Most decade-specific words in Billboard popular song titles, 1890-2014 | prooffreader.com. (via)

I read John Williams’ book Stoner, and found it strangely mesmerizing. So direct and plain and sturdy and beautiful. A couple lines that liked, that also capture something of its directness. At dinner with friends:

They became a little drunk; they laughed vaguely and sentimentally; they saw each other anew.

While the hero rehabs his house and office, the importance of the spaces we create:

As he repaired his furniture and arranged it in the room, it was himself he was slowly shaping, it was himself that he was putting into a kind of order, it was himself he was making possible.

Other smart people agree that this book is great. It was Dean Peterson’s write-up that gave me the final nudge to buy it. Got on my radar when I heard about it from Austin Kleon, Ben Casnocha, Steve Almond, Tim Kreider, et al.

Tom Gauld is so good. (via)

Out of Time. At the beginning, I thought this might tend towards something like China Moon’s Florida noir. It later changes to a cute cat-and-mouse flick – including an awesome race against a fax machine! Not nearly as good as, let’s say, Out of Sight, but a noble effort.

Night Moves. Movements of all sorts cultivate their own extremists. Part of being on that fringe is wrestling with futility. Even if you accept that you’re not able to do one huge world-changing act… you may not even be at peace with your own puny effort. Reichardt captures pretty standard thriller genre stuff with a spooky calm. The lead-up to and climax at the dam is brilliant. I love the scenes with jabs at how we’ve alienated ourselves. There are glimpses of homes with heavily landscaped backyards that imitate nature itself; leisure activities like golf in the same faux-natural environments; campgrounds where people sit in RVs and watch TV; gear stores that sell a squeaky-clean impression of interest in the outdoors; etc. Been a while since I’ve seen a character use a public library. Eisenberg is a master of sulking. He’s so good.

The Dark Knight. Re-watched to re-evaluate. Individual performances are great but as a whole it’s just… ¯(ツ)/¯

Jack Reacher. I liked it the first time, but I appreciate it so much more now. More subtlety than I remembered, like starting with a solid 8-10 minutes without dialogue. More great humor than I remembered, like Reacher sometimes acknowledging that he’s a bit ridiculous. And the mouthing off before the fight outside the bar. Love the dynamism in the car chase, great filming there. Also LOVE how he takes control of the hostage negotiation on the phone. There’s nothing else like it. This, then Oblivion then Edge of Tomorrow is a solid three-year run.