College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 22 and 21
#22 — Throwing Muses, University Throwing Muses took a complicated path to University, their sixth studio album. Though this was their second release without departed member Tanya Donelly, by then landing on the cover of Rolling Stone with her band Belly, most of the reviews remained preoccupied with her absence. This album also sat on the shelf for over a year, as Sire Records, eternally perplexed about how to turn this critically-acclaimed band into a commercial success, decided it would fare better if it arrived after the solo album lead singer and chief creative force Kristin Hersh recorded in close chronological proximity … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 22 and 21
From the Archive: Iron Man
Again, I’m opting for a timely selection for this week’s rummaging through my older writing, plucking a review from my former online home. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe expands for another highly unlikely hero to saunter in (“An Ant-Man movie?” … Continue reading From the Archive: Iron Man
One for Friday: Ranking Roger, “So Excited”
Sometimes I marvel at all the different ways my college radio station introduced me to new music. There are the obvious ones, of course: combing through the walls of records, chatting with fellow deejays about their more obscure favorites, just plainly listening to station as much as I could. There was another method that I’m confident is fairly prevalent at college radio station to this day. I learned about music from the posters on the wall. Our station was flooded with promotional materials from the various labels and distribution agencies and just about anything that could get tacked up on … Continue reading One for Friday: Ranking Roger, “So Excited”
My Misspent Youth: What If? #6 by Roy Thomas, Jim Craig, and Rick Hoberg
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 started reading superhero comics at almost the precise time that collecting back issues evolved from something that might be done when the easy opportunity arose (like finding a stack of beat-up old issues at a garage sale) to an integral part of the pursuit, facilitated by the rise of shops specializing in the form. Madison’s Capital City Comics had first opened its door a few years earlier, and it was like … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: What If? #6 by Roy Thomas, Jim Craig, and Rick Hoberg
It keeps me company when nobody else is around and I’m all by myself
As per tradition (see below), the eve of the Emmy Award nominations brings me to my own humble assertion of the best of the past year in television, using the same traditional network season timespan that the awards-giving body still prefers. As usual, plenty of caveats apply. I’m pretty well-viewed when it comes to television, but there are plenty of acclaimed series that I don’t watch. Someday, when I finally catch up on some of them, I might regret that I posted these lists without, say, Mad Men on the tally (I should’ve celebrated Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake a … Continue reading It keeps me company when nobody else is around and I’m all by myself
Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Six
#26 — Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948) At the midpoint of this particular countdown, this is the fourth Howard Hawks film included. It says something significant about the director that each has belonged to a distinctly different genre. Sure, there’s a little bit of film noir blood running through both To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep, but the former is a wartime drama and the latter a detective story, the shared pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall making them seem more similar than they really are. The other film covered thus far, His Girl Friday, can make a … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty-Six
Great Moments in Literature
“‘Well, Tommy,’ he said, pulling on his Albert-Einstein-riding-an-invisible-bicycle sweatshirt, ‘the fact is that most childhood fears that carry on into adulthood tend to be sexual in nature. Particularly, I would think, if they have to do with monkeys.’” –Bradley Denton, Lunatics, 1996 “NEW YORK IN AUGUST. THE VERY BEST TIME NOT TO PLAN A TRIP TO FUN CITY, AS ITS EX-MAYOR USED TO CALL IT…BEFORE HE GOT OUT! THE TEMPERATURE RARELY DROPS BELOW EIGHTY…THE AIR HANGS HAZY AND BURNS IF IT GETS IN YOUR EYES…AND THE CLOSEST THING TO RAIN IS THE SCATTERED DRIPPING OF EIGHT MILLION AIR CONDITIONERS. NEW … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 24 and 23
24. Everclear, Sparkle and Fade When I was at the height of my imperious, combative, disgruntled twenties, my contrarian streak could lead me to come dubious judgments, at least where new music was concerned. For example, while there’s some haziness around this memory (many of my most spirited music debates took place in the wee hours of beer-soaked evenings), I expended some of my taste capital announcing to whoever had the misfortune to be across the table that Everclear was one of the more underrated bands on the day and their 1995 release, Sparkle and Fade, deserved prominent mention in … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 24 and 23
From the Archive: Knocked Up
Now seems an opportune time to retrieve one of the old reviews of a Judd Apatow film that I wrote for an online site, but not this one. My original plan was to post my take on The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which I remember as one of my first stabs at reviving my film criticism for the brave new digital age. It was, but there’s barely anything to the review. It not’s even worth a hyperlink. By the time Apatow’s sophomore directorial effort arrived, I was more clearly back in the realm of full-length reviews. If you want to understand why writer-director … Continue reading From the Archive: Knocked Up
One for Friday: Ednaswap, “Torn”
By the summer of 1998, the song “Torn” was practically unavoidable. I used to join a friend on an annual summertime jaunt intended to hit as many Major League ballparks as we could over a long weekend. While we always made sure the vehicle was stocked with plenty of mix tapes (competitively so), part of the ritual was scanning through local radio, including carefully cataloging which songs we heard the most. On that trip, “Torn” was the clear winner (though, to be fair, we likely zipped right past “The Boy is Mine,” which topped the Billboard charts for essentially the … Continue reading One for Friday: Ednaswap, “Torn”
Coffee for Two 