From the Archive: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Taken from my former online home. My affection for the Fantastic Four exceeds that for any other comic book superheroes, and yet I don’t believe for a second that they’re well-suited for live action adaption. If the reviews for the … Continue reading From the Archive: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
One for Friday: The Swimming Pool Q’s, “Laredo Radio”
I’ll admit to feeling fairly discombobulated today. While this is hardly the place to get into details, it’s been a strange day. Thus, I’m going to refrain from expounding at verbose length on today’s musical offering. Let’s just say I felt especially compelled to revisit this Atlanta band, previously featured in this space just about a year ago. It’s good stuff, friends. Listen or download –> The Swimming Pool Q’s, “Laredo Radio” (Disclaimer: This song originally appears on Blue Tomorrow, the 1986 album by the Swimming Pool Q’s. That’s out of print. It was also included on a Kickstarter-funded reissue/compilation a couple … Continue reading One for Friday: The Swimming Pool Q’s, “Laredo Radio”
Top 40 Smash Taps: “I’m Comin’ Home”
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. Tommy James spent plenty of time in the Billboard Top 40 when he was backed up by the Shondells. Debuting under the name Tommy James and the Shondells with the 1966 chart-topper “Hanky Panky” (a song they’d released at least twice previously without James’s name as prominent on the label), the group had a string of hit through the rest of the sixties, … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “I’m Comin’ Home”
My Misspent Youth: Iron Man #39 by Gerry Conway and Herb Trimpe
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. As I’ve acknowledged previously, my youthful commitment to Marvel Comics included a zestful excitement about researching the publisher’s comics from before I became a reader, which happened nearly twenty years into their history, giving me a lot to catch up on. I wanted to know the full scope of the continuity of the fictional tales, but I was also fascinated by the bevy of behind the scenes tales. Unlike their distinguished competition, … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Iron Man #39 by Gerry Conway and Herb Trimpe
Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Three
#23 — The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944) My general inclination is to look askance at films that overtly rely on cultural daring to make their impact. This isn’t always true, as the use of variants of “audacious” in any number of rave reviews will testify. Further, that policy softens significantly the earlier a film’s copyright date. There are instances where I can’t help but marvel at the material that was slipped past Hollywood’s strict codes. I’d like to think that my critical acumen remains heightened enough that I can see through the older films that are as hollow as … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Three
Beers I Have Known: Corona
This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. Technically, the name of the beer is Corona Extra, but who ever calls it that? Back in my college days and immediately thereafter, when any beer from outside the borders of the United States automatically registered with me and mine as an exotic indulgence, Corona was one of the prime brews for those of us looking to treat ourselves to a slightly posher experience. Adding to the misplaced sense of fancy was the … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Corona
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 18 and 17
18. Mike Watt, Ball-Hog or Tugboat? If on the last day of 1995 you had asked me to name the best album of the year, without hesitation I would have answered Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, the debut solo release of Mike Watt. I’m not entirely convinced I’d stand by the pinnacle placement now (besides being inclined toward the member of the legendary Minutemen and the shoulda-been-legendary Firehose, I was certainly committing to some bratty contrarianism as the record wasn’t championed in the music press nearly as much as I felt was merited), but I completely understand while it appealed to me. In … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 18 and 17
From the Archive: City Slickers
In picking old reviews that feel appropriate for unearthing in the warmer months, I’ve pulled twice previously from the edition of The Reel Thing, our bygone radio program, that looked back on the top-grossing films of summer 1991. So why not go ahead and complete the excavation of my portion of that particular show. City Slickers finished in the third position on the particular chart. It is with renewed amazement that I look at the numbers noted here, specifically that there were only three movies to cross the $100 million threshold that summer. Now if we have a summer in which only … Continue reading From the Archive: City Slickers
One for Friday: Lyle Lovett, “The Girl in the Corner”
Lyle Lovett and Julia Roberts had been divorced for over a year by the time his sixth album, The Road to Ensenada, was released. As a devoted fan of great breakup albums (and someone who has occasionally needed them like … Continue reading One for Friday: Lyle Lovett, “The Girl in the Corner”
Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Four
#24 — The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946) Some actors get it right from the very beginning. They find their onscreen persona, the approach to character that will run like a throbbing nerve through their entire career, unifying every role they play, no matter how disparate. To a degree, that can be chalked up to unfortunate pigeonholing, especially in the desperately safe era of the studio system, when constantly reinforcing audience expectations was the smartest strategy. The performer doesn’t land upon something in themselves so much as they’re forced to offer spectral repetition of the first thing they ever did, at … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Four
Coffee for Two 