A Week of Fridays: Sigmund Snopek III, “Thank God This Isn’t Cleveland”
I know few people as personally passionate about music as my friend Wayne Semmerling. He’s the sort of radio DJ, of which there are too few, who studies his playlists, trying to make certain that he’s crafting shows that are diverse, fresh and consistently entertaining. (He’s also been getting attention for his formidable culinary skills for years now, but that’s a different post.) He remains a fixture at the radio station I invoke so often in this space, and has tirelessly given of himself over the years to help keep the humble student-run outlet a vital part of the community. … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: Sigmund Snopek III, “Thank God This Isn’t Cleveland”
A Week of Fridays: Candyland, “Fountain O’ Youth”
I’ve gone record shopping with Steve Senski, and it’s like watching Albert Pujols hit or Ray Allen sink three-pointers. Actually, those comparisons, while accurate, don’t suit him very well. It’s like watching David Cronenberg arrange a mound of fleshy gore just so for a shot. That’s better. It’s like watching a master at work is my point. There was a time when he was devoted to owning every release listed in the fourth edition of the Trouser Press Record Guide, and he came shockingly close to the goal. He knows music, and knows it well. These days he presides over … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: Candyland, “Fountain O’ Youth”
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 40 and 39
40. Marshall Crenshaw, Good Evening Marshall Crenshaw is as well-known and widely respected for his skills as a songwriters as his is for his performing talent. With that being the case, it raised some eyebrows when his 1989 album Good … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 40 and 39
Spectrum Check
When last we did this check, I was a meager contributor to the Spectrum Culture site. This week was a far different matter, with my words cropping up all over the place. First, there was my latest contribution to our WTF feature. My previous outing, I opted for horror films, but this time I went for one that was scary in an entirely different way: Otto Preminger’s 1968 disaster Skidoo. If only I could have watched it anew before writing, but the Preminger estate works overtime to keep this one as far from the public eye as possible. Another bit … Continue reading Spectrum Check
A Week of Fridays: An Introduction
Tomorrow I leave for a week. I’m not going far, but, as a matter of choice, I’m not going to have access to the Wild West shootout that is The Interweb. I was in a similar situation right around this time last year, and I chose to let this site go dark for a week. After some consideration, I decided on a different approach this time around. For one thing, I don’t want to disrupt the marathon countdown that I’m right in the middle of. But I also wanted to use my absence as impetus to do something I’ve been … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: An Introduction
Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Forty-Two
#42 — The Fabulous Baker Boys (Steve Kloves, 1989) Michelle Pfeiffer had been working regularly in television and film for ten years before The Fabulous Baker Boys came around. And she’d certainly been noticed, giving performances of increasing prominence and … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Forty-Two
Boorman, Capra, Jarecki, Koster, Lang
No Highway in the Sky (Henry Koster, 1951). This murky little thriller casts James Stewart as an American engineer working with Great Britain’s Royal Aircraft Establishment. He’s convinced that the design of the flagship Reindeer airliner is tragically flawed, causing the tail to fall off after a certain number of hours in flight. His worries comes to an head when he’s taking a transatlantic journey on the plane in question and discovers it’s nearing the fatal number of logged hours. It’s a fun premise, but the film unfortunately lacks either the ratcheted up suspense of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller or … Continue reading Boorman, Capra, Jarecki, Koster, Lang
The Unwatchables: Alice in Wonderland
No director is in more dire need of a change of pace than Tim Burton. He needs some little story with two, maybe three characters just sitting around a simple, largely unadorned room. They should talk to one another, quiet little chats about their place in the world. There should be no music score and no special effects. Maybe then, just maybe, he’d be able to find his way back to making a movie with an ounce of humanity in it again. Until then, it’s safe to presume that he’ll follow his worrisome trend of grabbing onto well-established properties and … Continue reading The Unwatchables: Alice in Wonderland
Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Forty-Three
#43 — The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman, 1983) In 1957, The Soviet Union launched the satellite dubbed Sputnik into orbit around the Earth, setting of a practically unprecedented surge in scientific endeavor within the boundaries of the United States. The … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Forty-Three
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 42 and 41
42. Government Cheese, Three Chords, No Waiting There are a few ways to gauge how serious a band is about truly honoring the gods of rock ‘n’ roll each and every time they step on stage. If one of the … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 42 and 41
