Monthly Archives: October 2010

Happy Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2010 by
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“Dooly appointed”

Posted on October 30, 2010 by

Shutter Island is the kind of movie whose principals (Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo), nervously contemplating the eponymous prison from the boat, get their dialogue squelched before the narrative’s started by a portentous, immersive score (music editor Robbie Robertson requires … Continue reading →

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Singles 10/29

Posted on October 29, 2010 by

Lauryn Hill, emerging from exile, returns with a lovely sounding ballad. She gets stuck in the details though. Eric Church – Smoke a Little Smoke (6) Lauryn Hill – Repercussions (6) Faith Evans – Gone Already (5) Pixie Lott – … Continue reading →

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Wine, and cheese, whatever

Posted on October 27, 2010 by

An excerpt from my favorite bit of pornography of the last twenty-five years: I remember a Thanksgiving evening in our house eight or ten years ago; he was carving the late-night turkey after a drive from the country, and four … Continue reading →

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Corrections

Posted on October 26, 2010 by

A few months ago I wrote this about John Mayer’s “Half of My Heart”: The half of the heart that’s worrisome here is Mayer’s, who sings like he suffers from angina. When he lets his guitar do the mewling, the … Continue reading →

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I’ve never heard silence quite this loud: Taylor Swift’s Speak Now

Posted on October 25, 2010 by

The kicker in “Dear John” comes after almost two minutes of singing that verges on the clenched: “Didn’t you think I was too young to be messed with?” She places too much emphasis on the key adjective in the line … Continue reading →

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Don’t stand there against the dying of the light

Posted on October 24, 2010 by

Now that Orbison can boast several extant compilations, you can appreciate this forgotten mid eighties non-hit. .

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Moloch, with your NPR values and Jon Hamm eyes: Howl

Posted on October 23, 2010 by

As Allen Ginsberg, James Franco, through a lisp and singsong intonations, explains, as if addressing an NPR donation drive, how he wrote the famous line about Moloch. Jon Hamm and Bob Balaban praise nice liberal values such as “artistic” freedom … Continue reading →

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Singles 10/22

Posted on October 22, 2010 by

Some of my favorite rappers release thoroughly average singles. The same goes for Kylie Minogue, but her average this week is much better than Gucci and Kanye’s.   Kylie Minogue – Get Outta My Way (7) Chrisette Michele – I’m … Continue reading →

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“I would follow you into the mists of Avalon if that’s what you mean”

Posted on October 21, 2010 by

Friends swear by Step Brothers, the 2008 comedy starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as two grown child-men forced together by marriage (Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins play their parents). One went so far as to say it was … Continue reading →

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“Tomorrow will get better”

Posted on October 20, 2010 by

You know how I feel about her, but this is one of her warmest performances to date.

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Lifetime piling up: Please Give

Posted on October 19, 2010 by

Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) own a furniture store specializing in accessories bought from the dead. Their daughter Abby (Sarah Steele), a teenager who’s got serious problems with acne, often feels dead. After they buy the apartment next … Continue reading →

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