January Nina

2006 Capsule III: My Year in Tune

As best I remember (I have no records of this), I added four new CDs to my collection this year:

1. A Hard Day’s Night by The Beatles (originally released in 1964; and I recently saw the movie). Thanks, Aunt Carolyn.

2. A ripped Dragonfish by The Yale Whiffenpoofs. Thanks, Brian.

3. A ripped Rock Swings by Paul Anka (released in 2005, I think it was given to me in 2006 . . .)
and
4. Despite Our Differences by The Indigo Girls (released in 2006). Thanks, Lisa.

5. And the Thank You For Smoking original soundtrack, featuring: "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette" by Tex Williams; "Greenback Dollar" by The Kingston Trio; and "Little Organ Fugue" by The Swingle Singers. Thanks, Lisa and Meliss.

Once again, most of the new tunes that found their way into my brain came to me from the soundtracks that loop through the “offices” where I work on my dissertation (Quizno’s, Potbelly, that Irish place . . . ). Here are a few of the memorables that ended up sticking to the walls in that fashion this year:

1. "Catch My Disease" (originally released in 2005) by Ben Lee

2. "Throw Down Your Arms and Come" (2005) by Sinead O’Connor

3. "Louisiana Bayou" (2005) by the Dave Matthews Band

4. "Maybe" by Emma Bunton (2003). This this is not one I’m proud of, but once it got in there, it wasn't coming out.

Then these came to me from Saturday Night Live—one of the rare occasions in which the music was better than the sketches:
5. "Put Your Records On" (2006) by Corinne Bailey Rae and
6. "Like a Star" (2005) by Corinne Bailey Rae.

The musical highlight of the year was listening to a collection of Wiggleworms tunes recorded for Emilio by Fernando and enjoying a nightly karaoke ritual with Emi. "Born to be Wild" and "I Got You Babe" were our favorites.

Peter Gibson and I also blasted our way through a rousing rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” that will not soon be forgotten by any who witnessed/endured it.

2006 Capsule II: My Year on the Tube

Best Feature Film I Caught on the Cable Rebound
Teacher's Pet (2004). Delightful animated confection featuring the comic stylings of Nathan Lane.

Best Use of Netflix
A Nicole Holofcener Film Festival (inspired by 2006's Friends with Money) featuring 1991's Walking and Talking and 1996's Lovely and Amazing. I’d seen Lovely and Amazing before, but appreciated it even more this time. Director Holofcener and actress Catherine Keener make a good team.

Best Made for TV Movie
Elizabeth I. Helen Mirren rocks as a randy royal.

And these were my DVR Regulars in 2006
1. The Sopranos: Part One of Season Six (HBO). Tony begins the season in a coma. Vito comes clean about his secret life. A. J. is an idiot.

2. Meet the Press (NBC). This show is barely hanging on. I’m starting to find Russert to be tedious. He usually fails to get his interview subjects off of their canned talking points. I usuallly surf the web while listening to this one.

3. This Week (ABC). George does a good job cutting through the bullshit. The roundtable is generally the best part, although I find Cokie Roberts to be smug and I don’t like the gang condescends to The Nation's Katrina Van den Heuvel. George Will is articulate advocate of points of view I disagree with.

4. The Daily Show (Comedy Central). I still like the newsy opener best, but I’m starting to like the silly features more. The interviews—especially those with celebrities—are often a waste of time. Peter O’Toole and Harry Frankfurt (author of On Bullshit) were recent embarrassments.

5. Ebert and Roeper Show. Due to an illness, Ebert actually stopped appearing in the show over the course of the summer and a series of guest hosts have replaced him. A.O. Scott, Kevin Smith, and Aisha Tyler have been the best fill-ins. Even though experience has repeatedly proven to me that I can’t expect to like the films that E&R give two thumbs up, I keep coming back and occasionally get sucked in.

6. Saturday Night Live. Chris Parnell was executed this year and I’m not happy about it. Kristen Wiig’s star continues to rise, though. I don’t miss Horatio Sanz.

The Most Memorable SNL Sketches included:
Chris Parnell in a non-speaking role at a pirates convention (for Parnell-ophiles only) and as Tyler, the money patient in the Appalachian Emergency Room. This year, Tyler has to explain how a canister of Axe Body Spray found its way into his nether regions. If he moves in a certain way, he claims, he "can still make it spray." And finally as Tato the houseboy for Noony (Fred Arnisen) and Nuni (Maya Rudolph) in an episode hosted by Natalie Portman. This year Tato serves the Noony family a treat: melted ice cream, which he sucks up through a straw and then spits into their mouths. Parnell also lights up the Fire Alert 3000 commercial advertising a Fire Alarm that plays great hits from the ‘80s.

Will Forte as an overly enthusiastic lead singer of a local rock band performing the new theme song for a Minnesota morning news/talk show: Duluth Live! Forte also returns as Ken Mortimer in one of my long-time favorite sketches: The Falconer, which usually begins with a voice-over narrator explaining how “In 1992, Ken Mortimer was an advertising executive in Baltimore, Maryland. Then, for reasons known only to him, he left his wife and career, and moved deep into the forest. Now, he is known only as ... 'The Falconer.'” The Falconer’s falcon is called Donald and the show usually ends with Mortimer, crying out “Oh, you are a true friend, Donald... Hopefully, one day we can return to society. But until that day, you will be the Falcon.. .and I will remain. . . [Announcer V/O cuts in]: 'The Falconer'!
This year, when Kevin Spacey hosts, The Falconer uses a time machine to go back in time to save his own life.

Kristen Wiig—who has really become the star of the show—makes for a good uptight office worker in Introverts Night Out sketch (as when Linday Lohan hosted); she did a nice turn in “Crazy Mountain Man” starring Lost heartthrob Matthew Fox; she breaks Emilio up with Aunt Linda’s film reviews; and she tagged well with Alec Baldwin in an “Awkward Carpool” sketch that Mari loved.

And Amy Poehler tagged well with Baldwin in a hilarious ad for Valtrex, a genital herpes cream.

BEST SNL HOSTS

Honorable Mentions go to:

Peter Sarsgaard scored reading a newspaper alone in the dark. Nude.

Matt Dillon did a solid Rod Serling on the Vincent Price St. Patrick's Day Show.

Silver Medals to:
Justin Timberlakem who did well co-starring in a video segment with Andy Samberg: "Dick in a Box" and in "The Barry Gibb Talk Show" with Jimmy Fallon (in a surprise cameo).

And to Natalie Portman, who showed well in the video "A Day in the Life of Natalie Portman," which depicted as a hard core ass-kicker. She also had a nice turn as the daughter of Noony and Nuni.

And The Golds go to:

Alec Baldwin, who, in addition to his effective tag teams with Wiig and Poehler, mentioned above, did his usual fine job in "The Tony Bennett Show."

And to John C. Reilly was hilarious in a three-part "MacMillan Family Moment," trying to pass on his precious method of eating Oreo cookies. He also made an excellent racist re-enactor at Colonial Williamsburg.