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Song of the Day #5,015: ‘Super Gremlin’ – Kodak Black

After a solid month of movie posts, I’m shifting back to my primary focus on music. I will have more film-related content this year, including planned deep dives into a few directors’ filmographies, but that will come later. For now, it’s time for some tunes!

And what better way to start than with another installment of “What the Kids are Listening To?” I last dipped into the Billboard Hot 100 the week of November 14, 2021, and over the next two weeks we’ll see what songs are topping the list right now.

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Song of the Day #5,014: ‘Satisfied’ – Liz Phair

Liz Phair’s 2010 album Funstyle was self-released by the artist after she left Capitol Records. The album followed a couple of poorly-received stabs at a more commercial sound and signaled her increasing dissatisfaction with the direction of her career.

Funstyle fared a bit better, critically, but just a bit. It also seemed for awhile like the last thing Phair would release, until she returned 11 years later with the well-reviewed Soberish.

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Song of the Day #5,013: ‘Burning Down the House’ – Talking Heads

Maybe the Random iTunes Fairy was spooked by my suggestion last week that I should consider culling the dead weight from my music library. Once again, she has served up a great song by one of my favorite artists.

When ‘Burning Down the House’ popped up, I was sure I’d featured it before. But turns out I had only posted the live version from Stop Making Sense, two years ago on another Random Weekend. Shockingly, that was my first SOTD from the classic concert album. And I’ve only posted one more since.

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Song of the Day #5,012: ‘Beyond the Shore’ – Emilia Jones

Concluding the countdown of my favorite 2021 movies…

Best Films of 2021
#1 – CODA

My top ten list features films that push boundaries visually and narratively. It includes documentaries, animation, films in black and white, and movies by directors I’ve loved for most of my life.

But the title in the #1 spot doesn’t fall into any of those categories. It’s simply the movie that moved me more than anything else I saw last year. And it wasn’t even close.

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Song of the Day #5,011: ‘Aline’ – Jarvis Cocker

Continuing the countdown of my favorite 2021 movies…

Best Films of 2021
#2 – The French Dispatch

I understand why a lot of people have trouble engaging with Wes Anderson’s films. The fast pace, obsessive attention to detail, overly formal camerawork, deadpan dialogue, all of it. I get it.

But I am happily immune from that aversion. On the contrary, I soak up every fastidious minute of his movies with rapturous glee.

And so, when Anderson releases a movie in The French Dispatch that fans and detractors alike describe as “the most Wes Anderson film yet,” you can bet your ass I’m onboard.

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