Tuesday Buffet
Just a few quick thoughts today:
1. Watched In America the other night, which I’d been meaning to see for a while. Despite a few moments that were too sentimental even for a softy like me, I liked it quite a bit, and especially the very last scene, which was genuinely surprising (just in an emotional way, not in a Sixth Sense or Crying Game kind of way) and certainly heartbreaking. I cried like a little girl, I admit it.
2. At some point this week (or early next), I’m going to post the most important batch of songs yet (and maybe ever): my list of favorite drinking songs. I know that many of you have been waiting for such a definitive list from me for years, and so I’m happy to say that the day is nigh. (And no, I don't mean sea chanteys and the like; I mean a dependable soundtrack of tears-in-your-whiskey material. And yes, it will include Otis Redding.)
3. Last night, I discovered through iTunes (my new best friend –- sorry, all other contenders), that Matthew Sweet had recorded Kimi Ga Suki, a full-length CD of all-new material just for his Japanese fan club. Forget the several levels of oddity in that fact. Or try to, anyway. Rumor is that the result was pretty good, so it was released here last fall, and from the few clips I heard last night, the rumors might be true. Like most alternative-rock nerds in the early ‘90s, I loved (and still love) Girlfriend. And 100% Fun had several really good, insanely catchy songs on it. Since then (1995), Sweet hasn’t done much to crow about, but this first-for-fan-club-now-for-everybody record sounds like it has a few of the same great hooks on it. I’ll do some more investigating.
(Side note: From the photo on the cover of 100% Fun, and I mean all the details – from the décor to the enormous headphones to the clothes to the silly grin and the shiny blond hair – it seems that Matthew Sweet and I might have had identical childhoods. He turned his into grist for a successful rock career and comparisons to the Beatles. I’m a publishing hack. So, there you have the Unnerving Parallel and Depressing Fork in the Road of the Day, all in one.)
1. Watched In America the other night, which I’d been meaning to see for a while. Despite a few moments that were too sentimental even for a softy like me, I liked it quite a bit, and especially the very last scene, which was genuinely surprising (just in an emotional way, not in a Sixth Sense or Crying Game kind of way) and certainly heartbreaking. I cried like a little girl, I admit it.
2. At some point this week (or early next), I’m going to post the most important batch of songs yet (and maybe ever): my list of favorite drinking songs. I know that many of you have been waiting for such a definitive list from me for years, and so I’m happy to say that the day is nigh. (And no, I don't mean sea chanteys and the like; I mean a dependable soundtrack of tears-in-your-whiskey material. And yes, it will include Otis Redding.)
3. Last night, I discovered through iTunes (my new best friend –- sorry, all other contenders), that Matthew Sweet had recorded Kimi Ga Suki, a full-length CD of all-new material just for his Japanese fan club. Forget the several levels of oddity in that fact. Or try to, anyway. Rumor is that the result was pretty good, so it was released here last fall, and from the few clips I heard last night, the rumors might be true. Like most alternative-rock nerds in the early ‘90s, I loved (and still love) Girlfriend. And 100% Fun had several really good, insanely catchy songs on it. Since then (1995), Sweet hasn’t done much to crow about, but this first-for-fan-club-now-for-everybody record sounds like it has a few of the same great hooks on it. I’ll do some more investigating.
(Side note: From the photo on the cover of 100% Fun, and I mean all the details – from the décor to the enormous headphones to the clothes to the silly grin and the shiny blond hair – it seems that Matthew Sweet and I might have had identical childhoods. He turned his into grist for a successful rock career and comparisons to the Beatles. I’m a publishing hack. So, there you have the Unnerving Parallel and Depressing Fork in the Road of the Day, all in one.)
posted by JMW at 2:21 PM
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