Welcome to Pottersville

      I was never a skater - I was much too uncoordinated. My few misadventures on a skateboard were enough to convince me that it wasn’t for me. Some of my friends were pretty good at it, but I was happy enough to watch. I did, however, spend countless hours on the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video games. I still have a weird sense of pride for how good I was at them - I might not have been a stellar student, but I could rack up millions of points through calculated button mashing. These games introduced me not only to skateboarding, but also to bands such as the Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendencies, Rage Against the Machine, and many other bands that became staples in my high school CD collection. So, despite never landing a kickflip, I get nostalgic when I see people skateboarding. That nostalgia has led me to check out a few movies that are about skateboarding. I say they are “about skateboarding”, but what I have found is that they are...

This past weekend I went to Long Island for the first time. Being from New Jersey, this felt a little strange - not only had I never been there, I admit I have never really thought much about my 118 mile neighbour. When asked if there was anything in particular I wanted to see, I only had one point of reference, an old mansion in East Hampton, so that’s how I found myself ogling Grey Gardens last Saturday. Grey Gardens occupies a place in the imagination of everyone who knows its story. During the Great Depression, it was known for its extravagant parties - not quite on the level the neighbouring fictional Gatsby Mansion was supposed to have, but not far off. It was owned by Phelan and Edith Beale (Big Edie, from now on); she, a singer and an aunt to future First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Lee Radziwell; he, a lawyer at her family’s firm. It was the idyllic life of the American upper crust - lots of money, a house in the Hamptons, and a brood of...

PHOTOGRAPH: PAT GREENHOUSE/THE BOSTON GLOBE/GETTY IMAGES          Last Friday was International Workers Day, popularly known as May Day, and as such a number of workers in the United States staged a walkout to protest working conditions during the time of COVID 19. Workers from Amazon, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Instacart, and many other companies picketed poor health and safety conditions, as well as low wages. Labour activity of this scale is rare in the United States; working class solidarity is not what it is in Europe, and the government has conspired with corporations to make unions difficult to form and unpopular among many workers. The corporate owned media did little to cover these demonstrations, choosing instead to show heavily armed reactionaries calling for states to end the lockdown, a move that will needlessly lead to thousands of more people dying. It was in this context that I watched Made in Dagenham (2011). ...