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Song of the Day #5,365: ‘Kill Kill’ – Lana Del Rey

When I laid out my March posts awhile back I planned to dedicate this week to my first reactions to Lana Del Rey’s new album, which was due to drop on March 10. That release has since been pushed back two weeks, so I’ll have to do the same with my posts.

The adjustment is actually quite simple. I had planned to follow up the new album content with a two-week retrospective of Del Rey’s career to date, so instead I’ll just flip the order and do the discography deep dive first. I actually wanted to do it in this order but the Oscars airdate prevented it. Perhaps Del Rey heard about my predicament and pushed the album release for my sake.

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Song of the Day #5,364: ‘Dirty Little Secret’ – Sarah McLachlan

Today’s track is the third Random Weekend selection from Sarah McLachlan’s 2003 album Afterglow, and the first in more than nine years.

This album holds a special place in Random Weekend history because it contains the very first song featured as part of the series, way back on January 21, 2012.

That’s right, we’ve had more than 11 years of Random Weekends.

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Song of the Day #5,363: ‘This Is How We Do’ – Katy Perry

Today’s track is the fifth and final single from Katy Perry’s 2013 album Prism. It made it to #24 on the Billboard Hot 100, lower than the previous four (which included two #1 hits) but respectable nonetheless.

Prism was a bona fide smash, and the third straight Perry album to go multi-platinum. It was also, at least for now, the last major success of her career. She hasn’t had a song reach #1 since this album’s ‘Roar’ and ‘Dark Horse.’

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Song of the Day #5,362: ‘Linger’ – Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Concluding the countdown of my favorite 2022 movies…

Best Films of 2022
#1 – Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Invariably, the movie that ends up at #1 on my year-end list is the one that moved me the most.

Every one of my favorites is well-crafted, featuring excellent writing and direction and memorable performances, but one usually stands out for knocking me on my ass emotionally.

This year, that movie was a partially animated mockumentary based on a series of YouTube shorts about a talking shell.

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Song of the Day #5,361: ‘If You Wanna Be Happy’ – Jimmy Soul

Continuing the countdown of my favorite 2022 movies…

Best Films of 2022
#2 – The Fabelmans

I find it fascinating that Steven Spielberg — the most successful filmmaker in history, director of some of the most iconic movies of the last half-century — has released two of his best films in the past two years only to see them flop at the box office.

Is the pandemic to blame? Or are we so saturated in superhero culture that adult dramas can’t find an audience even when directed by the greatest of all time?

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