2009 Archive

  • Director Jim Cameron’s Avatar is fun, but it’s not great. The only thing eventful about it is how neat it looks. I miss the ultra-violent Cameron of futuristic hardware and […]

    Avatar

    Director Jim Cameron’s Avatar is fun, but it’s not great. The only thing eventful about it is how neat it looks. I miss the ultra-violent Cameron of futuristic hardware and […]

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  • Lacuna Coil’s stock-in-trade, the gothic-metal-power-ballad, comes in two forms – slow and fast. The fast songs have a guitar hook and some crushing riffs, soaring Cristina Scabbia choruses, and puzzling […]

    Lacuna Coil – Shallow Life

    Lacuna Coil’s stock-in-trade, the gothic-metal-power-ballad, comes in two forms – slow and fast. The fast songs have a guitar hook and some crushing riffs, soaring Cristina Scabbia choruses, and puzzling […]

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  • When it comes to The Beatles, I have almost no critical faculty. Readers of Exploded Goat know I am reluctant to write about the Fab Four, but only because other […]

    The Beatles – The Beatles In Mono

    When it comes to The Beatles, I have almost no critical faculty. Readers of Exploded Goat know I am reluctant to write about the Fab Four, but only because other […]

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  • Or: I Am A Fugitive From The History Channel. John Dillinger looked like a wolf; Johnny Depp is a ballroom sheik. Billie Frechette was Dillinger’s moll, small, plain, and scrappy; […]

    Public Enemies

    Or: I Am A Fugitive From The History Channel. John Dillinger looked like a wolf; Johnny Depp is a ballroom sheik. Billie Frechette was Dillinger’s moll, small, plain, and scrappy; […]

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  • The worst thing about reading biography into albums (or movies, or books) is not that it’s entirely un-verifiable and easily subject to reviewer bias/confabulation – it’s a pretty boring way […]

    Jarvis Cocker – “Further Complications”

    The worst thing about reading biography into albums (or movies, or books) is not that it’s entirely un-verifiable and easily subject to reviewer bias/confabulation – it’s a pretty boring way […]

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