College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #984 to #981
984. UB40, 1980-1983 (1983) The early nineteen-eighties was a good time to be dishing out gentle, reggae-influenced pop in the U.K. The band UB40 started germinating around 1978, when Ali Campbell took the compensatory award he received after enduring a … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #984 to #981
From the Archive — Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood has a new film out. It is not being especially well-received. In general, I’ve long found the movie critic discourse around Eastwood’s directorial career to be a little perplexing. I’ve liked many of his films, including proud placement of a few on various lists of laudatory accomplishment. But to refer to Eastwood as one of the great filmmakers (I remember at least once critic, circa Mystic River, positing that Eastwood was the greatest American director then working) requires turning a blind eye to a lot of flawed material, even if one generously ignores the absolute worst efforts. I think … Continue reading From the Archive — Flags of Our Fathers
One for Friday — Meryn Cadell, “The Sweater”
As we come upon the time when exhaustive discussion of the Winter Olympics swamps out all other topics for a couple of weeks (with the sartorial and broadcasting stylings of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir the only aspect of the … Continue reading One for Friday — Meryn Cadell, “The Sweater”
Top Ten Movies of 2017 — Number Seven
There is a truism of storytelling that I think uniquely consistent in its accuracy: Intense specificity is the key to creating a fiction that is strikingly universal. I well remember 1983, the year in which Call Me By Your Name … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2017 — Number Seven
Playing Catch-Up — From Beyond the Grave; The Family Fang; Black Mass
From Beyond the Grave (Kevin Connor, 1974). Drawn from the horror short stories of British author Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes, this anthology film from the macabre minds at Hammer Studios offer a quartet of twisty tales of supernaturally-charged comeuppance, all of them … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — From Beyond the Grave; The Family Fang; Black Mass
Top Ten Movies of 2017 — Number Eight
These days, The Washington Post is demonstrating no reluctance in their insistence on the primacy of a free and robust press in a healthy republic. “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is the motto emblazoned on their masthead in a direct rebuke … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2017 — Number Eight
John Mahoney, 1940 – 2018
There’s a moment in the Joel and Ethan Coen’s Barton Fink that I’ve treasured since I first saw it. In the scene, John Mahoney plays W.P. Mayhew, a character seemingly modeled on William Faulkner (though the Coens deny this). Mayhew … Continue reading John Mahoney, 1940 – 2018
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #988 – #985
988. Jefferson Starship, Modern Times (1981) It’s easy — and given the inferior quality of the latter iteration — to view Jefferson Starship as the inconsequential afterthought of Jefferson Airplane, but that group lasted longer and released more albums, even … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #988 – #985
From the Archive — Groundhog Day
This old review should have really posted yesterday. Then again, Groundhog Day in repeat is somewhat fitting. This was written for The Pointer, the student newspaper at UW-Stevens Point. The minor reservation expressed in the last paragraph is baffling to … Continue reading From the Archive — Groundhog Day
One for Friday — The Dictators, “Next Big Thing”
I have been writing weekly College Countdown posts for many years by now. Depending on the chart — and of course the position on said chart — my commitment to listening to can deliver some rough material into my ears. … Continue reading One for Friday — The Dictators, “Next Big Thing”
Coffee for Two 