Podcasts, the King of Kings, and Pets
Can you believe the semester is almost over? This was my first back in the classroom since Spring 2023. (After which I lost my longtime job as an associate professor of English and humanities at a small liberal arts college that staggered toward closure. Yeah, 2023 was not my favorite year.)
It still feels far too cold here in New York for the spring semester to have earned its moniker, but the calendar doesn’t lie: three more class sessions and a pile of grading and I’ll have put in my first semester teaching graduate creative nonfiction. It has been delightful. I hope I get to do more really soon, and not just for the needed income. (I will, at minimum, be teaching this next spring, and I’m really excited!)
I know part of the reason this semester flew by was that I was on book tour! But from all of my many years of teaching I know that once you start counting time in weeks rather than days, it seems to disappear in big gulps.
Just a few weeks left.
Where I Popped Up
Sonny Bunch had me on the “Bulwark Goes to Hollywood” podcast to talk about my book, and especially what I write about intersection between the movies and politics, an area we’re both especially interested in. It was a really great conversation.
Also spoke with the California Sun podcast a few weeks ago about entertainment taking over politics through Didion’s eyes, and it came out this week.
What I Wrote
A review of “The King of Kings,” the latest Easter-adjacent Jesus movie offering and my general frustration with the Christian movie industry’s fixation on reboots and remakes.
A review of “The Amateur,” starring Rami Malek, a regrettable nothingburger of a film (technical term).
From last week, a review of Michael Shannon’s feature directorial debut “Eric LaRue,” which I thought was going to mostly be about the mother of a school shooter (and it is) but is actually about people trying to use religious jargon for purposes of spiritual bypass? That was a twist!
Documentary column from last week on “Thank You Very Much,” a pretty good documentary about the comedian Andy Kaufman that I’ve thought about a bit since I saw it.
Documentary column from this week on “Pets,” which is basically 80 minutes of people talking about their pets — mostly children — and works as a documentary for children. It’s not really art but it’s fine!