Wagner's Writings

            Filmmaker and writer Alex Garland released his newest film, Civil War, this weekend with A24. Garland has made movies such as Ex Machina, Annihilation, Men, and the Hulu miniseries, Devs. He’s quickly become a favorite indie auteur in the likes of Robert Eggers and Ari Aster, and is one of my personal favorite filmmakers at the moment. Then it was announced he’d be directing and writing Civil War. At first I was excited because, hey, new film by a great artist. Then came a slight hesitation winced over me with the ongoing tension escalation of political division here in America.       So I watched the film Friday, and if you’re one of those people that too think, “Yikes, I’m really not in the mood for a movie about politics,” then you’re in luck because Civil War is not one of those films.      Instead, the film takes an interesting approach and instead focuses on war journalism and follows photographers t...

 Even as a night owl like myself dig an astronomical event now and again. I’ll be honest and say I was just about done hearing about the total eclipse leading up to the event on Monday. Warnings of traffic were in effect, merchandise was being sold left and right, and everyone was buzzing on the subject, but then it actually happened. And it reminded me how simple, yet fascinating natural phenomena in our universe is.      So what’s the big deal that so many people not only rejoiced, but seemingly came together for a faint moment for an event that lasted mere minutes?     First, I can recant what I know - my point of view during Monday afternoon. My band cancelled practice because traffic was expected to be ass, so better to call off than to wait several hours on the highway. So I just passed out as night shift is some of the most exhausting shit. For real, as I currently type this I’m sitting in the grass in my backyard just to get a pube of sunlight becau...