Laughing Matters — League of Extraordinary Freelancers
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. If there was any … Continue reading Laughing Matters — League of Extraordinary Freelancers
The New Releases Shelf — All Mirrors
I don’t believe there’s another current performer who’s simultaneously otherworldly and vehemently down-to-earth in quite the same way as Angel Olsen. Part of the equation is fairly easy to work out. Olsen specializes in melding spare, airy music with words that … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — All Mirrors
Playing Catch-Up — La Pointe Courte; Boy Erased; Stan & Ollie
La Pointe Courte (Agnès Varda, 1955). Three years before Claude Chabrol’s Le Beau Serge, the film usually cited as the beginning of the French New Wave, Agnès Varda delivered this film that certainly flaunts a lot of the hallmarks of … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — La Pointe Courte; Boy Erased; Stan & Ollie
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #636 to #633
636. Dead Milkmen, Eat Your Paisley! (1986) Any act that nabs a sizable amount of attention with a novelty hit faces a distinct challenge. The fundamental nature of a single that earns airplay because of its comedic uniqueness is a … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #636 to #633
Outside Reading — The Orr Stratagem edition
The cleverness of stupidity by Tom Whyman Drawing a few sharp illustrative examples from classic literature (including a ruse that leads to escape from the military for Orr in Catch-22), Tom Whyman shows how defiant rejection of learning is a … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Orr Stratagem edition
This Week’s Model — Omni, “Courtesy Call”
Hailing from Atlanta, the band Omni plays in a style that leaves me fairly helpless. In the most succinct description, Omni plays post-punk, placing their retro sound quite squarely in the chronological territory that loomed very large — and was … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Omni, “Courtesy Call”
The Unwatchables — Welcome to Marwen
I assume the creative team behind Welcome to Marwen operated with the best intentions. The 2018 film is adapted from Jeff Malmberg’s well-respected 2010 documentary, Marwencol, which centered on Mark Hogancamp and the therapeutic value he derived from developing a … Continue reading The Unwatchables — Welcome to Marwen
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Back Up Train”
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. Palmer James and Curtis Rodgers were high … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Back Up Train”
My Writers — Molly Young
Despite the fact that I myself chose to sling my words around in the echoing void of the web wide enough to engulf the whole world, it took me a remarkably long time to land on the revelation that I … Continue reading My Writers — Molly Young
The Art of the Sell — Alien movie poster
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. When it came time to create a poster for its strange new horror film in space, 20th … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Alien movie poster
Coffee for Two 