We spent a few days in Bordeaux at the end of our trip two summers ago. It was a vibrant, smelly, lovely town with barrels of history, down to the 3rd century roman amphitheater ruins that humbly sat at the end of an avenue of apartments, functioning more as bird sanctuary than tourist destination. The Euro Cup was going on, we celebrated a French penalty kick with some convenience shop owners who signaled us to duck in, we watched the Portuguese fans go nuts and drive and honk and wave flags for hours after their win. With all the hubbub and extra security, it was still oddly serene being in a place of constant human habitation for two millennia, where all had been weathered. That kind of peace that monasteries and abbeys have, as if preserved structures are some sluice for time where grace can wash across centuries.
Kids, always where a helmet when winebiking in a foreign land!
I'm just going to quote the Fluxblog here. Matthew Perpetua is one of the best critics still hanging around, a last lion of the aughts who survived the machinations, buy-outs, and culture wars with integrity intact. You should subscribe to his TinyLetter and stay smart. "Camila Cabello is charismatic and has a good voice, but I think the major reason she’s been so successful in the past few months is that her songs pivot away from rigid production and nondescript ambiance of so much mid-10s pop music and embrace things like… chords. The piano chords in “Havana” are crucial to the song’s appeal, and they’re not something that just blends into the mix, or signify cheap sentimentality. You’re meant to hang on the sound of them, to feel the groove and the reverb and the slight imperfection of someone playing a piano in a room. It feels alive in a subtle way that makes it seem vibrant in comparison for doing something that in the grand scheme of recorded music is more normal than not. And she does this without selling “authenticity.” It just is, and it makes the more modern elements like the very Rihanna-ish chorus pop a bit more than if it was presented with the same airless production as everything else. “Inside Out,” an album track I have to assume will be issued as a single sometime this year since it has a very “song of the summer” feel to it, does the same trick by contrasting acoustic piano and steel drums with a glossy approach to the vocal production. All signs point to Cabello being just ahead of a stylistic curve, and frankly, I’m relieved."
I think Selena Gomez could make all these songs better but girl just got a fresh kidney so her understudy is more than welcome to take the spotlight and keep the bops 100. Never Be the Same- Radio Edit needs a further Kygo trophouse remix; it's just on this side of bland, and the falsetto needs some focus taken off it. I will never understand why they didn't throw OMG on here. Quavo is the trap-Chance and everything he touches gets that succinct zest. Funnily enough, it's the one song I don't think Selena would do better. Camila does an awesome Rihanna imitation, the Caribbean hey-batter hey-batter patter sounds effortlessly cool, breezy: take it or leave it, I don't care, but we both know you're going to take it.
Terrific ensemble, Aubrey Plaza in her deranged wheelhouse, and a clever, cogent investigation of our image-obsessed, curated generation, where every bowl of ramen is a branding opportunity. Especially poignant are the two scions of fame (sons of Ice Cube and Kurt Russell) who bring tender, wounded masculinity-once-removed to the film. Here for a good time, not for a long time.
