Author: Dan Seeger

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Laughing Matters: Mr. Show, “The Limits of Science”

Dan Seeger

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 spend my days writing about the latest surgical tools and medical advances. When my weary mind drifts, I invariably land on this sketch from the late, great Mr. Show. “Leeches suck out the sick inside of you that witches put there.” Previous entries in this series can be found by clicking on the “Laughing Matters” tag. Continue reading Laughing Matters: Mr. Show, “The Limits of Science”

MusicLeave a comment

College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 49 – 47

Dan Seeger

49. Tears for Fears, “Everybody Want to Rule the World” Bands beholden to major labels are often told they need to buckle down and try to write a hit song. As they were prepping material for their 1985 album, Songs from the Big Chair, Tears for Fears were given even more specific instructions than that. They were charged with writing a single that would appeal to the U.S. market. That single was “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” “We did the song to have an American hit,” Roland Orzabal, guitarist and vocalist for the band, conceded at the time. “It’s … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 49 – 47

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From the Archive: Mirrormask

Dan Seeger

The review, first posted in my former online home, is absolutely jam-packed with the affectations that I eagerly adopted when I started seriously writing for a digital platform, including an overturned Lego crate worth of hyperlinks and a correctly formatted trademark symbol. Almost every original link was now dead, but I did my best to rebuild them accordingly. I’m especially pleased to note that I’m fairly certain that I corrected determined the hideous comic book covers I opted for to accompany “other material sharing space.” It is perhaps easy to intuit that the reasoning behind plucking this particular review from … Continue reading From the Archive: Mirrormask

Film, MusicLeave a comment

One for Friday: Sister Carol, “Wild Thing”

Dan Seeger

I’ve written about Jonathan Demme quite a bit this week, but I’ve only briefly touched on one the most celebrated elements of his work: his use of music in his movies. While tagging him a strong director when it comes to music might seem obvious considering his oversight of Stop Making Sense, a film unlikely to ever be topped in the pantheon of concert films, Demme’s ability to integrate pop songs artfully into his fiction efforts was dazzling. Martin Scorsese arguably stood as Demme’s only real competition in this often underappreciated facet of filmmaking, but the latter’s far more esoteric … Continue reading One for Friday: Sister Carol, “Wild Thing”

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The Art of the Sell: “Stop Making Sense” trailer

Dan Seeger

These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art.  Jonathan Demme said he preferred to call Stop Making Sense a performance film rather than a concert film. The reasoning behind that is clear. He captured Talking Heads live on stage in a manner markedly different from most predecessor films in the genre. The film is dynamic and enthralling, intensely focused on the swerving rhythms of a band in sync with each other and the added visual trappings they brought to their show. Demme wasn’t trying to … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Stop Making Sense” trailer

FilmLeave a comment

Jonathan Demme, 1944 – 2017

Dan Seeger

Among great film directors, there were none whose artistry was more humane than Jonathan Demme. Other filmmakers revel in the form, spinning visual wonders and engaging in dynamic editing in restless attempts to embed their personality on the screen. Demme wasn’t adverse to such creativity. His films were often striking in their novel use of technique, finessing the grammar of cinema until the shape of his storytelling was a another story itself, or at least another layer. But Demme didn’t employ such maneuvering to call attention to his personal creativity. Those choices weren’t about him. Instead, they were about the … Continue reading Jonathan Demme, 1944 – 2017

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My Misspent Youth: Doomsday by Marv Wolfman

Dan Seeger

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. I can’t overstate how magical it was the first time I walked into a comic book shop. My age was barely into double-digits and it was an era when most comics were sold at supermarkets and drug stores, given plenty of real estate over by the magazines, so it was a strange notion, this whole storefront devoted to nothing but these colorful periodicals populated by super-powered beings. Thrilling as it was … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Doomsday by Marv Wolfman

Everything ElseLeave a comment

14

Dan Seeger

My crafty clan of cohorts has a certain place in The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM. For the second year in a row — and the third time in the past four years — my team, the Cakers, finished in fourteenth place in the fifty-four-hour exercise in mental mayhem. Considering this placement is among three-hundred sixty competing teams, it’s an accomplishment the stirs up a little bit of silly pride. With that piece of personal reporting complete, I’ll get back to non-Trivia content tomorrow. Continue reading 14

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 52 – 50

Dan Seeger

52. Primitives, “Crash” Before the Primitives got around to recording their first album, they’d already decided that “Crash” was one of their less significant songs. “We wrote that very early on and then we dropped it from the set,” explained Paul Court, the band’s guitarist and chief songwriter. “We had a lot of songs like it, three chord style Ramones numbers, and then our producer Paul Sampson said it was a good song and that we should resurrect it.” That was only the beginning of Lazarus-like capacity for revival that the song had. It was definitely a college radio hit … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 52 – 50

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From the Archive: Flashback Friday – 1973

Dan Seeger

I’m a little too weary to elaborate, except to note that this was originally published in my former online home. In 1973, I lived in a household that had a lot of records. There were so many, in fact, that they basically defined the decor. Entire walls were obliterated from view by the shelves of albums. There was even one wall that was basically nothing but albums, effectively extending the hallway by several feet just as capably as 2x4s and drywall. Obtaining every chunk of the unfolding evolution of rock ‘n’ roll was the obsession of my first stepfather (don’t … Continue reading From the Archive: Flashback Friday – 1973