Trivia Answer of the Day: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
This weekend, I’ll participate in The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM. I’m a little preoccupied with preparations for that, including some significant travel. To provide some sense of the madness of minutiae that dominates my mind this week, I’ll return to … Continue reading Trivia Answer of the Day: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 80 and 79
80. Skinny Puppy, The Process I didn’t know that Skinny Puppy was still making music together as late as 1996. Maybe that’s because they barely were. The arduous process of recording The Process started in 1993, with the band intending … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 80 and 79
Spectrum Check
My efforts for Spectrum Culture this week began with an incredibly difficult movie to write about: Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color. The movie is so densely inscrutable that any attempt to summarize it (or even more daunting, to speculate on its meaning) is practically doomed to failure. I feel I did all right, but I’m actively looking forward to writing on what appears to be a fairly simple documentary for this coming week. On the music side, I wrote about the new album from Caitlin Rose, which is very solid. Though I didn’t make this comparison in the review, it reminded … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: Urge Overkill, “Sister Havana”
Though I like to think my musical tastes have diversified somewhat in recent years, two decades ago there was no surer pathway into my preferences than big, proud electric guitars. The Chicago band Urge Overkill was already on my radar for that very reason by the time they released their major label debut, Saturation, in 1993. Their prior effort, The Supersonic Storybook on Touch and Go, was championed by CMJ, the college radio trade publication, and I returned to it fairly regularly across my last few semesters as a student at the station. But Saturation, officially released just a couple … Continue reading One for Friday: Urge Overkill, “Sister Havana”
Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Thirty-Eight
#38 — The Miracle Worker (Arthur Penn, 1962) Much as I can exult in films that are edgy and daring, bending the very parameters of cinematic narrative–and these were in no short supply in the nineteen-sixties, thanks largely to the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Thirty-Eight
That Championship Season: Veronica Mars, Season One
As with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I was a latecomer to Veronica Mars. Frustratingly enough, it was my overt appreciation of Buffy that got in the way of me trying out Veronica Mars when it arrived to largely positive reviews. … Continue reading That Championship Season: Veronica Mars, Season One
Beers I Have Known: Rhinelander Bock
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. Going to college in a town with a beloved small town brewery inspired … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Rhinelander Bock
Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Thirty-Nine
#39 — Long Day’s Journey into Night (Sidney Lumet, 1962) Much as I admire and even love those films that are told with precise expertise, that lock firmly into place as they deliver their ideas, themes and passions, I maintain … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Thirty-Nine
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 82 and 81
82. Phish, Billy Breathes Honestly, I’m surprised this one isn’t higher. It’s not that I remember 90FM as having a particularly strong jam band bent back in the day (although, there was a fairly unfortunate early championing of the Spin … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 82 and 81
Spectrum Check
After the previous week’s logjam of reviews, I only had one piece go up at Spectrum Culture since the last “Spectrum Check.” Luckily, it was for a very good film, easily one of the best of the year thus far. Gimme the Loot is an exceptional feature debut from writer-director Adam Leon. I intentionally decided to avoid comparisons in the review, but I will note that I kept thinking it was exactly the sort of film Spike Lee might have made had he decided to follow his own debut, She’s Gotta Have It, by doggedly pursuing authenticity rather than opting … Continue reading Spectrum Check
