Now Playing: 10 Cloverfield Lane
10 Cloverfield Lane is the feature directorial debut of Dan Trachtenberg, and it credits John Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Whiplash filmmaker Damien Chazelle as crafters of the story and screenplay. And yet the name that looms over it is that of producer J.J. Abrams. This could be understandably explained by the studio’s enthusiasm to the film to the contributing creator who presided over the all-time top grossing film at the domestic box office, even if he achieved that particular inside-the-park home run after starting on third base. Instead, 10 Cloverfield Lane feels like it belongs to Abrams because it adheres to his … Continue reading Now Playing: 10 Cloverfield Lane
Bait Taken: The New York Times Magazine’s “25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music is Going”
There are many building blocks of the internet, but the cornerstones are think pieces, offhand lists, and other hollow provocations meant to stir arguments and, therefore, briefly redirect web traffic. Engaging such material is utterly pointless. Then again, it’s not like I have anything better to do. As I’m sure they secretly hoped, the outrage geysered up right away. The New York Times basically turned over the entirety of their most recent Sunday magazine to a feature entitled “25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music is Going,” which was further billed as “A One-Time Spectacular.” Though positioned as an intricately considered … Continue reading Bait Taken: The New York Times Magazine’s “25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music is Going”
Laughing Matters: “Saturday Night Live” Bush campaign ad, 1988
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 matters, too. Lorne Michaels smartly maintains that everyone’s favorite Saturday Night Live cast is the one that was in place while they were in high school. The creator and longtime producer (with only a brief interruption in the early nineteen-eighties) of the venerable late night sketch comedy program is certainly correct in identifying the perception bias that compromises any individual attempt to identify one era’s superiority over … Continue reading Laughing Matters: “Saturday Night Live” Bush campaign ad, 1988
College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 226 – 224
226. 10,000 Maniacs, “Peace Train” Ahead of recording In My Tribe, 10,000 Maniacs was noticeably struggling to get a foothold on commercial success, enough so that guitarist Robert Buck reported it stirred somewhat unique worries among his family: “My uncle Charlie read somewhere that we were a cult band so he thought we were playing for the Moonies. He even confronted me with it; he said, ‘Are you giving your money to the Moonies? Is that why you don’t have any money?’” The band’s label, Elektra Records, wasn’t worried about that particular problem, but they were anxious enough to see their … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 226 – 224
From the Archive: Wayne’s World
This is one of those films from my last year at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point for which I’m fairly certain I wrote full reviews for each of the outlets kind enough to allot space to my opinions, the student-run … Continue reading From the Archive: Wayne’s World
One for Friday: Timbuk 3, “National Holiday”
Well, this was bound to happen. After having cause and capability to revisit a college radio chart from 1989 that I helped craft (it was probably from somewhere around my one-year anniversary at the station), my mind’s been awhirl with thoughts of all the more obscure records on it. There were plenty of albums included there that have received at least periodic revisits from me over the years, but I’m currently more intrigued by those that were used to fill the airwaves during that particular week only to see them later fade almost entirely from my attention. Casting back to … Continue reading One for Friday: Timbuk 3, “National Holiday”
Does whatever a spider can
I’ve already punted once this week, but I took time earlier today when I should have been writing and made the video embedded here, so I’m sharing it everywhere I can. The Spider-Man cameo in the Captain America: Civil War trailer is fun. I can admit that. I still maintain my edit makes it even better. Continue reading Does whatever a spider can
My Misspent Youth: Avengers Annual #10 by Chris Claremont and Michael Golden
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. I believe I’ve used this space before to expound of my youthful susceptibility to Marvel Annuals, the double-sized bonus issues of the publisher’s most popular titles that arrived every summer. In addition, I was easily enticed by a cover that offered a series of seemingly unrelated incidents that offered a preview of what was inside, effectively promising that the events of the issue in question couldn’t be contained within a single image, … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Avengers Annual #10 by Chris Claremont and Michael Golden
Jesus loves a sinner but the highway loves a sin
Sixty-first in a series…. Continue reading Jesus loves a sinner but the highway loves a sin
Top 40 Smash Taps: “Bewildered,” “Get It Together, Part 1,” “Let a Man Come In and Do the Popcorn, Part 2” and “King Heroin”
These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. Throughout this life of this feature, I’ve featured several acts that wound up with two separate singles that peaked at #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. As best I can tell, only one artist accomplished the strange feat more than twice. Fittingly, it’s the person dubbed “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business” who did it, putting a total of four singles … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Bewildered,” “Get It Together, Part 1,” “Let a Man Come In and Do the Popcorn, Part 2” and “King Heroin”
Coffee for Two 