Writing about TV, I see a lot of pilot episodes. They’re not the best way to judge a new show, but they’re all we’ve got. Just two years ago, I watched the pilots for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and 30 Rock; I thought the Aaron Sorkin drama was sharp and witty, while the […]
posted 27 October 2008 in Archives, Articles. 2 comments
This one was taken about two months ago, at the Orange County Fair:
posted 24 October 2008 in Photos. no comments yet
I’m actually on the road today, so video #76 will have to wait until next week. But to tide you over, I thought I’d share a few stats about the 1988 charts. There was quite a bit of turnover: 32 different songs hit #1 on the Billboard charts. (The most ever was 35, a mark […]
Interviewing comics can be tricky: some fall back on canned schtick, while others are self-consciously dour offstage. But I’ve interviewed Chris Rock three times in the last five years and he’s never disappointed. Rock’s not a rat-a-tat joke machine; he’s always seemed more interested in answering my questions thoughtfully. He just says incredibly funny things […]
posted 22 October 2008 in Archives, Articles. no comments yet
I’ve been listening to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” for over twenty years now. (Thankfully, not continuously.) Only recently did I realize an odd quality of the song: the chorus doesn’t appear until the very end. Technically, that means it’s not a chorus at all, right?
posted 21 October 2008 in Tasty Bits. 10 comments
I haven’t written many articles that have gotten a more intense response than this 2004 profile of Macaulay Culkin. Which surprised me at first, but makes sense upon further reflection–Culkin was one of the biggest movie stars in the world, not that long ago, and then he pretty much vanished off the radar. Not much […]
posted 20 October 2008 in Archives, Articles. no comments yet
On Monday evening, we were driving back home from San Diego when a huge cloud of smoke blotted out the sun, bringing on dusk several hours too early. The smoke was coming from a wildfire on the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. It burned up more than six square miles; firefighters appear to have the blaze […]
We see the “Big Bang ’89” promo for the third time, with close-ups on explosions and spinning clocks building up excitement for the fact that 1989 will start in only a few hours, a transition that can be enjoyed in the company of Robert Plant, Poison, Winger, Cameo, Hall and Oates, the Escape Club, Bobby […]
Apparently Dennis Hopper is starring in the new TV adaptation of Crash, which holds no interest for me, since it’s an adaptation of the bad Paul Haggis movie from 2004. (An adaptation of the Cronenberg/Ballard movie from 1996 might be equally awkward, but at least it would be unlike anything else on TV.) But the […]
posted 15 October 2008 in Articles. 2 comments
I love Foreigner the way I love my microwave oven. The oven’s clunky and utlilitarian, and I don’t even use it that often. But when I nuke a bag of popcorn, or fill my eyes with that double vision, it makes me happy beyond all reason. Alas, this song isn’t one of the GE Spacemaker […]
posted 14 October 2008 in 1988. 5 comments
