Josh Luft

Sweet Things 2025 (1/3): * Pamela Anderson scatting in The Naked Gun * Andor * The Beatles Anthology * Being jailed by the Princesses of Charleston * Michael Bible: Sophia * Bright Wall/Dark Room * John Waddy Bullion: This World Will Never Run Out of Strangers * The Chair Company * Charcuterie, pastéis de nata, sunsets, a UAP, and “Wet Noodle” with the Cliffhangers in Portugal * Common Side Effects * Harry Crews: The Knockout Artist * DARKSIDE: “S.N.C.” * Defector * The eyeball monster in Alien: Earth * Eyes Wide Shut joining the Criterion Collection * Geese: Getting Killed * Guerilla Toss at the Cactus Club * Guild Newark St. Polara Deluxe Guitar in Cherry Red * The Handbasket * The Hard Quartet in Chicago with A & W * MJ Lenderman and (some) 311 at Summerfest on my birthday * Levain Bakery rocky road cookies

Sweet Things 2025 (2/3): * The Lowdown * Lynch on Lynch * Zohran Mamdani elected mayor of NYC * Larry McMurtry: Lonesome Dove * Mike Miley: David Lynch’s American Dreamscape * Pat Murphy’s pocket pancake * Nine Inch Nails: The Fragile * No Kings * One Battle After Another * The Onion’s “Man Who Thought Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ Was Over in for Thrill of His Fucking Life” * The Ordinary in Charleston * LJ Pemberton: Still Alive * People in pajamas sticking up for their neighbors and telling ICE to fuck off * Ashleigh Bryant Phillips: Sleepovers * Pulp and Stereolab returning with awesome new albums * Thomas Pynchon: Vineland b/w Peter Coviello: Vineland Reread * Addison Rae: “Fame is a Gun” * Recliner Notes’ Stephen Malkmus Series * The Rehearsal (especially “Pilot’s Code”) * Renting The Elephant Man and eXistenZ from my local library * Running

Sweet Things 2025 (3/3): * Martin Scorsese saying, “I enjoyed when I was bad. I enjoyed a lot of it.” in Mr. Scorsese * Rhea Seehorn in Pluribus * The Shrouds * Charles Simmons: Wrinkles * Sinners * 28 Years Later * Unwound: Rat Conspiracy * Watching the Brewers beat the Cubs in the NLDS with my brother at Slades * Weapons * Wednesday: Bleeds

2025: Don’t care for it! One of the shittiest years of my lifetime. And yet there was beauty! Here are some of the sweet things that’ve gotten me through this year:

Earlier this year I was reminded that David Lynch spent some time in Wisconsin and I’ve since been obsessed with the potential of the man dining at Culver’s. I need to know if David Lynch ate cheese curds.

Me and the boys watching Peacock’s NBA Monday not for the basketball but the Mounjaro commercial. We are humbled by its perpetuity. We memorize its sacred text. We ask our doctors about it in hushed tones, fearing we are unworthy of its mercy.

My review of The Chair Company season finale’s ending: *cackling* WHAT?! *more cackling* *dances to “The Finer Things”* *cackling and dancing all the night long*

Child’s Play. It introduced my darling son, Chucky, to the world, begetting his now decades-long career in which he’s captured the hearts of millions via the power of motion pictures. So proud of and thankful for my Good Guy.

Lee Ranaldo and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth leaning on one another onstage while performing “The Diamond Sea” on The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special

Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth leaning on one another onstage while performing “The Diamond Sea” on The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special. Thurston Moore plays in the foreground, not leaned on.

Few things cooler than bandmates leaning on one another while rocking out

One of my all-time favorite character introductions

Blue Velvet
Possession
Wings of Desire
The Shining

Neighbors who called the cops on me last month for singing “THERE’S A BOMB IN MY CAR” now calling for “I THINK I’M GONNA DIE IN THIS HOUSE”

Rewatched Cure (1997) in February. First watch was Halloween 2023. Was even more enigmatic and gripping upon rewatch. A truly impressive feat. It’s now one of my all-time favorite films. Ready to be mesmerized by it again and again.

My heart goes out to my father, friends & everyone else who can’t enjoy cilantro because they’ve got The Soaps. Cilantro may not be much on its own, but with the right ingredients it elevates a dish. I wish you could experience those heights. I wish we could vibe together high on that cilantro plane

I just had some pita with a cilantro-jalapeño-lime-tomatillo-poblano-garlic sauce and you can’t tell me shit

Eating a piece of warm bread dipped in a flavorful sauce has got to be a top 10, maybe top 5 thing you can do on this fucking rock, no?

This is such a good one because both are incredibly influential, have all-timer frontmen, bring the darkness and danger, and rock you on a primal level. It’s the Stooges for me because they’ve got sex. They want you here, they came to play, they will do anything.

This series ruled. Thanks for all the insightful pieces on SM!

4:54 pm

I want to pay my respect to the unsung hero of game 3 of the World Series: the Dodgers fan who, in the middle of the 18th inning, rally-capped themself (turned their body inside-out) to appease the baseball gods and get that Freeman walk-off. That’s true fandom

To sleep, perchance to dream of Californication. Ay, there's the rub

The worst phase I or any of my fellow white male millennial friends had was wearing cargo shorts

If the many-worlds interpretation is correct and there are parallel universes, then there’s one with a Sane Clown Posse and, as shitty as ours currently is, I think we can all agree that that universe fucking sucks

The Zone of Interest, Red Rooms, The Worst Person in the World, Aftersun, The Beast

peak mischievousness

A group of six different posters for the film One Battle After Another. The posters are in two rows of three and feature images of six of the film’s characters on white backgrounds. The characters are (clockwise from top-left): Pat Calhoun / Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro), Willa Ferguson / Charlene Calhoun (Chase Infiniti), Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), and Deandra (Regina Hall).

Saw One Battle After Another yesterday (in glorious 70mm at the gorgeous Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee.) Mind still abuzz. The acting. An angry call versus a calm, casual evacuation. Lockjaw’s walk. The humor. Two kids on a radio. The hilly chase. The hope. Can’t wait to see it again.

A photo of Sade in which her expression seems to convey that she is not having it.

All these malignant bigots about. These indignant cowards, these insecure losers. You get to walk this earth with the divine Sade and this is how you choose to be?!

Trent Reznor smiling

tfw all the pigs are all lined up

One of my favorite things about Alien: Earth is that it gets you saying shit like, “If I don’t see that little eyeball monster commandeer a xenomorph I’m gonna be so upset!”

I just wanna take this moment to say thank you to everyone responsible for dips. I’m talking guacamole. I’m talking hummus. I’m talking salsa, spinach artichoke, and tzatziki. Your contributions have enriched my life and have a special place in my heart (my stomach). Bless you, oh noble dipmeisters.

A bottle of Oi Ocha Unsweetened Green Tea featuring an image of Oi Ocha Global Ambassador and Los Angeles Dodger, Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani poses with a bat in his hands, mid-swing. He’s looking directly into the camera with an expression on his face like he wants to bash in your head.

Tim Robinson in the I Think You Should Leave sketch “Coffin Flop” staring and pointing at the viewer with the text “I’LL KILL YOU” at the bottom of the image.

YouTube video by Unwound - Topic All Souls Day

I am becoming the human version of Unwound’s “All Souls Day”