Listomania

I reviewed Simon Reynolds's Retromania. Lots to say about this work. It's a pivotal read. Hopefully, I can post some "bonus beats" on this piece on this blog sometime soon. In the meantime, read the review...and the book. It's fascinating.

I Went For That

I wrote roughly 2500 words on Hall & Oates's "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)", a song that has no particular personal resonance with me, but which is plenty interesting. I don't think I can keep up at this rate though, I wouldn't finish the series by the time I die.

RIP Nick Ashford

Part of another songwriting duo, Ashford & Simpson, who wrote many classic soul records like this

RIP Jerry Leiber

Along with Mike Stoller, the songwriting force behind these classics:

RIP Conrad Schnitzler

Building a Society from Bodies in Transit to Death

There's a million things I'd love to write about David Cronenberg if I ever had the time. The title above alone is from notes taken while piecing together a bio for a PopMatters feature on the 100 Greatest Directors that can be read here. From his seldom-discussed early films like Shivers (mentioned in the above article, also an odd parallax to Ballard's High Rise released in the same year) and the underrated student film Stereo (a clinical study of polymorphously perverse psychics) to the finer points of masterpieces like Existenz and Videodrome, Cronenberg definitely ranks near the very top of that list for me. Just consider three films offered to Cronenberg and imagine how amazing they would have been had they ever been made; Return of the Jedi, Total Recall, Basic Instinct 2 (yes, Basic Instinct 2).

In lieu a lengthy dissertation, I'll leave you with two quotes:

“There are a lot of bad things that happen to people as they get older. When you’re young, I think you anticipate those things and (watching horror films) is almost a rehearsal for coping with those things later in life”

“The idea that you carry around the seeds of your own destruction with you always and that they can erupt at any time is a little scary because there is no escape from it”- Cronenberg, on the body.