Monthly Archives: March 2026
Mucha Do About Something
Yes, that subject line is bad but you should have seen the other options
This post is part of my ongoing project to migrate my old Art Is My Middle Name newsletter archives to my own website. Learn more about all that.
Originally published May 13, 2020
Hey, There,
Let’s talk about Alphonse Mucha! Or, really, let’s talk a little about Alphonse Mucha and use that as an excuse to wallow in some of his fantastic art.
“Who’s Alphonse Mucha?” you might be asking. He was a ginormously influential illustrator around the turn of the 20th century, and even if you don’t recognize his name, I can just about guarantee that you’ve seen some of his work:
The Kraken Busters 66
The Kraken Busters 65
The Principality of Minneapolis
Would that our city were as funky as the street at promised
This post is part of my ongoing project to migrate my old Art Is My Middle Name newsletter archives to my own website. Learn more about all that.
Originally published May 7, 2020
Hey, There,
So, Prince absolutely *dominates* Minneapolis street art.
Mural on back of building at 26th and Hennepin, Minneapolis
Which makes a lot of sense. Because let me make a controversial statement: Minneapolis* loves Prince.
Continue reading The Principality of MinneapolisA Painting You Certainly Know
And almost certainly love.
This post is part of my ongoing project to migrate my old Art Is My Middle Name newsletter archives to my own website. Learn more about all that.
Originally published March 15, 2020
Hey, There,
Let me open up by saying that the backend process for this one didn’t go the way I thought it was going to. I expected to have to do a bunch of research, only to find that it’s actually a pretty well-known body of knowledge, leaving me just to tell you the story. Which: relieving, but also kind of disappointing, because ever since the tail end of grad school, I’ve kind of wanted to be the guy who cracked the hidden story of Dogs Playing Poker.
A LIFE IN FILM #23- FARGO
A Life in Film is a project where I’m writing about a movie from every year I’ve been alive.
1996: Oh Geeze
FARGO (dir. Joel Coen, officially; but come on, Ethan was there)
OK, here we go. This is it, this is the big one (clutches chest like Fred Sanford). There’s some wiggle to this, but on most days if you asked me what my favorite movie was, my honest answer would be Fargo. It’s the movie I use to gauge the beginning of my mental adulthood; it’s a loving but pointed document of a place I love; but most of all, it’s a stupendous work of art on its own merits.
I didn’t always think so. I saw Fargo in its initial run, and massively didn’t get it. Profoundly didn’t get it. A couple of years later, I saw it again and GOT it, and all I can conclude is that somewhere in that space, my adult critical faculties finally came fully online. It’s handy to have a solid calibration on that.
