I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. As a wise crab once noted, “The human world, it’s a … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — The Sub-Mariner #25 by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema
#50 — Lee Grant as Joyce Enders in The Landlord (1970) Lee Grant was accustomed to fighting for what she wanted. Grant was placed on the infamous Hollywood blacklist after delivering a pointed eulogy for character actor J. Edward Bromberg, … Continue reading Greatish Performances #50
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. An inarguable legend of country music, Merle Haggard had only one Top 40 single during his career. He was dominant of the country charts, delivering thirty-six #1 songs (and two more collaborations with others that reached the pinnacle), including a stretch from 1971 to 1976 when practically every single landed at the top. Across sixteen singles, he the forlorn ballad “The Emptiest Arms in the World” stalled … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Okie from Muskogee”
508. Ramones, Halfway to Sanity (1987) The photo shoot that provided the cover art for Halfway to Sanity provides a pretty solid temperature check of how the Ramones were feeling about being the Ramones at the point of their tenth … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #508 to #505
Pac-Man, The Japanese Game That Took Over The World, Turns 40 by Matt Alt On the occasion of the fortieth birthday of the yellow fellow originally known as Puck-Man, Matt Alt writes a brief history of the arcade game sensation. … Continue reading Outside Reading — Paku-Paku-Paku edition
For our household, it started at the Hideout. Looking for concert stops to make on a road trip a couple years back, we went to a little club in Chicago and bought our tickets for a performer we’d never heard … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Shilpa Ray, “Manic Pixie Dream Cunt”
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. Truly, I have rarely more admired a promotional video. Other entries in this series can be found … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Scarecrow Didn’t Start the Fire
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. As good and proper … Continue reading Laughing Matters — John Mulaney, “There’s a Horse Loose in the Hospital”
#34 — True Grit (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2010) The primacy of language in the work of Joel and Ethan Coen makes invites speculation about the meaning of the outside authors they choose to associated themselves with through their … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Four
Sometimes in pop culture there are clear end points, and they can provide insights to a whole series, oeuvre, or discography. Sword of Trust has a hooky comedic premise. A gruff Birmingham pawn shop proprietor named Mel (Marc Maron) is … Continue reading The Last One — Sword of Trust
