Monday, September 27, 2010

Yellow Peril- Rising Sun by Michael Crichton


Though the idea of the ‘Yellow Peril’ is basically a 19th century one, and I do love all things Victorian, I’m not going to get into that period of its development right now. To anyone who’s unfamiliar with the term, I’ll direct your attention to the incomparable Jess Nevins once again, as he seems to be the reigning authority on the subject, at least as far as pop-culture goes. Instead, I’m going to talk about a bizarre resurgence of this idea in media approximately one hundred years later. Specifically, I’m going to talk about the late, great Michael Crichton.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Unappreciated: Music from 'The Elder' by Kiss


As a Kiss record I'd give it a zero. As a bad Genesis record, I'd give it a two.
Gene Simmons

Imagine it's the early 80's, and you've just joined KISS, the hardest rockin' band in the world (stop laughing), you're ready to bust heads and take names, and then you find out that Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons want to release ... a duff 70's-style concept album. Shudder.