All Posts Tagged With: "music"
I Hope This Isn’t Pathetic and Callow Too
If you’re ever in a bad mood for any reason, go out and rent the movie Once. It will solve all of life’s problems for at least one hour and twenty-five minutes.
I Hope This Isn’t Pathetic and Callow Too
If you’re ever in a bad mood for any reason, go out and rent the movie Once. It will solve all of life’s problems for at least one hour and twenty-five minutes.
Lists
One of my favorite things about the end of the year is the slew of top 10 lists that come out in various media outlets. I always have a tendency to feel inspired to create top 10 lists of my own before I realize that I have not been anywhere near exposed enough to all of the various things I would be listing (i.e. movies and music). I mean, I might have seen 10 movies that came out this year, not all of which were good, and my familiarity with all or even a great deal of the albums of 2007 is just as limited. So it’s sort of difficult to say what the ten best movies of the year were, for example, when I haven’t seen a whole slew of movies that would probably have ended up on my list if I had seen them.
But I still like making lists. So, instead of creating some sort of definitive Top 10, I’m just going to list some stuff I liked a lot, roughly in the order of how much I liked them, but specifically noting some of the things I have not yet but would like to see/hear and which I suspect would have made it on my list if I had only took the time to see/hear them.
And, yes, I know hardly anybody who reads this blog cares what I think about these subjects and that this is pretty much just for my own enjoyment. But, I’d be more than happy to hear what movies, music, etc. you all enjoyed from the past year, so please share. Anyway, here are my…
Favorite Movies That I Have Seen So Far from 2007
1. No Country for Old Men
2. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
3. The Lives of Others
4. Into the Wild
5. The Bourne Ultimatum
6. Michael Clayton
7. Zodiac
Movies That If I Saw Them Would Stand a Decent Chance of Being Among My Favorites from 2007
1. There Will Be Blood
2. Juno
3. The Savages
4. Sweeney Todd
5. Once
6. Atonement
7. Gone Baby Gone
8. Persepolis
9. Charlie Wilson’s War
10. Knocked Up
Favorite Albums That I Have Heard So Far from 2007
1. In Rainbows, Radiohead
2. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
3. Wincing the Night Away, the Shins
4. The Reminder, Feist
5. Neon Bible, Arcade Fire
6. Night Falls Over Kortedala, Jens Lekman
7. Cross, Justice
8. Graduation, Kanye West
9. Boxer, the National
10. All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer
11. Blackout, Britney Spears
12. I’m Not There, Various Artists
Albums That If I Heard Them Would Stand a Decent Chance of Being Among My Favorites of 2007
1. Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem
2. Andorra, Caribou
3. For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver
4. The Flying Club Cup, Beirut
5. The Shepherd’s Dog, Iron and Wine
6. Kala, M.I.A.
7. In Our Bedroom After the War, Stars
8. Challengers, the New Pornographers
9. The Con, Tegan and Sara
10. Back to Black, Amy Winehouse
11. Under the Blacklight, Rilo Kiley
Meet Cheryl Wheeler
I’ve recently rediscovered an artist that I was first introduced to in a series of wonderful mix tapes. I wanted to lend your Wednesday morning a touch of beauty by sharing this song with you. She also does humorous and political songs. I’m planning on going to one of her upcoming concerts, and I’ll likely post more on her later. For now, here is Cheryl Wheeler singing “Arrow.”
Timeless Talent
Sometimes I think I was born 40 years too late. I spent the last hour watching black and white YouTube clips of great performers performing. I asked myself, who in the charts today has the potential to be timeless? Who could be a Bing Crosby, an Elvis Presley, or a Johnny Cash? It seems to me that our generation lacks giants. There is, no doubt, artistic genius today, and one would expect it to be even richer as it benefits from the inspiration of those who came before. I still can’t think of a popular artist today that can overwhelm an audience with artistic genius. Need an example? Here is Ella Fitzgerald singing “How High the Moon.”
Pavarotti
I stumbled across this video today of James Brown and Pavarotti after seeing news that the legendary tenor is in serious condition. Unfortunately, the two might be reuninted all too soon for a concert in the sky.
Also, as you ponder what his loss might mean to people throughout the world, here is Pavarotti performing Schubert’s Ave Maria:
If you want to sing out
I love this Cat Steven’s song. Even on particularly rough days listening to this reminds me how magical life is.
Bob Fosse Gets Crunk
This is pretty fantastic. Here we have a Bob Fosse routine that is bizarrely well synchronized to Unk’s “Walk It Out.”
And here is the same video with the song it was originally set to: a ’60s go-go tune called “Mexican Breakfast” by Gwen Verdon.
Which is better? I report, you decide.
UPDATE: As Tom points out in the comments, I got this wrong. The dancer is Gwen Verdon, the song is composed by Pat Williams.
Common Ground?
Every now and then I discover a band I enjoy that a part of me dares to think Billy might enjoy too. I rarely summon up the courage to share these bands with him, however, out of fear that he will reject them in such a way that sends me into a tailspin of blind fury and leaves me wondering how I could ever be friends with such a lame, narrow-minded ass (no offense, Billy).
I’m going for it this time, though, and hopefully even if Billy refuses to enjoy it, some of you like it. It’s a band called Bishop Allen, named after Bishop Allen Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where singer Justin Rice and guitarist Christian Rudder lived after college. It’s warm pop rock with solid lyrics. Here’s their main website, and here’s their MySpace page, both of which have free samplings of their songs. They also have concert dates coming up soon in Chicago and elsewhere, in case anybody’s interested.
Here are a few of my favorites:
“ClickClickClickClick” from The Broken String
“Rain” from The Broken String
“Things Are What You Make of Them” from Charm School