New York Leftovers

I've got a few leftover thoughts about my trip to New York this past weekend. Enjoy!

-One of my favorite things about traveling to legit cities is seeing places I've heard name-checked in rap songs. This happened at seemingly every freeway exit in L.A. in April (e.g., Wilshire, Crenshaw, Hawthorne, etc.). This week, given that I stayed in Park Slope and explored both Prospect Park and Greenwood Cemetery, this song kept running through my head, though I stupidly neglected to actually listen to it until I was back home. Luckily, I did not get my pockets dug from all my Chemical Bankins.

 

The Road to Somewhere

The stretch of 37^th Street in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood probably doesn’t appear in any guidebook or list of must-see attractions. But last Saturday afternoon, my stomach full of banh mi and an uncharacteristic cup of sweetened iced tea in my hand, there was perhaps no place in the city I would rather have been than the desolate strip of pavement and sidewalk that runs unheralded between the southern edge of Greenwood Cemetery and a massive MTA train yard. 

Have You Heard The "Good News?" Yeah, I Watched Mad Men Last Night

I normally spend a good portion of Monday morning reading up on last night's Mad Men, but as a service to my readers (all three of you) I'll be denying myself in order to bring you my exclusive, uninfluenced thoughts. Let's delve into last night's deceptively titled episode, "Good News."

This almost felt like two separate but related episodes. In the first half, Don (or Dick) returns to California, hits on someone who didn't have front teeth the last time he saw her, and receives the devastating news that Anna, the mother/cool older sister he never had and the only person who really knows him but loves him anyway, is dying.

Don is obviously quite comfortable being a lone wolf, but even the most lonesome of loners needs someone he can confide in and turn to for unconditional love. Unless of course he's a sociopath. Don as serial killer would be an unexpected turn, but I don't see things going that way. As it is, Don's about to be utterly alone in the world, and that's a frightening prospect for anyone.

In the second half of the episode, Don drowns his sorrows the only way he knows how: in a river of booze, tobacco, poorly dubbed Japanese cinema, and whores.

That much isn't surprising at all; the big shock is who he drags down with him. I think we might have seen Lane Pryce give a half-smile once, but that's been about the only sign that he's capable of having fun. But add a broken marriage, a bottle of biteless liquor, and Don Draper to the mix, and the strait-laced Brit trades in his stiff upper lip for 24 ounces of scene-stealing, USDA prime Texas beltbuckle and ends up doing the walk of shame with Don the next morning. That's the power of Don Draper.

Thoughts on the episode:

-I'm still torn as to whether Don did the right thing by not telling Anna she has cancer. My mom insists Anna knew, and while I think that's possible, I'm not so sure. Hints were given both ways. On the one hand, leaving that unsightly stain on her wall could have been a sign she knew she was on her way out (so why bother?), and her parting words to Don could surely have been those of someone who knew she would never see him again. But on the other hand, her belief that she would meet Don's kids at Easter seemed genuine, not like the kind of pleasant delusion dying people allow themselves before they've fully accepted reality.

-Even in the most comfortable place in his world, someone still makes Don Draper feel like he doesn't belong. Anna's sister's admonition that he's "just a man in a room with a checkbook" was a brutal reminder that there's only one person in the world who really understands and accepts him.

-Maybe it's Anna's presence, maybe it's the fact that Hollywood is all about manufacturing reality (just as he does in his job and his real life), maybe it's how good he looks cruising Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible, but doesn't Don just feel more at home on the West Coast? With all the mentions of L.A. already this season, I've been thinking that maybe a future season will send Don across the country to start up a West Coast branch, or see SCDP fail and some of the key players head west to start again. I doubt if Weiner will take the show out of New York, but a West Coast setting would open the door for the student movement, the explosion of the Sun Belt and suburban sprawl, and some Hollywood intrigue. Oh, and I don't think anyone is prepared to hear how much I'd be willing to pay to see L.A. Don go on a weekend-long bender in Vegas.

-I feel bad for going this far without mentioning Joan. Strong episode for her, from her merciless firing of Lane's inept secretary (whose screw-up might have been the final straw in Lane's marriage) to her reminding Greg that she doesn't file papers anymore ("I have someone do that for me.") Who else but Joanie would think to celebrate Hawaiian New Year's since Greg had to work? How did people even know what time it was in Hawaii in 1964/5 without the world clock feature on cell phones? The finger slice and repair was a pretty momentous occasion: the first time in his history on the show that Greg is actually likable. But being as this is Mad Men and he's heading for 'Nam, I wouldn't get too attached. Back to Joan, I wonder if either of her, um, "procedures" had anything to do with Roger Sterling.

-I had a feeling Lane's marriage wouldn't last long after his decision to stay in New York with SCDP given his wife's distate for "the States," but I thought the dissolution might be a bigger storyline. I suppose Weiner felt like he's more than adequately covered that territory with Don and Betty. It'll be interesting to see if we get more glimpses of Lane's personal life as the season progresses. If Don thinks it's tough being a father to his kids in Ossining while living in New York, imagine what Lane will go through with his son in London.

-Sopranos fans should've recognized alum Wiener's reference to Janice's religious zealot boyfriend and his fondness for asking if people had heard the "good news" in Anna's niece's tale about her suddenly converted roommate. Jackie Jr.'s response to the question ("Yeah, I was here at Thanksgiving") is one of my favorite quotes from a series that was full of them.

-Seems things are back to semi-normal with secretary Allison after last week's wham-bam-thank you ma'am (minus the thank you).

-I mentioned that I usually spend some time on Mondays reading up on last night's episode. My reading list includes Alan Sepinwall's blog, Slate.com's TV club, and the Wall Street Journal's conversation group. If I'm missing anything let me know.

Music Review: Big Boi's "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty"

For the first real post on my boring blog, I'm going to review a month-old album. How boring! If you're racist and don't like hip-hop or if you shun artists with intentionally misspelled names on principle, I'm planning to follow this up with a semi-related post about the moral conundrum of downloading music, so look out for that.

I've always seen Big Boi as the more hardcore, straight-up hip-hop member of OutKast, in contrast to Andre's space-cadet eclecticism, so, not having read much of the advanced hype about "Sir Lucious Left Foot," I was expecting an album full of hood anthems and gangsta bangers like "West Savannah" and "Ya'll Scared." Boy (or should I say Boi, har har) was I wrong. This album is nothing like anything I've heard in hip-hop for a long time, and not really like much I've heard from OutKast (although, for whatever reason, I never listened to "Speakerboxx/The Love Below").

I'll delve into thoughts on some individual tracks in a minute, but first some thoughts on the album as a whole: Nearly every track on the album could be a club banger (and in fact some might actually be, but how I would know? If I made a habit of going to clubs, I might actually be interesting, which would defeat my whole purpose), but it still manages to maintain artistic integrity, which is a pretty hard line to straddle. It almost seems unfair to label this album as "just" hip-hop, as the array of synthesizers, heavy drum beats and other eclectic elements push it into funk/techno/club territory. Now my thoughts on some individual tracks:

-Track 2: "Daddy Fat Sax" - In the grand tradition of OutKast albums, the first track is a short burst of awesomeness that announces we're in for a wild ride (OK, so "Return of the 'G'" was too slow-tempoed to be called a burst, but it was still kind of short and very awesome). This is one of the most straight-up hip-hop tracks on the album, but still manages to get across the idea that Big Boi is going for something totally different with some heavy synth use to accompany a booming drum beat. The chorus, with its scratches and repeated phrases, sounds like DJ Premier on speed, and Big Boi brings some lyrical heat.





-Track 5: "Shutterbug" - This was the album's first single, so I don't think I need to describe it, but I wanted to praise two things: First, I love the line "I'm shittin' on n****s, and peein' on the seat." Getting shit on is bad enough, but peeing on the seat just adds insult to injury. Seriously though, I love the way Big Boi takes a hackneyed rap cliche and adds something new and funny to make it fresh. Second, I love the beat-stopping "Back to liiiiife/back to reality" interlude in the middle of the song. Stopping the beat in the middle of a song usually comes off as either really cheesy or really great, and in this case it's the latter.

-Track 10: "Be Still" - How do I love this song? Let me count the ways. I'm a sucker for pianos, spacey synthesizers (best example ever being Cannibal Ox's "Iron Galaxy"), and haunting female choruses in rap songs, and this has ALL THREE. Plus other stuff! In fact, there are so many layers to this song's production, and they're so well blended, that I didn't even realize there was a piano in there until my 4th or 5th listen. The production is incredible, but it's Janelle Monae's voice and delivery on the chorus and her short verse that make this song. I might have to check out her album, given the alarming lack of female vocalists on my iPod and the way she just kills this song. Oh yeah Big Boi raps somewhere in there too (just kidding, he drops a pretty good verse to open things up).

-Track 11: "For Your Sorrows" - Is anyone in life better at anything than Too $hort is at saying "Beeee-itch" in rap songs? The guy has been going strong off one word for nearly two decades now, and it never gets old. Impressive. This album also reveals that Big Boi has a real talent for saying, appropriately enough, "boy" (pronounced "bwaa"), but no one can touch Too $hort. It's also worth noting that I like this song despite the fact that in real life I absolutely hate it when people blow their smoke in the air as if no one is standing there. Any time you can make me enthusiastically sing along to a chorus about behavior I loathe in real life, you're doing something right.



There a bunch of other standout tracks, but this is running long and I can't think of anything interesting or clever to say about them, so it's time for some final thoughts.

I notice that I haven't really mentioned Big Boi's lyrical stylings much, which seems odd considering that this is, after all, his album. If it seems like he's overshadowed by his own production, that's kind of true, especially on the first listen. The production is just so complex and impressive that the lyrics tend to fall by the wayside, but I concentrated more on listening to the words the second time through and came away thoroughly impressed.

Big Boi does a great job of mixing up his flow and delivery to match the diverse range of production, which should come as no surprise given that he's shown a talent for doing that throughout his career. His lyrics are especially strong on "Daddy Fat Sax" and "Follow Us." And if he is occasionally overshadowed by the production, that isn't necessarily an indictment; having a good ear for production is important, and he has producer credits on more than half of the album.

Another important thing to note about this album is that it has some pretty cool, bold cover art. Now with the death of CD's you might think this isn't important anymore, but I beg to differ. In fact, I think it's more important than ever. If you conspicuously flash around your iPhone with this cover art showing on Metro, people will undoubtedly think you're cool. In my case they'll be wrong, but it's perception that matters.

And here's a final question if you've actually read this far. Looking up videos for this post made me wonder: is YouTube now the primary outlet for music videos? I don't really keep up with pop culture, but MTV doesn't play them anymore, right? So why are they still made? Are record companies really spending millions on glorified YouTube videos?

Hi.

I've long contemplated starting a blog, but I always came to the same conclusion: I'm pretty much the exact opposite of this guy:

In other words, I'm too boring, so I won't have anything to write about. Unfortunately, that's still true, but I finally decided to take the leap anyway. Why start a blog if I'm boring and have nothing interesting to write about? For the same two reasons that just about everyone who blogs does it: (1) I'm an attention whore, and (2) I like the sound (not really a sound) of my own (written) voice. And I kind of miss writing.

Since I'm just getting started, I'm still using some crappy default theme. I might tinker with it eventually, but don't hold your breath. In addition to being boring, I'm also lazy, and giving this blog an exciting, flashy appearance would sort of go against everything I hold dear, wouldn't it?

I'll use this space to post thoughts about sports, movies, music, books, other entertainment, food, and any other random boring stuff that pops into my head. So there you have it. You've been warned. Now try not to fall asleep.