Liner Notes (March 1st, 2019)

Oh, hi March.

This week’s roundup looks at what I worked on around the website this week, goes through my thoughts on music (including Marianas Trench, Japanese House, and the new Carly Rae Jepsen songs), and has my usual media diet from the last week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I loved this week, and the supporter Q&A post can be found here.

Three Things

  • This week I was the guest on the Stereo Confidential podcast where they discussed the new album, Blushing, from Copeland. I’m still listening to and enjoying this album a whole lot, and it was fun to hear some other people’s perspective on the record as well.
  • At the behest of a user’s request, I built in a simpler theme change toggle for mobile users in the forum.
  • This week was a lot of working on fixing up auto embedding around the forums. I finally got Twitter and Instagram (fingers crossed) to operate a whole lot better, faster, and more consistently. I also improved Spotify, Reddit, Imgur, and Giphy this week to better automatically embed media from those sites when given a regular link. Next up is working on adding Apple Music and then improving some of the others using the new, faster, more reliable base.

In Case You Missed It

Music Thoughts

  • This week ended up being pretty heavily dominated by hip-hop music early on in the week. I checked out and enjoyed Beau Young Prince’s latest album, Groovy Land, which has a more laid back but catchy sound to it. After that, I went on a considerable dive of all the Yhung T.O. albums and EPs and really like them. I’m a sucker for rap mixed with singing mixed with the autotune and a whole lot of melody, and this was really in my wheelhouse. I followed that up with checking out the SOB x RBE albums and enjoyed those as well. They’re on the more aggressive side of hip-hop which works great in the gym.
  • Holy shit! Those two new Carly Rae Jepsen songs are fantastic. I almost didn’t want to listen because I want to hear the full album in full, but since we still don’t have a release date (I hear mid-summer is the goal), and since I don’t even know if these songs will be on the album, I figured I had to give them a listen. They’re so damn good. Hannah asked me what it is about Carly that I like so much, and I explained it as she was writing, and performing, pop songs in the way other artists get credit for doing. Her songs speak to me on a different level and bring with them such a feeling of joy.
  • The new album from The Japanese House is out now and it gets my full recommendation. To me, it feels almost of a part with the new album from Copeland. It’s moody, and deep, and walks within that same world. It’s great. It’s creative. It’s got some extraordinary moments.
  • I’ll be honest and say I’m disappointed in the new Marianas Trench album. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s a good pop album, it’s that it’s not as good as I was expecting from the band. It’s not as creative. The penultimate and final track are incredible, and if the whole album took that theatrical sound and expanded upon it, I would put it up with their others. But, as of right now, it’s just not quite there. Still, it’s a very catchy and well-done pop album. And good Marianas Trench is still better than most. But, I never thought I’d think Set It Off released a better version of this album earlier this year, and yet here we are. I’ll still be listening to it all week.
  • I tried another new Weezer album. I turned off another new Weezer album before the third song.
  • Digging the new Dessa song. (I’d love a new Doomtree album.)

Entertainment Thoughts

  • I listened to The Ringer’s podcast episode about the movie Dave, which was a movie I hadn’t thought about in years. I remember seeing it on VHS as a kid and liking it, so after the podcast, I needed to see how it held up. It’s a joyful movie that has an underlying optimism to politics that I haven’t felt in a long time. It’s a movie that’s just the right amount of silly in premise but with a message and heart that works.
  • We watched Isn’t it Romantic last night and both enjoyed it. It’s a silly premise, but as someone who loves romantic comedies, I liked seeing the entire idea flipped on itself like that. The meta stuff worked for me, and it had just enough laughs, and lightheartedness, in just the right runtime. Not a great movie, but it was a fun way to spend the evening.
  • We’ve started watching Below Deck: Mediterranean and the drama is off the charts in this show. I’ve never wanted to punch someone as much as I hate that frat boy douche Bryan, and I’ve never hated guests the way I hate some of these guests. The Trump supporting rich assholes in last night’s episode had me ready to seize the means of production within 20 minutes.
  • Opening Day for major league baseball is at the end of this month, so I’ve made it my goal to finish Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary. (It’s on Amazon Prime.) I’m on the 7th episode of this massive, massive documentary and it’s hard for me to put into words how much I love it. It’s incredible, detailed, and informative. Highly recommended.
  • I’m on the third episode of the second season of Star Trek: Discovery and totally in on this season. Spock? Weird red angel things? Sign me up. I’m glad to hear this got picked up for another season.
  • We finished Pen15 and it was a delight. I don’t think it’s quite on the same level as something as Eighth Grade, but there are moments of pure nostalgia and pure cringe, and wrapping it in friendship is perfect. Middle school fucking sucked.

Random and Personal Stuff

  • This week we finished up our ‘Save the Dates’ and got those ordered. Simple, but I like how they turned out. Now we have to get those sent out and figure out some wedding registry stuff. Uh, want to get me something? Stay a supporter for many years!
  • Seeing as Bryce Harper signed a $330 million, 13-year, baseball contract with the Phillies this week, I’ve decided I’m not going to shave for a few weeks and see if I can’t steal some of that beard-magic for myself. Wish me luck.
  • Decent weight week for me this week, but I was a little too relaxed last night, and it showed on my morning weigh-in. Still right in the 3 lbs range I want to be within, but flirting with that upper limit just a tad more than I’d like. It was entirely the fault of the last beer and a handful of Goldfish Crackers I ate because I wanted to rip my hair out watching Below Deck.

Ten Songs

Here are ten songs that I listened to and loved this week. Some may be new, some may be old, but they all found their way into my life during the past seven days.

  1. Carly Rae Jepsen – Now That I Found You
  2. Ben Platt – Bad Habit
  3. The Japanese House – We Talk All The Time
  4. Marianas Tench – The Killing Kind
  5. Dave House – The Ditch
  6. Dessa – Grade School Games
  7. Yhung T.O. – Grandma’s Lincoln
  8. Ellie Goulding – Flux
  9. Beau Young Prince – Kill Moe
  10. American Football – Uncomfortably Numb

The playlists are also available on Spotify and Apple Music.

After I finish getting this up on the website Hannah and I are meeting her parents at Bridgeport Brewery one last time. The brewery closes on the 10th, and we’re going to miss it dearly. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Previous editions of this roundup can be found here.