Grant
@nothingunfinished.bsky.social
@tonemadison.bsky.social writer / editor / misc, film programmer, gamer, vegan. in limbo, on the spectrum.
Grasshopper Film folks, if you're reading: I would *absolutely* buy a FRIENDS AND STRANGERS tee
watch.grasshopperfilm.com/films/friend...
additional thanks to Lewis for inspiring part of this multifaceted essay
watch.grasshopperfilm.com/films/friend...
additional thanks to Lewis for inspiring part of this multifaceted essay
"...I'm a film writer without any film tees. Who am I, and what am I doing with my life?" 🙃
In this week's Microtones, @nothingunfinished.bsky.social looks to @4starvideo.bsky.social's Lewis Peterson and local shop Cosmic Cabin for some help with buying and curating movie-related attire.
In this week's Microtones, @nothingunfinished.bsky.social looks to @4starvideo.bsky.social's Lewis Peterson and local shop Cosmic Cabin for some help with buying and curating movie-related attire.
Movie tee envy
Pondering a shirt collection, and stumbling upon Cosmic Cabin, which has the goods—at least niche ones for cinephiles.
tonemadison.com
December 8, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Grasshopper Film folks, if you're reading: I would *absolutely* buy a FRIENDS AND STRANGERS tee
watch.grasshopperfilm.com/films/friend...
additional thanks to Lewis for inspiring part of this multifaceted essay
watch.grasshopperfilm.com/films/friend...
additional thanks to Lewis for inspiring part of this multifaceted essay
Luke Leavitt was kind to mail me a cassette copy of his new ambient-jazz release earlier this week. please consider picking it up this #bandcampfriday!
lukeleavitt.bandcamp.com/album/concer...
lukeleavitt.bandcamp.com/album/concer...
December 5, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Luke Leavitt was kind to mail me a cassette copy of his new ambient-jazz release earlier this week. please consider picking it up this #bandcampfriday!
lukeleavitt.bandcamp.com/album/concer...
lukeleavitt.bandcamp.com/album/concer...
Reposted by Grant
Put together another compilation of local, largely unreleased music. All proceeds will go towards supporting Tone Madison's independent journalism.
All purchases this month will multiply in value, and all purchases made today will help us net a bit more, thanks to Bandcamp Friday.
Buy if ya can!
All purchases this month will multiply in value, and all purchases made today will help us net a bit more, thanks to Bandcamp Friday.
Buy if ya can!
Today, we're releasing "Resolution," a new Bandcamp compilation that will help fund Tone Madison's future.
"Each track acts as a demonstration of the perseverance inherent to Madison musicians," writes Music Editor @stevenmps.bsky.social.
Read more here: tonemadison.bandcamp.com/album/resolu...
"Each track acts as a demonstration of the perseverance inherent to Madison musicians," writes Music Editor @stevenmps.bsky.social.
Read more here: tonemadison.bandcamp.com/album/resolu...
Resolution, by Tone Madison
30 track album
tonemadison.bandcamp.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Put together another compilation of local, largely unreleased music. All proceeds will go towards supporting Tone Madison's independent journalism.
All purchases this month will multiply in value, and all purchases made today will help us net a bit more, thanks to Bandcamp Friday.
Buy if ya can!
All purchases this month will multiply in value, and all purchases made today will help us net a bit more, thanks to Bandcamp Friday.
Buy if ya can!
nothing if not depressed lately. but I will say that I have cherished every listen to this sonically restorative record by Takuro Okada 🌅
岡田拓郎(Takuro Okada) - Morning Sun [Full Album]
YouTube video by edible
www.youtube.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:08 AM
nothing if not depressed lately. but I will say that I have cherished every listen to this sonically restorative record by Takuro Okada 🌅
the guys (Matt Blair, Brian Courage, Devin Drobka, Will Greene) killing it at Audio for the Arts last night
November 22, 2025 at 3:34 PM
the guys (Matt Blair, Brian Courage, Devin Drobka, Will Greene) killing it at Audio for the Arts last night
Reposted by Grant
"The sequential rhythms of INERTIA FOLLIES are intermittently anxious and contemplative but persistently thrilling. Credit that to director Chelsea Gaspard's guiding belief in the show's improvised components as 'living and breathing and shifting,'" writes @nothingunfinished.bsky.social. 🎭
The semi-improvised parameters of "Inertia Follies" engender its subtly and radically transformative scenes
The avant-garde performance-art showcase, which involves six local artists, runs for a final weekend—November 20 through 23—at Broom Street Theater.
tonemadison.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:20 PM
"The sequential rhythms of INERTIA FOLLIES are intermittently anxious and contemplative but persistently thrilling. Credit that to director Chelsea Gaspard's guiding belief in the show's improvised components as 'living and breathing and shifting,'" writes @nothingunfinished.bsky.social. 🎭
the best article you'll read this year on the state of gaming and game development in Wisconsin
"Even as MDEV expands, making the industry accessible to newer indie developers remains a key focus of the conference."
@manateemailbox.bsky.social reports from the @wigamesalliance.bsky.social MDEV conference (Nov 7-8), and talks with game developers and industry representatives alike. 🎮
@manateemailbox.bsky.social reports from the @wigamesalliance.bsky.social MDEV conference (Nov 7-8), and talks with game developers and industry representatives alike. 🎮
Amid industry tumult, the 2025 MDEV conference captured Madison as an impending game-development hotspot
On the ground with indie developers and industry representatives at the annual, bustling, two-day showcase of video games.
tonemadison.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:28 PM
the best article you'll read this year on the state of gaming and game development in Wisconsin
this record randomly showed up in my suggested Bandcamp feed last week (under "neo-psychedelia"), and I've had it on repeat ever since. Trance To The Sun's breakthrough in every sense. intoxicating, enveloping, majestically murky production. and this song... just exemplary ethereal wave
The Nun V V, by Trance To The Sun
from the album Venomous Eve (2021 Remaster)
trancetothesun.bandcamp.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:20 PM
this record randomly showed up in my suggested Bandcamp feed last week (under "neo-psychedelia"), and I've had it on repeat ever since. Trance To The Sun's breakthrough in every sense. intoxicating, enveloping, majestically murky production. and this song... just exemplary ethereal wave
Reposted by Grant
The Black Film Festival returns this year—November 12 thru 15—with screenings and discussions at Fountain of Life Covenant Church and @madisonlibrary.bsky.social locations throughout the city.
Film section editor @nothingunfinished.bsky.social takes a closer look at the scope of the programming.
Film section editor @nothingunfinished.bsky.social takes a closer look at the scope of the programming.
In its third year, the Black Film Festival commits to deeper regional representation
The Nehemiah Center and Justified Anger partner with Madison Public Library to honor Black lives and culture November 12 through 15.
tonemadison.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
The Black Film Festival returns this year—November 12 thru 15—with screenings and discussions at Fountain of Life Covenant Church and @madisonlibrary.bsky.social locations throughout the city.
Film section editor @nothingunfinished.bsky.social takes a closer look at the scope of the programming.
Film section editor @nothingunfinished.bsky.social takes a closer look at the scope of the programming.
Reposted by Grant
So thankful I got to talk to @fayeparks.bsky.social at @wortnews.bsky.social about what makes @tonemadison.bsky.social special. If you want to support local, journalist-owned news, go to tonemadison.com/donate/
November 11, 2025 at 1:38 AM
So thankful I got to talk to @fayeparks.bsky.social at @wortnews.bsky.social about what makes @tonemadison.bsky.social special. If you want to support local, journalist-owned news, go to tonemadison.com/donate/
from the desk of a physical media advocate: take advantage of @4starvideo.bsky.social's 40th anniversary celebration, which continues for two more days this week. over the weekend, I finally signed up for a rental subscription plan (at 40% off!) and took home a few titles I'd been eyeing for a while
November 10, 2025 at 2:22 PM
from the desk of a physical media advocate: take advantage of @4starvideo.bsky.social's 40th anniversary celebration, which continues for two more days this week. over the weekend, I finally signed up for a rental subscription plan (at 40% off!) and took home a few titles I'd been eyeing for a while
LEFT-HANDED GIRL isn't without its kinetic charms, but the Sean Baker narrative formula is wearing incredibly thin. and the score sounds like an utter afterthought, like patched-together muzak. not recommended
November 7, 2025 at 12:59 PM
LEFT-HANDED GIRL isn't without its kinetic charms, but the Sean Baker narrative formula is wearing incredibly thin. and the score sounds like an utter afterthought, like patched-together muzak. not recommended
hope this piece at least spurs on a couple aspiring experimental filmmakers and video artists in the Madison area to submit a short for the January 21 showcase. as per usual, I'll be there :)
artlitlab.org/events/proje...
artlitlab.org/events/proje...
In today's Microtones, film section editor @nothingunfinished.bsky.social defines what Project Projection—the soon-to-be quarterly local film and video art showcase at @artlitlab.bsky.social—has meant to the culture of Madison since programmer James Kreul began hosting.
Local open-mic cinema
Project Projection at Arts + Literature Laboratory is assembling all facets of Madison's DIY and more professional film culture alike.
tonemadison.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:20 PM
hope this piece at least spurs on a couple aspiring experimental filmmakers and video artists in the Madison area to submit a short for the January 21 showcase. as per usual, I'll be there :)
artlitlab.org/events/proje...
artlitlab.org/events/proje...
if you missed one of the year's best shorts back in May when I presented it at Mills Folly Microcinema (artlitlab.org/events/twinn...) here in Madison, you can now watch on YT ♊
Gemini will premiere at this link at 5pm!! Happy Halloween!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9ms...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9ms...
Gemini (CalArts EA Thesis Film 2024)
YouTube video by jamie steele griffiths
www.youtube.com
November 1, 2025 at 10:52 PM
if you missed one of the year's best shorts back in May when I presented it at Mills Folly Microcinema (artlitlab.org/events/twinn...) here in Madison, you can now watch on YT ♊
maybe next year, for the 30th anniversary of Devil Doll's DIES IRAE, I'll finally put together that Mr. Doctor (Mario Panciera) costume. a rare excuse to theatrically slink around like a silent-movie villain.
a befitting soundtrack for your Halloween: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hech...
a befitting soundtrack for your Halloween: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hech...
October 31, 2025 at 8:18 PM
maybe next year, for the 30th anniversary of Devil Doll's DIES IRAE, I'll finally put together that Mr. Doctor (Mario Panciera) costume. a rare excuse to theatrically slink around like a silent-movie villain.
a befitting soundtrack for your Halloween: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hech...
a befitting soundtrack for your Halloween: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hech...
my Chicago International Film Festival experience was basically a tale of polarity: endure some of the rudest, most reckless drivers on the road to sit comfortably with some of the most pleasant, attentive theatrical audiences
October 27, 2025 at 7:58 PM
my Chicago International Film Festival experience was basically a tale of polarity: endure some of the rudest, most reckless drivers on the road to sit comfortably with some of the most pleasant, attentive theatrical audiences
sounds like Lychgate is continuing to absorb influence from mid-late 2000s-era Daniel O'Sullivan (v laudatory). after THE CONTAGION IN NINE STEPS, an epically elaborate 10th step (in 10 minutes)
Hive of Parasites, by Lychgate
from the album Precipice
lychgate.bandcamp.com
October 25, 2025 at 6:26 PM
sounds like Lychgate is continuing to absorb influence from mid-late 2000s-era Daniel O'Sullivan (v laudatory). after THE CONTAGION IN NINE STEPS, an epically elaborate 10th step (in 10 minutes)
imo, a peerless film. in this piece, I tried to capture just how Solondz and his cast relay the trials and tribulations (and trauma) of the junior-high experience and why it's so personally meaningful for this millennial
"...The unsentimental and raw representation of adolescence in Todd Solondz's WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE (1995) is the most poignant and personally enduring of the era."
@nothingunfinished.bsky.social reviews the cringe comedy classic, screening on 35mm at UW Cinematheque this Sat, Oct 18, at 7 p.m.
@nothingunfinished.bsky.social reviews the cringe comedy classic, screening on 35mm at UW Cinematheque this Sat, Oct 18, at 7 p.m.
"Welcome To The Dollhouse" cuttingly conveys the social hell of pre-teen years
Todd Solondz's enduring cringe comedy from 1995 screens on 35mm at UW Cinematheque on October 18.
tonemadison.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:13 PM
imo, a peerless film. in this piece, I tried to capture just how Solondz and his cast relay the trials and tribulations (and trauma) of the junior-high experience and why it's so personally meaningful for this millennial
another beautiful record from Rafael Toral, and companion to last year's transcendent SPECTRAL EVOLUTION. 50 minutes of extended "jazz covers" that ascend into mesmeric abstraction. modulated guitar symphonies of interiority. Toral's rendition of the Gene de Paul tune is sublime
October 15, 2025 at 8:41 PM
another beautiful record from Rafael Toral, and companion to last year's transcendent SPECTRAL EVOLUTION. 50 minutes of extended "jazz covers" that ascend into mesmeric abstraction. modulated guitar symphonies of interiority. Toral's rendition of the Gene de Paul tune is sublime
heard this track (and the rest of ANIMAL JUSTICE) for the first time last weekend. 15 to 20 years ahead of its time. not surprising, tho, from the former VU virtuoso
John Cale - Hedda Gabbler
YouTube video by Molto Fresco
www.youtube.com
October 7, 2025 at 5:07 PM
heard this track (and the rest of ANIMAL JUSTICE) for the first time last weekend. 15 to 20 years ahead of its time. not surprising, tho, from the former VU virtuoso
it should alarm everyone in Southern Wisconsin that we're seeing consecutive days of 86-degree weather in October. no better time than now to reconsider the tenets of veganism and sustainability. (conveniently, there is a fest happening atm at Lunney Lake Farm County Park.)
October 4, 2025 at 5:08 PM
it should alarm everyone in Southern Wisconsin that we're seeing consecutive days of 86-degree weather in October. no better time than now to reconsider the tenets of veganism and sustainability. (conveniently, there is a fest happening atm at Lunney Lake Farm County Park.)
#bandcampfriday rec: the new Nick Hudson. in an era of despair, the artist and wordsmith offers a bated-breath vision ON THE EVE OF HOPE
On The Eve Of Hope, by Nick Hudson
18 track album
nickhudsonindustries.bandcamp.com
October 3, 2025 at 9:35 PM
#bandcampfriday rec: the new Nick Hudson. in an era of despair, the artist and wordsmith offers a bated-breath vision ON THE EVE OF HOPE
we need editors, because ineffectual sentences like this can be pull-quoted: "ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER isn't really a political film, but neither is it not a political film." that shouldn't be the first thing anyone reads about the new PTA
September 29, 2025 at 4:15 PM
we need editors, because ineffectual sentences like this can be pull-quoted: "ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER isn't really a political film, but neither is it not a political film." that shouldn't be the first thing anyone reads about the new PTA
Reposted by Grant
Madison folks! Can you support @tonemadison.bsky.social 🙏❤️
i've subscribed to:
rolling stone
WIRED
404 media
defector
the handbasket
chicago journalism i subscribed to:
unraveled
block club
it's time to support media directly so they don't fall into the hands of fascists, the replies to this post have additional great news media i recommend supporting
rolling stone
WIRED
404 media
defector
the handbasket
chicago journalism i subscribed to:
unraveled
block club
it's time to support media directly so they don't fall into the hands of fascists, the replies to this post have additional great news media i recommend supporting
it looks like the only way to have honest media is directly support them. i currently subscribe to WIRED and rolling stone, and about to subscribe to 404 media. any other WOKE and antifa media orgs i should support?
September 19, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Madison folks! Can you support @tonemadison.bsky.social 🙏❤️
continuing my tradition of wearing avant-metal band shirts to these meetings (Genevieve back in April & Wreck and Reference this time)
As the summer movie season began to wind down, our film section editor @nothingunfinished.bsky.social and contributor @drboffa.bsky.social joined OCA Media's Josiah Wampfler—host of "Two Tickets Please!"—for a collaborative discussion (to confer and commiserate).
Video: Did we discover an oasis during the summer movie drought?
A second collaborative sit-down with Josiah Wampfler at OCA Media to recap a strained but not irredeemable viewing season.
tonemadison.com
September 16, 2025 at 4:19 PM
continuing my tradition of wearing avant-metal band shirts to these meetings (Genevieve back in April & Wreck and Reference this time)