“What Happened to Anna K.” by Irina Reyn
Updated Tolstoy. Enthusiastically reviewed in People.
“The Amnesiac” by Sam Taylor.
Recommended by Very Short List.
Things Currently in My Fridge:
- Lipstick
- Film
- Buttloads of Summer Shandy, now proclaimed officially the Beer of Summer 2008.
Things Not in My Fridge:
- Fruit
- Veg
- Meat
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Eating: Inconsistently. One day, super. One day, super bad. Two days…
Making: Trouble.
Reading: Same as last week: Volume 1 of “The Man Without Qualities” by Robert Musil.
Watching: La L’Olympics, baby. As should you be.
Listening to: The latest albums from My Morning Jacket and Carla Bruni (swoon). Back to back. And all the stuff I bought in June that you might hear about tomorrow, if you’re lucky.
Lyrics of the Afternoon.
Got stopped by a lady cop
She got me thinking I can date a cop
Cause her uniform pants are so tight
She read me my rights
She put me in a car, she cut off all the lights
She said I had the right to remain silent
Now I got her hollering, sounding like a siren
…
I make her wear nothing but handcuffs & heels
And I beat it* like a cop
Rodney King, baby. Yeah, I beat it* like a cop.
-“Mrs. Officer” Lil Wayne.
This is actually sung as a kinda tender make-out song, or as tender as you get on a rap album, I guess, with a sing-songy sweet chorus. It really kinda cracks me up.
*”it”? or “her”? Hard to say…
Big Screen: Wall-E
Cute. Sweet. And only a few moments that seemed so potentially tragic as to freak out my 3-year-old companion (thankfully her Mom sitting between us reassured her quickly).
Current Favorite Album: My Morning Jacket “Evil Urges”
Wow, this album is just great. I wasn’t going to buy it, given my lukewarm (or less than) feelings for “Z”, but Mariko sent it to me anyway and dang, girl, if this isn’t the ONLY thing I want to listen to right now.
Some of it is crazy funkalicious and totally Prince-worthy (or perhaps Michael Jackson when he was good). Other bits are more sexy soul Marvin Gaye jumping in. And there’s even some Southern Rock influence (“I’m Amazed”). It’s jazzy and funky and I’d have to say downright spirited. Love it. LOVE IT.
And if you haven’t bought yourself a copy of Jim James covering “Goin’ to Acapulco” off the I’m Not There soundtrack, I’d highly recommend that as well. Him crooning that onstage at the bizarro funeral; his voice just blew me away.
Things I had this weekend that I am STILL having today.
- A massive, massive headache.
Things I had this weekend that I am NOT having today.
- Fun.
Cover It Up, Baby.
Oh look, I just found a half-written entry from September 13, 2007. I think I’ll publish it now. Just for fun. As one does.
My friend Megan recently posted a list of favorite covers.
Here are some of mine:
- “Only You” Joshua Radin (covering Yaz)
- “Baby Got Back” Jonathan Coulton (covering Sir Mix-a-lot, don’t ya know)
- “Build Me Up [Buttercup]” Rhymefest & ODB (covering…some old song?)
- “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” Everlast (covering Neil Young)
- “Faith” Boy Least Likely To (George Michael)
- “Crazy” Raconteurs (Gnarls Barkley)
- “Jessie’s Girl” Matt the Electrician (Rick Springfield)
- “Take It on the Run” The Folk Yous (REO Speedwagon & my favorite karaoke song!)
- “The Glory of Love” A New Found Glory (Peter Cetera?)
- “Walk Away” Eliza Carthy (Ben Harper)
- “True Love Will Find You in the End” Beck (Daniel Johnston)
- “Tiny Dancer” Ben Folds (Elton John)
- “Thin Line” Indigo Girls (Gerard McHugh?)
- “Take Me Out” The Magic Numbers (Franz Ferdinand)
- “Since U Been Gone” Ted Leo (Kelly Clarkson)
- “Ms. Jackson” The Vines (Outkast)
- “Helplessly Hoping” Ride (CSNY – sounds so much like the original, it’s barely a cover!)
- “Give a Little Bit” GooGoo Dolls (Supertramp – hmmm, same issue as above)
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Eating: Goldfish. (Original flavor) They just never get old.
Making: One secret thing. Sometimes. Rarely. When lying on the floor gets too boring.
Reading: Neither Dad nor I have finished last month’s challenge book yet (it was too damn big to carry around so I was only reading it at home except when do I read at home? Not often, turns out), but we decided to move on to this month’s for now and go back and finish the other after…. so that means I’m reading Volume 1 of “The Man Without Qualities” by Robert Musil. It’s not laugh out loud funny but there’s sort of a dry sardonic undertone. So I’m enjoying it.
Watching: Firefly, for the zillioneth time (and then Serenity but of course). Since both Carrie and my future husband are watching it right now, I needed a refresher in case they feel like talking about it.
Listening to: Stuff I bought in June like Fleet Foxes and Shearwater and Jakob Dylan and The Fratellis and James Hunter and Lil Wayne and Port O’Brien. Yeah I have this dream that I will review all June & July albums by month’s end and be ALL CAUGHT UP in time to start fresh with the “school year” so to speak. But don’t hold your breath, I wouldn’t want to be the cause of any untimely deaths.
May Album Reviews
Absolutely Love & Adore:
The Kills “Midnight Boom” So I just kept reading about this band everywhere (like here or maybe here) and I kept thinking “I’ve GOT to check them out.” Yeah, well FINALLY my lazy ass did and I’m pretty damn happy about it. Love the beats, love the lyrics, love the energy. They put on a great set at Lollapalooza but I’d love to see them in some smokey dirty hole in the wall where the sound is so loud I fear for the longevity of my eardrums. Wait, did I say “smokey”? Get with 2008, girl, there’s no smoking in bars anymore…
Favorite Singles (not on any of the above albums):
- “Graveyard Girl” M83
- “Be With Me” Foy Vance
- “Late Last Night” Robby Hecht
- “The Hardest Thing” Patrick Park
- “Measure of the Same” Birds of Avalon
- “Circles ‘Round the Moon” Nana Grizol
- “Take a Bow” Rihanna
- “February 5th, 2008” Telekinesis!
- “Coast of Carolina” Telekinesis!
- “Good Things” Sounder
- “U and Me” Trina
- “The Last Thing on Your Mind” Lights
Other Albums I Liked:
- The Long Blondes “Couples” – Feels very “college” to me as it alternately reminds me of Berlin and Blondie. Can’t get enough of “Guilt”, “Too Clever by Half” and “I’m Going to Hell”. Lots of fun. And their live show is definitely worth it.
- Saving Jane “SuperGirl” – Not really sure what impulse made me buy this. Have to be in the right mood for it. But when you are, it’s perfect angry girl music. And “Better Day” has a total Sixpence None the Richer vibe, if that’s your thing.
- Death Cab for Cutie “Narrow Stairs” – Nothing on this album quite blows me away the way “Marching Bands of Manhattan” did on the last one…but I think it’s a solid follow-up and the more I listen, the more I seem to like it. I am not into the long jam sessions, however, so I actually prefer the radio edit of “I Will Possess Your Heart”.
- Bob Mould “District Line” – There was definitely a period of time when Mould had really fallen off my radar. But then there was a great single out (“Circles”) [doh, in apparently 2005] and then I went to hear him at Old Town and I find myself back on the Mould bandwagon. Maybe not that exciting, but always solidly rockin.
Not really for me / but maybe for you!:
Nelo (self titled) – No idea where this one came from, did I hear a single from it somewhere? Who knows. I like the song “Walkin’ Around” but otherwise it’s all way too Dave Matthews for me.
Duffy “Rockferry” – I can see why people like this non-boozed-out-of-her-gourd Amy Winehouse-type, part of the “British birds do R&B” crowd. She’s got a very distinctive voice. But it’s just not a style of music I often get the urge to listen to. I don’t mind when these songs come up on shuffle, but I don’t go lookin’ for them either.
Shamefully have either not listened to at all, or not all the way through, or so few times that I can’t legitimately offer an opinion:
Seems like a kinda slow month for buying music (did I just not spend money that month? Or did I spend a lot of it just on other things?), doesn’t seem to be anything I didn’t at least listen to a few times.