TV: NOT OPTIONAL: Community’s return, a murder doc, and this week’s 3 other...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential recent releases. (A tip of the cap to ZODIAC MOTHERFUCKER for inspiring the name.)Community season première (NBC, February 7) October 19 is...
View ArticleTV: NOT OPTIONAL: The great HBO show you’re not watching and 4 more...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not.Enlightened(airing now on HBO) Though its HBO slot-mate Girls grabs all the attention—the New York Times is...
View ArticleMusic: NOT OPTIONAL: A classic Nicktoon, insane stand-up, and 3 more...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not. Frightened Rabbit, Pedestrian Verse (in stores now) In case my semi-fawning review didn’t make it clear,...
View ArticleFilm: NOT OPTIONAL: A bloody good crime film, a stellar horror comic, and 3...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not. Nataly Dawn, How I Knew Her (in stores now) How I Knew Her, Nataly Dawn’s debut solo album (assuming you don’t...
View ArticleComedy: NOT OPTIONAL: The greatest stand-up set Louis C.K. ever saw, plus 4...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not. Tig Notaro, Live (available for download) It wouldn’t be terribly accurate to call Tig Notaro’s Live a stand-up...
View ArticleTV: NOT OPTIONAL: A pair of funny new TV shows, last year’s best doc, and 2...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not.Kroll Show (rerunning on Comedy Central) Comedian, actor, and man of a thousand voices Nick Kroll specializes in...
View ArticleBooks: NOT OPTIONAL: A brilliant art book, three terrific albums, and a...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not. Ursus Wehrli, The Art Of Clean Up: Life Made Neat And Tidy Bios of Ursus Wehrli typically describe him as a...
View ArticleFilm: NOT OPTIONAL: A lunatic drummer, Steve Coogan, and 3 more pop-culture...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not. The Best Show On WFMU Tom Scharpling’s beloved community-radio institution The Best Show On WFMU exists in two...
View ArticleTV: NOT OPTIONAL: A must-follow absurd Twitter account, a pair of classic TV...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not.@Horse_ebooks I’m at least a year behind on this, but some entertainment is timeless—entertainment like a...
View ArticleBooks: NOT OPTIONAL: A self-published sci-fi smash, a Mad Men fashion blog,...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not. Hugh Howey’s Wool People who follow the book business or the movie business are probably already aware of Hugh...
View ArticleBooks: NOT OPTIONAL: A baseball book, a soft drink, DMX in trouble, and a...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at some essential releases, some recent, some not.Iyanla Fix My Life, “Fix My Rap Star Life” I’d never heard of Iyanla Vanzant before this week (probably because...
View ArticleBooks: NOT OPTIONAL: A book by a Wonder Showzen guy, a mind-bending video...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at some essential releases, some recent, some not.Mindsploitation Vernon Chatman is half the brains behind the insanely wonderful Wonder Showzen as well as an...
View ArticleFilm: NOT OPTIONAL: The current must-see movie, a pair of absurd Twitter...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at some essential releases, some recent, some not.Upstream Color We’ve already spilled a ton of pixel-ink on Shane Carruth’s long-time-coming follow-up to 2004’s...
View ArticleComedy: NOT OPTIONAL: A Trump-less Apprentice, an old-school podcast, some...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at some essential releases, some recent, some not.The Apprentice (U.K.) It may be a bit cruel to deem The Apprentice (U.K.) “not optional,” given that it’s not...
View ArticleComedy: NOT OPTIONAL: Richard Pryor, lite rock, a porn doc, and Brian K....
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at some essential releases, some recent, some not. Richard Pryor, No Pryor Restraint: Life In Concert This massive CD/DVD box set (out June 11) doesn’t have the...
View ArticleFilm: NOT OPTIONAL: Crunchy brownies, tiny stories, Before Midnight, a cult,...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at some essential releases, some recent, some not. The Source Family I’ve always been fascinated by weird hippie cults and free-love collectives, so The Source...
View ArticleFilm: NOT OPTIONAL: That werewolf movie with E.T.’s mom and a bunch of new...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five worthwhile releases, some recent, some not.The Howling: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Described in Scream as “that werewolf movie with E.T.’s mom in it,”...
View ArticleTV: NOT OPTIONAL: Jack Benny, Internet edutainment, Oval, an unskippable...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not.Crash Course John and Hank Green’s web series, VlogBrothers, is a staggering piece of work, spanning several...
View ArticleBooks: NOT OPTIONAL: An essay, a digital comic, short stories, and a...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at five essential releases, some recent, some not.“Rage” by Laura Bogart Laura Bogart’s autobiographical essay “Rage” has all the qualities associated with the...
View ArticleTV: NOT OPTIONAL: A gross-out app for doctors, a Danish TV show, Jerry...
NOT OPTIONAL takes a quick weekly look at worthwhile releases, some recent, some not.Borgen, season one When I started reviewing Borgen week to week, I expected to like it, but I didn’t realize how...
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