Everyday Jams, July 2010 edition

These are things that are big in my life right now, every day or most days:

Bok choy! The crunchiest, crispest, tastiest greens to stir-fry. The crunchiness of watercress with the flavor of a nice green onion. I've been trying to learn how to cook one new vegetable per week, and this is the best one so far. Kohlrabi, on the other hand...not a great success.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I just finished this, after reading it on and off for a year. This is like the LOST of books, am I right? Glad to have finished it, but now I want to scour all the fan blogs and theory pages (assuming they exist) just cuz I'm curious about what other people think.

Venus flytraps. Half of my apartment is technically a basement, and all of it is in an old house in the woods. I got lots of insects lurking just outside my door, and sometimes they sneak in; plants and non-chemical repellents (lots of candles and lemons at my place too) are my favorite weapons in this war, and the VFT is the most fun one.

Sunscreen. Doesn't need explaining!

Water. See above!

Fundamentals of Database Systems textbook. Bo-ring but true. My summer class is rough going but important for my career (maybe). Half.com screwed up my order so I'm borrowing from a friend. Still does not hurt the sting of Databases 1.

Preschoolgems twitter feed: Really helps during Databases lectures. Really, really, really helps.

Silly Bandz: The Silent Killer

Maybe from now on I'll just diss on other sites/news outlets' (is JOP a news outlet?) writing. Today's is an insane alarmist piece on (shocker) Fox News...about Silly Bandz!

“See these cute little bracelets? They’re called Silly Bandz, and I think they could potentially be harmful to children if they’re not careful...Dr. Manny was especially concerned for kids who wear numerous Silly Bandz for hours at a time, or even fall asleep at night with them on."

Hmm, food for thought. Speaking of food, I think the only way this could be any kind of problem (the issue is apparently that they could cut off your circulation temporarily)(shaking and crying over here, just thinking about it) is if your child is so morbidly obese that a rubber band is that tight on her/his wrists. Which...you got other problems, in that case.

Movie freewrite: Singles (1992)

JOP has enough movie reviews, movie articles, reviews in general, but something I've been missing lately is a good fifth grade-style FREEWRITE. I sat down tonight after a long day of moving, hoping to relax to some early-90's romantic comedy...here it goes: Singles!

- Nothing really compares to Reality Bites. Was RB derivative of the trailblazing (?) grunge collage aesthetic of Singles and Slackers and offered only a slicked-up, Ben Stiller'd version of it for the masses? Or was RB simply the best synthesis of those elements and a really good movie after all? Would I have enjoyed Reality Bites as much as I do if I had been in the target audience (18-25 yo) when it was released, or would I have been pissed at how "inauthentic" it is?

- Wondering where Bill Pullman is.

- Why does the male romantic lead (Campbell Scott? more generic name please!) send out such a teacher-y vibe? Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Williams my 10th grade Chemistry teacher...channeled by this actor. Blech.

- Bill Pullman shows up as creepy plastic surgeon, hits on Bridget Fonda so overtly it's surreal and the movie doesn't make sense anymore.

- Matt Dillon = never hot.

- JOP already has a "Bill Pullman" tag--this one's for you, Clamz!

- the Expect the Best dating service sequences are maybe the best thing about this film...and heyyy, is that Peter Horton from Thirtysomething??!? it is!

- holy crap, these girls are arguing over Peter Horton..."does that give you the right to just bone him in my kitchen?!"

- welcome to 1992: the computers in this movie actually make boop-beep-boop-boop sounds when you hit keys! (and the screen is black with green type, obv)

- dozed off for a while, but I saw enough to say that things wrapped up satisfyingly but not too crazily; no Garden State-like horrors here. It's sort of a feel-good movie!

- so: Singles gets a solid B from me.

Review Round-Up: Have One on Me

Joanna Newsom's new album, Have One on Me, was finally released today and we are pretty pumped about it over here. But something annoying is happening in "journalism" where music reviews are concerned and that is lazy writing. Also comments on a musician's physical appearance...are male musicians ever described as "sexpots"? Anyway, how many times can you spot the following in any given review of this album?:

"pixie"
"elfin"
"dreamlike"
"indie princess"
"quirky"
"whimsical"
"freak folk"
"16th-century kewpie doll"

reference to Kate Bush
reference to Joni Mitchell
reference to Bjork
reference to Tori Amos (there are only 4 female artists, ever)

Now on to the reviews:

The one in Paste is annoying, but at least it's original.

The NYT review is probably the best piece of music writing of the bunch.

LA Times' write-up is pretty mediocre.

And I hate to say it, but Pitchfork is unassailable as usual. No lazy musical signposts, no complaints about the quality of her voice, no comment on JN's appearance or personal life.

And I straight-up hate the AV Club's review, mostly because of the comments discussing how hot she is, whether she or the girl from Beach House is hotter, what they would like to do to her, etc. Even a classy mention of DSL!

Ugh. If you can find any better reviews, leave them in the comments. If they exist, I wanna know!