Although I’m optimistic about Incredibles 2, I long for the days that Pixar evinced nothing but the barest interest in sequels. With rare exceptions, the studio consistently strove for vivid inventiveness with each new effort, as if the especially lengthy … Continue reading From the Archive — WALL-E
Thirty years ago, in the spring of 1988, Soul Asylum released the album Hang Time. In the Minneapolis regional of the nineteen-eighties tourney for the hearts and minds of college radio kids, Soul Asylum was doomed to never finish better than … Continue reading One for Friday — Soul Asylum, “Sometime to Return”
This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. I’ve previously acknowledged the unique prominence of Minnesota’s Bad Weather Brewing Company in … Continue reading Beers I Have Known — Bad Weather Brewing Company Munich Helles
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. Lately I’ve been reading … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Robin Williams, “Come Inside My Mind”
There are plenty of gruesome elements to go around in Hereditary, the feature film debut of writer-director Ari Aster. As the title implies, though, the most unsettling portions of the film center on the way family can weigh on a … Continue reading Now Playing — Hereditary
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. The music video for the second single … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Let’s Chill”
916. Babys, Union Jacks (1980) Union Jacks, the fourth album by the U.K. rock band the Babys, was the first one they recorded fully without founding member Michael Corby. The guitarist/keyboard player was ousted during the recording process for the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #916 to #913
I occasionally write remembrances of famed individuals after they die, if the performer or writer of figure of some other note held a certain significance for me. Anthony Bourdain qualifies, mightily, and yet I’ve struggled with the idea of alchemizing … Continue reading From the Archive — My Writers: Anthony Bourdain
Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1988, Let’s Active released the album Every Dog Has His Day. It was the third full-length from the band, following a debut EP. Every one of those releases was a major hit on … Continue reading One for Friday — Let’s Active, “Every Dog Has His Day”
#37 — Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson, 2017) It’s tough being a newcomer to a lengthy tale eight parts deep in the telling, with each prior installment adding convolutions to the … Continue reading Greatish Performances #37
Coffee for Two 