2018: A Writer’s Reflection

One of my goals, for most of my career as a professional writer, has been to get a place where if I have an idea for something to write, no matter the subject matter, I can always get it published somewhere, and get paid for it.

Here are the end of 2018, after a few twists and turns, I’m just about there.

I’m writing film reviews for Splice Today, Broad Street Review, and Philadelphia Weekly, in addition to essays on film and other subjects for those sites, Living Life Fearless, and Philly Voice, on top of the Film Scribes podcast and all of the other stuff I do with the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle.

I’ve been covering culture stuff with a local angle for Philly Voice, Philadelphia magazine and BSR, and writing other cultural stuff, with a Jewish angle, for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, which puts my stuff in Jewish newspapers throughout the U.S. and Israel. For the first part of the year, until the site closed, I was the Pennsylvania correspondent for the political site 50 States of Blue.

Of late I’ve been contributing news pieces for Inquisitr, on a wide variety of topics, and I spent a good part of the year on staff with AppleInsider, and I still contribute there, both the Apple crime blotter column and other features. I also wrote sports-related pieces for both NBC Sports Philadelphia and Philly Front Office, and my work appeared this year at Backstage Magazine, JMore Baltimore, Bullz-eye, Shareblue, and the Brandeis University alumni magazine.

If you know anything about media, you know that the environment is more difficult than ever, including on one topic (film) that’s my big specialty. So I owe a big thank you to my editors, and to everyone who’s gone out of their way to read my stuff this year. Your support is very much appreciated.

What’s to come in 2019? I hope to continue what I’ve been doing, add more of it, and maybe finally get going on one of my various book ideas.

I normally share my “Big List,” of all of the movies I saw this year, on December 31, but in lieu of that this year I share my Letterboxd list of all of the 2018 movies I saw in 2018. There were 324, a new personal record. My top and bottom ten list article are here at Splice Today, and you can read all of my movie reviews at my Rotten Tomatoes page.

And finally, here are my 20 favorite things I wrote this year:

1. #1 on the list, there’s zero doubt: After the Eagles won the Super Bowl, I talked to Joseph Wylen, my then-93-year-old grandfather-in-law, about his lifelong Eagles love for PhillyVoice; he passed away less than three months late.

2. Just last week, JTA published my piece filling in the backstory of that Frank Sinatra-owned yarmulke that was auctioned off by Sotheby’s in early December- it dates back to a Jewish day school fundraiser in Margate in 1981.

3. I wrote an investigative piece, for AppleInsider, about Paul Manafort and his iCloud account.

4. For Broad Street Review, in October, I looked at whether or not Philadelphia is still a movie town.

5. I wrote for Living Life Fearless about why Twin Peaks fandom is the best fandom.

6. For Splice Today, I looked at why Trump isn’t really inspired by the Mafia, but rather the fictitious versions of the mafia.

7. Also for JTA- I visited a pickle festival, and looked into whether pickles should still be considered a Jewish food.

8. My favorite of many pieces I enjoyed doing for 50 States of Blue- looking back at the time, in 2001, when new Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow wrote that adulterers have no place in public life.

9. Another 50 States one, looking at the political aspects of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl victory:

10. I interviewed the Chapo Trap House crew for Philly Voice.

11. Also at Philly Voice: Looking back at Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Philadelphia, following his death

12. My favorite negative movie review of the year was of Gotti, for Broad Street Review.

13. I wrote for Philadelphia magazine about the unfortunate Philly election subplot on This is Us.

14. I wrote for the Brandeis alumni magazine about the 50th anniversary of the Transitional Year Program, and got to talk to my old professor Jerry Cohen.

15. For Philadelphia Weekly, I wrote about the Gosnell movie, which was the only review I wrote this year that resulted in the film’s director yelling at me on Twitter.

16. For PhillyVoice, I covered John Waters’ speech at Penn.

17. For Inquisitr, I looked at that Jerry Falwell pool boy story that we all wish was true but probably wasn’t:

18. For LLF, looking at the complexities of the Dan Schneider story.

19. For Philly Front Office, I covered a Baseball Prospectus event at the Phillies’ stadium.

20. And for AppleInsider, I looked at the Apple implications of John Carreyrou’s great Theranos book.

Happy new year everyone, and thanks for reading!

A Podcast is Born

I’ve been talking about doing a movie podcast for what seems like years, probably because it has been years. We were actually on the verge of launching one, with equipment purchased and everything, when TechnologyTell closed back in the summer of 2015.

My friend Rich Heimlich and I had been talking about launching both a Philadelphia film critics group and a podcast for years, and now, happily, we’ve launched both. You can check out the first three episodes of the Film Scribes podcast- the first two of which I’m in, right here, and you can also subscribe on iTunes, and even leave us a nice review if you so choose. We record every Sunday at The Olde Bar, in the old Bookbinders on Walnut Street in Old City, and it’s usually online on Tuesdays.

On the first episode we previewed the recently completed Philadelphia Film Festival, and on the third my colleagues recapped it, and I’m happy to have spread my coverage of the fest over three different outlets

• I reviewed I, Tonya and The Florida Project at Broad Street Review.
• I reviewed three of the festival’s best films, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Lady Bird, and Alaska is a Drag, at Splice Today.
• And I wrote about the award given to Bruce Willis by M. Night Shyamalan, at Philly Voice.
• On the day of the Willis event, I was happy to present a discussion of the movie Denial at Temple Sinai in Dresher, PA, as part of Hot Dog and a Movie Night (We thought about calling it “Hot Dogs and Holocaust Denial,” but…) Anyway, if you’re at a synagogue or another institution and would like to host me for such an event, get in touch with me.
• As always, you can read all of my movie reviews at my Rotten Tomatoes page.
• In addition to that, I recently took on a new part-time role as Northeast Regional Casting Reporter for Backstage.com. If you have any movie, TV or theater casting notices in Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, Cleveland or Cincinnati, let me know.
• I’ve got another new gig coming up that I can’t talk about yet, but soon. I also had one book project I was working on, stalled out with it, and started working on another one. More on that later.

A few other recent writings of mine:

• I was interviewed by my friend Pete Croatto for The Writer magazine about my process for finding gigs. I talked to Pete for this a LONG time ago, but good to see it finally surface.
• At the website known as Living Life Fearless, I have written three essays: A defense of traditional movie-going, an argument for movies to cast Kyle MacLachlan, and an essay about The Meyerowitz Stories and the career of Noah Baumbach.
• I wrote an essay at Splice Today about the fraught topic of Harvey Weinstein and jokes. 
• I wrote another essay for Screen Rant about why there’s a good chance Blazing Saddles could be made today. You can read my other Screen Rant stuff here.
• At Philly Voice, I looked at Philadelphia’s ever-more-crowded roster of comic-con events.
• I wrote for the newly-renamed NBC Sports Philadelphia about Markelle Fultz, and while it’s wrong to demand that athletes “play hurt”

And finally, speaking of which: I’m thinking about launching a Patreon-supported website, in which I would write, five days a week, columns about Philadelphia sports. Would you be interested in reading about this? Donating to it? If so, let me know.

 

A Pirate Looks at 39

Today is my 39^th birthday. Not quite as big a deal as 40, I realize, but at least I know that, at least by current presidential standards, I can be this age and still be considered “a good boy” and “a kid.”

On this special day, I know I have much to be thankful for, starting with my family. They inspire me and wow me, every single day. I am also very thankful that I get to do what I do for a living.

I departed FRG back in May and have been a relatively busy freelance writer throughout the summer. I am looking to add even more freelance work in the short-term, while also hopefully returning to a staff position at some point in the fall. If you’re interested in hiring me for either, or anything in between, contact me at stephensilverwriter at gmail.com.

I’ve long had two goals for my “age 40 season,” so to speak: Run a marathon, and write a book. On the former, I’ve been running again and will be doing the Philly 10K at the end of the August. As for the former, I have three really good ideas, and hope to have some work done on at least one of them by the end of the year.

In the meantime, since I’ve gotten away from the weekly updates lately, some things I’ve been working on:

• First of all, I am proudly the cofounder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle (PFCC.) I had long wondered why Philly is the only major city without an organized critics group, so my friend Rich Heimlich and I have launched it, here. We’ll be doing year-end awards, and eventually a podcast, live events and various other stuff. Follow us on Twitter. 
• This fall I’m going to be hosting a couple of movie nights at local synagogues, where I show a Jewish-oriented film and launch a discussion on it. I’ll provide more information as they get closer, but in the meantime, contact me if you’re interested in having me host one.
• I was published for the first time recently on RogerEbert.com, a huge honor. The piece was on the 25^th anniversary of “A League of Their Own”; thanks to Matt Zoller Seitz and Brian Tallerico for the editing help.
• I wrote for Broad Street Review a few months ago on the lack of movie screens in Philadelphia; you can read that piece here.
• I’m continuing to write frequently for the Culture section of Philly Voice. In recent months I’ve interviewed wrestling’s Brother Love, Bruce Prichard, as well as the actor in the Dirty Dancing travelling stage show who proposed to his co-star on stage.
• I’m still reviewing movies every week at Splice Today and sometimes elsewhere: You can read all my reviews here, and at my Rotten Tomatoes page.
• I’m still writing for Screenrant nearly daily too. A couple of recent essays: On the future of The Muppets, and on the Wonder Woman Wars.
• If you want to see all my writings, check out my Muckrack page, or my Twitter feed.

Thanks for your support everyone!

My Thoughts on Prince

 

I already wrote an obituary for Prince at Screen Rant; you can read that here. Below, just a few disconnected thoughts on the death of the Purple One:

Ever since Prince passed away on Thursday, I’ve discovered that a lot of my Minneapolis friends have Prince stories. They once ran into him somewhere, he randomly popped onstage at a club they were at, or maybe they saw him at an early club gig before Prince was Prince.

I really don’t, though. I never saw him in person or in concert or came in any way close to meeting him. My father represented someone with a legal case that tangentially involved him, the details of which I don’t remember, but he never met him either. Hell, I’ve never even been inside First Avenue.

But I’ve always loved Prince’s music, going back as far as I can remember. He was a staple of the radio, and MTV, both of which I followed obsessively as a kid. And of course, there was always the Minnesota pride angle of it. I’ve written before that in the early ‘80s the Replacements/Husker Du music revolution was going on a few miles from my house, but I was too young to know about it and didn’t even discover the music until I was in my 20s and living in New York. But Prince was different. I appreciated his music, and his larger-than-life persona, even from a very young age.

Which isn’t to say that I totally got it. Even as I saw Prince perform in assless chaps on the Video Music Awards, and listened to the album (“Lovesexy”) where he was naked on the cover, the pure sexuality of his music was certainly not something I grasped when I was that young. Neither was the pure complexity of the songs and genre combinations.

The songs are all great. The public persona, like no one else in history. “Purple Rain” is one of the best music movies of all time- and a clear influence on so many others since- and goes in the Minnesota Movie Holy Trinity along with the Coens’ “Fargo” and “A Serious Man” (Whatever #4 is, it’s a steep drop. “Grumpy Old Men”? “Jingle All the Way”? “Drop Dead Gorgeous”?)

For some reason I always really loved the “Diamonds and Pearls” album, especially the title track. And I’ve always dreamed of writing a book about a financial scandal at a synagogue, called “Thieves in the Temple.” And yes, that Chris Rock joke about how “the only black people in Minnesota are Prince and Kirby Puckett” is funny but highly inaccurate, even now that Prince and Kirby are both gone.

Then there was at the strange fall of 2009. For years I had always joked that Prince should buy the Minnesota Vikings. He was a Minneapolis native, with plenty of money, who favored wearing purple, the NFL wanted more minorities in the ownership ranks and he couldn’t possibly be worse than the Headrick Ten, Red McCombs or the Wilfs. That never happened, but that year, when the Vikings had a contending team with Brett Favre at quarterback, Prince- long a fixture at Timberwolves games but never Vikings ones- started appearing at every game, always on TV. He even wrote the team a new fight song.

Sure, the song (“Purple and Gold”) was terrible, the team never used it again, the Vikings lost yet another NFC Championship Game, and Prince was never seen at a Vikings game after that. But it was one of the team’s most exciting runs ever, made more special for me as my first son Noah was born in the middle of it.

I’ve watched and read the tributes, and listened to the songs on every radio station, just like when Michael Jackson died seven years ago. So I’m especially happy to be heading back to Minnesota on Saturday for Passover- say, is that block party outside First Avenue still going on?

The Brandeis/Hirsi Ali Controversy: Ten Thoughts From an Alum

Brandeis, my alma mater, made news this week when it first awarded, and then rescinded, an honorary degree for the Somali-born author and political activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  Here are a few scattered thoughts on this:

1. Honorary degrees are a sham. They’re completely meaningless. They’re a way for universities to aggrandize themselves and give attention and unearned accolades to a bunch of celebrities that would better be granted to the accomplishment of the graduates themselves. It always particularly upset me that an honorary degree is called “Brandeis University’s highest honor.” Why isn’t Brandeis’ highest honor an actual degree from Brandeis, accomplished through four years of study, rather than a fake certificate, presented by a committee?

2.  The school should have done their homework, and known this would cause a problem which, once again, is taking the focus away from the people who are actually graduating. They put themselves in a position that they’re going to piss off a whole lot of people whether they give the degree, or don’t give it. Just a bungling all around.

3.  Then again, I don’t see how giving or not giving Hirsi Ali the degree is a horrible outrage because, once again, honorary degrees mean nothing.

4. Commencement speaker/honorary degree controversies were a yearly tradition when I was at Brandeis. Usually the problem was that the speaker the school chose wasn’t famous enough. “We pay $30,000 a year!,” I heard students say many times. “Why can’t we have a speaker as cool as the one my friends at Harvard got?” And yes, I know Brandeis now costs a whole lot more than $30,000; that talking point hasn’t been adjusted for inflation.

5.  I read Hirsi Ali’s book years ago, and my opinion of her is mixed. She went through a horrible ordeal in her youth- and her advocacy for women, and against female genital mutilation is greatly admirable.

6. But at the same time, she’s said a whole lot of awful things, including that the West is (or should be) at war with Islam. Take some of the things she’s said, change “Muslim” to “Jew,” and see how that sounds. It probably wouldn’t lead to very many honorary degrees, especially not from Brandeis. She’s also spent a great deal of time telling some of worst elements in American political life everything they want to hear, including this nonsense about “creeping sharia.” Loathsome, warmongering vermin like Bill Kristol, Pamela Geller and John Bolton are huge, huge fans.

7.  In her statement after the decision, Hirsi Ali said that Brandeis was “planning for me to speak to its students at Commencement” and that Brandeis and her critics “simply wanted me to be silenced.” Wrong and wrong. She was never scheduled to be the commencement speaker, and pulling an honorary degree from someone- especially when coupled with an invitation to speak at a later date- is in no way “silencing” them. Once again- criticism and rebuking are not censorship, and they’re not silencing either.

8. The actual commencement speaker is Geoffrey Canada, the school reform activist and charter school founder. What, no lefty backlash against a guy who’s done his share of battle against teacher’s unions? 

9. Brandeis has had a lot of incidents lately in which two of its biggest traditions- left-wing politics and Zionism- have clashed, and this is another. I’ve got a feeling there’s going to be a lot more of that in the future, and it saddens me.

10. Why can’t Brandeis ever make the news for anything positive? Just in the last few years we’ve had the post-Madoff scandal near-selloff of the art collection, the al-Quds controversy, Jehuda Reinharz’s donkey debacle, and now this.

Ann Coulter vs. Me

Big career highlight for me tonight: I’ve had my words twisted in a column by the original conservative Internet troll, Ann Coulter!

Writing in her syndicated column in response to various media reports that that whole Knockout Game thing may have been a tad overblown, the fading diva of the right has this to say about my Phillymag piece on the subject- you know,  the one from three weeks ago:

Similarly, in Philadelphia magazine, Stephen Silver said of two recent knockout attacks in Philadelphia that he wasn’t counting either one as “confirmed cases of the Knockout Game” on the grounds that the puncher said he “was not participating in the Game.”

Let’s go back  to the real column:

Philadelphia police sources told the Daily News in an article published Monday that there has been one — that’s right, one — confirmed case of the Knockout Game in the city among recent assaults, a Fox Chase man. (The suspect in the high-profile Broad Street Puncher case, according to a SEPTA spokeswoman quoted by this website last week, was not participating in the “Game.”)

The first part of the quote is attributed, by me, to Philadelphia police sources, speaking to the Daily News. The second part is attributed to a SEPTA spokeswoman. I didn’t count them as cases of the Knockout Game because the police didn’t either.

If Coulter doesn’t think the police are doing a good enough job of making sure everyone is scared of young black men, her argument should be with them, and not with the “liberal media” or the author (me) who quoted them.

I mean, it’s almost as if the woman who accused 9/11 widows of enjoying their husband’s deaths isn’t interested in fealty to the facts .

Some Recent Writings

I’ve been behind on blogging due to the holidays and general busy-ness, but here are some recent bylines of mine:

My last two Philly Post columns are both about the Eagles: Why the Eagles should sign Chris Kluwe (they didn’t) and why the fight over Donovan McNabb will never end (it should.)

A lot more on EntertainmentTell: a look at the mother on How I Met Your Mother, an update to the “Skyler is a Bitch” issue, some words about the finale of The Office, and something about that awful new “Princesses” show on Bravo. I also reviewed “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Fast & Furious 6,” “The Hangover Part III” and “Hava Nagila: The Movie.”

I’m also proud to share my first piece for the Good Men Project, about why Roy Halalday didn’t need to apologize for pitching hurt.

Also, I’ll be appearing again on 1520 AM, WCHE, Wednesday at about 1:40 p.m., talking movies with my EntertainmentTell colleague Shawn Kotzen. The stream should work on that website.

And finally, here’s a video of my son Noah playing sports:

Great Moments in Suburban Multitasking

Last night marked my first, ultimately successful attempt at a two-hour, elliptical machine/Game of Thrones/Mad Men/iPad/Verizon FiOS Live TV streaming app parlay. I even got two loads of laundry done at the same time. Nothing like finishing a long workout to the strains of “Just a Gigolo…”

This Will Probably Never Happen to Me Again

I’ll miss you, Reader.

Noah and Jonah in January

The first new blog post from my sons is now online, celebrating the new year, the arrival of their new cousin Jacob, Noah’s third birthday and a lot more.

I’m planning to do another big video with the boys in the next couple of weeks.