121: December 2024

As I'm beginning to suspect is the case every year: it's been A Year. This one has been more year than most, especially on the critical writing front. I was accepted into the Chicago Film Critics Association; I returned to the True/False film festival no longer a novice; Kevin and I found a publication rhythm over at Seeing & Believing; and I successfully pitched, proposed, and submitted a second edition of my book. This is my most prolific writing year to date. In lieu of giving you a litany of books and music and movies and TV that I loved throughout the last year, I've included a list of the writing that pushed me this year, that I'm happiest with; I hope you enjoy it.

There will be an official (as official as I can make it, anyway) top ten list over at Seeing & Believing this upcoming weekend. I'll also have a top ten list from a different angle for Bright Wall/Dark Room. Stay tuned; there's more to come. I'll see you all in 2025.

What I wrote this month:

My biggest deadline this month was turning in the second edition of Becoming Alien. More to come in 2025!

I wrote two reviews for Seeing & Believing this month: one for Luca Guadagnino's Queer (which I liked) and one for Nickel Boys, which is one of my favorite movies of the year. Nickel Boys is in limited release, so if you're in NYC or LA, you should be able to see it now; if you live elsewhere, keep an eye out for its expansion.

A few highlights from this past year:

On Kelly Reichardt's Showing Up for Bright Wall/Dark Room

On the 2001: A Space Odyssey's novelization and the power of the French Room sequence at the end of the movie at Authorized Podcast

On returning to True/False for Bright Wall/Dark Room (I'll be going back for a third round next year!)

On Love Lies Bleeding for Seeing & Believing

On Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days for Eye of the Duck podcast

On Dune: Part Two for the Bright Wall/Dark Room podcast

On Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga for Seeing & Believing

On a line near the end of Furiosa that didn't sit right with me for Reactor

On social media craft videos for Broad Sound

On Alien: Romulus for Seeing & Believing

On the depiction of sin in LOST for Think Christian

On Look Into My Eyes for Seeing & Believing

On James Cameron's Aliens for Fear of God podcast

On Conclave for Seeing & Believing

On Jean-Luc Godard's strange sci-fi neo-noir Alphaville for Bright Wall/Dark Room