By this point — 21 years into their career, and six into their remarkably rewarding and productive stint with Southern Lord — you know pretty much what to expect from Earth. Droning, syrupy riffs delivered in a heavy-minimalist style, echoing guitars over a humming bottom, a crushing low end over …
Judging a movie by its potential is probably skirting the edge of fairness, but the creepy 1947 carnival-noir Nightmare Alley tempts pretty strongly in that direction. The feeling it finally leaves you with is an unsatisfying one, both in the way it frequently opens up possibilities it doesn’t quite live …
I drink a lot of soda, because I am a doomed consumerist pawn. Occasionally I will review them in this space. And what better place to start than with Coca-Cola, the Platonic ideal of non-alcoholic beverages? The descendant of Georgia druggist John Stith Pemberton’s formulation for French Wine Coca is …
Along with all the other exciting and annoying content to hit this site in 2011, I am getting ready to kick off a special feature called The Sandwich Century. Over the course of the year, I will prepare, consume, and document a hundred different sandwiches, and you will follow it …
The other day, which by my reckoning could have been anywhere between last Thursday and Thanksgiving of 2004, I was talking with a good friend about the Daily Beast’s annual ranking of the smartest cities in America. Although my stomping grounds of San Antonio ranked 54th out of 55, that …
The PetardCast makes its triumphant return as I finally sort of get the hang of sound levels. I am joined by special guest Claire Zulkey, a multi-talented dame from my beloved Chicago, who engages in obscure sketch comedy with me and explains how Ryan Seacrest is gay even if he …
1. A popular band makes it a point while on tour to stick with performing material familiar to their fans, reckoning that this is what they most want to hear. Detractors cite this as a reason the band is unadventurous, predictable, and dull. 2. One night, the bandleader, deciding to …
From “Peter9827″‘s review of Blues Brothers 2000: Alright Here is my review of Blues Brothers 2000 the sequel to the 1980 Classic the Blues Brothers Which was one of my favorites this also one of my favorites too.But Before I begin this review this movie has nothing to do with …
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR Dates: 1775-1783 Primary Opponent: Great Britain Primary Cause: Desire to overthrow the burden of colonialist oppression in the form of elevated tea prices Deaths: 15,590 combat/51,080 total Who was to blame?: The British, for not fucking off and letting us drink our goddamn tea in peace …
In the most recent episode of the PetardCast, I am joined by the hard-working Mr. Hayden Childs of North Kakalacka. We will discuss the Trail of Tears, America’s kill-craziest presidents, and the genius of Richard Thompson. Hayden also engages in a skit where he gives Richard Nixon his werewolfiest imitation …
I cannot, and will not, overemphasize the importance of critical thinking. Language is a weapon, and what’s more, it’s really the only weapon we have against near-constant attempts to control the way we perceive the world. Approaching every sentence one encounters with rigor, applying keen analysis of every word thrown …
There is a new episode of the PetardCast. I am joined by the sublime Mr. Tony Zaret, who defends Japanese wartime atrocities, discusses the hard-working homeless of New York, and pretends to be the personification of human mortality. There is also Celebrities Are Our Betters, all-purpose denials, and me doing …
I couldn’t get a guest for episode #7 of the PetardCast, so instead I did something that, like genocide or serial murder, cannot be easily put into words. I warn you in advance that listening to it will ruin you, me, and everything else forever, and I’m very sorry this …
Ben Shapiro, once America’s dumbest young right-wing pundit, is now America’s dumbest movie critic: no one will hire him as a lawyer, so lately he’s been bumming around Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood site pretending to be a movie critic. His latest column is a seen-it-a-million-times rant about how there are …
It’s episode #6 of the hotly contested PetardCast, this time featuring Brooklyn’s funniest cake-maker and Channel 101 veteran Shek Baker. Together, we will insult the Irish, take cheap shots at poets, and finally cement a lasting peace between the Arabs and the Jews. I also debut a new feature (Received …
