As a World Cup nut who has gone to five World Cup games so far, I showed up to the World Cup match in Brisbane for Australia vs. Nigeria expecting a full-throated Aussie crowd. What I got was a timid mass of 49k+ who sat on their hands. The best…

I went into Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny expecting to have a good time. I didn’t know I’d love it so much, and that it would teach me as much as it did.

For the last two years (2020 and 2021), I’ve published my list of favorite films I’ve seen over the year — usually in early January (blame my new novel’s edit for this year’s delay). In 2022, I watched 108 movies, with a real focus on 2022 films (I’ll note eery…

In two days, I return to St. Louis — city of my birth; city of my youth; city of my mother’s death — to debut Literary Death Match. …

Today, Literary Death Match turns 16. To celebrate our Sweet 16, we present 16 pictures guaranteed to make you smile. #1. Zach Anner wins at Orpheum Theatre #2. Alex Borstein speaks the obvious, hilarious truth before Danny Pudi and Ron Funches at Largo at the Coronet

A few years ago, my Australian fiancée and I were in Los Angeles when she suddenly slapped the shit out of my shoulder and shouted, “Flag slap!” I looked at her like stunned while she laughed, pointing at an American flag that waved atop a pole. …

Last year, my Top 10 Movies of 2020 list featured only THREE films from 2019 or later. This year, I feasted on 2021 films, and out of the 128 movies I watched, none released before 2020 made this year’s list. …

Four years ago, I was looking for the perfect gift for my fiancée — something personal, creative, the sort of thing that would plain wow her and “win Christmas.” And over the last four years, I’ve done exactly that by writing her a book using Mimeo, a book-creation software in…

At the end of 2019 I decided to do two things: 1. keep track of every film I saw in 2020. 2. make a point of watching older films. The pandemic + lockdown + the lack of new releases added up to make #2 way, way easier. Of the 122…