* Eric McDowell *
If Inside Llewyn Davis comes up short of the Coen brothers’ best films in any way, it may be due to a lack of “objects” in a second sense of the word—objectives, desires, points toward which the narrative inevitably strives.
Objects, elegy, and “Inside Llewyn Davis” Read More »
* Eric McDowell *
To pass the Bechdel Test, a film must satisfy a very simple set of criteria: (1) it must have at least two female characters, preferably named, who (2) talk to each other about (3) something other than a man.
What Test? With Thanks to Alison Bechdel Read More »
* Eric McDowell *
Thus the dilemma inherent in the name “free jazz”: “jazz” that’s “free” of what supposedly makes jazz jazz.
Rewriting the Dictionary: On Free Jazz Read More »
* Eric McDowell *
So maybe I too could make something essential of my own incidental struggle to parse the OuLiPo, take that which I could—probably—have hidden (would you have thought I could read French? understand calculus?) and, instead, hide behind it, looking through.
Why I Have Not Written Any of My OuLiPo Blog Posts Read More »
* Eric McDowell *
What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.
What do you call a novel with no E’s? La Disparition.
However Obliquely: Georges Perec’s “La Disparition” Read More »
* Eric McDowell *
Listening to Sonny Clark’s “Cool Struttin’” not long ago, I asked my musician friend how to know if Jackie McClean’s solo (or any saxophone solo) was good or not. He drew a slow breath—deciding how far back toward the basics of theory he’d have to meet me?—and said, “Well, do you like it?” He didn’t elaborate. When I tried to answer his question, I realized I couldn’t. Yes, I’d wanted to like jazz, wanted to be “into it” and to know how to talk about it even. But for some reason I’d passed over that simplest, most obvious and essential approach: I hadn’t been listening, not really. What I mean is, I had put the cart before the horse, wanting to know what I should like without considering what I did like.
Do You Like It?: Headroom and Jazz Drumming Read More »
* Eric McDowell *
What can you do in eight hours? Work a full day’s work or log a solid night’s sleep. Run 60 eight-minute miles—that’s over two marathons—or microwave 240 Hot Pockets. Or watch Sátántangó .
Béla Tarr’s “Sátántangó” Read More »
