Author: Al Daniel
-
Best Avril Lavigne covers, collaborations
This Monday marks exactly five years since Avril Lavigne last released a studio album. She will cut off that hiatus in the near future. The 34-year-old Canadian rocker is making promotional rounds with the title track of Head Above Water. When she is not debunking conspiracy theories, as she was last week, she is capturing…
-
Dogged defense still key to Luongo’s job
The popular Old Western attitude toward scarce territory rarely applies around the Olde Towne of New England. Even when it does, it is not liable to spark much conflict. Certainly not in any parts of Boston where you can find Nicki Luongo. As compact as the city is at 48.3 square miles, it is plenty big…
-
How should TV shows reference their pop-culture peers?
To its credit, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has not exactly tried to reinvent that which cannot be reinvented. Still, for all it has done fine with of late, there are areas where it could have hit higher marks. While its two latest episodes took up trite concepts, the execution was fresh in some spots.…
-
10 biggest hit movies featuring Queen songs
The first and most memorable drove in 1992’s great wave of Queen songs in cinema came close to falling through. In 2014, Wayne’s World title star Mike Myers confessed to Marc Maron that a lack of “Bohemian Rhapsody” would have been a deal-breaker. But with the blessing of lead singer Freddie Mercury, who passed away in…
-
Stewart knows the joy of sax
If anyone ever sees a need to make Ethan Stewart feel more at home at Ewigleben Arena, a menu of options exists. There are public-address system staples like “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “It’s My Life” and “You Give Love a Bad Name.” If Ferris State’s visitors incur a penalty and Stewart is summoned to the…
-
The Flyers and Homer Simpson: Treehouse of Horror and beyond
In their athletic afterlife, the 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers served two minutes in the box. The jury box, that is, or most accurately the goggle-box. And it was technically two minutes and five seconds for those keeping diligent time. It happened on the Fox network 25 years ago this Sunday. As The Simpsons was well into…
-
Best Bob Belcher-Jimmy Pesto episodes
Has Jimmy Pesto run his course as a Bob’s Burgers antagonist? In short, yes, but he has had a worthwhile run. This past Sunday marked the cross-street pizzeria owner’s first appearance in Season 9. He had sat out the previous eight episodes, and another eight prior to the series’ 145th installment. After showing up in…
-
American Experience: 30 years of placid, pensive pauses
PBS’ American Experience began its fourth decade by recollecting an obsolete entertainment entity. The irony could not be starker. “The Circus,” a two-part episode spread over last Tuesday and Wednesday, premiered 17 months after its subject shut down. The resultant emotional wounds in Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey devotees are still fresh. That much…
-
10 best live-action movies with Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill will not be 35 until this year’s penultimate day of autumn. His calendar youth hides behind his vast, ornate acting experience, to say nothing of the brains he has surely picked. This Friday, his first crack at directing a full-length feature will have its widespread release. With Mid90s, the authoritative Rotten Tomatoes states…
-
Conan, Michael Palin overdue for a crossover
Times were much simpler for Conan O’Brien when he last had Michael Palin on his show. Palin, who rose to fame in his native Great Britain as the youngest member of Monty Python, made four appearances on NBC’s Late Night during the O’Brien era. In September 1997, he was coming off Fierce Creatures, his second…