Teen Girl Talk: You’re Killing Me
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Baby Assassins Review
We like making movies about assassins because it combines what we all have to do(a job) with the fantasy that we have when we see a zombie movie(to take care of your problems through killing). We use that to tell stories about the human condition. John Wick trying to escape his life of murder only for it to cling and drag him back. The same thing with the Professional. Kill Bill. Okay, so maybe there’s only one real assassination plot. Someone wants to live but their hands are stained with blood and they can’t get away from the things they did.
Well, what if that didn’t happen. What if the two assassins didn’t care and were just kind of happy living their lives as killers? What if they were just lazy slackers when they weren’t killing? And that’s what Baby Assassins is in a nutshell.
Chisato and Mahiro, a pair of assassins, are told by their handler that they need to get part time jobs to make sure that the taxman doesn’t come looking for them. Unfortunately, beyond killing they’re not good at much else. We see Chisato working at a waffle place, she can’t quite get the whipped cream on the waffle as well as she’s supposed to. She puts in it in front of the customer and he states that he doesn’t like whipped cream and gives it to his date. Seeing her hard work cast aside, she screams at him “What the fuck is your problem?!” and slaps him with her tray. The owner comes over and using her bare hands, Chisato breaks her neck. Always with a bright smile on her face after she’s committed the violence.
This becomes the tone for the entire film. There is a subplot where Mahiro doesn’t think that she can fit in with anyone in society so she doesn’t see the point of trying. Chisato manages to succeed at a maid cafe until the subplot pops in. The subplot being a yakuza trying to modernize his operation by welcoming women into the fold. A male and female yakuza member are trying to find out who killed one of their members and guess what it’s the girls. The girls barely acknowledge what’s going on with the yakuza until the end of the movie.
The movie knows what it’s about. It knows that the true heart of the film is the two assassins and sticks with them throughout all of it. Their relationship is actually generally sweet and reminded me a lot of Buddy Daddies minus the child(I would not trust Chisato and Mahiro with a kid). It has good action, it’s interesting and a breath of fresh air where most action stars are giant hulking dudes who are good at everything, you have these two gremlins who are barely functional.
If you’re looking for a chill time, watch it on Tubi or Youtube. I highly recommend it.
Plus the director does a rad thing where he made another film that’s in the same universe called A Janitor and the two women appear as antagonists. But unlike the movie, Ballerina, which did that so that John Wick could show up and tell the protagonist what a good job she’s doing, they just appear to be road blocks for the main character.
Character Profile: William Adama
The character profile series is going to be me going over characters. The things I like about them, hate about them, find interesting or confusing. To start this series off I’m going to start with one of my favorites, Admiral William “Bill” Adama from Battlestar Galactica.
Spoilers for Battlestar Galactica
There’s always been the conversation of whose your favorite starship captain and it always boils down to two choices: Picard or Kirk. Well, you could be a cool kid and go with the radder third option: Adama.
Adama doesn’t have anything backing him, no Federation, no shields, no backup fleet. It’s just him, his pilots an their Vipers and the Galactica herself. The Galactica being nothing more than an upgraded aircraft carrier. Despite all of this, he’s entrusted with the safety of the remnants of humanity. All 50,000 of them, a number that steadily decreases.
He’s a man of principle and brute stubbornness at times. But he still allows his mind to be changed when he’s presented with new information. He’s also willing to listen to those around him when he takes particular lines of action that might not be the most intelligent.
When the fleet splits over the president wanting to remain at Kobold and search for the tomb of Athena, it takes his communications officer to tell him that he’s making a terrible choice. Hell, he wants to stay and fight the Cylons until Roslin has a sit down with him to tell him that that’ll get everyone killed. They end the conversation, he goes away and has a think then comes back to admit that she was right and he was wrong. It’s after the former that the two of them get on the same page and become an unstoppable tag team.
The man also believes in fairness, justice and the law. He has one of the greatest lines in history about the role of the military: ““There’s a reason we separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.”
I’ve seen all kinds of captains of starships. Some of them are happy go lucky, others are reckless and wild. Adama looks like a stick in the mud in comparison. But the sternness in his nature I think is the perfect fit for this show. Those other captains can dance because they have the room to do so. Adama lives on the edge of the knife. If he messes up, that’s the ball game. He could end the entirety of the human race. He’s not the teacher you want every day but when the shit hits the fan, you’re glad he’s running your classroom.
He also passes the Han Solo test. It’s a test that they brought up in the Red Letter Media review of the prequel trilogy. That a good character is one you can describe without bringing up what their job is. Thus, Han Solo is a great character because you don’t need to know he’s a smuggler/pilot to know what kind of person he is, charming, funny, rash, loyal and secretly kind.
Adama is stern, thoughtful, quiet, honorable and stubborn. He makes his presence known without too much effort.
I think alot of this kinds from the fantastic actor that is Edward James Olmos. Also known for killing it in Stand and Deliver. I couldn’t possibly imagine anyone else in the role. Thanks to his masterful work, we also got one of the best romances of sci-fi history which I’ll cover in the Laura Roslin profile.
Adama is a great character amongst greats. He embodies everything that makes Battlestar Galactica stand the test of time. You’ll be seeing more of these show as I keep doing this series.
The Aunt Gladys Movie is Pointless
What a useless and pointless cash grab. I don’t normally say that about prequels and sequels but this one feels particularly egregious. Weapons was such a good movie but it doesn’t need to be a sequel machine like all the others. It’s like a magic trick and a prequel would explain how the magic is done, thus ruining the trick.
If you haven’t seen Weapons yet, you should go do that. It’s an amazing film and very scary. I know I’m a bit of a scaredy cat for horror movies as opposed to reading horror so maybe I can’t judge it that well. I’m going to get into a few spoilers in this post so you can skip it if you like.
SPOILERS START AFTER THIS
The story of Weapons is that 27 children have gone missing. Based on ring camera footage, all the children got out of their beds at about 2am and they ran off into the distance. What follows is several figures living through the aftermath or actively trying to find out what happened to the kids. We see the story from several perspectives.
One such perspective, is Alex the only boy that didn’t run into the woods from his elementary school classroom. We find out that weeks before the incident, Alex’s mother invited their Aunt Gladys to come to stay with them.
Turns out that Aunt Gladys is a witch and is hundreds of years old possibly, I don’t know. The movie leaves you to make your own lore for her. She can control people by performing her witchcraft and appear in people’s dreams, maybe, once again the movie tells you that context is for other movies.
She uses this power to make Alex’s parents act as enforcers and hostages. There’s a horrifying scene where she makes them stab themselves in the face with forks when Alex disobeys. She was behind the missing children who she’s hiding in Alex’s basement and forcing him to feed them cold soup along with his parents. She’s going to suck the youth from them or something, once again, the movie is not forthcoming with answers. Alex eventually uses the same witchcraft to have the kids chase her down and tear her limb from limb in a scene that can only be described as hilarious.
The movie leaves you with nonstop questions about Aunt Gladys, where did she come from? How did she learn her powers? Are there other witches out there? Is she part of a coven?
These are the questions I had after this movie and I don’t need any of them answered. Whatever answer I’m going to come up with is going to be better than anything that the movie studio could figure out.
I’m not against prequels, don’t get me wrong. I just think that this is going to become the worst kind of prequel, which is shitty reverence as opposed to fanfiction, which is the good kind of prequel. Allow me to explain the difference.
Solo: A Star Wars story is shitty reverence. They make such a big fucking deal about every goddamn part about Han Solo’s life. My name’s Han, I’m alone, alright we’ll call you Han Solo. Stupid. There’s a part where Woody Harrelson disassembles this large rifle and it turns out to be the blaster that Han used in the first two movies. He even kisses it before he gives it to Han. Why? Why would he kiss it? We see the Kessel Run, which is kind of fun.
What I’m getting at, especially with Woody Harrelson kissing the blaster is that it’s like he knows how important it is. It’s like if all the characters were like “I can’t believe we’re hanging out with the Han Solo! Can you believe how historical this all is!”
It also just makes Han Solo lamer. I didn’t need to know he was a floppy haired idiot running around not knowing what to do half the time. It’s like finding out Marlon Brando’s Godfather got his position because his predecessor was killed through a series of pratfalls that started by him slipping on a banana. And there was a yakety sax style chase at some point.
All it is, is a handjob. It doesn’t matter. There’s no reason for it to exist except for fan service. I didn’t ask where han solo’s blaster and vest came from. Now let’s look at the fanfiction.
This might be cheating because it’s technically a sequel-prequel. But the whole thing focuses on Rocket Raccoon and explains his past. Mostly while he’s unconscious after getting fucked up by Adam Warlock. What works about it is that we see how much his friends give a shit about him and are willing to go to any lengths to save him.
During his comatose state, Rocket remembers his life as a creation of the High Evolutionary a man looking to create the perfect world. Rocket is thrown into a jail cell that becomes his whole world along with his friends, Teefs, Floor and Lylla. They help the High Evolutionary create his perfect world but he hates Rocket because Rocket is so much smarter than he is. This leads him to attempt to kill them. Rocket attempts to escape but all of his friends are killed. Partially because he refuses to run and instead attacks the High Evolutionary. He brutalizes the High Evolutionary and flies to the stars eventually meeting up with Groot and the others.
We’re not shown his meetup with Groot but this backstory recontextualizes everything that’s happened to him before. In the first movie, where he yells at Drax for summoning Ronan to attempt to kill him and just gets his ass kicked, Rocket shouts at him “Everyone’s got dead people, that’s not an excuse to get everyone killed” and now we know he knows that from personal experience. When he wants to flee to protect Groot instead of going to fight Ronan and most likely die, he’s not being a coward, he just knows that he has to survive and protect what remains of his family.
We know now why he hates himself so much, because he thinks that he got his friends killed. It also makes him losing Groot twice and the rest of the guardians that much more heartbreaking because he lost his family three times. There’s also a payoff from the first movie where they were ready to run away and let Ronan kill the universe because fighting him would lead to their deaths. Now in this movie, there is no discussion, they’re going to go save people whether they be a bunch of kids or animals.
I liked Rocket before this movie. I loved him after this. And that’s how you do it. You don’t need to create a giant neon sign about their motivations. You can just show their past and let you make the connections.
Weapons was an enormous hit. I don’t think you need to add anything to it. It doesn’t need Aunt Gladys doing her first magic. I can know she did it and be satisfied. There’s no way it would be shitty reverence.
Teen Girl Talk: Weapons
Goal Achieved: 100 Albums
So, in earlier posts on this blog, I was talking about how I wanted to listen to 100 albums in a year that I had never listened to before. Over the weekend, I achieved it. I’ve made screenshots of the albums that I’ve listened to.
Okay, so my main takeaway looking at them from a distance is that I only have one rap/hip-hop album on here that I don’t really think counts, which is Gorillaz’ Humanz. I think I’m going to spend the next few months rectifying that.
I was going to say I don’t know why I didn’t listen to more rap but it’s because I admittedly get stuck staring at cement blocks without knowing how to start chipping away. This isn’t just rap, there are other things in my life that I look at and I’m like “I’m too old and too tired to start learning about that.” That’s a defeatist attitude and I don’t want to let that keep me out of things.
Two of those things are League of Legends and Fortnite. They got started and I have no idea what’s going on in those games and I don’t want to figure them out. They seem like time sucks that I can’t deal with.
I’m getting off topic. But it’s kind of the same thing with rap. The main thing is that rap is such a diverse and wide spreading genre that it’s hard to know who I’m going to click with. And maybe I’m not being adventurous but I kind of want to find things that I’m going to have at least an inkling of liking them. I love Dessa, Epic Beard Men, Doomtree, Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., Missy Elliot, Black Star(and it’s two actual stars Talib Kweli and Mos Def), the Yah Mos Def, Common, N.W.A, the Fugees and others. I’ve been thinking about getting into De La Soul, but was worried about how they eventually started going mostly sketch on their albums. Still, they have classic albums. Along with them, I want to listen to the Roots and see what I’ve been missing.
Speaking of seeing what I’m missing, HOW THE FUCK DID I NOT LISTEN TO LEMONADE UNTIL THIS YEAR. THAT ALBUM RIPPED.
I tried to make sure I listened to smaller artists but as you can see there is a lot of Taylor Swift on there. So I’m a hypocrite. I don’t regret listening to Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter. What was I supposed to do? Not listen to a 70s disco infused album that’s really good?
I notice there’s a lot of sad guitars from the guys and girls, Azure Ray, Iron and Wine and First Aid Kit. Maybe that’s just where I was this year. Also four of five albums were old school R&B, Al Green, Tammi Tyrell, Marvin Gaye and Minnie Riperton. I should have listened to more.
There is a lot of K-pop on here, which does have some R&B and rap elements but I still think that’s a genre all its own. That was mostly influenced by my buddy, Chris. Chris, you put me on some good stuff.
I’ve already made a post about how I was surprised by the sadness of Jimmy Buffett.
Alice Sara Ott’s two albums of beautiful piano music were what I listened to while studying for my Server+ exam.
Choosing 69 Love Songs as my last album was insane. That album is nearly three hours long. It’s good but finishing your race like that is like running back four miles before heading to the finish line.
I could keep talking about these albums and I probably will. But I want to talk about what this whole thing meant to me. First, it fell good to finish something. Secondly, it made me listen to more music. A lot of times I’ve found myself listening to debaters and reddit story read videos exclusively. This has made me choose music more often. Not just new stuff but falling back in love with old stuff. Like coming back to meet an old friend.
So, yeah, this was a fun time and positive experience. Next year, I want to challenge myself by listening to an album from an artist from every country in the world. Those penguins in Antartica probably have some sick beats.
Ranking the White Stripes’ Albums
The White Stripes broke up in February of 2011, happy birthday to me, I guess. They left behind a legacy of amazing music. I’ve seen them live about five or six times throughout my life. One time with Loretta Lynn opening for them. So, because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want. I’m going to rank their albums.
6. Get Behind Me Satan
I really wanted to love this album. It’s more piano centric than some of the others. It has some great tracks on it like “My Doorbell”, “Blue Orchid”, “Take, Take, Take” but it has the most tracks that I just don’t like “White Moon”, “Instinct Blues”, “Ugly As I Seem”, “The Nurse”. They’re not bad songs but they just don’t excite me. I come to a White Stripes album to get pumped and these just don’t get me there. This is kind of like a bad Beck album situation, where it’s not that great for the artist but for anyone else it would be an amazing album.
5. De Stijl
Once again, not a bad album. It’s a really great album but I just don’t revisit that often. I think what holds it back from being higher on the list is that certain songs are better live than they are on the album. “Let’s Build a Home” when it’s live is part of an amazing compilation where Jack White is driving it with solos and slides. “Death Letter” is another fun song live and what’s interesting is that my dad owned the same guitar that Jack uses on it. But like Get Behind Me Satan, there are just some songs on here that just aren’t my favorite. “Why Can’t You Be Nicer to Me” and “Jumble, Jumble” are just kind of there.
4. The White Stripes
The self titled album was a great preview for what was to come. There are some classics on this like “The Big Three Killed My Baby”, “Sugar Never Tasted So Good” and “Screwdriver”. They also throw down some great covers like “Stop Breaking Down” by Robert Johnson, where unlike the Rolling Stones, they actually give the original artist credit! Also a definitive version of “One More Cup of Coffee” by Bob Dylan. It’s them at their earliest and wildest. It also has a strange claustrophobic feeling to it because it was just Jack and Meg and an 8 track recording device. Also, I would say it’s their bluesiest album. There’s so much slide on the solos and tracks. Once again, not a bad album. It just dwarfs in comparison to…
3. White Blood Cells
The breakout hit and for a reason. It has their first hit “Fell in Love With a Girl” along with “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”, which is a tremendous song. I loved Citizen Kane as a kid so the “Union Forever” a song made up only of Citizen Kane lyrics is astounding. Also, the cute “We’re Gonna Be Friends”, which speaks to the fact that Jack White wanted the band to have an almost childlike nature to it. Then there’s the quick meditation on creativity, which I’m sure is the way the White Stripes feel “Little Room”.
“When you’re sitting in your little room/Working on something good/But if it’s really good/You’re gonna need a bigger room/And when you’re in the bigger room/You might not know what to do/So you’re going to have to think of how you got started/Sitting in your little room”
However what holds this back is clunkers like “Offend in Every Way”, “Finding it Harder to Be a Gentleman” and the confusing noise storm that is “Aluminum”.
God, writing this list just makes me want to listen to all of these albums straigh through again.
2. Icky Thump
This is another giant of an album. The only thing that holds this back is that I think the duo of “Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn” and “St. Andrew(The Battle is in the Air)” are just not that great. But this is their final album and they are at the height of their power and abilities. Every song is like putting your tongue in the electric outlet. Jack White is letting loose on this album in a way that he hasn’t before like against the crackdowns on illegal immigration
“White Americans, what nothing better to do?/Why don’t you kick yourself out, you’re an immigrant too/Who’s using who? What should we do?/Well you can’t be a pimp and prostitute too”
If you listen to no other albums on this list, this one and the number one spot are the ones to check out. It’s just such a fun album.
1. Elephant
All killer, no filler. I could end it right there. This album is amazing. The first time Meg gets to take center stage on a song with “In the Cold, Cold Night” singing so softly that it’s a wonder that the mic picked her up. The obvious giant hit “Seven Nation Army”, which was meant to be a James Bond song but… well, I don’t really know why it wasn’t used. Then there’s “I Wanna Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart”, with its buttery guitar solos. The mighty “Ball and Biscuit” where Jack says a few lines here and there before ripping into some amazing solos. I’ve seen this song performed live and it’s amazing. The fact that this album was made without computer equipment is also amazing. Especially when you consider the all Jack chorus of “There’s No Home For You Here” where his voice is layered several times over to sound both angelic and demonic.
There’s a reason this album cemented them as rock and rollers for the ages. Listen to this album and have yourself a good day.
I might have become a parrothead
For those that don’t know, no, I’m not becoming a horrific creature with the body of a man and the head of a colorful bird. A parrothead is what fans of Jimmy Buffett call themselves. Due to the perceived relaxed and tropical vibes of his songs.
What I’m getting at is recently in my pursuit of listening to a hundred albums, I listened to Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes by Jimmy Buffett. I thought I was in for a chill time grooving with a bro but it turns out that there’s a quiet sadness behind each song?
Even in the eponymous song off the album, there’s constant regret and wistfulness for a time and place long gone. One of the lines is “if I couldn’t laugh, I’d go insane”. A man sounding like he’s barely holding it together even as he orders another Mai Tai.
The next song, “Wonder Why We Ever Go Home” is just vacation Springsteen. It starts with a lonely harmonica note then transitions to Buffett ruminating on getting old and the quick and painful time that it takes for years to pass by. “Banana Replublic” talks about the pointlessness of Americans going abroad that nothing is going to change. “Miss You So Badly” is him recognizing that the relationship he was in that he wanted to keep pursuing was right to end. That he’s better off and that terrifies him.
Even his magnum opus has a small shred of his feelings of wastefulness. People want to blame a woman but he shakes it off saying that this is just the life he’s living whether good or ill.
There are other songs that are just chill hangs like “Lovely Cruise” and “Tampico Trauma” but I prefer the ones where he’s plumbing the depths of his emotions while thinking about fried shrimp.
The album itself is amazing, Buffett has the reputation and career for a reason. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a chill time.
And in the end, I guess this whole experiment is more of a test of the pointlessness of assumption whether that be for media or people. I can sit around and think that I know someone or something but until I actually explore it, I’m just a fool thinking I know what’s right. I don’t plan to make those kinds of mistakes again.
You might think that this whole post is just an exercise in false sincerity for a bit but if it was I would have revealed my magician’s trick at this point. I’m being 100% sincere and I’m going to keep checking out Buffett and seeing where else we’re going to sail to.
Let’s talk about the Elephant in the room
The elephant is not my terrible update consistency recently, which is something that I need to work on. But I’m going to work on it and fix it. Instead, I want to talk about a different Elephant.
For readers of this blog, you’ll know that I’m trying to listen to at least one hundred albums I haven’t listened to before. One of the benefits besides finding new music is that I’ve been listening to more music than I have recently. It’s helped me move away from my habit of rewatching videos that I’ve seen a thousand times.
However, now that I’m writing this, I realize that I’m just listening to songs that I’ve heard a thousand times before. To be fair, I don’t listen to that much Dreamtheater so the time sink isn’t that much. Maybe three or four minutes.
And while I feel like I’m wasting my time rewatching the same videos, listening to the same songs makes me feel like a warm blanket is being wrapped around me. It reminds me of different times, not always the best but… different.
To that end, while I was on my walk I started listening to tracks from the White Stripes’ Elephant. It reminded me how good that album is from start to finish. So, I decided in a new segment to break down every track on the album and my feelings on it.
- Seven Nation Army
I mean, come on, it’s the hit. The biggest hit of the White Stripes’ history. It starts with that sneaky guitar sounding like a bass. It then cuts into some excellent solos as Jack rides up and down the octaves like he’s surfing. I know that he used a Digitech whammy pedal that he would eventually develop his own dual version of later down the line. There’s not much to say about it except that it makes perfect sense that it became staple at sporting events and was going to be a possible James Bond movie opening. Jack would later do an intro to Quantum of Solace with Alicia Keys, which was the only good thing about that movie. - Black Math
This is classic White Stripes. A song that features roaring guitars and the childhood nostalgia that makes up a lot of their songs like Apple Blossom and I Can Tell That We’re Gonna Be Friends. This one features another octave blazing solo before Jack comes back in with a tempo and melody change. He brings it home towards the end. I used to be able to play this on the guitar and it was so fun. - There’s No Home For You Here
One of the best breakup songs ever written in my opinion. It feels so dispassionate but personal in the way that most relationships feel at the end. “I’m only waiting for the proper time to tell you that it’s impossible to get along with you”. Dang that’s cold. The thing is that the choral parts of this is that the album was recorded at a studio that featured lo-fi throwback equipment. It was recorded all on eight tracks with nothing pass the year 1963. So, while on a normal laptop this would take mere minutes, this effect was a lot of work. - I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself
This is a cover of a Dusty Springfield song and it just goes to show the timelessness of Burt Bacharach’s writing. It’s a solid song but I just don’t have that much to say about it. It’s just a straight forward cover. Confusingly, the video had Kate Moss pole dancing in her drawers. I don’t understand, did we both have too much money to book her and run out of money to do anything bigger? - In the Cold, Cold Night
Meg takes the stage on this one. Famously shy, her voice never gets that big or wild. But she that fits the song better in my opinion. The lyrics point out that she’s still a girl on the edge of womanhood trying to fall for a man that’s bad for her. Pretty classic setup and a reverse of male rock stars complaining that the girl is only 17 but they can’t wait that long because they’re pedophiles. There are no drums and the guitar is sparse as well. There is a solo in this but it’s a rumbling organ that brings some extra texture to the song. - I Want to be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart
This is my favorite track on what’s already a great album. The song features the most piano work on the entire album. The song is about the narrator trying to win over his partner’s mother. As we get through the song we do get a warm and buttery guitar solo. It’s a great song through and through. - You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket
This is what I would say is the weakest song on the album. It’s not that bad but it does take the album out of all killer, no filler. It’s just kind of slow and boring and there’s no Meg White on it. Skip. - Ball and Biscuit
Sometimes if you’re one of the greatest guitarists in recent memory you need a song that you can just let loose on. White Stripes were notorious for jamming during shows. This just gave Jack the excuse. The lyrics are probably the most suggestive that I’ve heard from the White Stripes. Jack White cooing if I want a ball and a biscuit. Plus, he wants to get clean with me. You know what that means, wink. This song rules, it’s one of the longest at about eight minutes but the whole thing is worth listening to. - Hardest Button to Button
The White Stripes had an early single called Hand Springs about getting angry while playing pinball. It was fairly simple, a single chord played during the verses and then some variation in between. This has a similar feel, thumping guitar and drums but as the song goes up and down throughout. The video for this is great where amps and drums appear as the two play. Apparently, Jack White didn’t like the concept that the video director, Michel Gondry put forth so, he started messing with the takes. Michel thinks it actually made the video better. They donated the amps and drum sets to a music school afterwards. The Stripes have a knack for making something simple into something incredible. That partly explains Meg’s drumming. You don’t need much for songs this good. - Little Acorns
A song with audio from some kind of ancient self help movie talking about Janet learning from the squirrels, which is a line I would put in as a joke most other places. This intro makes me think about the Union Forever, a song from White Blood Cells where Jack took lines from Citizen Kane and turned them into one of their best songs. It’s also because this song has a kind of darker feel towards it. Kind of oppressive. - Hypnotize
If Little Acorns is dark and oppressive, Hypnotize is lighthearted and playful. Reminds of a song from the sixties, just frolicking and getting to the point. No complicated solos here, just between the two verses we’re going to hit that fuzz pedal and hit you with some E chords. - The Air Near My Fingers
I was going to be dismissive of this track as not one of my favorites but a re-listen made me reconsider. This one features something new, both organ and guitar being played at the same time, this rarely happened on Stripes’ songs because Jack always seemed to keep in mind how he was going to play them live. It would be unthinkable to bring anyone else out on stage, so you never knew what he was going to do with songs like this. Things would change down the line on Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump. But at the time, this was a surprise to me. It’s a song that feels like you’re walking down the street with change in your pocket. You got some options and it’s time to have some fun. - Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
Jack has gone on to say that he really doesn’t like this song. I can see why, he’s also taken a fairly feminist route to his songwriting and this one does seem to blame the narrator’s female cohort for a lot of things. It’s still a great song with a great solo in the middle of it. I was going to say that you could slow down the track, switch out the electric guitar for an acoustic and boom you’d have a Johnathon Richman song. But then I thought about it some more and realized that the writer of “The Girl Stands Up to Me Now” and “Not a Plus One on the Guest List Anymore” wouldn’t want to do this either. - It’s True We Love One Another
A song where Jack and Meg play themselves and sing along with Holly Golightly. The three of them discuss the love between Holly and Jack, with Meg stating that Jack annoys her. Personally, I love songs like this where the singers are basically part of the story. Maybe it’s why I’m such a Swiftie. Anyway, like a lot of the end songs on White Stripes’ albums, it’s a quiet and gentle outro. Between the others, This Protector, Effect and Cause this is one of my favorites.
So, in the end, I have to say still a ten out of ten album. Give it a listen to when you get a chance.
Game Changer and Taskmaster: The Joy of Play
There are a great number of game shows that exist in the world that I would not want to be on. Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? are two where I don’t need to embarrass myself on a national level. I have a podcast for that. Wheel of Fortune, that’s a solid maybe.
Game Changer is a definitive no. Sam Reich, son of former labor secretary and current administration shit talker, Robert Reich, puts his comedians through their paces and through challenges that border on psychological torture. Don’t believe me? Watch any of the Sam Says episodes.
The whole point of Game Changer is that the contestants don’t know the rules. They have to figure out what the game is as they go along. The first episode shows the three contestants dealing with a lie detector being asked questions about themselves. It turns out it’s their three partners off camera operating it. Another episode has them answering simple questions but they have to find a working to buzz in. They acquire these by doing things such as throwing balls at a buzzer on a wall, calling a pizza place to deliver one or find the book one is hidden inside.
There’s a similar show to this that has set rules from the U.K called, Taskmaster. The setup is simple Greg Davies and his assistant, little Alex Horne(6’2) challenge five comedians over ten weeks to a series of challenges. These range from doing such things as not doing the thing, getting five grapes out of a mountain of flour while wearing flippers and spilling as little flour as possible, trying to figure out what bin Alex Horne is hidden in and a number of other ones. You can find all the episodes on YouTube. Any season is well worth a watch.
I’m not the first person to point out the similarities between these shows. It’s the reason that when people talk about an American version of Taskmaster, they want Sam Reich and Dropout in charge of it. But the main one for me, is the endless playfulness of both shows.
Game Changer can sometimes have some great prizes, such as trips or money but usually the prize is another joke for the audience and contestants. The buzzer episode’s prize was a bug zapper. Those that win Taskmaster get this haunting faux golden bust of Greg Davies.
Because of that the contestants are just trying their best to have fun and enjoy themselves. Laughter ratios competence on a scale of 5:1. This is why you hire professionals rather than any person off the street. This brings something else to the table, camaraderie. On Game Changer especially, the groups have been working together for years. Now their personalities take center stage. A lot has been made of annoying and trying to trigger the higher competitive and competent Brennan Lee Mulligan.
I know that you can’t take everything at face value. I know they’re doing it for profit. But the joyfulness is just such a thing that you can’t help but feel it.
I think it speaks to how important it is to keep playing. To keep yourself going and having fun. Not just in a you never know when your day will be your last but it’s good for your heart.
I think it’s good for the soul to do something, that you find funny. Not for anyone else and nothing that would hurt or inconvenience anyone else but just because you think it’s funny. Make up a funny voice that’s only for you plants. Give your cats nicknames that are longer than the introduction of the king of Westeros.
Find people that you love and engage them in play. It could be anything and you would find yourself freed in a way that you don’t know how.
I do this every Thursday night with my friends around the table during DND. For all those that thought it was satanic in the 70s and such, well it’s made of three things: improv, funny voices and maths. I think in the last few years those nights are the ones where I have laughed the longest and hardest. Being in the middle of a big bad’s speech when someone makes a fart noise.
When my father passed away on a Sunday I was left with four long days to grieve. When we got to the virtual table that Thursday, I told the group I didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t want anyone asking how I felt, I just wanted to play.
And for the first time in those 96 hours, I felt free. I felt light again. The pain was lost in stupid jokes and stories.
We dismiss play because we only think of it as something for children and children waste time because they’re allowed to waste time. The fact of the matter is that play is good no matter the age. It’s not a waste of time because if it gives you all the joy that it’s meant to, isn’t that worth it in the end?
Oh and one final note, I want to love the inclusion of both shows. They don’t discriminate by age, sex, race or sexuality. It furthers the joy of the show.
Franklin Cota, an author and podcaster 