Jeff "Jmunney" Malone's Self-Styled "Expert" Thoughts on Movies, TV, Music, and the Rest of Pop Culture
February 10, 2023
Best of 2022, Best of Music 2022, Music Albums, Best of 2022, Beyoncé, Cody Carpenter, Daniel DDavies, Firestarter, Florence + the Machine, John Carpenter, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Lizzo, Mandy Moore, Music, Santigold, Silversun Pickups, Soccer Mommy, Soft Cell, The Black Keys, The Weeknd, Tove Lo, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Leave a comment
Before publishing this list, I listened to each of these albums again to make sure that I still liked them. And I did! (But there was one other that I had on my preliminary list that I ultimately decided I didn’t like enough to include. Bonus points if you can guess what it was.)
February 2, 2023
Best of 2022, Best of Music 2022, Music Best of 2022, Beyoncé, Big Sean, Bob Moses, Chandrabose, Ellie Goulding, Kaala Bhairava, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Lizzo, M. M. Keeravani, Music, Naatu Naatu, Rahul Sipligunj, Regina Spektor, Steve Lacy, The Black Keys, The Weeknd, Tove Lo, Vedala Hemachandra, Weird Al Yankovic, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Leave a comment
CREDIT: Music Video Screenshots
Strong showing from movie tunes this year. And man, I just love it when those music-makers just jam out and go for it.
May 13, 2022
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Sports, Television Dance Fever, Dropout Boogie, Firestarter, Florence + the Machine, Golf, In Real Life, Kendrick Lamar, Lacrosse, Mandy Moore, Mr. Lamar & the Big Steppers, On the Count of Three, PGA Championship, Pleasure, The Black Keys, The Kids in the Hall Leave a comment
CREDIT: Prime Video/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
–Firestarter (Theaters and Peacock) – Related: Cheryl on Riverdale has always recently developed pyrokinesis.
–On the Count of Three (Theaters and On Demand)
–Pleasure (Theaters)
TV
–The Kids in the Hall Season 6 (May 13 on Amazon Prime Video) – They’re back, and still Canadian.
Music
-The Black Keys, Dropout Boogie
-Florence + the Machine, Dance Fever
-Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Lamar & the Big Steppers
-Mandy Moore, In Real Life
Sports
-NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament (May 11-30 on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU)
-NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Tournament (May 13-29 on ESPN, ESPU, and ESPN+)
-PGA Championship (May 19-22 on ESPN and CBS)
May 14, 2021
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet Gets You Out and Then Into the Sun, Alexandre Aja, Aly & AJ, Amy Adams, Android, Angelina Jolie, Army of the Dead, Book of Saw, Chris Rock, Daddy's Home, Delta Kream, Jason Zuffranieri, Jeopardy!, Joe Wright, MTV Movie & TV Awards, Oxygen, Profile, St. Vincent, The Black Keys, The Underground Railroad, The Woman in the Window, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Tournament of Champions Leave a comment
The Underground Railroad (CREDIT: Amazon Prime Video/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
–Army of the Dead (May 14 in Select Theaters, May 21 on Netflix)
–Oxygen (May 12 on Netflix) – Directed by Alexandre Aja, but no piranhas.
–Profile (Theaters)
–Spiral (Theaters) – Chris Rock joins the Book of Saw.
–Those Who Wish Me Dead (Theaters and HBO Max) – Might check out to see what Angelina Jolie is up to.
–The Woman in the Window (May 14 on Netflix) – Joe Wright directs Amy Adams.
TV
–The Underground Railroad (May 14 on Amazon)
-2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards (May 16 on MTV)
-2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards: Unscripted (May 17 on MTV)
-2021 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions (May 17-28, check local listings) – 19-game winner Jason Zuffranieri looks like the one to beat.
Music
-Aly & AJ, A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet Gets You Out and Then Into the Sun – This came out last week.
-St. Vincent, Daddy’s Home
-The Black Keys, Delta Kream – Dan and Pat cover hill country blues.
June 25, 2020
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 1 Comment
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.
April 16, 2020
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 1 Comment
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.)
April 2, 2020
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 1 Comment
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.]
January 31, 2020
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 Leave a comment
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.
June 28, 2019
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television Annabelle Comes Home, Fred Savage, Let's Rock, The Black Keys, What Just Happened??!, Yesterday Leave a comment
CREDIT: Pamela Littky/FOX
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Annabelle Comes Home (Theatrically Nationwide)
–Yesterday (Theatrically Nationwide) – Beatles Content
TV
–What Just Happened??! Series Premiere (June 30 on FOX) – Fred Savage hosts fake-recap show.
Music
-The Black Keys, Let’s Rock
May 11, 2014
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Charlize Theron, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 39, SNL, SNL Season 39, The Black Keys Leave a comment
Do you know where Arbalato Street is?
A Mother’s Day Message from Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton
Vanessa has got Hillary’s vibe down, but the voice isn’t really close. Sasheer’s Michelle was decent. The back and forth of the tension was solid. Hillary having not yet decided if she will run for mother of the year was a clever way to do an obvious joke. B-
Charlize Theron’s Monologue
I thought this was aiming to be a meta takedown of how so many SNL monologues are singing bits, and maybe it was, but it didn’t really work that way, instead being just another singing SNL monologue that kind of joked about how it was a bad idea to do that yet again. Charlize’s line about men still liking her despite her height was worth a laugh, though, with Beck playing that moment well. C+
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