Blogcritics Author: Eric Olsen

Interview: On the Bus with Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto

Eric Olsen — Tue, 6 May 2008 13:18:49 EDT

Video chat with groove master Dangers about tour, new album, career.
Wow, ten years flies by when you're having fun, influencing the course of nations, and taking out the trash and brushing your teeth and stuff. Ten years ago I got married, was still in my 30s, had no idea what a "blog" was, and was putting the final touches on The Encyclopedia of Record Producers, including a lengthy phone interview with one of my...

Are You a Blogcritic?

Eric Olsen — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:32:17 EST

The "sinister cabal" is always looking for fine new contributors.
Are you a writer? Would you like to increase your visibility, hone your skills, join a community of fellow writers, and reach a very large and growing audience? Then Blogcritics may be for you.Blogcritics.org is an online magazine covering music, books, film, TV, video, politics, culture, sports, gaming, science, technology, the Internet, celebrity...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Graphic Novel Review: Macedonia by Harvey Pekar and Heather Robertson, Illustrated by Ed Piskor

Eric Olsen — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:39:40 EDT

Harvey Pekar’s new graphic novel, Macedonia, an experiment outside of the author’s comfort zone of pointillist autobiography, informs and even inspires but ultimately wanders too far afield from the author’s strengths and ends up a noble failure. Macedonia is essentially an “as told to” book, with the Balkan experiences of Heather Roberson, a passionate young peace studies major at Berkeley, filtered through Pekar’s words and forcefully illustrated by Ed Piskor.Roberson’s guiding ethos, one with which the idealistic retired Cleveland file clerk and comic book pioneer Pekar clearly sympathizes, is that war is not the inevitable consequence of human conflict, that given the will and sufficient institutions, people can channel their grievances, disputes and resentments away from armed violence. Roberson calls war “a complex system made up of all sorts of people acting for their own reasons” that is neither natural nor inevitable.In defending her thesis, Roberson cites the recent success of Macedonia, the landlocked country in the former Yugoslavia, which seemed certain to plunge into civil war in the wake of the Kosovo violence. As the perky illustrated version of Roberson exclaims to a skeptical political science professor at Berkeley, “Albanian rebels were arming, guns were coming over the border from Kosovo and Albania, the government was preparing for all out war! But then NATO went in and disarmed the Albanian fighters and the rebels were given amnesty. And I think a lot of their claims were addressed.”Roberson decides to visit the region herself in an effort to uncover the details, very poorly covered by the mainstream press, of how armed conflict was avoided and to check up on the area’s progress first hand.Wow, real on the scene reporting from a troubled and exotic locale basically ignored by the mainstream media, where against all odds, a brewing civil war was somehow averted? This should fall right into Pekar’s sweet spot!In his best work, Pekar conveys the vagaries of daily experience as if each detail were a potential source of meaning and wonder - albeit meaning and wonder filtered through a flinty and habitually self-doubting personality. Whereas most adults become jaded to the particularities and fabric of everyday life by sheer repetition, Pekar seems to awake daily with perpetually curious, obsessively honest eyes, and the ability to write down what he sees without flinching.The writer has displayed these talents over the last 30 years through his autobiographical American Splendor series of graphic novels, which were made into a celebrated film of the same name in 2003. Though Pekar clearly felt vindicated by the creation and gaudy critical success of the film, as powerfully and touchingly conveyed in his 2004 offeringOur Movie Year, his contrary nature also felt discomfort and even guilt over all the attention, and anxiety over his ability to live up to it.It should not have been a surprise, then, when the author turned his attention to a subject other than himself last year with the release of Ego and Hubris: The Michael Malice Story. But in Malice, Pekar found a fascinating and difficult alter ego whose life in many ways paralleled his own two generations later. Malice worked beautifully because Pekar’s approach and the form of his writing – observational first-person chronological narrative -- remained essentially the same.In Macedonia, however, Pekar isn’t able to connect as deeply with his subject, doesn’t seem to be able to really see through her eyes, and in fact spends far too much time pedantically explaining HER subject, which is, admittedly, quite complex. Pekar seems to spend half the book giving background, explaining policy, telling the history of the region and the conflict, relating conflict resolution theory, which is cumulatively too dry and overwhelming for all but the most wonky reader to absorb.Once we are on the ground in Macedonia with the brave and committed Roberson, things pick up notably and we are able to feel her combined sense of bewilderment and accomplishment as she endures cultural derangement, makes friends, interviews governmental, educational, NGO, and notable personalities on both sides of the ethnic Albanian and Macedonian divide. I admire and appreciate her efforts to put her life where her ideals are, and to convey her perspective and experiences to the best of her ability. Sadly, the filter of Pekar renders her story less immediate than it could, or should, have been.

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.

RealMeals.TV Recipe: Cr�me Caramel

Eric Olsen — Mon, 14 May 2007 14:25:50 EDT

Allison's talent for dessert knows no bounds. This dish is like eating silk, edible silk, soaked in caramel. Trust us. It's really good.

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.

Keith Richards' Spokesman: "April Fools" - Stones Announce Summer European Tour

Eric Olsen — Wed, 4 Apr 2007 12:26:24 EDT

So was it really a "joke" when Keith Richards told NME in an interview published yesterday that he had inhaled his cremated father in 2002? Or was the heat so hot that a retraction was prudent regardless of the olfactory reality?Today, Stones spokesman Bernard Doherty of LD Communications, said in a statement that "It was an off-the-cuff remark, a joke, and it is not true. File under April Fool's joke." Doherty was tight-lipped about why the staggering Stone would make such a peculiar declaration in the first place. "The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Keith was quoted by NME. "He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared ... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."Whether this disconcerting act happened in Keith's mind or in reality, the very notion is fraught with a cesspool of oedipal/Freudian/necrophagous threads whirling around in a brain that has a date with Science whenever its owner takes his leave from this mortal coil.In an disturbingly fitting way, Richards will be appearing as Johnny Depp's piratical father in the much anticipated May 25 release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the final of the Pirates trilogy.In other recent Stones phenomena, the wrinkly rockers released a schedule of over 20 dates for their summer Bigger Bang Tour of Europe, including a first-ever stop at the UK's legendary Isle of Wight Festival:05 Jun 2007 Werchter BE Werchter Park 08 Jun 2007 Nijmegen NL Goffertpark 10 Jun 2007 Newport GB Isle of Wight Festival 13 Jun 2007 Frankfurt DE Commerzbank 16 Jun 2007 Paris FR Stade de France 18 Jun 2007 Lyon FR Stade Gerland 21 Jun 2007 Barcelona ES Olympic Stadium 23 Jun 2007 San Sebastian ES Anoeta 25 Jun 2007 Lisbon PT Alvalade Stadium 28 Jun 2007 Madrid ES Calderon Stadium 30 Jun 2007 El Ejido ES Santo Domingo Stadium 06 Jul 2007 Rome IT Olympic Stadium 09 Jul 2007 Budva YU Jaz Beach 14 Jul 2007 Belgrade YU Hippodrome 17 Jul 2007 Bucharest RO Lia Manoliu Stadium 20 Jul 2007 Budapest HU Puskas Ferenc Stadium 22 Jul 2007 Brno CZ Outdoor Exhibition Centre 25 Jul 2007 Kiev UA NSC Olimpiyskyi 28 Jul 2007 St Petersburg RU Palace Square 01 Aug 2007 Helsinki FI Olympic Stadium 03 Aug 2007 Gothenburg SE Ullevi Stadium 05 Aug 2007 Copenhagen DK Parken 08 Aug 2007 Oslo NO Valle Hovin Stadium 11 Aug 2007 Lausanne CH La Pontaise 13 Aug 2007 Dusseldorf DE LTU Arena 15 Aug 2007 Hamburg DE AOL Arena 18 Aug 2007 Dublin IE Slane Castle 21 Aug 2007 London GB O2 Arena 23 Aug 2007 London GB O2 Arena

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.

Keith Richards Whiffs Dad, Lives to Snort Again

Eric Olsen — Tue, 3 Apr 2007 17:02:36 EDT

Keith Richards, swashbuckling guitarist and songwriter for the most iconic (and successful) rock 'n' roll band in World History, brain-bonked tree climber, dogged substance utilizer, and devilish raconteur extraordinaire, may have topped himself this time.In an interview published today in Britain's NME, Richards -- 63, but who's counting -- admitted that he whiffed up a bit of dear old dad, Bert, after he died at 84 in 2002.Inspired by wistful nostalgia, filial piety, and cackling perversity, the Rolling Stones ax-man said he "couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow," after Bert was cremated. "My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."True, dead men snort no dads. The psychological, not to mention hygienic, ramifications are daunting.Keith also let it be known that he does not see himself as a role model, other than in the sense that he is not nearly as dead as he is supposed to be. "I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it's a way of life," he mused."I've no pretensions about immortality," he added sensibly. "I'm the same as everyone ... just kind of lucky," he said with winning modesty.Richards will be appearing as Johnny Depp's piratical father in the much anticipated May 25 release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the third installment in the vastly successful Pirates trilogy.UPDATE

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.

Ace Frehley Not Dead, Unlike Generalissimo Francisco Franco

Eric Olsen — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:45:36 EST

Echoing the words of his artistic better Paul McCartney from three and a half decades past, ex-KISS guitarist Ace Frehley felt compelled today to answer Internet rumors of his death by suicide."Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," the 55-year-old, Bronx-bred rocker said today in a release from spokesperson Carol Kaye. The statement also indicated Frehley is "alive and well and working on his highly anticipated solo album." Perhaps the anticipation overwhelmed whoever started the rumor. Or maybe it was wishful thinking."I don't know how this ridiculous rumor got started," the release quotes the formerly star-faced guitarist as saying, before also mentioning that the veteran ax-wielder eats wheat germ and treadmills daily. No one who has ever eaten wheat germ or pounded the treadmill has ever committed suicide. You could look it up. The formerly hard partying rock star has reportedly be sober for a number of years, incidentally.Not sure where MySpace blogger Hal got the "news," but he was certainly sincere in his tribute to the KISS founding guitarist. "When I grew up in Kentucky the guys in KISS had a profound impact on me," he writes. "They were in many ways ... my primary male role models ... Ace always seemed the perfect representation of disconnect. That lack of material connection to the earth plane that is an important part of being an artist," Hal avers. "Ace's songs ... like 'Strange Ways,' 'Ozone' and the instrumental 'Fractured Mirror' gave a depth to KISS' catalogue it would have missed otherwise. I truly love these songs."

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.

MeeVee.com Retools to Integrate Web-Video-Television Continuum

Eric Olsen — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 15:50:44 EST

It was just a few years ago that the Internet and television seemed doomed to remain separate if not antithetical entities, but with the continued rise in broadband Internet connection penetration, ever zippier and more capacious computers, and a tidal wave called YouTube, video and the Internet suddenly find themselves inseparable bosom buddies.Following in the wake of YouTube, MySpace, and countless other video hosting and sharing sites and platforms -- and influenced by the rise of digital video recorders (DVRs) -- the major television networks, cable and satellite channels, and local channels have been madly integrating preview and highlight clips, web exclusives, and even whole episodes of their programs into their web presences as though their lives depend upon it, which they quite possibly may.So, hmm, wouldn't it be convenient if someone gathered, from all corners of the web/video/television continuum, a personalizable TV programming guide that also searched the webosphere for online video that match your interests?What if they also built an entertainment info portal with news, clips, program details, credits, pics, and user/community input to go along with the nifty guide?And just so no one could say they didn't, what if the said eager gnomes also added relevant writing from some of the most astute and entertaining blogs around to add depth and personality to this heady, helpful video/TV stew? And what if it was free?Then you would have the new MeeVee, which just launched yesterday with a boatload of new features to add to its already impressive TV guide, and its homegrown blog with original interviews, reviews, news and opinion, led by the spunky and beguiling Marjorie Kase.Full disclosure: Blogcritics Magazine and MeeVee are content partners, sharing material in both directions, but the coolness of their technology and content acumen speak for themselves. In other words, we don't get involved with people who don't kick the llamas ass down the street and up your driveway (RIP, Wesley Willis).So, by way of example, let's say you find Jeremy Piven a scintillating on-screen presence (I just saw him at his most rodential the other night, by the way, when we finally caught up to the breathtaking middle-aged male fantasy Old School). You can check out when Jeremy's show Entourage airs next via the TV guide, but you can also click on the video tabs and see clips of the Great Man appearing at the Breakthrough Awards, on Jimmy Kimmel and The View; bits from Ellen, Seinfeld, SNL; and previews of his film Smokin' Aces - pretty much all the Piven you can handle in a single sitting, perhaps more.All told, the new MeeVee is a huge step forward in bringing video, television, and the Internet into a seamless, annotated, and searchable whole.

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.

Strong Brands Balm Consumer Brains, New Study Shows

Eric Olsen — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 13:27:44 EST

Marketers, public relations, sales and advertising professionals, and those who study their collective manipulations of consumer heads and hands have long known that a strong, identifiable brand is a powerful tool that in its purest form stands apart from the individual products it informs and casts a positive glow over them.However, even the strongest branding advocates might be surprised by the results of a new study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, which reveals that strong brands flip switches activating areas of the brain involved in positive emotional processing, self-identification, and rewards: I brand buy, therefore I am. Furthermore, strong brands appear to create a kind of mental "groove," and are processed with less effort than weak brands, which require higher levels of activation in areas of working memory and negative emotional response."This is the first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) test examining the power of brands," said Christine Born, M.D., radiologist at University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, who got up under the consumer hood, so to speak. "We found that strong brands activate certain areas of the brain independent of product categories."Dr. Born added, "Brain imaging technologies may complement methods normally used in the developing area of neuroeconomics," the ultimate goal of which is to make every purchase a forgone conclusion. I added that last part.The Born group used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study areas of the brain affected by visual stimuli associated with strong and weak brands in 20 adult men and women. Researchers showed the volunteers -- all right-handed, highly educated, and with a mean age of 27 -- a series of three-second visual stimuli containing the logos of strong (well-known) and weak (lesser-known) brands of car manufacturers and insurance companies. During the sequence, the fMRI acquired images of the brain, depicting areas that activated in response to the different stimuli.The guinea pigs', er volunteers', brand perceptions were correlated via questionnaire before and after the fMRI imaging. As an additional control, an abstract colored image was also displayed during each sequence.It would seem that those with the weakest or least developed critical thinking capabilities -- such as children -- are most susceptible to the brand balm - or is it "bomb"? But this study shows that we all come under the magical sway of the powerful brand.Sounding rather defensive, Born said, "The vision of this research is to better understand the needs of people and to create markets which are more oriented towards satisfaction of those needs. Research aimed at finding ways to address individual needs may contribute to a higher quality of life."Well, it certainly will for those on the selling end of the equation.

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.

Rolling Stones' Bigger Bang Tour Now Biggest Bucks Tour

Eric Olsen — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 13:52:39 EST

I saw a jaded, drug damaged, and erratic Rolling Stones play several spotty shows in the later '70s. If I had been told the Stones would be the most dynamic, dependable, and lucrative live act in the biz 30 years hence, my incredulity would have been seismic. Even the notion that certain band members (cough, cough - Keith) would still be alive, let alone feisty, festive, and highly functional, would have seemed the longest of odds.And yet, here we are deeply into the first decade of the 21st century and the Stones -- sans the retired Bill Wyman -- are still alive, kicking, and generating half a billion dollars or more on a wildly successful tour likely to stretch across three calendar years.The rejuvenated sexagenarian rockers have not shown much of their age, either, other than some vocal stress for Mick Jagger, a little alcohol rehab for guitarist Ronnie Wood, and of course Keith Richards' date with a tree in Fiji this spring necessitating some minor brain tweaking via craniotomy. "Definitely there was drama and hurdles, but at the end of the day, if you tour long enough, everything's gonna happen, isn't it?" tour producer Michael Cohl told Billboard.com. "We had to reschedule a couple here and there, but other than the ones in early summer in Europe, which we couldn't make up, we played everything. And they were great." The Stones epic A Bigger Bang journey is now the top-grossing tour in history, currently sitting at the $437 million mark, luring over 3.5 million fans to 113 shows dating back to the fall of '05. Not included in those tallies are the estimated two million who saw the band perform one concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro in February.With makeup dates for the canceled European shows possible into '07, the $500 million mark seems assured. "I don't think we're done," Cohl said. "There are still a lot of cancellations in Europe that the band the band feel obligated to try and make up. So I wouldn't be surprised if it keeps going next year."After playing to massive throngs at stadiums throughout the tour, the World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band stripped away the bloat for some special performances at New York's Beacon Theater earlier this month, which were filmed by the legendary Martin Scorsese, whose filmic relationship with music stretches back through his recent Dylan documentary, to his '04 blues series on PBS, back to his classic '78 doc of The Band's final concert, The Last Waltz.

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.