One for Friday: The A-Sides, “Cinematic”
“Cinematic” by the A-Sides is the first song listed in my iTunes. When I start it up at the beginning or the day or slip over to the “Music” list on my iPod, that’s the first song I see. It is the only song I have from the band, a group of indie rockers from Philadelphia. It’s off of Silver Storms, their sophomore effort and sole release for Vagrant. One year later, they announced the dissolution of the band (on their MySpace page, to put the moment in music business history in proper perspective). I like the song, but I’m … Continue reading One for Friday: The A-Sides, “Cinematic”
My Misspent Youth: Marvel and DC Present by Chris Claremont and Walter Simonson
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 was always on the lookout for things that were true … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Marvel and DC Present by Chris Claremont and Walter Simonson
Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twenty-Four
#24 — Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) Search “Touch of Evil” on Google, and the info box that pops up on the right side of the screen lists its release date as September 11, 1998, even as the synopsis … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twenty-Four
Top 40 Smash Taps: “Ain’t It True”
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. Back before he became the poster boy for Branson, Missouri milquetoast schtick and one of the more famous doddering parrots of Fox News petrified nonsense, Andy Williams was a velvet-voiced singer with a string of hits, a sort of safe alternative to those who were were likely to clutch their metaphorical (or, indeed, actual) pearls whenever they heard the raw, reckless sounds coming … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Ain’t It True”
Bayona, Lang, Moore, Sturges, Webb
The Impossible (Juan Antonio Bayona, 2012). At the very core of The Impossible is the commonplace sin of depicting a real-life tragedy in an Asian land through the experience of well-to-do, white, European travelers. The devastating tsunami that struck countries on the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 killed approximately a quarter of a million people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, but its obviously rich vacationers played by Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor whose story whose story needs to be told. This could be acceptable–albeit begrudgingly so–if the film still carried the sort of emotional weight that should … Continue reading Bayona, Lang, Moore, Sturges, Webb
College Countdown, The First CMJ Album Chart, 3
3. Yes, Tormato The very first lyrics heard on the Yes album Tormato are “In the fountains of the universe: Set time in accord/ Sits the boychild Solomon: Every turning round and round,” sung over electronic trilling that sounds heavily … Continue reading College Countdown, The First CMJ Album Chart, 3
From the Archive: Edward Scissorhands
We started our movie review radio program, The Reel Thing, in the fall of 1990, which meant that we had to contend with the still expanding market of home video. That was how a significant number of people did their movie viewing, and the home video release of a film could be as important of a story as its first sojourn through theaters. Besides, doing home video reviews helped us fill a few more minutes in an hour-long show. Now, I wish we’d more often used the opportunity of another review a few months later to find a way to … Continue reading From the Archive: Edward Scissorhands
One for Friday: Firewater, “She’s the Mistake”
I’ve featured a selection from Firewater’s Psychopharmacology one before in this space. As I noted at the time, the album was one of the first I bought from the finest local, independently-owned record store in my new hometown at the time. Even though I owned it and it was circulated through my CD player with some regularity, I was still reminded of the way that being involved in a college radio station had the blessing of prolonged, collaborative discovery. The Firewater album did all right for us, with most deejays (myself included) gravitating to the snaky, catchy title cut. Then … Continue reading One for Friday: Firewater, “She’s the Mistake”
I reached the top and had to stop and that’s what bothering me
When we arrived for a screening of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, my partner in all things requested two tickets to “Angry Monkeys.” It took the ticket seller a beat or two to catch on, but once he … Continue reading I reached the top and had to stop and that’s what bothering me
Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twenty-Five
#25 — An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951) As far as MGM was concerned, there was an element of risk to letting director Vincente Minnelli team up with Gene Kelly for the musical An American Paris. Though proven commodities, they’d … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twenty-Five
