Freedom!

I gave in. I checked out Freedom from the library. I am extremely sensitive to hype; that's why I read Twilight (well, that AND my masochistic nature AND my love of making fun of things AND the fact that it was cheap). I just could not resist Freedom after hearing about it everywhere. Will I actually read it? Probably not. But I will at least open it.
I think Jonathan Franzen is a remarkable author (I'm really going out on a limb here by asserting an unusual opinion, I know), but come on...Freedom is a TERRIBLE title. Titling my stories was the thing I sucked the most at in my workshops. Almost every critique would be like, "Um, your title? Not doing it for me." So I understand, Franzen. I get it. Titles are hard. But couldn't you have come up with something that didn't make me think of two George Michael songs?


On second thought, never mind! Those are great songs. Keep up the good title work.

Last Christmas

It's starting to get cold, the leaves are beginning to fall, and you know what that means. It's that time of year again. Not for pumpkins or apple cider or whatever BS you're into...it's time for Last Christmas.
Somehow, I've never mentioned my love of Last Christmas on the blog. Love doesn't even cover it. I have around 45 versions of Last Christmas on my computer, and that is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of how many versions are out there. But nothing even comes close to the original by Wham! When it starts to get cold outside, I begin listening to Last Christmas and watching the video a couple times a day. Not that I don't feel like doing this in the summer, but it just seems more acceptable when it's cold.
Last Christmas is my favorite song in the world, but I don't normally tell people that because I don't think they believe me. But listen, it's perfect. It's a Christmas song, but there's nothing in the music that signifies Christmas, aside from some bells. And it's sad, which is definitely a must for any great Christmas song. And the video is just ridiculous and confusing and beautiful. See for yourself!

This is obviously the best non-traditional Christmas song ever written. Much better than that awful Mariah Carey jam the girls in my freshman year dorm always used to blast. I love Mariah as much as the next girl, but come on. That song is awful.

You like what you like.

Papa Winfrey always says, "You like what you like." Papa Winfrey says a lot of things, not all of them appropriate for the blog. But he's right, you know? You can't control what you like. I mean, I can't control that I've always liked Wham!, or that when I was a kid I totally had a huge crush on George Michael. And I can't control that when I got older, I bought both his solo album Faith and the Wham! album Make it Big from my Driver's Ed teacher (I also bought Prince's Purple Rain. It was 3 for 1 dollar, and I still feel like I made the right decisions). This song is a personal favorite of ours. Yeah, that's right, Alex likes it too:

Of course, Alex found out about this song not through an irrational love of Wham!, but the way normal people do: through comedy videos. We love Jon Glaser.