Sean Nelson, Author at Portland Mercury

Summer Is for Skinny People and I Hate It

This Time of Year Is About Frivolity and Fun and Being Alive and I Hate It

Sean NelsonJuly 27, 2018 9:55 amJuly 12, 2022 9:47 pm

In the popular imagination, summer is the season of mindlessness. Summer films mean big, dumb blockbusters that allow, even require, you to suspend your critical faculties and revel in the exploding superheroes. Likewise with summer reading, summer love, summer jams: The emphasis is always on escape and carefreedom, the joys of indulgence and insubstantiality. Songs […]

Music

Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie and Actor Michelle Williams Are Married, Apparently?!

Sean NelsonJuly 26, 2018 2:21 pmJuly 12, 2022 9:47 pm

Williams revealed that she and Elverum were married in the forthcoming issue of Vanity Fair.

Movies & TV

The Glaring Absence of Lakeith Stanfield, and Other 2018 Emmy Nominations Observations

Sean NelsonJuly 12, 2018 4:46 pmJuly 12, 2022 9:47 pm

And the Emmy for Most Egregious Omission from the List of 2018 Emmy nominees goes to… Nominations for the 70th Emmy Awards, recognizing excellence in the field of making engaging streaming content for laptop computers and phones the art of television, were announced this morning. Lots of worthy and talented people and shows were recognized. […]

Politics

Green Day’s “American Idiot” Soaring Up UK Charts in Anticipation of Trump Visit

Sean NelsonJuly 10, 2018 1:24 pmJuly 12, 2022 9:46 pm

This album is nearly 14 years old, the same age as its ideal listenership One good thing about the United Kingdom, aside from its surprisingly strong showing at this year’s World Cup, is that they still care about pop charts there. Every so often, a percentage of the British population bands together to ensure that […]

Theater & Performance

“Are You Talking to Both of Us?” A Long Q&A with Steve Martin and Martin Short

Sean NelsonJuly 6, 2018 1:20 pmJuly 12, 2022 9:46 pm

“What if I told you I think Clifford is one of the greatest films of all time?” Steve Martin and Martin Short bring their duo show, An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life, to the Edgefield this Sunday. It’s riotously expensive and may sound about as appealing as Sunday school to […]

Movies & TV

Tim Burton Prepares Dumbo for the Elephant Graveyard

Sean NelsonJune 13, 2018 2:25 pmJuly 12, 2022 9:46 pm

Dumbo v. Dumbo I’ll allow as how the steady, sharp decline of Tim Burton from visionary weirdo genius to denatured artistic gelding locked away in Disney’s solid gold dungeon isn’t exactly the most pressing issue facing the world of today. However, the news that Burton had agreed to do a live action remake of Dumbo, […]

Politics

Jim Carrey Demonstrates the Value of Art as Politics

Sean NelsonJune 12, 2018 4:00 amJuly 12, 2022 9:46 pm

You don’t need Breughel to parse the Trump administration’s commitment to corruption. You don’t even need Jim Carrey. But Jim Carrey is indisputably who we’ve got.

Food and Drink

Putting the ‘B’ in iHop

Sean NelsonJune 5, 2018 3:52 pmJuly 12, 2022 9:46 pm

To market, to market, to buy a small b. Apparently, according to Twitter, anyway, the International House of Pancakes is changing its name. But TO WHAT? Here’s what we know so far: As of Monday, June 11 (note: it is unclear whether the date of this announcement was chosen because it’s one day before my […]

Politics

In Case You Were Under the Impression That America Had Cornered the Market on Racist Dipshits…

Sean NelsonMay 30, 2018 3:37 pmJuly 12, 2022 9:46 pm

Tommy Robinson in the streets, Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon in the sheets Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images The canard of defending “free speech” (a phrase that has no business existing, but here we are) by speaking exclusively in hate speech has become as American as using depleted uranium in bomb shell casings. But in the same way the […]

Media

Interview Magazine Is Folding

Sean NelsonMay 21, 2018 3:56 pmJuly 12, 2022 9:46 pm

Jodie Foster in 1977, Marky Mark in 1992, Madonna in 1990, Michael Jackson in 1982 Interview Magazine, the publication started by Andy Warhol in 1969, has published its last issue. According to a report in The Guardian today, the magazine has had a tumultuous year, “including staff being locked out as part of rent dispute, […]

Music

Stop Pretending You Don’t Like Paul Simon

Sean NelsonMay 18, 2018 1:46 pmJuly 12, 2022 9:46 pm

ILLUSTRATION BY SOPHIE FRANZ During Paul Simon’s career making records, the music in which he specializes has transmogrified wildly, from teen fad to global hormonal explosion to Serious Art Form to self-serious indulgence to failed revolution to nostalgia delivery device. Having been part of every stage of this evolution, and at the forefront of several […]

Politics

The “Kanye West’s Pro-Trump Stance Is Performance Art” Theory Has Emerged

Sean NelsonMay 4, 2018 11:36 amJuly 12, 2022 9:46 pm

If these stunts are performance art, one hopes the payoff will be more interesting than “can you believe thee Kanye West did that?”

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