I just harshed on the annual movie “awards” that are aired on “Music Television” over on one of my other Interweb outlets, but I must admit that there have been instances when I’ve been grateful for its presence. Example: Continue reading Your dreams were your ticket out
#31 — Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992) Clint Eastwood never made another western after Unforgiven. That may not seem like a big deal. It’s hardly a studio staple any longer, with no more than a couple per year, a major difference from the numbers cranked out by old Hollywood studios, as evidenced by any casual perusal of a Turner Classic Movies monthly schedule. But it is significant for Eastwood, probably the modern actor most associated with the genre, from the television celebrity of Rawhide to his persona-defining work in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns to the elegiac soberness of his own directorial … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Thirty-One
I remember reading about the Violent Femmes album Why Do Birds Sing? when it was released in 1991. Specifically I remember one of the band members responding to a question about the inclusion of a cover version of the Culture Club hit “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” on the record. It was conceded that no one in the band had any particular affection for the song, and that it was only included as a stab at getting a little more attention and a little more airplay. They were counting on the combination of familiarity and novelty to pique … Continue reading One for Friday: Afghan Whigs, “Creep”
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Kevin Smith, 2008). I think of Kevin Smith as one of the laziest directors working today because he demonstrates no particular skill with telling stories visually, seems to know this, and, most distressingly, has indicated the awareness of this shortcoming inspires no aspirations to improve. Zack and Miri may have a whiff of desperation about it–up to an including the please-pay-attention-to-me title–but one positive side effect is that Smith does push himself a little more as a director. There are a few moments which demonstrate some care and attention to crafting interesting visuals, even … Continue reading Clifford, Karlson, Mottern, Mulligan, Smith
Michael Kupperman makes funny things. He also finds funny things. It’s worth going to where he keeps it to read the whole thing. You can also go buy Kupperman’s latest comic, available at all comic shops run by people that have sense in their heads. Continue reading With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
#32 — Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, 1991) The nineties were a good decade for Disney animation, an outcome that seemed highly unlikely before the release of 1989’s The Little Mermaid and far from certain after … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Thirty-Two
“You’d have to be a clod to feel you’re young again. If you felt youthful, it would be a snap. Far from feeling youthful, you feel the poignancy of her limitless future as opposed to your own limited one, you feel even more than you ordinarily do the poignancy of every last grace that’s been lost. It’s like playing baseball with a bunch of twenty-year-olds. It isn’t that you feel twenty because you’re playing with them. You note the difference every second of the game.” — Philip Roth, The Dying Animal Today is Clint Eastwood’s birthday. Somewhere in Carmel he … Continue reading How long to sing this song? How long to sing this song?
There are people whose job includes the requirement–requirement!–that they sit down a few times a day and eat some freshly made Cheetos to make sure they’re up to snuff. And this, my friends, is what makes America great. There is more information to be had if you so desire. Continue reading All of these cheeses they happen to me
Gary Coleman was the first actor I knew by name. I’ve been mulling that over for the past day, and I think it’s true. He was a kid when I was a kid, but he was also a star. When I watched most TV shows at that time, I was thinking about them strictly in terms of characters–Archie Bunker or Arthur Fonzarelli. But when I watched Gary Coleman in something, I was always aware that I was watching him, a kid like me. I was eight-years-old when Diff’rent Strokes debuted on NBC, and even a little bit younger when I … Continue reading Gary Coleman, 1968 – 2010
Once I wrested myself away from the glum world of commercial radio in the late-nineties, I wanted to get back to what I loved about broadcasting in the first place. I wanted to discover new music, I wanted to build diverse playlists, I wanted to talk about artists that were worth talking about. My best bet was to find some sort of return to college radio. The opportunity came at Christmas. As fate would have it, the holidays found me trekking back to the central Wisconsin city where I went to college, and I knew from first-hand experience that there … Continue reading One for Friday: Abra Moore, “Four Leaf Clover”
