Ashley Naftule's discussions

Yeah, the repetition of “why don’t you two fuck already” was VERY hacky. But overall this felt like a step-up from the last two weeks. The mutually antagonistic relationship between Rick and The President is always good for laughs, and the turkey pardon plot is exactly the sort of… Read more

100% agreed. It’s a fucking great album but not a very accessible one- it’s like listening to the Tazmanian Devil fronting a drunk bar band jamming inside a washing machine. I don’t fault anybody for listening to five minutes of it and then tapping out.

In terms of availability, “Trout Mask Replica” hasn’t been out of print for too long over the last 30 years. It’s been reissued/reprinted a bunch of times on CD, so anyone with access to a halfway decent record store would have been able to score one (or a Borders/Best Buy when they still sold CDs: I got my first copy… Read more

You know how they say if you want it to rain wash your car the day before? That’s me and buying albums that aren’t on streaming. Just ordered a copy of this two weeks ago because I couldn’t stream it online and voila- it’s coming to streaming. This is album #7 in my “rainmaker” streak.

I’m curious if the show will ever explore why Ricks never seem to adopt Summers as their side-kicks (I don’t recall ever seeing a Summer at either iteration of the Citadel). Maybe it’s because she’s so much more self-assured and independent than Morty (which is also interesting that she seems to idolize/respect Rick… Read more

This didn’t hit for me either. It felt sloppy in a way that R&M usually isn’t. Planetina’s heel turn came with almost no build-up and the resolution felt just as rushed (what happened to her magic rings? Is Morty just gonna stick ‘em in a safe or what?). It also seemed weird that Daphne had that “Hello” speech tic… Read more

“Tuca & Bertie” is sooooo good right now. Last night’s episode really nailed what it feels like to be a night owl: the loneliness, the horniness, all the secret relationships and people who are out that you never see in the day time. I loved how the cityscape at night was almost like a chalkboard- all the detail… Read more

Honestly? Absolutely. The work of Gen and everyone in Throbbing Gristle is essential, especially if you’re trying to get an understanding of where industrial and noise music sprang from. Throbbing Gristle’s “20 Jazz Funk Greats” is probably their most accessible work, and Gen’s follow-up work in Psychic TV is… Read more

There is some Genese in the book, but it’s used fairly sparingly and usually only when Gen goes off on a mystical monologue (which happens less often than you’d think). Most of the book is pretty straightforward in its use of language, with the shifting of the perspectives from I and We and back again being its one… Read more

“He’s also kind of a tool but that doesn’t mean he’s a super-villian because he has not ceded control of his businesses to a workers collective.” Considering the dismal OSHA records for Musk’s businesses, his noted practice of firing people just for kicks, and for bullying/marginalizing anyone who opposes him in his… Read more

Thank you for pointing that out! I know Hunter uses they/them; I made a typo while revising the article, which is why there’s a he in that last quote. I gave my editor a heads-up about it and it should get fixed soon.

You mentioned parts as in plural, tho, which is a little confusing as none of the other times Hunter… Read more

He looks like he builds & sells custom ukuleles to support his artisanal heroin habit

100%. The best film based on a Marvel-related property is Blade (1998), and that’s a film whose script would NEVER have made it past Kevin Feige’s desk.

My favorite bit from this film is the running gag Jackson lifts from “Man Bites Dog” where Denham keeps losing members of his film crew and vows to keep on going to honor their memory.

Also: man, Ninja Yoda SUCKED. Hated that these films gave him and Palpatine lightsaber fights. When I watched the original trilogy, I imagined that both light & dark masters had transcended the need to use lightsabers- that’s why they had knights/apprentices to do all the hack & slashing. Who needs a sword when you… Read more

As much as people like to dog Christensen’s work, look at how BAD Portman and Jackson are in these movies. Both of them have done fine work elsewhere but in the Prequels they stink on ice. Just absolutely inert, lifeless performances. Aside from Neeson, McGregor and McDiarmid are the only actors who actually managed… Read more

I’ve always wondered if we’re supposed to interpret that ending as Flagg respawning somewhere else in that world, or if he just shifted himself to another timeline/reality in the King multiverse since he “lost” in Captain Tripps world.

Stu and Frannie’s cynicisim about civilization & their foolhardy decision to cheese it back to Maine would make a lot more sense* if they were living in a universe where Absolute Good & Evil didn’t exist. But they don’t- they know there is Good, and that Mother Abigail put up the Bat-Signal for all the good/chosen… Read more

Of all the Simpsons crossovers, “A Star Is Burns” deserves the most love. Not only does it mesh the sensibilities of The Critic together seamlessly with The Simpsons style, the ep is full of classic bits (Senor Spielbergo, “boo-urns,” “just hook it to my veins!”). Glad to see the Family Guy ep getting rightfully…

Ugh, really? That’s a terrible change. One of my favorite things about Flagg was the idea that he’s more of an opportunist than a schemer. The first time he’s introduced in the (expanded) version of The Stand King makes it pretty clear that Flagg is just bumming around on Earth, waiting for something to happen. He… Read more