I had written that AOL Jobs essay about what my mom taught me about work, so when Father’s Day was rolling around, I explained what my dad taught me about work.
Jack’s Random Reviews: ‘Home & Family’
In this month’s installment of my Antenna Free TV column, I randomly watch the Hallmark Channel’s morning show, Home & Family.
Ask Jack: Salary Requirements, Faking It, and Job of the Week
In this week’s installment of my AOL Jobs advice column: what to fill in for the salary requirement on a job application, and accepting a promotion you’re not qualified for.
My Internet Radio Playlist, 6/10/14
EPISODE #132: FATHER’S DAY 2014
with in-studio guests California Chrome and Banksy
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Adrian Belew — “Oh Daddy”
Brian Eno and Karl Hyde — “Daddy’s Car”
Beach Boys — “Child Is Father of the Man”
The Dismemberment Plan — “Daddy Was a Real Good Dancer”
Morrissey — “Don’t Make Fun of Daddy’s Voice”
James Brown — “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag (pt. 1)”
The Magnetic Fields — “Papa Was a Rodeo”
Was (Not Was) — “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”
Johnny Thunders — “Daddy Rollin’ Stone”
Simon & Garfunkel — “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine” [live]
Sloan — “Your Daddy Will Do”
The Secrets* — “Daddy’s Girl”
The Knux — “Daddy’s Little Girl”
Kelly Hogan — “Daddy’s Little Girl”
broadcast live from Hoboken, NJ, on “Jack’s Aquarium”
Tuesday, 6/10/14, 10:00-11:10 a.m. eastern time
Ask Jack: Show Me the Money, Burning Bridges, and Job of the Week
In this week’s installment of my AOL Jobs advice column, when to bring payment during a job interview, and can you quit a job that a friend connected you with?
My Internet Radio Playlist, 6/3/14
EPISODE #131: CRACKED WINDSHIELD
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Doug Martsch — “Cracked and Crazed”
The Modern Lovers — “She Cracked”
David Bowie — “Breaking Glass”
Nick Lowe — “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass”
Joy Division — “Glass” [live]
East Ghost West Ghost — “…And We’ll Call It ‘Plexiglass'”
Blondie — “Heart of Glass”
Roy Wood’s Helicopters — “Green Glass Windows”
The Beatles — “Glass Onion”
Laura Cantrell — “Glass Armour”
Wild Flag — “Glass Tambourine”
Monomen — “Drum of Glass”
Shoes — “Pieces of Glass”
Game Theory — “Metal and Glass Exact”
The Black Swans — “I Forgot to Change the Windshield Wipers in My Mind”
broadcast live from Hoboken, NJ, on “Jack’s Aquarium”
Tuesday, 6/3/14, 3:00-4:15 p.m. eastern time
Ask Jack: Calling in Sick, Nasty Coworkers, and Job of the Week
In this week’s installment of my AOL Jobs advice column, whether to call in sick or not, and how long to put up with coworkers you don’t like.
Q&A: Molly Forsyth of 8 Point Wellness
Remember Molly, who I volunteered with after Superstorm Sandy? And then used her acupuncture skills on me? Well, now I’ve done a Q&A with Molly for Hoboken’s hMAG about her business, 8 Point Wellness.
My Internet Radio Playlist, 5/27/14
EPISODE #130: NYC POPFESTS PAST
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Pooh Sticks — “Let the Good Times Roll”
The Smittens — “Something Sassy”
Pants Yell! — “A New City Life”
Allo Darlin’ — “Some People Say”
Tender Trap — “Do You Want a Boyfriend”
White Town — “Cut Out My Heart”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart — “Heart in Your Heartbreak”
Seapony — “Never Be”
Betty and the Werewolves — “Francis”
Fan Modine — “Épater la Bourgeoisie”
Comet Gain — “Books of California”
Saturday Looks Good to Me — “Peg”
The Bats — “Mad on You”
Gold-Bears — “East Station Attendant”
The Orange Peels — “Something Strange Happens”
The Ladybug Transistor — “Fallen and Falling”
Dressy Bessy — “I Found Out”
Math and Physics Club — “Last Dance”
broadcast live from Hoboken, NJ, on “Jack’s Aquarium”
Tuesday, 5/27/14, 10:00-11:10 a.m. eastern time
Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
2.5 stars out of 5
Wait, X-Men 18 can’t come out yet, I still need to review Spidey 2!
For the first… I don’t know, hour?… I was basically enjoying this. Despite the fact that it’s not great, the writing is flimsy, and Spider-Man’s suit looks really cheap. I know, I know, teenage Peter made the suit, so it should look cheap. But also, this is a movie, not The Electric Company, so it should look cool. If I can accept people with superpowers, I can overlook a handmade outfit being a little too snazzy.
But still… there was kind of a simple charm to the proceedings. In this era of gloom-and-doom brooding superhero movies, this seemed refreshing. Easy to follow. Corny. It seemed… like a comic book. (Or at least, a comic book from my era, 8,000 years ago.)
They even have Spidey cracking jokes like he used to do in the classic Marvel days. OK, the jokes aren’t very funny (see: flimsy writing), but, it helps keep the mood light.
Unfortunately, like an Energizer bunny bitten by a radioactive spider, this movie keeps going, and going, and going. (Two hours and 22 minutes? Really?) Its flaws become more apparent… and it becomes stupider and stupider. (There is a subway-related scene that is laughably moronic.)
And, for me, Andrew Garfield just doesn’t cut it as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. (Oh, sorry for the spoiler.) Tobey Maguire, now that was a Spider-Man. There was a sadness there, a depth. Garfield plays the character like Vinnie Barbarino. And the Harry Osborn they cast is even worse. He’s no James Franco; in fact, he looks and acts like Liam McPoyle from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
The movie does pick up late in the game, with an emotional scene culled directly from the comics. But instead of ending on this high note… you guessed it, the film keeps a-goin’. And why? Because they have money-grubbing sequels to set up. (Cue a pathetically slumming Paul Giamatti.) The filmmakers hold you in such low regard that they don’t even trust you to wait till the end of the credits—one of those “ok, it’s not really clever anymore” Marvel teasers is placed in the middle of the credits.
Please, please, please: I’m dorky enough that I’m going to keep seeing these movies, so please make them a little better? Please? ‘Nuff said.
Jack Silbert, curator