I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: CARLY RAE JEPSEN-“Call Me Maybe” (acoustic) (2012).

I had never heard of this song until about three days ago.  I’m led to believe that this song is massive, and yet somehow I missed it (which is fine).  I first read about it  as “the song that Justin Bieber made famous.”  So I listened to it and I hated the overproduction of it.  Then one of the folks at NPR picked it as her favorite song of the year (the discussion was split 50/50 between love and hate).  And I had to agree that after another listen, it was really catchy.  But I still hated the overproduction.

One of the people in the discussion said that an acoustic version would be great.  So I found one (there are actually a ton online…this song really must be huge).  And indeed, the acoustic version is pretty nice.  It is insanely catchy (and remarkably sweet).   And her voice is very intriguing–I think her voice really makes the song.  Absent all of that obnoxious production, this is an enjoyable pop song (although, the keyboards are pretty awful still on this version–loose the keys, Carly).

One acoustic version (that’s barely 2 minutes long) is available here.

[READ: June 13, 2012] “My Internet”

I was poisoned against the story because I read just one line of Karen’s review: “Let’s face it – without Jonathan Lethem’s name on this, it’d never get out of a slushpile.”  That was a pretty big hurdle for this story.  And it never cleared it.   I’m going to have to agree with Karen—possibly not as harshly, but with a general….huh?  I have a hard time believing that this found a publisher.

The idea is kind of interesting:  there is a another internet tucked away inside the internet we all know.  There are only 100 people who are on it, and they were all sent special invitations to join.  There are only two rules on this Internet—no money and no animals.  But for some reason (explained by the end), the narrator is unhappy here, and he wants to create his own internet within this other internet (which is within the global internet).

And that’s pretty much it.

It’s maybe an interesting idea.  But the problem is that it is so unspecific that it doesn’t even feel like Lethem means it: “These hundred were hand-selected, by a leader who with terrific foresight conceived the need for this probate and smaller Internet in the long-ago days of the ‘early” Internet.”  Could there be perhaps one detail added?  Or: “[the Internet] occupied by so many billions of different persons and, frankly, so full of so many confusing situations.”  Again, what?  Hey the Internet is a nebulous space, but come on.  If you’re willing to try to tackle this subject, you’ve got to commit to details.

I’m also not even sure if it’s supposed to be a funny piece (like a Shouts & Murmurs—it’s very short).  The thing about money and animals is funny.  But the ending just kind of sits there.  The whole thing felt like it was written in about 5 minutes–as an outline.  It was either way too short–lacking details or, conversely, way too long–it could have been a one paragraph musing, perhaps.

Okay now I can see what else Karen had to say…  Yikes I seem to have been much harsher.  And I rather like Lethem in general.