The New Releases Shelf — Muna
What if getting dropped by a major label is the best thing that could possibly happen? Maybe Muna could have found their way to the current version of their collective creative self under the corporate yoke of RCA Records, but … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Muna
Top Ten Television, 2021-2022 season
Here we are. Tomorrow morning, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announces their nominees for the seventy-fourth Primetime Emmy Awards. Per usual, I use the occasion to fill my little corner of the digital world with my personal choice … Continue reading Top Ten Television, 2021-2022 season
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #173 to #171
173. Steve Forbert, Jackrabbit Slim (1979) Like a lot of young songwriters, Steve Forbert mostly told his own story on his debut LP, Alive on Arrival. A year later, when it was time to deliver his sophomore effort, the Meridian, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #173 to #171
Outside Reading — As American as the Fourth of July edition
Guns on Parade by Henry GrabarMuch as I think it’s broadly acknowledged that the constant cycle of gun violence, especially as perpetrated against average people simply going about their days, is dispiriting and exhausting, I sometimes do think enough attention … Continue reading Outside Reading — As American as the Fourth of July edition
This Week’s Model — Rat Tally, “Longshot”
Look, I am who I am. Much as I earnestly strive to diversify my musical tastes, becoming genuinely enraptured by blipping, blooping tunes I would have been quick to disregard in the past, there are certain sounds that are going … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Rat Tally, “Longshot”
My Misspent Youth — Thor: The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. I get that Chris Hemsworth (with a key, late-breaking assist from … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Thor: The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee
Medium Rotation — Portrait of a Lady; Endless Rooms; A Bit of Previous
SHILPA RAY Portrait of a Lady (Northern Spy) — Now seems like the ideal time for a take-no-shit woman howling lyrics of feminist dissatisfaction, doesn’t it? If Shilpa Ray doesn’t quite go full riot grrrl on Portrait of a Lady, … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Portrait of a Lady; Endless Rooms; A Bit of Previous
Laughing Matters — The Ben Stiller Show, “Skank Goes Blind”
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. Because even Skank got … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Ben Stiller Show, “Skank Goes Blind”
That Championship Season — America to Me, Season One
The July 1936 issue of Esquire magazine included a poem by Langston Hughes titled “Let America be America Again.” A meaty treatise on how the most treasured principles of the American dream are forever out of reach to certain citizens … Continue reading That Championship Season — America to Me, Season One
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #176 to #174
176. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Goodbye Cruel World (1984) Elvis Costello was through with the Attractions. The relationship between Costello and his backing back had been souring for some time, and he reached the conclusion that continuing on was … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #176 to #174
Coffee for Two 