March 24, 2023
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television
A Good Person, American Dad!, Depeche Mode, Did you know that there's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, John Wick: Chapter 4, Lana del Rey, Memento Mori, RIverdale, Succession
Still Daddy after all these years (CREDIT: TBS/Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–A Good Person (Theaters)
–John Wick: Chapter 4 (Theaters)
TV
–Succession Season 4 Premiere (March 26 on HBO) – Final Season Alert!
–American Dad! Season 20 Premiere (March 27 on TBS) – This show is such a blessing.
–Riverdale Season 7 Premiere (March 29 on The CW) – Final Season Alert!
Music
-Depeche Mode, Memento Mori
-Lana Del Rey, Did you know that there’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
October 22, 2021
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Sports, Television
Blue Banisters, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dune, Duran Duran, Elton John, Future Past, Lana del Rey, My Morning Jacket, Ron's Gone Wrong, The French Dispatch, The Last O.G., The Lockdown Sessions, World Series
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Dune (Theaters and HBO Max)
–The French Dispatch (Theaters)
–Ron’s Gone Wrong (Theaters) – Starring Zach Galifianakis as Ron.
TV
–Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 11 Premiere (October 24 on HBO)
–The Last O.G. Season 4 Premiere (October 26 on TBS)
Music
-Duran Duran, Future Past
-Elton John, The Lockdown Sessions
-Lana Del Rey, Blue Banisters
-My Morning Jacket, My Morning Jacket
Sports
-World Series (Begins October 26 on FOX)
March 19, 2021
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television
Chemtrails Over the Country Club, Doctor Who, Happily, Lana del Rey, Ringo Starr, Superstore, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zoom In
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (CREDIT: Marvel Entertainment/YouTube Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Happily (Theaters and On Demand) – I always got to stump for my Community alums.
TV
–The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Series Premiere (March 19 on Disney+) – More MCU on Disney+!
–Doctor Who: Fury From the Deep (March 21 on BBC America) – Another set of lost Who episodes reconstituted in animated form.
–Superstore Series Finale (March 25 on NBC)
Music
-Lana Del Rey, Chemtrails over the Country Club
-Ringo Starr, Zoom In
June 25, 2020
jmunney
Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Music
Adele, Ariana Grande, Beck, Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Beyoncé, Carly Rae Jepsen, Charli XCX, Childish Gambino, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Hans Zimmer, Janelle Monáe, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar, Kesha, Lady GaGa, Lana del Rey, Lizzo, Lorde, Major Lazer, Miguel, Miley Cyrus, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Sia, St. Vincent, Tame Impala, Taylor Swift, Tegan and Sara, The Black Keys, The Weeknd, Tove Lo, Vampire Weekend, Weird Al Yankovic
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots
One more list! One more list!
My Best of the 2010s list-making journey has finally come to a close! (Or has it? … For now, it has at least. The future will come as it may, and it may just surprise you, and me.) All this week, I’ve been posting my rankings of a few categories that I was inspired to put together after submitting them to a Best of the 2010s polls that I’m participating in with some of my fellow cultural aficionados. To wrap it all up, I guide you along to the realm of music and lyrics, as I present the Best Musical Artists of the 2010s.
My criteria was similar to that of my choices for Best Film Directors. I considered a combination of how much I enjoyed their musical output as well as how much – and how well – they influenced the industry at large.
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April 16, 2020
jmunney
Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Music
Adele, Ariana Grande, AWOLNATION, Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Beyoncé, Carly Rae Jepsen, Childish Gambino, Daft Punk, Disclosure, DJ Snake, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamara, Kesha, Lana del Rey, Lil Jon, Lorde, Miguel, Miley Cyrus, Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Sia, Tame Impala, Taylor Swift, The Black Keys, The Chemical Brothers, Tove Lo
CREDIT: YouTube Screenshots
Of all the pieces of art and entertainment that I’m ranking for the decade, songs are probably the most personal. Yet somehow I feel compelled to consider how they affected the world at large moreso than all the other categories. The tunes that I value the most aren’t just the ones that make my own heart sing but also the ones that draw all of us closer together. So as I assembled this list, I asked myself both, “What has made me dance these past 10 years?” and “How would I like to dance with everyone else?” Here’s what that playlist looks like.
(I aimed to stick only to songs that were released as singles, as opening this to deep album cuts would’ve made things so overheated.)
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April 2, 2020
jmunney
Best of the 2010s, Best of the Decade, Music
A Seat at the Table, Audio Video Disco, Avicii, Awaken My Love!, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Best of the Decade, Beyoncé, Black Messiah, Blackstar, Brothers, Childish Gambino, Circuital, D'Angelo, D'Angelo & the Vanguard, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Disclosure, Duck Sauce, Justice, Kanye West, Lana del Rey, Lemonade, Lonerism, Lorde, Miguel, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, My Morning Jacket, No Geography, Norman Fucking Rockwell, Pure Heroine, Quack, Random Access Memories, Settle, Solange, St. Vincent, Strange Mercy, Tame Impala, The Black Keys, The Chemical Brothers, True, Wildheart
One of the big themes about entertainment in the past decade is the incomprehensible explosion of available content in every medium. While this may be a recent development in cinema and television, it’s been the case for music for centuries, or even millennia. Since humans have been banging on rocks and clapping their hands, really. Of course, it was a little more recent than that when recorded music became readily available.
This is all to say, I of course haven’t listened to every album of the past ten years that made its way onto SoundCloud or Spotify, or even all the Billboard chart-toppers. But I did listen to enough of them to be able to assemble a vibrant and varied soundtrack of my life in the 2010s. Here are the musical collections of the era that I just haven’t been able to stop pushing play on.
[4/2/20 2:00 PM UPDATE: This post originally mistakenly included Justice’s †, which came out in 2007.]
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January 31, 2020
jmunney
Best of 2019, Best of Music 2019, Music
Ariana Grande, Beck, Best of 2019, Billie Eilish, Brittany Howard, Camila Cabello, FKA Twigs, Harry Styles, Lana del Rey, Lizzo, Sleater-Kinney, The Black Keys, The Chemical Brothers, Tyler the Creator, Vampire Weekend
It’s been a few years since I’ve made an Albums of the Year list, but I really felt compelled to make one for 2019. Here are the audio compilations from the recent past that really made an impact on me:
14. Camila Cabello, Romance – Fun and bouncy.
13. Harry Styles, Fine Line – I like where Harry is headed.
12. Beck, Hyperspace – Reliable Beck.
11. Brittany Howard, Jaime – Great, big rockin’ voice goes solo.
10. The Black Keys, Let’s Rock – They never stopped rocking.
9. Ariana Grande, thank u, next – Lots of adventure from Ari.
8. Sleater-Kinney, The Center Won’t Hold – Band broke up, music’s still great.
7. Tyler, the Creator, IGOR – I feel so comfortable inside this album.
6. FKA Twigs, MAGDALENE – FKA reminds me of Bat for Lashes.
5. Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride – Those Vampire Weekend guys have still got a hold on me.
4. Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell! – What a soundscape!
3. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Just plenty of fun.
2. Lizzo, Cuz I Love You – I love you, too!
1. The Chemical Brothers, No Geography – Apocalyptic concept album.
January 25, 2020
jmunney
Best of 2019, Best of Music 2019, Music
Absofacto, Benny Blanco, Best of 2019, Billie Eilish, Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa, Gary Clark Jr., Hozier, J Balvin, Kimbra, Lana del Rey, Lil Nas X, Lizzo, Meg Myers, Sara Bareilles, Selena Gomez, Shaed, Starcrawler, Tainy, The Chemical Brothers, Tones and I, Tove Lo, Vampire Weekend
CREDIT: Tove Lo/YouTube Screenshot
The following are the singles that had enough of an impact on me in 2019 to make me go, “I’ll have to mark that one down for posterity.” A few of them were originally released before 2019, but they didn’t reach their full cultural impact until 2019. And for the first time in the decade or so since I’ve been doing this, I’ve got a repeat winner, as I also coronated Tove Lo in 2017.
1. Tove Lo – “Glad He’s Gone”: Such friendship, such storytelling. We are all so blessed to have Tove Lo in our lives.
2. Lana Del Rey – “Mariners Apartment Complex”: Four minutes of musical madness that feels like hours of bliss.
3. The Chemical Brothers – “Eve of Destruction”: If you think the world’s gone to hell, have a dance party!
4. Vampire Weekend – “Sunflower”: There have been multiple (good) songs named “Sunflower” the past few years; this is the one that’s most likely to make you feel like a sunflower waking up in the morning.
5. Lizzo -“Truth Hurts”: 100% that mix of references that clearly hold deep emotional resonance for Lizzo.
6. Gary Clark Jr. – “This Land”: Can tasty guitar solos solve racism? Can’t hurt.
7. Hozier – “Dinner and Diatribes”: A galloping piece of soulfulness.
8. Dua Lipa – “Swan Song”: An original track from Alita: Battle Angel, and clearly the sound of future sci-fi feminism.
9. Sara Bareilles – “Armor”: Listen to Sara Bareilles getting down with her jazzy bad self and the rest of us getting down with her!
10. Kimbra – “Lightyear”: Space wonder Kimbra has a message to beam down to us earthbound folks.
11. Shaed – “Thunder”: One of those indie rock “This is who we are!” statements of declaration.
12. Billie Eilish – “Bad Guy”: Billie sings about the joys of being devious, but by all accounts, her personal life is quite wholesome. I think that’s a great way to live.
13. Meg Myers – “Running Up That Hill”: I’m just glad that Kate Bush covers are on the radio in 2019.
14. Lana Del Rey – “Doin’ Time”: Is Lana the current Queen of Remix? She just knows how to summon the past into her modern legacy.
15. Tones and I – “Dance Monkey”: We can always use some monosyllabic shouts amidst the more word-like lyrics to convince us to get up there and bust a move.
16. Camila Cabello – “Cry for Me”: Sometimes you need to make an insistent demand for emotional connection to get the message across.
17. Lil Nas X – “Old Town Road”: The epitome of Gen Z’s total lack of recognition of genre constraints.
18. Absofacto – “Dissolve”: A little skitter-skatter of chillax rock.
19. Benny Blanco, Tainy, Selena Gomez, and J Balvin – “I Can’t Get Enough”: A pleasure moan produced into nugget-size song form.
20. Starcrawler – “Pet Sematary”: It really is the perfect unassailable opening guitar riff to kick off some opening credits, no matter which version.
2/15/20 UPDATE: In the spirit of comprehension, I may have overlooked a few songs that I loved enough to be top 20-worthy from a band that had already made the cut. So, to correct the record, some more-than-honorable mentions go to “MAH” and “Got to Keep On” by the Chemical Brothers.
August 30, 2019
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television
Conan, Conan O'Brien, Conan Without Borders, Conan Without Borders Greenland, Don't Let Go, Iconology, Lana del Rey, Missy Elliott, Norman Fucking Rockwell, The Dark Crystal, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
CREDIT: Kevin Baker/Netflix
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Don’t Let Go (Theatrically Nationwide)
TV
–The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Season 1 (August 30 on Netflix)
–CONAN Without Borders: Greenland (September 3 on TBS) – Our preeminent civilian diplomat is at it again.
Music
-Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell
-Missy Elliott, Iconology – As relevant as ever.
January 15, 2012
jmunney
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television
Daniel Radcliffe, Lana del Rey, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 37, SNL, SNL Season 37
Cold Opening – A Message from Mitt Romney
SNL seems to have decided that the main idea of Sudeikis’s Romney is that he is emotionless and doesn’t know how to talk like a normal person, which isn’t much, but when it leads to lines like “slinging the pigskin around” and “my five human sons,” then it is something, at least. B
Daniel Radcliffe’s Monologue
This wasn’t so much comedy (i.e., joke-telling) as much as it was an expression of a philosophy. Dan brought up some reasonable points, even though we all knew he was just jerking us around a little bit. Still, it was a good idea to temper expectations. B
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais makes fun of celebrities because they are a group of people who perhaps ought to be taken down a notch. It’s not like dogs and flowers have that in common with celebrities. Hiring Ricky to make fun of those groups would just be pointless, and this sketch had a corresponding lack of spirit. C
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