Category Archives: Girls of BIUL

Tracey Ullman

Fame is a funny thing. When it gets too big, it works against you, and you become overexposed. You’ve seen it time and time again; a company pushes a performer or a movie so hard, you can’t recall a time when you weren’t sick of them. Even their positive qualities become tiresome.

Then eventually, we acknowledge their talents, allowing that they were revealed during a time of intense corporate saturation.

Before 1986, there were three television networks; CBS, NBC, and ABC. Then in October of that year, Fox became the fourth, co-founded by the tyrant Rupert Murdoch. Fox would introduce a slate of unusual programming over the following two years, which included Married… With Children, The Arsenio Hall Show, 21 Jump Street, and a variety program (with animated bumpers) called The Tracey Ullman Show.

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Filed under Animation Analysis, Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Nostalgic Obsessions, Thousand Listen Club

Mazzy Star

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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Worst Of All

The 10 Funniest Movies Ever (Plus 5)

The most powerful force known to our world is laughter. This is why films that make us laugh are so precious. We carry them through generations on numerous formats, and celebrate the comedians who’ve since left us. We share them with friends and loved ones, so we can laugh together. And since humor is subjective, we love to bicker over which movies are the funniest. Continue reading

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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Movies You Missed, Nostalgic Obsessions, Saturday Movie Matinee

ABBA

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Atlanta Is My Lady

You wanna know how to tell if a city is your home? When terrible things happen to you there, and it never occurs to you to leave. You don’t abandon your home. You stay and tough it out.

There was a night during my stay in Fulton County Jail where all of us were herded into the rec area, so that the guards could search the ward for contraband. Apparently some inmates had been smoking weed in their cell. Since that cell was mine, and one of the inmates was me, I spent my time in the rec room deep in contemplation. As time wore on no quicker than molasses, we all started to chat to break the tension.

The cement room was sweltering. The walls were nine feet high, rimmed with cyclone fencing. If I jumped vertically, I could catch a glimpse of the glimmering Atlanta skyline I missed so terribly. This was soothing. Some of the inmates I’d befriended took notice, and I eagerly explained myself. It was the first view of the city I’d had in a month.

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Afghan Whigs

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Janeane Garofalo once stated that she got a reduction because she didn’t want to be the girl behind the mic with big boobs. I think my horrific fantasy from panel 3 validates her decision beautifully.

For whatever reason, I am generally alone in my desire to bang Janeane Garofalo. Maybe she seems gloomy and standoffish to other guys. I have many predilections, one of which is the Wednesday Addams type; cute (legal age) girls with hair as black as their hearts, and doom on the brain. It has undone me more times than I care to relate here. Continue reading

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L7

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In Praise Of Screaming Women

I used to call myself a horror-movie buff in the 1990s, so I’ve heard all the grievances about “scream queens” and “final girls”. And, you know, those complaints worked; now every female protagonist in movies is an unstoppable “badass”. I saw the recent space drama Gravity, and I was mystified why so many people disliked it. Then I looked into the details; modern audiences rejected a Sandra Bullock who freaks out and cries when things go sour. Never mind that it’s part of a character arc; females must always be steely and in control.

Well, like so many aspects of modern film, that’s boring. Another victim of political correctness in movies is the Girl Who Can Scream. The scolds among us will suggest that men get a perverse satisfaction out of seeing women in jeopardy, but that’s only the perverts. For the rest of us, it’s a human fire alarm, when it’s done right. It signals that things are really, really bad. They even used to put it in the trailers.  

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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Nostalgic Obsessions, Saturday Movie Matinee

Sinead O’Connor

Her righteous comments on Rolling Stone’s poor choice of cover subject are the latest addition to my defense of Sinead O’Connor.

BIUL_SineadOConnorAnd whatever your opinion of her may be, she still created this song, probably before you were born. Come on, listen to that guitar intro!

https://youtu.be/7liJyxyT1mo

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