Yolk Side

TRAFFIC (2000). Another Brilliant Lesson in the following. Do not watch The Wire before watching any other film about the war on drugs, the drug industry, or just a straight-up yeyo part-ay because it will make the film seem: (a) pre-chewed, (b) condescending, (c) wickedly and oafishly unsophisticated, (d) heavy-handed and maudlin, and (e) laughable. I watched The Wire.

FINAL JUDGMENT: Not truly terrible, but made all the more worse for the sad, deflated expectations. Catch it on USA and watch between episodes of America's Best Dance Crew.

CLUELESS (1995). THIS WAS FUCKING BRILLIANT. Seriously, why don't they make movies like this anymore? Shines supernovas brighter than Mean Girls (which was funny, but still somewhat sandy and bland) with its tart and sly humor. It's wonderful to find a script that scalds with love and a group of actresses that are totally in on the joke*.

* Trite MTV ending and slightly icky romance aside.

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09 Flashing Lights (ft. Dwele)

Kanye West

I would take a bullet for the opening 40 seconds of this track, which more than redeem Ye's pathetic dog-eared rhyme book, flagrant abuse of mixed metaphors, and deliriously nonsensical similes. Anything for you, roiling disco-stomp and flossy, glossy strings!

01 Get Down

Nas

Struts with a pimp-roll James Brown sample and sneers with gimlet-eyed defiance. Get Down is hard, grim, gritty, and the perfect unhewn, poetic epic for the slums. Also known as: Mommy, Nas made me a Black Panther!

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Fargo (1996). Oh, that was pitch-perfect. Absolutely sincere and patient and wonderfully made. In some ways, I prefer it to even No Country. No Country was weighed down by its grim spectres, but Fargo has complete free range and the purity of its plot, its characters, and its dialogue ring through each and every scene. And best of all, everything is so completely seamless, no rude announcements of the effort that went into the production, just the smooth, confident beauty of the finished product.

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Decline and Fall

Evelyn Waugh

Decline and Fall; Evelyn Waugh

Terrible things happen to Paul Pennyfeather, testing his stiff British upper lip and endless supply of Valium.

Decline and Fall is light, frothy social satire, and utterly impossible to review. The novel moves at a quick, blithe clip - full of nudges at the British school and class systems - with wit and charm, but the actual events themselves get steadily and noticeably gloomier (goodbye expulsion, hello penal system?).

This is not the problem. I love grim and gloomy! They can be my Valentines! The problem is that Decline and Fall never actually acknowledges the turn in its subject matter, and narrates the entire book in the same chirpy, removed tone. Tea and mild social ostracization or shanking and White Slavery? It's all the same to Paul Pennyfeather! All of the events roll off Waugh's back, and I'm not entirely sure whether or not this military adherence to lightheartedness is supposed to be Damning Social Commentary or Jolly Social Satire.

Whatever the aim, in the end, Waugh's detached, glib voice injects the novel with its smooth humor, but it also ultimately sands off all of the edges of the plot and makes Decline and Fall difficult to remember. Let's call it enjoyable (very enjoyable!), but forgettable.

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