Whatever

Whatever: The '90s Pop and Culture Box
$105.98
Unlike the nostalgic '70s (Have a Nice Decade) and the '80s (Like, Omigod!) deluxe box sets Rhino released which made an effort to provide multiple discs of some of the biggest and most popular songs of the decade they represented (sans the ones they could not get for licensing reasons), this Whatever '90s compilation can't decide what it wants to be. Instead of trying to focus on the popular hit songs of the era like its predecessors, 'Whatever' struggles to determine whether it wants to be a Grunge Rock box set or a timecapsule of '90s hit pop music. Instead, we get several discs of Grunge Rock, which may or may not be songs you know (unless you were a hard core Grunge Fan - in which case you have them already) meshed with a random scattering of popular radio hits from the era.

Unlike the other boxes Rhino did for the prior to decades, this one just doesn't cut it. They should have done either a pure Grunge Rock box set or a '90s hits box set, but this blend is extremely disappointing. By far, its the worst of the three decade boxes I have purchased from them. It has some great music on there, but the mix of semi-obsecure tracks by Sub-Pop artists and alike just sounds silly entangled with songs like "I'll Be There For You" (the theme from the TV show Friends) by the Rembrandts, "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C&C Music Factory, and so on. Because of this, the "Whatever" title is perfect - this must have been someone's answer when they asked, "Does someone want to use any quality control?" or "Should this be a fair representation of the '90s or a mix between unpopular indy grunge and pop hits?" Whatever, indeed! There was a lot of lost potential with this set. Even the booklet pales in comparison to the prior retrospective booklets of the '80s and '70s sets. If you are looking for the definitive '90s collection - this isn't it. Keep looking.

Whatever
$9.95
This slim anthology covers a wide range of situations and sensibilities. Each page appeared originally in the Boston Phoenix, the way Feiffer used to appear in the Village Voice. There's no similarity between Stevens's work and Feiffer's, though. Stevens documents the daily reality (and unreality) of twenty-somethings fresh from college, with their couplings, uncouplings, ethanolic excesses, room-mate woes, and the general angst of daily life

Some of these pages stand alone: teasing an over-serious art student's commentary on grafitti, or dealing with the vegetarian at Thanksgiving. Others appear as series, like a brief continuity about a small band's big break or a young woman deciding what to feel when her girlfriend seems to be drifting away. Stevens draws uncommonly well, usually in pen, but at least one page looks like B&W ink wash and some gorgeous color pages appear, too. One set of the color paintings was adapted for the cover, a young woman in tiny red bikini, obsessing in front of a mirror. Perhaps those pictures best capture the sense that unifies this whole collection: a scene that's very real and familiar, to at least some set of viewers, and emotionally ambiguous. I don't mean vague, I mean that so many possibilities lie inside the characters that it's hard to guess which dominates.

Although conspicuously set in Boston, this should appeal to anyone fresh out of college. The adults not wholly ready for adulthood are sure to represent someone familiar. Any one who like visual story-telling can enjoy it, though. I recommend this book very highly.

-- wiredweird

Whatever Works
$27.96
I had not heard a lot about this film prior to getting and so was not sure what to expect. I am a Woody Allen fan in general. I loved this film. I thought it was funny, thought provoking and interesting. It hit on his usual obsessions with new humor. Ed Begley Jr was terrific, but Larry David really made it.

Whatever
$9.98
this album came out at a particularly strange part of my life. i am a depressed person and see n feel a lot of her pain and anguish about just life. after seeing her in interviews and in concert, why any guy would mistreat this beautiful woman (inside and out) is beyond me. may her future be happier than her past. amen