. Story-wise, I feel like the beginning of the movie was such a great set up and I really felt like it was going perfectly, but once Michael Douglas came on the scene, as great as his beard looked, his part really just dragged on the main character's journey. And man, the protagonist, she was so lovable, she was magnetizing.
Night Train to Paris [part]
date: Jul 23, 2015
where:
Rob House
The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman
date: Jul 21, 2015
where:
Terror Tuesday, Alamo Ritz
comments: This movie was surprisingly good. The plot was incredibly consistent, even if there were a few unanswered questions. But the best by far was the vampires--every scene with them was slow motion, giggly creepy, and awesome. Almost like it inspired Picnic at Hanging Rock. Also, queso fries over popcorn at Alamo is the way to go.
Stalker [part]
date: Jul 05, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: Shit! This was upsettingly boring. The book was so exciting, and here it's been turned into nothing more than vague visual impressions! Sure, it's pretty, but this movie is definitely more "inspired by" than "based on" Roadside Picnic. I got too sleepy watching it and had to stop at the intermission.
Inside Out
date: Jul 03, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: I cried so hard at one point that my throat was aching, tears literally streaming down my face on both sides. But overall, I thought the plot could have done so much more, covered so much more time and dealt with a more general issue than just an 11 year old girl running away from home. But it was still pretty entertaining. More than anything, though, those bastards sure know how to engineer the tears out of you.
Bridesmaids
date: Jun 17, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: This way way funnier than I expected it to be. Kinda like My Idiot Brother in that I assumed it would be stupid and awful but it was actually pretty good, with no full eye-rolls.
An Affair to Remember [part]
date: Jun 13, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: Old movies can be so awkward. And Americans in this time didn't say their 'r's. Also, everyone in these old movies speaks so literarily/intellectually. I like it.
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
date: Jun 10, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: This one is the best. Darth Vader's turn at the end surprises me every time; all those long shots of him earlier really pay off. But my favorites of the whole series are definitely the Ewoks ("Ooh! Akiata...") and the Emperor.
Sabrina [part]
date: May 31, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: It was a bit too "funny", but the opening scene was so reminiscent of Rushmore in the narration and tone that surely Wes Anderson must have had this movie in his mind at some point while he was writing it.
Sunset Boulevard
date: May 31, 2015
where:
Rob House
rating: 3/5
comments: We end up finding this playing on TV, broken up by infomercials on talking mirrors. The acting is so melodramatic, but the narration is awesome and makes it hard to stop watching.
En un xip Multicolor
date: May 25, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: documentary on Neil Harbisson; the grocery store scene is awesome
Mad Max: Fury Road
date: May 22, 2015
where:
Galaxy Highland 10
rating: 2/5
comments: This movie was absolutely nonstop ridiculous action. It was a bit much for me. Every time I got a break, the drama was so bad it wasn't even worth it. Cool opening scene though. Oh wait! The guitar player...! He was great.
Alien
date: May 15, 2015
where:
Rob House
rating: 2/5
comments: I was pretty disappointed. I didn't even realize I'd seen this movie before! I just remember falling asleep to it when I tried watching it in high school. Anyway, the best scene of the movie by far is when the scientist is revealed as a robot. Other than that, it was suspense with no real terror.
Ex Machina
date: Apr 23, 2015
where:
Violet Crown Cinema
comments: [full review here] fucking awesome, and so suspenseful and terrifying at moments; still trying to figure out what's up with the female-male dynamic...
The Godfather Part II
date: Apr 19, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: so long and dramatic, and confusing; I think I liked the simplicity and pace of the first one better
Die Another Day [part]
date: Apr 15, 2015
where:
5441W
comments: impressively campy and awful and empty, but kinda pleasing in a mind-numbing way
Groundhog Day [part]
date: Apr 15, 2015
where:
5441W
The Godfather
date: Apr 15, 2015
where:
Qantas
Whip It
date: Apr 12, 2015
where:
Kate & Brenton's House
comments: actually pretty fun, with good real-life Texacana
The Devil Wears Prada
date: Apr 12, 2015
where:
Kate & Brenton's House
What Women Want
date: Apr 09, 2015
where:
Kate & Brenton's House
comments: surprisingly hilarious and tense and satisfying, until the 3rd act
Pitch Perfect
date: Apr 08, 2015
where:
Kate & Brenton's House
comments: God, nearly unbearable at times
10 Things I Hate About You [part]
date: Apr 03, 2015
where:
Kate & Brenton's House
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
date: Mar 31, 2015
where:
Qantas
Lost in Translation
date: Mar 31, 2015
where:
Qantas
comments: great--I love both of them, and it ends so happily. their relationship is the one thing not lost in translation, unlike every other interaction they have with the movie with other people. They become close because they just do so much together, just having fun, no talking, and that needs no translating.
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
date: Mar 27, 2015
where:
Rob House
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
date: Mar 21, 2015
where:
Rob House
Awakenings
date: Mar 20, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: pretty goofy and absurd most of the time, but fine
Beyond the Lights
date: Feb 28, 2015
where:
airplane
comments: one of the worst movies I've ever seen; also, produced by Amar'e Stoudemire? extremely strange fact
Big Hero 6
date: Feb 25, 2015
where:
airplane
eXistenZ
date: Feb 16, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: sooooo surprisingly amazing and I love it; eerily similar to Inception at times! thanks to Chris from the UW interview
Inception
date: Feb 12, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: very entertaining! pretty cool. not as confusing as i remembered it being
End of Watch
date: Feb 08, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: God, pretty awful. Definitely some good moments but just some really corny characters and very little story
The Corporation [part]
date: Jan 17, 2015
where:
Rob House
Four Rooms
date: Jan 12, 2015
where:
Rob House
Inherent Vice
date: Jan 09, 2015
where:
Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter
comments: a very long and crazy movie, but Joaquin Phoenix is fucking amazing at everything, and this movie had some funny parts, but my God, so long; very Big Lebowski inspired, and maybe a bit of Wes Anderson in there too
Under the Skin
date: Jan 07, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: agree with the review that says "visually stunning, but totally unintelligible". very much like Upstream Color to me, where there's really no way to understand anything. except this movie is just so void of clues, even, that understanding the story doesn't really seem to be even suggested

2014 Movies

Harry Potter 3 [part]
date: Dec 31, 2014
where:
Bill & Cindy's House
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
date: Dec 30, 2014
where:
Bill & Cindy's House
comments: one of the worst movies I have ever seen
Good Will Hunting
date: Dec 21, 2014
where:
5441W
comments: Harmony Korine credited as "jail consultant"
The Usual Suspects
date: Dec 13, 2014
where:
5441W
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
date: Dec 13, 2014
where:
5441W
comments: finally, jess can say "She thinks I'm cuuttte!" and I will get it; Jess loves it
Carnal Knowledge
date: Dec 06, 2014
where:
Rob House
comments: watch it alone in my room on my phone, even though i meant to go to bed; very strange movie, with an amusing but upsetting start; the middle and end were kinda boring though
Interstellar
date: Dec 02, 2014
where:
Alamo Drafthouse Village
comments: pretty disappointing for a nolan film; long and tense and a little too dramatic for connecting two pieces of metal together 3 times
Rushmore
date: Nov 27, 2014
where:
5441W
Election [part]
date: Nov 27, 2014
where:
5441W
The Prestige
date: Nov 25, 2014
where:
Rob House
comments: didn't realize it was christopher nolan, but makes sense. a little transparent though! but of course, too many twists to see all of them coming. pretty fucked up though, too, which was fun
Tootsie [part]
date: Nov 17, 2014
where:
Rob House
Dracula Untold
date: Nov 15, 2014
where:
The Dempster Dome
comments: strangely awesome. or, his power of turning into bats was, at least
Harvey
date: Nov 10, 2014
where:
Rob House
comments: so much more slapstick than I remembered, but still so fun and sweet
Birdman
date: Nov 05, 2014
where:
Violet Crown Cinema
comments: The movie was very funny and intense and immersive and had no apparent cuts. Michael Keaton reminded me of Louis CK, Edward Norton was awesome, and the movie reminded me of Barton Fink and Jess of Black Swan.
Beetlejuice
date: Nov 01, 2014
where:
Rob House
comments: wacky and fun and Jess is finally happy
The Man Who Knew Too Little
date: Oct 25, 2014
where:
The Grundy's House
comments: surprisingly hilarious--Bill Murray was so funny
Paprika
date: Oct 20, 2014
where:
Rob House
comments: this movie is incredible, especially the credits music song
Gone Girl
date: Oct 18, 2014
where:
Alamo Drafthouse Village
The Shining
date: Sep 12, 2014
where:
Matt & Caitlin's House
comments: Matt comes later; beforehand: theme of the thoughts while watching the movie? Psychology theories like self-perception theory; masculine vs. feminine problem-solving approaches and pros/cons; alcoholism being "the white man's burden"; studying the development of madness in a statistical way, if that even makes sense, would be cool; studying it in any way would probably be cool; knowing madmen, or anyone with a brain disease really, would probably make all brain disease the biggest real impulse for studying the brain. Who is the philosopher whose explanations are so opaque but his vision so intense? Heidegger?
Tokyo Godfathers
date: Aug 31, 2014
where:
Rob House
The Avengers
date: Aug 30, 2014
where:
Matt & Caitlin's House
comments: fun but nowhere near as good as guardians of the galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy
date: Aug 22, 2014
where:
Regal Cinemas
Good Morning, Vietnam
date: Aug 17, 2014
where:
Rob House
comments: such a strange movie--basically no plot, or at least a very lazy absurd one, but Robin Williams is definitely funny enough that it's entertaining
Training Day
date: Aug 02, 2014
where:
Dancy House
comments: really fun, and Denzel is great, and movies with surprising twists where there were clues laid the whole time are the best
Boyhood
date: Jul 27, 2014
where:
Regal Arbor 8 Cinema
comments: pretty damn good, sentimental, nice; like the movie Nebraska but for Texas
Unforgiven
date: Jul 20, 2014
where:
Dancy House
comments: such a strangely soft, disappointing movie up until the twist, and then it fucking blew my mind and was the darkest shit ever in comparison to the rest of the movie; goddamn. Jess and I discuss afterwards and decide the title refers to Will's (and the red-haired madam's, and Little Bill's) belief that humanity is unforgiven by God, i.e. we've all sinned, we're all going to hell, and there's no "deserve" because life is not rational and bad shit happens regardless
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
date: Jul 17, 2014
where:
Rob House
The Truman Show
date: Jul 05, 2014
where:
Rob House
comments: nowhere close to as good as I remembered it being--like reading a short story when you've already seen the movie
This is Spinal Tap!
date: Jul 03, 2014
where:
Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
date: Jun 28, 2014
where:
Rob House
Cool Hand Luke
date: Jun 07, 2014
where:
Rob House
comments: such a good movie--maybe even a perfect one
Godzilla
date: May 31, 2014
where:
AMC Barton Creek
comments: just ridiculous, but the previews were fun
Holy Motors
date: May 14, 2014 – May 16, 2014
where:
Rob House
Schindler's List
date: Apr 14, 2014
where:
702S
Strangers on a Train
date: Apr 07, 2014
where:
Rob House
To Catch a Thief [part]
date: Apr 06, 2014
where:
702S
The Bad News Bears (1976) [part]
date: Apr 04, 2014
where:
702S
Grand Budapest Hotel
date: Mar 31, 2014
where:
AMC Barton Creek
comments: the first movie of wes anderson's i've ever really enjoyed; great story-nesting that really paid off, and visually beautiful, and a great first act; too much travel/chase scenes, and "part 4" kinda dragged, but still a very nice movie I thought
Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser [part]
date: Mar 25, 2014
where:
702S
The Station Agent
date: Mar 23, 2014
where:
Neema & Farsiar's Apartment
comments: a recommendation from Alex at dinner; it's so quirky and great in many ways! not perfect sometimes, but very original; written/directed by the eventual co-writer of Up
Reds [part]
date: Mar 18, 2014
where:
702S
Frozen
date: Mar 04, 2014
where:
702S
comments: pretty fun, songs dumb but good beginning
The Machinist
date: Mar 03, 2014
where:
702S
comments: too deliberate...tense, but nothing special
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
date: Feb 26, 2014
where:
702S
comments: so confusing! very entertaining
The Talented Mr. Ripley
date: Feb 03, 2014
where:
702S
comments: entertaining, but entirely insane and absurd
The Phantom Lady
date: Jan 30, 2014
where:
702S
comments: pretty cool, entertaining at least
American Hustle
date: Jan 28, 2014
where:
702S
comments: like Coen bros meets Scorcese, but not that good, but pretty amusing
Martin [part]
date: Jan 24, 2014
where:
702S
comments: really awesome--wish I'd seen it all; on one of Matt's free VHS tapes
Nebraska
date: Jan 21, 2014
where:
Regal Arbor 8 Cinema
comments: can't believe this is a best picture nominee, but as my dad said, I did HAVE to see it: it was an unbelievably accurate (granted/ignoring the comically negative characters) portrait of Nebraska small-town life
Saving Private Ryan
date: Jan 14, 2014
where:
Rob House
Her
date: Jan 11, 2014
where:
Alamo Ritz
comments: amazing, the futurism is awesome and thought-provoking and hilarious...shitty story, cliched statements about love occasionally, but the futurism...so great

2013 Movies

Elysium
date: Dec 28, 2013
where:
5441W
comments: one of the worst I've seen in quite a while...Such a silly story! Dumb. Awful structure.
Inside Llewyn Davis
date: Dec 26, 2013
where:
Magnolia
comments: ehhh okay--no real arc! went on long, and story seemed kinda lazy/passionless. but good acting, at least.
A Christmas Story [part]
date: Dec 24, 2013
where:
5441W
Elf
date: Dec 24, 2013
where:
5441W
comments: not as funny as I remembered, but pretty good
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
date: Dec 18, 2013
where:
AMC, Barton Breek Mall
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
date: Dec 07, 2013
where:
Jayne's Apartment
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
date: Dec 02, 2013
where:
Alamo Ritz
comments: intense, not that good I guess, but still so entertaining
Now You See Me
date: Nov 27, 2013
where:
5441W
comments: fun but silly
Forrest Gump
date: Nov 20, 2013
where:
702S
The Ides of March
date: Nov 18, 2013
where:
Rob House
comments: perfect mechanics, a joy to watch, nothing sublime but nothing stupid, just a perfect succinct little movie
D.A.R.Y.L.
date: Nov 15, 2013
where:
702S
comments: very pretty, and nice, and cute kids, and funny baseball scene (Turtle: "Adults just like to feel like they're teaching you something"), but ultimately not at all perfect or punchy. a bit hoakey, in the end, but ambitious and pretty
Short Circuit
date: Nov 15, 2013
where:
702S
comments: soooooo funny, God, awful everything but Number 5 dancing and singing and quoting movies is just amazing and brilliant
Used Cars [part]
date: Nov 15, 2013
where:
702S
comments: ridiculous but Kurt Russell's presence makes it fun
Haanstra's Glass, McLaren's Neighbours, Haanstra's Zoo, Kernochan's Thoth
date: Nov 13, 2013
where:
Rob House
comments: all winners of Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject, and all amazing
Moneyball
date: Nov 11, 2013
where:
Rob House
Sorcerer
date: Nov 10, 2013
where:
Rob House
comments: had to rent a VCR with it to see it--I Luv Video made us! such a dumb start, but fucking awesome dramatic action-packed middle and end
Lars and the Real Girl
date: Nov 06, 2013
where:
702S
comments: fucking great moments, but with a bit of drag in the middle
Memento
date: Nov 05, 2013
where:
702S
comments: ending not as good as I remembered, but fucking great up until that point
The 'Burbs
date: Oct 28, 2013
where:
Rob House
Chinatown
date: Oct 27, 2013
where:
Rob House
Following
date: Oct 25, 2013
where:
702S
comments: fun start, but the twists were dumb and unnecessary I thought
The Conversation
date: Oct 23, 2013
where:
702S
comments: except for the nightmare scene, fucking unbelievable...one of the best characters ever
Gravity #imax3D
date: Oct 14, 2013
where:
AMC, Barton Breek Mall
comments: "thrill ride" is right
Short Term 12
date: Oct 02, 2013
where:
Violet Crown Cinema
comments: well made, but a bit shallow/cliche, once we think about it afterwards--but we're biased with our first-hand knowledge of Jess's job and what it's actually like--what the cliches are
Wet Hot American Summer
date: Sep 23, 2013
where:
702S
Lust in the Dust
date: Sep 11, 2013
where:
Spiderhouse
comments: hosted by a guy from I Luv Video who gives us free rental cards because we're the only other ones there besides one random guy; and oh man was this movie bad
Best in Show
date: Sep 07, 2013
where:
Rob House
National Parks: America's Best Idea [part]
date: Sep 04, 2013
where:
702S
The Proposition
date: Aug 23, 2013
where:
I Luv Video
comments: correct date? don't remember
Jurassic Park
date: Aug 21, 2013
where:
Austin Sound and Cinema, Austin
Blade Runner
date: Aug 03, 2013
where:
Rob House
Tiny Furniture
date: Jul 28, 2013
where:
Rob House
The Night of the Comet
date: Jul 23, 2013
where:
Terror Tuesday, Alamo Ritz
comments: Terror Tuesday
V/H/S [part]
date: Jul 22, 2013
where:
702S
High Fidelity
date: Jul 21, 2013
where:
Rob House
comments: love the list-making, the record reorganizing, and the completely oblivious protagonist
Upstream Color
date: Jul 21, 2013
where:
702S
comments: weird as shit, even less followable than Primer, even if it is better produced
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
date: Jul 14, 2013
where:
702S
Movie 43
date: Jul 13, 2013
where:
Matt & Caitlin's House
comments: partly a stoner movie, and vulgar--but uniquely so, and pretty funny
Wall-E
date: Jul 11, 2013
where:
Rob House
Back to the Future Part III [part]
date: Jul 04, 2013
where:
5441W
Back to the Future Part II [part]
date: Jul 04, 2013
where:
5441W
Source Code [part]
date: Jul 03, 2013
where:
5441W
Driving Miss Daisy
date: Jun 29, 2013
where:
5441W
A Dangerous Method [part]
date: Jun 28, 2013
where:
5441W
The Man Who Knew Too Much [part]
date: Jun 28, 2013
where:
5441W
My Idiot Brother
date: Jun 27, 2013
where:
5441W
comments: surprisingly great, though at times obnoxiously heart-warming
3:10 to Yuma
date: Jun 26, 2013
where:
United Airlines
comments: holy shit that was good...Christian Bale and Russell Crowe's relationship is amazing, and the ending is unbelievably perfect. Ben Wade won't kill Bale because he's the only one dying for something honorable--he's the only who's not an animal
E2NT
date: Jun 12, 2013
where:
Deckchair Cinema, Darwin, NT
comments: a film about sustainable energy programs in the Northern Territory, the coolest one (to me) being one about setting up rural indigenous communities with solar power (the usual solution is diesel generators, which requires a lot of resources and time and maintenance)
The Queen [part]
date: Jun 08, 2013
where:
255E
Fizzy Bizness
date: May 17, 2013
where:
255E
comments: a comedy; ends up being more about weed than soda pop, and we learn it was originally released as 'The Bail,' i.e. only for DVD release did anyone even pretend it was about soda pop; also features really awful black stereotypes
The Notebook
date: May 12, 2013
where:
255E
The Place Beyond the Pines
date: May 11, 2013
where:
Cinema Nova
Selena
date: May 09, 2013
where:
255E
Picnic at Hanging Rock
date: Apr 28, 2013
where:
255E
The English Patient
date: Apr 27, 2013
where:
255E
Graphic Novels! Melbourne!
date: Apr 24, 2013
where:
State Library
Taxi Driver
date: Apr 22, 2013
where:
255E
Dirty Dancing
date: Apr 21, 2013
where:
255E
comments: amazingly triumphant, and Patrick Swayze was amazing, and I love dancing and dancers even though they're cocky, and red wine makes everything triumphant; and fuck the "I can't believe you [a male] liked it!" patronizing bull shit
Psycho
date: Apr 20, 2013
where:
Astor
comments: first time all the way through, squeezing Jess's hand in the final climax, even though I knew the ending! good suspense, however corny some of the acting was at times
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
date: Apr 10, 2013
where:
255E
Primer
date: Apr 03, 2013
where:
255E
comments: long, confused discussion follows--and amazing that the movie is basically a one-man show!
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
date: Apr 01, 2013
where:
255E
The Virgin Suicides
date: Mar 31, 2013
where:
255E
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
date: Mar 30, 2013
where:
255E
Closer
date: Mar 28, 2013
where:
255E
Rear Window
date: Mar 24, 2013
where:
255E
Moon
date: Mar 23, 2013
where:
255E
My Year Without Sex
date: Mar 21, 2013
where:
255E
comments: defying the stereotype of Aussie movies being either amazing and depressing or goofy as hell, this director manages to do mildly funny but mostly mediocre
North by Northwest
date: Mar 16, 2013
where:
Astor
comments: now this is a fucking great spy movie
The Good Shepherd
date: Mar 10, 2013
where:
255E
comments: a 3-hour movie of muttering and confusion
Argo
date: Mar 04, 2013
where:
Cinema Nova
comments: Hollywood thriller--not bad, but reminded me why I don't usually see these
The NeverEnding Story
date: Feb 28, 2013
where:
255E
Once Upon a Time in the West
date: Feb 17, 2013
where:
Astor
comments: Jess likes it better than The Good, The Bad...! I thought this one was more hoakey, Jess thought it less; either way, it was great and not at all long. The intro was awesome, with the sounds, and I loved Cheyenne. Also I still want so badly to someday build my own (log) house.
Muriel's Wedding
date: Feb 09, 2013
where:
255E
comments: fun and then very, very upsetting
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
date: Feb 03, 2013
where:
255E
The Motorcycle Diaries
date: Jan 31, 2013
where:
255E
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
date: Jan 28, 2013 – Jan 29, 2013
Fugazi Repeater [part]
date: Jan 28, 2013
The Big Lebowski
date: Jan 25, 2013
where:
Astor
Silver Linings Playbook
date: Jan 17, 2013
where:
255E
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
date: Jan 14, 2013
where:
Cinema Nova
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
date: Jan 13, 2013
where:
255E
The Big Sleep
date: Jan 10, 2013
where:
Virgin Australia
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
date: Jan 10, 2013
where:
Virgin Australia
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie [part]
date: Jan 09, 2013
where:
Sam & Caelin's Apartment
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
date: Jan 09, 2013
where:
Sam & Caelin's Apartment
Tin Tin
date: Jan 09, 2013
where:
Sam & Caelin's Apartment
Freedom Writers [part]
date: Jan 02, 2013
Clue
date: Jan 01, 2013
where:
Matt & Caitlin's House

2012 Movies

Django Unchained
date: Dec 30, 2012
where:
AMC Barton Creek
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
date: Dec 27, 2012
where:
James Evans's house
Christmas Vacation
date: Dec 25, 2012
where:
5441W
Anything But Christmas [part]
date: Dec 23, 2012
where:
5441W
Drive
date: Dec 20, 2012
where:
Jake's House, New Orleans, LA
Dirty Harry
date: Dec 19, 2012
where:
5441W
Killing them softly
date: Dec 19, 2012
where:
Angelika
The Maltese Falcon
date: Dec 10, 2012
where:
Virgin Australia (SYD to LAX)
Hip Hop 4 Lyfe
date: Dec 08, 2012
where:
255E
Blues Brothers [part]
date: Dec 07, 2012
where:
255E
Grease
date: Dec 07, 2012
where:
255E
Skyfall
date: Nov 26, 2012
where:
Cinema Nova
Apocalypse Now Redux
date: Nov 12, 2012
where:
Astor
The Master
date: Nov 10, 2012
where:
Cinema Nova
Romeo + Juliet
date: Nov 04, 2012
where:
255E
The Killing
date: Nov 03, 2012
where:
255E
Halloween
date: Oct 31, 2012
where:
Title, Melbourne, VIC
The Believer
date: Oct 28, 2012
where:
255E
VCA First-year semester films
date: Oct 26, 2012
where:
VCA
Barry Lyndon
date: Oct 16, 2012
where:
255E
Catch me if you can
date: Oct 15, 2012
where:
255E
Annie Hall
date: Oct 15, 2012
where:
255E
Bernie
date: Oct 10, 2012
where:
255E
Wholphin Best of
date: Oct 06, 2012 – Oct 09, 2012
I'm Still Here
date: Sep 29, 2012
where:
255E
Princess Bride
date: Sep 23, 2012
where:
255E
Beasts of the Southern Wild
date: Sep 20, 2012
where:
Cinema Nova
Dr. Strangelove
date: Sep 02, 2012
where:
255E
Noise
date: Aug 25, 2012
where:
255E
Mildred Pierce
date: Aug 19, 2012 – Aug 23, 2012
where:
255E
Mission: Impossible
date: Aug 12, 2012
where:
255E
Almost Famous
date: Aug 05, 2012
where:
255E
The Dark Knight Rises
date: Jul 30, 2012
where:
Cinema Nova
From Russia with Love
date: Jul 29, 2012
where:
255E
Snowtown
date: Jul 28, 2012
where:
255E
The Bourne Identity
date: Jul 27, 2012
where:
255E
Animal Kingdom
date: Jul 26, 2012
where:
255E
The Dark Knight
date: Jul 22, 2012
where:
255E
Four Eyed Monsters
date: Jul 21, 2012
where:
255E
Edward Scissorhands
date: Jul 20, 2012
where:
255E
Shine
date: Jul 05, 2012
where:
255E
Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark
date: Jul 04, 2012
where:
Astor
Catfish
date: Jul 01, 2012
where:
255E
Contempt
date: Jun 30, 2012
where:
255E
Stolen Kisses
date: Jun 24, 2012
where:
255E
Portlandia
date: Jun 17, 2012
Ghostbusters
date: May 28, 2012
where:
Astor
Cries and Whispers
date: May 22, 2012
where:
255E
Bridget Jones's Diary
date: May 18, 2012
where:
255E
The King of Kong
date: May 12, 2012
where:
255E
Dead Ringer
date: May 06, 2012
where:
255E
Melancholia
date: Apr 29, 2012
where:
Astor
plasticized
date: Apr 26, 2012
where:
acmi
German Short Films
date: Apr 22, 2012
where:
Toorak
Anchorman
date: Apr 05, 2012
where:
255E
Being Elmo
date: Apr 04, 2012
where:
255E
The Hunger Games
date: Mar 25, 2012
where:
Hoyts
2001: A Space Odyssey
date: Mar 24, 2012
where:
Astor
The Artist
date: Mar 19, 2012
where:
Nova
Portlandia
date: Mar 18, 2012 (started)
Look Both Ways
date: Mar 05, 2012
where:
255E
Samson and Delilah
date: Feb 26, 2012
where:
255E
One Day
date: Feb 21, 2012
where:
255E
War Games
date: Feb 19, 2012
where:
255E
The Dark Knight
date: Feb 07, 2012
where:
Hobart, Tasmania
Batman Begins
date: Feb 04, 2012
where:
Hobart, Tasmania
Roger & Me
date: Jan 24, 2012
where:
255E
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
date: Jan 22, 2012
where:
255E
I Heart Huckabees
date: Jan 21, 2012
where:
255E
Young Adult
date: Jan 18, 2012
where:
Cinema Nova
The Full Monty
date: Jan 16, 2012
where:
255E
Midnight in Paris
date: Jan 13, 2012
where:
255E
Exit Through the Gift Shop
date: Jan 02, 2012
where:
255E
Twin Peaks
date: Nov 14, 2011 – Jan 10, 2012
where:
255E

2011 Movies

Rainman
date: Dec 30, 2011
where:
255E
Some Kind of Monster
date: Nov 12, 2011
where:
255E
Bill Cunningham New York
date: Nov 11, 2011
where:
Nova
comments: The documentary set him up like a goldfish in a fishbowl, by having his friends make all these statements like "I don't know what he does in his free time," "I don't know if he's gay," etc, so that the whole time you watch him go around so happily you are thinking "What's with this guy? How does he not know we're watching him? Why is he so weird?" It just makes him seem so oblivious, as the movie projects all these frames of organization over him. It's really interesting.
A Farewell to Arms (1932)
date: Oct 28, 2011
where:
255E
Labyrinth
date: Oct 22, 2011
where:
255E
Mao's Last Dancer
date: Oct 21, 2011
where:
255E
Up
date: Oct 18, 2011
where:
255E
Les Cousins
date: Oct 16, 2011
where:
255E
The Castle
date: Oct 12, 2011
where:
255E
Dancer in the Dark
date: Oct 09, 2011
where:
255E
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
date: Oct 08, 2011
where:
Nova
Cosi
date: Oct 06, 2011
where:
255E
Mrs. Carey's Concert
date: Sep 25, 2011
where:
Qantas
Little Fockers
date: Sep 24, 2011
where:
Sam and Caelin's, LA
The Lion King 3D
date: Sep 17, 2011
where:
Cinemark, Dallas, TX
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
date: Sep 13, 2011
where:
5441W
Betty Boop cartoons
date: Aug 25, 2011
where:
61835
The Fountainhead
date: Aug 23, 2011
where:
Jess's apartment in Austin
The Name of the Rose
date: Aug 20, 2011
where:
Denver
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
date: Aug 14, 2011
where:
Kel's house in Austin
The Change Up
date: Aug 12, 2011
where:
Alamo South Lamar
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
date: Aug 09, 2011
where:
Matt/Caitlin's
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
date: Aug 08, 2011
where:
Jess's apartment in Austin
Anywhere, USA
date: Aug 02, 2011
where:
Jess's apartment in Austin
Waking Sleeping Beauty
date: Jul 21, 2011
where:
61835
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
date: Jul 17, 2011
where:
Alamo drafthouse south
Super 8
date: Jul 10, 2011
where:
Alamo drafthouse south
Dumb and Dumber
date: Jun 29, 2011
where:
Central Market
Barton Fink
date: Jun 27, 2011
where:
61835
Tree of Life
date: Jun 22, 2011
where:
Alamo drafthouse south
Twilight: Eclipse
date: Jun 19, 2011
where:
Wigglesworth House
Twilight
date: Jun 17, 2011
where:
airplane
Twilight: New Moon
date: Jul 30, 2011
where:
airplane
Alamo Ritz
comments: with comedic MCs
Flow (water documentary)
date: May 23, 2011
where:
61835
Betty Boop cartoons
date: May 18, 2011 (started)
where:
61835
Antichrist
date: May 16, 2011
where:
61835
Bhutto
date: May 10, 2011
where:
61835
comments: on KLRU
Plymptoons [part]
date: May 08, 2011
where:
61835
Tron
date: May 06, 2011
where:
Clarksville parking lot in Austin
La Dolce Vita
date: May 04, 2011
where:
61835
My Left Foot
date: May 02, 2011
where:
61835
There Will Be Blood
date: May 01, 2011
where:
61835
The Road
date: Apr 27, 2011
where:
61835
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
date: Apr 17, 2011
where:
61835
The Royal Tenenbaums
date: Apr 09, 2011
where:
61835
Looney Tunes [part]
date: Apr 19, 2011
where:
61835
The Room
date: Mar 26, 2011
where:
Alamo Village
Reservoir Dogs [part]
date: Mar 13, 2011
where:
61835
Young Frankenstein [part]
date: Apr 09, 2011
where:
61835
Winter Light
date: Mar 10, 2011
where:
61835
Breakfast at Tiffany's
date: Feb 09, 2011
where:
61835
400 Blows
date: Feb 01, 2011
where:
61835
The Birds
date: Jan 30, 2011
where:
61835
Mad Men
date: Jan 25, 2011
where:
61835
Rashomon
date: Jan 22, 2011
where:
61835
Ponyo
date: Jan 21, 2011
where:
61835
Objectified
date: Jan 17, 2011
where:
61835
Breathless
date: Jan 12, 2011
where:
61835
The King's Speech
date: Jan 10, 2011
where:
Alamo drafthouse south
TNT Jackson [part]
date: Jan 10, 2011
where:
61835
The Black Gestapo
date: Jan 05, 2011
where:
Alamo Ritz
Man on the Moon
date: Jan 05, 2011
where:
61835

2010 Movies

Cool Hand Luke
date: Dec 29, 2010
where:
5441W
Black Swan
date: Dec 15, 2010
where:
Alamo Ritz
Slacker
date: Dec 06, 2010
Kung Fu Panda
date: Nov 26, 2010
where:
5441W
Roman Holiday
date: Nov 24, 2010
where:
5441W
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
date: Nov 20, 2010
where:
Cinemark Tinseltown, austin
The Royal Tenenbaums
date: Nov 05, 2010
where:
61835
Bottle Rocket
date: Nov 02, 2010
Freakonomics
date: Oct 19, 2010
where:
UT Union
A Passage to India
date: Oct 17, 2010
Mad Men
date: Sep 23, 2010 (started)
where:
61835
Roman Holiday
date: Sep 19, 2010
The Great pi/e Debate
date: Sep 15, 2010
where:
61835
500 Days of Summer
date: Sep 09, 2010
where:
61835
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
date: Aug 31, 2010
where:
alamo drafthouse south
Lawrence of Arabia
date: Aug 28, 2010
where:
Paramount
The Last Emperor [part]
date: Aug 27, 2010
where:
61835
Das Boot [part]
date: Aug 23, 2010
where:
61835
Civilisation (Pursuit of Happiness)
date: Aug 22, 2010 – Aug 29, 2010
where:
61835
Iron Man 2
date: Aug 18, 2010
where:
airplane
City for Conquest
date: Aug 18, 2010
where:
Kauai
Scenes From a Marriage: Scene One [part]
date: Aug 13, 2010
where:
Kauai
The Corporation
date: Aug 12, 2010
where:
Kauai
Wholphin III
date: Jul 31, 2010
where:
61835
Inception
date: Jul 22, 2010
where:
Dobie
Jules and Jim
date: Jul 18, 2010
Triplets of Belleville
date: Jul 16, 2010
where:
car trip
Spirited Away
date: Jul 15, 2010
where:
car trip
Kung Fu Panda
date: Jul 10, 2010
Shakespeare in Love
date: Jul 05, 2010
Being John Malkovich
date: Jul 04, 2010
where:
Lucy's house
Casablanca
date: Jul 01, 2010
Toy Story 3
date: Jun 23, 2010
where:
Alamo drafthouse south
Vertigo
date: Jun 22, 2010
where:
61835
Shutter Island
date: Jun 15, 2010
The Hurt Locker
date: Jun 08, 2010
where:
61835
Babies
date: May 25, 2010
where:
Alamo drafthouse south
The Secret of Kells
date: May 15, 2010
where:
Dobie
2001: A Space Odyssey
date: Apr 23, 2010
Waking Life
date: Apr 11, 2010
Jungle Book
date: Apr 04, 2010
where:
The Cottage
The Birdcage
date: Mar 27, 2010
Space Jam
date: Mar 22, 2010
Fifth Element
date: Mar 15, 2010
where:
Hoff's apartment in Somerville
Everybody's Fine
date: Mar 14, 2010
where:
airplane
Raging Bull
date: Mar 13, 2010
Wholphin I
date: Jan 22, 2010 – Feb 02, 2010
Trainspotting
date: Jan 16, 2010
Avatar
date: Jan 11, 2010
where:
Houston (in theatres, in 3D)
Pan's Labyrinth
date: Jan 03, 2010

2009 Movies

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
date: Dec 26, 2009
where:
5441W
Julie & Julia
date: Dec 24, 2009
where:
5441W
You've Got Mail
date: Dec 24, 2009
where:
5441W
comments: (Not sure who was actually watching it with me.)
Crumb
date: Dec 18, 2009
where:
The Cottage
Koyaanisqatsi (presented by Francis Ford Coppola)
date: Dec 06, 2009
where:
The Cottage
Brazil
date: Nov 12, 2009
where:
Royal
Intolerable Cruelty
date: Nov 08, 2009
Edgar Allen Poe movies (3)
date: Oct 26, 2009
where:
Harry Ransom Center
Disney's Robin Hood
date: Oct 25, 2009
where:
Royal
Where the Wild Things Are
date: Oct 23, 2009
where:
Dobie
Bande A Part
date: Oct 02, 2009
World's Greatest Dad
date: Sep 07, 2009
where:
Dobie
Inglourious Basterds
date: Aug 26, 2009
where:
Dobie
The Aristocrats
date: Aug 26, 2009
Zodiac
date: Aug 12, 2009
where:
San Jose, Costa Rica
Life in Ruins
date: Aug 12, 2009
where:
airplane
Barton Fink
date: Jul 24, 2009
where:
Royal
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
date: Jul 22, 2009
Rocket Science
date: Jul 19, 2009
where:
Chicago
Spider-man 2
date: Jul 19, 2009
where:
Chicago
Batman Returns
date: Jul 18, 2009
where:
Chicago
American Beauty
date: Jul 18, 2009
where:
Chicago
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
date: Jul 14, 2009
where:
Adrian's
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
date: Jul 14, 2009
where:
Adrian's
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
date: Jul 14, 2009
where:
Adrian's
The Goonies
date: Jul 12, 2009
where:
Royal
The Wrestler
date: Jul 12, 2009
Hangover
date: Jul 01, 2009
where:
Alamo Ritz
Midnight Cowboy
date: Jun 22, 2009
where:
Royal
Five Easy Pieces
date: Jun 20, 2009
A Clockwork Orange
date: Jun 11, 2009
Full Metal Jacket
date: May 28, 2009
Cold Mountain
date: May 25, 2009
where:
Dallas
Is Anybody There?
date: May 23, 2009
where:
Angelika
Pink Flamingoes
date: Mar 02, 2009
where:
Pearl
Troll 2
date: Feb 07, 2009
where:
Pearl
Microcosmos
date: Feb 03, 2009
where:
Pearl
Alien
date: Jan 20, 2009
where:
Pearl
The Unborn
date: Jan 14, 2009
where:
Arlington, TX

2008 Movies

Slumdog Millionaire
date: Dec 28, 2008
where:
Dallas
Bottle Rocket
date: Dec 02, 2008
where:
Pearl
I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK
date: Nov 21, 2008
where:
Pearl
Delicatessan
date: Nov 15, 2008
where:
Tricia's apartment
comments: pumpkin bread and later 'Drink me!' Rugrats
Wicker Man
date: Oct 18, 2008
where:
Pearl
Saved
date: Oct 11, 2008
where:
Pearl
Pan's Labyrinth
date: Sep 02, 2008
where:
Mia's friend's house
The Counterfeiters
date: Mar 28, 2008
where:
Kendall Square Cinema
There Will Be Blood
date: Jan 13, 2008
where:
Angelika

2007 Movies

No Country For Old Men
date: Dec 27, 2007
where:
Northpark Mall
Jesus Camp
date: Jul 28, 2007
where:
3327D
Lolita [part]
date: Jul 28, 2007
where:
3327D
Pink Flamingoes
date: May 29, 2007

end_date Settings

start_date Settings

2024 Books

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
date: Mar 15, 2024 (started)
where:
Bailey

2023 Books

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
date: Nov 09, 2023 – Nov 25, 2023
where:
Bailey
American Airlines
comments: Loved it. It reminded me so much of movies: The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Skulls, and I guess also Dead Poets Society. Supposedly this aesthetic is called "dark academia." It's so fun. I also really liked realizing afterward how the setting of the book--the college--is based on the college where Donna Tartt actually went, along with Jonathan Lethem and Bret Easton Ellis.
Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
date: Oct 18, 2023 – Oct 22, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: This was good!
A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet
date: Sep 25, 2023 (started)
where:
Jetblue
Matrix by Lauren Groff
date: Sep 03, 2023 – Sep 13, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
favorite
comments: Gah, I love it when a novel is just so good from start to finish---which, by the way, almost always means it's also not very long. This reminded me of a Herman Hesse book in spirit, and maybe even specifically Narcissus and Goldmund. Medieval nuns: not a subject matter I would have thought would be especially inspiring to me, but this book was just so beautifully written and sometimes even thrilling. Seems like a must-read for any feminist book clubs out there.
The Days Are Just Packed (Calvin & Hobbes #8) by Bill Watterson
date: Aug 26, 2023 (started)
where:
Bailey
tags:
graphic-novel
fiction
Something Under the Bed Is Drooling (Calvin & Hobbes #2) by Bill Watterson
date: Aug 23, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
graphic-novel
fiction
The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner
date: Jul 23, 2023 – Sep 01, 2023
where:
Bailey
comments: I'm so glad to have read this, because I didn't realize at all how many amazing inventions came out of Bell Labs: vacuum tubes, transistor, microwave towers, optical fiber, cellular telephone systems...This book did a great job of conveying the vibe of working there, in a place all about fundamental research, where people clearly felt very passionate about what they were doing. But I think, most of all, I enjoyed reading about Claude Shannon. What a character! Unicycling through the halls of Bell Labs, making the first micro mouse, inventing information theory, and having a house full of homemade robo-gadgets. So cool.
Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat (Calvin & Hobbes #9) by Bill Watterson
date: Jun 04, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
graphic-novel
fiction
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
date: May 29, 2023 – Jun 18, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: I'm glad I read this, as it's apparently a classic, and I really did enjoy parts of it a lot. It had lots of good, fun energy with all the characters. I think my favorite parts were at Jubal's house. Though honestly, the first third or so was my favorite, while the last two thirds just kinda went on too long for me. The whole sex cult thing was not at all what I was expecting from a popular sci-fi novel from the early 60's. Not at all.
The Firm by John Grisham
date: May 16, 2023 – May 27, 2023
where:
Bailey
airbnb, Eastham, MA
tags:
fiction
comments: The first and last quarter or so of this book was really fun, but the middle dragged pretty bad. Also one very embarrassing aspect of the writing: The author made sure to specify that basically every single lower class character was black, otherwise a character's race was never mentioned. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing the movie (starring Tom Cruise).
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
date: Apr 10, 2023 – May 08, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: One of the best novels I've read in a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it but at the same time didn't want to rush through it. It reminded me of Catch 22 in its dark humor, though this was way less absurd and more dark. Beautifully written though, and in a way that felt like it was all still true even though it wasn't strictly historical.
A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself by Peter Ho Davies
date: Apr 01, 2023 (started)
where:
Bailey
Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells by Harold McGee
date: Mar 19, 2023 (started)
where:
Bailey
Nexus by Ramez Naam
date: Mar 13, 2023 – Mar 29, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: This book was very over-the-top, but it was entertaining. It was all about brain-computer interfaces, and realistic in the sense that the main character was a neuroscience Phd student in the bay area, and he went to an international version of SfN, but the whole story was a very imaginative take on if BCIs became real kinda thing. So it was weird to know the real world situation so clearly. Anyway, the book was a bit racist and misogynist at times, which was a turnoff. Overall, not something I'd recommended to anyone.
The Sandman Vol. 4 (Issues 21-28) by Neil Gaiman
date: Feb 09, 2023 – Feb 14, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: Okay I think I need a break. Not that I didn't like it! I just no longer have any thoughts about it.
The Sandman Vol. 3 (Issues 17-20) by Neil Gaiman
date: Feb 06, 2023 – Feb 08, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
graphic-novel
fiction
comments: I wasn't as into this one, which was all just short stories. The first one was kinda fun I guess.
The Sandman Vol. 2 (Issues 9-16) by Neil Gaiman
date: Feb 01, 2023 – Feb 05, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
graphic-novel
fiction
comments: I think I liked this one more than the first, but I don't have much to say about it really. Better characters this time maybe?
The Sandman Vol. 1 (Issues 1-8) by Neil Gaiman
date: Jan 27, 2023
where:
American Airlines
tags:
graphic-novel
fiction
comments: Interesting. Didn't realize it took place in Gotham. Also it was so gorey at times, sort of unexpectedly. I loved the melting or exploding faces though, very fun
Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
date: Jan 09, 2023 – Jan 11, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: Not many thoughts about this one, though the boys seemed to enjoy it. My only thought, honestly, is: Why did a white woman write a story about Mexican culture?
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
date: Jan 04, 2023 – Jan 11, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: I absolutely loved this book---at first. Honestly, I liked it less and less as it went on. It just felt a little like "this is a book so dramatic things have to happen," especially when Marx got shot. Reminded me of the show Halt and Catch Fire. Also, the woman in the book who visits the glass flowers exhibit and says "These are nice, but where are the glass ones?" That's me: I had no CLUE those flowers were glass. I had to go visit the museum just to confirm. How insane!
Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
date: Dec 06, 2022 – Jan 04, 2023
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: I decided to read some Ray Bradbury thanks to Austin Kleon quoting Bradbury's advice that one should read a poem, essay, and short story every day. And then I was very excited about these particular stories once I read his introduction, where he said the inspiration/idea was basically Winesburg, Ohio but set on Mars. There were definitely some good stories! And a good vibe overall. My main comment/criticism is that, the ideas are always so good, and the stories so interesting, and yet the culture all his stories seem to inhabit is a sort of stereotypical, straight-laced 50's America. It's just so plain!

2022 Books

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
date: Nov 26, 2022 – Dec 03, 2022
where:
Jetblue
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: This was fine, still entertaining, but the more political leanings of this one felt a little glib. I don't think I'll read the third book in this trilogy.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
date: Nov 16, 2022 – Nov 22, 2022
where:
Bailey
Jetblue
tags:
fiction
comments: Not much to say about this one, except that I learned what a "space opera" is. Also, wow, the similarities to Murderbot are pretty striking, though this one came first.
Witchy, Vol. 2 by Ariel Slamet Ries
date: Nov 08, 2022 – Nov 09, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: I wish I'd known this story was nowhere near done when I started it. It's insane how long comics take to make: What took the creator 8 years to make, took me about two hours to read.
Witchy, Vol. 1 by Ariel Slamet Ries
date: Nov 07, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: I've learned to love online comics like this one because they're free and easy to read online, and if they're also published (like this one), you know they're good! This is a chosen-one, coming-of-age story about a young witch, in a society of witches, run by a government of bad witches. Long hair = more witchy power.
The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts
date: Nov 06, 2022 (started)
where:
Bailey
Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
date: Nov 06, 2022 – Nov 19, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: These were sort of a slow-burn for me, but that could also be because of what a range of quality there was. Still, it's such a unique idea, making comics loosely based around historical figures. I think my favorites were the street sweeper in love with the woman who sells fish heads; the teenage detectives; and of course the silly pony.
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
date: Nov 05, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
Paper Girls
date: Oct 24, 2022 – Oct 29, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: Really incredible how much of the vibe of Stranger Things this story had (and this one came out first!). I would have definitely kept reading if it were longer. I guess I wish it were longer, because I can't say I completely understand what happened.
The Complete Mushroom Hunter, Revised by Gary Lincoff
date: Oct 20, 2022 (started)
where:
Bailey
Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel by Rebecca Goldstein
date: Oct 06, 2022 (started)
where:
Bailey
This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
date: Sep 25, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: Really quick read, but great illustrations and very good story.
Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu
date: Sep 18, 2022 – Sep 19, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: This was just amazing. It may be the most feel-good thing I've ever read. Like Archie but if he were a gay hockey captain and baker.
Snotgirl Vols. 1-3
date: Sep 16, 2022 – Sep 17, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: I don't know why I started reading this, but this was so fun and good.
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky
date: Sep 04, 2022 (started)
where:
American Airlines
The Heart of the Brain: The Hypothalamus and Its Hormones by Gareth Leng
date: Aug 21, 2022 – Sep 07, 2022
where:
Bailey
American Airlines
tags:
nonfiction
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
date: Aug 20, 2022 (started)
where:
Bailey
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
date: Aug 09, 2022 – Aug 16, 2022
where:
Bailey
T orange line
tags:
fiction
comments: I'm glad to have finally read it; I very much enjoyed it. And MAN, was it fun: Even though I didn't understand the occasional paragraph, even though it made me want to speak to those around me in fancy English, even though Lizzy's love for Mr. Darcy does seem coincidentally to have begun when she first saw Pemberton. I can't remember the last time a book--no matter how moreish--has made me want to read it for more than three hours straight.
Ordinarily Well: The Case for Antidepressants by Peter Kramer
date: Aug 05, 2022 (started)
where:
Bailey
The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem
date: Jul 31, 2022 – Aug 04, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: I didn't like this at first, but then once the tripping started, it got very good. Reminded me in tone of The Illuminatus! Trilogy and also Fear and Loathing. It also had a satisfying, if boring, ending.
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams
date: Jul 17, 2022 – Jul 22, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
favorite
comments: Very weird at times but also very good. Overall, such a compelling story about a Singularity. The violence/gore and BDSM stuff was very unexpected. I liked the ending too--it seems to me that they're probably still living in cyberspace. Like Prime Intellect figured out that the best way to satisfy them was to make them think they'd turned everything back to normal.
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
date: Jun 26, 2022 – Jun 30, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
nonfiction
comments: My feelings on this book were u-shaped. In the middle, I became convinced that there was nothing really very respectable about this guy, because ultimately, he's living in the woods but stealing everything from other people, so really he's not independent or self-sufficient at all, which is what you imagine at first. But by the end of the book, it becomes clear it's not about him being any sort of respectable figure. It's more just the story of a loner, who had the weird ability (and impressive skill) to commit himself to an insane degree to the arbitrary decision he made when he was 20, to just live in the woods and never talk to anyone again. For 27 years. In a state with insane winters. So it's impressive in that he survived. But at the same time he's no one to look up to, because he effectively terrorized the people living in those nearby houses, robbing some of them 50+ times over the course of 27 years. It's just such an interesting situation.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
date: Jun 20, 2022 – Jun 25, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: This was so good! I'm a sucker for time travel, but also, I loved the overall vibe of this book, in that it didn't feel like sci-fi in genre, more like literary fiction. It reminded me of Otessa Moshfegh in some way? Though I'm vague on reasons. Anyway, I will definitely be reading more by this author, including Station Eleven once I can forget enough of the details from the TV show.
The Rule of Law by Bingham
date: Jun 18, 2022 – Jun 20, 2022 (quit)
where:
Bailey
tags:
quit
comments: I wanted to like this but it just kept making me fall asleep.
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut
date: Jun 02, 2022 – Jun 11, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
favorite
comments: This was so interesting, in terms of how it is both fiction and non-fiction at the same time. The first chapter was so clearly just creative nonfiction that I believed everything that followed, until the last chapter which was clearly fiction. I read that it basically gradually moves from nonfiction to fiction as the chapters go on, which definitely makes sense in terms of the content. So good though. I loved reading about every single character he decided to cover. Especially Shrödinger and Heisenberg.
The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
date: May 24, 2022 – Jun 02, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
nonfiction
comments: Parts of this book were really interesting, but overall I needed to skim a lot to stay with it. The idea of using psychology concept to guide design thinking is really interesting and valuable, but honestly the best parts of the book were just the design anecdotes (as opposed to the principles). Two that stuck with me: 1. The mapping from knobs (usually arranged linearly) to burners on a stove (usually arranged in a 2x2 grid) is inherently ambiguous, which is why we always make mistakes at turning on the wrong burner. 2. The mental model that a fridge with separate "fridge temp" and "freezer temp" knobs engages, when in reality there's really only one thermostat (and thus only one degree-of-freedom, not two).
Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin
date: May 10, 2022 – May 21, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: This was definitely the best of the series, though a lot of that just has to do with this being the book that gets to answer all the mysteries. I loved learning about Hoa, and the mother vs. daughter situation was very powerful. I cried multiple times in the last chapter---it was a super powerful (and really well set-up) ending.
The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin
date: Apr 30, 2022 – May 09, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: I had to get about 2/3 of the way through before I got really into it, but it was still very good.
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
date: Apr 22, 2022 – Apr 27, 2022
where:
Bailey
comments: I haven't read a 450+ page book this fast in a long time. It's weird though, while I did very much enjoy reading this, I wouldn't say it necessarily resonated with me in any particular way. It was just fun to read. Also, such a different vibe from The City We Became. Almost feels like a completely different genre.
Heaven on Earth: How Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo Discovered the Modern World by L. S. Fauber
date: Apr 03, 2022 – Apr 20, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
nonfiction
comments: I had high hopes for this book based on the topic. Four amazing astronomers who all lived in the same span of 100 years, and most of whom knew one another! But ultimately, I don't feel like I learned much at all about the actual findings or theories because it was never very clearly laid out. Still, the high-level facts were interesting. To summarize: Copernicus laid the ground-work in proposing that the Earth may move around the (motionless) Sun rather than the Sun moving around the (motionless) Earth. Brahe came next, and his main contribution was collecting a ton of high-quality data where none of its caliber existed before. Kepler was a pure theorist, didn't even make measurements at all really, but had priority access to all of Brahe's (unpublished) data. After considering essentially every shape possible, he concluded that the orbit of the Earth around the Sun was in the shape of an ellipse, not a circle. And finally, Galileo invented/popularized the telescope. He was also the most famous one while alive. Anyway, another interesting thing about all of this was to learn that, if you were suddenly transported back in time before these people were alive, it's not like you could simply announce to everyone "Hey guys, the Earth orbits the Sun" and have any data to back you up. First off, because the data didn't really exist (in a reliable form). But also, your theory wouldn't necessarily explain any observations better than the existing Earth-centric theory, because their theory was so complicated that it could be used to explain basically any orbit!
Network Effect by Martha Wells
date: Mar 15, 2022 – Mar 22, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: Well, it's come to an end, my Murderbot binge. This was good! I can't say I was totally following everything that was happening. Ultimately I think I preferred the novellas, and probably in decreasing order. But still, a very fun read.
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
date: Mar 13, 2022 – Mar 14, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: Better than the last one--chuckle-worthy again. Now I'm finally ready for the novel.
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
date: Mar 09, 2022 – Mar 10, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: This one felt rushed and was not nearly as compelling.
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
date: Mar 06, 2022 – Mar 07, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: I almost read this in a single day. It also made me chuckle a few times, just like the last one. But it's so hard to explain why this series is so good! I've tried multiple times to Jess and it just doesn't come out sounding interesting at all. Though Jess made a good point that when a story is character driven, you kinda just have to be there to experience it in order to appreciate it.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
date: Mar 04, 2022 – Mar 05, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: I devoured this--it was so much fun. If Marvin from Hitchhiker's Guide were a less intelligent, powerful robot instead of a super intelligent, weak robot.
The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin
date: Feb 20, 2022 – Feb 28, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: This was so good! My first N. K. Jemisin, and within about 50 pages I was already regretting not having chosen her big trilogy. But hey, now I know: She's great! Super non-pulpy. (I guess it's technically fantasy and not sci-fi? Not sure about the difference really.) Made me want to spend more time in NYC.
A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen
date: Jan 31, 2022 – Feb 12, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: This book ranks high in terms of overall enjoyment. The ending was a bit out of nowhere and so not that believable, and the beginning felt like a non-fiction description of someone's trip to Moscow (though still interesting), but the middle of the book, where suddenly non-fiction and fiction fused into a very entertaining story, it was just amazing. I felt like I learned so much about Russian culture through this story. Definitely will be reading more about Russia after this. So overall, not a great work of fiction, but a very entertaining and interesting book.
Seed Money: Montanto's Past and our Food Future by Bartow Elmore
date: Dec 29, 2021 – Jan 06, 2022
where:
Bailey
tags:
nonfiction
comments: Dad got me this for Christmas. It came out this year, and had good ratings on Goodreads, so I went for it. It wasn't super captivating, but it was interesting enough, and I was glad to have learned a lot more about Monsanto as a company (since, obviously, its reputation precedes it) and its history. I didn't realize they had been subsumed by Bayer! Or that they produced the largest volume of agent orange during the Vietnam War. At the time, agent orange was apparently just thought to be a herbicide. Though Monsanto had internal reasons to believe that it was more than that, based on the health issues they had with some of their factory workers producing it. Then decades later, a similar thing with the byproducts of an ingredient in Roundup causing tons of health issues. And yet, time and time again, Monsanto never really had to take responsibility (financial or otherwise) for any of the damage they caused. Reading this really made me second-guess any interest I had in joining industry.
The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by J. Kenji López-Alt
date: Dec 28, 2021 – Jan 11, 2022 (quit)
where:
Bailey
tags:
quit

2021 Books

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
date: Dec 14, 2021 – Dec 21, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
favorite
comments: This book was amazing, start to finish. For a sci-fi novel, it was uncharacteristically not that corny and the characters actually had a lot of depth. It reminded me of Annihilation vaguely, and also of Kindred with the jumping through time paired with inhabiting different cultures. So so good.
Inventing Temperature: Measurement and Scientific Progress by Hasok Chang
date: Nov 21, 2021 – Dec 13, 2021 (quit)
where:
Bailey
tags:
quit
nonfiction
comments: The first couple of chapters were very interesting. I'd never even thought about what it meant to come up with a measure of temperature. The idea that there would be some theoretical construct of temperature (or heat), that would not necessarily match the way we actually empirically measure it (e.g., with mercury, vs. air). But in the end, reading this at 6:30am in the dark in bed just wasn't a very good idea. I kept getting too sleepy!
Rising from the Plains by John McPhee
date: Nov 15, 2021 – Nov 19, 2021 (quit)
where:
Bailey
tags:
quit
nonfiction
Basin and Range by John McPhee
date: Nov 02, 2021 – Nov 13, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
favorite
kindle
nonfiction
comments: I'd always wanted to learn geology, and I should have figured that a John McPhee book about geology is about as good as I could have ever hoped for. Reading all of the interesting history in his book inspired me to start watching lectures from a Geology 101 course I found that's been posted on youtube. Learning about the geologic time scale is just so interesting--how did I not always know this would be the case?
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
date: Oct 27, 2021 – Oct 31, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
kindle
fiction
comments: I loved this one. Overall, the first and the third in this trilogy were my favorites, and probably equally. I just never cared about the Mule for some reason. But everything else was super entertaining.
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
date: Oct 18, 2021 – Oct 23, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
kindle
fiction
comments: I didn't like this one as much. The first part was over way too fast, and the second part never really felt like it was going anywhere. There were some interesting parts though. Though a few criticisms: First, he loves having his characters say things like "Think, man." Also, there are basically ZERO female characters in the first two books except for one, and when she did finally come on the scene, I understood why, and that it was because he had no idea that you could write female characters without having them being sex symbols--even if he did also make them smart. Really though, it was a little gross, reading his initial description of her. Overall, I definitely enjoyed the first book a lot more.
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
date: Oct 15, 2021 – Oct 18, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
kindle
fiction
comments: I haven't wanted to read a book this much since I read Dune, funnily enough. It was so good though. It did remind me of Dune, in the lore, but this was way easier to get into. Every little scene is so well-crafted and efficient in getting you from point A to point B, where each jump is hundreds of years! It's pretty impressive.
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
date: Sep 23, 2021 – Oct 01, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
novella
fiction
comments: It had not even slightly occurred to me that the story was vague as to who to believe, but the more I read into it the more it makes sense. Except for the very last thing the boy says, when he says "Peter Quint!" all by himself. Still, the idea that this might be an unreliable narrator is extremely disturbing. Definitely way scarier than if she isn't. Jess needs to read this story asap.
Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris
date: Aug 29, 2021 – Sep 06, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
nonfiction
comments: I'd always heard so much about this book, and at first, I was disappointed. His writing style overall seemed a little glossy, just casually embracing and dismissing big ideas with very little detail as to why, and so for most of the book I didn't feel like he was saying much. That being said, there were definitely some passages that really blew my mind--most of them in the chapter on meditation, which was probably the only chapter that I genuinely enjoyed. Specifically, his evidence for the idea that there is no unified "I" perceiving the world: If there really is such an "I," then why do we spend so much of our days narrating our thoughts, or talking to ourselves silently? Who are we talking to? Why would we need to talk to someone who was not the same "I"?
William James by Robert Richardson
date: Jul 28, 2021 – Aug 24, 2021
where:
Somerville Library
Bailey
Somerville Hospital Urgent Care
tags:
favorite
nonfiction
comments: The longest book I've read in a long time, but it was a good one. I've been so inspired by reading about him, I've been finding myself wanting to bring up something he did/said/believed in practically every conversation I had. Surprising to learn that the only book of his I'd read, A Pluralistic Universe, was published just a year before he died, and so was covered in the last 20 pages of a 520 page book! What an amazing career though, and just general approach to understanding life: First as one of the first experimental psychologists (Principles of Psychology), creating the term "stream of consciousness"; next as a religious scholar (The Varieties of Religious Experience), arguing that religion only matters/exists due to the religious/spiritual experiences of individuals; and then as a philosopher (A Pluralistic Universe), including his theory of radical empiricism, which is his (anti-Platonic) claim that experience is the primary unit of existence. The relationship of humanity to reality is like we are cats and dogs in the library of the universe: We can see all the books and hear the conversations, but the point of it all is invisible to us.
Wendy, Master of Art by Walter Scott
date: Jul 26, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
graphic-novel
fiction
comments: Wasn't expecting to read this in one day, but I really enjoyed it. Would even have enjoyed it being longer! I liked their eyes.
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
date: Jul 07, 2021 – Jul 25, 2021
where:
Ben & Rene's House
Bailey
tags:
nonfiction
kindle
comments: If there's one thing I got out of this book, it was the discovery of how amazing the "Seek" iNaturalist app is. It's seriously changed everything. Anyway, as for the book itself, this one was a little tough for me. I got hung up on a sentence early in the book that described the book as a whole as less of a concrete thesis and more of a collection of essays. It really did feel like a lot of disconnected essays, but where I had trouble following the exact claims or points. There were definitely very interesting parts of the book. I enjoyed reading about the communes of the 1960's, and there were also some really interesting discussions about the meaning of the word "attention," even from a neuroscientist's persective. But there were also many reading sessions where I felt like I learned nothing at all. To be fair, I blame myself for this partially, because the book was a little dense, and I probably didn't put enough of the required effort into thinking about what was being said.
Improvement by Joan Silber
date: Jul 01, 2021 – Jul 06, 2021
where:
Ben & Rene's House
Bill & Cindy's House
tags:
favorite
fiction
comments: I loved this book! It's the most I've enjoyed a contemporary novel in a long time. All of the characters were so interesting, and I didn't mind how the story jumped around to different people's perspectives. I noticed the way the different narrators connected actually formed a giant ring (e.g., A knows B who met C who knows A, but with like nine different characters instead of three).
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
date: Jun 11, 2021 – Jun 21, 2021
where:
Bailey
tags:
fiction
comments: I wasn't into this at first--after the first chapter it seemed a little too emotional for me--but I got really into it, especially once it became almost like a mystery novel. Also I can't remember having read a book about a murder where that actually solves people's problems and feels like an uplifting outcome!
Prisoner's Dilemma by William Poundstone
date: Apr 29, 2021 – May 15, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
nonfiction
comments: I'd say this book was very patchy overall. It was interesting learning about von Neumann but ultimately didn't really leave me feeling anything about him. The last few chapters of the book I thought were the best--especially the chapter on tit-for-tat being the best strategy for an iterated prisoner's dilemma.
The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson
date: Apr 12, 2021 – Apr 28, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
nonfiction
comments: Agh, I forgot to write a summary of this one. And I believe I put it back in one of the free libraries (where I found it). I did learn a lot about seeds, reading this, but I've forgotten now. Except that the definition of a seed is basically a "box with a baby plant and food inside of it." Also about the methuselah tree (the "judean date palm," not the one in CA) that was the oldest germinated seed--like 2000 years old. They found the seed buried in some rubble from a historic battle. This date tree species, which was so important in the ancient Israeli culture of the time, had been extinct for 800 years--and so, when germinating it, people were excited to finally get to taste it. But the seed ended up being male, meaning it would not bare fruit. But the tree had to be grown to maturity to figure out if it was male or female! Such a fun story.
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
date: Mar 26, 2021 – Apr 07, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: This was kind of like Inherent Vice in the absurdity. It was entertaining, and very bizarre. I think, though, it was one of those books I might have enjoyed more if I didn't read exclusively at 6:45am right after having woken up.
Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by K. Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool
date: Mar 17, 2021 – Mar 24, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
favorite
nonfiction
comments: I read this book so fast, I just loved it. I feel like this is one of those books whose main point will change the way I think (about expertise) completely, but in a way that it seems completely obvious. The main point, here, is that becoming an expert is not about innate abilities (he addresses specific examples, such as Mozart), but rather it's about thousands of hours of "deliberate practice," which is basically goal-driven practice in the presence of instructive feedback. Another life-changing idea is practice through repetition alone could sometimes actually make you worse off! It's why doctors get worse at diagnosing things over time, and why amateur golfers' handicaps cease to improve even with going golfing multiple times a week for years and years: The practice is not specifically addressing shortcomings! It's just repetition! Overall, just an amazing book. Worth it for the anecdotes about experts alone.
Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton
date: Feb 28, 2021 – Mar 11, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
nonfiction
comments: This was a dud. I was really looking forward to reading this book after hearing an interview the author did with Rick Steves--the stories he told on that radio show were so entertaining and funny, I thought the book would just be more of that. Instead, as many of the other reviews have pointed out, the book spends way much time detailing his love life (every woman he meets is "beautiful") and making really lame jokes ("Dude really liked rocks."). Even worse, he uses many national parks as props to draw extremely lazy/bland life lessons--instead of, you know, actually describing the park itself. For example, when he goes to Big Bend, an unbelievably gorgeous national park in real life, we hear nothing about the park and only about his newfound realization that political borders "like, aren't even real, man." [This is not a real quote, but it might as well be.] If you're looking for a book about how amazing our national parks are, this isn't it. If you're looking for a story about an attractive man who works in television and realizes how cool national parks are, this is it. I should have just read something by John McPhee instead.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
date: Jan 31, 2021 – Feb 26, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: I read this in high school and it was one of my favorite books I'd ever read. It's similar to There Will Be Blood for me, in that I liked it so much the first time that I never really wanted to read/see it again, in case it wasn't as good. I don't think I reacted as strongly to this book this time around (I remember the first part, about Cathy, really blew my mind when I first read it), but I did really enjoy this book the whole way through. I also liked the two pairs of brother characters, and how in both cases their personalities were defined in contrast to the other.
The Brain From Inside Out by György Buzsáki
date: Jan 13, 2021 – Jan 29, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
nonfiction
comments: This was a much denser book than I'd expected, kind of like reading a very long perspectives piece--and not really a book I should have tried reading at 6am in the morning (which is when I read). In terms of content, I definitely agree with the perspective that it makes more sense to describe the brain's activity from a sort of intrinsic perspective rather than in terms of stimulus->response. I wished it had talked more about learning.
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
date: Dec 26, 2020 – Jan 05, 2021
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: This was a gift from Elaine for Christmas--it was a quick, fun read. The synopsis of this book makes it sound a little silly, but it really wasn't that silly at all! The ending got me all teary, too, when the protagonist gets to keep the fire children forever.

2020 Books

Exhalation by Ted Chiang
date: Dec 04, 2020 – Dec 22, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: This was just as good, I think, as his first collection. At first I didn't think so, but there are some really great stories buried in here! For me, the last story is probably now my favorite sci-fi short story ever. It's so inventive! I just want to watch a whole movie about it now.
The Once and Future King: The Candle in the Wind by T. H. White
date: Nov 27, 2020 – Dec 01, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: Damn, this was a good ending. This was, for me, where it really got dark and dramatic, with Mordred managing to ruin Guenever, Lancelot, and Arthur. I also liked how the book ended with a lot of prose, describing Arthur's final thoughts about his efforts at doing the right thing as a King, rather than even covering at all that he actually died. I'm glad I read this!
The Once and Future King: The Ill-Made Knight by T. H. White
date: Nov 16, 2020 – Nov 26, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: This one didn't really stand out to me as its own thing. It feels like it's in the middle of a bigger story--which, obviously, it is--even though it is the first time you meet Lancelot at all. Anyway, now that I'm reading the fourth book, I feel like now it's all coming together, or paying off, as it's getting really thrilling.
The Once and Future King: The Queen of Air and Darkness by T. H. White
date: Nov 10, 2020 – Nov 12, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: This was a quick one. But I love how even the villains are still so likeable. Also, for the second book in a row, the book ends on a climax that basically comes out of nowhere.
The Once and Future King: The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White
date: Oct 31, 2020 – Nov 07, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: I really didn't know what to expect when I started this, but I really loved it! It was very carefree and fun, once it got going. The best part is definitely Merlyn, and that he experiences life in reverse--meaning our future is his past, and vice versa.
So Long, and Thanks for the Fish by Douglas Adams
date: Oct 25, 2020 – Oct 27, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: This one was over so fast, before anything really got around to happening. Arthur falls in love and flies around with his new girlfriend. Once Ford finally appeared there was a funny and very relevant scene about a world where lizards rule the people, and the people hate them but still vote for them because "otherwise the wrong lizard might get [voted] in." Other than that, there was not much to this one.
Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
date: Oct 20, 2020 – Oct 23, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: Not as not good as I remember this one seeming (I started but didn't finish it a long time ago). I think I still have the stamina for one more...
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
date: Oct 17, 2020 – Oct 19, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: I didn't really remember this one at all, and it also wasn't as funny as I remembered (though still very entertaining), possibly because this time I hadn't just read the first one. Anyway, the chapter where you first meet the B ship, filled with people in marketing and middle management, was easily the best.
Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein
date: Sep 01, 2020 – Sep 17, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
favorite
nonfiction
comments: This was a beautiful book that really changed the way I thought about the world right now (even though this book is three years old). The book covers the stories of three families (in depth: dad, mom, and kids, all individually), business/city leaders, politicians (Janesville is Paul Ryan's (democratic) hometown), and social workers. I teared up almost literally every time I sat down to read it. I don't usually read non-fiction like this, but I'm glad I read this. (On a Kindle though, which I kinda regret, because I hate not knowing how many pages I've read.) It was really inspiring just to know how much people out there are working to help others. But also: how hard people out there are having to work even to just get by themselves! My main takeaway was that I need to be giving to my community more.
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
date: Aug 19, 2020 – Aug 28, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: The first four or so stories in this book were incredible. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed reading short stories so much. They were just so perfectly paced and structured that they all seemed like the perfect length. The second story stuck with me too. Definitely lots of movie ideas in this whole collection.
This Side of Paradise by Fitzgerald
date: Aug 08, 2020 – Aug 09, 2020 (quit)
where:
Welfer
tags:
quit
comments: got 12% of the way through this on my Kindle before I realized I'd already read this book. Not worth a re-read, so I'm stopping.
Legendary Ladies of Texas by Francis Abernethy
date: Jul 04, 2020 – Jul 14, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
favorite
nonfiction
comments: I've owned this book for years but never read it, and I'm so glad I did. Profiles of famous Texan women (each written by a different author), arranged choronologically, spanning early settler days, to Republic of Texas, all the way to the modern era. But the coolest part was the perspective: The book is published by the Texas Folklore Society, so a lot of the focus is on what the stories/legends say, how those legends may or may not have matched up with the reality, and what those legends say about the times. Makes me want to read more about folklore. Anyway, a few of my favorite profiles were the El Paso Madams, Ma Ferguson, and Janis Joplin, and Emily West (aka the Yellow Rose of Texas).
Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison by Michel Foucault
date: Jun 28, 2020 – Jul 02, 2020 (quit)
where:
Welfer
tags:
quit
Surreal Numbers by Donald Knuth
date: Jun 28, 2020
where:
Welfer
comments: I did an easy read, meaning I didn't go through any of the math myself, but took it all at face value as much as I could. As a result, it was a little...dense. I think it would be fun to work through with someone else, and I like the idea as a pedagogical tool.
The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson
date: Jun 09, 2020 – Jun 12, 2020
where:
Welfer
tags:
fiction
comments: I didn't get this book, sadly. As in, I don't think I actually understood enough of what the narrator was saying. I think I would need to have some more context, or something. I really loved Autobiography of Red so I was really looking forward to this one. It was nice in moments though, for sure, I just can't claim to have understood it. It did introduce me to the idea of what "illuminated manuscripts" are, though.
What Is Mathematics, Really? by Reuben Hersh
date: Apr 12, 2020 – May 10, 2020
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
nonfiction
comments: Just to start with the negative, this book wasn't structured very well (starts out sounding like an essay, ends up like a mini A History of Western Philosophy for math?) or even written very well (a lot of the sections were literally just multiple pages of quotes from primary sources). But I can say that the ideas and arguments presented in this book have changed my understanding of to what extent mathematics is "true." Until this point, my understanding of math's foundations all essentially came from Bertrand Russell's Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy. Now I understand that the arguments presented in that book stem from a particular time in mathematics history where people like Russell were trying to establish a solid basis for math--e.g., so that all of math could be seen as deriving from a basic set of axioms. In this period, you had the logicists (like Frege and Russell) who think that math is all based on logic and set theory, formalists (like Hilbert) who think that math is just a "game" involving rules for manipulating meaningless symbols, and intuitionists/constructionists (Brouwer?) who deny the existence of infinite sets. And then going back even further, you have the sort of implicit philosophy of most mathematicians (which the author calls "platonism") whereby mathematics is trying to discover a sort of idealized truth. But as Hersh makes a strong argument for in this book, mathematics is not that different than art, law, or any other human pursuit: it's a social-cultural-historic idea. This makes mathematics fallible like any other human pursuit, even if there is more consensus and reproducibility than in other areas. He calls this philosophy of math "humanism." For all the book's flaws, I think the idea is beautiful. And like all great ideas, in retrospect it seems completely obvious!
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
date: Mar 15, 2020 – Mar 31, 2020
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: Once I understood where this book was going, I liked it way more. But the paradoxes/aphorisms from the protagonist's friend were pretty obnoxious. Still, the idea of the picture revealing one's soul where your appearances hide them is a really nice thought. I actually wish the book had given us more glimpses at the decay taking place rather than it just being like, the very beginning, and the very end.
First Year Healthy by Michael DeForge
date: Mar 08, 2020
where:
350Pgh
tags:
graphic-novel
fiction
comments: Short and sweet, but a good story, and I thought the ratio of text/drawings here was great, compared to his others.
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
date: Feb 22, 2020 – Mar 04, 2020
where:
350Pgh
Southwest Airlines
Hilton Denver City Center, Denver, CO
Novo Coffee, Denver, CO
tags:
fiction
comments: I enjoyed reading this, but I don't really know what all happened. There were so many characters, it was really hard to keep track of. It was definitely amusing--not like laugh-out-loud funny, but entertaining.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
date: Feb 16, 2020 – Feb 20, 2020
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: I loved his book of poetry Ultramarine so was looking forward to reading his short stories. They were good, and very similar to his poetry in that they are very sparse but also vivid, making everyday life seem poetic. BUT short stories always just feel to me like the middle chapter of a novel. Also there was a really awful short story in this book where a baby was killed, and it disgusted/horrified me in a way that I've never really experienced before. Which is not a compliment--more of a 'well fuck you, dude.'
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
date: Jan 23, 2020 – Feb 01, 2020
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: Essentially a series of short stories, though all with overlapping characters. Mostly centering on Bennie Salazar, a record producer. There were enough characters that I'd often be halfway through a chapter before I realized something like "Oh right, this is so-and-so's daughter, but now grown up." Overall, entertaining and an easy read. Had been wanting to read something by Jennifer Egan ever since her twitter story Black Box.
Reinforcement Learning by Sutton & Barto
date: Jan 20, 2020 – Jan 23, 2020 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
Sustainable Energy - without the hot air by David MacKay
date: Jan 14, 2020 – Jan 22, 2020
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: This was effectively like a textbook, which I wasn't expecting given how often it was recommended as a good intro to climate change. But! It was still very interesting, and I learned a lot. The book is structured in a way to make you think about the big picture: how much do we consume, on average, and how much energy different renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, hydro, wind, etc.) can provide. His main point, which I think the book makes a very effective case for: "Every little helps" is not a relevant statement when it comes to energy use. Because even if you think about the most energy wind, for example, could even provide hypothetically (and optimisically), it doesn't come anywhere close to providing a significant chunk of our energy needs. In the end, the sources that seem to be reasonable: solar (but on a country-sized scale, e.g., in deserts), nuclear, and clean coal (not renewable, but probably necessary).
Coal: A Human History by Barbara Freese
date: Jan 05, 2020 – Jan 13, 2020
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: I found this book in the East Liberty Library--literally the only book my eyes scanned over that sounded remotely interesting. I probably picked this up because I'd been meaning to read about climate-related topics. This book ended up being pretty interesting. It's presented as a brief history of coal in human civilization. It starts in London, and how they used wood for cooking until like the 17th century, but only when their forests were running out did they resort to coal. Then, coal ovens were inside everyone's houses, smoke everywhere. They even thought smoke helped filter toxins out of the air. There were a lot of details about coal mines and how children would work in them; how miners would befriend rats to know when a collapse was imminent; how the Chinese enslaved people below ground inside mines, where they'd work for years and years. How rails were originally for mules hauling coal, but then the steam engine was invented, and the locomotive was soon born.
Watchmen by Alan Moore
date: Dec 20, 2019 – Jan 04, 2020
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: I just finished watching the series (which I loved) and meant to just pick this book up and flip through it. But once I did that, it was hard to put it down! I had forgotten almost everything. Also, I wonder how much I even caught the first time--when I read it first, in 2012 or so, it was probably one of the first graphic novels I'd ever read. Anyway, a few panels that stuck with me: catching a glimpse of R. D. Laing's book of poems, Knots (the cab driver's girlfriend); learning that there are plaques on the moon with Richard Nixon's signatures on them; realizing that the part of my zine And Inside That about a dream about flaming torsoes was almost directly ripped off (totally subconsciously) from Rorscach's journal.

2019 Books

After the Apocalypse: Stories by Maureen F. McHugh
date: Dec 16, 2019 – Dec 17, 2019 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
comments: Writing is very pulpy, and I don't care about zombies at all.
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts
date: Dec 07, 2019 – Dec 13, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: It had been a long time since I'd read anything remotely philosophical, and so reading this took me some time to warm up to. This book is about the idea that there is no "self" in isolation of the world. He points our the irony that sometimes our ego is like "I am an individual with free will and I act in the world," whereas other times it's like "Can you blame me? I'm mostly just a bunch of conditioned nerve responses?" or even "That wasn't me--that was my subconscious." Basically, his point is just that we should try to acknowledge the artifice in believing in ourselves as individuals, while also recognizing that any attempt to undo this belief in self is also doomed to fail, in the same way that an eye can't see itself. It's an interesting point, but one that didn't hit me nearly as hard as The Wisdom of Insecurity did ten years ago. Whether that's due to differences in the books or differences in my attention span for books like this, I'm not sure. But it was a nice change of pace to think about things like this, even if it didn't extend much beyond the times I was actually reading.
Fermat's Last Theorem by Amir Aczel
date: Nov 30, 2019 – Dec 05, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: The main content of this book--meaning, the part actually about the solving of Fermat's Theorem--was super interesting. The author did a great job of sketching out the recent history of approaches to the problem: Frey proposes that if Shimura-Taniyama's conjecture is true, then you get a contradiction: Fermat's theorem being true would imply the existence of a certain curve that couldn't exist, a claim which was then proven by Ribet, so it just came down to someone (Wiles) proving Shimura-Taniyama! It's a really cool illustration of how big theorems in mathematics are proven, where the person who gets the fame isn't at all the only one who did the work. However, this part of the story was probably less than half of the content of the book, the rest being a sort of cursory/bland history of mathematics: Euler, Gauss, Galois, etc. Felt like filler, even if some of the stories (especially those of Galois) were new to me.
The Topeka School by Ben Lerner
date: Nov 11, 2019 – Nov 22, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: I can definitely see the author growing up with each novel. This one, for the first time, felt like an adult looking back on his adolescence and less like one imagining he were still in it. This one, about being a parent, and also about being an 18 year old white male, was sort of the perfect read for me right now, trying to imagine myself what it's going to be like to parent two boys. This one wasn't especially mind-blowing like the others have been to some degree, but that's okay: I still enjoyed it.
Sync by Steven Strogatz
date: Oct 29, 2019 – Nov 08, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: This was a really interesting sort of autobiographical approach to talking about Strogatz's work in coupled oscillators and small-world networks. I also really appreciated how it presented the process of doing math/science as a creative process of trying to build intuition using simplified models and metaphor The 'real-world' connections felt a bit outdated though (e.g., references to early-2000's aspects of the Internet).
The Control of Nature by John McPhee
date: Oct 12, 2019 – Oct 23, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: A little more dense than Encounters with the Archdruid, but also maybe a little more educational? The stories here were very varied: 1) How building dams and "control systems" along the Mississippi turns the river from a leaky garden hose controlled by nature into a high-pressure fire hose that people think humans are in control of; 2) An island in Iceland's battle with a volcano, where they first watered it with fire hoses and then with high-powered navy water blasters; 3) Los Angeles's battles with the San Gabriel mountains, including a natural disaster that comes every decade or so called a "debris flow," which is caused by fires in the chapparal that make the dirt water proof, followed by heavy rains that then sweep the mountainside and build up ten-foot-tall "floods" of mud that come into nearby cities and bury people alive. The city builds pits to catch some of the mud, but then the (rich) residents sue the city for not building them deep enough.
Joy in the Morning by P.G. Wodehouse
date: Oct 03, 2019 – Oct 09, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: This was very silly. Kind of like the British version of slapstick. Jess pointed out that the butler Jeeves (who is very smart and who is always quoting Shakespeare) is probably the origin of the "Ask Jeeves" search engine. I'm glad I read it, just since this is apparently a very famous series, but I didn't ultimately find it that funny.
Encounters with the Archdruid by John McPhee
date: Sep 25, 2019 – Oct 02, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
nonfiction
comments: I see now why people love John McPhee. Part of me feels like I could just continue to read all of his books in sequence. (I learned about him from a twitter thread of Michael Nielsen's.) This book is made up of three separate essays, all featuring Dave Brower--apparently at one time the most well-known conservationist--and a different "archdruid," i.e., someone who claims they are about effectively using nature as opposed to preserving it. Every story had its own merits, but I thought the first one, featuring a mineral engineer, was the most interesting. That guy was sharp!
Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
date: Sep 17, 2019 – Sep 23, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: This was recommended by Nick Hornby's column in The Believer, and it was a pretty random book from my perspective. (Though it did continue my theme of late of reading English books from the early 20th century.) But I did like it! It's about a 17 year old girl the week before and during a big dance she's been invited to (her first). Nothing much happens, plot-wise, especially nothing dramatic. The dance was the best part, as she just meets various people at the dance; she's generally just so naive that you're seeing all these different types of personalities for the first time. A very lighthearted book. Nice though.
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
date: Sep 06, 2019 – Sep 13, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: I don't have a lot of thoughts on this. In retrospect, I think I was a little underwhelmed. I didn't really like the translation that much, or else the writing wasn't that great. The plot was interesting in that it was clearly very scientific and had fully thought out all of the science involved, and it was also very quick and fun to read. But I'm not planning on reading the rest of the trilogy.
The Gardener and the Carpenter by Alison Gopnik
date: Sep 03, 2019 – Sep 05, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: The main point of this book is that raising children is not about crafting (as a carpenter) a product--we should not be focused on making the "best" child. (Just as you don't judge your marriage by whether or not you made your wife a better person; being a parent is about your relationship with your child, not about you "making" them.) Instead, we are there to provide them with an environment to thrive, knowing that they will come up like vines and wildflowers, growing in ways you didn't expect, both in terms of unexpected positives and unexpected flaws. This was a surprisingly similar conclusion about the meaning of life as in Of Human Bondage, where the narrator decides that life is meaningless, so what we do is to just try to make our lives a beautiful/unique tapestry of all the positive and negative experiences we have. (I mostly skimmed or skipped over the parts of this book that seemed tangential to this main point.)
The Curse of Bigness by Tim Wu
date: Aug 30, 2019 – Sep 03, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: This short little book argues that anti-trust law needs to become powerful again, like it was in the "trust-buster" era of Teddy Roosevelt up until basically just before the George W. Bush era. According to the author, the Constitution is all about defining a separation of powers, so no one branch can control government. But this did not consider the potential for there being a private power that could have political control (e.g., through lobbying), and so that's what the Sherman Act was all about. Basically, whenever an industry has too few companies in power--note that a monolopoly is not necessary, because when there are just a few companies they can easily cooperate and work together--there is no competition, which is bad for consumers (no innovation) and bad for politics (too much political sway). Anyway, I felt like this was a very practical book, in that it gave me a very high-level idea about why anti-trust laws are important. One specific request the book made was a call to break up existing tech trusts--e.g., break Facebook into Facebook and Whatsapp and Instagram. After all, what do consumers have to gain by these three companies being united into one? What do we have to lose?
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
date: Aug 11, 2019 – Aug 29, 2019
where:
350Pgh
Highland Park Pool
tags:
fiction
comments: Like most 550+ page novels, this one took a while to get going. (Though it had such a perfect ending that it really made my love this book so much more. I feel like it's so rare for a book to have that good of an ending, which made it even more special. I wonder if the longer the book, the more emotionally attached you become to it?) And really at first, it felt a little cliche: Coming-of-age story where a boy (recently orphaned) is raised in a cold, religious household. And I was worried it would stay there forever. But it didn't! Though back to it being a "coming-of-age story," I thought this one was really unique in that it was never a "chosen one" sort of thing in the way that Hesse's books often are. Instead, it was the very opposite: You follow the protagonist from failed dream to failed dream. He moves to Germany to learn a new language--gets bored. Moves to Paris to become an artist--realizes he's mediocre. And so on. In the end, he decides life is meaningless, but actually finds the realization freeing: Everyone tries to make their life beautiful, just because they can; if they succeed it's wonderful, but if not, then who cares? It was an interesting sort of nihilism that seems both practical and kinda inspiring in a weird way. Anyway, as you can maybe tell by now, I really loved this book. Makes me want to read more long ones (I usually aim for ones in the 200-300 page range.)
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
date: Aug 01, 2019 – Aug 09, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: I enjoyed this. I don't know what the genre would be exactly, other than "ironic," because it's not exactly comedy but definitely isn't drama either. I liked how clearly deluded the narrator was, even when he claimed to no longer be.
The Fixer and Other Stories by Joe Sacco
date: Jul 21, 2019 – Jul 23, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
graphic-novel
comments: It took me until basically the last few pages to understand who the Sarajevo War was between or even about--the Christmas story should have been first for that reason. Other than that though, this was a good read, and just as much about the process of being a journalist in a war-torn country as about the war itself, which is interesting. Also a handful of pages/panels that just make you stop and admire--they're so real and beautiful.
Scale by Geoffrey West
date: Jun 28, 2019 – Jul 19, 2019
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
nonfiction
comments: This was most likely my favorite non-fiction book of the year. It was so interesting! The sort of big picture idea that starts to permeate everything you look at. Also, I'm so glad that I finally understand the idea from that Haldane paper ("On being the right size," or whatever it's called)--the writing in this book was so thorough, and it did a great job of not taking any assumption for granted (e.g., strength is proportional to cross-sectional area, and the example for understanding that is that you can make a fence post longer, but it will only get stronger if it gets thicker).
The Scientist in the Crib by Alison Gopnik
date: Jun 25, 2019 – Aug 26, 2019 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig
date: Mar 28, 2019 – Apr 07, 2019 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
comments: found in a little neighborhood library box
What's Going on in There?: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot
date: Mar 19, 2019 – May 08, 2019 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
The Book of Why by Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie
date: Dec 30, 2018 – Jan 10, 2019 (quit)
where:
Southwest Airlines
Taylor & Jake's House
350Pgh
tags:
quit

2018 Books

The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramon Y Cajal by Larry Swanson, Eric Newman, Alfonso Araque, and Janet Dubinsky
date: Dec 22, 2018 – Dec 28, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: What a great book. It's got the perfect balance of beautiful drawings and light, informative explanations of what's pictured. I've never been so interesting in understanding anatomy, which to me seems like a great result for a book like this. It just makes you appreciate how beautiful the complexity of the body is.
Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep by William C. Dement
date: Dec 04, 2018 – Dec 12, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: I found this book on a bookshelf in a conference room and picked it because it looked a little insane. Turns out, it was actually very good, and by a respected scientist! Basically it was light reading about the science (and the history of the science) of sleep, written by the person who a) coined the term REM (he was in the lab of who discovered it), b) first discovered and categorized the five phases of sleep (REM, and then four NREM), and c) first discovered that sleep apnea was a common cause of insomnia (and not just hypersomnia) and came up with a diagnostic for it. Overall, it was mostly a bunch of anecdotes about some major discoveries. Apparently studying sleep was not much of a science until people started measuring EEG while people slept. Overall, the book was a quick enough read that I'd say I really liked it. The first chapter on sleep deprivation was fascinating--especially the author's apparent contention that sleep might not be as critical as you think. (Though we now know that sleep is critical for certain learning processes...)
The King of Infinite Space: Euclid and His Elements by David Berlinski
date: Nov 18, 2018 – Dec 01, 2018
where:
350Pgh
United Airlines
tags:
nonfiction
comments: This was definitely the most pretentious book about math I've ever read. At times, it was bearable, but overall I felt like the focus was too often on the prose and not on actually going into more of the details about Euclid! I think the topic of Euclid is difficult for a book like this, given that we really don't even know much about who Euclid even was.
Dune by Frank Herbert
date: Oct 10, 2018 – Oct 24, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
fiction
comments: I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun, or been so entertained, reading a book. Harry Potter is the only thing that comes to mind. I'm not even sure what makes this story so good. At first, I was overwhelmed by all the made up words and proper nouns, but pretty quickly, I just got into it without even really knowing why. Chosen-one narratives are always fun, but it didn't seem to the reason this one was so good. I think possibly it had to do with how forboding everything is, or, how you always have the feeling that the protagonist is going to be victorious and yet that's also a bad thing. Kinda like if Frodo destroying the ring also meant he had to permanently become Golum. Anyway, I don't know if this book was the first instance of the idea of an intergalactic politics including emperor, princesses, smugglers, etc., but it's amazing how many things that came after Dune use the same exact aesthetic. Star Wars, for one, but even the card game Coup! I'm really glad I read this book. I'm even tempted to read the rest of the trilogy.
The Others by Matthew Rohrer
date: Oct 07, 2018 – Oct 09, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: This was a super fast read--very wide open formatting will do that. I really enjoyed this though. I feel like it's mostly a concept. It reminded me of Queneau's Exercises in Style for some reason. Basically, the whole novel takes place over the course of a single day in the narrator's life, and the narrator is a publisher, so he reads a lot. And we read the things he's reading, as he reads them--five mini segments in all (though one of them is actually something he's watching on TV). But they're all really interesting, and the first and last one especially I wished had gone on for longer or been returned to. Also, as far as the syntax, the whole "strong verse" idea, I really liked it. The only other book I've read that was in verse was Autobiography of Red, which I also loved. Something about the formatting just makes you read it completely differently, in a different rhythm, even if you're not actively trying to read it differently at all.
Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse
date: Oct 01, 2018 – Oct 05, 2018
where:
American Airlines
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
fiction
comments: I love Hesse. I just devoured this book--I can't even remember the last time a book was just immediately so engrossing that I never wanted to stop reading it. It's funny, because usually I attribute my inability to regularly read books as a failure on my part, but when I read a book this good it makes me wonder whether maybe I'm just not reading the right things. I see this book as the adult version of Demian, and I found it nearly as resonant, at least for me personally. Maybe it's because I was reading it right after having turned 30, but near the end, I really felt like I was ageing with Goldmund. What I like most about Hesse is how the characters in his stories always strive to answer the most important questions. He simply does not tell trivial stories. So on the surface, this book is about two medieval friends, one of whom (Goldmund) wanders the Earth chasing booty while the other (Narcissus) becomes an abbott. But the real issue this book explores is related to an idea of Emerson's, which is that to create good art you must have lived a full life. For Emerson, this is simply a fact. For Hesse, it is a contradiction. Here's the quote from Narcissus and Goldmund that I think really summarizes the struggle: "It was shameless how life made fun of one; it was a joke, a cause for weeping! Either one lived and let one's senses play, drank full at the primitive mother's breast--which brought great bliss but was no protection against death; then one lived like a mushroom in the forest, colorful today and rotten tomorrow. Or else one put up a defense, imprisoned oneself for work and tried to build a monument to the fleeting passage of life--then one renounced life, was nothing but a tool; one enlisted in the service of that which endured, but one dired up in the process and lost one's freedom, scope, lust for life." One last thing: As you're reading about Goldmund's adventures, as he becomes an artist, you feel certain that one day he will create the great "mother statue" that he envisions. And as the book gets closer to its end, you become certain that it's just around the corner...But then instead, he disappears, time passes, he grows old, and dies. It's a beautiful anti-climax.
New Dark Age by James Bridle
date: Aug 23, 2018 – Aug 25, 2018 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
comments: Just not that compelling, or organized.
There There by Tommy Orange
date: Aug 11, 2018 – Aug 19, 2018
where:
350Pgh
Schenley Park
tags:
fiction
comments: This was such a good book. I thought it was all unrelated short stories at first but then they all start weaving together and it's really well done. My only two complaints are that there should have been a glossary/diagram/family-tree of people's names, and also you saw the ending coming from a mile off, so I was wishing there would be some sort of revelation, or emotional climax, but it felt just like a physical description of events with not nearly enough falling action. Anyway though, I really enjoyed reading this, and felt like I learned about a lot of different viewpoints about what it might be like to be a modern-day american indian. I had not considered the fact that so many of them would be mixed-race, and also the confusions of identity that result from so much of their culture being defined in the past as opposed to in the present.
Beast in View by Margaret Millar
date: Aug 05, 2018 – Aug 08, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: The writing was a bit corny--pretty dated I guess. But it was a super fast read, and one of the first winners of The Edgar, so I'm not sorry I read it. Interesting to read an old story like this but with so many female leads. Felt like a Hitchcock movie in spirit. Not that great on the whole though.
Sabrina by Nick Drnaso
date: Jul 28, 2018 – Jul 29, 2018
where:
Schenley Park
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
graphic-novel
comments: This was very good. My guess for what set it apart from other graphic novels, in terms of being the first to be nominated for the Man Booker, is how timely it is in terms of the terrorism+media=conspiracy stuff. Art-wise, it was a bit eerie how all the characters seemed to have half-grins on their faces by default. Sort of like they were all crash-test dummies or Ken dolls or something.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
date: Jun 24, 2018 – Jul 01, 2018
where:
Schenley Park
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: Pretty good, and very fast read, but I remember liking the second one way more. Also I'm fairly sure the movie takes lots of scenes and lines just verbatim from the book, which is pretty rare.
Heads or Tails by Lili Carre
date: Jun 24, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
graphic-novel
Moon Cop by Tom Gauld
date: Jun 24, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
graphic-novel
comments: Very simple but nicely done--also depressing. Cover makes it look like a children's book.
The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe by D. G. Compton
date: May 13, 2018 – Jun 15, 2018
where:
350Pgh
South Dallas Mega Center DMV
tags:
fiction
comments: Didn't even realize I'd seen the movie based on this book (Death Watch, in 1980) until after the first chapter, and then I just couldn't get it out of my head. The last part got pretty good though. Overall, easy to read, not pulpy, but I never really cared about any of the characters.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
date: Apr 28, 2018 – Apr 29, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: A very quick, thoughtful autobiography about a neurosurgeon who learns he has cancer and then writes this book about what it feels like to be preparing your whole life for something, only to realize you're just going to die and not accomplish any of it. Despite what I expected, the book is actually not sad at all, and in that way is an easy read. But the epilogue...that's when it got tough. (I also ended up realizing halfway through that the author worked briefly in Krishna Shenoy's lab, aka, my advisor's former advisor.)
The Man Who Knew Infinity by Robert Kanigel
date: Mar 22, 2018 – Apr 11, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
favorite
nonfiction
comments: I was looking to read an Ian Stewart book but instead reading this, supposedly Ian Stewart's favorite popular mathematics book. The book is about Ramanujan, a self-made Indian mathematician in the 1920s, and G. H. Hardy, the British mathematician who "discovered" him. Given how little math is actually in the book, it took me a while to get into it. But the reality of Ramanujan's rise from obscurity (basically living in poverty in South India, and without a college degree) to mathematical prestige (elected into the Royal Society, a professor at Cambridge, by the age of 30) is really so fascinating, that I eventually realized I didn't care if the story wasn't driven by the mathematical ideas--in the way that, say, Ian Stewart books are. Ramanujan died at the age of 32 due to tuberculosis, but the story doesn't end on a tragic note. Instead, Ramanujan's fame picked up even decades after his death (apparently in the same way that Bach was relatively unknown during his lifetime), as other mathematicians mined his notebooks. Because the strangest thing at all is this: Ramanujan is a world-famous name in mathematics, and yet, he didn't ever really prove anything rigorously without someone else's help. Rather, it was his intuition that drove him, and it drove him to write out various equations and identities (usually infinite series) that no one would have ever even thought of writing down, let alone proving. And so in some ways, his development in obscurity might have actually been a benefit to him, in that he was not raised to think just like every other mathematician at that time. Anyway, even if it's not a great book about mathematics, it's definitely a great book about a mathematician. Also, this quote by Mark Kac about how Ramanujan was a magician and not a genius is great even out of context: "There is no mystery as to how [the mind of an ordinary genius] works. Once we understand what he has done, we feel certain that we, too, could have done it. It is different with the magicians...Even after we understand what they have done, the process by which they have done it is completely dark."
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
date: Mar 16, 2018 – Mar 20, 2018
where:
Southwest Airlines
tags:
fiction
comments: Writing this review in retrospect, because I completely forgot to earlier, but really I have a hard time separating this book from the movie. They really are completely different, but I found the movie so much more memorable, in a way that it's kind of overwritten the book. Just like with Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. You know what though? This is all my fault. I should have never seen the movie before reading the book, and that's what this all comes down to.
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
date: Feb 12, 2018 – Mar 15, 2018
where:
350Pgh
Denver, CO
tags:
fiction
comments: It was oddly entertaining at times, though definitely offensive just as often. Can't say I'd recommend it, but parts of it were pretty good.
Hard to be a God by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
date: Jan 27, 2018 – Feb 01, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: This was a super fast read, and while it was entertaining, it wasn't ultimately that creative or thought provoking. Reminded me of Ursula Le Guin in the idea of visiting another planet to help their history--didn't she have a book like that? Anyway, the story ended so oddly abruptly and without much closure, which was kinda frustrating.
Sourdough by Robin Sloan
date: Jan 15, 2018 – Jan 23, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: This was fun to read, and definitely much better than his first book. And maybe most importantly, it also got me back into making sourdough starter!
Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero by Michael DeForge
date: Jan 14, 2018
where:
350Pgh
tags:
graphic-novel
comments: Took a while to get going, but once the stories started continuing for more than a page it got much better. Beautiful illustrations as always. And I really liked the use of only two colors.
The Man with a Shattered World" #nonfiction by A. R. Luria
date: Jan 08, 2018
where:
350Pgh
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
date: Jan 03, 2018 – Jan 06, 2018 (quit)
tags:
quit
The Man with a Shattered World by A. R. Luria
date: Jan 01, 2018 (started)
where:
Southwest Airlines
350Pgh

2017 Books

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
date: Dec 03, 2017 – Dec 23, 2017
where:
350Pgh
United Airlines
tags:
fiction
comments: Pretty good at times. Though I have never read a book with so much ejaculation and suicide in it.
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
date: Nov 08, 2017 – Nov 16, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: It seems worth noting that my favorite part of the whole book was the appendix, where the author described what his life was like when he started writing it. Maybe I was being judgmental, but I think just knowing how successful and precocious the author was, and knowing that this was his first novel--it made me critical. But then again, I felt like I could also tell that it was a first novel. It was extremely sentimental--too sentimental. But it was also entertaining and, at times, hard to put down.
Lincoln on the Bardo by George Saunders
date: Oct 29, 2017 – Nov 03, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: I was surprised that this is actually more like a play than a novel, except there are no stage directions. But it was very entertaining and very beautiful in parts. Kinda like Waiting for Godot meets Drunk History Month, or A Christmas Story.
The Book by Alan Watts
date: Oct 21, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
Understanding Pregnancy and Childbirth by Cherry and Moss
date: Oct 19, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
date: Oct 14, 2017 – Oct 16, 2017
where:
American Airlines
Airbnb, New Orleans, LA
tags:
fiction
comments: This was a very entertaining book, the sort you can just speed-read because it's mostly all action, and the writing is ultimately not very good so there's no reason taking your time with it. Pretty fun. As the back of the book says, it's kinda like Harry Potter for adults, plus VR. Reminded me of Snow Crash.
Meta Math! by Gregory Chaitin
date: Oct 02, 2017 – Oct 07, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: The overall point is very interesting: Any finite set of axioms is incomplete, and most real numbers are not only uncomputable but also unnameable. The conclusion is that math must not confine itself to the same sets of axioms. On the other hand, the author's voice is pretty obnoxious. Not just the over-use of exclamation points, or his constant reminders that he really appreciates "making love to a beautiful woman," but also his egotism. Ah well. I do really appreciate his attempt to communicate the main ideas of his work at such a high level though.
Maus by Art Spiegelman
date: Sep 16, 2017 – Sep 24, 2017
where:
350Pgh
American Airlines
tags:
nonfiction
graphic-novel
comments: This was a beautiful book. I'd been putting off reading it because I figured it would be super dark and heavy. And it was very sad at times, but overall I think it did a good job of being enjoyable to read while still giving you an idea of what it was like to be Jewish in Poland during those years before and during the war. It reminded me a lot of Joe Sacco, in the distance the graphic novel creates between the story and reality. It makes it all stomachable, which I think makes it easier to process.
Uproot: Travels in 21st-Century Music and Digital Culture by Jace Clayton
date: Aug 15, 2017 – Sep 14, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: This was such an interesting read--essentially a travelogue about the role of music and technology around the world. My main complaint is that the author's arguments/claims changed so quickly, they often seemed contradictory with other points made in previous chapters (e.g., how is Moby so different from other DJs?). Given what a great style and voice he has, it was a shame his main points weren't more articulated. But on the whole, I definitely have more appreciation for the idea of DJ-as-music-librarian, and the fact that even places you might expect to be out-of-touch with the latest music trends might in fact be at the cutting-edge.
Moshi, Moshi by Yoshimoto
date: Jul 15, 2017 – Aug 14, 2017
where:
Air Canada
Shinkansen Hikari, Japan
350Pgh
tags:
fiction
comments: I couldn't tell whether or not I was just out of the practice of getting immersed in a novel, or if the writing/translation was just really bad. Still, this book did have its moments. Or the suggestion of good moments. The ending was the best part, but mostly because it was really weird. E.g., someone saying "Let's fuck" in what could otherwise be a story for middle schoolers.
A Woman of the People by Benjamin Capps
date: Jun 15, 2017 – Jun 16, 2017 (quit)
where:
Southwest Airlines
tags:
quit
Silence by John Cage
date: Jun 10, 2017 – Jun 28, 2017 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir
date: Mar 26, 2017 – May 16, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
book-club
fiction
comments: The last title story was completely depressing. It upsets me even more to think about what it would have taken to write something like this. The first story, though, was completely beautiful and it felt almost uplifting to imagine what old age will be like.
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay
date: Mar 21, 2017 – Apr 09, 2017 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
comments: a guess of when I started, maybe 1-2 days earlier?
Time Travel by James Gleick
date: Jan 25, 2017 – Feb 26, 2017
where:
350Pgh
Southwest Airlines
United Airlines
tags:
nonfiction
comments: This was such a thought-provoking book, even if it was never really gripping and took me forever to finish. The main point is basically that though the idea of time travel seems like it must have been an ancient concept, in fact it is quite modern (~1890s). Even the more modern concept of time as a place through which you can travel owes itself to Einstein's relativity and the idea of a spacetime continuum. I spent most of the book convinced that time doesn't exist, and that seems to be close to the conclusion Gleick reaches as well. Time is the measure of change, time is a useful metaphor.
En Attendant Godot by Samuel Beckett
date: Jan 10, 2017 – Jan 11, 2017 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
date: Jan 08, 2017 – Jan 16, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
book-club
fiction
comments: Things I liked about this book: the foretellers; the idea that a proof of God existing or not existing would both result in the end of religion; characters who misunderstand one another; sexual tension with a hermaphroditic alien/human; metaphors through creation myths > metaphors through dreams; participating in a great journey/struggle and understanding what your role is later
Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos by Steven Strogatz
date: Jan 04, 2017 – Jan 07, 2017 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
Advice for a Young Investigator by Santiago Ramon y Cajal
date: Dec 20, 2016 – Jan 03, 2017
where:
350Pgh
tags:
nonfiction
comments: This book wasn't as profound as I'd kind of hoped it would be. Mostly I found a lot of verifications of the common-sense sort of things that one picks up on in science, such as the idea that "all outstanding work...results from immense zeal applied to a great idea," and that "harm is caused...when [we] attribute great scientific conquests to genius rather than to hard work and patience." One point he emphasizes that I should definitely take more note of personally is the importance of observing facts first-hand, as opposed to just forming hypotheses. This requires mastery of experimental technique. One curiosity of this book was to learn that, in the time of Ramon-y-Cajal, the scientist also needed to be well-versed in "drawing, microphotography, [and] languages." Things have changed in that respect, at least!

2016 Books

My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles by Martin Gardner
date: Dec 01, 2016 – Dec 03, 2016 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
The Meaning of It All by Richard Feynman
date: Nov 23, 2016 – Nov 30, 2016
where:
Southwest Airlines
350Pgh
comments: Tons of great quotes in this book, which is just a transcription of three talks Feynman gave at the University of Washington in 1963. The talks unfortunately get less good as they go on, but I think he was aware of this, at least. Here's a good one though, on the interests of a scientist: "The exceptions to any rule are most interesting...The scientist tries to find more exceptions and to determine the characteristics of the exceptions...He does not try to avoid showing that the rules are wrong; there is progress and excitement in the exact opposite. He tries to prove himself wrong as quickly as possible." And then this one is just a great riddle, one Martin Gardner might like: "A man complains to his friend that the white horses on his farm eat more than the black ones. He worries about this and cannot understand it, until his friend suggests that maybe he has more white horses than black ones."
Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith
date: Nov 12, 2016 – Nov 15, 2016
where:
Southwest Airlines
San Diego, CA
tags:
book-club
comments: When I finish a book and there are no dog-eared pages, that's probably a good sign I won't have much to say about the book when I'm done. Even worse, this book doesn't even end! It's basically a "TO BE CONTINUED," which I'm pretty sure ethically binds you, as author, to title the book "Part 1" or something.
Big Kids by Michael DeForge
date: Oct 15, 2016
where:
350Pgh
tags:
graphic-novel
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
date: Sep 13, 2016 – Oct 15, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
350Pgh
comments: One of those books that I enjoyed but made absolutely no dogears, no notes to self in the margins. In an ideal world, I would read all four books in the series. Probably, I won't. Really, it doesn't feel at all like the story is complete--not even stylistically. The idea of "dissolving margins", for example, is only hinted at but never developed. One idea I did like, however, was the narrator's emphasis on the fact that Lila was a necessary component for her to get excited about things--without her, subjects lost interest for her.
Cosmic Trigger by Robert Anton Wilson
date: Aug 20, 2016 – Aug 28, 2016 (quit)
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
quit
comments: Found this book in one of those "Take a book, leave a book" libraries. I really liked the forward, and indeed Robert Anton Wilson's insistence on the fact that he is, as a writer, no authority. And yet, that any attempt at unbiased reporting of any sort of conspiracy theory necessitates a sort of neutrality or agnosticism that probably just makes the author himself sound like a crackpot. Reminds me of Hesse's "The Journey to the East" right now for some reason.
To Walk the Night by William Sloane
date: Aug 14, 2016 – Aug 18, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
book-club
comments: Without a doubt: It surprised me how good it was. One of those cases that prompts someone to say "Don't judge a book by its cover." It just kept seeming to me that it was about to get corny, or lazy/pulpy, but it really never did. This does not seem like a rushed book. It's thoughtful, and smart, and always reasonable. It reminds me of Frankenstein, in that way that you expect it to be a silly monster story but in fact it's literature that happens to be about a monster.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
date: Jul 16, 2016 – Jul 23, 2016 (quit)
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
quit
comments: I don't understand why so many people rave about this book. Maybe you had to be there in the moment, I don't know. I couldn't get over the fact that the 14 year old girl character was continually described so sexually. The scenes in the sim world were pretty cool, though. I think I wish the whole story just took place there.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nahesi Coates
date: Jun 15, 2016 – Jun 21, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: [full review here] Between the World and Me is not uplifting. And it's certainly not as entertaining or exciting as The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which I read just prior to this. Instead, Between the World and Me is solemn, unsettling, and for that reason much more realistic. It's super short, but offers an extremely powerful description of what it's like to be a black man in America. Equally powerful I think is his perspective of those Americans who can afford to live most of their lives as if racism doesn't exist--he calls them "Dreamers." I think that's probably most of us. As he puts it: "The Dreamers of today would rather live white than live free."
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
date: May 28, 2016 – Jun 07, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
favorite
comments: [full review here] This has to be one of the few books worthy of the quotes printed on its cover. From Spike Lee: "The most important book I'll ever read. It changed the way I thought, it changed the way I acted..." I was so engrossed by Malcolm X's story that I essentially narrated each chapter of it to Jess as I read it.
Ubik by Philip K. Dick
date: May 21, 2016 – May 22, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: My first Philip K. Dick book, and I was somewhat disappointed to find that it was more pulp than literature. I found the plot and especially the ending to be fairly nonsensical, more like a Hollywood film than a traditional novel. And few of the characters were differentiated beyond having separate names. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to read--as most pulp is--but I doubt I'll be reading more of his books anytime soon.
A Lover's Discourse by Barthes
date: May 17, 2016 – Jun 01, 2016 (quit)
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
quit
comments: These really are "fragments"--of thoughts. The writing is very nice but nothing really feels closed, or even fully articulated. Also, a few too many Freud and Oedipus references.
Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald
date: May 05, 2016 – May 16, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
American Airlines
comments: I'm not a fan of books without chapters, though I can see the use of dropping the quotation marks. Losing them makes the transitions seamless: from a story to a story-within-a-story, to a story-within-a-story-within-a-story, and so on. It makes me think of my dad's boss's stories, which I've always wished I had recorded, but how if I ever did write them down they'd be at that point thirdhand. And yet, the need to record some stories is still important--at whatever the distance. As Sebald writes: "The darkness does not lift but becomes yet heavier as I think how little we can hold in mind, how everything is constantly lapsing into oblivion with every extinguished life..." And later: "All I could think was...a sentence only appears to mean something, but in truth is at best a makeshift expedient, a kind of unhealthy growth issuing from our ignorance, something which we use...to grope blindly through the darkness enveloping us." And so the author's avoidance of quotation marks, obscuring the source of the material, reveals to some extent one of this novel's main goals, which is to tell a story so as to preserve an experience, and to delay its oblivion. I can't say I found the result that engrossing--but thinking back on it now and re-reading the few passages that I dog-eared, I can say at least that I'm glad I read it.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn
date: Apr 03, 2016 – Apr 18, 2016 (quit)
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
quit
How to Bake Pi by Eugenia Cheng
date: Mar 25, 2016 – Mar 27, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: I can't recommend this one personally, though I do admire the goal: To write clearly about specific mathematical concepts in a language accessible to people who don't think they like math. But after reading this, I think I've learned that dumbing down the language you use is often more condescending than it is simple. For an alternative role model, look at Bertrand Russell: His style is rich, beautiful even, but the reason he is a clear writer is his precision, not his simplicity. After all--and with math especially--it's not usually the English language that's complicated: it's the concepts. By dumbing down your language, you risk losing the opportunity of making the concepts seem beautiful, and often it's a rich writing style that does a lot of this work. Anyway, general lessons about educational science writing aside, there were some really nice thoughts in this book. The last section in particular, on the role of proof in mathematics, was definitely beautiful: "Mathematics is like an emotion...it's something that happens inside an individual. What we write down is merely a language for communicating those ideas to others, in the hope that they will be able to reconstruct the feeling within their own mind."
10:04 by Ben Lerner
date: Mar 14, 2016 – Mar 19, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
favorite
comments: I'm pretty sure I would hate Ben Lerner if I met him in real life. Or at least he does a really good job of making himself sound like a pretentious buffoon. But this feeling, that by reading his novels I somehow get to know him, is very much a central issue of this book. It's kind of like reading a ghost-written novel, where while reading the anecdotes you can't help but imagine the making of the story, where the celebrity tells the ghostwriter the real version, and then the ghostwriter "novelizes" it. Anyway, the point is, I spent the first half of the novel thinking about the author himself, and what was real, what was made up; he was obviously flirting with that aspect of the novel, so it was the very best climax for him to admit that the story-within-the-story he'd been writing about had at some point transformed into the novel you (I) were (was) reading. It's the kind of shapeshifting element of fiction that gets the hairs on my arm standing up. It's like I'm feeling the author materialize right next to me, only to realize that he'd been there the entire time.
McGlue by Otessa Moshfegh
date: Mar 08, 2016 – Mar 12, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: I was somewhat underwhelmed by this book; my expectations were set too high by this being the winner of The Believer book award in 2014. (By the way, what happened to The Believer?! I am so sad.) Anyway, the protagonist was an extremely dark character, but I don't feel like I had much to cling on to in terms of relating to him in any way. The one part I felt like I got a glimpse into him came in the very last few pages: "I cannot sleep without having already forgotten my name, my face, my life. If I were to sit still...with some memory of myself...I would go mad."
The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse
date: Mar 07, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: I think Hermann Hesse must be one of my favorite authors. Demian was great, Steppenwolf was also pretty good, and then this book here was also really wonderful. I'm always a sucker for a playful, mock-historian tone--it's why I like Borges so much. But this novel also has a really nice theme, which I read to be the difficulty of growing older and still seeing the beauty in life. My favorite quote: "Once in their youth the light shone for them; they saw the light and followed the star, but then reason came and the mockery of the world; then came faint-heartedness and apparent failure; then came weariness and disillusionment, and so they lost their way again, they became blind again." Reminds me of the title of that one Sam Wallman book: "Being born is goin' blind."
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
date: Mar 05, 2016 – Mar 06, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
book-club
comments: To do Hant'a's job, compacting wastepaper, you should have a divinity degree: "...Everything I see in this world, it all moves backward and forward at the same time...like everything in my press, turning into its opposite at the command of red and green buttons, and that's what makes the world go round." He lives in a world not yet committed to productivity and efficiency; he, like many others in his city, does the same thing every day and loves it: "My mind is cleared by the thought that I am not alone, that there are thousands like me...that they have live, living, life-giving thoughts running through their heads."

But life is not always so kind; he lives in a world where beauty and death coexist not unlike the warrior rats who battle for territory below in the city sewers. "Neither the heavens are humane nor is life above or below--or within me."

Other themes of this short yet dense novel include: The cyclical nature of life (controlled by green and red buttons); doing the same thing every day to the point that when you retire you want to keep doing it on the weekends; having a spiritual connection to your work; instilling your acts with beauty. Being educated by your work; feeling unworthy of your task. The morbid humor of shit (see also: Milan Kundera).
Journalism by Joe Sacco
date: Feb 21, 2016 – Feb 28, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
American Airlines
comments: One of the best reasons to read Joe Sacco is that the format, comics journalism, is just unreal enough that you're spared the eventual empathy fatigue that comes with consuming most other news media. And with Journalism, which covers six distinct world crises, one of the things that stands out most clearly is just how much world crises have in common. The fears and arguments put forth by local Maltese people in response to African migrants, for example, sounds identical to what Americans were saying about Syrian refugees just months ago. The scenes of destruction in Gaza look just like the scenes in Syria.
Neural Networks and Deep Learning
date: Feb 07, 2016 – Feb 13, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
CMU
tags:
ebook
comments: Chapter 5,6.
The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
date: Jan 18, 2016 – Jan 31, 2016 (quit)
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
quit
Vision by David Marr
date: Jan 07, 2016 – Jan 08, 2016 (quit)
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
quit
Ultramarine by Raymond Carver
date: Dec 31, 2015 – Jan 08, 2016
where:
350Pgh3
comments: This book of Raymond Carver poems in Ultramarine isn't as good as I remember it being, but I do at least remember the sort of beauty it added to my experience of my own life: An appreciation of quiet, everyday moments. Moments that you observe but never even talk about. Thoughts that pop into your head that have nothing to do with where you are at all, and suddenly form a part of your experience anyway.

2015 Books

Lost #7 by Michael DeForge
date: Dec 29, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
graphic-novel
Lost #6 by Michael DeForge
date: Dec 28, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
graphic-novel
comments: I'd read this before, at Farewell. It's so good!
Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
date: Dec 27, 2015
tags:
favorite
comments: I can't claim this objectively--only subjectively: This book is great, and nearly perfect. It resonates for me personally just like The Catcher in the Rye did when I was a freshman in high school. And sure, the protagonist's pervasive fraudulence is something I think I've recovered from myself, but this book is about so much more than that. A good ending seals the deal on a good book for me, and the ending of this one gave me chills. One thing I'm left wondering: Does good art require self-consciousness? Or rather, does a life without self-reflection imply a sort of inevitable (unintentional) conformity?
By Night in Chile by Bolano
date: Dec 13, 2015 – Dec 19, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
book-club
comments: A book composed of sentences that never end. And no paragraphs, let alone chapters. Overall, it was a fairly enjoyable and quick read. But without the standard stopping points I had a difficult time consolidating much of what happened. It read like scenes from a dream more than a cohesive story. This quote, describing that great feeling you can sometimes attain while reading literature, was my favorite: "...an uninhabitable space but the only one worth inhabiting, a space in which we shall cease to be but the only space in which we can be what we truly are..."
Ice by Anna Kavan
date: Dec 01, 2015 – Dec 09, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
book-club
comments: This is the kinda book I could've just sat down and read in one sitting. It had this really great sense of surreal mystery that I tend to love in books. "Suddenly I was entangled in utmost confusion, not sure which of us was which." Kavan = Kafka + Camus + ...?
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
date: Nov 15, 2015 – Nov 27, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
comments: I didn't make a single dogear while reading this book, which I think is a pretty good sign that it kinda underwhelmed me. Kindred was so amazing--I was expecting this would be even better! To be more concrete, I found the overall concept relatively standard and unexciting: post-apocalyptic world, you can't trust anyone, etc. etc. However, the most unique aspect of the book was certainly the "Earthseed" religion and its definition of God as something malleable and almost object-like, a clay to be shaped by human minds and hands. I really like this idea. Dealing with change is surely one of the most common problems in post-apocalyptic literature--in The Walking Dead, for example, the word gets thrown around in a vaguely spiritual context pretty often. But Octavia Butler does more than just reference 'change' in passing--she makes it the basis of an entire religion: "God is Pliable...God exists to be shaped. God is Change."
Ask the Dust by John Fante
date: Oct 23, 2015 – Nov 10, 2015
where:
350Pgh3
tags:
book-club
comments: Reading this book was like watching those awkward moments in movies or television when the character does something incidentally narcissistic, and you just cringe watching it all unfold. Like the British version of The Office, basically. As dark as it was, once I got over the constant feeling of embarrassment I came to really love reading this book. Definitely had me laughing out loud pretty regularly. And the protagonist's more authentic moments were even more satisfying: "No Arturo, there never was a sea. You dream and you wish, but you go on through the wasteland. You will never see the sea again. It was a myth you once believed."
The Composition of Tender is the Night by Bruccoli
date: Aug 23, 2015 – Aug 25, 2015 (quit)
where:
350Pgh2
tags:
quit
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
date: Aug 19, 2015 – Aug 23, 2015 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
comments: Seems to focus not so much on his introduction's thesis, i.e. explaining HOW we know certain things. Instead more content to tell funny anecdotes with witty phrasings. Still so much unanswered! Like the reptile/lizard thing, how bones tell us what the whole creature looks like, etc. (e.g. p.80). But yeah, mostly this is just anecdote after anecdote about funny scientific characters. I get the idea...I'll stop here, after having read the first three parts.
Three Lives by Gertrude Stein
date: Aug 11, 2015 – Aug 15, 2015 (quit)
where:
350Pgh
tags:
quit
This Side of Paradise by Fitzgerald
date: Jul 06, 2015 – Jul 18, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: I'd been saving this Fitzgerald novel for last; it's his first, and I'd assumed (correctly) that it would be less mature. But it was still very interesting to read! It reminded me of a Hesse novel, probably because this is more of a coming-of-age story than any of his others. That being said, I didn't connect very strongly to the main character; mostly the writing style seemed self-aware in a narcissistic way. (You could definitely call it a bit "wanky" at times.) Still, it's got a few of those classic Fitzgerald one-liners, like "It is not life that's complicated, it's the struggle to guide and control life." The most interesting idea to me was the protagonist's eventual "strong distrust of all generalities and epigrams". I don't feel like it was ever really spelled out why he distrusts them, but I suppose our inclination towards trusting epigrams says a lot about our search for meaning; in anticipating that life will provide sure answers, it can take us longer to realize all of life's more subtle truths.
Number: the Language of Science by Dantzig
date: Jun 21, 2015 – Jul 03, 2015
where:
Rob House
tags:
favorite
comments: My mind has been blown and I love this book. Beyond being a really excellent overview of the development of mathematics, this book goes deep in its philosophical discussion. One of his key points is that recognizing infinity as a number in its own right depends comes only from our intuitive, human ability to imagine a certain action occurring infinitely many times just because we have seen it applied once. Even the acceptance of irrational numbers (like sqrt(2)) as true numbers requires this leap of faith that the infinite exists. As he puts it: "The age-long struggle to create an arithmetic in the image of that reality had failed because of the vagueness of that reality. So arithmetic created a new reality in its own image." Overall, this book is like a more technical and speculative version of something Ian Stewart might write. More than anything, I wish this book's sort of historical context and philosophy was an integral part of every undergraduate mathematics education.
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
date: Jun 14, 2015 – Jun 18, 2015
where:
Rob House
tags:
book-club
comments: This will be the last sci-fi I read for a while, if I can help it; but it has been interesting having read so many books in the same genre to compare and contrast. Anyway, I was enjoying this book just fine until the ending: And then I loved it. Most of the sci-fis I've read have all been idea novels, with the plots being fairly unimportant, and the endings basically worthless. Here, though, the plot and conclusion were everything. Really, with the exception of a few details (a daughter who is a monkey, and reanimated corpses) it was barely a sci-fi at all. The book had a great pace, with the narrator being always on the move--it reminded me a lot of McCarthy's The Road in this way (as well as in tone). My favorite part was definitely the discussion and context of the book's title.
Understanding Media by McLuhan
date: Jun 04, 2015 – Jun 11, 2015 (quit)
tags:
quit
comments: I read the chapters on "The Spoken Word", "The Written Word", and "Numbers"; I'd almost like to have a class on this whole book, or at least a reading group, because I feel like so much of what he's saying has a historical context that I'm completely missing. I do really like his perspective, rooting all of media's effects on society in its effect on our sensory systems, but in doing this he makes so many assumptions (e.g., that our sense of number is haptic) that I just don't see the grounds for. He has some incredibly thoughtful moments, though, and his perspectives seem to connect to so many things.
Principia Discordia by Malaclypse the Younger, Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst
date: May 31, 2015 – Jun 04, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: Did you know that God's name is Eris, and that he is a girl? Or that what you call a roach, discordians call "St. Gulik"? I've considered myself a discordian in spirit since high school, even keeping an official POPE card in my wallet, but I hadn't actually read the Principia until now. And...it's okay. Not as funny as I'd expected it to be. Some of it is just barely "okay", but the good parts made me glad to be reading it. Hail Eris! Gobble gobble.
Lady of Mazes by Karl Schroeder
date: May 23, 2015 – May 30, 2015
where:
Rob House
tags:
favorite
comments: I read the first chapter of this book during the Snarkmarket Seminar, and really enjoyed then how imaginative the world was. (I'm on a sci-fi binge, apparently.) I'm glad I finally read it in its entirety, because this book was incredible! At some points, actually, this book was pulp and even awful, but those moments honestly never lasted more than a paragraph. In the end, it definitely counts as one of my favorites--anything that gives me that "Holy shit!" reaction multiple times earns that title.
The Eye in the Pyramid (Illuminatus! Part 1) by Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson
date: May 06, 2015 – May 18, 2015
where:
Rob House
tags:
favorite
comments: This is definitely one of my favorite books ever, without a doubt. I just wish I could understand (or: that they hadn't written) the role of sex in the book. There's so much of it, and all of it very male-centric and typical! Other than that aspect of it, I just can't stop thinking about it. Its main strength is how clearly and persuasively it feeds you so many different perspectives on politics/culture/morality through its endless list of characters: a Native-American, a lawyer fighting the system (the inspiration for Breaking Bad's Saul Goodman?), an anarchist, a priest, and so on. It seems to relate to everything right now, and that is such an amazing quality in a book. Plus, I'm a sucker for anything full of self-reference.
What If? by Munroe
date: May 05, 2015 – May 21, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: He's brilliant, and the way he takes questions into the deep end is great, but I still love reading the rejected questions sections better than anything.
The Death Ray by Clowes
date: May 05, 2015
where:
Rob House
tags:
graphic-novel
comments: I really liked the style, and the colors, and the storytelling, but...not the story. Left me feeling a bit disappointed.
Neuromancer by Gibson
date: Apr 27, 2015 – May 04, 2015
where:
Rob House
comments: I love this book the more I think about it. Especially how much the idea of a console jockey resonates with our actual experience of surfing the web, when we get so "inside the machine" that we are entirely immersed and unaware of other things. Because at that point, how is our consciousness not just what's going on in the machine? (We're not aware of our hands moving, say, and we're not feeling hunger--we're just aware of whatever we're reading/typing/coding on the screen.) And imagine when you log into a computer remotely, where you can move the mouse of a computer in another city or whatever, and imagine someone sitting there watching this screen, while you are completely immersed. This watcher sees the things you type, the websites you go to, and so on. If you are fully immersed, then isn't this watcher viewing your mind in some way? It's almost exactly like Case's sim-stim allowing him access to Molly's entire sensory experience (her "sensorium", as Gibson calls it). Creepy. I love it.
The Passion According to G.H. by Lispector
date: Apr 09, 2015 – Apr 20, 2015 (quit)
tags:
quit
book-club
comments: just a waste of time, really; it's like she had one or two ideas and is now just dragging it out into absurdity. come on, lady...so goddamn boring.
Enquiry by Francis
date: Mar 31, 2015 – Apr 06, 2015
where:
American Airlines
The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe
date: Feb 23, 2015 – Mar 02, 2015
where:
Rob House
tags:
book-club
comments: started off kinda nicely, but quickly got kinda boring and endless
The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Perry
date: Feb 03, 2015 – Feb 21, 2015 (quit)
tags:
quit
Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity by Wallace
date: Feb 03, 2015 – Feb 21, 2015 (quit)
tags:
quit
Decoding the Universe by Seife
date: Jan 11, 2015 – Jan 17, 2015
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Feynman
date: Jan 05, 2015 – Jan 10, 2015
Lonesome Dove by McMurtry
date: Nov 26, 2014 – Jan 04, 2015
comments: pretty good (but sad) ending: 800 pages of loose ends to tie up, and it was done in a very depressing, fatalistic sort of way. I am happy to be done, but the book ended in a thoughtful way, which is strange because the whole rest of the book was entirely not thought-provoking.

2014 Books

Neural Networks and Deep Learning, Chapter 1
date: Dec 07, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
ebook
Dojoji by Mishima
date: Nov 30, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
play
book-club
Patriotism by Mishima
date: Nov 25, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
book-club
short-story"
comments: wow, awesome, because the last one was kinda shit; [written after the book club:] the most interesting paradox raised for myself seems to be how dying for an idea can feel both so empty and so beautiful
The Seven Bridges by Mishima
date: Nov 22, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
short-story
book-club
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Sacks
date: Nov 14, 2014 – Nov 21, 2014
Consciousness Explained by Dennett
date: Oct 27, 2014 – Nov 08, 2014
comments: resuming from where I left off
In Watermelon Sugar by Brautigan
date: Oct 16, 2014 – Oct 19, 2014
tags:
book-club
comments: I liked it--nice and short and fantastical, and reminded me of Jack Handey
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Tufte
date: Oct 07, 2014 (started)
where:
Rob House
Forming II by Moynihan
date: Sep 09, 2014
where:
Farewell Books
tags:
graphic-novel
Point Counter Point by Huxley
date: Sep 08, 2014 – Oct 06, 2014 (quit)
tags:
quit
The Autobiography of Red by Carson
date: Sep 04, 2014 – Sep 06, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
book-club
A People's History of the United States by Zinn
date: Jul 26, 2014 – Aug 19, 2014 (quit)
tags:
quit
Old Mortality by Porter
date: Jul 23, 2014 – Jul 24, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
book-club
Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Porter
date: Jul 20, 2014
where:
Dancy House
tags:
book-club
Consciousness Explained by Dennett
date: Jun 21, 2014 – Jul 20, 2014 (quit)
tags:
quit
A Pluralistic Universe by William James
date: Jun 11, 2014 – Jun 24, 2014
Return from the Stars by Lem
date: May 26, 2014 – Jun 09, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
book-club
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera
date: May 18, 2014 – May 21, 2014
where:
Rob House
Thunderbird Coffee
comments: I don't care about this other couple at all...
White Cube by Vandenbroucke
date: May 17, 2014
where:
Farewell Books
tags:
graphic-novel
comments: so clever and simple--great
Mostly True by Daniel
date: May 01, 2014 – May 13, 2014
comments: so glad I read all of this...it's awesome.
Statistics of Extreme Values by Gumbel
date: Apr 25, 2014 (started)
where:
Farewell Books
Rob House
Wise Blood by O'Connor
date: Apr 18, 2014 – Apr 30, 2014
where:
Rob House
Very Casual by Michael DeForge
date: Apr 17, 2014
where:
Farewell Books
tags:
graphic-novel
The Invention of Morel by Casares
date: Apr 16, 2014 – Apr 17, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
book-club
Spikes: Exploring the Neural Code by Rieke and Warland
date: Apr 03, 2014 (started)
Ghost World by Clowes
date: Mar 26, 2014 – Apr 03, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
graphic-novel
Smarter Than You Think by Thompson
date: Mar 18, 2014 – Mar 24, 2014
where:
702S
United
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Sacks
date: Mar 17, 2014
where:
702S
comments: Jess reads me sections aloud
Crash by Ballard
date: Feb 22, 2014 – Mar 30, 2014
where:
Rob House
tags:
book-club
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by McLuhan
date: Feb 20, 2014 (started)
where:
702S
Surreal Numbers by Knuth
date: Feb 09, 2014 – Feb 10, 2014 (quit)
tags:
quit
Man And His Symbols by Jung
date: Feb 02, 2014 – Feb 19, 2014 (quit)
where:
Rob House
702S
tags:
quit
comments: read Jung's part only
The Signal and the Noise by Silver
date: Dec 26, 2013 – Jan 09, 2014

2013 Books

United States by Geer
date: Dec 06, 2013
where:
702S
tags:
screenplay
Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut
date: Nov 07, 2013 – Nov 12, 2013
where:
702S
Knots by Laing
date: Nov 04, 2013
where:
702S
tags:
poetry
comments: finally opening this amazing gift from Scott a long time ago
In the Frame by Francis
date: Oct 24, 2013 – Oct 26, 2013
The Red-Headed League by Holmes
date: Oct 22, 2013
where:
702S
Reflex by Francis
date: Oct 22, 2013 – Oct 23, 2013 (quit)
tags:
quit
Story by McKee
date: Oct 14, 2013 – Oct 23, 2013 (quit)
where:
Rob House
Torchy's Tacos
Thundercloud Subs parking lot
702S
tags:
quit
20 Master Plots by Tobias
date: Oct 08, 2013 – Oct 10, 2013 (quit)
tags:
quit
Kindred by Butler
date: Oct 03, 2013 – Oct 07, 2013
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Sloan
date: Sep 25, 2013 – Sep 27, 2013
The Crest of the Peacock by Joseph
date: Sep 18, 2013 (started)
where:
702S
Steppenwolf by Hesse
date: Aug 03, 2013 – Aug 29, 2013
The Saturated Self by Gergen
date: Jul 28, 2013 – Aug 13, 2013 (quit)
where:
702S
Rob House
tags:
quit
The Five Orange Pips, The Blue Carbuncle by Holmes
date: Jul 17, 2013
where:
Rob House
History of Statistics by Stigler
date: Jul 12, 2013 (started)
where:
Rob House
Thunderbird Coffee
Barton Springs
702S
Once Over
The War of Art by Pressfield
date: Jul 11, 2013 – Jul 31, 2013
where:
702S
Thunderbird Coffee
Whole Foods
Rob House
Carver Library
comments: recc'd by David Loesch
Tall Man by Hooper
date: Jun 26, 2013
Ant Comic by Michael DeForge
date: Apr 20, 2013
tags:
graphic-novel
The Moonstone by Collins
date: Apr 09, 2013 – Apr 25, 2013
Minima Moralia by Adorno
date: Apr 07, 2013 (started)
comments: I'm really not sure how much I'm understanding...definitely will need to take it slow to get anything at all
Touching the Rock by Hull
date: Mar 25, 2013 – Apr 06, 2013
Heads or Tails by Carre
date: Mar 24, 2013
tags:
graphic-novel
Logicomix by Doxiadis
date: Mar 23, 2013 – Mar 24, 2013 (quit)
tags:
quit
graphic-novel
Paying For It by Brown
date: Mar 17, 2013
tags:
graphic-novel
Goliath by Gauld
date: Mar 17, 2013
tags:
graphic-novel
The Magic Pudding by Lindsay
date: Mar 15, 2013 – Mar 19, 2013
Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald
date: Feb 10, 2013 – Feb 26, 2013
The Captain is out to lunch and the sailors have taken over the ship by Bukowski
date: Feb 06, 2013 – Feb 07, 2013

2012 Books

A Pluralistic Universe by William James
date: Dec 15, 2012 – Dec 20, 2012
Amphigorey by Gorey
date: Dec 13, 2012
Complete Works: Two by Pinter
date: Dec 10, 2012 – Dec 13, 2012
The Pale King by Wallace
date: Nov 22, 2012 – Dec 10, 2012
The Strange Case of Edward Gorey by Theroux
date: Nov 18, 2012 – Nov 21, 2012 (quit)
tags:
quit
Ultramarine by Carver
date: Nov 11, 2012 – Nov 18, 2012
Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
date: Nov 06, 2012
Diary of a Bad Year by Coetzee
date: Oct 25, 2012 – Oct 28, 2012
41 by McSweeney
date: Oct 18, 2012 – Oct 24, 2012
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
date: Sep 15, 2012 – Oct 17, 2012
History of Western Philosophy by Russell
date: Aug 04, 2012 – Aug 21, 2012 (quit)
tags:
quit
Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy by Russell
date: Jul 28, 2012 – Aug 04, 2012 (quit)
tags:
quit
Borges' Labyrinths
date: Jul 03, 2012 – Jul 27, 2012
The Way of All Flesh by Butler
date: Jul 01, 2012 – Jul 02, 2012 (quit)
tags:
quit
Tubes by Blum
date: Jun 12, 2012 – Jun 27, 2012
Black Box by Egan
date: May 27, 2012 – Jun 03, 2012
The Mirage Man by Willman
date: May 13, 2012 – May 28, 2012
Sam Wallman
date: May 09, 2012
Poor White by Anderson
date: Apr 25, 2012 – May 11, 2012
Danger by Francis
date: Apr 14, 2012 – Apr 25, 2012
A Loving Scoundrel by Lindsey
date: Apr 09, 2012 – Apr 14, 2012 (quit)
tags:
quit
Nerve by Francis
date: Mar 31, 2012 – Apr 01, 2012
The Plague by Camus
date: Feb 28, 2012 – Mar 30, 2012 (quit)
tags:
quit
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Stein
date: Feb 05, 2012 – Feb 15, 2012 (quit)
tags:
quit
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Lindsay
date: Jan 24, 2012 – Feb 01, 2012
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Adams
date: Jan 17, 2012 – Jan 19, 2012
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Adams
date: Jan 09, 2012 – Jan 13, 2012
Eye of the Needle by Follett
date: Dec 14, 2011 – Jan 03, 2012

2011 Books

Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
date: Nov 05, 2011 – Nov 08, 2011
To Have and Have Not by Hemingway
date: Nov 01, 2011 – Nov 04, 2011
Does God Play Dice? by Stewart
date: Oct 22, 2011 – Oct 31, 2011
The Shallows by Carr
date: Oct 18, 2011 – Oct 21, 2011
32 Stories by Tomine
date: Oct 17, 2011
The Life and Adventures of William Buckley by Buckley and Morgan
date: Oct 12, 2011 – Oct 17, 2011
Winesburg, Ohio by Anderson
date: Sep 18, 2011 – Sep 20, 2011
The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger
date: Sep 16, 2011 – Sep 17, 2011
Franny and Zooey by Salinger
date: Sep 14, 2011 – Sep 15, 2011
Whip Hand by Francis
date: Sep 12, 2011 – Sep 13, 2011
Rat Race by Francis
date: Sep 10, 2011 – Sep 11, 2011
High Stakes by Francis
date: Sep 08, 2011 – Sep 09, 2011
Watchmen by Moore and Gibbons
date: Sep 06, 2011 – Oct 12, 2011
tags:
graphic-novel
Brave New World by Huxley
date: Sep 02, 2011 – Sep 05, 2011
The Vinland Sagas
date: Aug 28, 2011 – Aug 29, 2011
Heartbreak House by Shaw
date: Aug 24, 2011 – Aug 27, 2011
tags:
play
Mutant Message Down Under by Morgan
date: Aug 21, 2011 – Aug 22, 2011
Buried Child by Shepard
date: Aug 16, 2011
tags:
play
Long Day's Journey Into Night by O'Neill
date: Aug 16, 2011 – Aug 17, 2011
tags:
play
True West by Shepard
date: Aug 15, 2011
tags:
play
Palestine by Sacco
date: Aug 06, 2011 – Aug 09, 2011
The Fountainhead by Rand
date: Jul 12, 2011 – Aug 03, 2011
The Filter Bubble by Pariser
date: Jul 03, 2011 – Jul 11, 2011
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by Joyce
date: Jun 03, 2011 – Jul 01, 2011
Pour Your Heart Into It by Schultz
date: May 22, 2011 – Jun 01, 2011
A Primer on Money, Banking, and Gold by Bernstein
date: May 17, 2011 – May 19, 2011
Guns, Germs, & Steel by Diamond
date: May 12, 2011 – May 18, 2011
How Round is Your Circle? by Bryant
date: Apr 13, 2011 – Apr 16, 2011 (quit)
tags:
quit
In Our Time by Hemingway
date: Mar 16, 2011 – Mar 19, 2011
tags:
short-stories
The Road by McCarthy
date: Mar 13, 2011 – Mar 16, 2011
Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy by Russell
date: Jan 14, 2011 – Jan 25, 2011

2010 Books

The Social Contract by Rousseau
date: Sep 30, 2010 – Oct 09, 2010

2009 Books

Disgrace by Coetzee
date: Oct 31, 2009 – Nov 01, 2009

2007 Books

Life of Pi by Martel
date: Dec 23, 2007 – Dec 29, 2007
comments: start date is a guess
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig
date: Jun 02, 2007 – Jul 02, 2007
Lolita by Nabokov
date: May 10, 2007 – Jun 01, 2007
comments: just a guess--I bought the book 4/29/07