The Most-Represented Bands on My iPod

Yes, I still have my 3rd generation iPod nano. It has a name (iPooh) and it turned ten years old on my birthday this year. I got it in seventh grade. It’s a wee silver iPod nano and I still update it regularly with whatever music I’m listening to the most. Because it’s small, portable, and has remarkable battery powder. And I’m fond of it.

Thankfully I do do iPod culls. Because I do not still listen to the music I listened to in seventh grade (I don’t even want to think about it). There are only about 400 or 500 (or maybe 600) songs on it.

And some bands are much better represented than others. The fact that I keep it full of my most-listened to means that the majority of bands and musicians are represented only once or twice. The following are the most notable exceptions, with five or more tracks, each.

• Creedence Clearwater Revival, 5
• Edith Piaf, 5
• Fleetwood Mac, 5
• Glass Animals, 5: The problem here is all of the songs sound the same, so does this count as five songs or one? I’m not sure really.
• Nouvelle Vague, 5
• Daddy Yankee, 6: The sound of home, for me. I grew up to Gasolina. Whatever that says about my life.
• Lana del Rey, 6
• Sia, 6
• The Beatles, 7
• David Bowie, 8
• Simon & Garfunkel, 11
• The Rolling Stones, 12

Perhaps I’ll do a future post on my most-listened to songs. The problem is that I have a kind of OCD tendency to reset the number of listens. So it might take a little while.

Best!

2017 Films I’m Looking Forward To

I saw The Big Sick the day before yesterday! It was pretty good but not as excellent as I was hoping it would be. It’s hard to get a romcom right- I mean it’s hard to make an intelligent romcom.  Without spoilers, a few of the things I found lacking: a number of the best jokes were used in the trailer, and I found myself wishing I hadn’t seen the trailer so I could appreciate the film more.  Kind of says something negative re: rewatchability.
Also, the movie, despite being a romantic comedy, is too much about the male main character, Kumail Nanjiani. Given that the female protagonist is in a coma for the majority of the film (not a spoiler; that’s the premise), it’s an easy hole to fall into. But even when Emily’s parents (Holly Hunter!) show up to stand in for her, the film still leans into being a coming of age story for Kumail Nanjiani (which, he did do a lot to make this film happen, so I can see how it focuses on his experience).  The romantic plot line and family merging took a backseat to his personal development, to the extent that Emily’s coma feels more like a plot device to trigger Kumail’s transformation, rather than the premise of the film.  And even though she’s based on a real person, Zoe Kazan’s Emily  (through no fault of Zoe Kazan’s, who had to spend most of the film being  coma patient) comes across as more manic-pixie-dreamgirl. Probably as a result of the script more than anything else.
But it was a good movie. It was funny and quick, even if it was not as insightful or deep as I was hoping it would be.

I Loved Baby Driver (Spoiler Free)

I loved Baby Driver (trailer here!) extremely much but it kind of took a backseat to other things going on in life. Things like 1) AMERICA (‘MURICA) and 2) FRANCE and 3) TRAVEL to the quiet wilds of Pennsylvania.

So now let’s get down and dirty and talk about Baby Driver because it’s really excellent (assuming you like any one or combination of the following: heist films, gangster films, action, car chases, and/or music- should be most people, I think).

French Covers of English Language Songs

In honor of the French election (cringe), I decided to create a list of French covers of English language songs.  Now, if the French election (another cringe) is the reason I’m scheduling this particular post for this particular day, there is a more general reason that explains why so much French music has been kicking around in my head.
Simple: spring. Warm weather and the promise of summer is always the season when I bust out the sixties French music, the ye ye songs, the music of Francoise Hardy, Sylvie Vartan, and France Gall.
And then I stumbled on a few amazing cover songs, and so this list was born.
(And aside on politics before we get into the clean fun of music: the rising tide of problematic anti-immigrant right-wing nationalism is frightening. There, I’m done. I refer you to John Oliver).

Ahem, what was that? Ah yes, music!