So, I’ve been looking forward to the forthcoming movie adaptation of V for Vendetta (though, in light of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, not wholly without trepidation), but it occurs to me that, in light of recent events, the movie may have a rough go of it. The hero, after all, kicks off the movie […]

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From a piece on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Hat tip: Kat Arthur)

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Fans of Philip Glass got a pleasant surprise in this week’s episode of Battlestar Galactica when Starbuck visited her old home on Caprica (now a Cylon occupied wasteland) and popped in a recording ostensibly of her father playing the piano. It was, in fact, Glass’ sublimely beautiful “Metamorphosis One” from Solo Piano. Interestingly—I don’t have […]

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Amy forwards along this New York Times piece on the new SciFi Channel incarnation of Battlestar Galactica. It’s frankly a little mindblowing to see that old BG fans were (and apparently some still are) hostile toward what is now clearly one of the smartest, most richly textured things on TV—a data point in support of […]

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The resolution of the Michael Jackson trial has reminded me of the old (and surprisingly good) Sega Genesis game Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker. Browsing through a couple descriptions, though, I was reminded of an aspect of the game I’d forgotten about: The object in each level, you see, is to touch all the small children. (Thereby […]

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I know I’ve mentioned them in passing here before, but dear sweet Jeebus, The Long Winters kick ass. I’ve been listening to their two albums for a couple weeks now with the kind of continued fascination I usually get for maybe one album at a time every few years. Phenomenal stuff. Go buy everything they’ve […]

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This New Yorker article reminded me of some thoughts that have been buzzing around my head as I’ve been reading Everything Bad Is Good for You. One—and I may have posted on this before sometime—is that recorded music must have an incredible effect on our expectations of performed music. A hundred years ago, any competently […]

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I finally got around to checking out the new MoMA this weekend, though I only made it about halfway through before closing time and blisters forced me out. Among the pieces I remember finding especially intriguing was Horses Running Endlessly by Gabriel Orozco. The piece is a quadruple-sized chessboard that uses four colors (black, white, […]

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Seriously, now, whose godawful idea was this ridiculous fad? I’m told it has frat origins, but seems to have crossed all boundaries of gender and age. I’ve even seen a few mannequins in the windows of chi-chi designer label shops sporting popped collars. Normally I’m all about de gustibus non disputandum est, but if there […]

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Over at Pitchfork, David Cross has a pretty brutally funny essay in which he reveals his top 10 made-up albums to listen to as accompaniment for reading overwrought Pitchfork reviews. Escher’s got nothing on this shit.

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