Monsters having fun, happy, happy
I’ve already posted this elsewhere, but I like it enough that it’s worth including here. I made this. Because I feel that cast member of Sesame Street would be a good option for Michael Stipe now that R.E.M. is done. Continue reading Monsters having fun, happy, happy
Mighty Marvel Checklist HyperboleCheck: Captain America #131
The Marvel Age of Comics was marked by scintillating storylines full of careening colorful characters. Still, those four-color feasts might have gone unread if not for the pulchritudinous panache employed by the marketing mavens who put together the “Bullpen Bulletins” … Continue reading Mighty Marvel Checklist HyperboleCheck: Captain America #131
Top 40 Smash Taps: “Me and Bobby McGee”
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. By the time Janis Joplin’s famed version of “Me and Bobby McGee” was released, the song had already been recorded by Roger Miller, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Gordon Lightfoot, original songwriter Kris Kristofferson, Bill Haley and the Comets and Sam the Sham. And that was all in the year-and-a-half span after Miller’s initial recording of the song was … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Me and Bobby McGee”
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 2
2. 10,000 Maniacs, Blind Man’s Zoo Right from the top, there’s a unique detail regarding 90FM personnel that seems pertinent in considering the high placement, arguably unusually high placement, of the fourth full-length album from 10,000 Maniacs on the year-end … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 2
Spectrum Check
It felt like I had a far busier week with Spectrum than I actually did, but I know it’s because I was also scrambling to get ready for everything that needs to be written in the week ahead. In terms of what went up, my output was fairly modest. I had a new film review up, evaluating a documentary that managed to provide a breakneck recap of the evolution of the New York City club scene before segueing into a true crime story with unexpected doses of lurid elements. It’s one of those documentaries that can succeed by simply telling … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: The Candy Skins, “She Blew Me Away”
I find band names fascinating, especially considering the ways they can evolve over time to just feel like second nature. R.E.M. and U2 probably sounded a little odd at first, but they eventually developed natural associations with the bands and, in these instances, their distinctive sounds. I don’t even think about the other meaning of, say, the Jesus and Mary Chain. I also find it interesting when a band’s name can somehow completely convey the sound that’s going to be found on their records. Maybe I’m applying too much of the knowledge I already have rattling around in the record … Continue reading One for Friday: The Candy Skins, “She Blew Me Away”
Who’s gonna tell you when it’s too late
Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive was one of the true sensations of this year’s Cannes film festival. Though it may understandably seem otherwise, I don’t mean it as a knock when I note that I can completely understand that the contrast … Continue reading Who’s gonna tell you when it’s too late
The communication’s gone, something had to be so wrong and it must be Jesus calling
Thirty-second in a series… (Source) Continue reading The communication’s gone, something had to be so wrong and it must be Jesus calling
Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Fourteen
#14 — The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen, 1985) I noted at the start of this traipse through a decade of movies that these are the films that were arguably most formative for me. These were the films that … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Fourteen
You can get tangled in a ball of rubber bands and twine
I never read Moneyball, the 2003 nonfiction bestseller by Michael Lewis that serves as the source material for Bennett Miller’s long-awaited follow-up to the wonderful Capote, but I didn’t come into the film entirely blind either. The film focuses on … Continue reading You can get tangled in a ball of rubber bands and twine
