Favorite Songs of 2012

For me 2012 was the most highly anticipated year in terms of new music in recent memory.  New albums from my all-time favorite band Smashing Pumpkins, three of my favorite artists – Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, and Cat Power, as well as the release of the MTV unplugged album from Florence + The Machine, and even albums from new and old favorites such as Ben Folds Five, The Shins, and Mumford & Sons.  Heck, even Bob Dylan got into the act with a new album.  And even with all of that my two favorite albums of the year were by artists I hadn’t even heard of before 2012 – My Head Is an Animal, the debut album from Of Monsters and Men and the self-titled debut album from The Lumineers.

Note that I still haven’t had a chance to give the Smashing Pumpkins album the listen it deserves (so no songs below); I’m afraid that any new music from the band will ruin my teenage memories of the songs I loved.  I’ll try to do that in 2013 because while 2012 was an awesome year for new music, as of right now the only thing on the horizon that excites me for 2013 is the potential new album from Pearl Jam.

So with all of that as an introduction, to close out the year I’d like to present my favorite new music of 2012.  Many of the blogs I read are where I go to get recommendations for anything from music to movies to books, so consider this my gift to you.  I couldn’t decide between a top ten list and a more exclusive top five list, so of course I settled for a top seven (we’ll call it the baker’s half-dozen). 

Looking for something to do with that new i-Tunes gift card that you recently received as a gift?  Here are my favorite new songs of 2012: 

7) “Manhattan” by Cat Power – I still prefer the simpler piano and voice Cat Power, so Sun might not be my favorite of her albums, but I do really enjoy this song.

6) “Small Town Moon” by Regina Spektor – all of her music is fun, including this one, the best off What We Saw from the Cheap Seats.

5) “Laura” by Bat for Lashes – it sounds a little cliché, but this song is just haunting and beautiful.

4) ”Something Good” by Alt-J – their debut album (An Awesome Wave) is a darling of the alternative crowd and is definitely unique, but for whatever reason my favorite songs on the album are the less popular ones (at least in terms of i-Tunes popularity), with this one being the stand out.

3) “Werewolf” by Fiona Apple – everything Miss Apple produces takes time for me to warm up to, and then each album succeeds in replacing the previous as my favorite.  I have a suspicion that The Idler Wheel Is Wiser . . . (the full title is 23 words long – yes, seriously) will also be a challenge, but at the very least Fiona has wowed me with this song.

2) “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men – the whole album is incredible and I could pick several songs for this list, but if I’m being honest my favorite is still “Little Talks”, even if it’s verging on being overplayed (movie trailers, commercials, etc., etc.)  I thought this would end up as my favorite album of the year until . . .

1) “Stubborn Love” by The Lumineers – I love this album and the only danger is that I will tire of it on the one thousandth listen.  The band’s hit “Ho Hey” is everywhere and it’s fantastic, but my two favorites are “Submarines” and this one, my favorite new song of the year.

Our Christmas Cards...

Were scratch and sniff...  Did anyone notice?

Mr. said people would get it and that I didn't have to make a note on the cards...  That people would see the one from Yankee Candle...

Seems he was wrong (surprisingly)...  Sigh sigh...

Read This!: 1225 Christmas Tree Lane

By Debbie Macomber

I have never read any Debbie Macomber before although I have seen the Mrs. Miracle Christmas films on TV and I have really enjoyed them.  In fact, if it weren't for the fact that I can't see James Van Der Beek as anyone but Dawson, I would consider him attractive in the first one.

This was part of my Christmas purchases and was recommended to me by one of my aunts.

1225 Christmas Tree Lane centers on Beth, who owns a Christmas Tree farm and whose daughters are home for Christmas.  Also home for Christmas: her ex-husband.  Her daughters have a plan to get their parents back together but are thrown off when their Dad comes in sporting an attractive lady on his arm.

In the mix of this story, we get glimpses of the people who live in Beth's town of Cedar Cove as various townspeople come to adopt the puppies Beth has up for adoption.  I felt this part was unnecessary.  Maybe these are characters in other of DM's books.  But, I felt the back explanations on these people were boring since I dropped them from my mind the second the page turned and especially since they rarely showed up again or played an important part in the story.

I did think 1225 Christmas Tree Lane was a fun read for the holidays so even with my above comment, you should read it if you want a light Christmas read.

Now, as I was reading this, I turned a page and it said "Epilogue" and I thought "wow there are a lot pages still to go for an Epilogue" but then I realized there was another book in this one.  This story was called Let It Snow.

Let It Snow tells the story of Shelly and Slade who meet on a plane and when their plane is diverted due to a snow storm, decide to share the only available rental car left to drive their destination.  Of course, a romance begins in the midst of the snow...

Now, I liked Let It Snow better than 1225 Christmas Tree Lane because it didn't have the side stories and focused on Shelly and Slade.  I did however really hate that this guy's name was Slade but mostly I got annoyed because Slade was supposedly engaged and when he tells Shelly that him and his fiancee are having a long engagement and putting off children so they can establish themselves financially, Shelly is horrified and we are led to believe his fiancee is some kind of stone faced freak for wanting this.  Because it is insane to have your life together and not rush into getting married and having kids?  I think more people should do this personally.  Side eye saloon USA to Debbie Macomber.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Songs!

With Christmas almost upon us, Mrs. and I were listening to Christmas carols yesterday while she baked her annual Christmas cookies and we had an idea for an impromptu draft of Christmas songs.  We’d go back and forth and each select ten songs, with the only rule that once a song was picked it was off the board.  Since this was a spur of the moment draft we had to pause a few times to try to remember all of the Christmas songs we liked, but overall I think we were both satisfied with our selections.  Because we have different tastes in music (even traditional Christmas songs it turns out) I actually don’t think either of us were too bummed by any of the other’s selections.  Mrs. won the coin toss and got to select first (and by coin toss, I mean I said, “you can go first”).

So welcome to the first (and probably only) Mr. and Mrs. Christmas song draft.

With the first pick in the 2012 Christmas song draft Mrs. selects:

“O Holy Night” – Mrs.’ favorite Christmas song was a solid first selection and luckily she didn’t steal my pick.

With the second pick Mr. selects:

“Silent Night” – My favorite Christmas song and the heart of my team.

With the third pick Mrs. selects:

“Carol of the Bells” – merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas; merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

With the fourth pick Mr. selects:

“Frosty the Snowman” – he’ll be back again someday.

5^th pick to Mrs:  “Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming”  – interesting selection by Mrs.  A true sleeper pick.

6^th pick to Mr.:  “Winter Wonderland” 

7^th pick to Mrs.:  “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” – a pick for her dad since this is supposedly his favorite Christmas song (we’re waiting for confirmation from him).

8^th pick to Mr.:  “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” – At this point I've chosen the top four on my draft board, Mrs. hasn't stolen one yet.

9^th pick to Mrs.:  “White Christmas” – good value with this pick, I should have jumped on this one higher up.

10^th pick to Mr:  “The Little Drummer Boy” – after Mrs. picked “White Christmas” I obviously panicked with this selection.  Probably my weakest selection - several spots too early.

11^th pick to Mrs.:  “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”

12^th pick to Mr.:  “The Christmas Song” – I can’t believe this was still on the board.  Not to brag, but great pick by me.

13^th pick to Mrs.:  “Feliz Navidad” – Mrs. spicing up the Christmas song draft with this one; it's like a party in here.

14^th pick to Mr.:  “Joy to the World” – another classic that I’m surprised lasted this far.

15^th pick to Mrs.:  “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” – quote from Mrs. after the selection, “You know how I like this, even though it’s kind of a weird song”  Hahaha . . .

16^th pick to Mr.:  “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”

17^th pick to Mrs:  “O Come All Ye Faithful”

18^th pick to Mr.:  “Let It Snow”

19^th pick to Mrs:  “Coventry Carol” – I have to admit, I’ve never heard of this song and have absolutely no idea what it would sound like.

20^th and final pick to Mr.:  “The First Noel” – at this point I was just reaching for any Christmas song I could remember.

Thanks for joining us for this exciting Christmas song draft.  So who had the best draft?  Who’s team of songs do you want?  We’ll let you be the judge.  Happy Holidays!

Draft Results

Team Mrs.                                                   Team Mr.

“O Holy Night”                                              “Silent Night”

“Carol of the Bells”                                        “Frosty the Snowman”

“Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming”                     “Winter Wonderland”

“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”                          “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

“White Christmas”                                         “The Little Drummer Boy”

“It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”                 “The Christmas Song”

“Feliz Navidad”                                              “Joy to the World”

“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”                                “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”

“O Come All Ye Faithful”                                “Let It Snow”

“Coventry Carol”                                             “The First Noel”

Read This!: The Christmas Box Collection

By Richard Paul Evans

The Christmas Box Collection is actually three books combined into one book.  I bought it because I wanted some Christmas books and this seemed like a good choice.  I was not pleased when I discovered that only the first book is about Christmas.  The other two were not.  Boo!  I felt like I was cheated.  Anyways...

The first story was called The Christmas Box.  This is a fairly famous story (made into a TV movie starring Richard Thomas).   A couple and their daughter move into the mansion of an elderly lady acting as both her companions and her help around the house.  The elderly lady teaches them about life and challenges them to remember the first gift of Christmas.  With that, she gives them an important gift.

The second story, Timepiece, provides backstory on the elderly lady, MaryAnn Parkin, from the first story.  We learn how she met her husband, David Parkin, the love they shared, how they lost their daughter Andrea, and what forgiveness can do for someone.

The last story called The Letter takes place years after Andrea's death when David and MaryAnn have grown apart.  David's mother abandoned him when he was a child and in his search for her, he finds what he and MaryAnn need.

Overall, these books were fine minus the Christmas disappointment.  The writing tended to be a bit fluffy and overly dramatic.  I felt Evans was trying a tad too hard.   It kept reminding me of Nicholas Sparks.  I haven't read a Nicholas Sparks book in years because he drives me mad, but that is what I kept thinking of.  There was a good story there but I didn't think a few of the characters, David Parkin specifically, were super believable and I kept side-eyeing their actions.

This movie (The Christmas Box) was on the other night and I can't stand Richard Thomas.  He is too goody two shoes and annoys me.  He always plays the sappy, too in touch with his feelings guy.  So really he was perfect for this story.  But, I couldn't get past 30 seconds of the movie with him on the TV so I changed the channel.




 

The Tree of Life

While recovering from an illness last month I took a sick day from work and spent most of the day lying on the couch.  With nothing to do but rest, stay hydrated and try to force some food down, I decided to watch a movie.  And since Mrs. went to work that day it meant I was able to watch any movie of my choosing (an early Christmas present for me!).  So I looked through my collection of movies I’d purchased but hadn’t gotten around to watching and decided on Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life.  Mrs. had already informed me of her lack of interest in this movie, so it was perfect.

I’ll say up front that I was really excited for The Tree of Life.  My initial interest was due to the trailer, which looked incredible (I’m a sucker for a good movie trailer).  And several times I’ve been irrationally excited for a movie because of the trailer only to have the film fail to live up to those lofty expectations – I’m specifically looking at you The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (an ok, but flawed film).  So I knew going in I could be setting myself up for disappointment.  

I think the film can be neatly divided into four sections:

1) The introduction montage

The best way to describe the first 15-20 minutes would be as one long movie trailer, or at least a long movie montage, with background music but little in the way of dialogue.  It introduced the audience to the characters and settings – a family in 1950’s Texas (Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and their three sons), that same husband and wife getting some bad news maybe 10 years in the future, and then one of the sons (Sean Penn) now an adult in present day.  It wasn’t quite a conventional movie up to that point, and I really didn’t know what to think, but the quick flashes from scene to scene were a bit maddening.  And I’ll say that at that point I started to seriously consider whether his was going to be the most disappointing movie ever (relative to my expectations – Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence currently holds the title).

2) Discovery Channel special

So what follows that opening montage?  Well for the next 20-30 minutes (did I mention this was 2 hours 18 minutes of running time?) the movie shifts to resemble something akin to a show you’d see on Discovery Channel (well of course it does).  Starting in space (the big bang theory perhaps), then moving to the evolution of life on earth, single cell organisms up to dinosaurs, and then concluding with an asteroid striking the planet and I assume the extinction of those living organisms.  So, yeah, that was interesting.  I mean, what?!  It was a beautiful and fascinating sequence, but umm . . . it didn’t make a whole ton of sense.

3) 1950's Waco, Texas

So after this “brief” interlude, the movie goes back to something more closely resembling a normal film.  Not quite a normal film mind you, but at least no more dinosaurs.  We settle in for the next hour or so with that family in Texas, with the main focus on the oldest son and his relationship with his parents.  There’s a little more dialogue, but the movie is still mostly voiceovers and short and sweet scenes more resembling a montage.  At least I can finally see a story emerging.

4) Wandering in the desert

So the final 15-20 minutes flash forward again to present day and the oldest son as an adult.  This is Sean Penn, who’s in the movie, but probably says 15 words, almost all in voiceover.  He’s dreaming (I think) about wandering a desert in some sort of afterlife, where he encounters people milling around the beach and ocean.  He meets up with his family (all looking like they did in the 1950’s) and they embrace and don’t say anything.  And then he’s back in the big city where he works.  And that’s your movie.

After the movie ended I sat there for a moment.  What had I just watched?  Was that a great film (it was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award after all), or was it a terrible film?  I didn’t know what to think.  I can safely say it will NOT go down as my most disappointing movie (A.I. rejoices) because if nothing else it was fascinating and beautifully filmed.  My thoughts were divided.  I started to think about what a chore it was to sit through the movie, but at the same time I considered watching it again immediately.  I read afterwards that film critic Roger Ebert recently updated his top 10 movies of all time to include The Tree of Life.  I thought, what?!  I mean wow, that’s crazy.  But then I thought maybe I should do the same thing (note – I will not be including The Tree of Life in an updated top 10). 

So yes, it was a confusing film.  While I suppose the structure was creative and experimental, I’m not sure it couldn't have benefitted, and still been a great film, with a slightly more conventional narrative.  I specifically would have liked to see the scenes drawn out further and more focus on the dialogue between the family members.  I think it was an ambitious film (it had to be with a theme like "what's life all about?"), but I’m not sure Malick quite achieved the big ideas the film had.  Maybe it’s brilliant.  And maybe it’s just pretentious garbage.  But if it wasn’t great, well it was at least remarkable.  And I’d recommend it, if for no other reason than to have someone to discuss it with.

Thoughts for the Holidays

I have been super busy this month and my holiday blogging didn't really happen but here are some thoughts from the past few weeks (like a mini-blog each):

-Zoo Lights would be better if people left their kids and monster strollers at home.  Actually, if everyone but us stayed home as well.

-Why does the purchaser of an ornament at Macy’s have to be the one to return the item?  What if it was a gift?

-Why are my snickerdoodles transparent?

-My battery operated lights are not holding up in the rain.

-Why, after testing the lights, then spending the time to hang then, don’t they work?

-If you are charging us $5 for a Christmas Market, there better be more there than a guy selling random hats.

-I love you Amazon.   In particular, the $2.99 sale you had on Gone Girl.

-When Christmas shopping and walking to and from the store, do not do what we like to call “Pull a Coach” which is purchase a heavy item that you have to lug all over and kill your arms.  Explanation: A couple years ago for Christmas, Coach and Feisty got me a marble pastry board.  It weighs a billion pounds and Coach had to lug said item across the city and on the commuter rail.  LOL

-After years of making your own cards, do not send store bought ones.  People will complain.

-Yes, it’s another orphaned child, lawyer is bad, Christmas movie.

Zoo Lights!!!

Read This!: The Remains of the Day

By Kazuo Ishiguro

Book fair!

So I bought this on a whim at the book fair because I love books about English gentry and their servants.  I have never seen the movie.

In post WWII Britain, Stevens, a life-long butler to an English lord and then an American man reflects back on his life in service as he takes a road trip to visit the former housekeeper and his friend, Miss Kenton.

I don’t know how I feel about this book.  I couldn’t tell if the author was mocking Stevens by making him so serious or if he was supposed to be a tragic figure whose lifestyle was going by the wayside?  Some parts did pique my interest and I LOL’ed at Stevens' attempt to explain the facts of life to his employer’s friend’s son.   But, generally, the ramblings of Stevens about butlering were a bit of a snooze fest which I just plowed through in order to get to something more exciting.

The Visible Man

I’m first going to say that I really enjoy Cluck Klosterman's writing.  I've read most of his collection of essay nonfiction books, and I read most of his contributions to Grantland.com.  I say all this because The Visible Man was my first foray into Klosterman’s fiction (he only has one other novel) and unfortunately I can't recommend it.  The premise is interesting and I found myself enjoying the nonconventional structure, but in the end the story goes nowhere and I didn’t see the point (maybe it was over my head?). 

The Visible Man is written as a copy of a manuscript of the same name written by Vicky Vick, a therapist who's attempting to sell this book about her recent patient, who she simply refers to as "Y".  According to Vicky, "Y" is in the unique situation of being a former scientist (unless he’s lying) who has developed a method to cloak himself in order to appear invisible to others.  In essence what he does is wear a suit covered in a mysterious gel like substance that makes people unable to see him, or more appropriately to see through him to whatever is behind him.  Don’t think too much about whether this makes any sense, as “Y” says, we just wouldn’t understand the science.  "Y" uses this “invisibility” to observe people alone in their homes in an attempt to understand what they’re really like (or so he says).  So yes, "Y" is basically a creepy stalker.  And in one case the victim of his observation almost dies (in large part due to his actions) and in another a man actually does die (indirectly because of his actions).  So he’s both a creepy stalker and a potential murderer.

"Y" seeks therapy to help understand his own actions, so Vicky's manuscript contains transcriptions of her interactions with "Y", including phone calls, her notes from the sessions, and eventually their meeting in person (while he's not cloaked).  The majority of the book covers various stories of the people that "Y" observed and the . . . uh . . . interesting things that occurred during these visits (I think what he discovers is that people are weird – or maybe he was just picking weird people).  Anyway, about halfway through the book had me interested and I was like "hmm . . . where is this going?"  But about 3/4th of the way in it was more like "uhh . . . where is this going?"  Because it just sort of ends after Vicky and “Y” (and unfortunately for him – Vicky’s husband) have a heated confrontation when “Y” appears in Vicky’s home cloaked.  Again, perhaps the symbolism went over my head (I doubt it), but I just didn’t think it was very good.

So the gist here is feel free to skip this book (sorry Chuck), but I still highly recommend any of Klosterman’s nonfiction essays, which are interesting and humorous and a much better way to spend your time. 

Next up:  The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper