Blitz, Miller, Newman, Rudolph, Thurman
Lucky (Jeffrey Blitz, 2010). After a middling sidetrack into fiction filmmaking, Blitz returns to the sort of quirky documentary that first earned him attention. Lucky is about lottery winners. Blitz follows the trajectories of several different individuals that became instant millionaires when a few kinetic ping pong balls bounced their way. While some of the asides are good, especially those that consider the incredible unlikelihood of actually striking it rich this way, Blitz struggles to find a clear narrative to give the film some structure and cohesion. It winds up instead as a smattering of human interest studios. Some are … Continue reading Blitz, Miller, Newman, Rudolph, Thurman
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 86 and 85
86. Love and Rockets, Love and Rockets The band Love and Rockets waited until their fourth full-length outing before going the self-titled route when it came to naming their album, which led to a few DJs up on the commercial … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 86 and 85
Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Thirteen
#13 — Short Cuts (Robert Altman, 1993) At its most distinctive and accomplished, Robert Altman’s signature style, marked by overlapping dialogue and sprawling assemblies of pointed characters, makes his films feel like they emerge rather than start. A fully-realized shared existence … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Thirteen
One for Friday: Jon Astley, “Put This Love to the Test”
Last week’s One for Friday post got me thinking about all of the songs about Janes, which rapidly led to me to the song that I often paired with The Icicle Works’ pop gem on the air. Trying to establish indie, college-radio-friendly cred in the late eighties with the last name Astley was as tricky then as it would be now. Even with an terrifically-titled debut album, the association to the unrelated Jon Astley and, by extension, his aggravating earworm of an anthem was going to be strong for some to even drop the needle and sample the music. It … Continue reading One for Friday: Jon Astley, “Put This Love to the Test”
She’ll dance and sing or even learn to fly
For consideration of Catherine Corsini’s Leaving, you’re going to need to look elsewhere today. Continue reading She’ll dance and sing or even learn to fly
But I come back in with coffee for three
Today is National Coffee Day! Blissful, wonderful coffee. Continue reading But I come back in with coffee for three
My Misspent Youth: Daredevil by Frank Miller
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. A few years ago I was working with a group of … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Daredevil by Frank Miller
Great Moments in Literature
“‘To find themselves utterly alone at night where company is desirable and expected makes some people fearful; but a case more trying by far to the nerves is to discover some mysterious companionship when intuition, sensation, memory, analogy, testimony, probability, induction–every kind of evidence in the logician’s list–have united to persuade consciousness that it is quite in isolation. ” –Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd, revised final version in 1912 “YOU’RE GREAT, HONEY! YOU’RE WASTED HERE! YOU DESERVE SOMETHING BETTER THAN A TYPEWRITER AND THIS SNEAKY CRUMB! GET YOURSELF A BIKINI AND START A CHAIN OF HEART ATTACKS AT … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 88 and 87
88. The Wonder Stuff, Hup Popping out albums at the same rapid tempo as much of the music that fills those releases, the U.K. band The Wonder Stuff unleashed their second effort on American audiences in the fall of 1989. … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 88 and 87
Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Fourteen
#14 — The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan, 1997) I tend to be hard on films that present narratives with fractured chronologies, but that’s only because I’ve seen the technique done perfectly, exactly right. Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter is based … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Fourteen
