8. Counting Crows, Recovering the Satellites I can’t. I’m sorry, I just can’t. 7. Rage Against the Machine, Evil Empire Back in the day, I had loads of three-beer-in, barroom arguments with Rage Against the Machine fans, pointing out what … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 8 and 7
In each of the past three years, I’ve followed up on the Spectrum list of the year’s top songs by offering my modest addendum. Specifically, I’ve noted the highest-ranking songs on my personal list of the best of the year, cobbled together from the one hundred that were nominated by the various music writers for the site. My clear pick for the best song of the year was the same one we collectively selected, so I certainly have no major complaints. Still, I would have liked to see these songs get a little more love from my peers. Cults, “I … Continue reading Here comes the song I love so much
Through a weird coincidental convergence, I invoked Minneapolis a few times on my various other social media platforms this week, first with a highly dopey, music geek pun and then by sharing this found-online picture of a wonderfully conceived movie … Continue reading One for Friday: That Dog, “Minneapolis”
There is a slender but focused plot to the latest comedy by Alexander Payne, Nebraska. But it seems fairly clear that the story is ultimately a means to an end. That’s not to imply that Payne is indifferent to the … Continue reading I awoke and I imagined the hard things that pulled us apart will never again, sir, tear us from each other’s hearts
#2 — The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960) Often I have described myself as a cynical romantic (or a romantic cynic, but the other version rolls off the tongue more pleasantly). While there are undoubtedly a multitude of influences that led me … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Two
Happy holidays, all! Continue reading Christmas Eve
By now, David O. Russell has openly and repeatedly acknowledged that his 2010 film, The Fighter, represented a key artistic turning point for him. His first film after years of futility following the release of I ♥ Huckabees, the boxing … Continue reading Knock on the door and the door knocks back
10. The Afghan Whigs, Black Love Black Love was the second album Afghan Whigs released with Elektra Records, and it would prove to their last such collaboration with the major label. Greg Dulli’s band had been snapped up by Elektra … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 10 and 9
And so we come to the end of the publication year for Spectrum Culture, which meant a huge batch of “best of” evaluations of the pop culture from the preceding twelve months (well, okay, eleven-and-a-half). I had my couple cents in every last one of them, but I also had one more full-length review to put out there. I was cautiously hopeful about grabbing the new film from Neil LaBute. Though it’s been ages since I’ve liked one of his films, I used to like them, a couple quite a bit. And this new effort seemed like a back-to-basics outing, … Continue reading Spectrum Check
My absolute favorite time to be at the college radio station during my undergraduate years was winter break. I liked the isolation that came from being in the station alone, a sensation compounded by the stretch of time when the university was at its most severely underpopulated and the frigid temperatures outside meant that there was even an abatement of general traffic on the road past the windows of the hallway between studios. Although, I must add that there remained a slight problem with the situation until the calendar reached December 26th: I didn’t particularly like Christmas music, but I … Continue reading One for Friday: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, “Cold White Christmas”
