117: August 2024

Hello, everyone! I hope your August has been restful and fulfilling and not too unbearably hot. We're on the downslope of a particularly nasty heat wave here in Chicago, hopefully the last of the season. I'm starting to plot out fall planting in the backyard, and I'm ready for cooler nights but not yet ready to say goodbye to t-shirts and shorts.

In criticism news: I am delighted to announce that I am part of the newest cohort of the Chicago Film Critics Association! It's an honor to be included in the circle.

When I last wrote, I said that I'd be taking stock of a few writing projects during the month of August. I'm not yet ready to announce anything yet, but I've been making headway on some new (to me) territory. I've also found the break from publishing the newsletter this month to be a helpful one; I'd been starting to feel obligated to write something, anything, in a way that didn't feel like I was actually saying anything substantial.

To that purpose: I want to hear from you, whether you're a long-time reader or someone who's subscribed in the past month or two. I'd still like to treat this newsletter as a critic's notebook, and I still plan to send out round-ups of the things I write and talk about. But I want to know why you subscribe to this newsletter, and what you want to hear from me. What interests you? What don't you care about? What do you hope to read when you open these emails? You can send me a message here, or directly via email at dodgyboffin (at) gmail dot com. I'm not sure that replying to this email will get back to me, so don't hit the reply button.

What I wrote:

For Think Christian, I wrote about five ways that LOST examines guilt and grace. I also recorded an audio version of the article, which you can find here.

For Seeing & Believing, I reviewed Sean Wang's Dìdi (弟弟), Fede Álvarez's Alien: Romulus, and Zoë Kravitz's Blink Twice.

What I talked about:

Authorized Podcast had me on to talk about the novelization of Alien: Covenant. The movie is good, the book is terrible, and I had a great conversation with Andrew and Hannah about both.