Vikram Murthi

[Shuffles through notecards] What else, what else…

[Sweating after missing the discourse moment, adjusts tie] Has no one considered that Punch might not be properly humble? You’re a stranger and you carry this Linus blanket around! Lay lie, pay your dues, let them come to you…

I’m a guy of a certain age, so the first few notes of “Clint Eastwood” are transportive by design, but seeing Del on stage was a real “Oh! How nice” moment.

The Cinema of Societal Collapse This year’s Oscar-nominated international feature films—especially The Secret Agent and Sirāt—tackle what it means to live and die under tyranny.

On THE SECRET AGENT and SIRĀT, the ways that both films capture the atmosphere of fascism, and how they embrace helplessness without indulging in hopelessness. For @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/cult...

The Cinema of Societal Collapse This year’s Oscar-nominated international feature films—especially The Secret Agent and Sirāt—tackle what it means to live and die under tyranny.

On THE SECRET AGENT and SIRĀT, the ways that both films capture the atmosphere of fascism, and how they embrace helplessness without indulging in hopelessness. For @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/cult...

It’s really good work.

Well, we’re like quarantined in that area for a week…

I think I’ve seen them say that’s a “one for them.”

(Productively upscales without losing original ethos, partially by speed-running a NTBTS ep in the first ten mins. Laughed out loud like four or five times. In awe of some of the specificity, e.g., the shot of Jian Ghomeshi. Embarrassed by how much the ending got to me.)

NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE (Johnson, 2026): “You think this is funny? My whole life is riding on this.”

Thanks buddy

PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER (Tykwer, 2006): You can’t be smelling like that White Baby

Same as it ever was.

Thanks Matt! Hope you’ve been well.

Thanks Dana!

Frederick Wiseman Always Made His Point The late filmmaker captured our essential American institutions—and the people trying to navigate them.

Wrote a brief obituary for Frederick Wiseman, largely about ASPEN and IN JACKSON HEIGHTS, two films whose points of view shine through in editing and focus. Gift link below. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

I definitely did a couple times, so that’s certainly possible! It’s one of the only shows I watched every episode live, taking me from the beginning of high school through the end of college. I deserve some kind of reward for my patience with “the takes” from people watching it for the first time.

“Your mother told me you were quarantined. TB. I guess that was supposed to lessen my concern.”

The “unsubtle” criticism always felt to me like someone not watching past episode three.

What is “honorary Gen X” if not a Millennial who cares?

It’s on YouTube whenever you have the chance. (And thanks!)

Thanks pal!

For the @reverseshot.bsky.social symposium, I wrote about THE TARGET SHOOTS FIRST and the Hi-8 camera, selling out vs. buying in, the shadow of the ’90s on our current moment, and my tenure managing Downtime Magazine. A more personal piece than usual! Check it out! reverseshot.org/symposiums/e...

If you haven’t already seen it, please seek out Tom Noonan’s debut feature WHAT HAPPENED WAS… One of the great American independent films of the ’90s directed by one of the very best American character actors ever.

I’ve had Duvall’s delivery of “big, fat, BIG-TITTED HIT” burned into my brain since I was 14 years old.

Oh we’re in big “I don’t see a lot of money here” times.

I know a little bit about this stuff but not a lot. Something something mixing and micing and atmosphere something something.

There has to be a specific, material reason why records don’t sound like this anymore.