Entertainment round up: July edition

I didn't finish any non-dissertation related books, so no Literature section this month.

Music
It was a good month for me an music. Maybe this year is turning around. Here is the music from my shuffle in alphabetical order.

Frightened Rabbit, The Midnight Organ Fight

One of the best albums of the year so far this year. A complete album where the songs seems to flow effortlessly into each other that helps tie together the large themes of the album, namely relationships from a decidedly male perspective. At times the album is hard driving and other times hauntingly soft, with a couple of the songs containing extremely raw lyrics. Best tracks include "The Modern Leper" (the best opening song on an album I have heard in a long time), "Good Arms vs. Bad Arms," "Backwards Walk," "Keep Yourself Warm," and "Poke." I now regret missing their recent show in dc.

Bottom line: 4.5/5, Strongly suggest you go get it.

Mike Doughty, Golden Delicious

The lead singer of my beloved Soul Coughing produced a much more organic album than his past solo efforts. Although I applaud him for going back to his roots, this album contains more bad songs than good. The good ones are really good, but just aren't enough to warrant buying this album. Those tracks are "Fort Hood," "Wednesday (Contra La Puerta)," the very danceable (and I don't dance) "I Just Want the Girl In the Blue Dress," and the haunting "Like A Luminous Girl." I think I might be skipping his appearance at the Birchmere this fall.

Bottom line: 2.5/5, Purchase by songs only.

My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges

This album took me a while to understand and fully appreciate. The initial reviews I read trashed the album because it was not as good as their previous album Z, which it isn't. It isn't because the band clearly decided to go in a new direction. A Rolling Stone review compared the album favorably to Kid A and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as albums that took their respective bands in such a new direction as to alter the genre that they helped create. (Note to RS: Evil Urges is no YHF or Kid A for that matter.) After reading the RS review, I decided to do what I did with YHF and listen to it over and over again, and I had a similar reaction as the album grew on me. My initial disappointment in the album diminished, but I realized that the album was not the clean break that YHF or Kid A represented. Evil Urges points to a new direction, but does not fully commit. I am glad that the entire band was used more to create atmosphere and sound than in past albums. The tracks flow nicely into each other with the end of the album flexing it muscle. If I were to ever own a bar this album would be in high rotation at the end of the night. It has a classic rock flavor with moder sound. There are very few tracks that I would continually skip, and the best tracks include "Evil Urges," "Sec Walking," the rockin' "Remnants," and my favorite "Smokin from Shootin." (Smokin from Shootin actually blends seamlessly into the last two tracks, "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2" and "Good Intentions," for a potent ending to the album.

Bottom line: 4.5/5, Great album if you love good music and alt country and/or classic rock. Make sure you give it a few spins before making your final decision on it.

N.E.R.D, Seeing Sounds

I must be upfront and admit I am not a huge N.E.R.D. fan, but I appreciate what they do musically. This album is an improvement over their last effort, and points to the different directions that hip-hop can go. Their performance of "Spaz" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien last night was amazing. The best tracks are "Spaz," "Yeah You," "Sooner or Later," and "Lovebomb."

Bottom line: 3.5/5, Good, but a bit uneven for me.


Cinema
Didn't have a lot of free time for the cinema this month.

The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan

This was a fantastic movie, and all of the reviews about Heath Ledger's performance were not over the top. Ledge deserves serious Oscar consideration for his portrayal of The Joker. The reinvention of this genre has been great for Batman, but I worry about all of the the other comic and graphic novel based movies. Hollywood seems to have run out of new ideas again, and their is nothing like too many sequels and copycats to kill a genre, bury it, dig it back up, and then kill it again. I fear that is what is happening now with this genre.

Bottom line: 4.75/5, Go see it. If I have a to see this in IMAX, I will post an update.


Television
This category will appear sporadically if I see something on the boob tube of note.

Mad Men, AMC, Sundays at 10pm
I have been trolling for a show of my own after the unexpected and untimely death of Deadwood. I think I have just found it in Mad Men. The show recently began its second season on AMC and I was lucky enough that Comcast has season one On-Demand. (Season one is also out on dvd if you don't have it On-Demand.) I am all caught up now, and have to say that this show should sweep the Emmy's and Golden Globes. It is by far and away the best written and acted show on television at the moment. It amazes me that the networks don't have a show like this on their schedules. A pitch perfect period show (set in 1960 NYC), with no violence or foul language. Yes, it has some adult movements, but no more than other shows at 10:00pm. Guess they need a new reality show more.

Bottom line: 5/5, Go watch it. It is on basic cable, so what are you waiting for?