The Engine of Cultural Alienation – The Music Algorithm and it’s Discontents
I’m going to link a Variety article and not make fun of it. I’m as shocked as you are.
Category: Pop Culture
The Ages of Rock
When you’re nearly 50 and you turn on the classic rock station and you hear something that was the antithesis of “classic rock” when you were a kid, it gets a body to wondering. I mean it only makes sense in one way: back in the early 80’s, Classic Rock was mostly stuff from the… Read More The Ages of Rock
The Death of Rock Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
So says Spotify, according to YouTube. Apparently every song on this list is doing well on Spotify, which is the closest thing to doing well on the radio that still exists in any meaningful way. Radio still exists, sure, but it’s a backward-looking medium; and since the 90’s it’s where you go to find stuff… Read More The Death of Rock Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
In Praise of Mission Control
Certain pieces of music apply to certain times of year. I don’t listen to Joy Division in the summer, that’s January Rock, cold slaps of spare drum beats echoing the frozen ground. And I wouldn’t listen to say, On the Corner in the winter, it’s too wrigglingly alive a piece of music, hot and florid… Read More In Praise of Mission Control
The Institution and The Mission: Reflections on Rewatching The Wire
Because my inner nerd betrayed me when I heard that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was being made, I got myself an HBO Max account. Because I decided I didn’t feel like shelling out until the next season comes out, I cancelled the subscription. Between then, and April when it expires, I’m rewatching The… Read More The Institution and The Mission: Reflections on Rewatching The Wire
Stranger Things – The Greatest Troll of All Time
We have all – or all of us that care – watched the final titanic season of Stranger Things. We have all filled the internet with our opinions on it. It’s flaws are well known. I am not here to complain of the bloated cast, the wheel-spinning plot, the scenes that go on for the… Read More Stranger Things – The Greatest Troll of All Time
The Wasted Life of Charlie Sheen
Sometimes the headlines just write themselves. I watched the Charlie Sheen interview/documentary, AKA Charlie Sheen, on Netflix. It was exactly as entertaining as I could have imagined. Somewhere in the second part, Chuck Lorre describes Sheen as having the kind of dark charisma that Dean Martin had. That’s accurate. Sheen, even at 60, retains the… Read More The Wasted Life of Charlie Sheen
This Week in the CD Visor — Guitar experiments Edition
So back in April my car got totalled. It was an old car, so it didn’t take much for the Insurance company to say “sorry, we’re just gonna cut you a check for the market value.” But that meant a new car, and a new stereo, and the market has moved passed what I am… Read More This Week in the CD Visor — Guitar experiments Edition
Mindhunter Season 3 You Guys!
No, not really. At least, not confirmed. But there are rumors, and not from Variety: Mindhunter star Holt McCallany just gave an interview where he talks about how the show might return and the status of director David Fincher’s involvement. The interview is with CBR promoting McCallany’s other new show, The Waterfront, and he addressed the season 3 issue:… Read More Mindhunter Season 3 You Guys!
The Ruins of Westeros
Larry Correia has planted a flag on the mouldering corpse of George R.R. Martin’s literary career. There’s a fisking in the linked article, which involves MSN.com relitigating the whole Sad Puppies/Hugos drama from ten years ago, because they want to sell the narrative that Correia and Martin are rivals, explaining this mockery. Correia fisks the… Read More The Ruins of Westeros
