I struggled to find a properly descriptive title for this week’s column and failed miserably. I’m actually referring to movies that beat up the main character so badly, for so long, in such depressing detail, that while the performances in the film may be extraordinary, one wonders if such subject matter could be portrayed any other way.
I’m thinking about the movie Precious
While not as graphic and painful, but equally depressing, Will Smith’s turn in The Pursuit of Happyness
Degrassi: The Next Generation — Season 7 (2009, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment)
purchase this DVD collection from Amazon: DVD
Degrassi: The Next Generation is like the older, Canadian cousin of the BBC’s Skins. Skins is brasher and quite a bit more racy, but that doesn’t mean that Degrassi: The Next Generation is some old fuddy duddy. Quite the contrary, using a half hour format (perfect for today’s attention deficit teenagers) and a much quicker pace, Degrassi: The Next Generation tackles the same issues as Skins with just as much drama, humor and effectiveness (with none of the nudity or foul language)
Echo Bridge Home Entertainment has just released the complete seventh Season of Degrassi: The Next Generation in a four-disc box set. If you are as unfamiliar with Degrassi as I was, starting your journey into the Degrassi universe with the seventh season is a little disorienting, like suddenly attending a new high school mid-way through the school year. However, a few clicks of the mouse are an easy remedy to that problem. Season 7 was significant because many of the regulars from the show (who had been on it all seven seasons) were finally graduating from high school (mind you, the actors playing these roles were actual teenagers and not twentysomethings trying to pass as teens). Particularly long-running was Emma (Miriam McDonald), whose origin dates back to the 1987 series, Degrassi Junior High, and whose character was the catalyst for Degrassi: The Next Generation.
The history of these characters may seem complicated, but once you’re immersed in this world, you quickly catch on. Which is good, because Degrassi has a cast so large I could spend most of this review rattling off their names and how they all interconnect. Instead, I’ll highlight several of the compelling story arcs that carried through season 7: (more…)
A winter chill crept into our sunny spring Sunday and we all donned heavy coats to go to a baseball game. Tickets to the World Baseball Classic between the United States and Japan had unexpectedly come our way, and we jumped at the opportunity for an early ball game before the regular season began. We didn’t expect much of a game, but at least it would be a good show. After loading into our old white minivan, we started the hourlong journey to Dodger Stadium with the sun still hanging on and the sounds of High School Musical blasting through the stereo speakers courtesy of Sophie’s iPod. Sophie and Jacob sang along with Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale, while I zoned out, as I usually do on long drives, focusing on the road and working out the issues that swirl around in my head. Midway through the drive, Julie reached over and took my hand, a simple gesture that she often does when we go on long trips. As her fingers interlocked with mine I was overcome with a sense of calm.
For years, my hands have become desensitized, calloused from years of drumming and the constant pounding of typewriters and computer keyboards, plus some nerve damage due to an injury during a pickup game of football in college. Besides extreme hot or cold, my limbs are often numb, save for the touch of the woman I love. When that happens, not only do my hands awaken, but my entire body feels a jolt of energy.
As the Disney songs played on, in my mind I was hearing the Dave Matthews Band song, “Steady As We Go.” I’ve only been a casual fan of Dave Matthews and company, so I never would have sought out their Stand Up album when it was released in 2005. However, the astute music supervisors on my beloved television show, Everwood, used the song during the series’ final episode and it immediately hit home. My obsession with the WB’s family drama and its early demise made me want to share “Steady As We Go” with Julie. I can’t tell you how many times she exclaimed, “Oh, so good!” after watching Everwood together. I simply assumed she’d be thrilled to receive the song on a CD mix.
Then a funny thing happened. Well, not so funny, but special and wonderful. Julie didn’t recall the song from Everwood; instead, she listened closely to the lyrics and fell in love with it for a different reason. One afternoon soon after getting the CD mix, she called me at work.
“That song is us.”
“Uh, okay, which song?”
“The one by Dave Matthews.”
“Yeah, that’s a good song, Julie. It was in Everwood.”
“No, dummy, it’s us.” (more…)
The Wall Street Journal wonders if Irving Azoff is the man who can save rock ‘n’ roll, and heralds the return of the green-haired animated superhero known as Captain Planet;
Cahl’s Juke Joint reviews Eddie Mack: The Complete Recordings and Gurf Morlix’s Last Exit to Happyland;
Eddie Money proves that the rock-musical trend has finally gone too fucking far;
Everyone’s favorite Lefsetz goes cuckoo for the new U2;
On the Trail of the Great shows some love for singer/songwriter Don McGlashan;
Ickmusic issues a disappointing update on Prince’s newest Web venture, then reviews J.J. Cale’s new album, Roll On;
Rolling Stone takes a peek inside the upcoming Zappa box, Lumpy Money;
Idolator interviews Ne-Yo;
The Beastie Boys talk to the BBC about their “strange” next album, Tadlock’s Glasses;
Wings for Wheels posts the eight funniest words in movie history;
Topless Robot counts down the eight most awesome old school 3-D flicks;
Slacktivist looks at the other side of the myth of the undeserving poor;
Kinder Trauma relives the horror of Toto’s “Stranger in Town” video;
The long-lost 20th take of “Revolution 1″ makes its way onto the Web;
Def Leppard, Cheap Trick, and Poison just made our old pal Kurt Torster cream in his acid-washed jeans;
Jeff Vrabel, a.k.a. the Michael Phelps of Monopoly, looks under the Boardwalk of the game’s 4,219th reinvention;
Styx, REO Speedwagon, and 38 Special have come up with a “rock ‘n’ roll stimulus package” that we urge every state governor to reject;
Steven Page splits with the Barenaked Ladies, breaking the tender heart of our very own Jason Hare;
…and Taylor Hanson, Bun E. Carlos, Adam Schlesinger, and James Iha debut their first single as Tinted Windows, “Kind of a Girl”:
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Jonatha Brooke is one of those artists whose name always sounds familiar – if only because, really, how many people named “Jonatha” do you know? – but whose music you may not be familiar with…though, frankly, you really should be. She’s a talented singer-songwriter who first got her career rolling in the early ’90s as a member of a duo called The Story, with collaborator Jennifer Kimball, but Brooke soon stood on her own two feet and has trotted out album after album … some on major labels, some on indies … to critical acclaim and a decidedly diehard following. Popdose had the opportunity to speak with Brooke, and we took full advantage of it, asking her about as much of her back catalog as time allowed, quizzing her about how she recently came to collaborate with the late Woody Guthrie (and whether she could even concentrate with the awareness of what Billy Bragg and Wilco had already done with the man’s lyrics), and wondering where she stands on the state of the music industry today.
