Welcome to the column for all carbon-based life-forms. If you breathe oxygen, this is for you. And if you live on a planet, especially Earth, well, then, you’ve come to the right place. Sorry, but I’m just following the new trend in advertising: casting as absurdly wide a net as possible. Products used to be advertised to a fairly specialized base. Each ad could be counted on to pander in its own unique way. You’d have your commercials aimed at seniors, in which someone sincere who was on TV when it was still seen only in black-and-white would give a testimonial about the product. Said commercial... Read More

It’s Monday, and it’s time once again for The Video You Deserve. Now, the past several videos we’ve featured have all been vintage stuff from the ‘80s, which, arguably, is the golden age of videos. Back then it was the wild west, there were no real rules, and imagination and strangeness ruled. As time went on, videos began to become more cliched and certain elements came up so often that we needed Beavis and Butthead to parody them. And once the reality TV plague set in, and every good-looking moron became a recording star, and MTV pretty much stopped playing videos in lieu of reality TV,... Read More

Mondays can be rough. And so, every Monday, we give you a music video. A fun, funny music video. Something that’ll make you smile, make you laugh, make you reminisce, and make you realize that back in the day, music video creators were probably either insane or heavily intoxicated. But were also incredibly entertaining. Our latest video is another song that’s been resurrected by the popular app TikTok, although one much fresher than last week’s ’70s obscurity “Rasputin.” It’s a song by a then-newish singer that featured collaborations with some of the biggest... Read More

It’s Monday. Yeah. We feel you. And so, every Monday, we give you a music video. A fun, funny music video. Something that’ll make you smile, make you laugh, make you reminisce, and make you realize that back in the day, music video creators were probably either insane or heavily intoxicated. But were also incredibly entertaining. We call this feature, The Video You Deserve, and you can find it every Monday on your site for fun, free entertainment and features, QuadCities.com. Our latest video is one you’ll certainly remember if you were alive and cognizant in the ’90s, as it was... Read More

Could “May the Force be with you” someday be more than a T-shirt slogan? Might it one day become the climactic phrase of a religious ceremony?   According to Hollywood lore, when the first “Star Wars” film became an outrageous success, George Lucas’ ambitious friend Francis Ford Coppola suggested that Lucas try to turn the philosophies of the “Star Wars” series into a religion. Lucas laughed it off.   However, given recent events, he may have to once more fend off Coppola’s insistence.   Since Disney bought the franchise, the “Star Wars”... Read More

I’m never going to say anything bad about LeBron James again. This week LeBron announced that he’s donating millions of dollars to help send kids around his native Ohio to a special school, the I Promise School in Akron, he’s creating that will be free, will give them free uniforms, free breakfast lunch and snacks, free books, free transportation, and if they graduate, free tuition to University of Akron. He’ll also pay for their parents to get their GEDs, pay for childcare and pay for them to continue their own educations. It’s an incredible gesture of largesse and return to his... Read More

It’s an odd trend in entertainment and pop culture, but strangely, there are a lot of creative, imaginative and unassailably cool creators named John and David.   Think about it.   Think of all the popular and/or pop culturally influential Johns.   John Lennon.   John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten).   John Belushi.   John Cusack.   Johnny Depp.   John Steinbeck.   John Hiatt.   John Waters.   Johnny Carson.   John Mayer.   John Grisham.   John Fogerty.   John Legend.   John Mellencamp.   Etc.   Etc.   And... Read More

Every week, we provide you with a huge calendar of activities that will take place in the Quad-Cities area over the coming week. Because we love you. And because it’s our job … to love you. (The preceding sentence was written in tribute to the late Luther Vandross.) However, some calendar items we receive don’t make the list. Some are out of the geographic area. Some aren’t really entertainment. And some … well, some just don’t seem to fit in, if you know what I mean. For those of you who don’t know what I mean, I thought I’d provide a few examples.... Read More

There’s a scene in Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity” where the lead character, played by John Cusack, asks whether or not it’s fair to judge people largely on their music tastes. So, is it? What kind of music do you like? Who are your favorite singers? What’s your favorite song? When I was younger, particularly in high school and early college, I was inclined to judge potential friends and girlfriends in large part on their musical and pop-culture tastes. Yes, I was an entertainment snob. Hard to believe, I know. In comparing preferences in music, TV shows, movies, and books, I felt... Read More

Ever wonder what music made by an extraterrestrial might sound like? Apparently, kind of like this: “Let’s dance put on your red shoes and dance the blues…”   Which, if you play it backwards, sounds like this:   “Dance let’s shoes red your on put blues the dance and laser beam cattle rectums. . . ’’   Amazing how that works, isn’t it? And you thought only Selena Gomez wrote about laser beaming cattle rectums, didn’t you? Little did you know . . . Anyway, of course, the song I’m talking about is “Let’s Dance,” by Alf. Well, no, it’s... Read More