A dark tower, or two or three or more — I heard about them, tower blocks, I forget where at first. Didn’t actually see any until I came to London, though, and now that I think about it, probably not actually until my second time there in[…]

Autocrat of all the Russian histories — If I had my way (eight mansions worldwide, moving whenever the weather gets unpleasant, well stocked libraries for each one, etc.), there’d have to be a huge history section in said library and ther[…]

Let yourself be loved down — ILX greatheart Velveteen Bingo (the latest of his many incarnations) recently offered up a two-disc CDR mix of a collage of songs from the height of New Jack Swing — not just that, though! — called Velve[…]

Mmm tomato sauce I love you — the next step in my continuing adventures with regard to tomato prep involved making my first sauce. The recipe itself (thank ya to Lalitree!) is wonderfully simple:
* Three fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes — d[…]

Misery, complaints, self-pity, injustice — the utter joy of Soft Cell’s Non-Stop Exotic Video Show, just rereleased for the first time on DVD, lies in its naivete. Which is a trite thing to say on the one hand and something perfectly apt […]

Buy American — one of the more amusing things about my London visits is that I seem to inevitably pick up something there that is in fact from here. And theoretically I’m paying more for it. It makes sense that there would in fact be pl[…]

All hail Deems Taylor! — so Fantasia is one of those weird what-ifs of film history, archpopulist Walt Disney figuring ‘why not?’ and aiming for abstract within representation and getting a slew of talented characters and artists to[…]

Rick James RIP — yeah, yeah, cocaine, Chappelle, what did the hand say etc. etc. etc.
What matters for me at least:
Me at 10: “What the…’coming home intoxicated?’…what a weird line. I like this song.”
M[…]

FOR AGAINST
Echelons
I’m still scratching my head over this one, how the first album from 1986 by arguably the longest running US band dedicated to a love of That Early Eighties Post-Punk Gloom-Tinged Sound awaited being reissued for all these […]

Human traffic — I was a deluded young man. I was in England, in London, it was 1992. I waited to cross a London street. “All will be politeness and serenity here, no jaywalking or rude drivers or anything like that.” I didn&#821[…]