A Rebranding and More
I've rebranded my newsletter and am diving into book reviews alongside other commentary.
A few weeks ago, I made the decision to rebrand this Buttondown from Solzy at the Movies on Buttondown to just Solzy on Buttondown. Let’s face it, this newsletter has not been the same for nearly a year now. What started has a newsletter to offer additional film and TV commentary not on the main SATM site has become something else especially in the days, weeks, and months since October 7.
I meant to send out an update last week but I was dealing with unbearable allergies. I don’t know if it was a result of coming back to the Ohio River Valley for parts of Labor Day weekend or the extremely high pollen count in Chicago. In any event, I’m feeling much better now that I’m not dealing with any sinus issues.
In addition to commentary about Judaism, Israel, and U.S. politics, it’s also become an outlet for writing book reviews that are not about baseball or related to TV/Film. Unfortunately, writing about issues important to me—like calling out antisemitism—always leads to unsubscribers each and every time.
But even before rebranding, I’ve used the Buttondown newsletter to write three book reviews and there will be more time in the weeks and months to follow. My interview with retired sportscaster Tom Hammond ran on SATM because it’s the outlet I’ve used to cover the Olympics—the piece is also a mini-book review, too. In fact, I’m shifting back to books about Judaism and Israel during the next month. While I was going to use Rosh Hashanah to kick things off with A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom by Adam Jortner, I’m starting early with A Path to Peace: A Brief History of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations and a Way Forward in the Middle East by George J. Mitchell and Alon Sachar. I’ve had the book since 2016 so better late than never.
Sooner than later, I will be getting back to reading presidential biographies. I picked up a number of them early on during the pandemic but still haven’t read them yet. I used the time to make progress on reading a number of Hollywood-related biographies about studio moguls, directors, and actors. After focusing on baseball for a few months now, I expect to switch off between reading books about baseball, presidents, Judaism, Israel, and Hollywood. It really depends on my headspace at a given time. Once the time changes, I’ll have more time for reading on Friday nights but nowhere near the amount of time needed to read on Shabbos afternoon.
Many people escape through film and TV but when watching movies is work, I’ve been escaping through books over the past several months. Mainly, books about Baseball Hall of Famers. You can find all of those book reviews at Dugout Dirt. I’m also reviewing baseball movies on the outlet, too—most recently, the new 4K remaster of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.
The election season means an influx of political documentaries, especially of the anti-Trump flavor. I’ve watched a few of them, starting with The Last Republican (the Adam Kinzinger documentary) during TIFF. I followed this up with watching #Untruth: The Psychology of Trumpism, From Russia with Lev, and Stopping the Steal. I don’t know if MSNBC will place the documentary on Peacock but there’s another opportunity to watch From Russia with Lev on Sunday night at 9 PM ET.
Shortly before the Olympics started, I revisited The Beatles Anthology and held my review for Labor Day weekend. In other movie-related news, the next screenings of Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story take place on Wednesday. Bring Kleenex! An October 7 documentary, We Will Dance Again, will start streaming September 24 on Paramount+. A Paul McCartney & Wings documentary, One Hand Clapping, will get a limited theatrical release starting this weekend. Finally, the passing of James Earl Jones led me to rewatch Field of Dreams as well as finally reviewing The Sandlot.