I’ve always been fascinated by cover songs. The vast majority of them just make you long for the original. But every once in a while, someone does one that brings the song a whole new[…]
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Category: Lists
Alt Classical: The Jazz Connection
Repost from 2014 A month or so ago, I explored the “cover songs” side of alt classical music, a genre that combines the pleasures of classical music with the vitality of more modern forms. This[…]
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Top 5 Epic Rap Battles of History
Back before Thug Notes or Drunk History, Epic Rap Battles first brought the distinctive Millennial high-culture/pop-culture blend to YouTube with their vision of what it would like if some of the great names of history[…]
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Alt Classical: Cover Tunes
Nothing Else Matters – Apocalyptica (Metallica) Repost from 2014 When I was a child, my parents listened almost exclusively to classical music –it was years before I realized their radio could tune in other stations! […]
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8 Great Dance Videos
This week I present a highly subjective showcase of eight classic music videos where the dancing makes up a major part of the appeal: 8. “Uptown Funk” – Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars The funky[…]
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“Why?” – Philosophical Music: Hip Hop
A philosopher, by definition, sees the world in a radically different way than everyone else. The real challenge, however, is not to see from an original viewpoint, but to successfully communicate that perspective to an[…]
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Top 10 Movies: #1 – Children of Men
Today, most people know director Alfonso Cuarón as the first Latino to win the Oscar for Best Director (for 2013’s space thriller, Gravity). Others may remember him for 2001’s bawdy road movie, Y Tu Mama[…]
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Top 10 Movies: #2 – Do the Right Thing
It’s the hottest day of the year. Spike Lee is known as an actor’s director, and nowhere is that more apparent than in his masterpiece, 1989’s Do the Right Thing, an acknowledged classic of American[…]
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Top 10 Movies: #3 – Casablanca
What hasn’t been said about Casablanca? It’s a nearly flawless piece of cinema, and the crowning achievement of the old “assembly-line” system of movie-making, under which the studio would pull a director, a couple of[…]
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Top 10 Movies: #4 – Stand By Me
While Stand By Me (1986) is undeniably an excellent film, I’m not sure I can actually justify how high it ranks on my personal Top 10 list (it almost came in at number 3, but[…]
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