Category: Reviews

Reviews of albums, movies, books &c.  

Review: Any Similarity To Persons Living Or Dead is Purely Coincidental

Any Similarity To Persons Living Or Dead Is Purely CoincidentalI think I’ve mentioned before that Liquid Television was both hugely influential on me and kinda turned out to be an animated version of RAW.  And it was Liquid TV where I first saw the work of RAW and, later MAD contributor, Drew Friedman.  He had a few “Uncle Louie” shorts, featuring the titular character travelling through the sewers to save on travel expenses.  I loved the stippling style of the artwork, the amazingly detailed and photorealistic characters — a mix of the perfectly normal and the strangely grotesque — and the cutout animation.   Continue reading →

Review: Wax Fang – La La Land

Wax Fang - La La LandI suppose, as it goes, “discovering on a Seth MacFarlane cartoon” isn’t the most auspicious of band introductions… but if it makes any difference, it was American Dad, the best of them (and, like, at least it wasn’t The Cleveland Show).  But the great thing about music is that it doesn’t really matter how you find out about it, but that you find out.  And besides, I really like American Dad, so there.   Continue reading →

The Best Movie You’re Not Watching: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

Thunderbolt & LightfootI learned that the movie Thunderbolt and Lightfoot existed in May of 2010. I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico visiting some friends and we had gone to a local video rental store and each of us chose a movie to rent. I was careful to choose a movie that was not available at the time on DVD or Netflix (it now is). I chose a Jeff Bridges movie called Against All Odds (if you don’t know the movie, I know you know the Phil Collins theme song which is called “Against All Odds” but it’s the “Take a look at me now” song). I was looking at Jeff Bridges’ other movies on the IMDB app on my iPhone when the title jumped out at me and I made a note to see if I could find the movie. Continue reading →

Review: OMD – English Electric

OMD - English ElectricWhen Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark reformed its original lineup and released History of Modern, I wasn’t sure what to expect. OMD’s post-Junk Culture material left me a bit cold, but I decided to give the album a chance. I was pleasantly surprised to find OMD keeping pace with contemporary electronic pop. Though the album was uneven, it showed that the band could still teach the kids how its done. It was enough to get me to see them live on the History of Modern tour, though I only bought my ticket after contemporaries The Human League cancelled their show. The show was a high-energy synth-fest, with new material standing side by side with tracks from across the band’s career. I left hoping they’d keep at it for a while. Continue reading →

Review: Stryper: Live in Indonesia at the Java Rockin’ Land

DJ's room from when he was in high school
DJ’s room from when he was in high school

Ah, Stryper. If you’ve heard of them at all, chances are you’re of my generation and barely recall ‘that Christian metal band’ that had a couple of videos on MTV and showed up on the Billboard charts every so often. They were a brief, occasional flash across the screen, or the radio, in a time that was absolutely dominated by big-haired ballad-crooning metal groups. I’m not surprised if even their logo fails to jog your memory. Continue reading →

Review: The Wild EP

The Wild EP SleeveThe Wild is the new EP (and his third release overall) from Lewis Watson.  His previous EPs were called  It’s Got Four Sad Songs On It BTW and Another Four Sad Songs; despite the naming convention change, The Wild isn’t necessarily a change of theme.  The first track, “Into the Wild” has a bit of an uplifting feel, but the next track “It Could Be Better” dashes the narrator’s hopes. “Little Darling” isn’t much happier (despite the refrain of “Little Darling/You’re mine”), nor is “Hold On”.  Presumably the EP is called The Wild because Three More Sad Songs and One That’s Not Really That Sad doesn’t really have a good ring to it.  Of course, that’s not a bad thing for the listener — it’s really quite enjoyable. Continue reading →

Review: The Point (Definitive Collector’s Edition DVD)

the_pointThe album version of The Point, Harry Nilsson‘s children’s fable, was an integral part of my childhood. I have many fond memories of listening to that record with my dad, thrilling to the story of Oblio, born pointless in a world where everything is pointed, and his adventures in the Pointless Forest. But I did not see the film version until I was older, and that one time was quite awhile ago. So it was with fresh eyes that I watched the new “Definitive Collector’s Edition” DVD, but I am very happy to report it lived up to all my expectations. Continue reading →

Review: Blackfish

Blackfish PosterI remember visiting SeaWorld as a kid. I grew up only a few hours north of San Diego, so that’s the park where we would go. SeaWorld was never quite as much fun as a trip to DisneyLand or Knotts Berry Farm or Magic Mountain or even the San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park. But it was always a big event. And the entire trip would always center on the orca show – usually ending with a big fight over whether we would be allowed to sit in the splash zone or not (I believe that the kids only won this battle once). The last time I went to SeaWorld in San Diego, I was probably around ten to twelve years old. Continue reading →

Review: The River of Crime!

The River of Crime!So, we’re stealin’ the idea from the Sparks Project and doing one with probably even more records out there — The Residents!  And this time we’re changing it up a little bit — we’ve got two hardcore Residents fans in me and Rich, but Aila is, at best, a casual fan, who will be hearing about 99% of these records for the first time.  DANGEROUS!  So, enjoy, THE RESIDENTS PROJECT! Continue reading →

Review: Nanobots

Nanobots coverI am willing to make this declaration about Nanobots, They Might Be Giants’ newly-released 16th album: It is the one of the absolute best things they have done in the last 18 years. As someone who builds my life around this band, even I admit that a fair amount of their output in recent years has been underwhelming. But Nanobots can take its place alongside some of their best work. Continue reading →