Photographed on the Maine coast in December 2011. The sign was on the side of a lighthouse.
posted 20 January 2012 in Photos. 2 comments
Photographed on the Maine coast in December 2011. The sign was on the side of a lighthouse.
posted 20 January 2012 in Photos. 2 comments
A few years back, I discovered gold in my garage: three videotapes containing the 1988 year-end countdown on MTV. Since then, I’ve been working my way through the top 100 videos of that year, plus the commercials, the VJ breaks, and the cool animated snippets. The sixth batch of videos (not exactly “the sixth hour,” […]
posted 18 January 2012 in 1988. 3 comments
I heard you on the wireless back in ’52–or alternatively, on the cable TV while babysitting for the neighbors back in in ’82. Either way, I’m now allowed to tell you about the big project I’ve been keeping secret for the last few months: I am working on a book with Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, […]
posted 12 January 2012 in Tasty Bits. 1 comment
(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) The best commentary on “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” remains Niki Harris and Donna De Lory, backup singers for Madonna, captured in Truth or Dare doing vocal warm-ups by belting the song out while beating on their own chests to produce a warbly Minnie Mouse effect. (“Those […]
posted 10 January 2012 in 1988. 12 comments
I have an article in today’s Los Angeles Times (my first for that fine publication), about Sub Pop’s unlikely but sustained success in the 21st century. If you live somewhere without easy access to the LA Times, I suggest you click here. If you just want some of the obscenity from executive VP Megan Jasper […]
Photographed this morning on the bike path next to the L.A. River. The river, for once, was not totally dry. But it’s still goofy to have a bike path between a concrete channel and a major freeway–it feels like a parody of the great outdoors.
posted 30 December 2011 in Photos. no comments yet
My favorite albums of 2011: 1. Washed Out, Within and Without 2. Jay-Z and Kanye West, Watch the Throne 3. PJ Harvey, Let England Shake 4. TV on the Radio, Nine Types of Light 5. Radiohead, The King of Limbs 6. Wild Flag, Wild Flag 7. EMA, Past Life Martyred Saints 8. The Roots, Undun […]
posted 29 December 2011 in Tasty Bits. no comments yet
Prince’s “Another Lonely Christmas,” a song about an obsession with a dead lover who died on Christmas, is both excellent and demented. It has qualities that distinguish it from the rest of Prince’s catalog: for example, it’s the only song of his I can think of where he gets goofy on alcohol (as opposed to […]
posted 27 December 2011 in Tasty Bits. 4 comments
Photographed recently on Hollywood Boulevard. Only in Los Angeles. Thanks for reading; I hope your 2011 was all it should be, and that your 2012 will be even more.
posted 24 December 2011 in Photos. no comments yet
I have another piece in The New York Times Magazine: this one’s a conversation with David Fincher and his editing team of Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, breaking down a four-minute sequence in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’d always wanted to know more about editing: it’s an omnipresent but largely unconsidered aspect of […]
posted 15 December 2011 in Outside. no comments yet
