Author: Chantal
About Chantal
When Chantal Johnson isn't inventing new feelings, she's researching old ones. She wants to write a coffee table book of puns called Primpin' Ain't Easy (But It's Necessary). She lives and loves in Brooklyn with her cat.
Posts by: Chantal
PSYCHONS-film edition
January 26, 2011Dear Black Swan, why so much acclaim? I liked the blood, the crunching, the binding, The Hershey. But ultimately, even when I pulled out the knives and did my best reading of the film, a reading that almost convinced me … Continue reading
Posted in Hump Day | Tagged black swan, Crooklyn, friendship, Inland Empire, Philadelphia Story, psychons, readings, Su Friedrich, Sweetie, The Children's Hour, The Last Days of Disco, Tisha Campbell, Yeast | Leave a comment
Over-the-Hump Day Grab Bag!
February 25, 2010by Chantal Where do comedians come from? Maybe they come from the fact that Daddy Drank. Oh, and So Did Mommy. “Believe me, just believe me the way you believed me when I sang.” Contemporary hot messes need to Learn … Continue reading
Posted in Feeling Feelings, Why So Brown? | Tagged daddy drank, Feeling Feelings, schizophrenia kernels | Leave a comment
Hump Day Grab Bag
October 14, 2009by Chantal Maybe we could do a Hump Day Grab Bag every week w/ a different one of us writing about things we like. I always imagine myself giving interviews. It’s not only because I love to hear myself talk. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
White Out!
September 25, 2009by Chantal This Saturday is the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, and I’m not sure what to feel. I have a strange relationship with SNL, for reasons I will come to, but I do think that watching it is … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Andy Samberg, Comedy, Eddie Murphy, Feeling Feelings, SNL, subversion | Leave a comment
YEAST
July 29, 2009by Chantal Mary Bronstein’s YEAST is an emotional horror film. People who study film might have access to more precise language. But I like emotional horror. I like this film because it’s about toxicity among women. Three women locked into … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Feeling Feelings, Greta Gerwig, Mary Bronstein, Yeast | Leave a comment
New TV for the Summer Slump
June 17, 2009by Chantal “‘Break On Through to the Other Side.’ That’s better poetry than like, Yeats or whatever.” “I hate Yeats. That’s what I was reading in high school when my teacher molested me.” Party Down is a … Continue reading
Posted in Review | Tagged Comedy, Party Down, Paul Rudd, TV | Leave a comment
Five Reasons You Should Read Poetry (If You Just Don't Get It)
May 20, 2009by Chantal “I just don’t get poetry.” As the TA for an American literature survey last semester, I heard this phrase more than a handful of times. When my students refused to dive into the spiritual riddles of America’s first … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aphorisms, Gwendolyn Brooks, pedantry, poetry | Leave a comment
Stream of Consciousness Film Review #1: The Snake Pit (1948)
April 20, 2009by Chantal “The Snake Pit is a 1948 film which tells the story of a woman who finds herself in an insane asylum and cannot remember how she got there.” Thanks but no thanks Wiki, the film is so much … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged anti-pharmacology movement., coming of rage, daddy issues, Feeling Feelings, highdentity politics, madness filmz, Mary Jane Ward, Sylvia Plath, The Snake Pit, therapy | 5 Comments
Pathological Humor
March 13, 2009by Chantal Maria Bamford is a genius. She shares, with Dave Chappelle, the honor of being one of the Two Greatest Comedians Alive Today. That’s a joke. I like alot of comics, and hate superlatives. But while most people I … Continue reading
Posted in Feeling Feelings | Tagged choose life, Comedy, Dave Chapelle, Maria Bamford, therapy, Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome | Leave a comment
