Eric

5/19/21

As incredible as “Nothing Compares 2 U” is, I’ve long been of the opinion it’s the second-best song off that record, after “The Last Day of Our Acquaintance”.

5/13/21

And probably a crime under revenge porn statutes.

4/22/21

“The inherent problem with that once summed by a positive review which argued that Steve’s superpower was that he was always right. Which was correct when looking at the movies, but also made him a character impossible to challenge on anything because the stance was that whatever he thought was right.”

4/17/21

I’m confused by how the narration was written. If they mean to suggest someone’s blood would boil and they’d expand like a balloon a la Total Recall after 10 seconds in vacuum, somebody forgot to tell Jim LeBlanc.

4/6/21

Indeed, its genius is that it’s one of those movies that lays all its cards out on the table and then with a sleight-of-hand appropriate to its theme it successfully pulls you away from all the obvious guesses and conclusions until revealing (during the film’s own prestige) that you could have been right all along.

3/11/21

I have no idea who wrote it, but it totally sounds like Steve Gerber and I would not be shocked.

3/11/21

Hello, MCU Phase 5!

3/11/21

On the other hand, Marvel’s attempt to cash in on America’s late ‘60s/early ‘70s obsessions with motorcycles and Satanism gave us Ghost Rider (the non-cowboy, “what if Evel Knieval sold his soul for a flaming skull?” version), so that’s a net win for American pop culture, right?

3/2/21

I had the privilege of seeing Buckingham play solo a number of years ago, and he’s absolutely one of the greatest guitar players I’ve ever seen (a list that includes Richard Thompson, David Gilmour, David Rawlings, and Nels Cline). He’s an amazingly talented performer.

3/2/21

This is a helpful chart of who has slept with whom in the 1970s Fleetwood Mac lineup.

1/31/21

Southland shows that this was because Kelly didn’t have the budget, and he probably would have explained every single weird moment in very odd ways, and that it’s probably best he wasn’t able.

1/21/21

The Roger Moore airport story will get you right in the heart, however one feels about his version of Bond. He had a sense of humor, a sense of fun, did not take himself too seriously, and seems to have been just a really cool guy.

7/21/20

Nixon gets credited for the expression, but it was initially rolled out by his administration's attack dog, Agnew, and appears to have originated with Pat Buchanan, a White House speechwriter at the time. Kind of a trifecta of awfulness, right there.

7/20/20

People always forget George Wallace in ‘68. Which matters because the following election cycle Richard Nixon went hard after Wallace voters, launching the Republican party’s slide towards turning itself into the default party for genteel white nationalists. Which is pretty much how we get much of the political mess…

1/9/20

I.e. Wing Commander: Privateer with a FPS mode grafted on. In a way, I’m okay with it not happening. (I love Star Wars, but WC:P would’ve been hard to top and, honestly, Star Wars computer games have always been very hit-or-miss.)

9/12/19

The original version of Monopoly (“The Landlord’s Game”) became hugely popular with Quakers in the early years of the 20th Century. Absolutely true, look it up if you don’t believe me. Which leads to my pet theory that the reason it become so popular is that Quakers follow a religion that requires them to be nice or…

9/12/19

7/9/19

Your mom and mine.

7/2/19

I was listening to the most recent episode of the 1865 podcast earlier today and belatedly realized the reason I recognized the voice of John Mercer Langston is that he’s played (very, very well) by William Jackson Harper. Turns out Jackson's extremely good as a dramatic voice actor on top of his onscreen talents.

6/27/19

Paul McCartney is far from my favorite Beatle (I prefer Lennon’s solo/Ono collaborating post-Beatle work), but the older I get, the more I realize what a frightening genius McCartney is; the kind of musical talent that is so far beyond most of us, it’s awe-inspiring in both the usual sense and the original sense of…