Ponytail Picks #64 - Birthdays

Happy Friday to you 
Made this list just for you 
To mark Joel getting older
And suggest some stuff, too

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LISTEN

#1 Songs on my birthday

I’m turning 35 today! Thought it would be fun to have a listen (for the first time, at least for me!) to the #1 songs (according to the official birthdayjams.com) on the day I entered the world—April 11, 1990.

USA: “I’ll Be Your Everything” - Tommy Page

I like the vibes (the 90s CCM-esque BGVs at the end, and the sax of course) but for all this guy’s charming good looks, his voice is pretty lackluster. Kinda reminds me of Gob Bluth’s “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)”.

UK: “Vogue” - Madonna

Very cool music video, love the moody Eraserhead-esque black and white look and artsy choreography. Favourite aspect of the song was probably Madonna’s spoken word.

Country: “Five Minutes” - Lorrie Morgan

A nice country jam that goes down easy and gets stuck in your head even easier. All in less than five minutes!

R&B: “Spread My Wings” - Troop

Can’t think of two more weirdly contrasting settings than the two in this music video. I suppose that was the point? Like, they want to spread their wings and fly away to escape their strange predicament of being trapped on top of a skyscraper? Anyways, love the smooth vocals and choreographed dances, but my favourite part was probably the air drumming on those fills.

Alternative: “Metropolis” - The Church

My favourite of the bunch. I know, I know—basic millennial white boy loves the alt rock song the best, it’s very predictable, but I’m a sucker for steady grooves, jangly guitars, and catchy hooks, and this one hooked me.

-JB

Know any other release highlights from April, 1990?

WATCH

Coming-of-age films coming of age this year

I love a good coming-of-age film, which typically focus on a teenage character undergoing significant growth of some sort on their way to becoming an adult. Here are six such films that are turning 18 this year (ready to feel old, fellow millennials?):

Juno

Nothing makes you grow up faster than an unplanned pregnancy when you’re still in high school. Equal parts quirky and tender, this one’s a 21st century indie classic.

Hot Rod

Rod Kimble’s quest to become a man is as outrageous as it gets. One of my favourites.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Death, angst, first kisses, teenage rebellion—Harry goes through it all in this fifth entry in the series where he learns more than he ever has before about himself and his purpose.

Transformers

Linkin Park and sweaty teenage hormones—key ingredients for the transformation from kid to adult.

Spider-Man 3

A lot of people say this is the worst of the original trilogy, but I loved it. Heartbreak and jealousy, humiliation and pride, desperation, anger, and revenge, an emo phase—it’s all there in this completion of Peter Parker’s three-film coming-of-age arc.

Superbad

My coming-of-age probably happened when I finally watched this raunchy teen comedy as a young adult after I was too shy and sheltered to watch it as an actual teen in 2007.

-JB

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READ

Imagine Homer’s Odyssey starting with Telemachus’ worst birthday ever

I started rereading The Odyssey with

Simon Bridgefoot

recently, and when Joel suggested this week’s theme, imagining the first book as Telemachus’ birthday added a Coen-esque tinge of humour to the scenario¹. Nothing ruins a birthday party like an absent father and a mob of your mother’s contemptuous suitors gorging on your inheritance.

Whether you want to join us or start on your own (Simon and I are only on Book 2, so it will be pretty easy to catch up), I find that reading classics like this with a friend and an irreverent attitude increases its entertainment value. No one’s looking over or grading your paper afterward, so why not have some fun with it?

-AK

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We’re tearing down the decorations and storing the leftover cake in Tupperware. Next time, we’ll take a cultural bullet train across the entertainment landscape of

Japan.

1. I hear Christopher Nolan is directing a film adaptation scheduled for next year, but the Coen brothers already did the best job anyone could’ve asked for.