Chainsaw ManChapter 1- 122by Tatsuki Fujimoto This is the year I got more into manga. I’ve always been an anime fan, but I started to realize that some of my favorite animes were never going to come back, so I went back to the manga to get more content. Chainsaw Man was one of the most high-profile animes of 2022 and definitely one of our favorite TV shows. The manga is ahead of the TV show, and as a fan...

Michael Jackson Thriller (40th Anniversary Exclusive) LP (Legacy Recordings/Sony Music) There is absolutely nothing I can say about this album that hasn’t been said a hundred times already, so let me just tell a personal story about the musical power of Michael Jackson, instead. The documentary Leaving Neverland had just come out which told two very personal stories of children who were victims of Michael Jackson’s abuses. The documentary got lots of coverage and further brought to people’s attention what...

Black Adam Look, I like the Rock, OK? I have for a long time. I know he acted like a total jabroni through the entire making of Black Adam, trying to become the universe runner of the DCU while peddling his brand of wrestler-turned-legitimate-actor and his weird liquors, but maybe having the Rock be the new face of DC wasn’t such a farfetched idea. And of course it didn’t work out. This was all too little too late. And...

The winters in New England are brutal. So much so that it’s a wonder anyone would come here to play when it’s so cold out. Double that when there’s a snow storm. And those were exactly the conditions on Tuesday when Bat Fangs rolled around to the Sinclair for their live show. Personally, I was surprised the show was happening at all, but very very pleased that it did. Both Bat Fangs and Quasi are bands I’ve been meaning to...

The Philosophy of Modern Songby Bob Dylan Could anyone but Bob Dylan have written a book like this? I use the words “book” and “Bob Dylan” lightly because I don’t think either of those things are true. Let me explain. The Philosophy of Modern Song is just a plain weird book. It’s fun, sure, but it’s also bizarre as hell. What it is is 65 essays on 65 songs that we guess made a big impact on Dylan. Or maybe...

Captain Beefheart & His Magic BandTrout Mask Replica There is a bit on Marc Maron’s standup album Thinky Pain where, after talking extensively about his vinyl midlife crisis and trying to find the perfect record player how it’s time for him to “understand Beefheart.” I will never be smart enough or large enough of mind to assess and understand Captain Beefheart. It’s just hanging there. In many ways, he’s not wrong; there aren’t a lot of musical...

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 What can I possibly say about Star Trek that hasn’t been said already. If you don’t know what it is, get a clue and get on board. I was very late to the party but have since gone very deep. Star Trek is a warm fuzzy place I don’t think I’ll ever want to leave. For a franchise that has done so much over so many years the idea of Prodigy sounds like a...

Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilizationby Neil deGrasse Tyson I know Neil deGrasse Tyson is often the victim of ridicule, but I can’t help but like the guy. At the very least he’s considered annoying because he likes to challenge our understanding of things, and people don’t like that. He can sometimes be that guy at parties who likes to correct people, so of course that’s annoying. It’s just that NGT (those who know him personally call him that, or...

Dave HillLive @ Village Social Club I’m all for checking out new venues in Boston, and lord knows we need them. The smaller and more intimate, the better. But, what I didn’t expect is that one of my favorite comedians would be playing a venue I’d never heard of. Maybe that’s because the Village Social Club isn’t the kind of venue you’d expect to see the alt comedy Dave Hill is known for. But, none of that matters. What...

Lou ReedTransformer (RSD 50th Anniversary) Lou Reed is a hard man to pin down. He’s simply unknowable. Either because he wanted it that way, or because he himself wasn’t quite sure of who he was. He’s been analyzed and idolized endlessly as a messiah or a junkie or a misunderstood genius. The reality is that he was all of those things to some degree, but it’s probably also true that he didn’t care. He was just interested in living his...