2 min read

Blurbing For The Weekend 7/19/24

An atypically brief, atypically catty post to confirm I'm still thinking about pop culture jive while navigating a kid's half-day art camps and summer vacation.
Blurbing For The Weekend 7/19/24
Somehow I don't think Chad Gets The Axe will be earning a Best Cinematography nomination.

As far as found-footage horror movies about desperate social media scum getting got mid-livestream go, Chad Gets The Axe isn’t as witty or as inspired as Deadstream, or as perversely engrossing as Dashcam. But Chad does have the novelty of featuring multiple influencers collaborating on a visit to a haunted house. So we get to see the truly sociopathic clash with the merely narcissistic, and the hapless get exploited by the strategic, with multiple fanbases (and horrified gawkers) egging them on as they encounter one of those hooded Satan-worshippers with a knife in one hand and some kind of supernatural hacking device in the other. FIVE BAGS OF POPCORN.

Some 2024 Albums I’m going to listen to more than once:
Erika De Casier, Still
Kim Gordon, The Collective
Grandaddy, Blu Wav
MGMT, Loss Of Life
Mount Kimbie, The Sunset Violent
Helado Negro, PHASOR
Pissed Jeans, Half Divorced
Mary Timony, Untame The Tiger
Usher, COMING HOME
Faye Webster, Underdressed At The Symphony
X Ambassadors, Townie
Yard Act, Where’s My Utopia?

Albums I don’t want to hear and don’t need my attention:
Zack Bryan, The Great American Bar Scene. If I wanted affecting tales of Americans just trying to get by, I’d just read more articles via Twitter. Or give Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska another try. Nothing I’ve read about this guy sounds like a party I want to go to. I can enjoy a pop-country album, but I don't have a stake in the genre's evolution and reputation.

Sturgill Simpson as Chris Gaines, The Life Of Sasha Fierce (Coup De Grace). I've been avoiding this fellow ever since that album where he sang Nirvana as a lullaby. I also confuse him with Chris Stapleton and Jamey Johnson. I think Stapleton is less real than Simpson and Jamey Johnson is more real? And none of them are as good at Twitter as Jason Isbell? Nothing wrong with being an old soul. An earnest, complicated man who feels a connection to the backwoods or the heartland. One who doesn't feel like making everything into a joke. I just might not feel compelled to hear you sing about it.

Look who's back, back again. Dad is back. Tell a friend.

Eminem, The Resurrection Of The ICP Sketch (Fleur De Lis). The excuse for paying inordinate attention to Elvis Presley despite his queasy status as a signifier of America’s racist history of cultural co-option is that he was a cute, charismatic, fun and soulful entertainer. The excuse for paying inordinate attention to Eminem despite his queasy status as a signifier of America’s racist history of cultural co-option is his technical skill and verbosity. Something that tends to come up when an entertainer isn’t cute, charismatic, fun or soulful. Fun fact: Eminem is almost a decade older than Elvis Presley ever got to be.

If I'm getting one of the above albums wrong, feel free to let me know. And I'm not judging you if I'm right about them but you like it anyway. I benefit greatly from people forgiving dudes for being dudes. Bless your patience and sympathy, as I truly appreciate it.

If you have any comments, queries or suggestions, anthonyisright at gmail dot com is the wisest place to send them.