Griffin House - Better Than Love

I my attempt to introduce you to new artists, I hope you’ll like Griffin House.  I’m a big fan.  Enjoy!

Movie Review: High Fidelity

A year ago, I was working at my desk and an email to the entire floor popped into my inbox:  “Whoever left their Spring 2006 Mix Tape in the Cafeteria, you can find it at the receptionist’s desk.”  My first question, where does one procure a Walk Man these days?  Does this person also have a typewriter?  Or simply, was the owner of the Spring 2006 Mix Tap a cult follower of the John Cusack film, High Fidelity?

High Fidelity is, first and foremost, not a film for those sensitive to certain words that begin with the sixth letter of the alphabet.  Once you look past that, though, it is a tale of music fanatics who use music (and mix tapes) as a metaphor for life.

 While High Fidelity’s style is not to be quoted to the same extent as, say Waiting for Guffman or Arrested Development, there are a number of memorable lines:    

*

Rob: Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Laura: No, it’s really not, Rob. You know why? Because Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel make pop records.
Rob: Made. Made. Marvin Gaye is dead. His father shot him. 

*

Barry’s Customer: Hi, do you have the song “I Just Called To Say I Love You?” It’s for my daughter’s birthday.
Barry: Yea we have it.
Barry’s Customer: Great, Great, can I have it?
Barry: No, no, you can’t.
Barry’s Customer: Why not?
Barry: Well, it’s sentimental tacky crap. Do we look like the kind of store that sells I Just Called to Say I Love You? Go to the mall. 

*

Dick: Marie de Salle’s playing. You remember I told you about her. I like her. She’s kind of Sheryl Crow-ish crossed with a post-Partridge Family pre-L.A. Law Susan Dey kind of thing, but, you know, uh, black. 

*

Laura: I’m too tired not to be with you.
Rob: What, so if you had a bit more energy we’d stay split up, but things being as they are, with you being wiped out and all, you want to get back together? Is that it?
Laura: Yeah.

I thought it was enjoyable, but I thought I’d like it more than I did.  I’d be interested to know your thoughts on the film!

Happy Opening Day!

I just was finishing my playlist named “My First Love” that has songs like “Go Cubs Go” and “A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request” and “When The Cubs go Marching In” and “The Night Chicago Died.”

I’ll be at the Cubs-Giants game in SF on June 30th.  Hey Chicago, what do you say, the Cubs are gonna win today!

Except, they didn’t… win today.

100% Acrylic

I love Meryn Cadell’s music video of “The Sweater.” It’s a classic.

Lyrics:

Girls,
I know you will understand this
and feel the intrinsic incredible emotion
You have just pulled over your head the worn,
warm sweater belonging to a boy
Now, you haven’t had a passionate
kissing session or anything,
but you got to go on a camping trip with him
and eight other people from school
And you practically slept together,
your sleeping bag right next to his
And you woke in the night to watch him as he slept
but you couldn’t see anything ’cause it was dark
so you just laid there and listened to his breathing
and wondered if your heart might burst
The sweater has that faintly goat-like smell
which all teenage boys possess,
and that smell will lovingly transfer
to all your other clothes
If you get to keep it for a few
days you can sleep with it
but don’t let your mom see, ’cause she’ll say,
“what is that filthy thing, and who does it belong to
besides the trash man?”
So you have to keep it under the covers with you
You can kind of lie it beside you,
or wrap it around your waist,
or touch it on your legs, or whatever
That’s your business
Now if the sweater has, like, reindeer on it
or is a funny color like yellow… I’m sorry,
you can’t get away with a sweater like that
Look for brown, or grey, or blue
Anything other than that, and you
know you’re dealing with
someone who’s different
And different is NOT what you’re looking for
You’re looking for those Teenage Alpine ski-chiseled features
and that sort of blank look which
passes for deep thought
or at least the notion that someone’s home
You’re looking for the boy of your dreams
who is the same boy in the dreams of all your friends.
Now the sweater isn’t going to fit you of course,
you kind of have to roll up the sleeves in a jaunty way that says
this is the sweater belonging to a boy,
and the boy is a genuine hunka hunka burning love,
and this is not just some hand me down from your brother or your father
Monday, wear the sweater
to school
Be calm, look cute
Don’t tell him about the dream you had
about the place the two of you would share
when you get older
Just be yourself
The best, cutest, quietest version of yourself
Definitely wear lip gloss
He looks at you, and then he looks away
And then he walks away
and the smell of the sweater hits you again suddenly
like ape-scent gloriola
and you get a note passed to you
by a girl in History that says
“He needs that sweater back.
He forgot you put it on in the tent on Saturday
and he’s been looking for it.”
And you don’t have to die of humiliation,
You are a strong person
and this is a learning experience
You can still hold your head up high as
you run from the classroom
tearing the stinking sweater from your body.
You look at that sweater, carefully,
and you realize that love made you temporarily blind.
You’ve got a secret now, honey,
and though you’d never sink as low as him,
you could blab it all over the school if you wanted
The label in that sweater
said “100% Acrylic”

Sing to me, Lionel, sing to me!

Oh my goodness, this is the best music video I’ve ever seen.  Lionel Richie has not let me down with his visual rendition of “Hello”.  Watch it all the way until the end.  Then watch again.  This is such a blessing.

Illinoise!

Safely in San Francisco and happy about the beautiful November weather, I can’t help but miss Chicago (Stockholm Syndrome?)  Saturday night I sat home alone and heated up a frozen Gino’s East pizza, and read through my Chicago coffee table book.  And the trifecta?  Sufjan Stevens album, Illinoise. 

For those of you not familiar, Sufjan plans to make an album for every state of the union (I’m not sure about DC).  The first was Michigan, quickly followed by Illinoise, which has some great songs like “Chicago” and “Casimir Pulaski Day“, the latter of which is below.  

 

Casimir Pulaski Day Lyrics 

Goldenrod and the 4H stone
The things I brought you
When I found out you had cancer of the bone

Your father cried on the telephone
And he drove his car into the Navy yard
Just to prove that he was sorry

In the morning, through the window shade
When the light pressed up against your shoulder
bladeI could see what you were reading

All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications you could do without
When I kissed you on the mouth

Tuesday night at the Bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens

I remember at Michael’s house
In the living room when you kissed my neck
And I almost touched your blouse

In the morning at the top of the stairs
When your father found out what we did that night
And you told me you were scared

All the glory when you ran outsideW
ith your shirt tucked in and your shoes untied
And you told me not to follow you

Sunday night when I cleaned the house
I found the card where you wrote it out
With the pictures of you mother

On the floor at the great divide
With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied
I am crying in the bathroom

In the morning when you finally go
And the nurse runs in with her head hung low
And the cardinal hits the window

In the morning in the winter shade
On the first of March, on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing

All the glory that the Lord has made
And the complications when I see His face
In the morning in the window

All the glory when He took our place
But He took my shoulders and He shook my face
And He takes and He takes and He takes 

There are some interesting thoughts and analysis on the song meaning if you are so inclined.  What do you think about the song? 

-Posted by LeMare  

Piniella-ella-ella

IRF Reader, Luke, forwarded this piece of art to my attention.  One of his business school friends put this together, and it warms my soul.  This Parody of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” is dedicated to the 2007 Chicago Cubs, and their manager, Lou Piniella… THIS COULD BE OUR YEAR!  

 

GO CUBS! 

Lyrics continued…

Kiss him and stop him from shaking. Somebody. Please.

 Here on IRF, we have spent some time discussing a wide variety of topics… Everything from The View to Barry Manilow.  Now, in a very odd twist of fate, these two topics collide.  

Barry Manilow was to appear as a guest on the View because he would ONLY appear without Elizabeth Hasselbeck, the show’s token conservative.  That’s right, 20% of the cohosts are conservative, but he will not appear on a show unless he shares political ideals with ALL of the hosts…

Manilow commented on TMZ:  “I strongly disagree with her views. I think she’s dangerous and offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her.”

I repeat:  DANGEROUS.

Moron.  If everyone had to agree politically with everyone who interviewed them, NO one would go on the View.  NO one would be on Hannity & Colmes.  NO one would go on Crossfire…  Barry Manilow, I no longer want a shirt that says:  “MANILOW“.  You are a ridiculous and I’m happy all the silly women who watch the View won’t have to be subjected to your bile.  Looks like we made it…

The Luckiest

I like this song.  Ben Folds “The Luckiest”

 

 What do you think?

A Thicke Gene Pool

It would be a lie if I told you I watched more than 38 seconds of this music video:

You hear lyrics like this:  “Baby you’re the perfect shape, Baby you’re the perfect weight”  and think he is a contemporary of R. Kelly, as they have similar musical styles and a similar fan base.  But there are a few striking differences… For one, as you noticed in the music video, ROBIN THICKE IS ACTUALLY WHITE!!!  Despite his appearances at BET awards shows, the only “B” in this man is his SOUL. 

So who is this Robin Thicke?  The white boy who makes lady BET fans swoon?  I’ll give you a hint:  “(Oooh) Well does she want me to carry her home now? (Oooh) So does she want me to buy her things? On my house, on my job; On my loot, shoes, my shirt, My crew, my mind, my father’s last name?”  Think Thicke.   ALAN Thicke–the most washed up actor in Hollywood, Jason Seaver on Growing Pains…

Robin is Alan Thicke, NG.  Yes, the next generation of Thickes is more pernicious than the last.  More empirical data:  “All i wanted to do was get it up and give love a chance; Ooo looking at you i got energy up in my pants“

Knowing what the offspring of washed-up ’80s sitcom stars are capable of makes me never want to to hear about a Baby Baio.