Monthly Archives: June 2013

My Five Favorite Moments from Mad Men Season 6

SPOILER ALERT: If you don’t want any surprises ruined, don’t read this until you’ve finished Season 6. The sixth season of AMC’s Mad Men ended on Sunday night. It’s a show I’ve always had mixed feelings about. It’s fun to … Continue reading

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On the Supreme Court and Self-Contradiction

I’ve always felt that the easiest way to explain the difference between liberals and conservatives in America, at least when it comes to social issues, is that if you think the 1960s (the Civil Rights Movement, protests against the Vietnam … Continue reading

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One of My Favorite Places: City Lights Bookstore and Vesuvio Cafe

Let me tell you about my favorite way to spend an afternoon in San Francisco: I walk up the easy slope of Columbus Ave, starting at the base of the Transamerica Pyramid, passing the copper green flatiron building owned by … Continue reading

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Anatomy of a Song: Happiness

As always, before we get started breaking down the song, listen to it here. Recorded and released as a single in 1999, Happiness is a beloved late-period Elliott Smith song. It’s one of the finer tracks on his 2000 album … Continue reading

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NBA Playoffs Review

One thing I’ve noticed about the sports prediction game: Pundits almost never go back and look at their preview columns to review what they got right and what they got wrong. Well, we here in the Brooklyn Basement are big … Continue reading

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An Indie Press Worth Your Time: Short Flight/Long Drive

There has been a lot of fretting in the last few years about the death of the novel, the death of the book. I’ve certainly had my own share of worries about this, given the way the major presses have … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Anatomy of a Song: Born in the U.S.A.

Before we get started with Born in the U.S.A., listen to it–and watch the official music video, which will figure in this discussion–here. The first thing you’ll notice about the sound of the song, the cover of the single, the … Continue reading

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Dear Vice Magazine: What the Fuck?

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t understand the fashion world. Not even a little bit. Every fashion spread I’ve ever seen in a magazine (and I used to work at a magazine that had a quarterly fashion feature) … Continue reading

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

My Favorite Ballparks

Inspired in part by Jonah Keri’s story on Grantland, I thought I’d write a post about my favorite ballparks. It’s hardly as comprehensive as Keri’s; I’ve only been to twelve Big League stadiums (that includes two that have been demolished, … Continue reading

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Desert Island Album #6: Sticky Fingers

The album cover: Truly one of the all-time iconic rock ‘n’ roll album covers, the image of a bulging crotch (the natural assumption is it’s Mick Jagger’s, though Warhol claimed it isn’t, and the exact identity of the model has … Continue reading

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