Crossover Bonanza: Where you lead, I will follow...but not to a dark place

Around this time last year, my friend Bad Shakespeare and I decided to periodically switch blogs to try new things and reach new audiences. We both share a love of Gilmore Girls so enjoy Bad Shakespeare's take on my favorite show of all time. I'm over on his blog writing about Breaking Bad. Your regularly scheduled Island post will return on Monday (I know it's crazy) with a look a how to make a purse out of legos for a formal event. Enjoy!

Hi, I’m not your usual blogger. I usually blog over at Bad Shakespeare (tell your friends... if you hate it, tell your enemies) and today, Erin and I have decided to cross over for a very special episode of the Island and Bad Shakespeare. For those of you who don’t follow my blog, I’ve been discussing a little television show called Breaking Bad within the context of it as a Shakespearean Tragedy It’s a very obscure show. You may not have heard of it). Today, Erin is discussing it, and I’m going to talk about a show called Gilmore Girls in the context of it being a Shakespearean Tragedy. Wait... what? It’s funny? Maybe I should rewatch a little bit of it before I type this up...

I was first introduced to Gilmore Girls towards the end of it’s first season. At that point I’d heard about the show, but at the time I was more interested in not watching a show about a mother/daughter relationship because it didn’t appeal to me. It just didn’t at the time, what can I say? I’m glad I eventually did, because it turned out to be one of the best shows on television, and gone way before it’s time. But I digress. My first memory of the show was watching how a deer hit Rory’s car on the way to her finals. Then I met the people who made up Stars Hallow, and I never really wanted to leave.

It was difficult catching up on Gilmore Girls at the time of it’s first viewing, mostly because Netflix wasn’t readily available or yet invented. (on that note, why isn’t this and Smallville not yet on Netflix streaming? I can watch all of Rules of Engagement, but God forbid I want to watch Gilmore Girls. **ahem**) Yes, this was a dark time in American History, kids. I had to watch the first season of the show in reruns... RERUNS, like an animal, or someone who only has dial up and rabbit ears.

What appealed to me most about Gilmore Girls was the writing. Not just the rapid fire/pop culture reference machine that a lot of people have made it famous for. It was the fact that for the most part, these people acted like real people. Yes, Lorelai was all cute, but people got annoyed with her antics from time to time. Rory was a brain, but she didn’t always get it right, and she has the same rebellious streak as her mother (she just shows it different ways. Like when she chooses a college. Or a boyfriend. Or steals a yacht. Wow. I guess Rory was a bad girl.) But the show, while entertaining really sucked you in with it’s relationships.

Too often with television series they tend to focus on the wrong things. Maybe it’s making sure a character has enough lines, or the breakout character gets the right storylines, even if it is him acting out of character. (I’m looking at YOU New Girl.) But Gilmore Girls focused on the core relationships of the characters, not just the family you have, but the family you develop along the way. Stars Hollow was a family like that... whether it was Sookie (pre-famous Melissa McCarthy... real quick show of hands, who thought she would be the breakout on that show? If I see any, I know you’re lying.) or Jackson, or even Taylor, the insane... sorta mayor slash grocer slash the closest thing the show really had to an antagonist.

Yes, it reveled in the drama. The will they or won’t they of Luke and Lorelai. Dean and Rory, then Jess and Rory, then married Dean and Rory... (she got around.) but the stakes were never so high. No one was going to get shot. The world wasn’t going to be destroyed. (No Dean would go on to avoid all that in his next series. Supernatural reference. Nailed it!)

So, why, in a week that a show ended that I referred to as modern literature showed us it’s final act, did I want to talk about the Gilmore Girls? Sort of as a reminder. Yeah. Breaking Bad was pretty freaking awesome. (You can read all about it in my series break down: Breaking Bad Shakespeare over at www.badshakespeare.blogspot.com. Shameless plug. Nailed it!) But it’s important that we don’t forget about the other things along the way. Yeah, the darkest Gilmore Girls ever really got was the dreaded feud between Rory and Lorelai that lasted a few episodes. (And sometimes with the reminder that Lorelai, for all her pluckiness and self assuredness, was a pregnant teenage runaway.) But not all shows have to be dark to include some great writing.

I think, in our quest to classify the next great TV Show, “Dark and disturbed” has become the shorthand for great writing. The doctor is only intriguing if he manages to kill a few people along the way. Hey, this Chemistry Teacher... once he has Cancer, let’s have him cook meth and then kill a few people, that oughta darken him up a little bit. And while those are good examples (the first one I just made up. I was going with a House reference, then lost it. My bad.) it’s important that we remember that good, intriguing characters can pop up anywhere. Hey, Shakespeare did it. One of his most famous, so famous that he got written into the plot of another play, was the very comedic John Falstaff (the fat knight!)

So let’s fondly remember the Gilmore Girls, and their relationships, their quips. Let’s remember that sometimes, good writing and literature is a place that we can call home, a place that we’d want to walk through. Let’s remember that if you lead... I will follow... anywhere.

Quick PS - I couldn’t fit this in anywhere organically, but the character of Kirk is a character the likes of which will not be seen on television. He was just awesome, and perfect. He had “big storylines” but never really anything that overwhelmed the show. He showed up, did something Kirk-like, then left. He filled any role that the show needed. Shakespeare... Shakespeare would be proud at this character.

Rock N Roll "Cage Match" - I still don't like Billy Joel

Today is Record Store Day! Kids, records stores were the iTunes back in our day, but rather than being able to download an infinite number of songs at a moments notice, you had to actually go to a store. It was also difficult because if you didn’t hear what the name of the song was when the DJ announced it, you were stuck trying to hum it to a guy who really didn’t know it, but was going to point you in the direction of some shelf to keep you from talking to him.

           

I joke, but Record Stores were places where people could get together and enjoy music. It was more than just a place to buy music, it was a community.  It was a different time. Back then, Nicki Minaj was called “Lil’Kim”, the boy bands were boy bandier, and no one was quite sure what a Simon Cowell was and he wasn’t responsible for 40% of the Karoke contests on television.

In honor of Record Store Day, The Island and I wanted to discuss what music means to us. These aren’t necessarily my favorite songs, these are the ones that mean something to me. So here they are. They aren’t in any particular order, unless you’re paranoid and you want to see something in it. Maybe it spells out the name of where I buried the treasure.

1.  “River of Dreams” by Billy Joel. I’m a huge Billy Joel fan, and I could name pretty much any Billy Joel song that he’s ever written. I’m always saddened that he doesn’t seem to get as much respect as he deserves. Listening to Billy Joel is like listening to history. (Fact: He wanted to be a  History Teacher, and it shows in the music he writes. Yep. Writes. Not comes out of the compu-writer 7000) But “River of Dreams” was the first Billy Joel Album I owned. It was the first song I heard of his that I discovered on my own. I’d heard other Billy Joel that my parents listened to, but this was different. This was one that I heard. It was my song. I couldn’t get enough of
2. “Nicole’s Song”/”The River 1873” by the Virginia Coalition. I’m doubling up! Yes, I’m cheating on someone else’s blog! These are from the same album, VACO (as the cool kids call them)’s very first. I was given the pleasure of reviewing their first album for my college paper. I really enjoyed it, but these two songs just really affected me.” The River;1873” is a work of art. It’s a story within a song, and I’ve listened to it a million times and I just can’t wrap my brain about it, and I keep wanting to enjoy it.“Nicole’s Song”, I discovered much later, but it just evokes so much perfect emotion. It’s a beautiful, devastating song about love. One of the best love songs that’s out there We’ve all had feelings for someone but the timing just doesn’t work out for whatever reason. We’ve all felt like in another world, another time, if just something would work out... we could be together. It’s a devastating, haunting, beautiful feeling.
3. “Birdhouse in Your Soul” by They Might be Giants. How can any life changing list exist without They Might Be Giants? Blue Canary in the Outlet by the Lightswitch/who watches over you... Fantastic lyrics, fantastic fun that hides a deeper meaning. They Might Be Giants taught me that you can do something deep... but hide it in something amazing. 
4.  “Vienna” by Linda Eder. You’d expect more musical type songs from me, who’s a musical type, and while this song isn’t from a musical it’s got that “musical” quality. It’s a story song, written from the point of view of a lover that is looking back on better times. A lot of songs look back at better times. A lot of songs look back on former lovers. This one manages to combine it into a coherent story. And it’s not a musical. It’s just an amazing song that needs to be experienced, not really listened to.
5. “Cineplex Carmex” by My New Mixtape. My New Mixtape isn’t so much a band as is an experience. It was started by a member of the Virginia Coalition, and features a lot of different local artists. While again, they have a large stable of excellent songs, but I picked this one because the first time I heard it, I had to listen to it about seven or eight more times to make sure I got it. It’s another relatable song... it’s about a first date. But the whole thing is done with a robot voice. (They joke that it’s a robot love song.) But the robot voice forces you to focus on the words... (Words are important!) I dare you to listen to this one just one.
6. “Cologne”/”Best Imitation of Myself”/”Evaporated” by Ben Folds/Five. I picked both eras, where Ben Folds was solo, and back when he was with the trio of Ben Folds Five. At any time, he is still one of the best songwriters in the world. I could go into a lot of detail on this, but again, it comes down to the words. These are some of the best written songs that have ever been written, particularly the wordplay of Cologne and Evaporated. Evaporated was one of the songs that got me hooked on Ben Folds. Both can be torn down to their essence and enjoyed. The greatest is still “Best Imitation of Myself” which again, speaks to me at a certain time. Sometimes the hardest thing we can do is be ourself. But sometimes we have to wonder if we make the face until it stuck.
7. “1000 Goodbyes” by Captain Tractor. What? You mean you don’t listen to a lot of Canadian Celtic Folk Rock? 1000 Goodbyes. It’s a song about being leaving, and being terrible about saying goodbye. Who hasn’t done that? As a military brat, I’ve done it a lot.
8. “Hail Mary” by Eddie From Ohio. I have to include EFO on here, which again is a local (ish) band. But this song speaks to me as well. It’s a retelling of the Prodigal Son story, but in a way that anyone can relate to. Plus, just try not to enjoy a line that says, “I’m a buck twenty five from being broke and a Hail Mary shy of redemption.” It just breaks things down in a way that I hadn’t thought of before.

Yes, there’s more than 10. I cheated. I’m priceless. I hope you take this opportunity to download and listen to some of these songs.

The Island responds:

Happy Record Store Day! I hope that you take the time today to go out to your local record store and buy some music. Music is the great connector and places like record stores create communities of people that probably wouldn't be if left to their own devices. There's a great book, Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon, that tells this exact story (read it-you'll love it). If you love music and your local record store, you should be out today enjoying the day and basking in the music nerd love of RSD. I'll share my RSD experiences later this week.

Onto the list. I would like to point out that Bad Shakespeare cheated - there are more than 10 songs on this list. But in the spirit of RSD and because music makes us all do crazy things, I'll let this slide. I'm cool that way. The other thing that you have to realize is that there is no winner - both of our lists are perfect. They're perfect because music is a very personal experience. Even when you're at a concert with hundreds or thousands of other people, you're still connecting to the music in a personal way. This is one of the many reasons I both love and hate sharing music with other people - I know how I feel about it and I love hearing their reactions. But I also get a bit paranoid and possessive - I really don't want them to ruin the song or band for me. I'm fine if they hate it but I don't want my experience to change because of their reaction. This is all part of the musical journey that we take and why I don't talk about music on first dates.

Has Bad Shakespeare convinced me that Billy Joel is the greatest? No, he has not. But I would never begrudge or judge his love of the Piano Man. I think his experience with "River of Dream" is very similar to my experience with "Little Earthquakes" or "Thirteen"; these were songs I discovered on my own and became foundations for the way I think about and approach music. I always thought Billy Joel's music was my parents' music (even though neither of them listened to Billy Joel). Billy Joel is a hugely talented musician but his music has never spoken to me the way it does to Bad Shakespeare. So I will not be purchasing a Billy Joel album or CD today as I enjoy RSD. I will, however, stop rolling my eyes when someone tells me just how much they love Billy Joel.

What's awesome about this list is that I haven't heard the vast majority of it until today. I love They Might Be Giants (saw them in concert recently) and Ben Folds Five. Ben Folds is an exceptionally good songwriter and I am putting my name into be the next Mrs. Ben Folds. I've heard Eddie from Ohio before but never got into the band. I've never heard songs by Virginia Coalition, My New Mixtape, or Captain Tractor (I didn't even know Canadian Celtic bands were a thing). While Bad Shakespeare hasn't changed how I feel about Billy Joel, he's given me some new bands to listen to. To me, that's a win.

Head over to Bad Shakespeare to see my list and read his response to my songs. Happy Record Store Day!

Crossover Extravaganza: Bad Shakespeare visits the Island of Misfit Toys

                  Hello everyone. I’m not Erin. I don’t play her on TV as far as I know. And I’m not really headed anywhere to the Midwest. I’m Michael Hock, also known as Bad Shakespeare. I’m an old, old… ok, maybe not that old… friend of Erin’s, who knew her way back in ye olde High School Days. Because she has a blog, and I have a blog, we figured it might be fun to switch things up a bit. I promise, I’ll keep the Shakespeare talk light. But it might be fun to share some of my adventures. Eh?

                  So, right now I’m working as a receptionist/problem-solver/Google replacement at George Mason University in their Economics Department. It is way off track of where I want to be in life, which is the guy that tells Scarlett Johansson that looks really good on her for a living. While I’m waiting for that ship to come in, I’d like to be a teacher. A high school English teacher to be exact. I actually came back to work here on campus, not just for the sweet, sweet campus food but also because George Mason will pay for most of my schooling. Of course they can’t pay for my student teaching, which was a major oversight on my part, but it got me out of the Government Contracting Job I had been working.

                  The worlds are… different to say the least. I mean, on the one hand, I am still supporting people. In the case of Government Contracting I was supporting people within the Federal Government, which meant my duties could range from fetching coffee to entering information into a computer to going to the Pentagon at any given moment for an important meeting. A word on the Pentagon: They have their own Virginia DMV. Can I tell you how awesome that is? I was in and out in like, two minutes. It’s like I was in heaven, I swear.

                  Moving on.

                  Anyway, it’s a lot different world being here in academia as opposed to the world of the Government. On the one hand, life is a LOT laid back. When I had my Government job, one tiny mistake could lead to weeks and weeks of agony. No matter how long it took to fix the mistake it always went like this:

                  1. Notice Mistake.

                  2. Everyone does their best not to get blamed for mistake.

                  3. Everyone tries to find the source of the mistake.

                  4. Everyone ensures that the source of said mistake gets traced back to them.

                  5. Random panicking.

                  6. Three hour long meeting on above steps.

                  7. New rules in place to help avoid future mistakes.

                  8. Another three hour meeting to discuss the new rules.

While all of this is going on, some lone contractor has corrected the mistake, probably in just a few minutes. Keep in mind that this is a condensed version. Living it is a special hell that I wouldn’t risk on anyone for any reason, unless they are the person that invented “Gangnam Style.” Meanwhile, working for a University is a little more… we’ll say lax. I really think that most of the people here aren’t quite sure what it is I do, other than answer the phones and order books for them.

                  I will say, ordering the books is a cool part of the job. I get to sort of see what everyone is using, and it’s really the only power I wield here. No matter what anyone says, they all want a little bit of power. This is my little corner of power. It’s not a lot. I don’t abuse it, unless someone is mean to me (then their order gets moved to the bottom of the pile. Imagine that.) Sometimes I just like to sit here and get drunk on my moderate amount of power. One day I may build a little throne of books and announce to passersby that Winter is coming.

                  But I do quite enjoy it. The low stress environment and the non-three hour daily commute has done wonders for me. I didn’t really realize it until I had to be reminded to bring my car in for its oil change as opposed to having to take it in every other month because I had somehow managed to burn through all of the oil in my hellish slog every day to and from work that this might be good for me if for no other reason than the increased sanity. (I also work a lot closer to home.) Because I work on a college campus there’s actually scenery outside, and cool places to walk. There’s always something interesting happening on campus, whether planned or just part of an acting class practicing you happen to stumble across. (That one guy’s Hamlet is a little to be desired.)

                  However, this is really one of those things we call a means to an end. I’m writing constantly (reminder: at the end of this I should shamelessly plug badshakespeare.blogspot.com) and I’m still taking classes to get to my secondary goal of teaching English. Of course, once I’m in front of a classroom I’ll slowly brainwash the kids, so once they graduate from college with their English degrees and take their positions of power, It’s just a matter of snapping my fingers and taking over the world, hopefully before the robots do.

                  Thank you for taking the time to read my little musings.  Erin will be back to her regularly scheduled posts that contain way less references to world domination and robots. But it’s nice stretching my legs and introducing the insanity elsewhere. When you get a chance, make sure you check out Bad Shakespeare. Because anyone can do good Shakespeare.