Hackneyed

  • The Body

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    Wil Wheaton’s reading of Stephen King’s The Body made for the perfect companion while I did yard work and walked my dog along nearby trails. Having played Gordie in Stand by Me, he brings a deeply personal resonance to the narration. It feels like a full-circle moment, Wheaton returning to the story with an insider’s…

  • 70 Up Coming

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    Asif Kapadia will “bring the long-running ITV documentary series Up to an end with a concluding instalment that will air this year,” so says The Guardian. “The series, which began in 1964 and was voted the most influential UK TV show of the last 50 years in 2024, has followed a group of people from…

  • A Chicago Fan’s Incredible Show Archive

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    Aadam Jacobs “secretly recorded over 10,000 local concerts since 1989. Now, they are cleaned up and ready to listen to for free online.” “On July 8, 1989, a young music fan named Aadam Jacobs, with a compact Sony cassette recorder in his pocket, went to see an up-and-coming rock band from Washington for their debut…

  • Record Store Day, 2026

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    Kind of strange (probably not that strange) but this week basically echoed this same stretch last year. I didn’t end up seeing Marc Maron again, but I did pick up an autographed copy of his so-called “party record” Panicked, which, by the way, is almost word-for-word the show I went to last year. That was…

  • Couchella ’26

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    Man, last time I was at Coachella was like, 20 years ago, but it’s been fun watching it on Youtube at the office.

  • Sam Kieth, Harvey Kurtzman, Jaime Hernandez, etc.

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    Haven’t blogged properly in a while, so it feels right to come back with something that is surely universal: comic books. I was sad to hear about the passing of Sam Kieth. It’s hard to overstate the impact The Maxx, both the comic and its later MTV adaptation, had on me. It started when my…

  • Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

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    Also: My (other) Favorite Films of 2025. If the Oscars can wait, so can I. The premise of Nirvanna the Band the Show, first seen on YouTube and later Vice, has always been beautifully stupid. Two musicians want to play a show at Toronto’s Rivoli. They never consider contacting the venue directly. Instead, they devise…

  • Stevie Wonder + Sesame Street = Day Made

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  • Best Watches, 2025

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    Watched and re-watched quite a few movies this year. Like last year, I compiled a list that isn’t a “best of 2025,” but more a “best watched in 2025.” Still have a lot to go, but my favorites of 2025, thus far: One Battle After Another and Marty Supreme. Then maybe Superman? Other great movies…

  • TV Watched, 2025

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    The Bear (Season 4): Good, not great. If they can wrap this up with one last season, still has a chance to be my favorite show of the last few years. Stick the landing, please. The Chair Company (Season 1): Insane, but perfectly executed. Treats conflict not as misunderstanding, but as multiple, “true” perspectives coexisting…

  • Spotify Wrapped Photodump

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  • 50 Albums

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    For the last year, I’ve written about an album or so a week in my newsletter. Like most aging hipsters, sometimes it seems as if I only listen to jazz and the Dead, so it was nice to revisit many of these. Not necessarily a top 50, but albums that at least one time or…

  • “Recently” Read

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    …or at least since the last time I did this. Got a lot out of The Creative Act, Sacred Hoops, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Prophet, That Strange Divine Sea and The Tao of Pooh. “Rabbit’s clever,” said Pooh thoughtfully.“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit’s clever.”“And he has Brain.”“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has Brain.”There…

  • Malcolm-Jamal Warner

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    As I am sure you read, Warner died tragically on Sunday. Granted, he was more than just Theo Huxtable, but in spite of Cosby, I hope we can one day look fondly on a show that meant a lot to be as a child. At the time Warner was the youngest ever Emmy nominee for…

  • Tiny Desks

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    A behind-the-scenes look at the long running NPR segment: “What began in 2008 as a humble, stripped-back performance series for NPR’s blog has grown into a global phenomenon, with unforgettable sets from stars like Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Dua Lipa, and more. Despite its viral fame, the heart of Tiny Desk remains the same: a…

  • Today’s Mail

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    A postcard and bumper sticker from Dr. Brian J. Bowe. Update: Also got this book from my old friend Jason. Looking forward to (finally!) reading.

  • “He was told that the streets were paved with gold.”

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    From comedian Shelley Berman, as quoted by Lorne Michaels: “Before my grandfather came to America, he was told that the streets were paved with gold. And when he got to America he found out three things. One, that the streets were not paved with gold. Two, that the streets were not paved. Three, that he was…

  • 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century

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    Shared this list a few weeks ago on Substack: “Between streaming services and superhero blockbusters, the way we watch and think about movies has changed dramatically over the past 25 years. But through that period of upheaval, which films have truly stood the test of time? To find out, we embarked on an ambitious new…

  • Before Sunrise (2004)

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    Ended up watching The Before Trilogy in reverse order by accident, but I have to say, ending with Before Sunrise was unexpectedly beautiful. Seeing the places Jesse and Céline wander through in that first film, after knowing everything they will go through, gives those moments a haunting kind of weight. What was once romantic and…

  • U.S. Blues

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    “In Jerry Garcia’s original nearly five hour edit of the Grateful Dead Movie, he had the film opening with Uncle John’s Band. A wonderful track, with a terrific performance filmed during the five night run (and later released as Bonus Track on the DVD in 2004), but it didn’t have the weight of movie’s opening…