Author: Dan Seeger

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One for Friday: Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello, “There Are Much Worse Things to Believe In”

Dan Seeger

There are cynics, there are skeptics There are legions of dispassionate dyspeptics Who regard this time of year as a maudlin insincere Cheesy crass commercial travesty of all that we hold dear When they think that Well, I can hear it But I pity them their lack of Christmas spirit For in a world like ours, take it from Stephen There are much worse things to believe in. Merry Christmas, all. Listen or download –> Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello, “There Are Much Worse Things to Believe In” (Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge, this song has been released … Continue reading One for Friday: Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello, “There Are Much Worse Things to Believe In”

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Top Fifty Films of…

Dan Seeger

This all started in the middle of 2009. As the calendar moved into the second half of the last year of what might awkwardly be termed “the aughts,” I decided I was going to revisit an exercise I’d indulged in about a decade earlier, albeit without a public outlet. As I explained at the time, I previously commemorated the end of the nineties by swapping lists of the top fifty films of that span with my colleague from our bygone days offering up movie reviews on the radio. Now with a swanky digital platform at my disposal, I decided I was … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of…

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Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number One

Dan Seeger

#1 — Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) Back when I had my first opportunity to share my opinions on the vast swath of cinematic offerings, foisting thick clusters of film criticism upon the defenseless radio listeners of Central Wisconsin, I took the task of crafting lists very seriously. The only time that particular duty really came into play was as one film year gradually gave way to the next (for those of us well-removed from the major metropolitan areas and the eager attention of studios and publicity agents hoping for consideration for timely awards seasons accolades, we were lucky if … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number One

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That Championship Season: Parks and Recreation, Season Three

Dan Seeger

The Bob Newhart Show never won an Emmy. In fact, the seminal sitcom was almost a non-presence at the annual awards ceremony meant to identify and honor the best of the best of broadcast television. Across six seasons, The Bob Newhart Show earned a mere four nominations, and one of those was in the category of “Outstanding Film Editing in a Comedy Series.” It’s easy to attribute that to the series built around a certain button-down mind existing at the same as some of the most important, groundbreaking sitcoms in the history of television, such as All in the Family … Continue reading That Championship Season: Parks and Recreation, Season Three

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College Countdown: The Gavin Report Top 20 Alternative Chart, October 1992, 5 – 3

Dan Seeger

5. R.E.M., Automatic for the People Like a lot of music fans, I suppose, I have a little collection of regrets, mostly based around missed opportunities. There are artists that I arrived at later than I should have, and acts I wish I’d seen live where they were blazing up-and-comers rather that fairly established (I get a little dizzy when I think that Sleater-Kinney played with the White Stripes as an opening act at a dumpy little club in the college town where I resided in 2000). While I don’t have some official list that would allow me to double-check the … Continue reading College Countdown: The Gavin Report Top 20 Alternative Chart, October 1992, 5 – 3

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From the Archive: Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith

Dan Seeger

Well, what else would I do this week? Unearth an old review of Baby Mama? This post actually represents redundancy upon redundancy (upon redundancy!) as I’ve already transplanted this tally from my former online home. This time, I’m caving in and using the full title. I’m also cleaning it up a little. I will allow my original misspelling of Wookiee to stand no more. I’m not sure how much samuraithief checks his livejournal, but he’s the reason behind this post. More accurately, my guilt over the conversation I had with him yesterday is the reason behind this post. You see, he really … Continue reading From the Archive: Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith

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One for Friday: Stump, “Living It Down”

Dan Seeger

If it weren’t for social media, I’m not sure I would have ever learned of the death of Mick Lynch, the lead singer of the band Stump. A friend of mine, who himself spent time in a band that was fairly attention-getting, posted about it yesterday morning, sharing videos and and an acknowledgment of artistic influence. Stump was fairly obscure, so there was no trending Twitter hashtag nor any obituary offered prominently by any major music news source (Pitchfork, however, did find digital space to write up the admittedly satisfying arrest of a rich pharmaceutical scumbag on the tenuous connection that his … Continue reading One for Friday: Stump, “Living It Down”

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “I (Who Have Nothing)”

Dan Seeger

These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. “I (Who Have Nothing)” reached the Billboard Top 40 on three different occasions. The first, and arguably now best known, version was by Ben E. King and released in 1963. Seven years later, Tom Jones carried the song close to the Top 10. By the end of the nineteen-seventies, every last page of the pop music songbook was up for grabs again, as long as … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “I (Who Have Nothing)”

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Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Two

Dan Seeger

#2 — Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Casablanca is the quintessential Hollywood film of its era, so completely shaped by the strictures of the time and grounded in the established mechanics of narrative cinematic storytelling that it very nearly transcends itself to become a movie about what movies can achieve. It intermingles hope and cynicism, romance and sorrow, stirring patriotism and nomadic isolation. Filmed and released after the United States was wrenched into the tumult of World War II, it serves as an effective avatar of the somewhat ambivalent view towards international engagement that still defined the national sentiment. The theme of the weary, … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Two