“Brain Washed Follower/Double Huey Skit” from Me, Myself and I 12″/Three Feet High and Rising: Deluxe Reissue by De La Soul (1989) Even though it’s more than two decades old, the “Brain Washed Follower” skit from De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising (i.e. the album that, for better or for worse, gave us the hip-hop skit) is still …

Robert De Niro in Analyze This “We all got our jobs to do,” said Robert De Niro, probably the finest living actor, accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award at this month’s Golden Globes. True enough, Bob, and your paycheck you took home for Analyze This must have been enormous. De Niro’s talent is such a waste in the …

Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger It’s part of the teenage experience to empathize with Holden Caulfield, the youthful protagonist of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. But you know what people don’t bring up all that often? Teenagers are assholes, and as the ultimate embodiment of teenhood, Holden is the ultimate asshole. Let’s …

Podnah’s Pit, Portland, OR You know what I love? Baby, I love the cue. Every meat-ripping, sauce-dripping, bone-sucking part of it, even the heartburn. And when I want barbecue, I head up to Podnah’s Pit in Northeast Portland. It’s a tiny, cramped, nearly bare space (although they will be shortly moving to nearby larger location) and when there’s no room …

Paul Simon What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Paul Simon has left and gone away. Ten long years ago, You’re the One was supposed to signal the singer-songwriter’s artistic rebirth. Instead, the man Time magazine lauded as one of the “100 People Who Shaped the World” spent the past decade pulling a Garfunkel and becoming nearly culturally irrelevant. Sure, he …

Does the constant visual bombardment of Twilight paraphernalia cause you to sigh heavily and mutter about the cultural detritus that is youth culture shit-lit? And have you also maybe kinda sorta but wouldn’t swear to it read the entire series? Either way, we know how you feel. They aren’t the worst books in the world but they sure aren’t the …

When you want to recommend music to someone — and not just any music, your passion music, the music that makes you dance or thrash or bump asses or have stupid sex and fall in love- what’s the best way to get them interested? You make them a mixtape and cherry pick the best tracks from your favorite bands. The …

Even though the Oscars expanded their Best Picture nominees to 10 films this year, there is no hiding that the entire ceremony is a joke. Slumdog Millionaire as Best Picture last year? Give me a break! I can name 10 films more deserving. Here goes: WALL-E, Rachel Getting Married, Let the Right One In, A Christmas Tale, Wendy & Lucy, …

It’s almost Valentine’s Day! You know, that holiday manufactured to remind those of us who are in relationships we shouldn’t take the love we have for granted and to rub it in for the single folks that they’re going to be spending another February 14th alone. Whether you’re on your own out there or spending the 30th Valentine’s Day with …

Let’s get this straight: There is a difference between a sleazy song and a vulgar song. The vulgar song makes us laugh at its sheer audacity; the sleazy song makes us want to shower off its stank after listening. A lot of these sleazy songs have to do with sex. Dirty, skanky sex, old men looking to poke young girls, …