Author: Dan Seeger

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Branagh, Brooks, Leigh, McGrath, Trank

Dan Seeger

Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh, 2015). It’s grading on the most generous of curves, but as a crass attempt to develop a new revenue stream for a beloved Disney animated class, the live action Cinderella isn’t so bad. It’s certainly a damn sight better than the grotesque senses assault of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which basically established this type of cinematic tomb raiding. Similarly, Kenneth Branagh’s directing is more tightly controlled and snappily efficient than anything else he’s done in ages, the stricter corporate oversight perhaps taming his penchant for dragging indulgence. Most of the acting is merely perfunctory, save for … Continue reading Branagh, Brooks, Leigh, McGrath, Trank

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 145 – 143

Dan Seeger

145. Dire Straits, “Money for Nothing” Dire Straits’ biggest hit came about because Mark Knopfler eavesdropped in a New York City appliance store. According to the singer, guitarist, and chief songwriter for the band, he was browsing toward the back of the building, where an imposing row of televisions were all set to MTV, back when the cable network was still a sensation and took seriously the programming focus implied by the first letter of its name. An employee of the shop watched whatever music video was playing and offered a real-time, highly derogatory, and fairly offensive editorial reply. Knopfler reported grabbing a pen … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 145 – 143

MusicLeave a comment

One for Friday: Ben Folds, “Landed (alternate mix)”

Dan Seeger

Ben Folds unwittingly threw me a lifeline at precisely the moment I most deeply lamented what was happening in music. Ben Folds Five, the debut album from the trio that bore his name, arrived in the summer of 1995, just as “alternative rock” was peaking as a commercial radio format and simultaneously destroying itself with a thuddingly monotonous approach to playlists. As I listened from a bunker of a radio study, drowning in dispiriting, lifeless grunge knockoffs, I longed for something that just sounded different. One of the things I most valued about college radio was the sense that it … Continue reading One for Friday: Ben Folds, “Landed (alternate mix)”

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Beers I Have Known: Miller High Life

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. Because I was young once. And not every decision was sound. On the other hand, had my sips of Miller High Life taken place at the Beer Hut, I don’t think a single person could disparage my choice. Previous entries in this series can be found by clicking on the “Beers I Have Known” tag.   Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Miller High Life

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My Writers: Tom Stoppard

Dan Seeger

There are writers who leave me dumbfounded, so thoroughly dazzled by their inventiveness and command of language that I can’t help but speculate on what it must be like within the interconnected passages of their brain. I make no claim on an exhaustive knowledge of the voluminous works of Tom Stoppard, especially since most of the touchstone efforts are best experiences from a seat positioned to face a stage. Still, whenever I come upon one of his landscapes of intricately interlocking ideas, I feel humbled and blessed in equal measure. Like most, I suppose, my welcoming entryway to Stoppard’s art … Continue reading My Writers: Tom Stoppard

FilmLeave a comment

The Art of the Sell: “Dance with Your Feet”

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’ve been taking my place within the hallowed cathedrals of movie theaters for long enough that I can remember a time when there wasn’t a sitcom-length sprawl of commercials as the preamble to any feature. While the natural presumption is that I — in proper cranky old man form — find such intrusions of corporate marketing to be deplorable, I see it instead as, at worst, a necessary evil in a time of mounting costs and more … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Dance with Your Feet”

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 148 – 146

Dan Seeger

148. Eurythmics, “Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)” There was no way the big bosses of the entertainment business were going to let the calendar year 1984 pass without doing their level best to capitalize of the fact it corresponded to one of the most famous titles in 20th century literature. Given the need to heavily prioritize timetables over creative decisions, there was equally little chance they were going to avoid bungling the whole endeavor. While respectfully reviewed upon its release, the 1984 film version of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was not the sensation, critically or commercially, that the producers expected. Even its … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 148 – 146