Hello, hello, hello. Happy Jason is Fully Vaccinated Day to all who celebrate.
This week’s newsletter shares thoughts on the new Apple TV remote, the Friends reunion special, the new Sigrid single, and much more. You’ll also find a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed this week, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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A Few Things
- A few fun Apple toys got delivered this week. First, we ordered two AirTags. The main reason is to put one in Hannah’s violin case. It’s pretty much the ideal situation for these things. Hide one away, and have some peace of mind for being able to find the violin if left behind somewhere, or just put down in a weird spot in a concert hall, or if it’s moved without you know. I put one in my backpack, because one day in the future, maybe I’ll go work from coffee shops again. Playing around with it, it works exactly as expected. Not much more to say about it. It’s not that sexy of a product, but it does seem to do what it’s supposed to.
- The other delivery, however, has me far more excited. It’s silly, and it’s stupid, but replacing the Apple TV remotes has been a dramatic upgrade. I despised those black remotes, and almost every time I used them, I would hit the trackpad or the wrong button or end up holding it upside down. The new remotes are better in every single way. The only thing I haven’t gotten used to is the new “mute” button is where the old “play” button was, so muscle memory is doing me dirty there. However, just having a mute button at all is such a win. I no longer have to have two remotes sitting by me while watching a baseball game to mute the commercials. It’s these little wins in life that get me through the dark days.
- One of my more used iPhone apps, Dark Noise, has come to the Mac. It’s a fantastic little app for creating background noise, or, my personal favorite: beach sounds. Now that it’s on the Mac, I don’t have to constantly switch my AirPods from my phone to my computer during the day, I can just keep them paired with the computer for video calls, music listening, and now also: beach sounds to help me focus during work instead of listening to my wife’s meetings in the other room. Big win, great app.
- I enjoyed Kurzgesagt’s latest video, “Your Wild and Precious Life” precisely because it made me think about my life, where I am at, what I want to do with it, and how to prioritize going forward. Now that Hannah and I, and all of our family and friends, are vaccinated, I am looking forward to spending more time with people. It’s been 18 months of very little social interaction, and as an introvert, even I am ready to spend time with people on a more regular basis. I guess we’ll see how long that holds up.
Sponsor
The Injured List were featured on the Absolute 100 in 2009. And recently, a documentary called The Lost Scene was released about the old music scene around Adrian, Michigan. The band got back together to write a song for the documentary, and turned it into a music video. It’s called “One More Show.” It’s available on all streaming platforms.
The band is currently working on a new album and you can find more information on Facebook.
In Case You Missed It
- How Fuse and ‘Girl’s Not Grey’ Sparked A Fire Inside Me
- Review: Fenix TX – Lechuza
- Review: Foster the People – Torches
- Review: Twenty One Pilots – Scaled and Icy
- Manchester Orchestra Share Acoustic “Bed Head”
- Sigrid – “Mirror” Video
- All Time Low Share Acoustic “Once in a Lifetime”
- Simple Plan and New Found Glory Reschedule Tour
- Modest Mouse Announce Tour; Share “Leave a Light On”
- Fall Out Boy Perform on American Idol
- Sum 41 – “Catching Fire”
- Albums in Stores – May 27th, 2021
Music Thoughts
- Sigrid returns with a certified bop. The moment that bass starts to pulse I was completely in. Little birdies tell me we should be expecting an October release, and apparently, a music “sampler” will be sent out first instead of advances. I’ll probably listen, but damn, I really just like albums. In that same vein, I haven’t listened to the new The Maine single yet because I am waiting to hear the whole thing. It’s supposedly being sent in early June, so hopefully, I don’t have to wait all that much longer.
- All Time Low in the studio with super-producer Finneas? Interesting. This band having this kind of second stage of their career is incredible. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
- Most of this week was spent listening to Dream Job, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Krang, and Chaser. It was a punk kind of week around here. I’m itching to do an A Wilhelm Scream catalog dive again soon too. I think the weather really starting to feel like summer is getting to me and getting me itchy and in the mood for fast-paced, sunny feeling, music.
- The other album I spent some time this week was Hayley Williams’ Flowers for Vases. I think I’m now firmly in the camp of thinking this is the better of the two she released last year, and while I adore both, I think this just has been grabbing me in such a visceral way. I can’t wait to see what she, or Paramore, come up with next.
Entertainment Thoughts
- Could I have enjoyed the Friends Reunion anymore? It was just a delight. Like a warm, perfect blanket of happiness. I specifically loved the portion of all the fans talking about how much the show meant to them, because that was me. That was the relationship I had with the show. I had the DVDs, and they would just always be on, almost as comfort food. I’d have them on during the day when I worked, as background noise, and I would have them on before I fell asleep at night. So much of my early to late twenties happened around memories of that show. And it has always had an unparalleled ability to just make me feel happy. I enjoyed every second of the reunion and just enjoyed seeing the reflection on the show, and all the cast together again.
- We are only three episodes into Mare of Easttown, but I kind of think I hate it? I find none of this interesting, or any of the characters even hinting around likability. I dunno. I’ll keep sticking it out because I’ve heard good things, but right now … this is boring the shit out of me.
- We made it halfway through Cruella last night. It’s way too long. I don’t have many thoughts on it yet, and we were kinda enjoying it, but, woof, it’s long.
Random and Personal Stuff
- I am very much looking forward to a three-day weekend, and spending some time with friends. Hannah baked a couple of pies for the BBQ tomorrow, and we’re doing pulled pork sandwiches, and my mouth is already watering thing of it. Bring on the summer. Bring on being around friends again. I’m ready.
- If you couldn’t tell, I ended up finishing this on Saturday but then had to run some errands and did not have time to edit it. So, you’re getting it freshly edited and sent out on Sunday morning. Whoops! It’s supposed to get up to 80 today, and I’m ready for it.
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.
- Sigrid – Mirror
- Manchester Orchestra – Bed Head (Acoustic)
- Sum 41 – Catching Fire
- All Time Low – Once in a Lifetime (Acoustic)
- Olivia Rodrigo – Enough for You
- Girlhouse – Pretty Girl in LA
- Krang – XFilesX
- Dream Job – Other Side
- Paris Jackson – Adiago
- Shad – Work
This playlist is available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Community Watch
The trending and popular threads in our community this week include:
- 1977 in film.
- THE CHORUS DYNASTY FANTASY FOOTBALL EXTRAVAGANZA
- 1967 in music.
- 1976 in film.
- 1978 in film.
- Blink-182
- Nintendo
- Tour Prediction and Speculation Thread
- Pokemon GO (mobile)
- Hip-Hop Thread
The most liked post in our forums last week was this one by nohandstoholdonto in the “Accountability in Music” thread.
Previous editions of Liner Notes can be found here.
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