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"Please respect the lei."

Obviously, the missing ingredients for my office are a lei and cookies.

Me no panic.

Penelope and I have been watching a lot of Sesame Street on Hulu this weekend. This is my favorite:

The Walkmen: You & Me

I'm pretty surprised by how much I enjoy the new Walkmen album, You & Me, never having been much of a fan in the past. It's big, and nostalgic, and kind of dark.

Kind of like the season one finale of Mad Men, which I just watched a couple of weeks ago. The best part, where Don is leading the Kodak people through the campaign for the slide projector, while showing slides of his family:

It goes backwards and forwards, and it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called "The Wheel"; it's called "The Carousel". It lets us travel around and around and back home again.

Anyway, You & Me is out August 19, but you can buy it now for $5 (5 dollars!) from Amie Street. And in so doing, you'll be helping kids with cancer. So, you know, you'd sort of have to hate music and kids not to buy this album.

"... A new sheriff in town, in the world of hair" [1]

Okay, so American Idol tonight? The contestants can choose from any song in the 2000s—and what do these connoisseurs of fine modern pop choose? Creed, Tim McGraw, & a boring Beyoncé song. [2]

Now, so: I understand there are licensing issues, &c.

But seriously, what the fuck?

So, dear future—or current—Idol contestants, should this particular challenge week ever again rear its ugly head, here are some suggestions [3].

Annie, “Chewing Gum” (Listen)

(Or the Hey Willpower + Annie version thereof.) Perhaps not a particularly tough vocal, but still a nice combination of a sort of charm & sexuality. Kellie, perhaps, but it may be too far out of her country comfort zone.

Backstreet Boys, “Shape of my Heart” (Listen)

So, I know that Backstreet Boys specifically—& boy pop in general—aren’t exactly in vogue, but seriously: this is brilliant pop music, and I’d expect someone like Ace to be able to pull this off, synchronized camera pouts & all.

Eamon, “Fuck It” (Listen)

Now this: I could see Elliot just eating this up. It’s a novelty song, sure, but it’s got that wannabe-Stevie-but-angry-&-nasty thing going on.

Girls Aloud, “Biology” [4] (Listen)

It’s not a competition without Girls Aloud! Honestly, I don’t know who could do this justice. Maybe it’d have to be a group thing, like those strange group performances they do from time to time.

Jamie Lidell, “When I Come Back Around”

Taylor, I’m looking at you, you symbol of prematurely gray neo-soul! Plus, miming the keyboard solo would win anyone total points in my book.

Ms. Dynamite, “Dy-Na-Mi-Tee” (Listen)

Paris!

She’s my favorite, and while some of these picks are motivated by a sort of morbid curiosity, I would really, really like to hear Paris sing this.

Scissor Sisters, “Return to Oz” (Listen)

Now, this just might have the right sense of melodrama & bombast to win the crowd ever. If someone like Chris Daughtry were to sing it, it might elevate him from the sub-Stone Temple Pilots rut he’s got himself into now.

Will Young, “Leave Right Now”

Perhaps a bit of an obvious pick, considering his start in the pop business, but this is a top pop song.

& there’s so much more! Justin Timberlake; Shakira; Hey Willpower; Gwen Stefani; Robbie Williams; &c.

And I’ll just say this: if any contestant were to ever sing a chapter of R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet”, he/she would be my favorite vote forever, and I would probably be compelled to write some silly application that would vote a million times for that contestant. Or something.

[1] “But who wants to shoot the sheriff?” Oh, Blow Out.

[2] The only inspired choice was Katherine’s choice of Christina Aguilera’s “The Voice Within,” which was just okay in terms of her performance, but it’s hard to ruin that song.

[3] Though if last’s season’s butchering of Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ‘em Up Style (Oops)” is any indication, the idols-in-training aren’t exactly stellar w/ good pop songs, either.

[4] Well, really, part of the reason I included this song is just so I had an excuse to listen to it, again.

I've got so much to say ("tell us about it Green")

• SO disappointed! I feel as if I've wasted so many hours, now, for it all to have come down to Chloe. I would've been happy with either Santino or Daniel (as strange & bitchy as Daniel got towards the end of the show, I still liked him), but Chloe? I have nothing more to say.


• But through the despair... a ray of hope, coming March 21. How can they possibly follow up the amazing Season 2? Who will be this season's Scott/Brandon-level villain? How will Jonathan adjust to domestic life & parenthood? Are Jonathan and Sescie married yet? Is Jonathan still in therapy? So many questions!


• God, I fucking love Front Row. I love it most for its music-playing abilities, while hooked up to a television, & the way it shows off the album covers. I've been playing a playlist from a party a couple of months ago, & watching the beautiful album covers come across the screen is just mesmerizing.


• I finally bought Scritti Politti's Provision—the only Scritti album I didn't yet have—and am loving "Overnite". I can't get enough of Green Gartside ballads!

Amazon knows me so well!

See:

Buy some Jonathan Product at the Sephora Store on Amazon.

Zombie Head!

While watching Survivor tonight, & seeing that the reward for the first challenge was the ever-familiar spear & fishing gear, I thought of what would make a great reward for a reward challenge:

A gun!

So many interesting things could happen!

In case it's not clear, this isn't a compliment.

I was bored & watching SNL (redundant?) last night, and Death Cab for Cutie were playing as the musical guest. More specifically, they were playing their standard boring, OC-appealing, mopey MOR rock.

And this amazing, visionary realization came to me: Death Cab are the Gin Blossoms of 2005! [1]

[1] Or, if you prefer (though could you, possibly, have a preference between these?): the Toad the Wet Sprocket; the Better than Ezra; the Goo Goo Dolls; &c.

"I'm concerned."

I've had this post sitting round for a while but haven't posted it. Sometimes, that happens. But it gave me the chance to add on to it, every week, for the past couple of weeks of episodes! So it's a SuperPost, now.

So: Project Runway Season 2, hooray!

• That tagline on the website: "They sew... she cuts" It's like some cheesy seamstress horror movie!


• In the episode a couple of weeks ago, Guadalupe's sketch for her lingerie line (right). Pow! WTF? Most half-assed sketch ever!


• At first I liked Diana, because she seemed like a sad little science nerd ("OMG my magnets have lost their polarity!"), but lately she's started to bother me. So tonight was a moment of (double!) vindication.

"Got a fist of pure emotion, got a head of shattered dreams..."

Track 10: Take That, "Back For Good"

Okay, so when I mentioned in my introduction post that some songs weren't specifically "about" Christmas, "Back For Good" is what I meant. As far as I know, it's not about Christmas. Not at all, actually.

Or, well—is it? Because would it really be such a staple of Christmas parties, even in television & films, if it didn't subconsciously reflect some sort of Christmas spirit?

Anyway, I've written about "Back For Good" before, but I'm taking this opportunity to elevate it in my personal pantheon from "somewhat guilty pleasure" to "perfect end to a holiday mix." Gary, Robbie et al: consider yourselves elevated.

But so, "Back For Good." Here's the thing: it's perfect pop, & the perfect song to end a holiday mix, or a movie, or a television special. But more specifically, it's the perfect soundtrack to a last dance, wherein you summon the courage to dance with whoever you've been watching all night. [1]

It's a new year soon, after all.

Buy Nobody Else.

[1] Yes, I am sadly under the influence of the (always surprisingly sentimental) The Office Special.