A few of our favorite things:
1.) Adventure Time. It's now in its 3rd season on Cartoon Network. There's a little 7 year old we know who started watching it recently. And suddenly his parents were as eager as he was to catch up on all the old episodes. A lovely 21 year old house guest from Chicago recently described it as a “kids show on an acid trip.” It's about a boy Finn and his dog Jake who live in a bizarro world. And a cast of crazy supporting characters. Oh, and the art is really handsome. Why did it take us so long to discover this?
2.) The Good Wife. It's also in its 3rd season. We just started catching up in January. There are like 50 episodes already. It takes a little while to catch up, but it's worth it. Especially if you like good TV series, like Mad Men and The Killing, but you want something a little online casino less precious. It's basically a legal/court drama with a soap opera story-line of many interesting evolving characters. It's like Law and Order but with a cast that you care about. And it's a lot sexier and better edited. Michael J. Fox delivers one of the best characters of his career.
3.) The recent New Yorker article by John Seabrook called “The Song Machine: The hitmakers behind Rihanna.” It's about much more than Rihanna. It's one of the best New Yorker articles we've read in some time. The process of making pop songs these days is fascinating. And more importantly for us was that the article helped us find some peace about the music that we have found troublingly appealing lately. For the last couple of years we have had our radio tuned to Q102 FM because our son and his peers listen to those songs. It's been a bit embarrassing. But also, really fun. We found ourselves really captivated by many of the songs they play. And we quietly struggled with the sad possibility that parenthood had finally swallowed us up in a world of uninventive pop mediocrity. But one part of the New Yorker article convincingly argues that current Top Forty radio is actually a place of “creative, experimental, and alive” pop music. The article kind of champions the artistry and creative vigor of Top 40 music. It was thrilling. Thanks John Seabrook!
4.) This awesome cover song/remix by Poolside of Neil Young's gorgeous “Harvest Moon”.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Z3Ikwj1xk[/youtube]
I imagine many of you out there, like us, are very protective of Neil Young and resist any kind of other musicians' attempts at covering him. But we can't help it, we really like this version. It's kind of chill-wave. Hand claps, synths, cow bell, that certain vibe. But we think it works. The first real good late-night song of summer 2012.
5.) This Lotus Plaza song (Deerhunter's guitarist first solo project) “Strangers.” One of our favorite songs of the year. The video with vintage footage of NYC is a great companion. The whole album is pretty nice too.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lneHT10-CY[/youtube]
XO from Philly!
I started watching The Good Wife approximately eight hours ago!
FF, I always love your playlists! I have to agree that Poolside have done an amazing job with HM. In order to cover a NY song and do it justice, I think the cover needs to seem to exist in a world related to but distinct from Mr. Young’s. Poolside’s version sounds like someone found a tape of the NY original that had spent a couple years submerged in water and cleaned it up a bit. Some of the water damage — shimmery clicks and garbled bits — remains, and the tape only plays at a slightly faster speed, but the song is immediately identifiable. As with Tom Waits covers, the inimitable vocal is the hardest thing to get right, and they’ve done it.
I loved the video for the Lotus Plaza song. Those shots of the WTC, however, made me mournful. There’s a brief glimpse of a Basquiat, too. Strange to think that a New York that I experienced at the time is now gone, just as out of reach as all the earlier versions of the city. In some ways, it may as well be film of the 1939 World’s Fair.
I am imagining FPS watching The Good Wife for eight hours straight. Maybe he left that ambiguous on purpose.
Loving the Harvest Moon. It’s a little time warp back to 1992. Freaking me out a bit, to be honest.
Oh, and I went & read that NYer article. Amazing! I am totally rooting for Ester Dean, and musing on the very existence of Rihanna. Only 24 and 120 million singles sold? When she sounds like a pale imitator of Dean? ?!?! Also: how fucking great is Adele?
Fawcett, you seem to own my day off.
I, too, loved that Ester Dean article. I think sometimes that of all the jobs of the 20th century I would most like to have worked alongside Neil Diamond and Carole King in the Brill Building.
Good Wife is a show I wish I had got into a couple years ago — it seems like it’s just solid television, and it’s kind of in the sweet spot for stuff I’m trying to write, at least on one level. It feels daunting to start a 22-ep/season show after three seasons. How did you get yourself into it?
Slightly ot: Archie Panjabi has done more to help my family understand my sexuality than 20 years of earnest conversations. So, um, thanks, Good Wife, I guess.
Hey, y’all.
Tim, I totally felt mournful too! Those images. Man, they grab me. But, I definitely think the song’s mood really amplifies their impact. And thanks for helping me understand better why the Poolside song feels OK as a cover of the original. Nicely said.
Rachel, yes, ha!, I owned your day. Ester Dean, good luck, indeed, and Adele, what an impact, love her too. And, I’m sorry that Archie Panjabi has had to be an educational tool for families trying to understand gay people. But at least she’s there. And such a compelling character. There should be more like that. Still, Alan Cummings’ character has been the most entertaining so far.
Josh, you have to jump in. Start from the beginning. You can’t think about writing for television and not have watched this show. You’re gonna love it.
Adventure Time? A deer with human hands? A tiny Ninja cat lodged in a dog’s (?) nose? People made out of food or food people? I have tried. I really have. And although it is compelling, and I can’t take my eyes away from the screen, I just don’t get it.
And I have a feeling Mr. Chicago house guest would hang out and watch cartoons with your family anytime and forever.