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Bolt

boltBolt promises to be the final non-Pixar computer animated film released by Disney, and it’s not a bad way to go out. Pixar films remain on a whole other level, cinematically and in terms of resonance, but there is certainly a place for solid family entertainment of a more pedestrian nature.

Bolt is certainly pedestrian, borrowing elements from everything from Toy Story 2 to The Truman Show, and there isn’t a moment you don’t know exactly where it’s going. But it’s also funny, exciting and charming and a perfectly nice way to spend an afternoon with your kids.

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Song of the Day #130: ‘In My Life’ – The Beatles

rubbersoulFor this week’s theme, I will continue the Beatles album-by-album song selection I started a month ago. I’ll pick up where I left off, starting with the band’s fifth album, Rubber Soul, and continue through their final album, Abbey Road, which will be the focus on Sunday. I will dedicate two days to the double-sided self-titled album (popularly referred to as The White Album).

And what better way to start than with ‘In My Life,’ a leading candidate for Best Beatles Song Ever and, for that matter, Best Song Ever. This is one of the simplest yet most profound songs I know.

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Song of the Day #129: ‘War is Kind’ – Jakob Dylan

jakobToday’s song is a sad little anti-war ditty by Jakob Dylan from his recent solo album Seeing Things.

Like his father, Dylan has a way with war songs. And also like his father, he does a nice job not singing about the specific skirmish in which we currently find ourselves. Though it was written during the Iraq war, it could just as easily be about World War II or the Civil War. There is something elemental about the experience of men (and women) at battle that transcends the politics of war.

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Song of the Day #128: ‘After Hours’ – The Velvet Underground

velvetIt has been said that only a hundred people bought The Velvet Underground’s debut album but every one of them started a band. They are certainly one of the most influential groups in rock history, though I’m not very familiar with their output.

The one album of theirs I own is their third, self-titled disc. I picked it up because it contains the original version of ‘Pale Blue Eyes,’ which I fell in love with via an R.E.M. cover. The original is quite lovely, as is much of the album. ‘Candy Says’ and ‘That’s the Story of My Life’ are two other favorites of mine.

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Song of the Day #127: ‘Everything is Everything’ – Lauryn Hill

laurynI started this week talking about Carly Simon, who put out a burst of great music early in her career and then a lot of mediocre music for the thirty years that followed. Today I’m looking at Lauryn Hill, who is another sort of mystery altogether.

After some interesting work with The Fugees (including a lovely cover of Roberta Flack’s ‘Killing Him Softly’), Hill dropped a bomb on the music world with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. A powerful and seductive blend of hip-hop, soul and R&B, it became an instant classic, topping the charts and winning a bunch of Grammys.

That was 10 years ago. And since then… nothing.

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