'Pulphead' shines light on dynamic music essayist

Ran across a very entertaining "Soundcheck" podcast and book preview from Southern writer John Jeremiah Sullivan. 

I've never heard of Sullivan but I like what I heard and read in this excerpt from his collection of magazine essays titled "Pulphead: Essays." Sullivan seems to tackle the predictable by taking unorthodox approaches to the topic at hand, hints of which surface in the podcast and the Pulphead excerpt (which unfortunately cuts off before Sullivan describes his own deeply evangelical experiences as a youth).

In some ways Sullivan's style returns us to the glory days of music journalism, when Nick Kent and Stanley Booth lived the ups and downs of their subjects. But there seems to be a nice twist in Sullivan's work. Perhaps it's less focus on the wreck and more on the train. 

Canary in the coalmine for magazines

If you ever doubted the iPad is transforming the world, here's proof: 

 And don't for a second think this is an isolated case. 

'Factory of sadness'

A co-worker Michael Fagans shared this wonderful video of a Cleveland Browns fan ranting about the team's poor performance as he paces outside the team's stadium at night. The video from "clevelandthundercat" strings together a non-stop string of one-liners, including "all we do is pay you money to put us in a bad mood every week!"

There's just a bit too much polish in the camera angles and quick cuts for this to be truly off-the-cuff, but it's a great bit that many hardcore sports fans can sympathize with. Proof comes in his last lines:

"You are a factory of sadness!" he shouts toward an empty Cleveland stadium. Pausing, he adds, "I'll see you Sunday."

Oh how we all know that feeling. Classic.