Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

I've really dropped off the map with this blog in recent years due to a few major life circumstances, including miscarriages and job loss. I figure I will record my journey in a series of blog posts, poems, and short essays as I attempt to navigate my issues and write more for the blog. I have been continually working on academic articles and chapters along with editing fiction and hopefully working on my own book proposals for an edited collection and for a possible music/film book. I always have so many ideas, but my follow-through has been lacking.  Here are my proposals and goals for 2024: 1. Rework my Green Day 33 1/3 proposal in hopes of publishing some of it. Perhaps, I might put it on the the blog like I did with my Drive-By-Truckers Southern Rock Opera attempt a few years ago. 2. Write and publish a CFP on my favorite television show of the past few years for a possible edited collection. 3. Finish the two chapters for edited collections that I am currently working on. 4....

  A stunning debut from a first-time director that still holds up. John Singleton's story about a young man coming of age amidst gang violence in South Central Los Angeles has aged better than many of the other New Black Cinema films because of well-developed characters (at least for the most part) and realistic relationships. The compassion and decorum the film displays reinforce strong performances by Lawrence Fishburne and Ice Cube. Despite the rapper's brief role, Cube brings fresh air to his performance as wise-cracking and dogged Doughboy. Fishburne steals most of the scenes he appears in as Tre's (Cuba Gooding Jr.) tough but fair father. The chilling scene where he manipulates the stress balls as his son goes for revenge still hits hard thirty years later. If its been a while since you have seen Boyz n the Hood , you should revisit it. While a product of its time, this stylish movie  remains one of the best of the 1990s so-called hood films and one of the most moving...

Critics often compare Rusty Cundieff's mockumentary to Rob Reiner's This is Spinal Tap , and while  comparisons are often warranted, they do the film an injustice. Fear of a Black Hat , although it borrows and adapts some of the jokes, stands on its own as an insightful commentary of hip-hop culture. The film's  callbacks and inside jokes  will make anyone familiar with hip-hip history laugh out loud. Many of the spoofs are accurate, but more importantly, they are funny.  Unlike other parodies such as CB4 (also 1993), the film spoofs more aspects of hip hop culture without relying on the gangster rap era. The parodies of different era's hip-hop stars are precise sendups of specific people and tropes. Direct references to these figures, particularly Salt-N-Pepa as Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme and M.C. Hammer as M.C. Slammer, call attention to the self-seriousness of the movement and its critical response. The group member's contentious rivalries with each o...

We've been living on aspirin and hope for far too long. A Mountain Goats song gone to seed with an assorted crew of wellwishers and television addicts. Are we trapped in a Santa Monica basement in 1989 or a London flat with Maggie blaring on the telly? No, we are just treading water as we wait for the next circus and the inevitable sea monkeys. Temperamental 90s reverts to the spasmodic 50s as fall sets in. Generational or seasonal shifts increase anxiety. The sad fall inversion aches in the metacarpals and palms of our fragile hands. Here's to another year of going through emotions. Excuse my mixed metaphors.  I'm foundering near the coast without medication or the appropriate adjectives.

Tony Silver's Style Wars (1983) focuses a tighter lens on graffiti, breakdancing, and subway art than Wild Style. The interviews add realism lacking in that earlier film and provide a more comprehensive focus than its scripted story. However, that film feels more organic because of its less glossy cinematography and the community involvement in its production.  Style Wars includes interviews with graffiti artists and break dancers who champion their art's creative expression and those like Mayor Ed Koch, the NYC Police Department, and disgruntled parents who view graffiti as the destruction of public property. These figures come across as hilariously out of touch, while the artists and their graffiti show the enthusiastic promise of a burgeoning art form.  The soundtrack consists of a representative assortment of classic hip-hop tracks, including Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" and The Treacherous Three's "Feel the Heartbeat," next to songs that j...

The films in Criterion Channel's Fiftieth Anniversary of Hip Hop collection include insightful documents of the early 1980s New York scene. Charlie Ahearn's Wild Style traces the convergence of disparate, yet equally creative cultural strands, including rapping, breakdancing, and tagging.

I never live up to what I expect from myself. I have Imposter Syndrome and Generalized Anxiety. I achieve most of my goals, but I am still unhappy since I do not know when to quit.   I cannot stop comparing myself to others despite different career paths.  I compete with myself as much as others.  I have been teaching five courses per semester at the highest level for years. I have a vigorous publishing schedule that often gets in the way of my personal goals.  I enjoy writing most of the time.  I'm not getting any younger, so I think I might just have to give up. I should settle for what comes and finally write that book.  I will remain tired.   I am angry most of the time. 

When Definitely Maybe came out in 1994, I had not entirely solidified into my 1990s role as a primarily punk music listener. I loved much of what came out that year under the mantle of alternative rock. Cue Mr. T Experience's "Alternative is Here to Stay" for an appropriate soundtrack to the mainstream acceptance of alternative sounds that was foreshadowed by 1980s new wave. I bought records by Pavement, Wilco, the Meat Puppets, Tripping Daisy, 311, Liz Phair, the eels, and many others that popular media tangentially connected to the "Alternative Explosion" if they were not part of specific, related genres.  Oasis's first record was somehow different in my estimation because I seldom listened to other Britpop at the time. However, Blur's "Girls & Boys" and a track or two by Supergrass also caught my attention. There was something more rocking and seductive about their debut LP. Was it more specific rock and roll lyrical subject matter? Trac...

Film Twenty Six: Zebrahead (1992). Anthony Drazan's first film documents the relationship between two teenagers: a Jewish DJ Zack (Michael Rappaport) and a black girl Nikki (N'Bushe Wright) at a high school in Detroit. Somewhat of a Romeo and Juliet story, the film quickly establishes friction, stemming from how others view their relationship. Solid performances and an interesting soundtrack do not help the film's success. Zebrahead is an enjoyable film that could be better if it tied up the loose plotlines and actually developed the relationship between Zack and Nikki instead of attempting to comment on inner-city violence, infidelity, and other social issues.

Film Twenty Five: You Are Not I (1981). Sara Driver's adaptation of a Paul Bowles short story exemplifies her ability to tell a quiet story about relationships and agency as bolstered by haunting imagery from her regular collaborator, Jim Jarmusch. Not that different in tone or pacing from When Pigs Fly , the thesis film was feared lost after her projection copy became unplayable. Another turned up in Bowles's holdings in 2009. The film depicts Ethel's (Suzanne Fletcher) journey as she comes across a terrible car accident after escaping from a mental hospital. Responders at the scene take her to her sister's house instead of back to the hospital. Watch for an absurd or possibly satisfying conclusion, depending on your perspective.

 Film Twenty Four: X-Ray , or The Hospital Massacre (1981). A typical slasher film set in a hospital.

Film Twenty Three: When Pigs Fly (1993). Quirky is the word of the day in my reviews and apparently as all-too-common of a description of the films in this challenge. Sara Driver's indie ghost story fits that word to a tee. Minor key characters, particularly a fun turn by Marianne Faithfull as one of the ghosts, mesh with the supernatural as a jazz musician inherits a haunted chair that leads him on a quest to help the ghosts and perhaps assuage his loneliness. Like Baraboo , one of the first films I watched, despite being a slow character study, When Pigs Fly contains oodles of charm that makes up for the pacing.

Film Twenty Two: Vernon, Florida (1981). Errol Morris's quirky documentary captures the daily lives of citizens in a Florida town. Focusing on their stories, dreams, and philosophies, he creates a compelling portrait of small-town life and the larger-than-life, passionate characters that can inhabit out of the way places. Brief moments in the film with the turkey hunters, the police officer, or the man who collects various animals attests to the power of story telling and how human interaction can teach us a lot about how others see the world.

Film Twenty One: Uncharted (2022). Uncompelling.

Film Twenty: The Ties That Bind (1984). Su Friedrich's experimental art film explores mother-daughter relationships unconventionally. It examines the realities of her mother's history as a child in Nazi Germany, and the psychic and cultural divide between generations. Chronicling her mother's awful experiences through interviews and archival footage, Friedrich reinforces the separation between the two. She asks questions "silently" through writing and never speaks directly to her. A challenging yet rewarding film that everyone should watch because of the issues Friedrich addresses about the importance of family, the weight of history, and the often fraught improbabilities of personal connection.

Film Nineteen: The Sting (1973). I'm not sure how I missed this one since I generally love gambling and heist movies. Paul Newman and Robert Redford are both compelling in this complex Academy Award Winner that includes a number of textbook cons, gleaned from David W. Maurer's equally indispensable, The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man . Redford was nominated for best actor, but lost to Jack Lemmon for his role in Save the Tiger . Great acting, a tight script, and a satisfying payoff make this one a worthy watch. I'm glad I finally got around to it.

Film Eighteen: The Reagan Show (2017). A documentary that utilizes newsreel and video footage to cover Ronald Reagan's presidency. Since the former actor was one of the first presidents to regularly allow cameras in the White House, directors Pacho Velez and Sierra Pettengill had plenty of footage to choose from. The enjoyable documentary provides a somewhat balanced presentation of Reagan's media image that will please both his fans and detractors; however, a few gaffes show cracks in his media friendly facade. The tight focus on his interactions with Mikhail Gorbachev, while apt, leave this viewer wanting more and asking many questions about some of Reagan's other unsavory and beneficial policies.

Film Seventeen: Quadrophenia (1979). Director Franc Roddam's drama about a young man, Jimmy, played aptly and rudely by Phil Daniels, and his struggles to find himself is loosely based on the Who's 1973 Rock Opera. The film sets the young Mod's attempts to escape his dull job and teenage life against the backdrop of the Mod/Rocker battle on Brighton Beach in 1964. The battle on the beach and Jimmy's attempts to befriend Ace Face, a teenage idol Mod played by Sting, and some of his other rebellious antics are quite fun to watch.  I should have probably seen this film as a teenager because it would have fit perfectly in with readings of The Catcher in the Rye or The Bell Jar and other such stories of teenage disillusionment. Instead, I found that I did not relate to the characters or Jimmy's relationship troubles. The excellent music by the early Who and other 1960s groups like the Ronettes and the Kingsmen really capture the mood and feel of the period. Despite it...

Film Sixteen: Putney Swope (1969) Undoubtedly, the best known of Robert Downey Sr's scathing countercultural satires, Putney Swope satirizes corporate America and the advertising industry. There is a lot to like in how the film examines the sacred cows and cultural idiosyncrasies of the 1960s through odd characters and bizarre advertising skits. The film's refreshing, at least for the 1960s, discussion of race and class in America remains pertinent. Sadly, the film feels dated at times and the jokes often fail because of it. They tend to go on for far too long, and the flat acting does little to help.

Film Fifteen: Original Gangstas (1996). An over-the-top action vehicle that shows that 1970s blaxploitation heroes Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and Jim Brown still have it. Despite the fairly pedestrian plot, of protecting their Gary, Indiana neighborhood against a street gang called the Rebels, the quick-paced action and great performances from the principle cast make it worth a look. Larry Cohen's direction is straightforward as always but has little of the guerilla filmmaking feel of his best efforts. If you want more of his gonzo style, you should look elsewhere. I suggest Bone or Black Caesar.

Film Fourteen: No Maps on My Taps (1979). A fascinating tap dancing documentary that features performances from three of the greats: Bunny Briggs, Chuck Green, and Howard "Sandman" Sims to a backing band led by Lionel Hampton. The film weaves interviews with each man with chronicles of their techniques and personal histories. It also includes footage of early tap dancing greats like Bill Robinson and John W. Bubbles. George T. Nierenberg filmed the documentary at a time when the tap dancing community was lamenting decreasing public interest in their art . The performances and interviews show the versatility and passion that these men bring to the dance floor. As the audiences debate which one is best, it becomes evident that, while interest in tap dancing might wane, it will continue to wow people. The revival of the art form in the 1980s attests to that.

 Film Thirteen: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) Clint Eastwood directed this thriller that tells the story of an antiques dealer on trial for murdering his lover. Beautiful cinematography and period sets provide authenticity, while standout performances by John Cusack and the Lady Chablis make it a powerful study in character. I know this is becoming a habit, but, yet again, I'm not sure how I missed this one. I was a huge Cusack fan in the late 1990s.

Film Twelve: The Laramie Project (2002) Another film that I'm surprised I missed. Based on the play of the same name by Moisés Kaufman, it covers a group of actors interviewing citizens of Laramie, Wyoming after the 1998 murder of Matthew Shephard. Kaufman also directed this absorbing look at a community in turmoil. It not only brings awareness to the tragedy of Shephard's death but portrays the pervasiveness of homophobia and the awful toll that it takes.

 Film Eleven: Kiss of Death (1947) How did I miss this classic film noir? Victor Mature's performance as Nick Bianco wows in this story of an ex-con who just wants to go straight and spend time with his kids. Nick gives up his accomplices for parole and one of them, Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark in an equally persuasive role), comes gunning for him. I highly recommend this one; however, you might want to stay away from the 1995 David Caruso remake, unless you want to see Nick Cage as a less-menacing heavy.

Film Ten: Jurassic Park (1993) Somehow I have never watched this film in its entirety, even though I wanted to be a paleontologist as a kid. I was too cool to watch it when it came out in 1993, and I am unhappy I never sat down and watched it without commercials. My favorite part of this theme park thriller is Ian Malcolm's (Jeff Goldblum) cool under pressure proclamations as the Tyrannosaurus Rex chases them.

 Film Nine: The Italian Connection (1972). A loose sequel to Fernando Di Leo's Caliber 9 that is even more audacious than that film. A small-time criminal and pimp from Milan, Luca Canali, expertly played by Mario Adorf, finds himself set up by his boss and soon two hitmen are after him. Quentin Tarantino used these hitmen as the basis for the very similar ones in Pulp Fiction. The action and fight scenes are composed well, and the cinematography is top notch. Watch for an unexpected headbutt from Adorf that would never fly in an American film. 

Film Eight: A House Divided: Denmark Vesey's Rebellion (1982). Yaphet Kotto stars in the heartbreaking true story of a free man who cannot buy his wife and son out of slavery and plots a rebellion to help free thousands of slave in South Carolina. I wish we learned more about Denmark Vesey and others like him in school. The film covers many issues surrounding slavery and conditions in America that often go unmentioned today. 

 Film Seven: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022). Great performances, especially Janelle Monae’s make this comedic mystery sequel eminently watchable. I figured out who did it early on but missed many of the particular details.

Film Six: The Flying Ace (1926). The first silent film in my challenge is so much fun. The intriguing mystery plot keeps one guessing. 

Film Five: The Erl-King (At least in the English Title) (1931). Stunning cinematography, state-of-the-art special effects, and a haunting score add tension in Marie-Louise Iribe's spellbinding adaptation of the Johann Goethe tale. A father races his horse through a forest replete with all manners of supernatural characters as the Erl-King tries to take the soul of his young son in this classic tale. 

Film Four: Dark Wind (1991). I have not seen this Tony Hillerman adaptation in years. While it was the only fiction film directed by famed documentarian Errol Morris, this one feels cobbled together because he left the project before completing his vision. Lou Diamond Phillip's tentative performance as Jim Chee and Gary Farmer's assured one as Deputy Cowboy Albert Dashee do little to help the fragmented narrative, and poor editing gives a boom mic star power that it does not deserve.  While I enjoyed the acting, I can't really recommend this one. Instead, if you are interested in adaptations of the Chee and Leaphorn mysteries, I suggest watching the 2022 AMC television series Dark Winds starring Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, and Jessica Matten.

Film Three: Caliber 9 (At least in the English title) (1972). It's been some time since I watched a stylish and beautifully-filmed Italian Poliziotteschi. Fernando Di Leo's movie continually builds tension even with expected reveals. The fun Innocenti Mini Scene, and the rivalry between the hard-as-nails Ugo Piazza (Gastone Moschin) and loose cannon Rocco (Mario Adorf) make this one worth it if you like 1970s crime thrillers. 

Film Two: Baraboo (2009). Mary Sweeney, best known as David Lynch's editor, directed this offbeat, yet surprisingly straightforward, character study set in a fictionalized and unrecognizable Baraboo, Wisconsin. The film's beautiful cinematography accurately reflects the beauty and heartbreak of rural America, but there is not enough plot to make this one more than a slow-moving curiosity.

Film One: Adventures on the New Frontier (1961).