SOUNDTRACK: SHE & HIM-A Very She & Him Christmas (2011).
I love the packaging of this disc (the envelope with the Christmas letter/liner notes is charming).
I really enjoyed Zooey Deschanel’s singing in Elf, I thought it was really pretty and surprisingly unaffected. So it’s not too surprising that she stared making records herself. And M Ward seems like a perfect accompaniment to her slow, rather old school style of singing.
I have a hard time getting into the She & Him records though. They’re just, yes, too slow for me. The tempo is perfect for her voice, which is naturally very pure and clean. And she even has a good crooning style, I just need the songs to be a little peppier. Or like on “Run Run Reindeer,” I find her version is kind of abrupt, perhaps she doesn’t really hold her notes for very long which I find disconcerting.
I like the first two songs, “The Christmas Waltz,” and “Christmas Day” because they are songs I didn’t know already, so I had no expectations. “Christmas Wish” is really nice with Ward taking lead vocals. As for Zooey’s leads, I like “Sleigh Ride” quite a lot. And their version of “Silver Bells” on ukulele is just beautiful.
This collection of songs is quite nice, if not a little too mellow. It sets a mood and follows through all the way, which is good. I really do wish I liked it more.
[READ: December 5, 2014] The Last Girlfriend on Earth
I love Simon Rich, but sometimes I lose touch with just how many books he releases. So when he was on Seth Meyers the other night I learned that he had a new book out, which was great. But then I also learned that I missed his last two books! Jeez. One is a novel and this one is a collection of short stories.
I have said before that I love Rich’s really short pieces–he is so good with a set up and punchline. Most of these stories are longer, and they are pretty much all very funny indeed.
The book is set up in three parts: Boy Meets Girl, Boy Gets Girl and Boy Loses Girl. And indeed, the stories in each section do match up to that general setup (it’s quite clever) although they are not connected to each other. Several of these stories appeared in the New Yorker and it was fun to read them again and to see them in this new context.
Incidentally, they are making a TV show based on this book, airing in the new year on FXX, called Man Seeking Woman–I hope it’s good. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 