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. When West Coast Avengers first hit comic shops, in the summer … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — West Coast Avengers by Roger Stern and Bob Hall
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. There was a sad, … Continue reading Laughing Matters — “Hulk Sell Cars”
944. David Johansen, Here Comes the Night (1981) Being a legend is nice, but alone it doesn’t keep the debt collector satisfied. As the frontman of the New York Dolls, David Johansen could lay a claim to being among the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #944 to #941
Emma Stone and Jonah Hill have been nominated for the same number of Academy Awards. Stone’s win obviously gives her the edge in any tallying up of awards acclaim, but it remains an odd alignment given that any reasonable assessment … Continue reading From the Archive — Superbad
By 1997, I was desperate to hear music that didn’t sound like Pearl Jam. I admittedly tend to overstate the enveloping nature of the grunge movement on nineteen-nineties rock scene, but it was exhausting to endure the onslaught of bands … Continue reading One for Friday — 5 Chinese Brothers, Three Cool Guys”
I hold Tom Cruise directly responsible for some of my worst experiences in the movie theater. In the summer of 1990, I committed to co-producing and co-hosting a weekly movie review program at my college radio station. The plan included … Continue reading The Unwatchables — The Mummy
By the official tally, There’s a Riot Going On is the fifteenth studio album from Yo La Tengo, and the band’s first of predominantly new material since the masterful and underrated Fade, released in 2013. It’s been over thirty years … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — There’s a Riot Going On
The Hero (Brett Haley, 2017). Brett Haley conceived of this character study after working with Sam Elliott on a previous effort. The genesis of the project is clear in the finished product, if only because there’s barely any purpose beyond … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — The Hero; Paddington 2; Deepwater Horizon
I and some of the most brilliant people I know once again devoted a huge swath of time in recent days to the annual staging of The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM by a college radio station with an enduring hold on my … Continue reading 15
952. Paul McCartney, Tug of War (1982) Although it obviously caused far less fan trauma than the band dissolution that took place roughly a decade earlier, the breakup of Wings should probably be seen as one of the pivotal career … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #952 to #949
Coffee for Two 