Back To Glendale
Thursday night is going to be big. After three months off air, Community returns! It’s such a big deal even The New York Times has a story about the show’s return in today’s edition. It remains unlikely, though, that “Community” will suddenly wade into the mainstream in search of more traditional viewers. Coming episodes revolve around a collegewide pillow fight…
Best Of The Naughts
The Lawrence Journal-World just completed their reader-driven contest to determine the best KU basketball player of the last decade. Weird timing, yes, since apparently everything that happened in the spring of 2000 gets pushed back to the 90s. But fun anyway. Some thoughts. It was interesting looking at their brackets – they went position-by-position – and realizing how unique KU’s…
Favorite DLR Songs
As I believe I mentioned before, I recently went through a bit of a David Lee Roth-era Van Halen phase. For a couple weeks their songs were in high rotation on my various digital music devices. That got me thinking. How would I rank the DLR songs? More to the point, what are my five favorite DLR songs?1 Purely subjective…
Favorite Albums Of The Decade
Another 2000s music retrospective, this time focusing on some of my favorite albums. Not meant to be comprehensive, it’s more an accounting of albums I both enjoyed this decade and which have stood the (brief) test of time. There are plenty of other worthy albums from the decade that probably should be included, but these are my favorites. While there…
Books Of The Decade
I read a lot of books this decade. I love putting together lists at the end of arbitrary periods of time. Seems like a perfect excuse to share some of my favorite books I read over the past ten years. Please note that the focus is on the date read rather than the date published. There are a few in…
Favorite Songs Of The Decade
Something meaty for you to chew on, should this be a short week for you. If not, tuck it away and save it for a day when you have time to read about my 30 favorite songs of the decade. 30 – “Love Steals Us From Loneliness” – Idlewild 2005. This band started out the decade gangbusters, a rocking outfit…
How Times Change
I started reading Bill Simmons again recently (and listening to his podcast). For various reasons, I’ve rarely read him over the past 2-3 years. It’s fun to find an old friend again. I just finished his summer NBA two-parter, set to quotes from his pick for top movie of the decade, Almost Famous. It reminded me of the day back…
Favorite Songs Of 2008
Hey, it’s time for my annual listing of the songs that moved me and/or stuck with me the most this year. Enjoy. Honorable Mention “Buildings & Mountains” – The Republic Tigers. A lovely song by a fine band from Kansas City. This sounds like a warm, early summer afternoon. “Northern Lights” – Science For Girls w/Boots Ottestad. Mellow brilliance. “Got…
Repeat Plays
Another great list from the Onion AV Club. Naturally, it begs the question, what movies are on my list? In no particular order: 1) Star Wars. I probably watched this 50 times between 1977 and 1984. I’ve seen it once all the way through since then. 2) Chevy’s Classics. I’ll bundle the classic work of Chevy Chase together, since watching…
How To
A few words about the methodology for my favorite songs list. First, I had to own a song for it to appear on the list. Duh. Second, I limited myself to one song per artist. After some consultation with a few other music geeks, I determined that I could consider both Beatles songs and John Lennon’s solo work separately. Same…