Media Nugget

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds
1966

In 1966, after riding a wave of surf music to the top of the charts, the Beach Boys threw everybody a curve. Pet Sounds swept listeners off their feet with its lush orchestrations, layered sounds, and state-of-the-art audio effects. Ultimately, songs like "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" offer both a glimpse into Brian Wilson's troubled mind and a reminder that, in their prime, the Beach Boys were truly ground-breakers.

The Celebration

Thomas Vinterberg
The Celebration
1998

A harrowing film about a Danish family's dark secret. Shot with a handheld camera, The Celebration gives the illusion of offering a simple home video of a birthday party gone awry. Every character in this film is in pain, and the superb cast of actors portray that pain with excruciating accuracy.

The Bootleg Series, Volumes 1-3

Bob Dylan
The Bootleg Series, Volumes 1-3
1961-91

Usually, "rare and unreleased" collections are for die-hard fans who already own all the artist's albums. That's not the case here, as this triple-disc set may very well be superior to Dylan's Greatest Hits packages. The waltz version of "Like a Rolling Stone" aside, most of the alternate takes improve on the originals, and the previously unreleased tunes hold up nicely against the best songs in Dylan's catalog.

deluxe rubber chicken

Mark Peters
deluxe rubber chicken
2000

Hot out of SUNY-Buffalo's Electronic Poetry Coop, the latest issue of drc includes works by a diverse group of poets: Ficus strangulensis, an industrial chemist; Uncle Eddy, a 10-year-old from Indiana; Robert Creeley, Bollingen Prize-winning poet; and Coyle and Sharpe, old-school radio pranksters. Don't miss David Daniels' visual epic "The Deluxe Big Bozo," a 40" single-page poem that iconographically celebrates the tragic greatness of paradise in the USA.

Hitchcock

François Truffaut
Hitchcock
1967

In 1962 François Truffaut sat down with Alfred Hitchcock for an extended interview covering Hitchcock's entire career, film by film. First published in 1967 and then again in 1983, the book is instructive and entertaining to moviemakers and movie aficionados alike. Truffaut brought boundless enthusiasm and his broad cinematic knowledge, which encouraged Hitchcock to bring both candor and wit and ultimately kept the proceedings lively despite the language barrier.

All the King's Men

Robert Penn Warren
All the King's Men
1946

When he wrote All the King's Men, the story of a good man corrupted by power, Warren said he was inspired by Greek tragedies and the real-life foibles of Louisiana's infamous governor, Huey Long. A poet and novelist, Warren crafted one of the most beautifully written books of the 20th century, a deserving recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. His morality tale is perhaps more powerful today than it was when it was first published 50 years ago.

Wrecking Ball

Emmylou Harris
Wrecking Ball
1995

Deceptively quiet, Emmylou Harris's collaboration with producer Daniel Lanois offers up songs at once both lush and spare. The songwriters range from Jimi Hendrix to Bob Dylan to Gillian Welch, with Neil Young gently crooning along on Lucinda Williams' sorrowful "Sweet Old World" and the title track, his own composition. Each time I listen to Wrecking Ball, I discover new moments -- new stories -- emerging from its depths.

32 Short Films About Glenn Gould

François Girard
32 Short Films About Glenn Gould
1993

Hauntingly beautiful music. Erudite discussions. Self-referential lunacy. All present in these disjointed episodes about a genius and the personality he reveals when not seated at a piano. Despite the title, 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould is not much on biography. It's more an astounding study of character, and by the end of it you'll no doubt appreciate that birthdate and cause of death are two of the least important facets of a person's life.

Breaking the Code

Herbert Wise
Breaking the Code
1996

With his special knack for quirky speech and brilliant portrayals of eccentrics, Derek Jacobi breathes life into the character of mathematician/cryptographer Alan Turing. Instrumental in unlocking the secret of the German Enigma machine, Turing was later persecuted for his unapologetic homosexuality in post-WWII England. While his contribution to the defeat of the Nazis remained classified for years and his prototype Turing Machine was not realized till after his suicide, he is now celebrated as one of the early geniuses of the digital age.

Remember the Alimony

Joe Buck
Remember the Alimony
2000

On Remember the Alimony, San Francisco-based alt.country band Joe Buck remembers the irony, which helps their urbanite audience digest their "thundering tonk" with a shit-eating grin. Case in point: at their record release party a few months back, the Joe Buck boys hired the UC Berkeley marching band to open the show with the national anthem, and then accompany them in a cover of the theme song from Midnight Cowboy, "Everybody's Talkin." In your living room, you'll pine along with front-man Dave Munro for his lost, wheezing love on "Asthma Inhaler": "An asthma inhaler / and an empty bottle of rye / that's all that I got / now that you've left my side / If ever up in that Great White North / you get short of breath / come on back for the asthma inhaler / that you left."