Kurt Pankau Dot Com

🥷 She's the devil in disguise... [SPOILERS FOR DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN ] The first season of Daredevil: Born Again  ends on an interesting cliffhanger. Kingpin has become the mayor of New York City and has turned a bunch of corrupt cops into his own private army at the Red Hook dock in Hell's Kitchen. He's declared martial law and his "task force" are executing masked vigilantes--or anyone they can put a mask on while no one is looking--with impunity while donning Punisher regalia. They've holed up in the port in a fortified position and taken Frank Castle, the actual Punisher, hostage along with a host of New York's wealthy elite. Daredevil is set to go in and start busting heads, but realizes that he cannot win, since he's hopelessly outnumbered and sporting a fresh gunshot wound. So instead he goes to ground. And starts talking about drumming up an army. The tease here is that Daredevil, a.k.a. Matt Murdock the lawyer without fear, intends to reform ...

🌊 And I'm in so deep...  The vultures are stripping the world for parts, but you have to find joy where you can, so let's talk about a thirty-year-old pop song, shall we? Linger  was the second single from The Cranberries' debut album and also their breakout hit. It was released in 1993 in support of the cheekily titled Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? , accompanied by a nonsensical video (embedded above) that seems less interested in the band than in faux  C inéma Vérité. Their debut single, Dreams , was a bold statement meant to establish a sonic identity centered around frontwoman Dolores O'Riordan's thick and unapologetically abrasive Irish accent. But Linger  is a bit more subdued, less about leaning into the band's unique aesthetic than about using that aesthetic to support a musical narrative. It's a fascinating song and one that I've been somewhat obsessed with over the past few months. Specifically, I've been obsessed with t...

🤓 This is the Way... It's that time of year again when Kurt goes to a conference and plays lots and lots of new board games. Why not take a break from quietly despairing and check out all the new things I played this weekend? Rock Hard 1977 If you've heard one thing about this game, it's that it was designed by Runaways bassist Jackie Fox. (If you've heard a second thing about this game, then you've heard about the "candy" mechanic.) This is a heavily thematic worker-placement game about becoming a professional rock musician in the 70s. You have life experiences, a manager, and a day job, and you're trying to build up your chops, your set list, and your reputation so you can turn a demo tape into a record deal and start playing larger and larger venues and get the most fame. You can get yourself extra actions by eating candy. This gives you that extra little bit of pep to go to more hangouts after-hours, but you have to watch out that you don't le...