Category Archives: song of the day

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Song of the Day #3,467: ‘Auld Lang Syne’ – The Cast

Like most Americans, it’s hard for me to look at 2017 as anything other than the first year of the disastrous Trump presidency, but I’ve had plenty of fond memories as well.

Good times with family and friends; good health; good travels; good movies, TV shows, books and music to enjoy. Another 366 blog entries with no plans to stop soon.

Enjoy your celebrations tonight. My family will ring in the New Year from a cruise ship through the Caribbean, so that will be a first.

I leave you with a rendition of the perennial classic ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ performed by Scottish folk band The Cast using the original Robert Burns text.

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Song of the Day #3,466: ‘The Only Way To Be’ – Save Ferris

The ska punk genre hit its peak in the mid to late 90s, a mercifully brief period that did manage to produce some quality music.

No Doubt is the best known of those bands, with Gwen Stefani remaining a household name to these days thanks to her move into dance pop and her stint on The Voice. Other bands riding the ska punk wave were Sublime, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Rancid and Reel Big Fish.

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Song of the Day #3,465: ‘Communication’ – Ace Marino

My final post on the best films of 2017 will focus on the comedies. It was a strong year for funny movies, including some I’ve already written about earlier this week (Lady Bird, Thor: Ragnarok, Get Out and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, to name a few).

The unlikeliest great movie of the year was The Disaster Artist (#5 on my top 20), James Franco’s dramatization of the making of “the Citizen Kane of bad films,” 2003’s The Room. I caught up with that bizarre film as homework for this one, and it is certainly worthy of the cult following it has amassed. Writer/director/star Tommy Wiseau is a uniquely fascinating character, and Franco captures him in one of the year’s best performances, nailing not just Wiseau’s otherworldly accent but his focused spaciness and hostile earnestness.

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Song of the Day #3,464: ‘The Last Jedi Theme’ – John Williams

The next category of 2017 films I’ll mention are ‘Superhero Movies.’ Though several of these films feature actual comic book superheroes, I’m using the phrase more broadly to include any movie about people (or apes) with extraordinary abilities.

First, a few movies I have yet to see: John Wick 2, in which Keanu Reeves kills the few people on Earth he failed to kill in the first John Wick; Atomic Blonde, in which Charlize Theron channels her inner Keanu Reeves (or maybe he’s been channeling his inner Charlize Theron); Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which I’ll eventually see because I love my daughter; and Good Time, which probably doesn’t fit in this category at all but deserves a mention somewhere so this will have to do.

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Song of the Day #3,463: ‘Redbone’ – Childish Gambino

Next up in my 2017 film recap is a group of films I’m labelling ‘Awards Contenders.’ These movies are either winning or at least in the conversation for the various critics prizes, Golden Globes, SAG, PGA, DGA, WGA, Oscars and you get the idea.

Studios often hold these award-bait movies until the very end of the year, so I still have quite a few to catch up on, including Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, Steven Spielberg’s The Post, Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying and Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name.

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