I caught the tail end of Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist again on TV last night.  Like so many other moviegoers, I missed this when it was in the theater.  I did catch it on DVD when it came out.  In what may be a new record for me, let me start with a digression.  [...]

Far too often lately, I’ve been faced with TV shows that I really liked in the early seasons trying my patience in the most recent ones.  I know that pretty much any show is going to have ups and downs in quality and I’m resigned to riding out the lows in my viewing life.  Luckily, [...]

The first time that I can truly remember a song in a movie hitting its mark with me in the theater came in the opening credits of The Breakfast Club.  When Simple Minds’ Don’t You Forget About Me came pounding through the speakers, I instantly loved the song, immediately understood what I was getting in [...]

Rancid has always worn their message on their sleeve.  There is nothing subtle when they sing on their new album about being “disconnected from the country I love.”  The same can be said about their influences — you can hear each one of them front and center in the music and lyrics.
Rancid has been around [...]

I thoroughly enjoy the HBO show Entourage.  I’m not going to put it on a list of best shows of all time, but I definitely enjoy spending a half-hour a week with this crowd.  Having tried myself to sell some screenplays, I particularly enjoy the inside baseball treatment of the film industry as star Vinnie [...]

Some authors I don’t want to critique.  I just want to enjoy their use of language and their innovative stories and characters.  I revel in the pages and shut the critical part of my brain off.  Jhumpa Lahiri is one of those authors for me.  Her two short story collections, Interpreter of Maladies and Unaccustomed [...]

Nothing like ITunes credit to help me take chances on new music.  Not that I need I much encouragement.  I’m highly suggestible.  A couple good reviews or a recommendation from someone and I’ll probably check a new band out.  Anyway, I seem to be stuck pretty firmly on the college radio charts with my latest [...]

OK, this post is just going to be me getting all nostalgic about one of my favorite shows ever.  Yeah, Party of Five was a sappy show, but it was a well-written sappy show with deeply flawed and loveable characters that I suffered with each week.  It was a show that started with a sad [...]

I am seriously considering buying a bunch of songs by The Offspring.  You know them.  They came on the scene in the grungy 90s, but never had quite the weightiness of a Nirvana or Pearl Jam or their ilk.  This is one of those bands that seems to linger, putting out a new album every [...]

So I’ve mentioned before that I on occasion alphabetize all the songs on my Ipod by title, just to see if anything interesting pops up.  For example, I discovered that I have two songs called Kite (U2, Ivy) and five songs entitled Lullaby (Alana Davis, The Cure, Jack Johnson, Dixie Chicks and James).
I also have [...]