I might be doing a few different things in order to get my writing mojo back. The weather is nicer, my mood has picked up, and I’m feeling a bit more inspired. Here are three things that are tickling my fancy at the moment.
Alekesam: My brother and podcast partner Michael Parr sent me an email with the subject line “All Is Forgiven” yesterday. After picking my brain wondering what I did that he would have to forgive me for, I realized that the email contained a link to the Soundcloud page of an act called Alekesam, performing a song called “All Is Forgiven”, with the note “I think you’ll dig this”. Whew.
The music reminds me of Stereo MCs. This might not seem like a compliment to some folks, but “Connected” and “Elevate My Mind” were my jams back in the day. I peeped out more music on their Soundcloud page, then headed directly over to iTunes to give these folks some money. The sound has a lot of similarities to Portishead/Massive Attack and that whole trip-hop era. Incidentally, a few days back, I readded all my Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation & Zero 7 to my iTunes library, so I’ve been in a mood to listen to chill jams from across the pond.
One of the two members of Alekesam is Sal Masakela, son of Hugh “Grazing In The Grass” Masakela. The talent apple is definitely not falling far from the tree here.
Give Alekasam a listen here.
Word: Even those of you who know me well may not know that I have a thing for crosswords. I’ve been doing them on and off since I was maybe 9 or 10. I’m definitely not Sunday Times material, but I think I can hold my own. I picked up a book called Keep Calm And Crossword On for the holidays and dug the puzzles contained within, so I’ve been scoping out a local bookstore for new crossword books. Last week, I came across a copy of Word. The puzzles were written by college students, which kinda makes me feel like an idiot, but the clues are actually geared towards Gen X/Y/Millennials. Love crosswords but tired of the fuddy-duddy clues? This book is for you. I’m about 25 puzzles in (out of 144) and answers have included Wu-Tang Clan, “Life’s A Bitch”, Ted Leo, Bon Iver, Spamalot, and “fuck you”.
If you’re a crosswords geek, you can pick Word up here:
Scrubs: Those of you who know me well are certainly aware that I’m a Scrubs superfan. Hell, the name of this very site was derived from a term I first heard from Donald Faison’s Dr. Turk character.
I’ve been making more of an effort to use my Netflix subscription, and instead of watching, say, House Of Cards (which I hear is really good), I’ve been giving myself the TV equivalent of comfort food. It started with the first two seasons of A Different World sandwiched in between NCAA tournament games, and it continued last weekend with a run through the first several seasons of Scrubs. There are a handful of episodes that (for some reason) I’d never seen, particularly from the early days before I’d gotten into the show. The characters weren’t as fully-formed as they were in the middle seasons (and not as one-note and typical as they were in the last season or two) but I’m amazed at the quality of the writing from Bill Lawrence and his team. Granted, I’ve pretty much removed myself from most new TV in the past four or five years, but I wonder if there are any shows out these days that maintain a surreal/funny/heart-rending balance as well as Scrubs did.
I still think there should be a Scrubs movie, and I’m a little sad that the individual cast members (not to mention Lawrence) haven’t been able to replicate the success of the show elsewhere. But if there’s any network half-hour show from the last 15 years or so that stands up to repeated viewings, I’ve gotta throw my vote in for Scrubs.