Showing posts with label Chiffon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chiffon. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Five-Star Chiffon


Songs (258)/Albums (83)

LGBT performers, country music & duets dominated my top 50 favorites playlist this year with only Billie Eilish (Hit Me Hard and Soft), Father John Misty (Mahashmashana) and Beyoncé (Cowboy Carter) releasing albums that encouraged sustained listening. Loren Kramer's aching vocals and yearning lyrics pushed Gay Angels to the top of my sequenced-by-mood song list, although MJ Lenderman's guitar made She's Leaving You a close second, indicating the extreme catholicism of my taste.  As usual, female vocalists supplied the comfort food, although Taylor Swift (like the incomparable Prince before her) served a little too much!

I’ve seen gay angels
Sleeping with eyes open
Staring right through the heart of dreams
Landing square on the face of God
Show me one difference between me and love
What’s the difference between me and love?

"Loved"by Four Tet
"Galaxy" by Stephan Moccio
"Dandelion" by SEUNGKWAN
"Te Maldigo" by Omar Apollo & Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (from Queer)
"Happy for You" by Dua Lipa
"Guilty as Sin" by Taylor Swift
"Don't Smile" by Sabrina Carpenter
"Decline" by Khalid
"Bodyguard" by Beyoncé
"Clams Casino" by Cassandra Jenkins
"She's Leaving You" by MJ Lenderman
"Prove It to You" by Brittany Howard
"Femininomenon" by Chappell Roan
"Good for Me"by Bishop Briggs
"Go Fast Go Slow" by Dolores Forever
"Beautiful Eyes" by Amy Shark
"A Night to Remember" by girl in red
"CHIHIRO" by Billie Eilish
"Sexy to Someone" by Clairo
"Promises"by Luke Hemming
"Death Grips"by Etta Marcus
"The Line" by twenty one pilots (from Arcane Season 2)
"I Hope It Hurts" by Jessie Murph
"Gay Angels" by Loren Kramer
"Dancing in Babylon" (featuring Christine & the Queens) by MGMT
"All Right" by The Dare
"Afterimage" by Justice & RIMON
"Pink Skies" by Zach Bryan
"Too Good to Be True" by Kacey Musgraves
"How Far Will We Take It" by Orville Peck & Noah Cyrus
"II Most Wanted" by Beyoncé & Miley Cyrus
"Purple Irises" by Gwen Stefani & Blake Shelton
"I Had Some Help" (featuring Morgan Wallen) by Post Malone
"Fortnight" (featuring Post Malone) [BLOND:ish Remix]
"Midnight Ride" by Orville Peck, Kylie Minogue & Diplo
"Life" by Jamie XX & Robyn
"Compress/Repress" by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (from Challengers)
"Baddy on the Floor" (featuring Honey Dijon) by Jamie XX
"Brand New" (featuring A-Trak & James Vincent Morrow) by The Blessed Madonna
"Girl, So Confusing" (featuring Lorde) by Charli xcx
"Archangel" by Olly Alexander
"yes and ?" by Ariana Grande & Mariah Carey
"Dancing Star"(solomun extended remix) by Pet Shop Boys
"Lift You Up" by Jessie Ware & Romy
"L'AMOUR DE MA VIE" (OVER NOW EXTENDED EDIT) by Billie Eilish
"Until There's Nothing Left" by LP Giobbi & Alabama Shakes 

Books (25)

Rarely do novels influence my travel destinations, but I couldn't wait to go to Poland after reading a tragic gay romance set behind the Iron Curtain and championed by Dua Lipa, of all people.  A first-person account of Auschwitz and a best-selling novel published during my childhood about the Warsaw ghetto made the contemporary state of the world seem tame by comparison but the books also offered a terrifying and resonant reminder of how bad things can get when authoritarian leaders scapegoat specific groups of people for society's inequities.  And nobody, NOBODY has done social media or the pandemic better than Michael Cunningham.  Day just barely edges out Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow as my favorite book of the year.


Movies (84)

Several of the stars of Gladiator II filmed a clip thanking the audience for watching their movie in the theater (did we have a choice?) even as more than one member of the audience pretended they were at home, texting friends ("u won't believe this, sharks are circling ships in the arena, whatever it's called!").  At least nobody sang along to Wicked although I did make sure to go in the middle of the day when people were presumably in school or at work, and even this old curmudgeon could have forgiven them if they had jumped for joy during Jonathan Bailey's big number.  Luca Guadagnino definitely has his finger on my nostalgic pulse:  both Challengers and Queer recalled the adult themes explored during the golden ago of cinema in the 70s.  But nothing I saw packed the pure emotional wallop of All of Us Strangers, which visits another dimension to explore coming out, and the tender, unexpected reactions it engenders.  And if home movies of the Rolling Stones tickle your fancy, Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg is the doc for you. "T" indicates I saw the film in a theater, Paul and Pedro!

Origin (T)
Queer (T)
Wicked (T)

Theater (13)

A chance encounter with Jonathan Groff when a red light on Fifth Avenue stopped us both on our bikes helped me overcome my reluctance to pay full price for a Broadway show even though we ended up talking about the Challengers soundtrack. Fortunately, Merrily We Roll Along was well worth it.  Our Class rips the scab off Poland's complicity in the Holocaust better than any of the world-class museums I visited there, and Swept Away reaffirmed that low expectations can contribute almost as much to the theater-going experience as a superb performance and script (Michael Stuhlbarg in Peter Morgan's Patriots, which makes the ups and downs of a Russian oligarch as deliciously entertaining as The Crown).


Streaming (34)

If the "golden age" of streaming is over, I haven't noticed yet.  Somebody Somewhere convincingly demonstrated how finding your community can foster a healing balm, even in flyover country, although you definitely want to steer clear of Jon Hamm's scary jurisdiction in Fargo.  The superb cast of Pachinko left me sobbing after nearly every melodramatic episode did double duty as a history lesson in the decades-long conflict between Korea and Japan.  Jerrod Carmichael brilliantly turned self-exposure into an art form that also ensnared his family and friends.  Becoming Karl Lagerfeld dissected the power dynamics of a tortured gay relationship and the testosterone-deprived My Brilliant Friend proved a that a not-entirely-faithful television adaptation can be almost as cerebral as its four-volume source material.  Heads up to fans of Veep:  Hollywood provides an even juicier satiric target than the nation's capital.  Wait until you see Daniel Brühl's comedic chops!  If trauma floats your boat, look no further than the tragic Irish history depicted in both The Woman in the Wall and Say Nothing.  Finally, have denizens ever been better cast than they are in Deadwood, a show that celebrated its 20th anniversary and could never be made today?

Max
Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show
Hacks (Season 3)
True Detective: Night Country
My Brilliant Friend (Season 4)
Deadwood (All Seasons + Movie)
Somebody Somewhere (Season 3)
The Franchise
The Alienist (Both Seasons)

Showtime
The Woman in the Wall

Netflix
One Day
Baby Reindeer
Johnny Hallyday:  Beyond Rock

Hulu
Life & Beth (Season 2)
Becoming Karl Lagerfeld
Fargo (Season 5)
English Teacher
Say Nothing

Apple
Pachinko (Seasons 1 & 2)

Exhibitions (57)

Discovering the Bunker Artspace in West Palm Beach definitely improved my snowbird experience, but there's nothing quite like New York City's museums and art galleries. They sustain me more and more, particularly at a time of political upheaval.  


Prior Five-Star Chiffon:


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Sunday, December 31, 2023

Five-Star Chiffon


Songs

Chiffon may have turned 70 this year, but he's still a 16-year old girl inside.  And streaming music has liberated her from the tyranny of critical gatekeepers.  Rolling Stone reviews once determined what records she would buy with her allowance and Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors income; now she simply clicks on Apple's "New Music Daily" playlist and downloads what she likes--277 songs and 64 albums this year--based on sound only, baby (SOB).

Last year I managed to distill my favorites to 25 unusually diverse choices.  My year-end playlist now has doubled in size, reflecting a resurgence in rock (Inhaler and The Struts) and legacy acts (Iggy Pop, Pet Shop Boys, Robbie Robertson, Noel Gallagher, Shania Twain and Dolly Parton) as well as "Barbie."  IMHO, that soundtrack contributed mightily to the movie's success.  

A loud shout-out to Jessie Ware, too, whose body of disco-inspired work gets better and better:  "That! Feels Good!" is her best album yet and she's just as fabulous in concert.  This old queen thought he'd died and gone to heaven when she encored with a cover of "Believe," from the balcony of Washington, DC's Lincoln Theater bedecked in a boa and evening gown.

If I had to pick a favorite 2023 release it would be a fight-to-the-death battle between the cool and uncool: Post Malone's "Chemical" vs. Lewis Capaldi's "Heavenly Kind of State of Mind," both of which deserve to be heard speeding along the autobahn at 160 km per hour.  But Capaldi wins in the end:  oxycontin, the subject of "Chemical" simply can't compete with romantic love, now matter how cheesy in Chiffon's world view! 

As for lyrics, Chiffon asks:  "Who's better than Tay Tay?"  

'Cause she's the kind of book that you can't put down
Like if Cleopatra grew up in a small town
And all the bad boys would be good boys
If they only had a chance to love her
And to tell you the truth, sometimes I wish I was her

"Pearls" by Jessie Ware
"Heaven" by Niall Horan
"Living in the past" by Pet Shop Boys
"Inhale/Exhale AIR" by Shania Twain
"Acrostico" by Shakira
"New Atlantis" by Iggy Pop
"Ant Pile" by Dominic Fike
"Revolve Around You" by Lola Young
"Family" by the Weeknd & Suzanna Son
"rock hudson" by Kelly Clarkson
"Can't" by ANOHNI
"Man I Am" by Sam Smith
"Your Spit" by IAN SWEET
"Elevator Eyes" by Tove Lo
"Red Horse" by Corinne Bailey Rae
"So Right" by Carly Rae Jepson
"Think of a Number" by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Circus
"pretty isn't pretty" by Olivia Rodrigo
"More" by Madeline Edwards
"Paint My Bedroom Black" by Holly Humberstone
"Still Standing" by Robbie Robertson
"Pretty Vicious" by The Struts
"Wrecking Ball (featuring Miley Cyrus)" by Dolly Parton
"One Last Try" by Romy
"Fever Dreamer" by SG Lewis, Charlotte Day Wilson & Channel Tres
"Stop The Bleeding" by Baby Rose
"Dance The Night" by Dua Lipa
"Jersey Giant" by Elle King
"It Never Went Away" by Jon Batiste
"Killing Me" by Conan Gray
"Amandla" by Sun-El Musician & Msaki
"Chemical" by Post Malone
"Pride" by Joy Oladokun
"Fall In Love" by Icona Pop
"Close" by Dizzy
"Beast" by Idina Menzel
"These Lips" by Jessie Ware
"You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" by Sigala & Adam Lambert

Books (26)

Thank you Colm Toibin and Edward White for sending me back to Thomas Mann and Alfred Hitchcock, the respective masters of their domains, but Tom Crewe wrote my favorite book of the year, a riveting historical novel that captures an era when sexual self-expression demanded lonely courage.  Meanwhile, Jac Jemc prompted a spontaneous pilgrimage to Bavaria with her delightful take on royal cousins, one of whom built the fairy-tale castle that Walt Disney appropriated for Cinderella.


Movies (95)

Like every other movie maven in America, I embraced "Barbenheimer" after an exceedingly long and unsatisfying spate of IP-driven dreck, but more germane to the development of this list were the imminent demise of DVD.com, which had me ransacking the films of my youth, and Ferrari, Michael Mann's late-breaking capstone to an illustrious career that proves 80-year-old white guys still have testosterone-filled moves.  I LOVED it, as much for the thrilling camera work and superb performances as a screenplay that expects viewers to connect the dots AND go along for the sensational (and horrifying) ride.


Theater (10)

Would you believe that I saw Hamilton for the first time this year and didn't give it five stars?  Chalk up the near-miss to the fact that the influence of the once-in-a-generation hit over the past decade has been so pervasive that it seems slightly stale, notwithstanding the excellence of the current production.

Honorable mention goes to Stereophonic, an overlong, four-star drama about the difficulty of artistic collaboration with terrific performances all around and amazing music by Will Butler.
  

Streaming

It's ironic that I don't rate the form of entertainment that occupies more time than any other but I do have an off-screen life, however diminished by age.  Cue the melancholy bagpipes:  The Crown, Peter Morgan's unparalleled exercise in truthful imagination, is finally finished, like QEII herself.  No pleasures are guilty and I ate up every episode (and dress) of The Gilded Age.  Beef, Reservation Dogs and especially The Bear elevated my appreciation for unfamiliar cultures, and giving Euphoria a second chance proved that addiction stories could be given a new spin.  The latter also excavated a heretofore unknown musical treasure:  Mahalia Jackson's seamless medley of a show tune by George Gershwin (portrayed in Good Night, Oscar, above) and a mournful African American spiritual.  Finally, A Small Light added an ancillary dimension to Anne Frank's story, one that reminds us of a time when younger progressives were more likely to sympathize with Jews than castigate them.
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