Being my favorite director, annually I check in on Quentin to see which films he cites as the “Best of 2010.” In the link above, he lists his twenty favorites from the past year. Most films on here I have yet to see, but of the twenty I have seen Toy Story 3 (1 on his list, 3 on mine) The Social Network (2, 1), Get Him to the Greek (13, not on my list- I’d like to hear his explanation for this one), and The Fighter (14, in the 2-4 range). I knew he would love SN, being an excellent screenwriter himself, I’m sure above all he really appreciated Aaron Sorkin’s script. Here is the list:
1. Toy Story 3
2. The Social Network
3. Animal Kingdom
4. I Am Love
5. Tangled
6. True Grit
7. The Town
8. Greenberg
9. Cyrus
10. Enter the Void
11. Kick-Ass
12. Knight and Day
13. Get Him to the Greek
14. The Fighter
15. The King’s Speech
16. The Kids Are All Right
17. How to Train Your Dragon
18. Robin Hood
19. Amer
20. Jackass 3D
I know I know, I’m sure y’all are all Best Coasted out for this week, but I needed to post this. Here is a cover of “Bratty B” from an adorable girl (under the YouTube name “SJSancheese”). Keep On Rocking!
Wheels On Fire! Go on YouTube, you won’t find too much tune-age. Tune your radio to WMBR and you might just hear these guys. I did this morning, in fact. Becky, the DJ of Breakfast of Champions (what a DJ by the way, playing my request of “Punk Slime” in a timely fashion), spinned “Losin” off their 2010 Liar, Liar record. That song was instantly catchy and I had no clue it was by Wheels On Fire. Thanks to Track Blaster, though, for showing me the way. At any rate, I haven’t heard a Wheels On Fire track that did not appeal to me. So Band of the Week, check them out somehow!
Got into Bishop Allen in 2007 — around this time of the year. It was because of MLB 2k7. I heard “Middle Management” a few times (main menu!) and thought gee, this sounds good, let me look into this band. So I did and found out that they named themselves after a street in Cambridge, a street that we always travel on to go get to the Middle East, which is the best place to see music in and around the city. Anyway! Always get a little nostalgic about this band when driving on that road so here’s to an irregular feature where I talk about how I got into bands that I like. I’ve yet to listen to any of their albums completely and sincerely, but I have some songs to recommend: “Click Click Click Click,” “Rain,” “Middle Management,” “Eve of Destruction,” and “Ghosts Are Good Company.” Bishop Allen has been described as power-pop, which is pretty accurate, but I would say the band also has an outsider vibe going on — similar to Adam Green, The Moldy Peaches, et al. Listen below!
Band: Bright Eyes Release: 2/2011 Label: Saddle Creek
1. “Firewall” – B 2. “Shell Games” – B+ 3. “Jejune Stars” – B- 4. “Approximated Sunlight” – C+ 5. “Haile Selassie” – B+ 6. “A Machine Spiritual” – B 7. “Triple Spiral” – A 8. “A Beginner’s Mind” – B+ 9. “Ladder Song” – B+ 10. “One For You, One For Me” – A-
Comments: Connor Oberst is a pretty intriguing dude. Not sure exactly what’s behind this record lyrically, but it’s something deep. That alone is pretty riveting. The songs, though, range from pretty all right to pretty nice. For me, the folk tunes aren’t as awesome as songs like “Triple Spiral,” which is a post-punk rock ‘n roller along the lines of “Take it Easy”/the sound of I’m Wide Awake (to get broad on you guys). Oberst and crew did for sure do a job at nailing a specific theme for this. It’s better as a complete work than a ‘the songs are the best’ kind of thing.
