Author: Dan Seeger

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Great Moments in Literature

Dan Seeger

“I tried to give advice, I really did. Nothing too complicated. Like, Stop hollering at strange girls on the street, and don’t bring up the Beyonder any more than necessary. Did he listen? Of course not! Trying to talk sense to Oscar about girls was like trying to throw rocks at Unus the Untouchable. Dude was impenetrable. He’d hear me out and then shrug. Nothing else has any efficacy, I might as well be myself.” –Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, 2007 “NEVER HAVE I HEARD SUCH WORDS…SENSED SUCH COURAGE…OR KNOWN THIS STRANGE FEELING…THIS NEW EMOTION…! THERE … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature

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One for Friday: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, “Wig in a Box”

Dan Seeger

Yesterday, I wrote some unkind things about the central Florida city that was my home for six years. In the interest of equal time, I should allow that there were plenty of places down there that we did like, that, in fact, I’ve missed since we’ve moved on. There are some good bars, BBQ shacks, and at least one constantly evolving coffee shop. There’s also a very nice movie theater that was our first real exposure to the sort of full-service evening out that is becoming more common in the land of moviegoing. The Enzian was probably the first place … Continue reading One for Friday: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, “Wig in a Box”

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It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights

Dan Seeger

Lately, Pitchfork has been doing what any sensible collective of media-obsessed opinion-slingers do in a year that ends with a nine: creating lengthy lists of the very best of the past ten years. This is naturally cause for some consternation and second-guessing (as well as appreciation, which is more rarely expressed). Their list of the “Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s” yielded a succinct and appropriate reaction from a good friend of mine and wise music observer, so I feel no need to add to the discussion. As for the recently issued Top 50 Music Videos of the 2000s, I … Continue reading It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights

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A new-wave Hollywood where everybody’s good but not great

Dan Seeger

Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa, 1957). You probably don’t need me to tell you this is masterful. Kurosawa’s adaptation of Macbeth is raw, muscular, urgent. Revisioning it to accommodate samurai doesn’t deepen or otherwise change the story in any dramatic way. It really just winds up being a different way to tell it, letting the natural power of the story emerge. (Sometimes this sort of thing can get tripped up by its own trickiness, even when well done like the version of Richard III starring and partially orchestrated by Ian McKellen.) Toshiro Mifune brings exactly the right intensity to the … Continue reading A new-wave Hollywood where everybody’s good but not great

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One for Friday: Concrete Blonde, “Carry Me Away”

Dan Seeger

Now it seems that any indie-inclined band or performer that concocts a bright song around a clever hook can get massive exposure on a commercial for a hip automobile or a sleek Apple product. That wasn’t the case when I was in college. This was in part because the bands the filled the programming hours at our student-run radio station were still operating under the notion that during their songs into jingles was the pinnacle of selling out, but it was largely attributable to disinterest in connecting to youth culture through the cult hits that received little exposure apart from … Continue reading One for Friday: Concrete Blonde, “Carry Me Away”