How to Die

How to Die

One morning in may, the existential psychotherapist Irvin Yalom was recuperating in a sunny room on the first floor of a Palo Alto convalescent hospital. He was dressed in white pants and a green sweater, not a hospital gown, and was quick to point out that he is not normally confined to a medical facility. “I […]

10 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time

10 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time

For close to a half century, prog has been the breeding ground for rock’s most out-there, outsized and outlandish ideas: Thick-as-a-brick concept albums, an early embrace of synthesizers, overly complicated time signatures, Tolkienesque fantasies, travails from future days and scenes from a memory. In celebration of Rush’s first Rolling Stone cover story, here’s the best of […]

Top 10 Filmmakers Who Redefined Modern Cinema

Top 10 Filmmakers Who Redefined Modern Cinema

David W. Griffith was the pioneering director who invented and introduced the original grammar of cinema as we know it today, but there are many who took the principles and developed them into an art form, and formed the grammar of cinema in different but influential ways. 1. Alfred Hitchcock It’s no wonder Alfred Hitchcock […]

How Eric Clapton Created the Classic Song “Layla”

How Eric Clapton Created the Classic Song “Layla”

The story of Eric Clapton and “Layla” has always bothered me because to understand it is to understand how fallible and crazed any of us can be when it comes to love. We understand that our rock gods are human, but there’s something about Clapton falling in love with the wife (Pattie Boyd) of one […]

An Animated Introduction to Ludwig Wittgenstein & His Philosophical Insights on the Problems of Human Communication

An Animated Introduction to Ludwig Wittgenstein & His Philosophical Insights on the Problems of Human Communication

In the recorded history of philosophy, there may be no sharper a mind than Ludwig Wittgenstein. A bête noire, enfant terrible, and all other such phrases used to describe affronts to order and decorum, Wittgenstein also represented an anarchic force that disturbed the staid discipline. His teacher Bertrand Russell recognized the existential threat Wittgenstein posed to his profession […]

5 Reasons Why “Rashomon” is a Masterpiece of World Cinema

5 Reasons Why “Rashomon” is a Masterpiece of World Cinema

“Rashomon” is one of Akira Kurosawa’s most famous films, and is now considered one of the greatest films ever made. It is a very significant production for the Japanese movie industry since it marked its entrance to the world stage, a move that proved the prowess of Japanese cinema in the best way possible. “Rashomon” […]

Walter Becker, Steely Dan Co-Founder, Dead at 67

Walter Becker, Steely Dan Co-Founder, Dead at 67

\Walter Becker, guitarist, bassist and co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted band Steely Dan, died Sunday at the age of 67. Becker’s official site announced the death; no cause of death or other details were provided.  “Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College […]