The Awesome List

I’ve had an incredibly good run of all things pop culture in the past few weeks, so I thought I’d share with you in handy list form. Without any further ado I give you The Awesome List.

1. Breaking Bad

This show is always great, but three things from tonight’s (last night’s by the time you might read this) episode just jumped literally off the screen: Badger’s piano virtuoso, the cooking montage (honestly, that was one of the most beautifully directed sequences I think I’ve ever seen on TV. And yes, I just used the word “beautiful” in connection with a scene showing the production of meth amphetamine. It was just an incredibly well shot scene.), and the grin on Walt’s face when Maria hugs him after confronting him about Skyler’s “breakdown.” (That was just pure, unadulterated evil)

2. The Amazing Spider-Man/Dark Knight Rises (light spoilers here, proceed with caution)

I caught both of these Saturday in a double feature with my erstwhile liaisons to the world of geek, Nick and Shawn. Both are great in a big summer popcorn movie kind of way, though I still prefer Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man II and The Dark Knight. That being said I did like Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker better than Tobey McGuire’s (not to mention anything that has Emma Stone in it), but in the end I think the Spider-Man movies are only as good as their villains, and Doc Ock is still tops in my book in that regard.

As for the Dark Knight Rises, is it just me or did they lift most of the plot straight out of Rocky III? You had the main hero living a comfortable but sheltered life while a seemingly unbeatable challenger is on the rise, the protective father figure giving the “You can’t win Rock!” speech (though substitute Michael Cain for Burgess Meredith), the hero taking a beating in his first encounter with the challenger, the hero regaining his strength and confidence in an unfamiliar environment, and finally the hero beating down the villain in a climatic fight scene (though DKR has some added twists after that scene). All that was missing was a training montage with Survivor soundtrack and the awkward Rocky/Apollo manhug on the beach. Still, lots of stuff blew up, good triumphed over evil and Anne Hathaway continued to confound and disturb me by being both incredibly attractive and Luis Suarez’s slightly paler twin.

3. Winning cool vinyl

I entered a giveaway from the fine folks at Park Ave CDs and won a limited edition 8 inch square vinyl of The Dirty Projectors’ single Gun Has No Trigger, from their excellent and highly recommended album Swing Lo Magellan. Side A has the single, but side B has a “Sumerian Akkadian Cuneiform etching” of the complete the lyrics to the song. How adorably pretentious is that? Plus, it’s square. Very cool. Thanks again, Park Ave!

Hard to get a photo where you could see this, but I think this does the trick.

4. Getting cool vinyl in the mail

My copies of the recent Sugar reissues by the awesome folks at Merge records came and they most certainly did not disappoint, especially Copper Blue, one of my favorite records of all time that I didn’t yet own on vinyl. All of the reissues sound fantastic, and, since I pre-ordered my copy of the deluxe vinyl editions, my package included a Copper Blue poster signed by Bob Mould, which is a very nice treat indeed, even if his signature appears to be “Jummummumm.”

Sugar’s seminal Copper Blue (with the Beaster EP included) and the underrated File Under Easy Listening in all of the analog glory.

Signature swag.

5. Getting cool vinyl at the store

I’m still listening to Japandroids Celebration Rock on heavy rotation (album of the year so far for me, hands down), and am loving even more the white vinyl. This record looks as good as it sounds.

Awesome.

6. Moonrise Kingdom

Saw this a couple of weekends ago and really liked it, and yes it is about as different from the summer super hero blockbusters as it can be (JLo is a complicated fella, and his entertainment likes are wide ranging. And why in the world has he busted out third person all of a sudden?) It’s beautifully filmed (there’s that description again) and contains my favorite Godfather reference of all time (“Take the carbon, leave the bible.”) Go see it on the big screen while you can.

That’s the list of awesome, in all of it’s, um, awesome glory. What have you seen or heard that’s awesome lately? (Firstly person to say this decidedly not awesome cover of Radiohead’s Street Spirit by The Darkness shall be subjected to shame and ridicule.)

Cheers.