El-PCancer 4 Curephoto: turntablelab.com I remember the moment that the world of Hip Hop was opened to me. Years ago, I was interviewing Dillinger Four at the Trocadero in Philadelphia, talking to their bass player about music. He said something along the lines of mainstream rap being in a deplorable state; to the effect that standards and quality control didn’t exist anymore in his opinion. Lucky for me, I had a rap aficionado friend who immediately approved of this sentiment....

X Alphabetland LP (Fat Possum Records) Alphabetland was one of the most important records of 2020. Let me count the ways. For one it was, just plainly on the surface, a record that did many things and did them well. Compared to both rock and punk music it sounded fresh, yet undeniably familiar. It also managed to be both fun and urgent, and musically it was catchy as hell. Blame that on guitarist Billy Zoom’s rockabilly tendencies matched with the...

Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy Can you think of a more iconic, feel good, action packed, gripping and hilarious trilogy than Back to the Future? People like to remind you that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, but I like to remind people that this is a sci fi movie, and perhaps one of the most successful ones. The reason why people forget it’s a sci-fi movie is because Back to the Future has so much...

The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy 4K Blu-rayExtended & Theatrical / 4K Ultra HD + Digital HD We are extremely happy to be covering Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth movies here on TV Party Tonight and after considering the order, we decided that talking about the Hobbit trilogy would be the easiest place to start, only because there’s so much more to talk about, and in our case, defend. After the massive success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, both...

Katy PerrySmile It used to be hard to find a bigger pop star than Katy Perry. Nowadays, it’s a little easier. At the height of her stardom, it was absolutely obvious what Perry’s appeal was: her music was fun at the most visceral level. It’s truly interesting to watch what has been happening to Katy Perry over the past several years. Sure, she never appealed to everyone, but the woman has solidified herself as a pop music heavy hitter ever...

What a year it’s been. No matter how it impacted you, it hit music, movies, and TV pretty hard too. Bands couldn’t tour, movies couldn’t be released in theatres, and TV shows stopped taping. That said, there were some great highlights that, although they came to our attention a little late in the year, we think were true gems that everyone should check out. And like every year, we seem to have the best recommendations out of any website. Glad...

El Camino: A Breaking Bad MovieOriginal SoundtrackDave Porter & Various Artists(Mondo Vinyl) Like many viewers, I started watching Breaking Bad because for obvious reasons: buzz, recommendations, and Netflix. However, it quickly becomes apparent what makes Breaking Bad stand out, and it’s mostly because unlike other shows, we get rewarded for the investment we put into the show. While other shows focus on plots of suspended disbelief, one-dimensional characters with unjustified behavior, cheap laughs, ridiculous plotlines, senseless...

Climate Crisis and the Global New Dealby Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin We should consider ourselves lucky that Noam Chomksy is still around, and double lucky that he’s still putting out books discussing important topics like global warming. Climate Crisis and the Global New Deal is an “interview book” where Chomsky and Pollin answer questions relevant to global warming, so it’s not exactly an exhaustive analysis on the subject but it’s incredibly accessible and easy to read. The questions addressed...

Beverly Hills Cop It’s a weird time to be a fan of movies. Or, more of a catch 22, I should say. With the lockdown we have more time than ever to indulge in new TV Shows or movies, but because of the lockdown, the movie-going business is at a stand-still. We have the time to go see movies, but theatres aren’t open. Or at least, they shouldn’t be. So, movies are either going straight to streaming services or...

V for Vendetta Strap in because I’m about to go on a civil defense of the movie V for Vendetta, and this is a hill I’m prepared to die on. Especially because V for Vendetta never stood a chance in spite of being a great movie. Probably the main strike against this movie is the fandom behind it, or what it’s spawned. I compare it a lot to football. American football. It seems like a perfectly great...