Month: October 2007

Fall TV – Two Weeks In

On October 10, 2007

Now that nearly all the shows I was interested in have premiered, and most of them have gotten a couple of episodes out, here’s what I’m liking so far. Pretty much in order of how much I like them. There’s going to spoilers for all of them, just fyi. The few shows that I’m planning to look at but haven’t premiered yet are Women’s Murder Club (which I won’t actually be able to watch unless ABC puts it up on their website, or I obtain it via, um, other means, because of scheduling conflicts) and The Next Great American Band, which is American Idol for bands, and which has one of the Australian Idol judges on it! I was really excited when I saw that in a promo tonight. I might try Cashmere Mafia when it starts in December (I think), because Lucy Liu is in it, but I decided against Christina Applegate’s amnesia sitcom Samantha Who?, because the more commercials I see for it, the stupider it looks.

LOVE/ADDICTED/OBSESSED

Ugly Betty
This show is so close to perfect right now, it’s not even funny. The very first scene of the opener, spoofing telenovelas? Loved. And the way they did Hilda dealing with Santos’ death was so great–they had me fooled, but it was niggling in the back of my mind that if they really had Santos recover from being shot in the chest from a foot away, it would be really bad from a narrative point of view. But what they did worked really well. And America Ferrera, as always, great (she won an Emmy, you know). And Mark, and Amanda, and Christina (apropos of nothing, I just discovered that Ashley Jensen is on HBO’s Extras, which you should totally watch), and Wilhemena…I had no idea how much I had missed the show over the summer. Please, please, watch it if you’re not.

The Office
I’m not hugely loving the hour-long format; I think that’s short-lived, though. Some shows are just half-hour shows, and that’s the pacing that works for them, and The Office is one of those shows. The opener was pretty good, but the second ep really hit the stride, as Ryan comes back fresh from his promotion and starts overhauling the business and being generally douchy while Michael complains that the changes represent ageism. Brilliant. And Jim and Pam. SO ADORABLE. Please let them be happy and adorable for a long time without making them angsty. Let others deal with the relationship issues for a while, and just let Jim and Pam be adorable.

House
First three eps this year were brilliant. House and Wilson getting into a kidnapping war, House bouncing ideas off the janitor, actually interesting cases, the search for the new team members is cracking me up… I honestly don’t mind if they keep Cameron and Chase off House’s team for a while–as long as they’re around somewhere–and some of the new team possibilities interest me. I like the really annoyingly pushy chick, because I can see some entertaining explosions coming out of the fact that she’s just as ruthless and pigheaded as House, and I like the old guy. And I also like the woman who ended up killing the guy this week (ooh, someone died on House! That never ever happens), but I guess the fact that she killed someone may not bode well. We’ll see. But I’m not sure about Foreman getting fired from his new job…that whole subplot wasn’t really well-integrated, and that leaves the door open for Foreman to come back or something, and he was the one of the team that I didn’t mind leaving.

Friday Night Lights
I finished S1 on DVD on Friday one hour before the new season’s premiere. Yay! There’s something so fresh about the show, even though it’s about a small-town high school football coach and his family and his team, which doesn’t seem like a very original, innovative subject. But the writing is really good, the characterization is really good, and the camerawork is uncompromising (though the handheldedness of it can get a little annoying at times). Mr. and Mrs. Coach are the best adult couple on television, no question about it. And if I can fall in love with a show about football, as much as I dislike sports, you can too. So come on. The premiere went a number of interesting directions, a few of which had me screaming at the TV, so really, this season could go anywhere.

30 Rock
There’s only been one episode so far this season, but it left me wanting more immediately. 30 Rock is sort of one of those shows that sneaks up on you with how good it is. I watched it for weeks last year before I realized that I didn’t just casually enjoy it, but I honestly loved it. And I say that about so few sitcoms. Seinfeld-vision is brilliant, like most of 30 Rock‘s other comic indictments of consumerism and mercenary motivations of television execs. And poor Liz Lemon with her wedding dress! And Alec Baldwin is better than he’s been in years.

Grey’s Anatomy
Okay, so I’m really mad at Grey’s right now. But it still legitimately counts as an obsession, since obsession includes the idea of being unable to let go of something that no longer really lives up to expectations. And I can’t let it go. I still love the characters, even though they’re being stupid, and I still love the music, and I still love the show. And every once in a while there are flashes of goodness, and for an obsessed person, sometimes that’s enough. Plus, Becky and I spent the whole show last week arguing through text messages over whether or not Lexie is annoying enough to merit Meredith’s bitchiness toward her, and anything that provokes logical argumentation has value, right? Right?

More after the jump.

August 2007 Reading/Watching Recap

By Jandy

On October 9, 2007

In Books and Reading, Film, Reviews

Time off school in August meant non-required reading yay! For the record, a lawn chair by a lake in Minnesota is a good place to read in August. Especially after 100 degree heat in St. Louis and Texas. After the jump, reactions to The Shining, The African Queen, Hannah and Her Sisters, Becoming Jane, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Dancer in the Dark, Zodiac, INLAND EMPIRE, Stardust, Le petit soldat, The Thirteenth Tale, Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, and more.

Music Monday – Rilo Kiley In Concert Edition

By Jandy

On October 8, 2007

In Music

Do you know how many YouTube concert videos you have to look through to find ones that both look and sound decent? Lots. Many, many, many. But I think I have been mostly successful in order to bring you this (still grossly inadequate) approximation of last night. Thing to note. Amateur videos on consumer cameras DO NOT sound anything like as awesome as live sounds. Other thing to note–they are a pretty good visual approximation, since we were standing in almost the same place as most of these. Oh, and last thing to note–I did not take any of these, and none of them are actually from last night’s concert; but several of them are from earlier on Rilo Kiley’s current tour.

Grand Ole Party

This is actually a television show shoot, so the quality is better. But they messed up the drum placement–the three should be in a straight line. The song is called “Bad, Bad Man.”

Grand Ole Party – Look Out Young Son

MySpace

click the cover to go to iTunes; it isn’t available elsewhere until January

The Bird and the Bee

Last night, it was during this song, “I’m a Broken Heart,” that Inara George broke out the bubble machine. At this concert, she batted a balloon around a bit, but the bubble machine was cooler. Sorry people at that other concert.

And this is the video for the single “Again & Again,” which was probably my favorite of the songs they did. When she goes up for the “do it again,” it just sends shivers down my spine–love the ethereal tone.

The Bird and the Bee – Polite Dance Song
The Bird and the Bee – So You Say

click the covers to go to Amazon.com’s new MP3 store, which you should do because Amazon.com’s new MP3 store is awesome, DRM-free, cheaper than iTunes, and I’m so excited about it!

Rilo Kiley

By the time Rilo Kiley came on, I was exhausted. I’d been standing up for two and a half hours, and it was hot and crowded. But when they came out and Jenny Lewis started singing, it was all totally worth it, and everything was wonderful. If the concert videos don’t convince you how wonderful her voice is, and how perfect her stylings are, make sure to listen to the studio-produced recordings. Concert footage doesn’t always show tone quality, but the band also puts on a great show and I wanted to get that in here (which was why I was trying so hard to find passable videos).

“Moneymaker” is off the new album, Under the Blacklight, and they played it pretty early in the set. It’s really not much like anything else I’ve heard them do…but girls with guitars, I just gotta say. Good stuff. (The music video version is critiquing the porn industry, so while it’s a well-done video, I’ll leave it to your own judgment whether or not to seek it out on YouTube.)

“I Never” got probably the loudest, most sustained ovation last night. It was incredible, and deafening. Even Jenny was putting her hands over her ears! And they performed it pretty much exactly like this, only imagine about two solid minutes of applause and screaming before the crowd quieted down enough for them to play the next song.

And this is the video for the first track on the new album, “Silver Lining.” It may be more distracting than helpful as far as interpretation goes, but it is interesting to note that Jenny and Blake Sennett (the guitarist/singer who is also the groom in the video) used to date. And no longer do. But I don’t know if we’re supposed to read that into the song or not, and I don’t know the details. In any case, it’s a very pretty song and video both.

Rilo Kiley – With Arms Outstretched (from The Execution of All Things)
Rilo Kiley – Breakin’ Up (from Under the Blacklight)
Rilo Kiley – Under the Blacklight

click the covers to go to the regular Amazon CD store, because Rilo Kiley isn’t on the new MP3 store…yet…

Reasons Today Rocked (most of which involve Rilo Kiley)

By Jandy

On October 8, 2007

In Music

Met some interesting new people at church. Okay, this didn’t really rock that hard, but usually the greet-the-people-near-you part of the service (before the sermon) devolves into “hi, I’m ____, nice to meet you” unless I already sort of know the people near me. So it was nice to actually have a conversation.
Went to lunch with friends and had a caesar salad! I haven’t had a caesar salad for about two months, or salad at all really. I need a good salad once in a while, and the kind I try to make at home never turn out good.
Having lunch with friends for reasons apart from the caesar salad.
Almost spur-of-the-moment trip to Austin with other friends to see Rilo Kiley (tickets bought on Thursday, so it was planned, just not for long).
Introducing friends to Waterloo Records, which they loved as inordinately as I do. (Slight moment of suck encountered when I was unable to locate any of the supposed four copies of the Ingrid Michaelson CD they were supposed to have in stock–I find it rather interesting that a lot of the current crop of commercials that use indie pop songs are not very effective at getting me to by the product advertised, but are very effective at getting me to buy the CD with the song on it. Assuming I can find said CD.)
Suck caused by lack of Ingrid Michaelson CD countered by finding Sons and Daughters EP, which I have been sort of half keeping my eye out for since a friend sent me a mix with “Fight” on it.
Pulled pork sandwich at Stubbs! And being able to get to the bathroom without fighting my way through a room-full of partying people like the last time I was there.
First opening band Grand Ole Party, who none of us had heard of, and who rocked pretty hard. Most of the comparisons I’ve seen online tonight have been to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which I can totally see now that I think about it. At the time, the closest I could come was a young, angry Gwen Stefani while with No Doubt (there’s a similar use of vibrato). Anyway. The weirdest thing is earlier in the day, we’d been mentioning the fact that very few drummers are also lead singers. Well, the lead singer of Grand Ole Party is a female drummer, which is awesome on both the drummer-singer level, and the female drummer level.
Second opening band The Bird and the Bee, who I hadn’t heard of, but one of my friends highly recommended. And they were really good, too, but very different. Really whimsical, sometimes ethereal, and a bit gimmicky, but in a GOOD way. She had a bubble machine, folks. A bubble machine. It was awesome. They were so adorable, I wanted to pack them up and bring them home with me.
RILO KILEY. RILO KILEY. RILO KILEY. When I first got into Rilo Kiley I passed up an opportunity to see them open for Coldplay (a double temptation, because I really like Coldplay too, and at the time, they were probably my favorite band), because the tickets were mucho expensive and I didn’t have anyone to go with. This was much, much better. Three times cheaper, plus twenty feet from the stage instead of who knows how far back at the big St. Louis auditorium they were at, plus friends. It was a great show–not sure if it was as good as Snow Patrol back in March, but pretty darn close (and since that’s all I have to compare it to…). And even though they’re promoting a new album (which I haven’t heard enough yet to know all the songs), they still did my two absolute favorites from earlier CDs, as well as a pseudo-cover of one of Jenny Lewis’s solo songs, which was fun. I’m hoping to resurrect Music Monday from its couple of weeks rest to post a song or two from each band.