Boy Meets World Review: The Final Season
There has never in the history of television been a show that has more consistently hired the WORST BOOM OPERATORS EVER than Boy Meets World.
Boy Meets World Review: The Penultimate Season
I liked that one episode where Eric said “I’m Batman” because he really was Batman.
I had forgotten how mad I was when Shawn broke up with Angela, but without that we never would have gotten what is easily one of the greatest BMW episodes ever, even at this late (read: ridiculous) date, “Poetic License: An Ode to Holden Caulfield.”
The rest was just a mess of theme episodes, meta-commentary, and other assorted (but enjoyable) fluff, with the occasional moral buried in there now and again.
I fear next season and the (dreaded) honeymoon episode. **shudder**
Boy Meets World Review: Season 5
Let’s just let Jack get The Eric Situation out of the way: “He gets worse every day.”
This season was both great and really atrociously awful in its dealings with the BMW canon. It was nice to see the return of Alex Mack as one of Shawn’s former flames, and hey, Frankie and Joey finally graduate! But for all the nice little touches, the show was always a little too cute about the meta commentary. Bringing Minkus back for graduation only to have him call after Mr. Turner down the “hall no one returns from” was a little grating. As was the senior couch. Does any school in America have a senior couch?
Let’s see, what else. Oh, right, the Sabrina, The Teenage Witch cross-over episodes. I’d stopped watching Sabrina by this point in its original run so at the time it was kinda nice to catch up with Clarissa Darling, but since I’ve recently caught up with Clarissa Darling they felt extra dated. I still lovelovelove the Scream episode, although it pretty much galvanized my pre-Party of Five JLoHew hatred (rooted totally in Will Friedel dating jealously I readily admit). And this is the season where finally, FINALLY, Angela makes her appearance. Love her.
Finally the two things that made us all yell at the television screen in 1998, and me, alone, in 2012: Lucky Spencer kissed Topanga! Topanga proposed to Cory! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Boy Meets World Review: Season 4
Ah, my freshman year of college. Which is probably why I completely forgot that Alan quit his job at the grocery store and bought a camping store. Like, completely completely. I mean, I just watched these episodes and I still don’t remember the camping store. Things I did remember: Eric on Singled Out (man, remember Singled Out? That show was so best.), Shawn in drag (so hot), Topanga moving to Shittsburgh (yeah, I said it), and Mr. Turner’s motorcycle accident (eep!). I especially appreciated the work the writers did this season to develop Eric into an actual multifaceted human being; it’s a shame it didn’t stick
It took a couple months for the BMW fans to find each other, but once we did, we always made sure one of us taped it (man, remember VCRs? THE NINETIES) every Friday. And then we’d all get together Monday night to watch it (and the last Thursday’s episode of Friends). With one exception, we’re all still BFFs. BMW people are the best people.
Boy Meets World Review: Season 3
The other day @onthestorm tweeted a good twit: “I didn’t know I had a 30-inch waist until I was 20 years old. #thankyou90sfashion.” And then, “Also, my 40-inch waist pants were seen by millions of people a week. #screwyou90sfashion.”
SO TRUE.
I have a lot of thoughts on Season 3, some a little conflicted. Eric’s at about 75% doofus, which pains me beyond belief. Topanga and Cory do a whole lot of making out, which kinda gives me the creeps. The new Morgan isn’t nearly as adorable as the old Morgan. But I loved the relationship between Jonathan and Shawn, and I absolutely adored getting to see more of Feeny’s history (Feeney rulez 4eva!!!!1!1!!! amirite?). Also: Brittany Murphy! Mena Suvari! Three of four Monkees! In short, still delightful.
Boy Meets World Review: Season 2
SO PLAID.
Boy Meets World Review: Season 1
Unexpectedly adorable, and I learned a lot of very important life lessons to boot!
46-Character Album Review
So is St. Vincent the hipster’s Bjork or what?
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
R.E.M.- “Strange Currencies”
From their album Monster
My favorite R.E.M. song is one that everybody loves; my second-favorite is one that no one else even likes.* It’s from Monster, which rivals only Fairweather Johnson for appearances in used bins.
Looking back, it’s more a product of misplaced expectations than a legitimately subpar record. R.E.M. found themselves, quite surprisingly, the biggest rock act in the world in 1994; so they delivered a loud, tour-ready album befitting that title, one with ripe major chords and mumble-free lyrics. Someone apparently bet Peter Buck that he couldn’t stand on the delay pedal for every song, and he gladly took the money.
For once though, the people might have just had a fever for more mandolin. In trying to give casual fans what they wanted, R.E.M. ended up with a misshapen disguise that lacked the immediacy and steadfastness of their earlier work. The minute they tried to be accessible is when they became more inscrutable than ever. Which is so R.E.M. of them.
In some ways Monster is dodgy and disingenuous, but in other ways, it’s resolute. For example, with its glam signifiers and gender-indeterminate pronouns, it was easily the band’s queerest album at the time. Under cloak of arena-ready melodies and all neon everything, Stipe’s lyrics built upon the catharsis of Out of Time and the vulnerability of Automatic for the People to form a closeted desperation.
Of course, I couldn’t describe any of that when I bought the inescapable CD with the orange cover from Blockbuster Music just because I liked singing “Bang and Blame”. All I knew was that in the middle of this weird mixture of big songs and fast songs was a slow one. I didn’t know how indebted it was to Big Star or how corny it was to imagine slow-dancing to it with some girl whose name I can’t even remember now.* I just knew that it meant something to me in what felt like a unique, special way. In the end, you can talk about how R.E.M. brought the underground to the mainstream. You can admire their longevity. You can describe them with the word “jangly.” But I think R.E.M. would really want their legacy to be songs that connect with people in ways that even they can’t understand. That’s what it was for me.
*- I don’t know. “Talk about the Passion” is amazing too. Maybe I’m being contrarian here.
*- That’s a lie. Elena.
I was going to post this exact song over the weekend before the weekend was eaten up in the ER. So so best.
36-Character Album Review
The new Jens Lekman EP is TOO SHORT.
