I was an early, vocal, and fiercely committed disciple of Wild Flag. For many, it seemed to take a little while for the band and the album to really take root, presumably because band member Carrie Brownstein’s growing prominence outside … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf: Rips
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’ll bet it just eats Bette Midler up that she can’t claim membership in the exclusive EGOT club, those individuals who’ve won at least one of each of the major entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. In the unlikely event she finds herself the recipient of an Academy Award in the near future — though she’s claimed two nominations in her career, … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Friends” and “Married Men”
#11 — Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957) War films have long been a staple of Hollywood, a situation only compounded by the staggering surplus of stories that could be culled from WWII, a global conflict that could be forever … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Eleven
12. Mission of Burma, Forget Among the things that characterize the typical college radio experience for a student programmer, it’s possible that the most frustrating is a melancholy longing for the music that was released sometime in the five to … Continue reading College Countdown: Rockpool’s Top 20 College Radio Albums, November 1988, 12
Since writing this, nearly twenty-four years ago (good gravy, I think I need to sit down), I’ve decided that Stand By Me is probably more like Rob Reiner’s third best movie. There are a couple of his films that are clearly better, but they don’t have the same tinge of somber importance to them, so I downgraded them at the time. However, I stick with Stand By Me as the best film adaptation of a King work, by a wide margin. Sorry, Shawshank disciples. It’s interesting to think back on this film as the effective introduction of Kathy Bates and … Continue reading From the Archives: Misery
Everyone deserves to have an album like Sicilian Vespers’ self-titled debut in Heavy Rotation when they first join a college radio station. It should be wild and challenging. It should be tuneful but relentlessly weird. It helps if the lead vocals are best described as an acquired taste, especially if even that heavily compromised compliment is itself charitable. It should be, in short, something that could only be heard (and valued and respected) on college radio. For me, that record was the self-titled debut from Sicilian Vespers. The creation of David and Francis Rifugiato, brothers who were indeed born in … Continue reading One for Friday: Sicilian Vespers, “I Want to Talk to a Squirrel”
#12 — Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, 1957) Apparently, the official translation of the original Japanese title of Akira Kurosawa’s revisioning of Macbeth is Spider Web Castle. This isn’t purely metaphor, since the game of thrones being played in the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twelve
“I had solved nothing, but I felt clever in making progress. And feeling clever, I’ve always thought, is just a sigh away from being cheerful.” –Ian McEwan, Sweet Tooth, 2012 “YOU WHO DWELL HERE ARE ALL THE SAME! YOU THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY RACE INHABITING THIS PLANET! YOU NEVER SUSPECT THAT ANOTHER — MORE POWERFUL SPECIES MIGHT SHARE YOUR PLANET WITH YOU! DO YOU PRESUME TO THINK THAT HUMANS ARE THE ONLY INTELLIGENT LIFE EARTH HAS SPAWNED!” –Stan Lee, FANTASTIC FOUR, Vol. 1, No. 46, “Those Who Would Destroy Us!” 1966 Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
As I noted recently, it’s been a long time since our household made the proper commitment to a good ol’ fashioned Bad Movie Night. Our tradition is long and honored: a double feature, preferably with some sort of link and … Continue reading Bad Movie Night — Battleship/John Carter
As I started gathering some digital resources to provide supporting research in writing about the new film Gone Girl, I was briefly taken aback when reminded that Gillian Flynn’s novel of the same name came out just two years ago, … Continue reading Beautiful girl, lovely dress, where she is now I can only guess
Coffee for Two 