No matter how strongly we try to live in the present, man, time keeps slipping into the future. December always rolls around, and when it does, media companies scramble. Not for the same reasons everyone else does — purchasing tickets to visit family, weatherproofing their windows, or organizing holiday dinner menus — but to create lists. Lots and lots of lists. It’s become such an expected, somewhat hated tradition that it seems that, like the Holiday Season itself, it seems to have lost its meaning. Thankfully, there’s a thoughtful essay over at the A.V. Club that reminds us of the true meaning of lists: it’s not about flaunting our impeccable tastes. Rather, it’s about the selfless act of sharing our impeccable tastes! And what encapsulates this time of year more than the spirit of sharing?
Dancing. Or, rather, sharing the art of dance. Which is just what dancer-slash-singer Tinashe has done with Jayson Lipshutz over at Billboard, in a bizarre, great new feature called “So You Know You Can’t Dance.” In it, Lipshutz is so game and goofy that you want him to succeed. And he kind of does.
It’s always nice to see the underdog succeed. It’s boring watching someone great continue to be great, which is why Superman (and The Big Bang Theory) is so awful. Parks and Recreation was an underdog. It’s first season was unwatched and unformed, but it turned into one of the best, loveliest comedies on television. And now that’s coming to an end. The cast and crew are wrapping filming of its final season, and they’re all tweeting about how awful it is. It’s sad when anything ends, but it’s especially sad when something great ends.
Something sadder, and more serious, is the news of online music magazine Wondering Sound “scaling back” its operation. Full disclosure: plenty of Flavorwire staffers and contributors have written for Wondering Sound, which is one of the few culture-based sites that has lived up to its promise to deliver “thought-provoking, well-written, insightful pieces about the artists you love and the artists you’ll love next.” Things like this interview with Paul Thomas Anderson, for example.
It’s a sad day for those of us who see great writing as an integral part of the world. It’s probably best to just sit for a bit, ruminate, and listen to the only known live performance of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.”