Image via Wikipedia"People had become so identified with Bob Dylan, a certain Bob Dylan, that his move away from that image they had of him forced them to do the one thing that they didn't want to do, which is to question themselves. And when they questioned themselves, they went crazy. They went … [Read more...]
ALBUM ART: OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
...Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that rock album art gave generations of suburban adolescents in the 1970s and '80s their first exposure to surrealism and open-ended narrative? The cover of Hejira presented the lightly cultured teenager I was then with a visual puzzle that absorbed me in a … [Read more...]
BOOK WITHOUT A PLUG
NOWHERE BOY
EIGHT REASONS TO SEE NOWHERE BOY Aaron Johnson's thoughtful-anarchic 16-year-old John Lennon, young enough to blush.Kristin Scott-Thomas's ferociously understated Aunt Mimi, a broadax in pearls.Anne-Marie Duff as Julia Stanley, John's natural mother, whose guilt smothers him with too much and … [Read more...]
UNHEAR IT SOLID
Because the unconscious radio can be an unruly beast: Unhearit. After you click there, think "Doo-doo-dit-dit Doo-doo-dit-dit T-J Max!" (via Netted by the Webbys...)Related articles by ZemantaSticky Song Solvers - 'Unhear It' Will Fix that Horrible Chorus Stuck in Your Head (trendhunter.com)Got … [Read more...]
UNDERDEVELOPED NATION STATUS: US
Chilean Economist Manfred Max-Neef … [Read more...]
WEAK FILM, TERRIFIC CLOSING CREDITS
The Other Guys, end title sequence by Picture Mill The Other Guys, end title sequence by Picture Mill … [Read more...]
PAVEMENT, FOOTNOTE EDITION (KEITH HARRIS)
Image via WikipediaOne last time: The thing about Pavement isn't that they chose diffidence, or irony, or aloof distance (or whatever other residual Gen-X cliché you're compelled to recycle) as an aesthetic posture. It's that they seemed to find themselves, like lots of us, inherently diffident, and … [Read more...]
JAMES LEVINE CHASES HIS OWN GHOST
Image via WikipediaFrom Daniel Wakin's NYTimes report on James Levine's podium return (September 17): Despite evidence that working too hard in the past has contributed to his health problems, Mr. Levine, 67, is scheduled for a nightmarish week in October. He will lead the Boston orchestra … [Read more...]
DAVID THOMSON ON THE WIZARD OF OZ
Image via WikipediaFrom David Thomson's Have You Seen...? A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films:The song [Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," which Louis B. Mayer had tried to cut] is in the film. It won the Oscar for Best Song that year. And I think it is the moment … [Read more...]
BEATLES VS. STONES, OLDHAM REFS
Funny, I never would have taken John Schaefer for a Stones perv. But there it is: (Or click here to listen, from podcast riley.) … [Read more...]
SLEEVAGE: MINIMALIST ALBUM COVERS
Related articles by ZemantaMinimalist 1960s redesigns of classic album covers (boingboing.net)New and Notable: Hard Ton (albumartexchange.com)Paint My Album on Flickr (albumartexchange.com)Movie Posters Using Shapes Straight Lines - Minimalistically Geeky (geekpinoy.com)Noel McKay: vintage (vinyl) … [Read more...]
NIXONLAND: EBOOKS OF ALTIMIRA
A vastly entertaining and meticulously documented narrative detailing the fear and loathing behind the Bush-bashing bumper sticker from a couple years back: "I never thought I'd miss Nixon..." Why do the most advanced, "enhanced" ebooks already seem prehistoric? Nixonland accomplishes the crudest … [Read more...]
CROP CONUNDRUMS
From the Telegraph, August 25: "Last year was a bumper year for fantastically elaborate, large crop formations - 70 or so, many within spitting distance of the Barge and one taking three nights to fully emerge - and in early August this year, more than 45 had been reported. And, remarkably, in June … [Read more...]
MORE ON INCEPTION: LAYERED SPHERES
Image via WikipediaWhat I meant when I called Inception "the Citizen Kane of video games," in a good way: The problem with comparing Inception to a video game, which is pretty unavoidable, is that even people who should know better are conditioned to assume said comparison is pejorative. It isn't if … [Read more...]