My Misspent Youth — Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan
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. At the time I started reading superhero comics, figuring out how … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan
The New Releases Shelf — Warm
“I break bricks with my heart/ Only a fool would call it art,” Jeff Tweedy sings on “Some Birds,” a track from his new album, Warm. In the most accurate determination, the album is Tweedy’s proper solo debut, though it’s … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Warm
Playing Catch-Up — Diary of a Country Priest; Pacific Rim: Uprising; The Rider
Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951). A feat of cinematic austerity, this French drama follows a youthful man of the cloth (Claude Laydu) as he struggles presiding over a rural parish populated by congregants who dismiss him or … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Diary of a Country Priest; Pacific Rim: Uprising; The Rider
Laughing Matters — Saturday Night Live, “Colon Blow”
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. Due to an earlier … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Saturday Night Live, “Colon Blow”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #812 to #809
812. China Crisis, Working with Fire and Steel (1983) It is probably a fair measure of the rather arch sensibility of the band China Crisis that the subtitle of their sophomore album is Possible Pop Songs Volume Two. In any … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #812 to #809
From the Archive — Friends
On the occasion of Netflix sending about seventeen boxcars crammed with small bills in the direction of WarnerMedia to keep streaming rights to Friends, this was my attempt a few years ago at writing about the bygone hit sitcom, as … Continue reading From the Archive — Friends
One for Friday — A House, “Call Me Blue”
Thirty years ago, in the autumn of 1988, Irish band A House released their debut album, On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round. Formed in Dublin, largely by old school chums, A House had enough success in their local environs — including … Continue reading One for Friday — A House, “Call Me Blue”
The New Releases Shelf — A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships
I will admit upfront that I don’t quite know what to make of the 1975. Now three full-length albums into their career (with another promised within the next six months or so), not much music from the Manchester band has … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships
Now Playing — Burning
Burning begins as a young man name Jongsu (Ah-in Yoo) makes his way through a busy Seoul street. Outside of one of the storefronts, two women are hyping the business to the crowd, and one of them, Haemi (Jong-seo Jun), … Continue reading Now Playing — Burning
Playing Catch-Up — Z for Zachariah; These Wilder Years; The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Z for Zachariah (Craig Zobel, 2015). Based on a Robert C. O’Brien science fiction novel published in the nineteen-seventies, Z for Zachariah takes a somber approach to post-apocalyptic storytelling. Ann Burden (Margot Robbie) is living alone on a farm, maintaining … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Z for Zachariah; These Wilder Years; The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
