~notes~ (Vol. 6)
Millennial Adult Contemporary & the Return of Bill Nye
Mad’s Music Mix
Wir Sin Helden, “Nur Ein Wort” It’s hard to believe it was only a few years ago when the only avenue I knew for acquiring MP3s was iTunes (oh, how young and innocent I was). I spent hours browsing the site, savoring a world of music at my fingertips. Bash iTunes all you want, but to be able to explore deep cuts from undiscovered and familiar bands alike is pretty cool. I stumbled upon a lot of random artists this way, and one of my favorite discoveries was this poppy track by this now-defunct German band. I had no idea who they were or what they were saying, but the tune is catchy. Snaps for a bridge you can clap along with and an easy chorus to sing, even if you don’t know what you’re belting.
Eve ft. Madonna, “The Beat is So Crazy” Last week, this previously unreleased track, recorded in 2007, saw the light of day. Produced by Pharrell, it was apparently supposed to be released on an Eve album in 2007, but the album was never released. A signature Pharrell beat, a simple acoustic guitar and an Eve/Madonna duet — I think I’m digging this song because I forgot all about Eve.
FURNS, “Sparks” Mondays are always crazy/a drag, so I proffer thee this song to slow down your day and relax. Smooth, jazzy and dreamy, I like to think of this track as “millennial adult contemporary.” I guess this would be considered chillwave, so sit back and let those sparks fly.
Xaphoon Jones, “The Jackson Pit” BEST MASHUP EVER.
Music Vid Pick: HAIM ft. A$AP Ferg, “My Song 5” This video represents my summer 2k14 music favorites. Unbridled enthusiasm took over when I first heard the audio a couple of weeks ago, and I literally counted down the hours to 8/18 at 9:00 am EST when the video premiered. This video is just so very perfect to me in many ways: You’ve got an amazing Vanessa Bayer playing a ridiculous Jerry Springer-type host, Ke$ha (no relation to A$AP Ferg) in unrequited love with a feline named Mr. Boots, Grimes backstage in a cape, and a sweet collaboration between the hip hop and rock “it” stars of the year. Also, we get this:
Jeff’s Journo Jems
The coolest, weirdest Internet community you’ll never be able to join [The Washington Post] My friends and I are pretty intense about trivia (shout out to team Bed, Bath & Beyonce). Lately, we’ve been slacking on our weekly ritual, but as my friend — and trivia ringleader — Meghan said, trivia is really a fall/winter sport. The LearnedLeague takes trivia to a whole level of nerdom. The invite-only community counts Ken Jennings (of “Jeopardy” fame), Carter Bays (the co-creator of “How I Met Your Mother”), and Daniel Okrent (the first public editor of The New York Times) among its members. Every weekday during trivia season, members electronically answer six questions in a head-to-head matchup. Points and rankings accrue over the season. I’m in awe.
The Witness [Texas Monthly] I first came across Pamela Colloff, the executive editor of Texas Monthly, two years ago with her two-part longform masterpiece, The Innocent Man (part 1, part 2). Now, she’s back with another story covering the prison system in Texas, albeit from a different angle: a reporter turned Texas Department of Correctional Justice spokesperson who had the distinction of watching the executions of 278 death row inmates. This piece (part profile, part death row explainer) is remarkable for what it’s not: overly emotional or polarizing. A difficult read for sure, but a worthwhile one, too.
I Went to a Psychic and Then Found Out How Right She Really Was [FiveThirtyEight] Confession time: I read Susan Miller’s monthly horoscopes as if they are gospel (yes, the website looks like I unearthed geocites, but the content is worth it). I might even be that person who feverishly refreshes her site on the first of the month anxiously awaiting Susan to tell me what the next 30 days have in store. So this piece in FiveThirtyEight that takes a statistical look at the bold and safe predictions made my psychics was naturally intriguing to me, but also a bit of a snap-back-to-reality moment, too. So tread lightly if you’re a lover of astrology and tarot cards.
Bill Nye Fights Back [PopSci] “It’s not magic, it’s….science!” I’m amazed with how easily I recall Bill Nye’s catch phrase — and his TV show’s theme song (Bill! Bill! Bill!) — more than a decade after watching episodes when I had substitute teachers in science class. It’s a bit of a stretch to say that Bill Nye made science cool (he’s a quirky character after all), but he certainly made it approachable and memorable. I still remember that tomato sauce is the hottest part of fresh-from-the-oven pizza, not the cheese. This month’s cover story in PopSci (h/t to my friend Mac for pointing it out to me), takes a look at how the affable host of a kids TV show has taken on the role of a defender of science in an age where creationists have a surprising amount of power.
Throwback: Crunch [The New Yorker] We live in a heyday for apples, but most of us don’t even know it. Sure, I know I have a half-dozen choices of apple varieties when I go to the grocery store (Macintosh? No. Gala? Yes, please.) But I was really uninformed about the amount of energy — and the potential monetary payoffs — that goes into creating the next Fuji or Granny Smith, until I read this magnum opus in The New Yorker.
