#39 — Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton in The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996) For those who care about film as a medium — who want to consume as much as possible and then openly grapple with what they’ve … Continue reading Greatish Performances #39
852. Oingo Boingo, Boi-ngo (1987) Surely, MCA Records expected Oingo Boingo was poised for a major commercial breakthrough when the band delivered Boi-ngo, their sixth album overall and second for the label. Thanks in part to frontman Danny Elfman’s increasing … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #852 to #849
Diligent radio personnel working a shift in the earliest days of WWSP-FM, the student-run radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Fifty years ago today, a college radio station went on the air in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Broadcasting at … Continue reading From the Archive — 90FM-WWSP 50th Anniversary Playlist
Thirty years ago, in the early autumn of 1988. the Feelies released their third full-length album, Only Life. Even though its predecessor came only two years earlier, the arrival of Only Life felt momentous for several reason, arguably the least … Continue reading One for Friday — The Feelies, “It’s Only Life”
I haven’t been watching the vital Congressional testimony taking place today, but I have been following it, largely through the lens of social media and online news sources. Particularly when considering the courage it took for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford … Continue reading Programming Note
A Simple Favor is precisely the film Paul Feig needed at this point in his directorial career. The filmmaker will always have an honored place in my personal pantheon thanks to his efforts on the practically perfect television series Freaks … Continue reading Now Playing — A Simple Favor
“I found myself remembering the day in kindergarten when the teachers showed us Dumbo, and I realized for the first time that all the kids in the class, even the bullies, rooted for Dumbo, against Dumbo’s tormentors. Invariably they laughed … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
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. If the flaming disaster … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Funny or Die, “Non-Voters Anonymous”
856. David Bowie, Lodger (1979) In the relentless fertile field of David Bowie studies, it’s probably accurate to say that Lodger represents the closing of an age. The cycle of constant reinvention of Bowie’s nineteen-seventies output — the decade’s equivalent … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #856 to #853
For a time at my former online home, I devoted the last day of the work week to “Flashback Friday” posts. Going year by year, the idea was that I’d find cause to write about cultural ephemera that might be … Continue reading From the Archive — Destroyer
Coffee for Two 