Fifteen years ago. Before Nevermind. NWA is still together. A band called Mookie Blaylock has just recruited a new lead singer named Ed. Underground rock and hip-hop are bubbling over, but the charts are dominated by Color Me Badd, Extreme, BoyzIIMen. What were the cool kids saying, and were they right?

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POLL RESULT: Battlefield Earth wins and will be watched this week (shudder).

It’s all over, folks. But something new is coming. (more…)

How about a big Ken Jennings head? It’s yours for the right price. Insert your own joke here.

He’s got a new book, a new blog, and a new message board too. The folks at M* were underwhelmed, but I know there are at least two Jeopardy! geeks here besides myself.

My first Halloween costume that I remember was a Superman costume. Red cape, mostly, flying behind me as I raced from house to house. I was six years old, and Richard Donner’s Superman was my new favorite, temporarily edging out Star Wars from the year before. I believed a man could fly.

And *sniff* now I can believe again. (more…)

Slate has put together a list of movies that a few selected directors, writers and critics name as being the movies they’ve rewatched the most. (†Ann Althouse) It’s an interesting list, though I can’t exactly say why. I suppose it’s really just an outlet for creative types to weigh in on their favorite movies. (more…)

I’m starting a new feature on Kulturblog to spotlight indie bands that deserve more attention than they’re currently getting. I’m asking bands to describe themselves for us in their own words, hoping to have their personality shine through their description a little. The first band I’m spotlighting, the Brought Low, has personality in spades.

Benjamin Howard Smith, singer and guitarist, filled out the bio/questionaire for us.
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Just a brief review, because there isn’t much I can say about the movie that either you haven’t heard or that wouldn’t spoil it.

It’s a very good movie, for what it is: a girl’s bildungsroman (based on the bestseller by Lauren Weisberger), a coming-of-age in the fashion industry, a boss-from-hell story told with flash. It won’t hold a lot of surprises for you, but it will entertain and divert you, which is all that can be asked of such a film. (more…)

Fresh off the newswire: one of the greatest girl bands in history is on indefinite hiatus. (more…)

Ever since I posted my updated Diet Coke rankings, I’ve been wondering about the differences between foreign and domestic Coca-Cola. On my most recent vacation, I made a point of bringing home a bottle of Coke Light for comparison purposes. (My Coke Light happened to come from Belize, though I doubt that there’s any difference between Mexican Coke Light and Belizean Coke Light.) (more…)

I basically stopped listening to music when grunge exploded. The combination of my local Seattle music scene no longer being exclusively local, extreme poverty, and extreme stress made music something I didn’t have enough resources for.

So I missed a lot of good stuff in the 90’s, although at the time I thought all good underground music was gone. (more…)

I need your help. It’s Friday, my last day at the university before I move to Vienna. I just walked into the library to do some work. Sitting on the table is a copy of a William Gibson novel. I do not know how it got there amongst the books on Egyptian hieroglyphics, but it has reminded me that it has been years since I read a sci-fi novel. Years.

I don’t read novels anymore as I’m always reading academic stuff. When I try to crack open a novel, I usually go high-brow, because, after all, I’m damned smart and must be able to say I have read the classics, man. But this summer, I want to read some sci-fi. Classics or pulp. Don’t care. Fantasy will do, as will comics. So, sci-fi gang, give me your best. As I’ve got this Gibson book here, should I be reading Neuromancer for starters?

1) Gob Bluth — Arrested Development
2) Homer Simpson — The Simpsons
3) George Costanza — Seinfeld
4) Cosmo Kramer — Seinfeld
5) John Locke — Lost

I was golfing with with my friend Brian this morning, and we were having a pretty miserable round. Balls in the water, balls out of bounds, chipping back and forth over the greens, every putt either a few inches short or burning the edge of the cup.

Things started picking up after making the turn. (more…)

THE FINAL PLAYLIST THUNDERDOME. (more…)

Getting decked out in your team’s paraphanalia may not seem so extreme, but to me dressing like this or this to attend a match on foreign turf is an extreme act of faith. It’s really a very high stakes wager with far more potential downside than upside. If your team wins, the fact that you’re dressed up adds a little bit to the excitement of the win. If they lose, you look and feel like a total tool and, especially in unfriendly territory, you become an easy, prominent target for taunting and, in the case of Americans overseas, possibly for anti-war protests (kidding (kind of)). (more…)

I bought a Dr. Pepper from the vending machine at work today and noticed that the retro-styled can (pictured to the left, courtesy Wikipedia) has a seal claiming an “authentic blend of 23 flavors.” Indeed, go to DrPepper.com, find the FAQ section, and you’ll be informed that “Dr. Pepper is a unique blend of 23 flavors. The formula for Dr. Pepper is proprietary information.” (Dr. Pepper also has a web-based promotion called “Get23″ centered around the 23 secret flavors. The promotion has to do with finding “flavor icons,” but it won’t reveal what the flavors are. Because they are—you know—secret.) Apparently, this claim has been a part of Dr. Pepper lore for a long time—something like the Colonel’s Eleven Herbs and Spices, but I was ignorant of it.

So what are the 23 flavors? I’m guessing one is not “cherry-flavored cough syrup,” though “cherry” seems a safe bet. (Vanilla, or some version of vanilla, seems a given, too.) According to Snopes, the company has repeatedly denied the persistant rumor that prune juice is one of the component flavors. Any guesses?

UPDATE: According to AdAge, Cadbury Schwepps (the owner of the Dr. Pepper brand) spent $5 million on a “mash-up” marketing campaign based on the 23 flavors concept before killing the ads earlier this year.  Click through the link to see the commercials that never aired.

The day of the Calexico show in Los Angeles last week was a strange one for me. I felt kind of mentally disconnected all day, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to really concentrate and enjoy their show.

What a sillyhead I was.
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I asked this to a friend of mine and he immediately said The Godfather. That’s pretty big. I’d have to say mine is either Casablanca or Gone With The Wind (hangs his head in shame). What are yours?

Watching game 5 of the NBA Finals tonight, I realized that in my mind, veteran NBA coach Pat Riley and Michael Douglas occupy the same territory. I’m not sure when or how this happened, but I know that if The Pat Riley Story were ever made into a feature motion picture, I just can’t see anyone other than Douglas playing the title role. From there, it was a short skip and a jump to this post.

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What do you call stolen cheese?

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Live sports and tv sports are almost different sports. (more…)

If you don’t like Garrison Keillor, stay home. (more…)

We’re at a great point in the sports calendar. The Stanley Cup finals are winding up, the NBA Finals are in full swing, the World Cup is getting underway, baseball is rolling along, the US Open tees off at Winged Foot on Thursday, and NFL quarterbacks are proving that they should probably wear their helmet off the field.

I’ve been enjoying watching the Carolina Hurricanes play over the past week. I don’t have cable or satellite tv, so the NBC broadcasts have been my first real chance to see them play all year. I have had the distinct pleasure of listening to Chuck Kaiton call their games on the radio, however. He’s one of the great voices in sports broadcasting. I watched the second half of the Sweden/Trinidad and Tobago match on Saturday as well, and was reasonably entertained as well, for a 0-0 tie.

I got to thinking about why I like hockey so much more than soccer. (more…)

A mighty battle last week, with three great songs largely neck-and-neck until in the end Jackson Browne’s “These Days” triumphed by a single voice. We are counting chads even now.

This week’s penultimate T-dome: battle of the Toronto Arts&Crafts bands.

Remember: NEXT WEEK IS THE FINAL T-DOME. Send in your suggestions for a grand finale.

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