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#yes i know this is technically not a phoebe lyric but oh well
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julie daydreaming by berthe morisot / “graceland too” by phoebe bridgers
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thequibblah · 3 years
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hi so i'm looking for some new music to listen to and i thought you could help because you have great taste!
if this helps, i'll tell you what i normally listen to, which is very basic & basically the same few artists over and over lol
- mostly just taylor swift, she makes up 70+% of my listening probably haha and if i had to pick a favorite genre of hers it would be the folkmore style
- some other pop, like olivia rodrigo and conan gray and lorde & some doja cat but i'm not a huge fan of doja's lyrics
- lyrics are really big for me, so is having a pretty voice and nice melodies
- i love your playlists but the old songs are usually not my style (there's been some though that i really like, ty for that !! <3)
- ceremonials is my favorite florence album
- liability is my favorite lorde song
no problem if u don't want to!
OH i basically recommend things for a living so why not music, eh?
so. what i'm getting from this is that you have three big listening buckets: soft acoustic and indie pop and just plain old pop. so i will divide my recs by those broad genres! i too prefer singable music so i will try to lay off on especially dissonant artists, or mark them as such so you can be prepared (LOL)
acoustic/folksy (i'll admit i am a big indie pop girl so this stuff will be a bit sparser)
phoebe bridgers — admittedly she is more alt-rocky, but see garden song, savior complex, moon song, graceland too, prayer in open D
waxahatchee — can't do much (GOD THIS SONG), lilacs, st. cloud
lucy dacus — also more alt-rocky, but here r some softer jams: hot & heavy, christine, green eyes, red face (a jily song)
anything by first aid kit! start with stay gold and the lion's roar
hozier — i feel like most people on the internet have listened to SOME hozier but check out wasteland, baby! (i tried to pick individual songs and ended up listing most of the album LOL)
kacey musgraves — another artist you've probably listened to already, but try golden hour
brittany howard — stay high must be the sweetest song in existence, and basically all of her album jaime
arlo parks — the whole album but especially caroline, hurt, and black dog
lake street dive — i can change, good kisser (a mary song if i've ever heard one), and i adore their hall & oates cover!
anya marina — this whole album has had me by the throat since like 2013
lucius — just the whole album wildewoman, h/t @figg-anon for putting me onto this!
idk what tf genre fiona apple is but try her out as well!
artists i listen to less of but are in this vein: the lumineers, bon iver, vance joy
u know i had to rec some old people shit (LOLLLL), so in this vein, joni mitchell, heart, judee sills, emmylou harris, joan baez, vashti bunyan
one-off songs you might like: hold you now by vampire weekend, big wheel by samia, i eat boys by chloe moriondo, strawberry blond by mitski (i worship at the altar of mitski but she might not be your speed haha), like i used to (acoustic) by sharon van etten & angel olsen, body by julia jacklin, jackie onassis by sammy rae and the friends, cowgirl bebop by HANA
indie pop BELOVED
maggie rogers — ok i cannot recommend this higher like if u like lorde and conan gray drop everything now and mainline maggie's brilliant debut album
HAIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — they've got poppier songs like want you back and more mellow songs like summer girl, but honestly i would just recommend a deep dive because they have a pretty surprising breadth within their own alt-rock/pop niche
caroline polachek — can sometimes get way out n weird in the pop sense but so hot you're hurting my feelings is a very listenable pop standard (also it's so funny she's such a clever lyricist also this is irrelevant here but she sounds amazing live), also love look at me now and her cover of breathless
charli xcx is more experimental pop but would rec trying out warm (FT HAIM!!!), blame it on your love (FT LIZZO!!), and official
rina sawayama — technically her album is all sorts of genres but especially XS, comme des garcons, paradisin', bad friend, and tokyo love hotel
orla gartland is a lil softer and i love more like you, oh GOD, and did it to myself
king princess — especially cheap queen, 1950, holy, but basically all of cheap queen
more one-offs: kansas by ashe, comeback by CRJ (full paean in her honour to come in the pop section), i am a big fan of other people covering the bleachers (LOL) especially rollercoaster by charli xcx and i wanna get better by tinashe (full tinashe praise to come too), saturdays by twin shadow (FT HAIM!!!), the kiss of venus and 3 nights by dominic fike (also his interlude on halsey's album), aute cuture and milionària by rosalía, young lover by st. vincent (i love her but again might not be for u haha), good days by sza, backyard boy by claire rosinkranz, slow dancing by aly & aj, hot sugar by glass animals
if ur down to try out something weird witchy and cool, kate bush is like the originator of 9 billion pop and rock genres and hounds of love is a masterpiece
pure pop (we can split hairs on what makes pure pop LOL but basically everything here is based on ur enjoyment of doja)
carly rae jepsen — ok if u haven't listened to her non-radio-hits u may be like "what?? call me maybe lady???" to which i say YES, especially window, stay away, no drug like me, and too much
victoria monet — this may or may not be a selling point to you, but victoria is a frequent ariana grande collaborator and you can absolutely hear it in her music (see also: the mattress spring background noises in dive JUST like they are in positions...), and i love experience, go there with you, and we might even be falling in love, and why not throw in her ariana grande collab monopoly
magdalena bay — how to get physical which i am destined, nay, contractually bound, to put in a jily modern AU someday, killshot, stop & go
tinashe — basically ALL of her new album!!! SO good. i also love rascal (superstar), esther, and old jams like company (and i JUST found out she has a chaka khan cover!)
chloe x halle have the most angelic vocals in the world
this might sound actually demented because WHO hasn't heard love on the brain but rly... go give ANTI a re-listen...
tove lo — especially are u gonna tell her, mateo, and jacques
WAIT I FORGOT TO SAY ROBYN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERY ROBYN SONG!!!!!!!
for that throwback poppy sound u may as well go real throwback KJAHKJA and check out donna summer!
one-offs: right to it by louis the child n ashe, serial lover by kehlani (also more by her but im getting lazy now kdjfhgk), missed calls by max n hayley kiyoko, peppers and onions by tierra whack, idk who hasnt heard this song but circles by meg, todo de ti by rauw alejandro (the way i wanted this to be song of the summer so bad ;___;)
hope you enjoy and pls come back and tell me if you really liked any of these!!!! xoxo
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post-itpenny · 5 years
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No Choir
At last we reach the end. So as each title was named after the song that helped drive its respective part of the story, in this case I did make a point to really incorporate the lyrics. Tagging @clownsgobeepbeep and @grotesquegabby I hope I got everyone’s reactions correct uwu.
Honey and Brie jumped to their feet as the door opened. Confused to why only Juno had come in. Where was Magpie?
Juno stood frozen in the doorway, her face stained with tears.
“H-hey girls.” She greeted in a choked voice. “Listen, I’m going to stay here with you two for a while. I’m going to look out for you alright?”
Brie tilted her head in mild confusion, Honey already had a look of dread, something terrible had happened.
Juno cleared her throat, “let’s sit down. We need to talk.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the 90’s themed club Alexander had been reveling in the chaos of a city falling to pieces when suddenly his body shuddered, as if feeling that something terrible happened.
The answer came to him and in a rare moment the party clown gave a deep frown. He made his way behind the bar and fixed a drink, sitting down with a heavy sigh…
“Well shit.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Calliope opened her eyes to a large hall made of white marble. Blackwood sitting before her in a rather ornate chair. There was something in his hands-
“Look what I got!” He cheered as he shook a jar that housed several angry lights.
Calliope looked at him in slight horror, “you put her in a pickle jar?”
Blackwood smiled, “oh yes she’s going to be quite miffed when she gets out I just know it. But she thought it was alright to screw with my family’s timelines which I just won’t stand for.”
“Blackwood that’s horrible.”
He shrugged and set down the jar as he stood up. “It seems I can borrow certain powers hence the dream visit but I just have to tell you. Did you know that our dear late Bridgette only had two surviving members of her bloodline? And only one has her gift of sight! Isn’t that just interesting? Isn’t that just neat?”
Calliope raised her eyebrows in confusion before what the elder of creation had said really sunk in.
Oh.
“She had been paying close attention to Maggie recently.” Calliope said at last, a feeling of pride swelling in her chest at the thought of how much the mischievous redhead had grown since they first met.
Blackwood smiled bitterly, “she always did like to plan for everything.”
“It was her nature.”
Blackwood scowled But said nothing. He walked across the hall towards a small pool of some sort, motioning for Calliope to follow.
Within the pool was millions of glowing particles that swirled in color. It was beautiful but within the glowing mass were three lights that seemed to move about much like koi fish in a pond.
Calliope recognized who they were instantly.
“Oh dear, poor Magpie.”
Blackwood gave a heavy sigh, “I will admit I’m rather nervous. I’ve never tried piecing someone back together from the bare component of stardust. But she’s technically not dead so it's worth a try.”
Calliope frowned, “But will it actually be her?”
“I have no idea. Her lights will secure personality… Hopefully memories as well. But I really have no clue how this will turn out… or how long it will take. But I will bring her back, I promise.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vespers was standing at the window with his head pressed against the glass. The destruction caused by Magpie’s bad luck had ceased and things had become deathly quiet save for the occasional sirens from emergency vehicles.
It had started raining. The sky pitch black between the cloud cover and darkness of the late evening. Vespers forehead has grown cold and numb but he really didn’t have the energy to move. A smell reached him, his antennae twitched.
“Hey Vesp,” Cosmos greeted in a soft voice. “Want some coffee?”
Vespers turned in surprise. “You made me coffee? B-but you hate the stuff.”
Cosmos gave a small chuckle, “Yeah can you go ahead and drink this? The smell is making me a little nauseous.”
Vespers took the cup and drained it in a few gulps. It was bitter and watery.
It was the best coffee he ever had.
Vespers cried as Cosmos held him tight.
Up in the nursery little Phoebe gave just the tiniest whine, as if sensing her both of her father’s distress.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maggie would not stop crying.
Billy had done his best to comfort her but Maggie was beside herself with grief. From what he could discern Maggie blamed herself for what had happened.
Billy stepped onto the balcony for a moment to get air. Cecilio already out there, quietly contemplating things with a lit cigar, having come over to watch Amaranthus.
Speaking of, Maggie’s sobbing had echoed through the house waking up a distressed Ama.
Billy stepped back inside to find Ama and mune curled up on the couch with Maggie. Ama had climbed into her lap and was petting her head much like Maggie would have done for her. Maggie for her own part had calmed down to crying quietly. The whites of her dark eyes red and puffy, her voice horse. “It’s my fault.”
“Shh, it’s not.” Billy insisted as he sat down and pulled both of them into a hug, Mune squeezing himself in as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Honey and Brie handled the news about as well as they could in Juno’s opinion. Brie was crying, Trouble liking her face in an attempt to console her. Honey had locked herself in her room, she would not come out.
Juno had a dilemma.
There was a light on in Magpie’s bedroom. She could see in seeping out just under the doorframe.
Juno opened the door slowly, the act of doing so felt like such a violation, as if she was outright digging up a grave.
Magpie’s room was glamorous yet cozy in its soft silks and velvets that draped the bed and curtains. A vanity covered with odd bottles and trinkets along with a vase filled with dried roses. The room had a pink tinge in the soft light of a lamp that sat on a writing desk. Juno choked back a sound that was an odd mix of both a laugh and a sob. She had no idea her aunt liked the color pink.
Juno moved switch off the lamp and was surprised to find a book with Magpie’s writing that lay open.
Juno was aware her aunt like to write imaginary letters to people in her diary, this one seemed to be a similar case. She caught who it was addressed to and could not seem to stop herself from reading the rest.
My dear friend Casper,
First of all I apologize again for everything that happened. It was an accident but you did not deserve to have your life cut so short. However I knew you and the Casper I knew would be getting rather tired of constant apologies. I think for your nerves and my own sanity this will be the last.
I have come to find its rather hard to be happy the older I get. Though on the grand scheme of things, happiness is an extremely uneventful subject. They do not write stories and songs about people who sit and do nothing because they’re happy and content do they?
I am fine with this.
Though I must confess I feel selfish in the way I gather people around me as if I’m hiding from some vast and unnameable fear. But I can put down those fears and loneliness in the pleasure of company with good people.
There is a feeling within me that something terrible will happen Casper and I am frightened. But I will this down for the good people that surround me. For them I would move the stars.
Goodbye for now my dear friend.
With love, Magpie
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lowkeyorloki · 2 years
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oh HELLO i’ve been summoned???? Pharb anon here and oh my GODDD u listening to waiting room on repeat is the most relatable shit fucking ever . it literally is the type of song to do that to, like when i first discovered it i absolutely did that too it’s addicting. I think it’s something to do with her just saying “KNOW ITS FOR THE BETTER!!!!!!!” over and over at the end after the buildup and how like...desperate and aching and emotional she sounds that makes us go “oh. i need to listen to this 20 times now”. So i’m glad you’re getting the full Experience™️ of discovering that song. (it’s like a little gift too it’s not on one of her albums (where it belongs 🤨) so when you find it it’s like holy shit what is this masterpiece)). anyway. you saying you’re considering having loki listen to her in his chapter has me in absolute shambles are you serious. what an honor to have partially inspired that omg.
I think it would fit so so well too, I feel like the way you describe emotion in your writing is very very real and candid and her lyrics /songs would blend SO well if you decided to mention them in your writing oh my god AND JUST THE EMOTION IN ALL OF HER SONGS.....I AM A GONER THINKING ABOUT LOKI LISTENING TO IT OH MY GOD.............. @:&;9(+%+}£ this ask is so long i’m sorry but in conclusion that would be absolutely perfect. whatever you decide to do will be perfect but yes Loki listening to phoebe would be absolutely perfect. ok the end. much love
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YESSSS hello thank you for coming back! YES I actually think Waiting Room will end up being my most streamed song of 2022 because I have already listened to it an insane amount of times. I have a new favorite PB song because of you ✨ and yes the “know it’s for the better” part is really what keeps me hitting replay button. I think you described it best, it’s just very desperate and raw. Incredibly enticing. And omg I read up on the song a bit and apparently Phoebe Bridgers hates it?? So that’s why it’s not on an album. JUSTICE FOR WAITING ROOM but also I totally understand disliking something you’ve made even if other people love it.
ALSO yes I’ve been considering putting some PB in Loki’s chapter but I wasn’t too sure and you’ve inspired/reassured me!! Now I just have to figure out which song, if I name one specifically. I already know how it will pertain to Loki’s inner monologue 😏 Do you have any requests?
As for your 2nd message… I just think this song is actually fairly plausible from Loki’s pov? There are a couple lines that stand out in that regard. I’m going to put this under a read more bc it got a tad long!
If you were a teacher, I would fail your class // Take it over and over, 'til you noticed me
I think Loki is not only totally in love with y/n, but in awe of her as well. Like, he watches you thrive in a class that you’re technically too young to be in, and he sees you take the news that he has a whole child in stride - and then you EMBRACE that. You can keep up with all his literary references and hold any conversation he draws you into. Loki is just constantly amazed and impressed by you. I think he probably feels that if the roles were reversed and he was your student, you wouldn’t notice him that way. Loki feels like your perfect match, and he’s not insecure as your partner, but I’m sure he thinks the circumstances of your relationship starting were very conditional. Like, of course you noticed him. He’s your professor, you spend hours each week watching him. If it was the other way around, and you were the one in front of a classroom and looking over the crowd, Loki isn’t so sure you would have picked him out the way he did you.
Who am I to ask for more, more, more?
Loki continually tells you the guilt he feels over the possibility of making Narvi your responsibility. He feels, to some degree, that he’s robbing you of your youth and ability to be carefree. In a previous chapter, you were talking about your fight with Nat and how Loki helped you through it - so you can help Loki through his issues, too. He responded with something along the lines of “those are problems you should be facing right now, not the stress of being a parent.” First, that hurts now that y/n might be pregnant, huh? BUT I bring it up just to make it clear how conflicted Loki is when it comes to you and his family. This line really emphasizes that for him, I think: who is Loki to ask for more when you’ve already given him so much? Who was he to ask in the first place?
I want to make you drive all night // Just because I said maybe you should come over
I mean I’m taking this literally. Loki loves super far away lol. However, I casual way the second part of this lyric is (‘just because I said…’) reminds me of how Loki IS aware of how much you love him, and how much influence he has over you in that sense. He knows you would come over just because he asked. Loki isn’t insecure in the fact your love for him exists, he’s just insecure because he’s not sure if he deserves it or not.
The whole second verse + the repeated know it’s for the better… I mean it really just hits the nail on the head for what’s going to be happening in a few chapters. That’s all I’ll say for now, but just know those parts of the song are actually pretty relevant.
Finally, for your third message, we are just straight VIBING with our superior music taste!! I gotta say I’m so glad you decided to message me. You’re super cool!! I hope you’re having a nice weekend phoebe anon ☺️
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fieldsofplay · 4 years
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Top Albums of 2019
Top Albums of 2019.
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25.  William Tyler – Goes West
For those of you reading along, I want to thank you for sticking with this blog for basically an entire decade at this point. Jeez, where does the time* go? To that end, I’m gonna put out a decade list sometime next week, so to keep my sanity somewhat in check, this years tops list is going to be a little more abbreviated than usual. A few less records, a few less words, but still the same self indulgence you’ve come to know and expect.  To that end, William Tyler.  Tied for my favorite cover art with IGOR.  This is beautiful finger-picked cosmic acoustic guitar music with some nice flourishes added by Brad Cook and the usual suspects.  Perfect for fall days.  I accidentally heckled him at a concert about the Andy Griffith show, but I was only trying to say he shouldn’t be ashamed about liking that program.  The shame still haunts me, much like this music. *A fictional social construct
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24.  Floating Points – Crush
Now I’m not going to sit here and pretend to know much about electronic music.  I don’t know the deep history, I don’t know the technical lingo, but like pornography, I know it when I hear it.  Much has been made about the impact opening for the XX and being limited to minimal gear while doing so had on Sam Shephard, and I’ll admit the differences from Elaenia is palpable.  Where that album felt minimal, Crush is maximal, bursting with colors and ideas, not unlike the beautiful painting that adorns its cover.  I never quite knew what the phrase Intelligent Dance Music was supposed to mean, but to me, that’s precisely what this is. You could dance to “LesAlpx” if you wanted, or you could just throw it on headphones and drift away to its unceasing pulse. Find you a man who can do both.
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23.  Nerija – Blume
Let me be the first to tell you that jazz is back! Centering largely in London, there is thrilling music being made by the likes of Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming, and this year, by Nerija. Breathing new life into a long moribund form (at least until Kendrick Lamar started featuring jazz musicians on his albums), Blume literally does just that, unfurling jazz from a long dormancy.  While I’m not normally a fan of the guitar in jazz, here it keeps the whole thing moving forward, as the horns swirl around in a supportive role and the percussion cooks.  “Riverfest” is the best exemplar, as the guitar chimes with joy while the cymbal-crashes enliven the vibe.
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22.  Florist – Emily Alone
A tale as old time (song as old as rhyme): member of ambient-electronic band puts out solo acoustic album, about the sadness of moving to LA and finding oneself.  No one is reinventing the wheel here, but I can’t help but feel little touches of Florist’s electronic full-band output in Emily Sprague’s solo record—the way the words repeat, subtly, but building meaning with each little phrasal repetition. Plus, the ocean is a recurring image, and dear lord do I miss the sea. If you want to listen a sad girl sing sad songs accompanied by acoustic guitar, you aren’t going to do better than Emily Alone this year.
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21.  Kevin Morby – Oh My God
Possibly the best Kevin Morby record?  No one else would say that, but I will.  If so, why is it so far down the list? Well, when you consistently put out amazing records year-after-year it becomes difficult for any individual album to make an imprint on the “culture.” I think “Seven Devils” is possibly his finest tune.
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20.  Sacred Paws – Run Around the Sun
My friend David turned me on to this band right before I was about to embark on a road trip up north in the middle of the summer, and let me tell you, that was the perfect time to first experience Run Around the Sun.  Noodly guitars burst out of every seam on this record, as bubblegum lyrics tie the whole shebang together.  If you ever wondered what the Shangri-las would sound like if Johnny Marr played lead guitar, I give you Sacred Paws.
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19.  Jamila Woods – Legacy! Legacy!  
On Legacy! Legacy! Woods takes the R&B of the excellent Heavn and applies a jazzier sheen, to excellent results.  One need look no further than the track titles (“Frida,” “Miles,” “Basquiat,” “Baldwin,” “Sun Ra” etc.) to see that Woods is consciously engaging with the titans of history, and here, while she doesn’t exactly reach the heights of those innovators, she certainly begins to carve out a legacy of her own as one of the best voices in a currently thriving R&B scene.
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18.  Mt. Eerie & Julie Doiron – Lost Wisdom, Pt. 2
On Lost Wisdom, Pt. 2 Phil Elverum (of The Microphones) and Julie Doiron (of Eric’s Trip) recapture the magic they bottled on the first Lost Wisdom back in 2008.  It is hard to imagine sparer music than this, but the duo make so much of a pair of voices and few plucked guitar or banjo lines.  As with all of his music of late (for obvious reasons), loss hangs all over Elverum’s output, but here, the loss is more mood and less of a literal presence (with the exception of the blistering “Widows”).  Few songs I can think of capture a single, specifically odd phenomenon quite like “When I Walk Out of the Museum.”
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17.  DIIV – Deceiver
As capital-G guitar music recedes further into irrelevance, it’s good to still have a band like DIIV kicking around, who make shoegaze like it’s still 1991.  And it’s a good thing they are still making their beautiful walls of feedback, as heroine has repeatedly knocked this band off the rails of what appeared to be a very promising career.  This is ominous, portentous music, that swirls with white noise and black despair.  Shoegaze is premised on making beauty out of the squall of overdriven electric guitars, and DIIV make beauty of the squall of 21st century opiate addiction.
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16.  Earl Sweatshirt – Feet of Clay
Earl continues the excellent experimentation of Some Rap Songs in the (slightly) more structured Feet of Clay.  Whereas Some Rap Songs felt like fragments, the tracks on Feet of Clay (almost) feel like “songs” proper.  Earl continues to quickly sweep the ground out from underneath you, whether it’s in the form of oddly woozy backing tracks that can’t really be called “beats” or the sub 2-minute run times, but he seems to pack slightly more structure into those abbreviated entrants, even if there are a lot less of them than there were on Some Rap Songs.  Right now no one is pushing the boundaries of hip-hop like Earl, and each new release, even if the total run time is under 15 minutes, is a thrilling event.
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15.  Better Oblivion Community Center – S/T
Yes, last year I had Boygenius as my number one record, but if I’m being frank, and I am, this is the better collaborative album put out by Phoebe Bridgers.  At first blush a record between the up-and-coming Bridgers and the largely has-been Conor Oberst seems like a desperate grab at continued relevance by the latter, but having seen them live, I must admit the pairing makes perfect sense.  The energy between the two is infectious, and while they share a common fascination with emo, they really draw the best out of each other.  Bridgers plays the Emmylou Harris role from I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning to perfection, and Oberst plays the Kenny Rodgers in “Islands in the Stream.”  For a period I could not turn on Radio K without hearing a song from this album, which is strange because, as a college radio station, every hour is usually completely different.
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14.  Chromatics – Closer to Grey
In a certain way, Chromatics are victims of their own tendency towards self-mythologizing.  Their last two official albums were absolutely perfect slices of Italo-Disco, equal parts late night ennui and seething dancefloor longing.  There was way more guitar on those albums than most anyone would appreciate on first glance, and yet Ruth Radelet’s smoky vocals were unquestionably the star.  In the interim Johnny Jewel (the mastermind behind the band and basically everything on Italians Do it Better) famously destroyed all the copies of the long teased Dear Tommy after a near death experience, provided essential music to Twin Peaks: The Return (which included multiple Chromatics performances at the dear Road House), and then suddenly dropped Closer to Grey out of the sky, with neither warning nor fanfare.  This record is everything you would want a Chromatics record to be, but perhaps that is part of the reason it didn’t really make a major impression. It felt a little Chromatics-by-the-numbers, right down to the cover of “The Sound of Silence” to open it up.  I absolutely love this album, and if it weren’t for the incredible quality of albums put out this year, it would certainly be a top-10 or top-5 in any other year (hell, in the terrible-for-music 2018 it would have been number one by a mile).  Perhaps the biggest frustration is just how fucking good “Light as a Feather” is.  It hints at a version of Chromatics influenced by Portishead, and now that’s all I want more of.
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13.  Thom Yorke – ANIMA
Doubt it if you will, you sneering youngsters, but Thom Yorke and his more well-known band are currently making some of the best music of their careers.  Just as A Moon Shaped Pool was a much needed return to form after the completely forgettable King of Limbs, with ANIMA Yorke gets back to what made The Eraser so compelling all the way back in 2006.  While a fondness for Aphex Twin is no longer at all exceptional in rock music in 2019, it was in 2006, and with ANIMA, Yorke gets back to the creepy, clicky, paranoid distrust of modern consumer culture that is solidly his wheelhouse.  Bonus points for using Netflix and a pairing with PTA to make America care about a long form music video again in 2019.
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12.  Black Marble – Bigger than Life
I would call black Marble my favorite new band of the year, but the thing is, they aren’t new, just new to me.  Bigger than Life is their third record, and first for Sacred Bones (whose distinctive album art is what first caught my eye).  Because their music is comprised solely of arpeggiated synths, melodic bass, and clinking drum machines, overlaid with melancholicly narrow vocals, it is easy to accuse Black Marble of being a little same-y.  However, if you, like me, worship at the temple of New Order, than this is the band for you.  I have lived with their three extant albums the last couple months (the second, It’s Immaterial, being my favorite), and in reality, this is really the only music I want to listen to.
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11.  Big Thief – U.F.O.F. / Two Hands
If you’re reading this than you likely already know how much I love Big Thief, and you might be a little surprised that one, if not both, of the records they put out this year is not sitting atop this list based on how much I’ve professed my love for this band over the course of 2019.  So here’s the thing, the highs on both of these albums--“U.F.O.F.” “Not”--are better than anything else anyone has done this year, but to my ear both records suffer from a flew blah-ish passages that prevent either album, on its own, from achieving top status.  However, if you borrow a few tracks here (Cattails, Contact) and a few tracks there (Shoulders, Two Hands) and made one album out of the highlights of both sessions, you would unquestionably have the album of the year.  That Big Thief gave us two records brimming with amazing folk rock ideas is a blessing.
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10.  Sharon Van Etten – Remind Me Tomorrow
Hey, do you remember Sharon Van Etten put out an amazing record in 2019? I bet you don’t.  The culture moves so fast these days that albums from January might as well have been released five years ago, and it seems to me like this record slipped off a few peoples’ radars as the year progressed, which is a shame, considering how damn good it is (her best imho).  There are few runs on an album I’ve enjoyed more this year than “Jupiter 4’s” electro-throb into “Seventeen’s” Springsteen chug into “Malibu’s” comedown.  Bonus points for being my dear friend Hadley’s downstairs neighbor for all those years.  Ah Brooklyn, how I miss thee.
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9.  Black Midi – Schlagenheim
Yes, that most reliable of music-critic tropes: the hot young band from London.  Black Midi made waves with a legendary youtube video of their live show, and having seen it in person, let me tell you, even that now infamous video doesn’t do them justice.  Much like its gobldy-gook made up title, Schlagenheim is an amalgamation of strands of music that don’t really fit together but somehow they pull off with aplomb.  At times they play with the hardcore fury of Minor Threat, while at others the proggy interconnectivity of Rush at their most arena-rockish, all with a weird dash of David Byrne wiry energy holding it all together.  If they come to your town, go see them, just don’t stand in the front unless you want to be swept into the maelstrom.
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8.  Helado Negro – This is How You Smile
Did you love Little Joy (the Strokes sideproject) but wish it was occasionally electronic and periodically in Spanish? If so, I give you Helado Negro. This is the prettiest record of the year; it never goes above a certain emotional register / decibel range, but it inhabits the spectrum in which it lives like a ghost in its occasional electronic flourishes.  This is a record for someone with a long drive with something to think about. “Seen my Aura” is simultaneously funky and restrained, acoustic and electronic, and emblematic of the joys of This is How You Smile.
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7.  Sturgill Simpson – Sound & Fury
Each of Sturgill Simpson’s last three records have been fundamentally different from one another, and each has been excellent, which is almost impossible to accomplish.  Metamodern Sounds in Country Music introduced many, like myself, to a new voice in an often overlooked medium, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth dusted off the horns from Elvis’s stax-era and romped around, and now with Sound & Fury Sturgill looks to the outlaw tradition (and ZZ freakin Top) he’s so-often been associated with, but rarely resembled, to crank out an incredible record that is far more “rock” than it is “country.” Throw on a heaping of 80’s-era Springsteen synths and you have the recipe for a record that makes me very, very happy.  The two halves of “Make Art not Friends” have little business coexisting within a single track (the first half sounds like Tangerine Dream, the second half Arcade Fire) and yet it is precisely in this tenuous cohabitation that Sturgill has produced his best record to date.
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6.  Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride
Vampire Weekend started out their career being accused of stealing from Graceland and ended up becoming Paul Simon.  Funny how that works out sometimes.  Modern Vampires of the City has become, next to Sound of Silver, the definitive record about life in New York during my era (2005-2016).  On the follow up, the band, newly shorn of Rostam Batmanglij (whose solo record is also phenomenal, even though he’s maybe one of the worst performers I’ve ever seen), decamped to California, and Father of the Bride revels in both the California sun and a well earned sense of accomplishment.  “Hold You Now” is my favorite song of the year, it is simply stunning.
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5.  Bill Callahan – Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest
There is a bit of theme developing here at the top of the list: established artists putting out arguably their best work deep into storied careers, and no one on this list is deeper into a more storied oeuvre than Bill Callahan.  Between Smog and under his own name, Callahan has been releasing consistently great albums since 1992, and to me, Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest is his finest work to date.  Having found domestic bliss, so the press materials state, Callahan is content to sit back and let that world-weary baritone spin out all the comforts of a well-worn chair near a fire in a hearth.  This is the type of record that gives you hope that happiness isn’t the exclusive provenance of the young.
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4.  Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains
If I were to really sit and write out all of my thoughts about David Berman this blurb would probably be 10 pages long, at least, so rather than spill a bunch of digital ink lamenting the loss of a true inspiration, I’ll just try and stick to the album itself, which is almost impossible now in the wake of his suicide shortly after its release.  Even on first blush this was a difficult hang, clearly the product of someone who lost their wife to a series of poor decisions / mental difficulties, and who hadn’t come to terms with it.  Understandably so.  Berman remains endlessly quotable, right up to the very end, and “we’re just drinking margaritas at the mall” remains emblematic of his ability to compress the tedium of middle american misery into a single haunting, yet, hilarious, image.  While “Nights that Won’t Happen” lives on as his suicide note directly to the fans (“The dead know what they’re doing when they leave this world behind” ; “all the suffering gets done by the ones we leave behind”), and it is hauntingly beautiful, it still makes me cry every time I hear it. As does most of this record. So the song I’ll carry on with me, and can still actually listen to, is “Snow is Falling in Manhattan.” Just a beautiful song from a beautiful man.  
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3.  Tyler, the Creator – IGOR
I really don’t have the words (well, clearly I have some) to express just how impressed I am by the arc of Tyler’s career.  The one-time shock-rap flash in the critical pan quickly turned into forgettable homophobe who perfectly fit a description of Eminem’s fan base I once heard: kids who call their mom a bitch to their face.  The first startling change came with Flower Boy, which came right on the heels of his step out of the closet.  Flower Boy is a really great record, but it still largely sounded like Tyler, just a more mature version who stopped saying cringe worthy shit.  IGOR is something entirely different.  I honestly don’t even know what to call it. It’s not a rap record, and there are honestly entire tracks on it where I’m not sure what it is he does on them, but my god, this thing is incredible.  It’s basically a Parliament album for the end of the world, and if the earth is going to burn down around us, we might as well dance our way out, which is precisely the party Tyler has orchestrated here.  I cannot wait to see what he does next.
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2.  Angel Olsen – All Mirrors
All Mirrors isn’t just clearly Angel Olsen’s best album by a clear margin, it is the best pop album made by anyone in sometime.  Just like black clothes make anyone a little slimmer, orchestration can make any pop song sound symphonic, but most pop acts don’t have the power of Angel Olson’s voice to match the bombast of the string section and percussion.  It feels like the term Beatlesesque has started to fade from the critical lexicon, but this music is truly akin to the orchestral richness of “I am the Walrus” or “A Day in the Life.”  People celebrate Lana del Ray for her torch songs (and I really liked Norman Fucking Rockwell, even if it didn’t quite make this list in a stacked year) but no one carries a torch like Angel Olsen.  I was initially reticent to catch her live show this tour, it was on a weeknight, it was cold, I had to go downtown, I’d seen her a couple times already, yadda yadda yadda, but I knew deep down I really wanted to see if she could recreate the power of these songs on stage (the inverse of how that equation usually goes).  Reader: she did.
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1.  (Sandy) Alex G – House of Sugar
House of Sugar may not be quite as experimental as IGOR, or as pop-perfect as All Mirrors, but it takes those two impulses and melds them together into what is my favorite album of the year, even if strictly speaking it may not be the “best” as measured against the other entrants in this top 3.  “Hope” was actually a “hit” song on the local college radio station, and understandably so; it sounds like Elliott Smith and tells a comprehensible story about a friend who died from an overdose.  But “Hope” is jut one facet of House of Sugar, which is a veritable hall of musical mirrors.  “Walk Away” is hypnotic in its repetitions, “In My Arms” is a legit straightforward acoustic love song, “Sugar” sounds like The Knife (no joke), “Sugarhouse” could have been on The River, and while I already said “Hold You Now” is my favorite song of the year, “Gretel” has something to say about that.  I saw a show right when this album came out, and as the band left the stage for the final time the soundguy cued up “Gretel” not, I’m guessing, because the band requested it, but because it rules and he just wanted to share it with everyone as they receded into night.
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lindyhunt · 5 years
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The Best Things FASHION Editors Bought, Read and Watched in 2018
Come December, there’s nothing quite like looking back at a year gone by and reflecting on the various things that brought us joy. Here, FASHION editors share the favourite things they bought, read and watched in 2018.
Noreen Flanagan, Editor-in-Chief
The Best Thing I Bought This Year A pair of “Spectator-ish” two-toned shoes at a little shop I like to go to in Milan, called Marco. These shoes attract more attention than a golden retriever puppy when I’m out on the street. They even charmed Manfred Mugler when I interviewed him in Montreal in the fall for an upcoming feature. I walked in the room and he got up and started tap dancing in front of me after declaring he loved my shoes.
The Best Thing I Watched This Year I had to chance to catch Network on Broadway starring Bryan Cranston and former FASHION cover star Tatiana Maslany. In this age of #fakenews who doesn’t love to be in a theatre and be asked to yell out: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
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All the news that's fit to print 📰 #NetworkBway
A post shared by NETWORK Broadway (@networkbway) on Dec 16, 2018 at 7:52am PST
The Best Thing I Read This Year I just finished reading Educated by Tara Westover. Like The Glass Castle—another fave—this memoir is a compelling and ultimately inspiring story about survival and re-invention. But more than that, it’s a testament to the power of knowledge and the importance of seeking out the truth.
Benjamin Reyes, Video Editor
The best thing I bought this year It’s hard to tell if I’ve become complacent or if Netflix’s good movie selection is getting more diminutive every year, but I was looking for a change. That’s when I discovered (a.k.a was Facebook-ad-targeted by…) a new streaming service called Mubi, which is a catalog of 30 foreign/indie/ciritically-acclaimed films constantly on rotation. While not every film is a hit, it’s been a great way to open myself up to new cinematic experiences.
The best thing I watched this year I’m a sucker for coming-of-age films so Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, Mid90s, definitely makes my list this year. In the counter-nostalgic vein of The 400 Blows or Dazed and Confused, it focuses less on story and more on causality, while giving precedence to world-building and atmosphere.
The best thing I read this year National Geographic’s “Planet or Plastic?” issue was one of the most impactful things I’ve read concerning our plastic consumption. The scientific articles are accompanied by hauntingly beautiful photographs, including collages made from plastics found in dead animals.
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Hey! I'm @zooeydeschanel and on behalf of @farmproject, I'll be guest curating the @natgeo Instagram feed throughout the day to help launch #PlanetorPlastic—National Geographic’s multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste that gets into the world’s oceans. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics and take your pledge at natgeo.com/plasticpledge (link in bio). Doing so will not only benefit the thousands of marine animals that become entangled in or suffocated by plastics each year but will also contribute to the overall health of the planet’s marine ecosystems and all who rely upon them. Check the feed throughout the day to see more of the amazing pictures I’m posting.
A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on May 17, 2018 at 5:00am PDT
Pahull Bains, Associate Editor
The Best Thing I Bought This Year I’d been wanting to add a Céline handbag to my collection for ages but it was only this year, after it was announced that the brand’s feminist creative director, Phoebe Philo, would be replaced by Hedi Slimane, that I decided to dip into my savings and nab a Philo-era bag for myself. I went with the classic ‘Belt’ bag in grey, and every time I swing it over my shoulder I feel like I’m carrying a piece of fashion history with me.
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CÉLINE & 24 SÈVRES // Belt bag • Delivery sneakers • Belted dress • link in bio
A post shared by 24 Sèvres • 24sevres.com (@24sevres) on Mar 15, 2018 at 9:15am PDT
The Best Thing I Watched This Year It’s a two-way tie for me between the independent film Mouthpiece and Nanette, a comedy special on Netflix.
Every year at TIFF, I watch dozens and dozens of films, up to five in a single day. Which means, by the end of the 10-day festival, it’s hard to keep track of which ones I loved or enjoyed the most. Despite that, there are always a few that stand out, usually the ones that deeply moved or intrigued me. This year, one of those films was Mouthpiece. Based on a play by two Toronto female playwrights, and directed by legendary Canadian filmmaker Patricia Rozema, the film focuses on a young woman in the days following the death of her mother, as she grapples with the fresh wounds of grief and also begins to reflect on the complex lineage of feminism she inherited from her mother. It’s a powerful, thought-provoking and deeply emotional film that stays with you long after you walk out of the theatre.
I am very late on the Nanette train, because this comedy special by Hannah Gadsby arrived at Netflix over the summer to massive acclaim and I only watched it, like, last week. After months of every single person in my social circle, not to mention all the culture critics I follow online, raving about it, I flicked it on thinking it would never live up to my expectations. But WOAH. By the end of Gadsby’s one-hour set, which was filmed live at the Sydney Opera House last year, I was in tears. Unlike any comedy set I’ve watched before—heck, unlike anything I’ve watched before—Nanette is a searing indictment of toxic masculinity, homophobia, and the self-deprecating practice of stand-up comedy itself. It’s funny, it’s clever, but it’s also heartbreaking in its honesty, and I genuinely think you will walk away a better human being for having watched it.
The Best Thing I Read This Year This year has been quite the rollercoaster for women. The Harvey Weinstein exposé last October set off a chain reaction, ushering us into a new year and a whole new world. A world in which women were DONE—done playing nice, done staying quiet, done following the rules of a misogynist system. Yep, women were angry. And Rebecca Traister, writer-at-large for New York magazine, captured the angry, righteous energy of the zeitgeist and distilled into a potent book. Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger traces not just how women’s anger is ridiculed—because it means we’re overemotional, unstable, and oh you know, hysterical—but also the ways it has shaped history, powered revolutions, incited change. The book’s release was fortuitous—a week after the Kavanaugh hearings, when women’s anger had reached boiling point—but its message is poignant and timeless.
Greg Hudson, Features Editor
The Best Thing I Bought This Year I know I spent my money on stuff other than rent, food, and energy drinks. And yet, I’m having some trouble coming up with one purchase that could rule all of my other purchases. I guess I’ll mention the Rolex Submariner I bought this fall. I got it for a steal of a deal, too. Only $60, when a Submariner usually goes for about $12,000. You just need to know where to shop. Like for instance, a random junk shop on Canal Street in New York City. And so long as you aren’t that familiar with real Rolexes, this one looks pretty good! (It feels like it’s made out of tin though.)
The Best Thing I Watched This Year You know when you hear a song, and you fall hard and fast, and so you listen to it on repeat for a week, until you’ve memorized every lyric and internalized every chord progression? That’s how I am when I find a TV show or movie that speaks to me. This year, I can’t count how many times I re-watched The Good Place and John Mulaney’s Kid Gorgeous stand up special on Netflix. It’s a little annoying, even to myself, that I can’t talk for more than three sentences without quoting one or both. But at least the quotes are forking hilarious.
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Hi, we're broken! #TheGoodPlace
A post shared by The Good Place (@nbcthegoodplace) on Nov 5, 2018 at 8:00am PST
The Best thing I Read This Year
As soon as I was done reading Motherhood by Sheila Heti, I wanted each of my sisters to read it. Heti’s novel (of sorts) is like having a conversation with a funny, brilliant thinker about the pressures women face and put on themselves. So naturally, I wanted to know what my four funny, brilliant sisters thought of it. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Hungover: The Morning After and One Man’s Quest for a Cure by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall. Yes, he’s a friend. But as a friend I saw how challenging that book was to write, and I want everyone to see how sharp, wise, well-researched and fun the end product is.
Meghan McKenna, Associate Editor
The Best Thing I Bought This Year Nespresso pods. After 22 years of avoiding mocha chip ice-cream, tiramisu and Tim Horton’s Iced Caps, I — once a proud non-coffee drinker — was gifted a very fancy Nespresso machine. At the beginning of 2018, it was collecting dust on my counter top. In early spring, I decided on a whim to give double espressos a try. My reaction: WOW, why didn’t anyone tell me what I was missing out on?! I HAVE SO MUCH ENERGY NOW!!! And I’ve been starting my days with one ever since.
The Best Thing I Watched This Year I wanted to choose A Star is Born, but my colleagues told me that was too predictable. So then, I thought I’d choose another song-filled performance that moved me to uncontrollable tears in 2018: the Broadway musical Come From Away. But technically, that came out in 2016, so it doesn’t work either. So in this same spirit, I’m going with Mary Poppins Returns. I haven’t seen it yet, but I already know it’s going to be my favourite feel-good film of the year.
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You’re on the brink of an adventure! #MaryPoppinsReturns is now playing in theatres.
A post shared by Mary Poppins Returns (@marypoppinsreturns) on Dec 20, 2018 at 9:48am PST
The Best Thing I Read This Year We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby. It’s a collection of essays, which means it is the kind of book I could keep in a miscellaneous tote bag and come back to various points throughout the year. The first essay is a faux application to be on The Bachelor, and in another, she recounts a romantic road trip to Nashville where she scatters her estranged father’s ashes. All of this to say, Irby is wildly funny and wholly unabashed, and for these reasons, you should already be following her across social platforms at @bitchesgottaeat and @wordscience.
Lesa Hannah, Beauty Director
The Best Thing I Bought This Year Thinx period underwear and a Keepcup for coffee to go. Both enabled me to put less garbage out into the world.
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Who loves Hi-Waist? 🤩 With two tampons worth of periof-proof protection plus shmexy mesh, there's never been a better time to Netflix and chill on your period 💆‍♀️
A post shared by THINX (@shethinx) on Dec 10, 2018 at 5:50am PST
The Best Thing I Watched This Year A Quiet Place: I’m not a horror movie watcher per se, but I randomly chose this on a flight and was curled in a ball from the moment it started. I didn’t finish it by the time the flight ended, so as soon as I checked into my hotel, I downloaded it because I HAD to finish.
RBG: The inspiring, ass-kicking life story of Ruth Bader Ginsberg should be required viewing for all. If you don’t walk out of this wanting to assume plank position then something is wrong with you.
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Attention #RBG fans! #RBGMovie is now available on iTunes! Link in bio.
A post shared by RBG (@rbgmovie) on Aug 3, 2018 at 8:18am PDT
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: Though I had to stomach Ricky Martin and Penelope Cruz’s weak performances, Darren Criss had me riveted as serial killer and scam artist Andrew Cunanan. Bonus points for the scene of him dancing to Devo’s “Whip It” in a red leather jumpsuit at an ’80s house party.
GLOW: Aside from the weird way it handled the AIDS plotline, season 2 was just as hilarious as the first. The inclusion of a Harvey Weinstein-esque incident was a reminder that this shit has been going on forever and thankfully Marc Maron’s Sam does the right thing and stands up for his gorgeous lady of wrestling. Also Annabella Sciorra’s ’80s look was nothing short of glorious.
The Handmaid’s Tale: Another show that was so consistently gut wrenching, it kept me curled in a ball. Elisabeth Moss was an absolute baller this season. And the scene where Moira successfully crosses the border and wipes away the dust on a license plate to have it reveal “Ontario” never made me more proud to be Canadian.
***Honourable mention With astoundingly terrible poofy hair and a smattering of rosacea on his cheeks, Matt Damon’s portrayal of Brett Kavanaugh during his testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Saturday Night Live was the balm I needed after an emotionally exhausting two weeks. It was an amazing send up of Kavanaugh’s OTT white male privilege outrage slash absurdly choked up description of his beloved calendars.
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