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America’s Monumental Vote
(George Washington, History.com)
How did we start with George Washington and get to the absurdity of 2016?
A question and answer for another day…
Today’s Throwback Thursday will be cheered by Americans.
(Brits who loved their 18th century monarchy, not so much)
“On this day in 1789, America’s first presidential election is held. Voters cast ballots to choose state electors…George Washington won the election and was sworn into office on April 30, 1789.”
–“First U.S. presidential election,” History.com
George Washington led this nation as its first president without any predecessor to seek guidance from. The pressure he must have endured is almost unthinkable. He had to be a great, unifying leader with a strong vision because the very future (and beginning) of America was at stake.
227 years later and America would do well to vote like it’s 1789.
The Infinite Wisdom of #8
“A button on a string
And I heard everything
Now here I go”
The highly-anticipated HBO documentary, Sonic Highways, debuts tonight at 11:00 p.m. ET that chronicles the making of the Foo Fighters’ eighth studio album. The album’s title is also Sonic Highways. Each hour-long episode is set in a major American city with uniquely important musical roots and it will include recording sessions, video and commentary of each city’s culture, as well as the all-valuable interviews. The band spent one week in each location and, on the last day, Dave Grohl compiled lyrics with key phrases from the interviews. Icons (known and unknown to the general public) in the music industry from virtually every genre are featured, ranging from LL Cool J to Dolly Parton to Willie Nelson to a bevy of punk rockers and longtime producers in the industry. Grohl, Hawkins, Shiflett, Mendel, Smear and Jaffee learn things from these musicians that influence their music today, as well as reminisce with these musicians about their younger days that remind them why they play music for a living.
The album contains eight songs, so therefore eight episodes. This implies that only the best songs made the record. It’s ambitious. It’s creative. It’s inspiring. It’s fun. It’s rock ‘n roll.
It’s Foo Fighters.
Below is a snippet of their first single, “Something from Nothing.”
The Sonic Highways album will be released November 10th, once again produced by Butch Vig. And fans of his and the band know this collaboration means this record will have maxed out its potential from this cross-country musical journey. This follow-up partnership from “Wasting Light” alone is exciting.
There’s something special here and the Foo Fighters have wasted no effort to deliver it.
Reality Check
The influx of Emmy nominations for shows featured on Netflix was no anomaly. Fellow dramas on cable networks that were nominated for Emmy’s were also no fluke. Even PBS has a stellar hour-long journey that takes us back to the sensationally proper early 20th century England. Shows like, “House of Cards,” “Mad Men,” “Game of Thrones,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Homeland” and the remarkably addictive “Downton Abbey” have projected themselves as thoroughly entertaining with great settings, engaging storytelling and, above all, superb acting and originality.
The shows listed above, along with some shows on the major networks (“The Big Bang Theory,” “Person of Interest” and “How I Met Your Mother” as a few examples) have gone to painstaking lengths to present a story and set of characters that an audience will enjoy and care about. Relationships have been formed and they are long-term.
The specific revelation about Netflix’s evolution as a leading entertainment provider of new content is indicative of the ever-changing face of the modern television viewer and his/her expectations and preferences.
Contemplate this: Five years ago, Paul Giamatti became John Adams for the HBO series, “John Adams,” Steven Spielberg co-executive produced, “The Pacific” on HBO with Tom Hanks in 2010, Kevin Spacey stars in “House of Cards,” Maggie Smith dominates, “Downton Abbey,” Michael Shannon and Steve Buscemi light up “Boardwalk Empire” and January Jones realistically portrays the wife/divorcee of an advertising giant in the 1960s on, “Mad Men.”
If only I recognized just one of those names?
Within the last decade, the word “epic” has been a common adjective to describe some major motion pictures. Writers and directors made a cogent decision to create entire worlds filled with exciting action, seductive drama, story lines the size of the Empire State Building and plot twists that, figuratively speaking, “blow our minds.” And don’t forget about those omnipresent soundtracks that alone gives us goosebumps, swing our emotions and get our hearts racing in just a matter of seconds. While the movies of recent memory are not the first to project an “epic” story on the silver screen, they have nonetheless set the standard for movies, television and all relative media alike today.
Interestingly, many people will refrain from watching the newest episodes of the aforementioned shows listed above and instead sit down and watch an entire season during the weekend. Thus, it feels more like a movie with multiple sequels than it does a routine television show. “24” sure was great…
And there are many things said about the reality television shows that dominate the major networks (sans “The Amazing Race”), but superb acting, rich characters and original storytelling are not among them.
Among the convoluted world of modern television that is overcrowded with reality shows about anything and everything (literally), one certainty is shining a hopeful bright light through this overcast cloud of reality noise: more and more fans are investing their time and imaginations in shows that portray grand stories with compelling characters woven together with clever writing. For Heaven’s sake, The History Channel produced a blockbuster hit with, “The Bible” (sadly, I think NBC only saw dollar signs and not the great story when it bought the rights to the series sequel). National Geographic struck presidential gold with, “Killing Lincoln” (narrated by Tom Hanks).
The dynamic of watching television is continuing to change on a seemingly monthly basis.
In fact, it’s quite epic.
That’s the reality.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 