From 1994 – 2002, one of HBO’s biggest programs was a Friday night talk show called Dennis Miller Live.
I recognized the look immediately.
My annual list of the best fiction and nonfiction works I read this year. 2015 had some gems.
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Week in Review (December 23, 2015)
Of all the ups and downs that parenthood brings, one of the best is seeing Christmas through a child’s eyes again. Life often makes us cynical and sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to remind us of who we used to be.
Welcome back to the latest edition of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time.
This week: Christmas on Death Row (1996)
By December of 1996, the once formidable Death Row Records was crumbling. Over the course of just a few months, Dr. Dre had defected, 2Pac had been killed, Suge Knight was sent to prison, and Snoop Doggy Dogg’s highly anticipated second album was a major disappointment.
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Self-Publish Your Book in 2016
When someone learns that my books are self-published, they often sneer as if they don’t exist at all.
Oh, so you’re not really published. Your books aren’t, like, real.
No? If you type my name into the search bar at the top of the Amazon page, you’ll find a list of all eight of my books, ready to be ordered in physical or electronic format, just like J.K. Rowling or Ryan Holiday or James Patterson.
He starred in American Hustle and Trumbo. He wrote for The Late Show with Conan O’Brien and The Chris Rock Show. He wrote and directed Pootie Tang and was part of the disaster that was The Dana Carvey Show.
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Week in Review (December 18, 2015)
Sisters, the new film starring Tina Fey Pierznik and Amy Poehler, comes out today and I don’t know why.
Welcome back to the latest edition of Flashback Friday Flop, a weekly feature in which I examine a hip-hop album from years ago that was considered a flop, either critically or commercially or both, when it was released and see if it has gotten better – or worse – over time.
This week: Puff Daddy’s Forever (1999)
In 1997, Puff Daddy ran hip-hop and, to an extent, all of popular music. That year, his label, Bad Boy Records, released three albums – The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death (10 million sold), Mase’s Harlem World (4 million), and No Way Out (7 million), courtesy of Puff Daddy and the Family – that combined to sell twenty-one million copies and birthed the Shiny Suit Era. As Suge Knight had predicted, the CEO became the star.
But his reign on the top was short like leprechauns.
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In Appreciation of: Kool G Rap
“Hearing me is like hearing G Rap in his prime”
– Jay-Z, “Encore”
If there were a Mount Rushmore of pre-’90s, Golden Era hip-hop, the four heads would belong to Rakim, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, and Kool G Rap. While the first three are often referenced, it unfortunately seems like many casual fans are unaware of how truly great and important G Rap was, even though he has been mentioned as an influence to an entire generation of emcees, including the greats like Nas, Eminem, Big Pun, Jay-Z, and others.
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 