Let me start by saying that I love TV movies, especially those that air during the television sweeps periods (November, February and May, when advertising rates are set). Usually, these TV movies are completely outrageous, like last spring’s “Spring Break Shark Attack,” which is perhaps the most accurate movie title outside of something that belongs […]
Author Archives: Mark Humphrey
Kids’ TV looks fun … from the outside
I got a phone call the other day from a friend who had seen someone who looked like me on an old “7th Heaven” episode and asked if I had ever been on TV. I said I had indeed appeared on television shows during my childhood, specifically “7th Heaven,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and […]
NFL Draft: The NFL’s strange preoccupation with polygons
It’s the last weekend of April, and that can only mean one thing: ESPN is taking Mel Kiper Jr. and his excessively gelled hair out of cryogenic storage. That’s right: It’s draft time. The NFL Draft is fascinating for the simple reason that ESPN makes genuinely entertaining television out of people in a room getting […]
Soundbites: Tool ““ "10,000 Days"
Some albums simply cannot be judged on an initial listen. The last album that really embodied this was Tool’s 2001 release, “Lateralus.” Its song structure was bizarre, with an opening track, “The Grudge,” written in 10/8 time and an overall structure that leaned more toward progressive rock than ever before. Critics and fans have noted […]
No hiding from “˜CSI effect’
In my free time, I browse random topics on Wikipedia to amuse myself. It kills two birds with one stone: It wastes time and sometimes I learn something ““ though the things I learn usually end up being completely inconsequential (such as the topography of Tatooine, a fictional planet from “Star Wars”). Sometimes I look […]
WEEKEND REVIEW
It happened between Anders and Woods and Comets on Fire, in the lull between sets as roadies set up for the next act. On Friday night at a reunion show by pre-grunge pioneers Dinosaur Jr., I stood in the middle of the Troubadour, one of the most intimate venues in all of music. Then as […]
The middle man
When reminiscing about their experiences in college to friends and family, many men are not averse to exaggerating their accomplishments, and it seems as though everyone was the “Big Man On Campus” during his collegiate career. Comedian Mike Birbiglia, however, is one of the few to openly refute this common claim. “In college, I wasn’t […]