Thoughts and Reviews (AKA Blog) by Barnaby Hazen
Welcome to my news, reviews and outbursts.
Welcome to my news, reviews and outbursts.
(The following essay is based on a premise for which I now see no evidence: a stopping point for Kafka’s book, The Castle, I feel certain I read. Everywhere is a claim of some unfinished line and there is just no trace of what I recall in any of these exhaustive online conversations and descriptions … More On Kafka and Sleep
1. I’ve been working on an album for almost two years, all from home. I began this venture when words like “quarantine” had just started floating around the pop media field and I hadn’t done any recording in years so I started accumulating a home studio: a refurbished computer and a preamp; quickly the computer … More A Gonzo Review of Slate’s VSX Modeling Headphones
Never have I been at such a loss to begin a film review. The question any reader may reasonably want answered by the end of such a thing as this is whether or not the reviewer is recommending the movie. There are degrees of this—I’ve seen comedies I didn’t necessarily think were brilliant, but funnier … More On Abel Ferrara’s, “Siberia”
I got one of those calls, a phishing thing I’d have learned a bit more about had I not toyed with the guy the way I did. He had a Middle Eastern accent, called twice (I think) from a local number. Claiming to be with Amazon. Claiming there was suspicious activity on my account and … More Why I Might Be a Chump
I haven’t been doing it. Social media. I do scroll around though. What am I looking for? Either way I get slapped across the face repeatedly with certain turns of phrase; eventually I grow familiar with them–at least in the fact that they are popular, and how they are used. This is a breakdown of … More Pop Terms and Phrases to Reconsider
I probably shouldn’t review this book; I’m poorly set up for it in that I’m a musician and it’s supposedly about music. I’ll start by saying that yes, Jennifer Egan is a solid writer. She has a finger on the East Coast, and much of how people with money in New York cope with careers, … More Review of Jennifer Egan’s, A Visit from the Goon Squad
So at the moment I’m reading his book, Zen and the Art of Mixing, and I am finding that it’s redundant and less applicable to me than another of his I’ve read since embarking on recording my own music at home–Musician’s Survival Guide to a Killer Record. Between the two books, the stories overlap or … More On Mixerman
In the spirit of Matt Groening, I present my list of things I never want to hear or read again. Please don’t use the following words or phrases anymore: Fake News. The New Normal. Quarantini. Together Apart. Plotter. Pantser. Ask Me Anything (AMA). Fight Me. Do What You Love and the Money Will Come.
You bastards got me. I was wiping all kinds of shit down last night at the hotel where I work taking it all with a grain of salt and then I realized that in jumping through the hoops of a major scare, I was actually in it; there was nothing ironic about the fifteenth wipey … More Please Critique My Social Distancing Practice
Better Things, Season 3 So I’m tempted to compare this to Louie for several reasons, but as I come away from Season 3 of Better Things, I have to say they feel like very different shows. Wait, what’s that? Some kind of news item about Louis CK? You want me to do what? No–this is … More A Boob Tube Review of: