Mathilde I wrote this piece well over a decade ago. I had already been a guitar player (and teacher) since my early teenage years — but only began experimenting with fingerstyle composition in my mid-30’s. It’s is actually the first “fingerstyle song” I ever wrote. […]

Resolve This piece is from the HBO Max series, The Last of Us (season 1). The series is directly based on the iconic PlayStation game where —  in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a fungal pandemic, Joel, a hardened smuggler, is tasked with escorting Ellie, […]

Severance Severance is a psychological thriller series on Apple TV+ about employees at Lumon Industries who have undergone a “severance” procedure, surgically dividing their memories between their work and personal lives. This creates two distinct versions of themselves: one for work (the “innie”) and one […]

The Brutalist The Brutalist is a film is about a Hungarian-Jewish architect named László Tóth. Having just survived the horrors of the Holocaust, László seeks refuge and a fresh start in the United States. Being separated from his wife during the war — he carries […]

The Shire Howard Shore’s score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a masterpiece, and among its many highlights, “The Shire” stands out as a beacon of warmth and nostalgia. This gentle, folk-inspired theme captures the idyllic homeland of the hobbits. The opening melody […]

[no spoilers] Goodbye Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is a superb and long overdo remake of the 1922 gothic horror classic. The movie looks incredible, and is very well acted — especially by Lily Rose-Depp. I found the film to be an absolute romp: horrifying, arousing, macabre, […]

Greensleeves: a brief history Believed to be composed in the late 16th/early 17th century, ‘Greensleeves’ never began it’s many incarnations as a Christmas song. It was only until William Chatterton Dix wrote the carol What Child Is This (set to the Greensleeves tune) in 1865 — […]

Closing “Closing” is the title theme of the film, We Live In Time — a poignant romantic drama that explores the complexities of love, loss, and the passage of time. The film stars, Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. The music is from Bryce Dessner, who […]

First Love and the Falling Snow I wrote “First Love and the Falling Snow” for my wife, Jennifer — as we approach our 23rd Wedding Anniversary in just a few days. Foremost in my memory is one of our early dates in 1998. (As a […]

Writing’s On The Wall The theme of 2015’s Spectre is “Writings On The Wall”, by Sam Smith. The song reminds me of the campy, Roger Moore-era James Bond themes. With Sam Smith’s crooning falsetto, it feels more in league with songs like: “Nobody Does it […]

The Hand of Fate Hands down, my favorite M. Night Shyamalan movie is Signs. The humor, the humanity, and the early fall scenery of Pennsylvania (my home state) just get me every time. It’s a movie that I return to every single fall. The soundtrack […]

Sam Mendes’ 2019 war epic, 1917, is a cinematic feat that immerses the audience in the horror of World War I. The film’s haunting and expansive score is from composer, Thomas Newman. The music conveys the emotional weight of the Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay) […]