I suspect every person who’s sat behind a music-based radio station broadcast board — at least at a spot on the dial that confers the authority of music selection to the announcers — has a small cache of special occasion … Continue reading One for Friday — House of Freaks, “Sun Gone Down”
Columbus (Kogonada, 2017). The feature debut from filmmaker Kogonada, who has been justly lauded for video essays on other directors’ work, is an object of understated beauty. Empathetic and honest, Columbus is set in the Indiana city of the same … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Columbus, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), Miles Ahead
“Outside the house, a shadow moved, an autumn wind rose up and faded away. But there was something else in the silence that he heard. It was like a breath exhaled upon the window. It was like a faint drift … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
Since the release of Sleep Well Beast, the seventh studio album from the National, the commentary has settled into two camps. There are those who insist that the album represents a serious modification of the band’s sound, pushing into intriguing … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Sleep Well Beast
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. Horror movies present different opportunities when it comes to their marketing, at least when it comes to … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — “The Howling” movie poster
40. John Wesley Harding, “The Devil in Me” Included on the John Wesley Harding’s debut album, Here Comes the Groom, “The Devil in Me” was the track that introduced most college radio programmers to the British singer-songwriter who would eventually … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 40 Cuts, March 16, 1990 — 40 – 37
The debut of the new Netflix series Mindhunter has brought a fresh wave of attention on filmmaker David Fincher, who seems a little less glum than usual as he makes the promotional rounds. The accompanying newsy tidbits — he almost … Continue reading From the Archive: Alien 3
I remember when the first full-length release from the Tragically Hip arrived at my college radio station. It was at the beginning of my second year, when my footing was a little sounder and I finally had an inkling of … Continue reading One for Friday: The Tragically Hip, “Blow at High Dough”
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. I am currently in … Continue reading Laughing Matter — Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, “One Leg Too Few”
Compliance (Craig Zobel, 2012). Based, incredibly enough, on a true story, Compliance shows the ugly susceptibility people have in the face of authority, even when those giving the orders have done nothing to prove they deserve to be followed. On … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Compliance; The Bad Sleep Well; The Devil’s Bride
Coffee for Two 