#39 — Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952) As I’ve tried to admit–sheepishly but honestly–throughout the course of this long project, I have certain blind spots when evaluating the history of film. I stand by my opinions and feel they’re … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Thirty-Nine
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. Keith Washington was a soul singer in the nineteen-nineties who regularly landed tracks on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart, but had only one of those songs crossover to the regular Billboard Top 40. Not surprisingly, that was his lone chart-topper on the R&B charts, a slow-moving, tender, highly emotive ballad called “Kissing You.” The second single from Washington’s debut album, Make … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Kissing You”
I was in a creative writing class in college when one of my fellow students asked the professor if it was acceptable for him to write his stories about sports. When the professor was reluctant to agree, my classmate added that his desire was to write a series of loosely interconnected stories about baseball. As I recall it, the professor settled immediately in the affirmative given the additional information. Baseball, he said, was the one sport that actually merited literary attention. If I weren’t already inclined in that direction, I’d have to accede the point every time I read one … Continue reading My Writers: Roger Angell
#40 — His Kind of Woman (John Farrow, 1951) There’s so much messiness to sort through with His Kind of Woman that it makes the inclusion on any sort of best list a bit of a marvel. And of course … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Forty
18. Weather Report, Mr. Gone In 1978, the seminal jazz fusion act Weather Report was charged will following up their biggest hit to date, the previous year’s Heavy Weather. This being jazz fusion, blockbuster status was still fairly modest: topping … Continue reading College Countdown, The First CMJ Album Chart, 18
Since I evoked my Mojo phase in yesterday’s post, it seems only appropriate that today’s sheepish looks back towards old writing should present my most overt attempt at writing in that British publication’s style. Taken from my brief, happy tenure with Central Florida’s The Independent Journal, this review covers a unlikely blast of 21st century prog rock that–in a turn even more unlikely–I liked a great deal. It also inspired me to give it my best Mojo review section try, particularly when it came time to pile up quasi-arcane references. I remember being very happy with the results. And I … Continue reading From the Archive: De-Loused in the Comatorium
Thought I can’t necessarily parcel my personal journey as a music fan into clear, clean divisions, I have had a few distinct phases, stretches when the material I sought out was actively influence by one source or another, be it individuals or, in a couple of case, entire radio station music libraries. And then there are the periodicals, led by the foundational and sometimes regrettable impact of Rolling Stone on my taste. I hold far greater fondness for a later period of time I think of, as I must, as “The Mojo years.” I started buying the U.K. magazine after … Continue reading One for Friday: Earth Opera, “The Red Sox are Winning”
#15 — Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells in Time After Time (Nicholas Meyer, 1979) By now, it’s firmly established that playing a historical figure necessitates an actor pursue expert mimicry and slavish adherence to documented tics and tendencies above all … Continue reading Greatish Performances #15
#41 — Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959) History doesn’t slow down, and it doesn’t pause to give affected observers time to process what has happened. Sometimes art has to rush to keep up. In the process, it can unearth … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the Fifties — Number Forty-One
At this point in the director’s career, it may be easier and more instructive to catalog how a new Wes Anderson film is different than its predecessors. For example, his latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel, is packed with all the … Continue reading What a beautiful dream that could flash on the screen in a blink of an eye and be gone from me
