Humanizing The Vacuum

Cuz I’m in that kind of mood, one of my favorite erotic poems: At length their long kiss severed, with sweet smart: And as the last slow sudden drops are shed From sparkling eaves when all the storm has fled, So singly flagged the pulses of each heart. Their bosoms…

Frank Kogan posted a blistering response to Ann Powers’ weekend Beatles feature, to which I say, A-fucking-men. His title says it all. What the hell does “poptimism” mean in 2009 – that Pitchfork can review The-Dream without worrying about robbing Iron & Wine of space?

Fun for thirty minutes, until director Neill Blomkamp loses interest in his own faux documentary style and refuses to sort through his incendiary concepts. The hero’s Cheney-esque father-in-law, the Nigerian gang dealing in cybernetic weaponry, and the Soweto-style township in which the aliens live demand more than Blomkamp’s affectlessness. Also:…

My single of the week.

The announcement of his death hadn’t yet been linked on a million Facebook pages when Our Corporate Masters decreed that all references to the late Edward Kennedy would confine themselves to the tags “Camelot,” “Lion of the Senate,” and “Chappaquiddick.” No mention more than a minute long of his legislative…

An old story, but so heartening that it needs posting. I haven’t heard much Roxanne Shante beyond the obvious singles, but this confirms that she was always the smartest loudmouth in the biz.

One of Tina Turner’s biggest hits (three weeks at #2 in the fall of ’86) is nevertheless one of her least remarked on. Written by Terry Britten, coauthor of  “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” with drums by Phil Collins, this rather frantic piece of aural machinery deepens the…

Too many reviews have concentrated on the utter banality of the Amy Adams section of Julie and Julia, and while they’re right they also overlook one point: the utter banality of Ephron’s conception of “self-fulfillment.” Where it not for the pure charm of Meryl Streep’s impersonation of Julia Childs (the…