This is the last year of the decade. Obviously. Ultimately that does not mean a whole lot to anyone as it's just another new year that just happens to belong to a new decade. However, to the pop culuture and zeitgeist obsessed bands of people who make up the blogosphere, it's a huge time. Now that indie music stalwarts Pitchfork have announced their list of the best 500 tracks of the decade (topped by the irrefutably awesome trio of Outkast's "B.O.B." (my very first illegal download!), LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends", and M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes") and Bill Simmons has started his EssGee Awards, anyone and everyone who is obsessed with music, movies, TV, books and all the rest is frantically coming up with what they're going to do themselves to celebrate the culmination of a pretty fantastic decade.
Of course, this is my announcement that between October and November I will be releasing my favorite albums, songs, comics, TV shows, and movies of the decade, hopefully developing a pretty comprehensive list that highlights who I am as a pop culture junkie. It should be pretty interesting and a fairly difficult list to compile (turns out that there were a lot of releases in this decade), but I will do it no less.
Look for Slices of Fried Gold: The Decades Ending lists coming very soon.
Slices of Fried Gold: The Decade Ending Edition
Manny gets busted for steroids, claims was used for hair
"I didn't know I couldn't do that"
Manny Ramirez was busted for performance enhancing drugs today, which is resulting in a 50 game suspension from the MLB. It's uncertain right now who is more upset, the Los Angeles Dodgers or Bill Simmons, who someone should likely check on as he may be walking his dog to San Diego right now.
In reality, it should not be surprising at this point. Everyone probably has done it (I am definitely looking at you Brady "the 'burns" Anderson), but still, there was something pure and charming about Manny. To see that he's just another one of the steroids guys is very disappointing. At this point, they need to either throw out everyone's results from this era or keep everyone - you can't pick and choose any more.
That is all.
Sex, Drugs, and Chuck Klosterman
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
I think because every part of my life is influenced by pop culture, I feel like it's necessary that the things I love to read are deeply influenced by pop culture as well. Whether it's Reverend Jesse Custer meeting Bill Hicks in Preacher, Yorick Brown talking with one of the billions of abandoned women about how one of the things they'll miss the most are the male musicians who perished in Y the Last Man, or Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay crafting legendary comic book characters in the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, they're all directly infused with pop culture and heavily influenced by it as well.
Of my favorite written works though, nothing is more directly influenced by pop culture than Bill Simmons' columns for ESPN.com. The guy analyzes sports through the microcosm of movies, music, television, and everything else. Whether he's breaking down the Red Sox season by comparing it to a multitude of Godfather quotes, analyzing the Wrestler, or comparing anything and everything to Teen Wolf, Karate Kid, and Rocky, it makes the writing more hilarious and easier to relate to.
While using pop culture in such a fashion is not exactly innovative, Simmons does it better than anyone else and the fact he uses it to write about sports makes it all the better. I really didn't think I'd find another writer that makes me laugh like that and does it about something I really care about.
Enter Chuck Klosterman. I'd heard a lot about him, kept seeing his name everywhere, etc. etc. Then last Friday, I read that he was coming up to speak at UAA (University of Alaska Anchorage for the uninitiated) in late March, and I decided it was time to check out his writing. Sure enough, he was exactly like Bill Simmons, which is unsurprising given the fact that Simmons and he have a bit of a mutual admiration thing going on.
No less, Klosterman does the same thing as Simmons, except he uses pop culture to look at life, love, and rock and roll. His book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is a collection of essays about any number of things, from understanding modern day love and how it is influenced by Lloyd Dobler and When Harry Met Sally, to the Real World and the way it has created archetypes for the current generation of young people to fit in to. It's hilarious, it's occasionally quite insightful, and really odd (to read a study on America's modern sexual identity by talking about the Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee sex tape, well, you just never expect things like that).
The guy has the potential to join Simmons as one of my favorite writers, and I just can't recommend him enough. He writes like I dream to write, and has a conversational tone that is superb at conveying a point without making the reader feel like it's being hammered home (to put it simply, it's like you're hanging out with a really well spoken and hilarious friend who has a great point of view on life). Sure, he may look like an extra nerdy version of Corey Feldman, but that's okay. He's still absolutely hilarious, and highly recommended by yours truly.
File Under F for Funny
Jerry Pappas: Time Gigolo
So recently, two things have really gotten me in terms of flat out hilarious forms of entertainment.
The first is Important Things with Demetri Martin. It's a new show on Comedy Central, and it is a bizarre mix of animation, stand up comedy, drawing, and sketches (a veritable variety show) from Demetri Martin, one of the funniest and most original guys in stand up comedy. Each episode Martin takes you through important things in the world today, and the first episode last Wednesday took us through the power of timing.
Of course, this led to a strangely disconnected series of hilarity, highlighted by the segment (partially at the top) about a time traveling janitor who used his found technology to sleep with famous women throughout history. In short, an innovative and really hilarious way to use time travel. While the style of the show has a tendency to seemingly fall in love with itself, anyone that can come up with a character who uses a vending/time travel machine to sleep with Mary Magdalene earns my viewership, that's for sure.
The other comes as no surprise. Most of my friends know of my obsession with Bill Simmons (also known as "that Bill Simmons guy"), ESPN's resident god amongst sportswriters, a man who fuses sports with pop culture better than anyone on the planet. I've been reading his column(s) since he came over from his own website to ESPN.com, read his book, and love pretty much everything he puts out there.
Over the while, he's stopped writing as often on ESPN. You can call it "he's been focusing on his new book," I may call it ongoing spat with his editorial staff. Whatever. Whatever it is, he's been writing less columns and I find it really annoying. Plus, he's been doing tons of podcasts (they're called The BS Report), and I'm just not a podcast guy. Some will claim they don't listen to podcasts for a number of reasons (1. I'm trying to support other forms of journalism, 2. I don't have the time to listen to 80 minute podcasts, 3. Journalists have annoying voices, etc. etc.), I have but one reason: podcasts pair poorly with restrooms and work, both of which are superb Simmons' locales.
However, today I couldn't resist the opportunity to listen to his analysis of the NBA All Star Game. Too much entertainment could be had by it, and by god, I listened to it. And it was glorious. After a long day at an event, I spent the last part of the day working efficiently while listening to it. It worked really well, as I got my work done inbetween laughing hysterically at everything from their analysis of the H-O-R-S-E competition to their personal Mt. Rushmore's of fast food (mine: McDonald's, Subway, Wendy's, and Taco Bell - I am not a classy guy).
A lot of people love those audiotapes of books and think they are a great alternative to reading, and I always thought that was a bit odd. This is like an audiotape of a Simmons' column, and good god, it is glorious. I now know what I will be listening to at work from now on, so thanks a lot Bill Simmons. You've done a great job at making me even more inefficient at work.
Jackass.
