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...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Existential Reckoning LP by Puscifer. Ever since Maynard James Keenan first appeared on the rock radar, the singer’s depth as a creative entity has never been questioned or debated. The singer has always been so prolific that his muse has required three bands to be contained and satisfied; Tool came first and accommodated the heavy/mathy/stoic root of the singer’s output, A Perfect Circle arrived next to satisfy the singer’s poppier, “rock...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Oi – 40 Years Untamed compilation from Pirates Press Records. I confess that, when I first heard the punk subgenre known simply as Oi!, it was pretty far from my favorite thing. At the time, the music just didn’t seem to be too interesting to me – and it didn’t help that a couple of my friends insisted on playing Dropkick Murphys’ “Barroom Hero” constantly – often dedicating it to another...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Oi! This is Streetpunk! 2020 compilation from Pirates Press Records. This far into the evolution of punk rock, it has reached the point where the myriad sub-genres that punk produced are easily able to stand on their own as well as having a dedicated, autonomous fanbase which doesn’t necessarily rely on crossover appeal to get over with listeners. Simply said, hardcore bands don’t have to hope for some runoff fans from...
Annihilation (The Southern Reach Trilogy Book #1)by Jeff Vandermeer Remember that movie Annihilation? No? Well, no one does. It was remarkably unremarkable, right? But there were some good ideas there. And, I’m a sucker for sci-fi. I found this book at a free book exchange and seeing how slender it was, thought I’d pick it up. I don’t read much fiction, and I’d heard good things about the book. Why not? After having read Annihilation, I have to ask, what...
To say this has been a strange year would be an understatement, so it’s no surprise we want to do a little extra this Holiday season. And you can’t have a Holiday season without the Ground Control Holiday Buyer’s Guide. Like every year, we are bringing you some classics that are tried and true and some newcomers to keep things nice and fresh. These gifts range from high to low end, so you have a good range to pick from....