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Category: The Arts
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The last few years my Audible listening had been dominated by big book series—J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter and George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones). I didn’t have any such book series this year, but the year was dominated by two things: Our trip to Italy, which spurred an interest…
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Jason Isbell is one of my bellwethers. He sings the things I’m feeling before I can put them in words. Take, for instance, his new single “Hope the High Road.” It’s my new theme song. And not just because I enjoy just about everything the former Drive-By Trucker has done the past four years. No,…
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What I’ve listened to on Audible this year. All the Harry Potter books, by J.K. Rowling. Yup, I started in January and by May I’d gone through seven books and reached Train Platform 9 3/4 with Ron, Harry and Hermione surrounded by little ones headed to Hogwarts (oops, Spoiler Alert—though judging by all the disbelief…
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Putting them down here, so I can’t claim to have been right if I was wrong. Best Actor: Leo DiCaprio. Overdue and deserved. Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan. Looking for an upset over Brie Larson here. Best Picture: The Revenant. I’d like to see Spotlight win, but I think the momentum of Leo and director will pull this overlong, over-somber film…
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Jason Isbell is my favorite singer/songwriter. Has been for about two years now, since the release of his album Southeastern. So I was super-excited to have a chance to speak with him last month for an article about Father’s Day, fathers and sons. Isbell has a song in which he recounts the advice his dad…
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I’ll run through the rest of my Oscar picks in the larger categories. Supporting Actress Patricia Arquette, Boyhood If I think that Boyhood is the best picture of the year, then I think I have to go with its pair of supporting nominees. Patricia Arquette was great. I’d be OK if Keira Knightley won; Emma Stone was…
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I don’t want to spend too much time on this, as the Oscars are a complete Overthinkers trap. So here we go: Best Picture Boyhood I was delighted by Grand Budapest Hotel, but it tickled more than it moved me; the same can’t be said for Richard Linklater’s film—and I don’t think it’s only because I have…
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I finished up the third season of Homeland on Friday—and immediately realized the only person I could talk about it with was my wife. Because we had watched it together, so we were at the same point in the series. And the truth is, nobody these days is ever at the same point in a TV…
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“Scarcity captures the mind.” That’s one of the key statements in a fascinating book I’ve been “reading” recently. (I’m never sure what to call what I’m doing when I listen to a book on Audible: “reading” or “listening” or “consuming”? I could use some guidance.) Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, by Sendhil Mullainathan and…
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I’ve been totally engrossed in Jason Isbell’s new album, Southeastern. This happens to me occasionally. Here are the albums I can think of that had the deepest hold on me at some point in my (now long) life: Eagles, Greatest Hits Vol 1. Back in the ’80s, I had a Sony portable CD player that…
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The Folk Festival in Repose. I was riding along the Schuylkill trail and passed the home of the Philadelphia Folk Festival. This is a photo from the trail, looking beyond one of the stages across the field where hundreds of folks will listen to music later this summer. I liked this image; the grass gave…
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I’ve always liked to take photos and I’ve got a decent camera, a Sony NEX-5N, and an iPhone 4S that is with me most of the time. So this summer I plan to post a photo a day. Here’s #1, taken during a bike ride along the Schuylkill River. This was at a community day…
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