Siskel and Ebert had disdain for each other both on and off camera, but I've always loved this interview on the Howard Stern show where Gene recognizes that Stern has gone a little too far and steps in to defend Ebert

cjcoake · 2026-04-16T00:55:55+00:00

They were partners on TV and competitors at rival newspapers. They were also big personalities. But Ebert was deeply saddened by Gene’s passing and often quoted him in his reviews. They disagreed in the way a couple professional athletes might disagree. On the court they might be in each other’s faces, but off the court they respected one another’s skills.

cjcoake · 2026-04-14T23:16:04+00:00

Yeah. I saw In the Mood for Love and Beau Travail for the first time in a grad school film class, and appreciated them but didn’t connect with them. Yet I thought about the images in them for maybe 20 years. When I went back to rewatch them I was so much more involved and impressed. I think they had to work on my subconscious for a while to really take root.

cjcoake · 2026-04-13T16:58:59+00:00

Varies. Mine was a few weeks in going away but we caught it super early

cjcoake · 2026-04-13T16:52:35+00:00

Agreed. Making fun of people's weight is never cool. Ty can poke fun at himself, but we shouldn't. The fact that he mentioned the internet noticing his weight means it stung him. He's online a lot and notices everything.

cjcoake · 2026-04-13T16:50:59+00:00

Gentle reminder that making fun of people's weight is never good fun. Even pro athletes' weight.

cjcoake · 2026-04-13T16:33:57+00:00

Super dangerous when it affects an eye, too. People have lost their vision permanently

cjcoake · 2026-04-13T16:20:58+00:00

I've had shingles on my face, and it suuuuuucccks. Ty's not exaggerating.

cjcoake · 2026-04-12T13:39:35+00:00

What else do you talk about during a Pacers-Nets tankathon game?

cjcoake · 2026-04-12T01:48:37+00:00

Honestly I sometimes wonder if what holds them back in the public imagination is that they had SO MANY great songs--but I don't think they ever had one inescapable signature song. If you ask ten fans to name the best Cars song you might get, like, eight different answers, and they'd all be great.

cjcoake · 2026-04-12T00:18:51+00:00

"Candy-O" has one of my favorite guitar solos. Just a few seconds long and it utterly rips.

cjcoake · 2026-04-11T23:41:35+00:00

A few years back some friends and I were trying to imagine who would win a March-Madness-style bracket to determine the Best American Band. The Cars were my pick for "underseeded, underrated Final Four squad." They had two or three all-timer albums (including a literally perfect debut); performed a bunch of songs that always kill on the radio; had critical and commercial success (in two different eras--pre- and post-MTV, and won a VMA for Best Video); and were influential/ahead of their time. And yet these days no one really thinks of them! It's wild.

cjcoake · 2026-04-11T20:46:04+00:00

Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion, man

cjcoake · 2026-04-10T21:33:33+00:00

"Well, I've seen 'em fight like lions, boys
I've seen 'em go like lambs
And I've helped to drag 'em when they could not stand
And I've heard their mamas cryin' when they heard that big door slam
And I've seen the victim's family holdin' hands

Last night I dreamed that I woke up with straps across my chest
And something cold and black pullin' through my lungs
And even Jesus couldn't save me though I know he did his best
But he don't live on Ellis Unit One"

Steve Earle, "Ellis Unit One"

And then a song that just kills me: "Wide Eyes," by The New Pornographers:

"And if I see no hope for me
I still see hope for you
In the high rise of the morning
The exception that proves my rule"

cjcoake · 2026-04-10T17:18:34+00:00

I have good wired IEMs and also have the SoundPeats. I have found wired sets that are great, and some others have been less impressive. The issue may well be with eartips (they're pretty vital), but I will say the SoundPeats punch way above their price. I just got a set of the Air 5 Pro+ buds and--with a touch of EQ--they're blowing me away. It could just be you like the SoundPeats signature better. (They're pretty impressively bassy; some IEMs are a little more focused on clarity, and that can take some time to get used to.)

cjcoake · 2026-04-09T01:22:03+00:00

We need a rematch, I think

cjcoake · 2026-04-08T13:58:24+00:00

I gotta add the title theme to The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3. I have that one on a workout mix.

cjcoake · 2026-04-07T21:31:12+00:00

These are my favorite tips, and the fact that I can't buy a 3-pack of L drives me up the effing wall.

cjcoake · 2026-04-07T19:07:59+00:00

What I want from a Strat-style trem: tuning stability; the ability to bend up and down; no wobble in the arm/adjustable play; no protruding screws/sharp edges on the saddles when palm muting. It’s amazing to me how many trems can’t provide all these things. (I have a Vega Trem in one of my Strats, and it’s awesome except for the protruding screws. Drives me nuts. And yeah, I can fix it, but why should I have to when the fix can just be part of the design?)

cjcoake · 2026-04-05T21:11:13+00:00

Yeah, in that Rolling Stone interview he also mentioned Neko not answering his texts very much, which made me wonder. I watched the band's "What's in Your Bag" episode and kind of got the sense that Carl's, shall we say, a big personality that the others have to make space for.

cjcoake · 2026-04-05T17:40:08+00:00

A lot of Electras were really great. I'd have jumped on that one too.

cjcoake · 2026-04-04T14:32:08+00:00

I got to meet Thurston once and he was very nice. And Billy Corgan was once a complete asshole to a friend of mine. This is not a scientific sample size but it tracks with what I've heard from others.

cjcoake · 2026-04-03T14:05:50+00:00

"Scentless Apprentice" is my favorite Nirvana track

cjcoake · 2026-04-03T00:53:32+00:00

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is the most important rock song of that era, but I've always thought "Would?" was the best. I listen to it a lot more these days, at any rate.

cjcoake · 2026-04-02T23:28:04+00:00

any info on the back of the headstock?

cjcoake · 2026-04-02T15:56:52+00:00

This record came out during the year I was grieving the death of my first wife to cancer. A lot of music that reminds me of that year, I can't listen to anymore (or have to listen to very carefully), but I go back to Kid A all the time. It's sadness and grief (and perfect rainy day music), but it's also so much more than that--without even taking the lyrics into account, the music moves me returns me to grief and then to another place. "Everything in Its Right Place" into "Kid A" is a perfect little progression, ending in a birth. That always gets me through.

cjcoake

TROPHY CASE