150 stories from The Critical Condition
Hey everyone! The Critical Condition is closed, but you can keep up with all my writing and filmmaking, plus contact me at markgblankenship.com.
Hey everyone! Perhaps you noticed that I stopped updating The Critical Condition last month. I am delighted to say that my long pause is being followed by a great opportunity. As of today, I…
No joke: The worldview in Warrior, the fighting movie that scored an Oscar nomination for Nick Nolte, makes me shiver. It’s terrifying. And I just wrote about why at NPR’s Monkey…
You guys, Elizaveta’s music is weird. Her album Beatrix Runs, which was physically released yesterday after arriving in digital form a few weeks ago, fuses opera, chamber pop, and elec…
You know how sometimes you feel like you’re in an actual, romantic relationship with a TV show? A few days ago, my friend Casey and I G-chatted about that, and we started thinking abou…
Last night, Pee-wee Herman was the guest judge on Top Chef. And I don’t mean that “Paul Reubens, the actor who plays Pee-wee Herman” was a guest judge. No. I mean that Paul…
As I was making my daily internet rounds this morning, I came across an especially delightful essay in the New York Times by Leslie Kaufman. Titled “My Sons, the Sous-Chefs” it c…
I don’t have a particular reason for writing this post today, except that I’ve been meaning to write it for a while. In late 2010, I had the good fortune to see this embedded per…
The Oscar nominations are being announced tomorrow morning, and unlike most recent years, I’m not really jazzed about the frontrunners. I mean, I liked The Artist well enough, and I di…
Last night, while I was waiting for Top Chef, I decided to watch Devil on HBO On Demand. In case you don’t know this masterpiece, it’s mostly set in the elevator of a Philadelphi…
It’s not just that I’m a Wikipedia junkie. It’s more than that. Although I am a Wikipedia junkie. At 12:07 this morning, I reflexively went to the site to look up some rand…
[#40-31; #30-21; #20-11] [Last year's countdown] Here they are: The best of the best, the most of the most, the… you know. 10. “Countdown” by Beyonce As a nation, I still d…
[#40-31] [Last year's countdown] Welcome back! Let's keep things rolling with some very, very cute boys. Oh, and some good songs, too… 30. "I Won't Let You Go" by James Morrison Ooh, lord!…
Hey everyone! As you may have noticed, all of the content is back on the site. WOOOOO! The only things are missing are the three most recent posts—the last three entries in my music co…
Hi everyone! First of all, I want to thank you all for your incredible emails of support regarding the sudden disappearance of posts from the site. I am flummoxed that they are still appeari…
Hello everyone. For no apparent reason, my site crashed today, deleting every post I’ve written in the last 18 months. All of them. Gone. I will keep you updated about what this means …
[#20-11; #30-21; #40-31] [Last year's countdown] The time has come… the time to get down with our baddest selves, to weep our most beautiful tears. It’s time to unveil the year&#…
[#30-21; #40-31] [Last year's countdown] The countdown continues! Get ready for some devastating ballads and a few happy songs that are so happy you’ll probably freak with all the happ…
[#40-31] [Last Year's Countdown] —- Welcome back! Let’s keep things rolling with some very, very cute boys. Oh, and some good songs, too… 30. “I Won’t Let You G…
Now that I’ve absorbed the music I bought with Christmas gift cards, I am ready to anoint my top 40 songs of 2011. As you know, this countdown is mandated by my DNA, so I am delighted …
My official music round up will come in early January, after I sort through the albums I get for Christmas. For now, though, I have call your attention to a pair of phenomenal new songs and …
Young Adult was a happy upheaval of my presumed taste in movies. Typically, I think of myself as someone who dislikes bone-deep cynicism, who finds it cheap and lazy. Yet the cynicism in You…
Over at Monkey See, I just explained why I’m all in on the Rock of Ages trailer. I truly believe this is going to be an amazing movie. The wigs alone will be worth the price of popcorn…
So… The Artist: It’s a lovely silent movie about silent movies themselves, following George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), a superstar who’s distressed to realize he has no plac…
There was never a chance I was going to enjoy the movie Shame, but I was hoping I’d at least respect it. In case you haven’t heard, Shame is the NC-17 tale of Brandon Sullivan (M…
