Author: Dan Seeger

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Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Three

Dan Seeger

#23 — The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944) My general inclination is to look askance at films that overtly rely on cultural daring to make their impact. This isn’t always true, as the use of variants of “audacious” in any number of rave reviews will testify. Further, that policy softens significantly the earlier a film’s copyright date. There are instances where I can’t help but marvel at the material that was slipped past Hollywood’s strict codes. I’d like to think that my critical acumen remains heightened enough that I can see through the older films that are as hollow as … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Three

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Beers I Have Known: Corona

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. Technically, the name of the beer is Corona Extra, but who ever calls it that? Back in my college days and immediately thereafter, when any beer from outside the borders of the United States automatically registered with me and mine as an exotic indulgence, Corona was one of the prime brews for those of us looking to treat ourselves to a slightly posher experience. Adding to the misplaced sense of fancy was the … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Corona

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College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 18 and 17

Dan Seeger

18. Mike Watt, Ball-Hog or Tugboat? If on the last day of 1995 you had asked me to name the best album of the year, without hesitation I would have answered Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, the debut solo release of  Mike Watt. I’m not entirely convinced I’d stand by the pinnacle placement now (besides being inclined toward the member of the legendary Minutemen and the shoulda-been-legendary Firehose, I was certainly committing to some bratty contrarianism as the record wasn’t championed in the music press nearly as much as I felt was merited), but I completely understand while it appealed to me. In … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 18 and 17

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From the Archive: City Slickers

Dan Seeger

In picking old reviews that feel appropriate for unearthing in the warmer months, I’ve pulled twice previously from the edition of The Reel Thing, our bygone radio program, that looked back on the top-grossing films of summer 1991. So why not go ahead and complete the excavation of my portion of that particular show. City Slickers finished in the third position on the particular chart. It is with renewed amazement that I look at the numbers noted here, specifically that there were only three movies to cross the $100 million threshold that summer. Now if we have a summer in which only … Continue reading From the Archive: City Slickers

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Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Four

Dan Seeger

#24 — The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946) Some actors get it right from the very beginning. They find their onscreen persona, the approach to character that will run like a throbbing nerve through their entire career, unifying every role they play, no matter how disparate. To a degree, that can be chalked up to unfortunate pigeonholing, especially in the desperately safe era of the studio system, when constantly reinforcing audience expectations was the smartest strategy. The performer doesn’t land upon something in themselves so much as they’re forced to offer spectral repetition of the first thing they ever did, at … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Four

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Top 40 Smash Taps: “Charity Ball”

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. Fanny was billed as the first all-female rock group to release an album on a major label. Naturally, given the stultifying sexism of the era, it’s entirely possible the band wouldn’t have reached that status without the behind-the-scenes influence of a male. Richard Perry was a producer with an eclectic batch of records on his resume, including Captain Beefheart’s Safe as Milk and God … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Charity Ball”

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Banks, Bergman, Hamilton, Limon, Polanski

Dan Seeger

1971 (Johanna Hamilton, 2014). Clearly positioned as a history lesson for those who venerate Edward Snowden for his digital freedom fighting in bringing to light information about the U.S. government’s shady spying on its own citizens, 1971 focuses in on a break-in at a Pennsylvania FBI office in the year of the title. Those who are shocked by the modern transgressions against privacy can watch this documentary for a bracing reminder that federal crime-fighting agencies are in full-scale same-as-it-ever-was territory, Patriot Act or not. Of course, that doesn’t make current abuses acceptable, but the indignation is best shaped as part of … Continue reading Banks, Bergman, Hamilton, Limon, Polanski

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Great Moments in Literature

Dan Seeger

“‘I was hoping we’d go together.’ I winced at hearing myself reproduce the tones of some minor courtier, or possible those of Ralph Bellamy in a movie belonging to Cary Grant.” –Jonathan Lethem, Chronic City, 2009 “MIDNIGHT IN MANHATTAN: ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE LOOK UP FOR A MOMENT FROM THEIR AIMLESS, POINTLESS SCURRYINGS — LOOK UP, AND ARE WARMED BY THE ROCKET’S BATHING GLOW. THEN, THEY LOWER THEIR HEADS ONCE MORE, AND THEIR HALF-DREAMS DIE A-BORNING…” –Roy Thomas, FANTASTIC FOUR, Vol. 1, No. 159, “Havoc in the Hidden Land!” 1975 Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

Music17 Comments

College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 20 and 19

Dan Seeger

20. The Smashing Pumpkins, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness For most of 1995, I heard at least a portion of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, even if it was only reverberating through my floorboards. Early in that calendar year, I took up residence in what became a beloved rental house located on a main drag of Madison, Wisconsin. Though it may have involved some creative disregarding of the terms of the lease to set our household lineup, we quickly had four people in total living there, one of them sadly crammed into a minuscule room that was also … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 20 and 19