Category Archives: Reviews
2011: The Best of Everything
We haven’t yet done our usual year end “best of” list for music or movies or TV of 2011, so I thought I’d do a combined list to kick off a discussion of all these categories. I’m a big fan of Metacritic, so, along with giving my own biased opinions, I’ll reprint some of their year-end lists here. Read the rest of this entry
New Music: Augustana
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1
Augustana is a band that evolves with every album, and their new self-titled album, out now, is no exception. We’ve talked about Augustana before here and here, and as previously noted, the band started out as straight-up pop-rock balladeers, but with their last album switched gears a bit into a bluegrass-influenced folk/americana sound. This new album continues in that path, while bringing along some of the pop hooks that brought the band fame to begin with. Read the rest of this entry
I can’t stop listening to Pet Sounds
About a week ago someone mentioned the classic Beach Boys album “Pet Sounds” and I thought to myself: Oh yeah, I have been meaning to get my hands on a copy of that. So a few clicks and $9.50 later I had downloaded a copy.
I think I’ve listened to the entire album about 25 times since then. I just can’t get enough of the hypnoticky goodness of Pet Sounds.
Here are some interesting tidbits from the Pet Sounds wiki:
Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band The Beach Boys, released May 16, 1966, on Capitol Records. It has been widely ranked as one of the most influential records ever released in popular music and has been ranked at number #1 in several music magazines’ lists of greatest albums of all time, including New Musical Express, The Times and Mojo Magazine. In 2003, it was ranked #2 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
Skyline
Skyline is an “Independence Day” type alien invasion film set primarily in LA and told through the perspective of a small group of people trapped in a penthouse while trying to survive the battle for the city between the aliens and the military. Read the rest of this entry
Review: Robin Hood
There’s a scene in the new Robin Hood where Sir Walter Locksley (played by Max von Sydow, a Swede) tells Robin (played by Russell Crowe, an Australian) that he stinks.
Oh, how apt. Read the rest of this entry
New Music: The National, High Violet
As we’ve previously discussed, there are a lot of new albums by great artists coming out this year, and the best of the current crop that just hit the pavement may be the new album High Violet by The National. Read the rest of this entry
Why I’m Justified
We’ve talked about the new FX show “Justified” a little bit already, but now that I’m addicted to it like hillbilly heroin I thought I’d try to justify my obsession (so to speak). Read the rest of this entry
The Gathering Storm – Book 12 of The Wheel of Time
The Gathering Storm, Book 12 of the successful Wheel of Time series was recently released, which is a neat trick, considering the fact that the author of the series, Robert Jordan, passed on some time ago. Jordan’s widow asked Brandon Sanderson, a successful author in his own right, to complete the series. Sanderson intends that the series will be complete with book 14. Read the rest of this entry
Funny People
I saw this movie last weekend but since it has been out for a while now, instead of a traditional review, I’d like to talk generally about the body of work of the writer, producer and director of the movie, Judd Apatow. Read the rest of this entry
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