Oh my! A recommendations post!

Due to the fact that my European posts and my evisceration/condemnation of the Anchorage Daily News (next on my list for posts to make) are so freaking time consuming, I will save those to write this weekend. Until then, I'm going to write smaller posts, and once I complete the European/ADN posts I will get back to the regularly scheduled broadcasts. I swear. No less, there are a few things I've been pretty obsessed with. I, of course, must share.

Party Down

This show had to be good. There really was no way for it to not be, as it is created by Rob Thomas (of Veronica Mars fame) and produced by Paul Rudd and stars a virtual who's who of funny character actors (Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, Jane Lynch, the ravishing Lizzy Caplan, Adam Scott, and Martin Starr, plus all kinds of great guest stars). Of course, it started a bit slow, but every episode since has improved drastically to the point that I would call it maybe the funniest show on TV right now (with possible exception of Better Off Ted, the bizarrely awesome office comedy on ABC).

It has one more episode that guest stars the wonderful Kristen Bell, and then it has already been picked up for another season by Starz! While it's not exactly high concept, as it is about out-of-work actors and writers who are trying to pay the bills working for a catering company called Party Down, it is very well acted, sharply scripted, and occasionally painfully funny. I know no one really has plans on sitting inside this summer, but if you get a chance, watch this show. It comes highly recommended from yours truly.

Yann Tiersen

Some time in the last year, I was having coffee with my sister when I was totally enchanted by the music that was playing. Being the dork that I am, I asked my sister to go ask who they were playing, and they told her it was the soundtrack to the French film Amelie. At the time, I had seen the movie once (since have grown to love it, partly because of the soundtrack) and did not remember the music to be all that, but hearing it once again at Kaladi's inspired me to acquire it.

I quickly fell in love with it.

As a guy who likes his movie scores, I really, really loved this one. I could even say it was my favorite of all. After this though, I discovered that it was a French artist named Yann Tiersen who had made most of the album, and I hastily acquired the rest of his work. After going to France and listening to his music repeatedly, I can now safely say that I love his music. Whether or not it is because of the permanent association with the amazing time I had in Paris, I'm not sure. One way or another, Tiersen's multi-instrumental work is bar none some of the most creative and breathtaking work I've heard, and his discography really has a little bit of something for everyone (assuming you are okay with instrumentals).

My personal favorites are the Amelie soundtrack, his studio album Les Retrouvailles, and his score for Good bye Lenin!, but all of it is very good. He went from being unlisted in my Last.FM account to a surprising (even to me) number seven in terms of my all time most listened to artist (and by all time, I mean since I started using Last.FM). That's pretty impressive, and is a pretty good indicator that I like the guy's music. I strongly recommend checking him out.