SOFT FEATURE, SOFT EDIT Inexplicably missing from Rob Walker's report on Brand Underground are sites like Threadless, where you get to make up your own slogans and vote for designs. Walker did include a link to Cool Hunting, however, which is a clickfest for anti-fashion. … [Read more...]
FIRST IN A SERIES: ACTUAL EMAIL SUBJECT LINES:
ENORMOUS ADVANCE ON PINK SHEETS Fascination juggles perplexity in Monster House. Animation is top-notch, and the advances are plain even to a layman; a character like Chowder is sui generis and far more detailed than necessary, loveable even; the voicings are mostly bull's-eye etc. But the plot is … [Read more...]
WAITING FOR GENE-GENE…
NOSTALGIC FOR NIXON, PART I
Everybody underrate comics, and satirists have an even arder time of it. Lewis Black's recent HBO special made the leap -- long stretches of his routine traded laughs for righteous, hard-earned bile. Herry Shearer has a Masters in Political Science from Harvard, you can look it up, but you'd never … [Read more...]
CUT AND RUN WITH HONOR
A little behind the beat on this, but when Kozinn makes remarks like this, you can bet people take notice: A couple of weeks ago Giles Martin stopped in New York on his way to London, and invited me to hear his "Love" mixes on a five-channel surround system at Magno Studios. I was knocked out by … [Read more...]
JESUS LOVES YOU WHAT A FAG
TAKE ME TO THE COUNTRY I had read about this record, but I didn't really expect it to be this good: James Talley's 1975 debut Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, but We Sure Got a Lot of Love (reissued by Cimarron). It's kind of heartbreaking to think how much talent slips through the system like … [Read more...]
BRITS BAN BEATLES ACCORDING TO YANK
Scott's response to the Observer's list, which has some very odd bedfellows, as Brits usually do. For RCD, TMW gets sandwiched between DISCO FEVER and GLENN GOULD, which pretty much sums up my high school persona: 19. Tell Me Why (Tim Riley): For all the zillion Beatle books that have been … [Read more...]
PROFANE
SCARED YOU'LL GET A WOODY? I mean really: you call this a LEAD?!?-- It has been many years since Westerns were essentially black-and-white, cut-and-dried stories of good versus evil: morality tales with lots o horses and guns and one of everything else—a sheriff, an outlaw, an embattled hero, a … [Read more...]
ONE STEP UP
V. Oh yes, I do recall that statement about Turner. I dunno though... I just don't see her as being relevant any more. What do people talk about when they talk about her--how she survived Ike (but what does that say about her being with him and staying with him in the first place) and her legs. I … [Read more...]
DON’T LET THE BOY O’ERPOWER THE MAN
IV. Don't remember feminism coming up before the final chapters...? That whole section on Tina Turner, where I call her an earlier and more important force for feminist values than Gloria Steinem? That didn't ring any bells? As far as I'm concerned, "feminism" is still CATCHING UP with Tina Turner. … [Read more...]
MR PEABODY WAGS THE SHARK
Until i heard CCH Pounder on yesterday's Fresh Air, I hadn't realized that FX's the Shield had won a Peabody Award, those things they give out to Jon Stewart. This year's list includes SOUTH PARK, Brian Williams and the whole Katrina gang, and Scully as Dedlock in BLEAK HOUSE. But can anyone argue … [Read more...]
BRAIN OR BRAWN, MONTH YOU WERE BORN…
III. I agree--"gender" has become a buzzword, especially in academia, and in gay circles. So, were you trying to address the idea that men have no role models and how men relate to feminism? Because I don't recall reading anything like that. In fact, I was startled how little feminism came up when … [Read more...]
BABY I DON’T CARE
II. I've been trying to figure out a way to engage with you on some of your arguments. I deliberately steered clear of the homosexual themes in part because they don't reflect my direct experience but also because I felt a firm groundwork needed to be laid first before somebody could come along and … [Read more...]
METAL LESBIAN FANTASIES
I. Date: May 16, 2006 10:33 PM Subject: finished your book To: Tim Riley and boy do I have comments. They are too lengthy to go into right now, but I hope to soon. In the meantime... My main question is: What is this book about? What I expected was a book about Madonna, Bowie, Elton, Mick, k.d. … [Read more...]
THIS MAN NEEDS A HAIRCUT
SPIN CYCLE In ONE WEEK, the Bush Administration, mired in DEEP POISON-POLL DOO-DOO, still managed to turn the story from this (G.O.P. LAWMAKERS FAULT A TOP PICK TO LEAD THE C.I.A.) to this (Bush's Picks for C.I.A. and a Court Succeed). Imagine the kind of success they could enjoy elsewhere if they … [Read more...]