College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #473 to #471
473. Wang Chung, Points on the Curve (1984) When Geffen Records signed Huang Chung, there was an immediate suggestion about the band’s name. They could keep it, but a change of spelling was advised, prompted in part by a noticed … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #473 to #471
Outside Reading — Summer Playhouse edition
A Plea to the TV Networks: Please Release Your Unaired Pilots by Ben Lindbergh I apologize to everyone. There have been many times when I’ve openly mused that it would be nice if we had an extended break creation of … Continue reading Outside Reading — Summer Playhouse edition
This Week’s Model — Phoebe Bridgers and Courtney Barnett, “Everything is Free”
Some weeks I am diligent and devoted, scouring as much of the superhighway of information as I possibly can in hunt of the new song that speaks deeply to me in that particular moment. Some weeks I find a song and the process is immediately, unquestionably complete. This week is one of the latter. I mean, come on. Continue reading This Week’s Model — Phoebe Bridgers and Courtney Barnett, “Everything is Free”
The Long Haul — Kelsey Grammer in Cheers and Frasier
These posts are about great acting performances sustained across the full run of a television series. When Dr. Frasier Crane first bellied up to a certain Boston, below-ground bar, there was no inkling that the character would be a fixture … Continue reading The Long Haul — Kelsey Grammer in Cheers and Frasier
Then Playing — Laggies; This Changes Everything; Buck and the Preacher
Laggies (Lynn Shelton, 2014). There are other films that depict a twenty-something character’s panicked retreat from the looming responsibility of adulthood, but few make the minor insurrection as charmingly pathetic as Laggies. Directed by Lynn Shelton (working from someone else’s … Continue reading Then Playing — Laggies; This Changes Everything; Buck and the Preacher
Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Twenty-Two
#22 — Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012) Michael Haneke is not gentle with viewers. The Austrian filmmaker built his formidable reputation with material that dwells, to different degrees, on the significant cruelties human beings exact on one another. The appalling instincts … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Twenty-Two
Then Playing — Bad Education; The Story of Temple Drake; Rocketman
Bad Education (Cory Finley, 2020). Based on a real incident, as reported in a New York article, Bad Education is a portrait of criminal greed dressed up as glad-handling public duty. Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman) is the superintendent of a … Continue reading Then Playing — Bad Education; The Story of Temple Drake; Rocketman
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #476 to #474
476. Love Tractor, This Ain’t No Outer Space Ship (1986) The early nineteen-eighties was a good time for a band to ply their trade in Athens, Georgia. In addition to an especially fertile club scene, boosted by a college crowd … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #476 to #474
Outside Reading — Breathing Lessons edition
COVID-19 should encourage creative reform in higher education by John McNay I’ve previously used my little corner of the digital world to share articles that detail the opportunity of the current moment, the clearing of stagnant practices that would allow … Continue reading Outside Reading — Breathing Lessons edition
This Week’s Model — Ela Minus, “megapunk”
Hypnotic and steely, the new single from Ela Minus is a forceful techno anthem for our wounded times. Born in Bogota and based in Brooklyn, Minus makes music with an impeccable sense of craft, layering on airy, rich vocals that … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Ela Minus, “megapunk”
Coffee for Two 