Author: Dan Seeger

FilmLeave a comment

Now Playing: 13th

Dan Seeger

Of late, watching Ava DuVernay emerge as a powerful, uncompromising voice has been one of the great pleasures of observing the filmmaking landscape. As recently as four years ago, DuVernay was largely unknown, though she certainly had some prominent champions. Selma justifiably changed all that, especially after DuVernay and her film were largely ignored when the Academy Award nominations were doled out. In a happy irony, exclusion dramatically increased her prominence, helping to put her in high demand and making her one of the creators sought out for her insights when various discussions roiled around the industry. DuVernay may not … Continue reading Now Playing: 13th

FilmLeave a comment

The Art of the Sell: “Toys” teaser 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.  I worked at a five-screen movie theater through much of the first half of the nineteen-nineties. I eventually cajoled my way into responsibilities in the booth, taping together the feature prints that came in every week. That also gave me authority over the trailers that preceded those films. I can’t pull up specific stats, but I feel fairly confident that I attached the teaser trailer for Barry Levinson’s Toys at a ratio that exceeded all others. I … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Toys” teaser trailer

MusicLeave a comment

College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 133 – 131

Dan Seeger

133. They Might Be Giants, “Ana Ng” According to John Linnell, “Ana Ng” has its foundation in his childhood memories. “There’s a cartoon I read as a kid in which a character shoots a gun through a globe to find out where the other side of the world is. So that was sort of the beginning,” he told MTV at the time. The comic in question was an installment of Walt Kelly’s great Pogo, and Churchy LaFemme was the pistol-wielding geographer. Further inspiration came from Linnell letting his fingers do the walking through a New York City phone book, noting there … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 133 – 131

MusicLeave a comment

One for Friday: Bettie Serveert, “The Pharmacy”

Dan Seeger

I like music. And I like a lot of different bands and performers. It’s a breadth that I’ve tried to cultivate every since I first started buying records with focus and dedication over thirty years ago. When others prodded me with questions about favorites — bands, styles, songs, albums — it’s usually resulted in me stammering out some noncommittal response, not because I’m lacking in opinions (as this digital outpost presumably makes clear), but because those sorts of singular declarations felt so limiting. I always wanted more. I’m a broadcaster by inclination. Narrowcasting holds little interest for me, even when … Continue reading One for Friday: Bettie Serveert, “The Pharmacy”

Everything ElseLeave a comment

Beers I Have Known: Big Boss Brewing Harvest Time Pumpkin Ale

Dan Seeger

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. It might be hard to fathom now, but there was a time, not so long ago, when one could walk through a grocery emporium during the months of September and October without encountered a seemingly endless array of products with pumpkin flavor temporarily imposed upon them. Now that the takeover of our nation’s most insistent winter squash is all but complete, there are a dizzying array of beers that would be suitable substitutions … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Big Boss Brewing Harvest Time Pumpkin Ale

FilmLeave a comment

Now Playing: The Birth of a Nation

Dan Seeger

There is boldness and defiance written into the DNA of Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation, beginning with the pointed abduction of the title from D.W. Griffith’s century-old epic that is equal parts groundbreaking and despicable. The new film is about Nat Turner (played by Parker), a Virginia slave who led an 1831 rebellion that was the bloodiest, most successful insurrection against the oppressing Southern gentry until the U.S. Civil War. Ultimately short-lived — it lasted approximately forty-eight hours — the rebellion left over fifty whites dead before it was over. A roughly equal number of enslaved blacks were arrested … Continue reading Now Playing: The Birth of a Nation

Music, Television2 Comments

Laughing Matters: Bruce McCulloch, “Daves I Know”

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. Having spent the past several days swinging wildly between obsessive tracking of political news and happy but tense viewings of postseason baseball, I need a soul and spirit cleanser. And this will do, nicely. Previous entries in this series can be found by clicking on the “Laughing Matters” tag. Continue reading Laughing Matters: Bruce McCulloch, “Daves I Know”

Film, Music1 Comment

College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 136 – 134

Dan Seeger

136. Swans, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” For some fans of Swans, the betrayal of principles began with a cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” To the degree that the track — or tracks, really — represented a distinct turning point, they’re not entirely wrong. Michael Gira started Swans in the countercultural swirl of New York’s early-nineteen-eighties no wave scene, releasing a succession of abrasive, challenging albums and EPs. By the middle of that decade, pierced eyebrows were already raising as the hardest, most bruising edges were buffed off, a process accelerated by the inclusion of keyboardist and vocalist Jarboe on the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 136 – 134