A Pop Culture Bender

"All things in moderation," a credo I try my best by which to live. Sometimes though, my passions get the better of me and I find myself frenetically absorbing pop culture the same way a thirsty sponge absorbs water. If posting here is light, it can only mean that I've been off on another...Pop Culture Bender. Not really reviews, more like snapshots.


I put off buying The Flash: The Complete Series for a loooong time. Even though The Flash was one of my favorite heroes growing up, the series kinda left me cold. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that The Flash's costume looked like it was molded out of Play-Doh. Still, when I saw this at Best Buy for $14.99, I grabbed it...very quickly.

The Adventures Of Superman (Seasons 5&6) was also about $15, this time at Wal-Mart. It's great to finally own every episode of this classic series although it's hard to view this series the same after having watched Hollywoodland. Damn you, Ben Affleck!

Spider-Man: The '67 Collection: This first noble attempt to bring Spider-Man to TV screens has it's share of pros and cons. I love the jazzy score and colorful backgrounds, but I have to snicker at the rendering of Spidey's costume. I can just hear the animators saying, "No way I'm drawin' all these freaking lines!" The trippy Bakshi-directed episodes are worth the price of admission.

For a mere $1.50, I found a copy of humorist Sam Levenson's 1973 book, In One Era and Out the Other, at a local thrift store. Levenson is little-remembered today, but he was a successful TV personality/comedian in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He later became a best-selling author. In One Era... is largely a comparison of life growing up during The Great Depression and the modern world of the early 70's. Levenson has a penchant for puns and clever wordplay, and his essays are full of fascinating details about a past era worth remembering.

Was Ramsey Lewis just trying to cash in on the success of The Beatles, or did their music genuinely inspire him? Listening to Mother Nature's Son, a collection of covers of songs from The Beatles' eponymous 1968 album, my gut is telling me it's the latter. Good clean jazz-funk.

There are some funny moments on Burns And Schreiber's Pure B.S. album, but it didn't strike me as a classic on first listen. Maybe I had to be there.

I used to go to comic shows to stock up on mostly Silver Age DCs. Lately, I am more drawn to the quirkiest comics I can find. I love the painted cover of this Dell Outer Limits comic. Dinosaurs + time machines = good times!

Speaking of time machines, I occasionally park mine in The Present, especially on Tuesdays, when Lost airs. Totally addicting.

I fell asleep during my first viewing of Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths, but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. One thing is for sure: The short featuring "The Spectre" was great!

Hanna-Barbera's Godzilla cartoons strike me as a cut above some of their other shows of the period, like Speed Buggy and The Funky Phantom. Doug Wildey's strong character designs probably are the reason for that opinion. Also, Godzooky is not nearly as annoying as Scrappy Doo.
Watched this for the first time ever on Easter morning. Ever since, I've had "Light Of The World" stuck in my head. Why had I never seen this?

Haven't had time to listen to this yet! Actually, I'm delaying the gratification. This is perhaps the last of the classic era Firesign Theatre albums that I've never heard. Great cover!

This of course, being the legendary Eddie Murphy at his prime. Somehow, I had only ever heard the soundtrack of this video concert, which was released as Eddie Murphy: Comedian. Interesting to see something I'd only heard before. Still holds up.

Coolest Birthday present ever? Maybe. Heaviest book in my library? Probably. The lion's share of the amazing Don Martin's output. It made me kerplunkle all over my fleeblebinder. Sproink!

A clever story, nicely executed. For kids of all ages.

The Best American Comics 2009, edited by Charles Burns. 'Nuff Said!

Batman: The Brave And The Bold is still a Silver Age fan's dream come true.

Just watched The Atomic Cafe on Netflix yesterday. It's a documentary about The Atomic Age that is equal parts disturbing and comical.

I did not care for Tim Burton's latest effort as much as I would have liked. It didn't seem to have the spark of some of his earlier productions. The idea of Tim Burton directing Alice In Wonderland probably made the actual product anticlimactic.

Finally, I've been revisiting the movies of Abbott & Costello, including Hold That Ghost and Who Done It? Fun stuff!