Song and Dance
A couple Christmas entertainment links to share this morning. I had been kicking around the idea of writing about my least favorite Christmas songs. Alexandra Petri decided to take that to a whole other level and rank 100 Christmas songs. A few of these I’ve never heard of and I think she leaves out a few that get played a…
The Most Wonderful Link of the Year
A few days later than normal, but my annual public service announcement on where to find the most complete schedule of the holiday shows over the next month. 2018 Christmas TV Schedule
Where Everybody Knows Your Name
Each November I tell myself, “Self, you should really watch more than just the “Thanksgiving Orphans” episode of Cheers this year. Then I debate whether to just watch the rest of season five, which I own on DVD,[1] or dive into the entire series on a streaming service. And, every year, I end up just watching that single episode around…
On SNL Legends
A couple links related to two of the greatest SNL talents of all time. Last week the Washington Post published this feature on Chevy Chase. There aren’t really any surprises in it for anyone who has followed his career. At age 74, you wonder how many more disappointing pieces about him are left to write. Chevy Chase Can’t Change After…
Old TV + Reader’s Notebook
As I’ve documented here many times over the years, sometimes I get paralyzed by the many options I have for watching quality TV. There is a long list of shows that I need to go back and watch, but I’m always torn about where to start, whether to watch one to completion on its own or to start several at…
Some Catch Up
I’ve finally made my way through my RSS reader, which collected over 1800 articles while we were gone. In that glut, I found a few items that can very loosely be connected, as all are about one kind of loss or another. First, Lindsey Buckingham announced he was leaving Fleetwood Mac again. I had to wonder why this was such…
TV Stuff
I’m working on a couple longer, more personal writing pieces to share over the next couple days. Thus, rather than writing about the Olympics or college hoops, I’ll share another link from my Instapaper stash. I had planned on doing a What I’m Watching post before the holidays. That, obviously, kind of went to shit and is tough to recreate…
I Should Have Thought of This
Stereogum writer Tom Breihan has started a series where he is writing about every song to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Obviously if I owned an alley, this would be right up it. Now he’s still very early in the series, so not all the songs are terribly relevant or interesting to most of us. But last…
The Last Jedi
OK, a quick five-minute listing of thoughts on The Last Jedi, which I saw last night. Spoiler alert! Conclusion first: The Last Jedi was very good. I had a few problems with it, but overall it was very entertaining, very well shot, had a decent story, and was worth two-and-a-half hours of my time. What I liked most: Man, was…
Getting the Shot
The photo of Carlton Fisk waving his home run fair in game six of the 1975 World Series is iconic. I had no idea there was such a deep story behind it and the man who captured those frames. Harry Cabluck not only caught Fisk dancing down the first base line. He also shot Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception in 1972.…