Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-One
#21 — Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943) Family is a twisty, tricky thing. For Charlie (Teresa Wright), a cheery teenager in a small California town, the imminent arrival of her uncle, also named Charlie (Joseph Cotten), is cause for rejoicing. The two have an obvious connection through their shared nickname (he’s Charles, she’s Charlotte), but there are hints at other parallels, with director Alfred Hitchcock framing them in similar ways in their respective introductions. The connection is positioned as profound, which of course only serves to make an eventual spiritual betrayal all the more harsh. Shadow of a … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-One
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 14 and 13
14. Primus, Tales from the Punchbowl Tales from the Punchbowl is probably the delineation point that brought Primus to punky, bratty funk rockers to a trio fully prepared to embrace the jammy indulgence of post-prog rock. There were still curdled dollops of juvenilia, most notably in lead single “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver,” but the trio was just as likely to wrench their signature sound into the sprawling, shifting soundscapes “Professor Nutbutter’s House of Treats” and “Southbound Pachyderm.” Adding to the sense that they were ready to start crafting soundtracks to go with especially warped versions of one of Roger Dean’s vistas was the eventual existence of … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 14 and 13
Programming Note
I have limits. I may not be hitting one of them yet, but I’m nudging up against it. So I’m going to give this space a little bit of a late summer break. We will return with the College Countdown next Sunday, August 23rd. Continue reading Programming Note
Great Moments in Literature
“I go back to the porch and stand there for a minute. The sky is darker. I can see a firefly or two. One of the little boys in the neighborhood passes by on his bike, all shiny blue, with training wheels on the back. There are streamers on the handlbars. The cat that kills birds walks by. I’ve been known to fill a water pistol and squirt the cat when nobody’s looking. I’ve also turned the hose on it. It walks on the edge of our lawn. I know just what it’s thinking.” –Ann Beattie, “Home to Marie,” 1986 … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Two
#22 — The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) I need to begin with a confession. As might occasionally be the case in a lifelong journey through film, I was initially wrong about The Third Man. First encountering it in a college film class (or, to be more precise, an English class taught by a movie-crazy professor who found a way to wrangle her passion into three credits worth of her teaching load), I found Carol Reed’s lush film noir to be, well, dull. It’s too long ago for me to pinpoint what triggered this reaction, especially when refracted through my later … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Two
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 16 and 15
16. Soul Asylum, Let Your Dim Light Shine In a fairly unique situation, know exactly where I was when I first heard Soul Asylum’s Let Your Dim Light Shine. I was crammed into a booth at The Plaza Tavern, a landmark to certain boozy souls in Madison, Wisconsin and home of the “world famous” Plazaburger, commiserating with the handful of pals who’d joined me there for a listening party sponsored by the “New Rock Alternative” commercial radio station where I was working at the time. I’d been assigned to staff this particular remote, which was supposed to be a boon … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 16 and 15
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
