I’m addicted to stress, that’s the way that I get things done When I’m not under pressure then I sleep too long and I hang around like a bum I think I’m going nowhere and that makes me nervous A confession, then, to kickstart this edition of “Songs in the Key of Life”: I am stressed. I hear the familiar chorus rising once again. “Join the club,” you all say, unimpressed. “Welcome […]
Author Archive
Robin Thicke, Blurred Lines: Album Review
“Blurred Lines” is the song of the summer. That’s not mere conjecture; that’s almost scripture at this point. “Blurred Lines” is a big old Smash Hit, the kind we only get a couple of a year, the kind that everyone knows the words to. They know T.I.’s vowel-heavy guest rap, Pharrell’s every “whoo!”, the sly way Robin Thicke himself barely conceals a chuckle as he croons “what rhymes with hug me?”… the song’s massive, and why shouldn’t it be? With […]
Jay-Z, Magna Carta Holy Grail: Album Review
If you’ve grown up with Jay-Z as a consistent presence in your life, it’s difficult to be critical of him. That might have to do with his fairly remarkable record – although he’s only released a handful of stone-cold classics (Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint unimpeachably, and I’d argue for The Black Album too), he’s released plenty of good albums, with few (if any) clunkers in the bunch. I mean, sure, Kingdom Come and American Gangster weren’t really what anyone […]
Drews & Don’ts: 5 Terrible Stephen King Adaptations
After last week’s list of awesome Stephen King adaptations dropped, the challenge became to write a counterpoint to that list outlining the more execrable films made from Stephen King works. This is where I must confess: my opinion is woefully uninformed. There are a lot of movies that probably should be on my list, and “a lot” turns into “a ton” when you expand to include terrible tv movies (which I’m not, hence no 2002 Carrie or Desperation, among others); […]
Drews & Don’ts: 10 Great Stephen King Adaptations
As perhaps the world’s most preeminent writer of horror fiction, Stephen King’s works are adapted almost compulsively. With 60-odd novels and hundreds of short stories to his credit, there’s no shortage of material to pull from. It doesn’t hurt that his books hinge on ideas and rich characterization, aspects that make his yarns eminently adaptable; they also hinge a lot on expository dialogue and reams of internal monologue, things that don’t translate as easily to film. Three weeks into CBS’s […]
The Popblerd Halftime Show: Drew’s Best of 2013 So Far
Halfway through 2013, we’ve come to an interesting impasse: moreso than the last several years, the music of this year has been largely awesome. I don’t say this to suggest that I’m one of those curmudgeonly sorts that thinks new music blows; it’s just, we’ve been in a bit of a lull. Much of 2012 was boring on the album front, and 2011 was only marginally better. And yet, here we are at unlucky ’13, and I’ve already doled out […]
V/H/S 2: Movie Review
Last year, the horror community found itself quite taken by a ramshackle little anthology of found-footage creep-outs, V/H/S; an exciting, high-concept parade of ghastliness, the gleefully nasty little collection found up-and-coming genre directors like Ti West, Adam Wingard, and Radio Silence helming a series of POV horror shorts tied together by a framing story about — I dunno, some douches finding some old VHS tapes or something. Either way, it was a good thing for horror fans, a delicious melange […]
Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City: Album Review
There was a time that Vampire Weekend perched, perilously, on the precipice of being one of the great one-album wonders of the ’00s. Like Cannibal Ox or At the Drive-In or Bloc Party before them, the Ivy League pop-rockers seemed poised to turn heads with one masterstroke of a record, and then retreat into either obscurity, oddity, or simple irrelevance. That album was 2008’s Vampire Weekend — the one with “Oxford Comma” and “A-Punk” and basically all the Vampire Weekend […]
Drews & Don’ts: The 20 Best Episodes of “The Office”
As “The Office” closes its doors after nine seasons of workplace hijinks, it’s hard to separate the show at large from what the show’s become. Following television’s grandest tradition of continuing a successful sitcom long beyond its logical stopping point, the mockumentary sitcom has trudged through two largely laugh-free seasons following the departure of star Steve Carell. And while the ninth and final season has taken great strides over the dire eighth to wrap up the Scranton crew’s storylines in […]
Mikal Cronin, MCII: Album Review
Mikal Cronin is making music to get addicted to. The Ty Segall sideman and solo artist is far from a household name. Google searches and Rateyourmusic keywords seem to suggest that the singer-songwriter exists in the realm of “garage rock”, although that hardly seems like a fair shake for a guy responsible for some of the most addictive, giddy pop music of 2013 yet. Mind you, the multi-instrumental’s sophomore set, MCII, does occupy the same headspace as, say, Guided By […]
She & Him, Volume 3: Album Review
She & Him’s charm used to seem a little… Starbucks-y at times. You know what I mean: it’s fine for what you need, but both the band and the big-box coffee chain seem a bit like mainstream, inoffensive versions of their respective wares masquerading as hip versions of the same. (Also, She & Him sound like they probably get played at Starbucks a lot.) And yet, with three proper albums and a toe-tappin’ Christmas record under their belts, the Zooey […]
Natalie Maines, Mother: Album Review
A Dixie Chick goes solo…check out our review of Natalie Maines’ “Mother.”