Pop Culture Moments

THE BEST OF THE 00'S

| Thursday, January 07, 2010 10:42 PM

Ah, a fresh decade! It has that new car smell. But, before we unleash the pop culture milieu that is the Decade Twenty-Teen, let us first reflect on the very best of Pop Culture in the 00's. Here are my personal picks for the Ten Best Films, Albums, TV Shows, and Narrative Stories of the Decade-That-Was. If you want to hear my reasoning, you'll have to take a listen to the Steelehouse Podcast. Available free to download at www.steelehouse.com. But, for now, take a look at the lists themselves (in ascending order):

TEN BEST FILMS OF THE 00'S:

10. United 93 (2006) Director: Paul Greengrass

9. Casino Royale (2006) Director: Martin Campbell

8. Amelie (2001) Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

7. The Incredibles (2004) Director: Brad Bird

6. The Passion of the Christ (2004) Director: Mel Gibson

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Director: Michel Gondry

4. Children of Men (2006) Director: Alfonso Cuaron

3. The Dark Knight (2008) Director: Christopher Nolan

2. Moulin Rouge! (2001) Director: Baz Luhrmann

1. The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) Director: Peter Jackson

TEN BEST ALBUMS OF THE 00'S:

10. "Halcyon Days" Bruce Hornsby (2004)

9. "Gold" Ryan Adams (2001)

8. "Come On Feel The Illinoise!" Sufjan Stevens (2005)

7. "Heavier Things" John Mayer (2003)

6. "A Rush of Blood to the Head" Coldplay (2002)

5. "The Rising" Bruce Springsteen (2002)

4. "Vampire Weekend" (2008)

3. "Traffic & Weather" Fountains of Wayne (2007)

2. "No Line On The Horizon" U2 (2009)

1. "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" Wilco (2002)

TEN BEST TELEVISION SHOWS OF THE 00'S:

10. "Band of Brothers" (2001) HBO

9. "Spongebob Squarepants" (2000-2009) Nickelodeon

8. "Pushing Daisies" (2007-2009) ABC

7. "Freaks & Geeks" (2000) NBC

6. "Battlestar Galactica" (2003-2008) Syfy

5. "Extras" (2005-2007) HBO

4. "Mad Men" (2007-2009) AMC

3. "Arrested Development" (2003-2006) FOX

2. "Lost" (2004-2009) ABC

1. "Planet Earth" (2007) Discovery

TEN BEST NARRATIVE STORIES OF THE 00'S:

10. Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (Web Series)

9. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

8. Sam Raimi's Spiderman Saga

7. "Band of Brothers"

6. "Battlestar Galactica" (2006-2009) Syfy

5. Christopher Nolan's Batman Saga

4. "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke

3. Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings"

2. "Lost" (2004-2009) ABC

1. The Harry Potter Saga by J. K. Rowling

There you have it. My own picks for the Best of the Decade. Be looking out in the weeks to come for my Best of 2009. For now, check out the Steelehouse Podcast or, better yet, comment below on your own thoughts. Agree? Disagree? The Decade's in your court.

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THE TOP TEN CHRISTMAS ALBUMS - EVER!

| Monday, November 30, 2009 10:57 AM

'Tis the Season, Ya'll. The turkey leftovers are in the bag at the curb, and so marks the beginning of the season of aural mirth. There is no drought of Christmas music out there to choose from, but the last thing you want is for the mood to suddenly strike you with nothing to reach for but Kenny G. It's Jesus' birthday, so the soundtrack better RULE! Here are my personal favorites (in ascending order):

10. A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS (Various Artists) - I know, I know. Eighties Christmas music: what a drag. But, this collection was released my freshman year in college and featured U2, Sting, Springsteen, and RUN-DMC (the Christmas song from "Die Hard" - something to watch while lighting the fifth advent candle). Merry Christmas to all and to all: parachute pants!

9. THE POLAR EXPRESS (Soundtrack) - Three words for ya: Tom Hanks sings! Well - almost. This album is so frenzied and jolly, it's like being force-fed elfin magic AND LOVING IT! The film itself was slightly too creepy to become an instant classic, but the soundtrack actually improves upon the moments that worked best. The one misstep is an inexplicable rockabilly number featuring Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. That's why Steven Tyler is so creepy: Elf Lineage. Other than that, musical fun for the whole family courtesy of James Horner, who also stuck Celine Dion on the Titanic - something we can all be thankful for.

8. SEASON'S GREETINGS (Perry Como) - Do you hear what I hear? It's Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole rolling over in their graves because they're not on this list. Simmer down, traditionalists. I'm as nostalgic as the best of them (actually, more so). The omission of some of the greats from this list is simply because the ENTIRE ALBUM is not a start-to-finish lambast of yuletide thrill. "White Christmas" and NKC's rendition of "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)" are among the best holiday-singles-that-completely-ignore-Jesus of all time, but the entire albums? 7 to 8 yawns apiece. Bing actually sings of the two locales least associated with winter: Hawaii and Ireland (?) Great job, Bing. Ease up on the hot rum toddies next year. Perry, on the other hand (though, if the proof is in the pudding, something smells like vanilla) has just the right mix of easy-listening and swanky nightclub to ring in merriment. Extra points because the production value drips of the late night hours and because Perry tells the Jesus story over a 10-minute muzak-opera to close out the album. Perhaps this was Green Day's inspiration for Jesus of Suburbia.

7. HOME ALONE Soundtrack (John Williams) - Is it possible that the best Christmas movie soundtrack of all time was from a film directed by Chris Columbus? It's possible if the composer is the emotion-savant John Freaking Williams. A perfect blend of classics, campy updates, and sentimental orchestration (both new and public domain) to keep your party hopping deep into an ill-advised viewing of "Fred Claus."

6. DECEMBER (George Winston) - I swear this man has at least seventeen fingers. Absolutely gorgeous piano solos that are played with as much emotion as skill, evoking images of wintery landscapes. Also, very VERY romantic for those who have permission to pursue that sort of activity.

5. JOY TO THE WORLD (The Boston Pops Orchestra Conducted by John Williams) - Yes, John F. Williams is back with the Boston Pops (the best American orchestra, in my opinion) and a full CHOIR. If you can't hop into the holiday spirit in a blitzenkrieg with this collection, you deserve coal in your stocking like Charlie Brown gots Halloween rocks - YEAH I SAID IT. Special guest Robin Williams' performance reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" is a more fulfilling experience than a viewing of "Patch Adams" - of course, so is passing a kidney stone.

4. WHEN MY HEART FINDS CHRISTMAS (Harry Connick Jr.) - For a decade, I was beginning to wonder if it was possible for a modern composer to create a new Christmas song that would evoke warmth and nostalgia. Let's face it, there's only so many times you can listen to "Jingle Bells." The staggering truth is that HC2 created FIVE new pieces that rival the classics including one ("The Blessed Dawn of Christmas Day") that could possibly be the most profound ever. Alongside these new classics, Harry reinterprets (and reinvigorates) several old faves. A merry-making tour de force.

3. THE SINATRA CHRISTMAS ALBUM (Frank Sinatra) - There are the expected hits ("Jingle Bells" (like only Frank can deliver), "The Christmas Song," and "The Christmas Waltz"), but the real gems here are "Mistletoe & Holly" and the flawless spiritual standards that comprise the entire second-half of the album. The most holiday fun you'll have this year while listening to someone funded by the mafia.

2. A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (Vince Guaraldi Trio) - It isn't just because of the television special (the single best Christmas special - no, holiday special - NO! Television Special - of all time). Vince Guaraldi was a jazz virtuoso who understood the power of simplicity and utilized it to full effect. From the haunting refrains of "Christmastime is Here" to the melancholy doo-doo-doo's that open "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," this is a holiday album that you don't so much hear as feel. This is also where "Linus & Lucy" came from, in case you were wondering.

1. THE ANDY WILLIAMS CHRISTMAS ALBUM - A perfect album must completely understand its purpose as a whole, not just as a collection of songs. Hence, a perfect Christmas album must understand that it has to both kick-start and wind-down the party - that it needs to celebrate merry abandon while reverently admiring the Savior born. It should be passionate and ecstatic. Robust and sparse. And it should work in a room of 200 people as well as it plays for you alone sitting by the fire staring out the window into the snow. Andy Williams created Christmas music because he loved Christmas. He believed in everything about the holiday. That belief comes out in this stirring collection that doesn't feel like it was aching for a radio single. And for those detractors who don't think the boy can sing, listen to him hold his own on "Sweet Little Jesus Boy." When he begins singing of what we eventually did to that baby on the cross, you can hear remorse and grace intermingle. Do yourself a favor: snuggle up with your honey to this remarkable work.

And there you have it: my opinion. The ornament's in your court. Agree? Disagree? Let your caroling voice be heard below!

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WEEKLY POP CULTURE ROUND-UP

| Monday, November 09, 2009 1:38 PM

November is barely a week old, and there is already a treasure trove of minutia that will not matter this time next year. Here are the top five pop culture tidbits of the past week:

1. Oscar Hosts Named - Oscar Telecast Producer Adam Shankman announces the 82^nd Academy Awards will be co-hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. This is fantastic decision, as both Martin and Baldwin can play deadpan and over-the-top with equal aplomb. And for all who bristle at Baldwin's political leftism, Martin should balance it out nicely with his approach to philosophical absurdity. For a primer, watch them vie for Meryl Streep's affections when "It's Complicated" opens Christmas Day. The Oscar telecast airs on ABC Television March 7, 2010.

2. "Mad Men" season finale. Never has such misery been so riveting to watch. Season Three has unfolded like the message verse in a parable, delivering ramification upon ramification to the previous bad behavior of our beloved Advertising Executives. The irony: it is the penalties of the sin itself that finally scrubs off that shiny veneer façade. Is it possible that Don Draper is becoming real? And how long until Season Four?

3. "V" Debuts. As does the brouhaha over whether or not the attractive African-American alien leader who promises peace and universal health care (while secretly wanting to eat your cat) is a veiled criticism of President Obama. I can see why the media is so upset. None of them criticized our last President.

4. Michael Jackson's "This Is It" crosses $100 million - album debuts at #1. Now, he'll finally get some media attention.

5. Steven Tyler leaves Aerosmith - I am assuming he'll be taking the bandana collection tied to his microphone with him. Tyler's departure will leave a gaping hole in the rock world: the desperately unattractive front man who females feel obligated to say is attractive. Now, when Mick Jagger retires, he'll be forced to pass the baton to the guy from Rascal Flatts. If history warns us of a trend, Tyler will be replaced by some washed-up Christian vocalist - which means we'll finally get to hear "Dude Looks Like a Lady" belted out by Michael English. Farewell, Steven Tyler. I suppose you decided you did want to miss a thing after all.

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GO SEE "WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE" - RIGHT NOW.

| Tuesday, November 03, 2009 11:51 AM

The beauty of critiquing art is that we get to disagree. Even if many like or loathe the same film, album, or book, they may like or loathe it for very different reasons - and those reasons often open up thrilling debate. As a matter of fact, debating art is one of those unintentional ways that we grow to understand the heart of someone else. I will learn a friend's hot buttons and passions very quickly by discussing an artistic work that he or she absolutely loves - or absolutely hates. This is why truly bad art is the sort of art that provokes little to no reaction at all: "take-it-or-leave-it" art. That sort of middle-of-the-road approach refuses to stir imagination or opinion and therefore does very little to cause us to grow. It is the hot-button film that forces us to be truly introspective. The hot-button of the moment? Spike Jonze revelation of "Where the Wild Things Are."

Yes, I've read the many critiques that have felt the film flounders - even the review on this very site. But, I present to you now a last ditch argument of reasons that YOU. MUST. SEE. THIS. FILM.

TONIGHT.

1. The film captures the essence of actual childhood in a generation of overworked mothers and fatherless boys. The film's protagonist, Max, is in the pivotal age of transferring from a boy's world to a man's world. This has been thrust upon him because his own father has abandoned the family, changing everything. The father's departure has created three Wild Things: a mother who cannot mother because she also has to father, a sister who does not connect with her brother because she has left his age of immaturity behind, and Max himself: the Wild Thing of the film's title. Max makes childish decisions, but not irrational ones based on his life at the moment. He struggles to process the change in his family and the need to fill the emptiness inside of him. However, lacking maturity, he attempts to fill his painful void with what he believes to be the real answer: absolute freedom. And, as we all know, in a world of absolute freedom, our emotions become Wild Things.

2. The film intrigues and captivates the young (but not too young) while digging into a deep well for adults. In Max's escapist wilderness, his emotions (in the guise of Carol, KW, and the others) run free without barriers or borders and chaos ensues. Max claims himself King over his feelings - certain that he can manage them now that he is the Boss of Himself. But, these emotions will not be led, and they will certainly not be tamed. View the film through new, adult eyes and you will see powerful symbolism in each emotion represented, as well as in each decision and action Max takes to corral them into a place where Max feels complete. Viewed through this filter, moments other critics have deemed "meandering" become powerful statements of Max's growth - moments we can empathize with as adults and perhaps even learn from.

3. The visual approach is astounding and sets the perfect mood. Max's wilderness is not a utopian fantasy world. It is an ominous, daunting - yet mesmerizing place. The prospect of taking control of one's life and situation is a place of hope: but that doesn't make it a land that is any less frightening. Jonze captures this beautiful, terrible landscape with a pitch-perfect aesthetic that is simultaneously like nothing you've seen in cinema before.

4. The climax and its message. Without giving away the ending (and if you've read the children's book, there is plenty more to surprise you), suffice it to say that the emotional catharsis of the film's payoff is riveting. But, again, filter the moments and the statements through the glasses of adulthood. What is the shift inside of Max that is happening at the film's climax? Why does he make the decisions he makes? When, in our own lives, did we make that same decision: the decision to become a grown-up? And, then of course, debate it.

And that is the true joy of a film experience like "Where the Wild Things Are." Inevitably, I will see something that you will not and vice-versa. By debating it and dissecting it and even by being perturbed at how we don't see eye-to-eye, we will both grow. I will understand more of you than I did before, and you will understand more of me.

And that, my friend, is how we begin to tame the Wild Things.

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"FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS" RETURNS TONIGHT

| Wednesday, October 28, 2009 3:01 PM

Have you ever driven through one of those tiny Texas towns on your way to your church youth group Mexico Missions trip? You know the town: one Tastee-Freeze Drive-In, an Applebee's, and a tiny downtown with a fabric shop? Oh yeah: and a 20,000-seat high school football stadium? Have you ever wondered what lives are like in that town? You have? Then, you need to tune in to DirecTV's 101 Network tonight for the return of the fantastic "Friday Night Lights:" one of the best sports-centric dramatic TV series of all time. Need reasons? OK. Here are four:

1. KYLE CHANDLER & CONNIE BRITTON: Quite honestly, the most realistic healthy marriage portrayed on television these days. As Coach & Tami Taylor, Chandler and Britton play, respectively, a High School Football Coach and Principal with old-school morals in a new-morality school. Their meltdowns amid the excesses of modern youth culture are both hilarious and touching, and they always bring needed gravitas and perspective to a world where immature athletes get whatever they want.

2. RESPECT FOR FAITH: Though many of the high school students engage in less-than-Godly behavior (see #4), "Friday Night Lights" holds the pivotal role of the church community, faith, and even Christianity in high regard. It is one of the few programs to not brush off church-going as square or archaic. Rather, prayer is an integral part of this small-town life and weekly church services admonish, convict, and bring communities together. Though an imperfect example (aren't we all?), the arc of Lyla Garity becoming a born-again Christian as a response to her father's infidelity was heartfelt, impacting, and has signified a change in her character that has been sustained.

3. A REAL FATHER FIGURE. Again with Kyle Chandler as Coach Taylor. In a town (and a modern generation) where abandoned sons are left wanting for true father figures, Coach Taylor is the very picture of someone who loves these boys enough to challenge them toward integrity. There are as many genuine manly embraces as there is tough love, and all it takes is one glance of a disappointed Kyle Chandler to set a 270-pound linebacker back on the right course.

4. BAD DECISIONS UNREWARDED. In a television landscape where immoral choices come with very little downside (Grey's Anatomy anyone?), "Friday Night Lights" reveals modern high school life the way it unfortunately is for young people who have their every whim catered to. Yes, there is debauchery, but it always comes with a significant price. Sin separates people and in FNL, bad behavior causes rifts in relationships. It makes superstars yearning for humanity even less human. A powerful statement that modern young people are hearing.

Did I also mention astounding writing and performances (even if some of the storylines lean a little soapish)? "Friday Night Lights" is worth a try. And tonight, you have your chance. Seasons 1, 2, and 3 are also available on DVD.

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Pop Culture Moments

with Mark Steele