Book Review: The Wrong Word Dictionary

By Jemiah Jefferson

Are you one of those people that flies into a laser-eyed rage when you see grizzly misused in the place of grisly? Or are you one of those people who has no idea what the difference is between a gourmand and a gourmet; all you know is that they love their food or something? The English language is a tangly beast, easy to give the impression of mastery for any native speaker, and yet almost no one, even linguists, editors, professors of English, or journalists writing in the New York Times (ahem) will always choose the correct word, sometimes using an incorrect homonym or a related word, and only the driest (or perhaps the most frothy) pedants ever seems to notice.

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Editorial: Join Our Club

By Paul Casey

Sasha Grey:
Hipster or anti-hipster?

The first sign that you are a hipster is that you cannot stop using the word “hipster.” In conversation, your thoughts turn to those angles and rimmed glasses and how their love of Animal Collective makes them inauthentic. They’re false. You’re the real deal. You get hard at the thought of real music that gets to the heart of the matter. You think of yourself as open-minded but the need to attack that music you see as inherently wrong brings on physical discomfort, until you can release it on some misguided soul who loves Kenny Loggins without irony.

“Hipster” is rarely self-applied. It is a put-down, and those who use it with venom do so not to mock the pomposity of uptight jerkwads who JUST CAN’T BELIEVE THAT YOU DON’T FEEL WHAT THEY FEEL, but to highlight their confusion in not appreciating the universal objective qualities in music which disallow one from liking The Dandy Warhols over The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Or the other way around. There is no opposition to the hipster. There are simply variations of the hipster, which share the same affliction: They put far too much stock in their taste. What bothers them more than finding someone with the wrong tastes is being reminded that their taste rectification is not egalitarian but a rather dismal attempt to order the world.

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Music Review: Timi Yuro, The Complete Liberty Singles

By Emily Carney

American singer Timi Yuro was described as “the little girl with the big voice,” lending her legacy nicely to future blue-eyed soul singers such as the late Amy Winehouse, Duffy, and Adele. However, Yuro’s influence spread like tree roots on both sides of the ocean; artists as disparate as Elvis and Morrissey considered themselves Timi Yuro fans. Her voice was also heard all over Northern Soul dance floors during the 1970s. Her career ended in the late 1960s with her marriage, but she had some impressive celebrity fans. Excellence never goes away, though.

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Music Review: The Very Best of Vince Guaraldi and The Very Best of The Bill Evans Trio

By Emily Carney

In the last six months, Fantasy Records and Riverside Records (through Concord Music Group) released compilations detailing the best selections of jazz behemoths, including Vince Guaraldi (on Fantasy) and The Bill Evans Trio (on Riverside). Both compilations are great primers for those interested in getting a feel for both artists.

Vince Guaraldi was a jazz pianist and immortally associated with “Linus and Lucy,” otherwise known as the music from the Charlie Brown TV specials. This disc, featuring 14 of his best cuts, reflects that fame and has the iconic songs from those shows (“Linus…” as well as “Charlie Brown Theme,” “Christmas is Coming,” and “Christmas Time is Here”).

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Music Review: Gemma Ray, Island Fire

By Julie Finley

I stumbled upon Gemma Ray a few years ago by taking a listen to her album, Lights Out Zoltar!. It was actually her second full-length album, but the first I ever heard of her. That album was rock-solid, and mighty impressive.

So, its only natural that I’ve followed her career somewhat. I am no expert on Ms. Ray, but I do know this: She writes and performs her own music. She isn’t some pretty face template with a producer and bankroll. Granted, Gemma does have a pretty face, but there is clearly more going on with her creatively, compared to the many other current female performers she has been compared to. Her skills are even impressing fellow musicians who actually have some taste and skills themselves.

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Random Rant: Shit That Will Get You Blocked on Facebook

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Book Review: Raising Hell: Ken Russell And The Unmaking Of The Devils By Richard Crouse

By Less Lee Moore

If you live in or around Toronto, Ontario, Canada and you like movies, then you’ve already heard of Richard Crouse. For the rest of you, he’s a Toronto-based film critic and TV personality, who can be seen on both Canada AM and CTV’s 24-hour news channel (as well as at nearly every film event and festival in the Toronto area). Most importantly:, he’s also a tremendous, lifelong fan of filmmaker Ken Russell.

Crouse’s latest book (he’s written six others) is all about Ken “Enfant Terrible” Russell’s most controversial and frequently misunderstood 1971 film The Devils, starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. Raising Hell: Ken Russell and the Unmaking of The Devils begins much like my own recent reintroduction to Ken Russell: a prologue detailing Crouse’s 2010 meeting and interview with Russell in conjunction with Rue Morgue’s Festival of Fear screening of The Devils.

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Assemblog: September 21, 2012

Grease 2: “Friday night . . . talent show!”

New this week on Popshifter: Danny calls Bob Mould’s Silver Age “flawless;” Cait thinks Coal Porters’ Find The One is “gorgeous;” Elizabeth Keathley introduces a new series on “linear television” I look at the art of Frankenweenie; chat with Andrea and Paul of horror lecture series The Black Museum; give you the goods on Fantastic Fest 2012; and review Jason Lapeyre’s great new film Cold Blooded.

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Fantastic Fest 2012: What’s It All About?

By Less Lee Moore

What is Fantastic Fest? If you’re a film superfan, especially a fan of what’s commonly known as “genre films” (horror, sci-fi, action, anything that doesn’t fit neatly into the mainstream), then you probably already know. For everyone else, I’ll just quote from the Fantastic Fest website: “Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. Fantastic Fest is held each year in various venues, but primarily at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on South Lamar in Austin, Texas.”

Ah yes, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Founded by Karrie and Tim League (who is famous for his zero tolerance policy on bad behavior in theaters) in 1997. It began as a second run theater but eventually became a first run theater specializing in distinctive and unusual programming. Although it now includes nine locations across the US, the Austin location is perhaps the best known, and it’s also Fantastic Fest central.

This year’s Fantastic Fest started on Thursday, September 20 and runs through next Thursday, September 27.

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Movie Review: Cold Blooded

By Less Lee Moore

Jason Lapeyre‘s Cold Blooded is only his second feature film, but it’s already obvious that he’s a director to watch. The film has a terrific trailer that gives hints at the goodness within; it doesn’t spoil anything but it does leave you wanting more. Cold Blooded is definitely more than your average indie thriller.

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