Read the explanation of method, madness, and spoilers.[1]

The Straight Story (1999) — 8/10

This movie was directed by David Lynch and is considerably different than a lot of the rest of his oeuvre. The story is unique, but not fantastical and mind-bending.

Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) lives in Laurens, Kansas with his daughter Rose (Sissy Spacek). Alvin was in World War 2 and carries a lot of baggage from that. Rose is a bit anxious and suffers from having had her kids taken away from... [More]

Read the explanation of method, madness, and spoilers.[1]

Big Fish (2003) — 8/10

Tim Burton directs this offbeat story (I know, it almost goes without saying) of a couple of generations of a family. Ed Bloom (Ewan McGregor) has a fish story. His son Will (Billy Crudup) tells his story. Ed is married to Sandra (Jessica Lange). Will has just married Josephine (Marion Cotillard). Will tells his father’s story, starting with how he met one-eyed Jenny (Helena Bonham Carter), who has an eyepatch.... [More]

Below are links to articles, highlighted passages[1], and occasional annotations[2] for the week ending on the date in the title, enriching the raw data from Instapaper Likes and Twitter. They are intentionally succinct, else they’d be articles and probably end up in the gigantic backlog of unpublished drafts. YMMV.

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• Public Policy & Politics
• Journalism & Media
• Economy... [More]