I Am Gonna Make It Through This Year If It Kills Me (open thread)

by 9:48 pm. It has 61 Comments.

Looks like we could use an open thread; here’s a prompt: what are some songs that you like to listen to on New Year’s Eve or Day? I’ll start.

This Year by The Mountain Goats:

Kings by Steely Dan:

Discuss.





This post is in , and has 61 Comments.

New Year’s Role Model Open Thread: Dance Like You’re Sitting in the President’s Seat

by 5:23 pm. It has 94 Comments.






This post is in , , , , and has 94 Comments.

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: To Begin Again

by 4:31 am. It has 330 Comments.


 

A trilogy for the new year:


 





This post is in , , and has 330 Comments.

Barack Obama is STILL My President

by 5:46 pm. It has 132 Comments.

I’ve said repeatedly that one of the things that really scares me the most about Trump is that he lives such a joyless life. He doesn’t appreciate art, music, movies, laughter- basically he exists to feel good about other people’s pain and to laminate everything with gold or whatever it is he thinks is the “best.” At any rate, a reminder of what it was like to have a real human being as President with Obama’s end of year list of books and music:

As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books, movies, and music that I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors, artists, and storytellers – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before. Here’s my best of 2018 list – I hope you enjoy reading, watching, and listening.

Here’s a reminder of the books that I read this year that appeared on earlier lists:
Becoming by Michelle Obama (obviously my favorite!)
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Keith Payne
Educated by Tara Westover
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging by Alex Wagner
A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History by Mitch Landrieu
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Moretti
The Return by Hisham Matar
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen
The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes

Here are my other favorite books of 2018:
American Prison by Shane Bauer
Arthur Ashe: A Life by Raymond Arsenault
Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
Feel Free by Zadie Smith
Florida by Lauren Groff
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
Immigrant, Montana by Amitava Kumar
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark
There There by Tommy Orange
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

My favorite movies of 2018:
Annihilation
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Blindspotting
Burning
The Death of Stalin
Eighth Grade
If Beale Street Could Talk
Leave No Trace
Minding the Gap
The Rider
Roma
Shoplifters
Support the Girls
Won’t You Be My Neighbor

And finally, my favorite songs of 2018:
Apes••t by The Carters
Bad Bad News by Leon Bridges
Could’ve Been by H.E.R. (feat. Bryson Tiller)
Disco Yes by Tom Misch (feat. Poppy Ajudha)
Ekombe by Jupiter & Okwess
Every Time I Hear That Song by Brandi Carlile
Girl Goin’ Nowhere by Ashley McBryde
Historia De Un Amor by Tonina (feat. Javier Limón and Tali Rubinstein)
I Like It by Cardi B (feat. Bad Bunny and J Balvin)
Kevin’s Heart by J. Cole
King For A Day by Anderson East
Love Lies by Khalid & Normani
Make Me Feel by Janelle Monáe
Mary Don’t You Weep (Piano & A Microphone 1983 Version) by Prince
My Own Thing by Chance the Rapper (feat. Joey Purp)
Need a Little Time by Courtney Barnett
Nina Cried Power by Hozier (feat. Mavis Staples)
Nterini by Fatoumata Diawara
One Trick Ponies by Kurt Vile
Turnin’ Me Up by BJ the Chicago Kid
Wait by the River by Lord Huron
Wow Freestyle by Jay Rock (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
And in honor of one of the great jazz singers of all time, who died this year, a classic album: The Great American Songbook by Nancy Wilson

His music playlist is, without exception, perfection. Every song on there is good.





This post is in , , and has 132 Comments.

Looks Like We Could Use an Open Thread

by 9:12 pm. It has 47 Comments.

I took my mom for Thai food for dinner as her favorite Chinese restaurant was closed. As you all know that is a violation of Judaic Law. So I’m going to have to get a rabbi to write the restaurant’s owners a ticket!

For those playing the at home game of “what did the Jews we know eat on Christmas?” I had crispy duck panang, and I had it hot! I also had fresh spring rolls. I think that qualifies for a triple entree score.

I figured we could use a bit of music, so here’s a couple of Christmas, or Christmas adjacent, songs.

Merry Christmas and Open Thread!





This post is in , and has 47 Comments.