“So there I was just minding my own business, walking around dumping gasoline all over town, as one does, when a couple days later I heard the town burned down. Literally, just came out of nowhere! And now I’m worried that next time I go to the station and make my weekly purchase of gasonline (in the canister, where…

this is what people think all conservatives are now, and we are not.

Considering Lydon’s entourage started a brawl that night that grew to engulf the Kaiser Chiefs (the singer jumped on the back of someone who was assaulting Kele) and resulted in the cops being called, an apology was the least he could do.

There are a bunch of bizarre factual errors in this article. As others have pointed out, Bloc Party released an LP between Intimacy and Hymns, entitled Four. They also released an EP, The Nextwave Sessions, in that time, so the gap between Intimacy and Hymns was hardly a period of inactivity. Moreover, those two…

I saw them on a smaller stage at ACL right after this came out and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. There was an energy bouncing between the band and the crowd (which kept growing through the set) that rode on those anthemic riffs. Okereke was magnetic and charming. I thought they were going to be huge…

I love Bloc Party. I coincidentally queued up Silent Alarm this morning before seeing this article. It had been a while since I’ve heard it. I mostly like everything they’ve done. I didn’t realize their other albums were maligned (Four apparently so much that the author forgot that it came in out in 2012, only three…

I still listen to this regularly. I love the clean, crisp production on it, such a contrast to the fuzzy-guitar rock that immediately proceeded it.

Silent Alarm was one of the few early 2000's records that really developed my taste in music. So much of what I listen to now can be traced back to those days, and I’m thankful for it, and for Bloc Party in general!

To me Okereke’s inability to recapture any of the magic that was on Silent Alarm has been one of the oddest things in indie rock. With other bands, like Weezer (River’s self doubt) or Interpol (TOTBL really was a stars aligning moment of creativity and tragedy) it’s easy to see with a lot of hindsight as to why those…

The digital tech has become so good now that the differences are largely in texture, ie some people prefer analogue film grain. There are digital grain post solutions but to the highly trained eye, the differences are noticeable. There’s a nostalgia factor to it. Spielberg says the texture of moving film grain makes a…

But we already know that Thor attended his classes. He did take Groot as an elective, after all.

True. But I also have to say, I adore Natalie Portman in Thor. Half of the movie is hers, after all, the perspective is split between her and Thor throughout. She’s clearly brilliant, the only cheesecake shots in the whole movie are of Chris Hemsworth, and it’s hilarious and adorable when she gets all giggly…

What I like about the humour with Thor is that it’s consistent to the character. It never feels like they make a significant change or have him play too dumb just for the sake of a joke. (And he’s clearly not actually stupid; he studied Groot on Asgard, and the “All words are made up” line is reasonably insightful.)…

I’d forgotten how Thirsty(capitalization intended) Portman let Jane be over Thor. It would have been very tempting to dial that way back, because Jane is a serious SCIENTIST. But she went for it and made it ok for Jane ( and by extension us)to want all of that tall drink of water.

Idris Elba does really great work in these films, and Heimdall has a very nice (and understated) character arc which takes him from this cold and removed figure in Thor 1 to someone you really mourn for when he dies in Infinity War because he’s built a genuine friendship with Thor

Oh, very true. I mean, I think this movie is as good of Thor movie as you could hope to get made in 2011. It’s very much “proof of concept”. But your point is why so many *CUs have failed, because it’s the delicate balance of serving vegetables and getting people to go, “oooh, fire roasted Brussel sprouts,…

Chris Hemsworth would go on to anchor Infinity War with his comedic timing and emotional range.

While I like it, Thor (and to an extent Captain America: First Avenger) is Marvel eating their vegetables before having their dessert (which is The Avengers). They knew the groundwork had to be laid down, so they dutifully did it, confident in the pay-off the following year.  Which is definitely the lesson every other…

People sometimes forget what a challenge it was to introduce Thor into the MCU. Despite the green giants and flying armor suits, making a film that somehow slotted a Norse god with a giant hammer fit into the more grounded elements of the franchise was a big ask, and they did a great job.

That isn’t the point of satire. Satire is the use of humor, irony and/or exaggeration to expose and criticize, generally for public benefit. Not to get into the philosophy of humour, but there is a sliding scale of intensity or sharpness. Some effective satire will appear to be the real thing without context, but no…