Yet another beloved old cartoon and comic strip character IP (intellectual property) has come into the public domain. This time, it’s everyone’s favorite sailor man- Popeye.
Now, to be clear, while there are 2 evil Popeye movies (so far) coming this year, neither is attached to the Twisted Childhood Universe, affectionately referred to as the “Poohniverse”, which kicked off with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey in 2023, followed by the sequel in 2024.
When the pandemic started in 2020, part of my escapism from the dread of the moment was going back and rewatching the entirety of the old Muppet Show. And it felt good, letting the nostalgia wash over me, but also it made me sad. As I continued watching more Muppet content, the movies, then the later TV shows, I felt like something got lost along the way, and it was the earnestness with which the Muppets and even the humans around them behaved. Even in moments of commentary or weirdo subversion, there was a genuineness that I felt fell away a bit. Recent years felt like there was more snark, more bite, more irony, even in how we as viewers engage with the Muppets. I was pleasantly surprised by the Electric Mayhem focused show with Lilly Singh and Tahj Mowry from a few years back, that felt like a love letter to music through the heartfelt lens of the Muppets. And it gave me hope that perhaps more Muppets could be coming. Then news came that a certain Warner Bros owned streaming service might be looking to off-load Sesame Street, and I didn’t just have hope, I had an idea, a movie pitch for how to reunite the Muppets and the folks of Sesame Street for the first time since the early 2000s.
I guess in order for this to happen Disney would have to buy the rights to Sesame Street to have them under the same umbrella as the Muppets. I’m not here to discuss the pros and cons of monopolistic IP hoarding and such. I’m here to talk about Muppets. So…
Well, if we can say anything about the state of music in 2024, we can certainly say that it was decidedly less horny than last year.
Look, there were definitely still some efforts to keep the mojo running in music. Sabrina Carpenter, Tinashe and Addison Rae all did their best to get us going like so many did in 2023. But there was not enough to overcome some of the bigger feelings we got this year: Rage. Contempt. Loneliness. Hopelessness.
Because of this, joyous songs (and there were a good number of them) felt like overwelcome lifeboats getting us to the next day. And even with this year’s crop of the best songs taking us to darker, more introspective places, there was still so much amazing music to share. Let’s take a look at the 50 best songs from a very good year of music.
Yes, there’s a playlist at the bottom of the article. Let’s boogie!
Look, if you’re trapped in the capitalist hellscape that is the US, you’re a conscript in the war against Christmas, whichever side you fall on. I mean, Christmas won, it’s fucking everywhere. It’s inescapable. Our borders are contained within Santa’s vast panopticon whether we like it or not. Because this is THE capitalist holiday. This is the grand devotional, our wallets made sacrifice to prove our love to each other.
Even if you just celebrate “the holidays”, the holiday party you’re at is gonna play Christmas music. Because, well, there’s just a fucking lot of it. And more every year. And worst- a lot of it fucking sucks.
But not all of it. So if you find yourself in control of the tunes and you want to make the most of the theme, I offer you this fine tuned playlist to keep things interesting
“Have you heard of Martini Ranch?” It’s a question that I ask of anyone who gets to know me on a long enough timeline. More often than not, I’m not even met with a faint glimmer of recognition. Which always blows my mind until I remember that I also had to be introduced to Martini Ranch long after it had ceased to exist.
I remember exactly how it happened, I was working as a truck driver in 2017, and I had a lot of time to listen to podcasts on the road. A personal favorite was the Witch Finger Horror Podcast. I’d started listening to it as a fan of the band Kittie (who still rips by the way and just dropped a phenomenal album back in June), because the vocalist Morgan Lander was one of three hosts along with Megan Rae, and Yasmina Ketita of Rue Morgue Magazine. As I was listening to episode 19, titled “Near Dark and our tribute to Bill Paxton” (he had died earlier that year) I heard the name Martini Ranch for the first time.
Everything feels vaguely off. It’s not the mind altering drugs. It’s not the fact that I’d competed in two hot sauce eating conversations during the afternoon. It was because everyone around me looked like they had been arrested at some point for stealing Catalytic Converters.
No, I wasn’t at a penal colony. Or a job fair for Port-A-John workers, or a Kid Rock cruise. I was at a Limp Bizkit concert. Desperately trying to figure out how I got there, and spastically trying to figure out how to leave if all the cans of Zyn go empty in this joint.
Last week, we were lucky enough to get the trailer for Paddington In Peru, the third film in the PCU (Paddington Cinematic Universe). With a November 24th UK release date (January 7th for us unlucky souls in the United States), there hasn’t been a more anticipated movie ever. That is not hyperbole.
Paddington 2 is the third best sequel of all time, only behind The Godfather Part 2 and The Empire Strikes Back. As mentioned on this site, P2 usurped Citizen Kane to become the film with the highest-ever Rotten Tomatoes score of all time. With the first Paddington film, Paul King gave us an amazing and beautiful (plus very funny) story and the second film blows the first one away. To call Paddington 2 a great film would be an insult… it’s a goddamn fucking masterpiece.
Of the indie directors to come out of the 1990’s, Richard Linklater might be the hardest to attach a label to. He doesn’t have Steven Soderbergh’s visual style or Quentin Tarantino’s inventive storytelling skills or even Kevin Smith’s ability to write a great scene. But, if there was any director from this class I think I would like working with if I was an actor, it would be Linklater. Because the man is a true and selfless collaborator.
In his great movies, of which there are many, the Texas filmmaker works hand in hand with his onscreen talent to create the best possible product. In many of Linklater’s films, the actor has a screenwriting credit, which shows you exactly how much he wants the input of his talent. And then there is Boyhood, in which he worked with his three principal actors over the course of a dozen years to truly show the experience of growing up.
Fancy Boys Club 