Wow, 16 of 29 votes went to The Police’s "King of Pain," which defeated 2nd place contender "Can’t Stand Losing You." A good battle nonetheless.
A brief remark before you vote today: I really think all three of these songs belong on the playlist, and so even the losers are awesome. Tough picks.
One of my favorite pop writers interviews one of my favorite pop musicians. Enjoy.
I just received the link to it, friends. Best. Christian. folksong. ever.
It’s called Ask Jesus and it is written and performed by a fine woman and "prayer warrior" in Kentucky named Norma Lee. You really should check out her site.
I wouldn’t put all of these singers on my list of best all-time vocalists, but they’re some voices I’ve been really enjoying lately. My best of all-time would have to be Aretha Franklin. Also up there:
Elizabeth Fraser
Mark Lanegan
Paul Rodgers
KD Lang
I’m not sure if all of you had it marked on your calendar, but pioneer day is upon us! It’s time to celebrate! Take the day off from work - even if you’re not in Utah! Explain to your boss that it’s kind of like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur or some other Jewish holiday except that it’s a Mormon holiday.
The Smiths won last week’s battle, garnering 14 of the 22 votes. Nicely done.
On to this week’s festival, based on an idea proposed by Danithew…
Dear friends, I’m taking this opportunity to write to you and express my conviction that Ewan McGregor is a hypocrite. He’s a lovely, sexy, Scottish hypocrite, but a hypocrite nonetheless. I was poking around on Eonline and found the following McGregor quote, given before production began on SW Ep. I:
Are you looking forward to being in a gigantic American production?
I’m glad to be doing this one if it happens. But on the whole, I don’t like them. I don’t see the three Star Wars movies in the same way I see something like Independence Day. I would shoot myself in the head before I was in a film like that. I really would. I think it’s disgraceful.
In college me and my roommates came up with a few good words that we felt everyone needed to add to their everyday vernacular. Of course Urban Dictionary didn’t exist at the time so we had no way of knowing two of our three words were already being used in the way that we prescribed. (This was especially evident being in Utah, having no access to anyone that cool.)
The two words already floating were:
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Let’s get the obligatory review paragraph out of the way first. I agree with Melissa (who finished the book about 8 hours after I put our copy down): this is the best book in the series since Prisoner of Azkaban. The story J.K. Rowling wrote for this volume is both thrilling and tragic, and more importantly, it does exactly what it needs to do: it takes to the whole tale of Harry Potter to the next level, and beyond….only you may not realize it until you’re nearly finished with the book.
Okay, now on to discussion. There’s a lot that needs to be said about this book, and you can’t say it while worried about spoilers. You’ve been warned.
I encourage you all to sign up for Street Wars: Team Killer - NYC immediately.
To all interested, this is just a little reminder that Sufjan Stevens is on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic today at 11:20 AM Pacific time. That’s 2:20 if you’re on the east coast. Here’s a link: http://www.kcrw.com/show/mb
In the weakest voting thus far, The New Pornographers’ "Letter From An Occupant" beat out The Weakerthans, getting 6 of 13 votes. Meh. Well, the people, all 13 of them, have spoken.
On to this week’s clash of the titans!
Last night I finally got around to seeing the 80’s classic Wallstreet. A fine movie about greed, corruption, and insider trading… 80’s style. I don’t know if I’ve liked Michael Douglass more than in this film. He played the iconic Gordon Gecko, for which he earned and deserved the Oscar for best actor. Charlie and Martin Sheen’s performances are serviceable playing father and son (imagine that). Overall, I’d give it a B+.
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I feel that as a contributor to kulturblog, I need to keep up on all things pop culture. However, I’ve been travelling so much this summer that I haven’t actually seen many movies, and now there is an increasing list in my head of movies I need to see before my job starts and my lazy summer afternoons can no longer be devoted to popcorn.
I’ve already seen SW:EpIII, and War of the Worlds. Other than that, I would appreciate a list from you, in descending order of importance, of movies that I should see. Also, some warnings of where I can save my money…
Thank you kulturbloggers, once again, for sharing your impeccable taste with me!
Now that the 4th of July has come and gone, the year is officially half done. I would say that it’s a good time to take inventory of this year’s music releases and look forward to the rest of the year.
I would have posted my review of Illinois earlier, but I got caught up listening to it. Simply put, it’s my new favorite album since 2000.
For some reason living in New York has decreased my desire to prepare a full-on dinner. Here are my excuses:
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Since we were talking about mp3 players anyways, indulge me as I pontificate about my iPod and a dilemma I’ve been grappling with: the ratings system.
Okay, so… podcasting. Not that cool yet.
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Okay, I don’t actually need help buying one, I need help picking one out. I’ve been thinking about the ipod mini because I don’t actually have that many songs, and it would be convenient for exercising. Also, I would like a pink one! (Okay, not a deal breaker….but they’re cute!) So, is this the right choice? What has your experience been? What accessories should I get? I have a PC and not a Mac, is this a problem?
Thanks for the advice!
Sorry for the delay! As you might have surmised, Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues won the white pseudo-rap contest with 24 of 47 votes. Huzzah!
Now, for this week’s battle, a belated shout-out for Canada Day: