Playing Catch-Up — Devil’s Doorway; Split; Isle of Dogs
Devil’s Doorway (Anthony Mann, 1950). This nail-tough western from the heart of Anthony Mann’s career (released the same year as Winchester ’73) boldly examines vicious bigotry against Native Americans at a time when most Hollywood Westerns still cheerily trafficked in … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Devil’s Doorway; Split; Isle of Dogs
The New Releases Shelf — Boarding House Reach
From the jump, Jack White always had the air of huckster about him. That he kept his music shiny and new through regularly applications of snake oil wasn’t a problem. Indeed, it was a major part of the appeal. Through … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Boarding House Reach
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”
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. In the spring of 2007, few artists … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #940 to #937
940. Dead Kennedys, Frankenchrist (1985) Frankenchrist, the third album from Dead Kennedys, should have been a celebratory return to recording for a band that helped define hardcore punk. The group had withdrawn from active engagement with making their own music, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #940 to #937
From the Archive — X-Men: Last Stand
I thought by now I’d already transferred any and all writing I’ve done on superhero movies into this space, but it turns out I was mistaken. Perhaps it was a internalized defense mechanism preventing me from even taking a moment … Continue reading From the Archive — X-Men: Last Stand
One for Friday — The Avengers, “Everyone’s Gonna Wonder”
In the late nineteen-sixties, New Zealand club owner Ken Cooper wanted a house band. The patrons shuffling in and out of The Plaice were fans of psychedelic music, so that’s the sound Cooper sought, assembling a handful of local musicians … Continue reading One for Friday — The Avengers, “Everyone’s Gonna Wonder”
Greatish Performances #36
#36 — Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne in Ant-Man (Peyton Reed, 2015) As impressive as the Marvel Studios business model of craftily interlocking films has been (and markedly difficult for others to replicate), the actual cinematic quality of their … Continue reading Greatish Performances #36
Great Moments in Literature
“They had dozens of sexual partners before they married each other. Dance floor romances, Ibiza flings. The nineties, ecstatic decade! They were married though they needn’t have married, and though both had sworn they never would be. It is hard … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
My Misspent Youth — West Coast Avengers by Roger Stern and Bob Hall
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. When West Coast Avengers first hit comic shops, in the summer … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — West Coast Avengers by Roger Stern and Bob Hall
Laughing Matters — “Hulk Sell Cars”
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. There was a sad, … Continue reading Laughing Matters — “Hulk Sell Cars”
Coffee for Two 