Damn, must have missed your comment somehow - still working out the new system! Here's a pretty cool live version of "Shoot out the Lights" from '81: http://www.youtube.com/watc…

I'm glad somebody mentioned Richard Thompson - he's got so many killer solos. "Shoot Out the Lights" is incredible. Also, while it's perhaps not one of his best overall songs, the solos in "Mother Knows Best" are killer.

Grunge may have been a "dead end" (weird term) in regards to a narrow definition of style, but I think its influence outstrips that style. Grunge made it "cool" to like hard rock. But also, because Grunge's approach to appropriation of styles, to recording technique, even to instrumentation and musician ship was…

Nice . . . it was hearing that verse at a small party in early '94 that sort of blew my mind and made me run out and buy the cd.

It's actually not that innocuous, and kind of horrible. It puts forth the notion that Native Americans have a reputation for "giving" things and then taking them back (like, maybe, rights to hunting grounds that they didn't expect to be converted into subdivisions). When, in actual fact, it's been the US and many…

Yes, it's great, and she's great in it. The only thing I've seen her in that comes close is Friends with Money . . . although The Breakup is actually mostly pretty good, in an anti-rom com sort of way.

Sort of, on Buffy. I get why people find Wes's arc so incredible (hell, I do). But I think part of its draw is how sort of over-the-top it is . . . it's a lot of "look at me!"

Nah, Buffy had the best arc. But I'd probably agree with Wesley's being the most tragic.

Here's a review from The Guardian:

I love "Sex with your Parents" - it's funny, and sometimes people are just motherfuckers. And it's hardly behind the times. Old people scared of young tit and dick is pretty much the American cultural conversation most of the time. Somewhat surprisingly, some AVClub writers still fall on the moralistic side of that…

He's kind of oddly wonderful in this REM video:

Actually, Corman gets tons of credit for the start he gave to so many in the business (it's even called the Corman School); while at the same time having a lot of his own films criticized. The two needn't be mutually exclusive.

I love this series. And, to each his own and all that, but I totally disagree that knowing more about a film's production "ruins" the effect. Like any art form, the more one knows about the mechanics of production, execution, etc, the more one can appreciate the piece on alternate levels. I'm not at all saying it's nec…

I agree and disagree (and I was partly only trying to tie it to today's Who article). Certainly with a band, you've got far fewer numbers - even considering the producer and engineer, and even if you throw in things like guest/back up musicians/singers. With such a smaller number, any contribution by a member of the…

Yes, and then after the mother tells them to cut it out, it's all reaction shots for a couple seconds which makes the little sister's final line land so well. So much of it works because of the way it's cut.

I personally prefer Bonham because I find that in addition to the over-the-top awesomeness that both he and Moon could bring, Bonham had a way with subtleties and nuance that Moon rarely exhibited (the cool breakdowns in "The Lemon Song" or the illusory simplicity of "Fool in the Rain"). But at this point in my life,…

True, it depends very much on who's filling each role. One of the reasons really good directors so frequently work with one or two of the same editors throughout their career is that the ability to find somebody who can translate a director's "vision" (ick) into the final film can be a difficult and tricky proposition…

Fair enough. Peart's a great drummer, no doubt, but the Peart vs. (insert awesome classic rock drummer) conversations really come down to style preferences more than actual talent or ability. In any case, outside your circle of annoying drummers, I think most of the rock world - from journalists to other drummers and…

I'd suggest that "viewers intuitively differentiate between" different editing decisions when it comes to a lot more than ASL. Dissolves, jump cuts, wipes, matches, etc. all have subtle (or not so) effects on viewers' perception not only of the visual information they're receiving but also of narrative, character,…

In what rock world is Keith Moon underrated in any way, let alone "way"? Just curious as I've only ever heard him referred to as the best or one of the best rock drummers of all time.