Gitty Danesharvi–School of Fear (2009)

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Sonic Boom (2009). Kiss has been kicking around in one incarnation or another for the last few years: original line up with make up, another line up with no make up and now this new line up: original makeup with two new people in the Peter and Ace positions (I wonder what happened to [...]

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Kim Dong Hwa–The Color of Heaven (2003/2009)

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-A Farewell to Kings (1977). Although I recently said that Caress of Steel is one of my favorite Rush albums, I’m really torn between a number of their albums from the 1970s.  I’ve loved A Farewell to Kings since the time I got it: it’s over the top, and it showcases all of the [...]

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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 10] The Part About The Crimes (4 of 5) (2004)

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-KISSology: The Ultimate Kiss Collection, Vol. 2: 1978-1991 DVD (2007). In addition to containing Kiss Meets the Phantom, this DVD contains concert footage, music videos and some interviews.  We see Peter Criss being interviewed on CNN (!) by a woman in a tank top (ah, the early days of 24 hour news) about leaving [...]

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Awkward Pauses [Ass Möde]

A few weeks ago on the Late Late Show, Craig Ferguson began inviting his guests to engage in an awkward pause with him.  Awkward pauses have been somewhat de rigeur in popular culture for a number of years now.  In fact, Ricky Gervais has pretty much built a career on them–and we have him to [...]

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James Hannaham–God Says No (2009)

SOUNDTRACK: MONSTER MAGNET-God Says No (2001). It’s not often I have a disc with the same name as a book.  But lo, here they are.  I’ve no idea if the album inspired Hannaham at all (or if he even knows of it) although the title track song does rather work well with the book, with [...]

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James Franco–”Just Before the Black” (Esquire, April 2010)

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-Curse of the Hidden Mirror (2001). It’s something of a shame that BOC has fallen off the radar so much.  While never a big seller, they’ve been a surprisingly good singles band.  And on this disc, they have a couple of songs that could have been big hits if anybody still cared [...]

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Roberto Bolaño–”The Return” (Harper’s, April 2010)

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-Heaven Forbid (1998). After Imaginos, it seemed like Blue Öyster Cult was all wrapped up.  (Of course, they tour all the time, so I guess they’ll never officially go away).  So it was something of a surprise to hear that they had a new album out back in 1998. The album cover [...]

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Brief Interviews with Hideous Men [film]

[WATCHED: March 17, 2010] Brief Interviews with Hideous Men This film is based on the short story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace.  The book is a collection of short stories.   The majority of the stories are indeed, brief interviews (although some are unrelated). And the film is an adaptation of these [...]

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Chris McDonald–Rush, Rock Music and the Middle Class (2009)

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-Caress of Steel (1975). Despite the fact that this album is largely considered a failure, it’s one of my favorite Rush albums.  There’s so much weirdness about it that I can see why it isn’t terribly popular but there’s so much goodness that it makes me a bit bummed that some glorious tracks are [...]

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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 9] The Part About The Crimes (3 of 5) (2004)

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-Imaginos (1988). I think of this as the last BOC album (although they have released two since this one) because it was the last one that I was really aware of when it came out.  My roommate Glen was super excited about it and we listened to it all the time.  And [...]

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