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Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72
“How many more of these stinking, double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote FOR something, instead of always being…
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Jim Henson: Idea Man, Ron Howard
Had the pleasure to see the Muppets in a wonderful exhibit in Grand Rapids last year and this film served as an excellent reminder of that inspirational day. In his own words: “Life’s like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.” I will likely always be more of a George Carlin or…
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Me and Rigby watching a Ghostbusters and Gremlins double-feature in honor of both movies coming out June 8, 1984.
Truly the day cinema peaked.
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Joey Ramone would have been 73 today.
(Photo by Howard Barlow) As heard on Little Steven’s Underground Garage: The renaissance had come and gone. It ended with either Who’s Next in August, ’71, or The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St., May of ’72. You can argue all night about which record began the renaissance, but nobody’s going to argue that starting…
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The Creative Act: A Way of Being
“All that matters is that you are making something you love, to the best of your ability, here and now.” Was hoping for a few real world examples from Rubin’s illustrious music career, but this is still an inspiring book on the creative process. Here is something I need to remember: “Living life as an…
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Rest in Peace, Steve Albini
I know there’s “cooler” albums to talk about, but In Utero and Surfer Rosa were profoundly important to my teens, and I haven’t stopped listening to Mclusky Do Dallas since seeing them in San Francisco this past March. My friend Tom had the good fortune of studying under Albini in the early 2000s and had…
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American Moviemakers on Letterman
Rewatching American Movie unlocked fond memories of Mark and Mike on Letterman. I cannot stop laughing.
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Recently Read
Two massive tomes I finally conquered: The Stand and The Pale King. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend either but I am glad I read both. Of course I love reading about movies. After making a list of my favorite (read: not the ones I think are the best) films, I realized two filmmakers had four films on…
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TV Reviewed
(Previously on Hackneyed) The Bear (Seasons 1-2): Second season surpassed the first. The bottleneck episodes, “Fishes” and “Forks,” were easily my two favorite single episodes of a show the last year. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Seasons 1-8): Just what I needed. Not quite Parks or The Office, but a solid sitcom from start to finish. Better Call…
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American Movie, Chris Smith
Re-watched this wonderfully weird film last night and still love it as much as I did 25 years ago, but agree that it now hits different: “Today Mark Borchardt looks less like an amusing hustler, and more like a poetic and even tragic hero; the living embodiment of unfulfilled dreams. Even that scene with the unforgiving cabinet…
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Amoeba Music, San Fransisco
Didn’t actually pick up any tapes, but did fill my bag with jazz records: Weather Report’s self-titled debut, The Jazz Experiments of Charles Mingus, Tomorrow Is the Question! The New Music of Ornette Coleman! and Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda.
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Pop (T)art(s)
From Wikipedia: “Introduced in 1964 and initially called Fruit Scones, the name was soon changed to Pop-Tarts as a pun on the then popular Pop Art movement.” (File under “things learned watching Jeopardy!)
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Hulu: Top 15
Since Hulu launched a “top 15” list of their most popular shows and films, I decided to counter with the fifteen things currently on Hulu I’d recommend. If you are stumbling on this list decades later and something is no longer on Hulu or Hulu is now just Disney+ or none of these words make…
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Days Between
Since seeing Dead and Co. in Colorado last month, the Grateful Dead have been in heavy rotation since. Perfect summer music. Since we are now in what Dead Head’s call “The Days Between” (the days between Garcia‘s birthday and the date of his passing), if you’ve never listened, I think their run from ’70 to…
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Best Debut Albums
I know I just mentioned him, but longtime music critic Steven Hyden recently ranked 100 debut albums for your reading pleasure. Some that stood out to me: The Go-Go’s, Beauty And The Beat (1981): “This band is in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, and this album is 90 percent of the reason why.”…
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Round Midnight (1986)
I often want to live in films, but seldom ones this dour. But jazz clubs in the 50s, that’s my love language. Especially when it’s shot this beautifully, this dreamy. The faux-Paris streets at night are as out of this world as the soundtrack. Round Midnight unfolds so nonchalantly, there’s almost no exposition. Things just…
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Walking, Productivity and Creativity
I have walked and jogged and ran quite a bit since the pandemic began some 87 years ago, but this summer I decided to step it up (unfortunate pun intended). 100,000 steps per week, every week, for twenty weeks. Two million steps. Sounded like a reasonable goal. I didn’t think about my Fitbit dying, being…
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TV I’ve Watched Since the Lockdown…
Or, the last time I wrote about shows that I watched. American Crime Story (Season 2): The Assassination of Gianni Versace. Tom Ripley true crime, loved it. Atlanta (Seasons 3-4): I could use one more season of this show. Felt incomplete. Brilliant. Daring. Funny. But incomplete. Beavis and Butt-Head (Season 9): I didn’t know how…