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Chuck Klosterman has been thinking and writing about culture for over a decade. He's written several essay collections, nonfiction and novels, and for the past few years, he's written the weekly column as the "Ethicist" for the New York Times Magazine. In his newest book, he takes on, well… bad guys.
Klosterman looks at athletes, musicians, politicians, vigilantes and even fictional characters who have been framed as villains -- from Bill Clinton to Darth Vader to LeBron James -- and tries to deconstruct the stories we tell about them in I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined). The book is now available in paperback.
Klosterman tells us how we've got Machiavelli all wrong, why Batman works great as a fictional construct but fails as a real person, and why it's so easy to villainize professional athletes.
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Film critic Karina Longworth invites you to time travel back to the early 1980s to explore the punk rock dreams of young girls in Smithereens and We are the Best!.
She suggests checking out Smithereens from 1982, a kind of prequel to director Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan, for the time capsule of 1980s fashions and New York City street scenes.
If you want a pure breath of fresh air and fun, go with 2013's We Are The Best!, a Danish-Swedish film from director Lukas Moodysson. An adaptation of a comic book authored by his wife Coco, the movie follows a crew of young girls in Stockholm who found respite from the cruelties of middle school in punk rock.
Longworth hosts the podcast You Must Remember This, which explores forgotten bits of Hollywood history.
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This week, Phillip Crandall takes on Andrew W.K.'s 2001 debut, I Get Wet. At the time of its release, the album got a lot of flack. A lot of people just weren't sure what to make of it. The cover art was a gory photo of Andrew with blood running down his face, the song titles and lyrics were absurdly simplistic. A critic at Pitchfork gave it the abysmal rating of 0.6 out of 10. Ten years later, Pitchfork reviewed the reissued record, and gave it an 8.6. What gives? Well, Crandall says the album has a purpose and a message that endures.
Phillip Crandall is the author of a critical analysis of I Get Wet for Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series.
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Lots of recurring characters and sketches from Saturday Night Live have spawned feature films. Some of them are great, and some don't hold up well for 90 minutes of screentime. Jesse takes a look at the Al Franken vehicle Stuart Saves His Family, because "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"
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For this TSOYA classic we take a look back at a conversation Jesse had with rocker Andrew W.K. in early 2007, when he was just finishing up and releasing "Close Calls with Brick Walls."
Our friends in the NYC sketch group Elephant Larry have an awesome-packed show coming up, and we've got the details straight from the horse's mouth (or in this case, our pal Stefan Lawrence):
Elephant Larry is going to be hosting an awesome show at the venerable Joe's Pub in New York, on Saturday, September 25th, at 11:30PM. We're going to be doing some of our newer sketches, and bringing in such friends as:
ANDREW WK! MaxFunCon's 2010 Person of the Year! He'll be playing some music and also just goofing with us. Man, just can't wait.
JAKE & AMIR! Of CollegeHumor fame. Funny guys who are totally cool despite their massive heady internet celebrity status.
MATT McCARTHY! You may know him as they redheaded bearded dude from the Verizon commercials, but he's an awesome standup and superfunny. He was recently on WTF podcast, so that's gotta be worth something, right?
Plus we got giveaways and games and it's just going to be a fun night. Please come out and have fun with us! There'll also be an afterparty, though we know not where yet. Shall be announced. Get your tickets here: http://bit.ly/brMKm4
And if you're coming, RSVP on our Facebook event so we know to expect and welcome you: http://bit.ly/a45P2s
Ever since Andrew W.K. told us on Jordan Jesse Go! about hanging out at Hansen's songwriting fantasy camp, I have felt that the Hansen brothers are among The Good Ones. This exceedingly pleasant song and its accompanying video, which features both Weird Al Yankovic and an elaborate recreation of one of the best dance numbers in The Blues Brothers (the Ray Charles "Shake Your Tailfeather" scene) is further evidence.