So, obviously, Taylor Swift has a new album out. I like to think of it as an apology for not doing her East and West Fests because I was going to pay a lot of money for that as a birthday present and not seeing a live performance of Paper Rings is slowly killing me. The indie-folk sound is great. I’m not nearly as eloquent about music as I am about film and TV, which is strange because music is such a huge thing for me, but I can hear traces of Postal Service and St. Vincent and Death Cab and it’s all extremely good. cardigan has been stuck in my head for a good two days, a definite step up from her previous music videos/singles. The album does go together as a whole, it’s not as easy to skip songs as it was on Lover, and I really do think we’re experiencing an artistic genius as her peak. The idea that Lover was last year and she somehow released an album just as good or better in a completely different genre is astounding. seven gives me chills, especially “before I learned civility, I used to scream ferociously.” Anyway, it’s cool to be around for it, since I’ve always wondered what it was like to be a fan of someone at their best and brightest.
Hit “Bracebridge Dinner” on my Gilmore Girls rewatch and it’s such a satisfying episode. The show knows how much the audience wants Luke & Lorelai and Rory & Jess to share a carriage ride and absolutely plays with us. It’s incredible on a personal, character level and also as an excuse to get all the characters together under one roof. I can’t imagine the conversations Paris had with Taylor but I would like to listen to that podcast. Richard being in a great mood is truly a delight.
I’ve been toying around more with putting shows on shuffle. Last week it was a bit of Growing Pains and The Monkees. I know for many it’s shows like Parks and Rec or The Office, which makes sense, but they’re not campy or episodic enough for me to want to jump around. It also feels like I grew up watching Growing Pains out of order so it makes sense for me not to care whereas for newer shows the whole point is that you have to watch them from beginning to end to get the romance or arcs or whatever. Growing Pains has been really great as a wind-down or background-to-chores show and I’m basically just happy to revisit The Monkees whenever, especially since all my 60s spy shows are so dark.
I have one ep left on Invisible Man. I put it down for a bit for Colditz and then got started on The Avengers, but since I only had three episodes left and I always have a McCallum craving I might as well. Also he has the best hair in it since Illya. The last episode I had seen was so over the top awful it was hard to get through, and this time one of the eps was an incredibly taut bottle episode. One of the problems of the show is that it can’t decide on a tone which is a shame because the chemistry is so good. There are definitely middle eps that I would revisit. I don’t need it to be the dark paranoid show that it was in the pilot, but a fun weirdly-political-yet-horny assignment of the week was fine.