The brightest star has left us alone. Alex Chilton never achieved fame, neither any of his bands or solo work was universally aclaimed as it should, yet you can hear the profound influence of Big Star’s power pop in almost every contemporary pop band. Out of time and place, plaged by bad management and promotion but critically aclaimed: wich fame would you choose? Chilton chose none: he kept playing, producing, an ocasional special appearence on stage and, recently, a re-formed Big Star that would be playing on 2010’s South by Southwest’s main venue. Alex Chilton now joins Chris Bell, the friend and guitarrist/composer from Big Star that died in 1979 in a car crash. That’s the beautiful and tragic thing about music, the people die but the songs live on. And what great songs.

I know it has taken me a while to write about it, but still when the music is imortal there is no time. Continue to read for my devotion to the music and a selection of Big Star songs

Listverse has published a curious list of 10 places you don’t really want to visit. From the snake-infested jungle of the Ilha da Queimada Grande, Brasil, to the radiation poisoned Zone of Chernobyl, these are truly wonders of nature, perfect scenarios for some Heartbreak Motel films. Tarkovsky’s Stalker is the only feature I know that [...]

Directed by Nicholas Ray
Cast: Cathy O’Donnel, Farley Granger, Howard da Silva, Jay C. Flippen

The first feature from one of the romantics of the classic American Cinema, Nicholas Ray, is a human crime drama noir driven by strong leads and classic heartfelt dialogue, delivered in a tight narrative and superb low-light cinematography. A dramatic film noir example that is an absolute classic.

Continue to the full review of this classic, back when Hollywood was better than the popcorn fueled piece of crap of today’s blockbusters.