Discussion — Week 399: Infinite by Eminem

The above photo is the album art from the cassette version of this album, which is the primary version it exists in. Like, I don't know if there were ever any official CD versions of Infinite. We listened to the album via YouTube this week, so it's all a moot point anyway. Hope that's okay, by the way. Can't bend the knee to Spotify every week, ya know.

Alright, so! Eminem! What did we think of this pre-Slim Shady music? Anything worth listening to? Did any of the reviews shift your opinion? Let's hear it. There is only ONE white rapper I want to speak about on the blog this week, and it's Eminem! If you have anything else to say about any other white rappers, like El-P or Vanilla Ice or whoever, then you know where to say it! (The comments, I mean. Not my private emails.)

TGIF!!!!!

Infinite, Sunny

You spend a little time in Detroit and you start to pick up that something here's a little weird. It's not as as weird as the worst make it seem, on TV, but whatever's here is unique enough and propulsive enough to be the raw material to produce a fresh half hour mixtape. I may not get it, you may not get it, but something's here. That's Detroit baby. Buy American. 

Infinite, Joe

Lots of feelings, all of them valid, but none of them seem to congeal into anything approaching "I love this." I'm mostly sympathetic to the fact that this is a portrait of a young artist who is figuring out his sound, and doesn't have it yet. I'm more forgiving because of what we know happens next. It's Marshall Mathers as a young man before he becomes a meteoric sensation. Your thoughts about the Eminem Show as it plays out post-Infinite are probably besides the point, but you can't deny that it was pretty dang popular. And one of the interesting things about Infinite is how uninteresting it is. The sounds are shockingly normal. This is a rapper playing to all the tropes of the genre as they existed before him. There is nothing that sounds new or fresh, let alone genre-breaking or world-shattering.

Let the record show, your honor, that I haven't been a fan of Eminem's music in a long time. There I was, in a long van with a few Boy Scouts and a few of the dads, maybe twelve people in all in that van—you know the vans I'm talking about, the cargo vans, I think they were rented for the trip?—on the way to the battleship USS Massachusetts. We were sleeping on the ship, where the bunk beds were stacked five cots high. Plenty of formative memories from this trip, for whatever reason. Putting the clues together (based on Eminem's discography history and a specific memory I have of watching the Flyers and Penguins playoff hockey game at a bar with other friends who had non-nerd dads), this was probably May 2000.

Besides the core memory of me and whatever ragtag crew populating our van finishing, for the one and only time in my life or maybe anyone's life, the entire song of "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" (and after we reached zero bottles of beer on the wall, we all collectively, without discussing it beforehand, rolled right into a verse of "negative one bottles of beer on the wall, negative one bottles of beer" before all the dads yelled "NO!!!" and veins popped on foreheads and Mr. Salerno almost swerved right through the steel barricades on the side of the highway in exasperation), there is also the memory of Jim M. letting me borrow his Walkman cassette player, that had a taped copy of The Slim Shady LP. It just about blew my fucking mind.

Not in terms of, like, quality or anything. I was just perplexed at how crude it was. Like, in good ways. At the time. At least that's how I interpreted it at the time. It felt like a secret I was being let in on. My parents didn't let me watch Ren & Stimpy or even The Simpsons at that age, and here I was, on a goddamn Boy Scout "camping" trip, listening to something like "Guilty Conscious," a galaxy of swear words and violence, an ode to giving into one's worst impulses. I kept listening to that song, until Jim M. asked for his cassette player back. I didn't have access to music back then like I do now, and I probably didn't listen to that song for another fifteen years. But it stayed in my mind, as dangerous incidents often do. (I wonder if Jim M. thinks about this song and this album in the same way, if he ever thinks back on that time in his life, as he awakes at the crack of dawn to sweat in the kitchen of his South Philly pretzel shop.)

One day, probably in the late '10s (no Flyers playoffs to mark time), I suddenly realized that the entirety of music history was at my fingertips, and I downloaded the whole album in hopes of gleeful rediscovery of those emotions I felt way back when, on that long, 99-beer-laden road to Fall River, Massachusetts. I wanted to feel like I was in the back of that van again, wanted to feel the thrill of the act of getting away with something, of experiencing something wild and exciting, the thrill of danger like a rollercoaster, not actually dangerous but simulating it.

Oof. No. I wasn't into it. In my late 20s or early 30s or whenever it was, I had the sudden realization that I had massively outgrown whatever value had been on this disc, if there was any at all. Gruesome skits, try-hard lyrics, lame violence, cringe-worthy attempts at crude humor, I didn't like any of it. It quickly wore on me, and by the end of the year 201x, I had removed it from my iPod once again. I think if I tried to download that album again right now, I'd probably find some artistry in there, deep in the crevices in between the flights of cruel adolescent senselessness. I don't have any plans to try it again. Some emotions are best left back on road trips of one's youth, back on Walkman's now populating earth's landfills.

The interesting thing about Infinite is that I don't feel any of that here. I don't find it thrilling and I don't find it appalling and I don't find it exciting. I hear something that is relatively generic. I feel like this could be some cuts from B-sides of any East Coast boom bap shit that was prominent in the '90s. The MC is a young upstart, and yes, perhaps it would have been interesting to realize that the skronky voice dropping bars over the too-smooth beats was a white man, but there's nothing unique here beyond skin color. And sure, he's violent, some lyrics about guns and fighting and misogyny and whatnot, but nothing that was out of step with the theme du jour of this genre at this time period, for better or worse. It's fine, it's all fine.

I think I would prefer almost anything to this. Like, in terms of whether I enjoy listening to something, then of course there are worse albums, of course. So many. There have been plenty of albums in this Record Club's almost 400 weeks that I've fucking hated, and I do not hate this one. I mildly appreciate it, quality-wise. But in terms of whether I enjoy thinking about it, then it's pretty close to the bottom. I like when albums make me feel something, good feelings or bad feelings or any strong feelings, really. But this is mostly a shrug. If you disagree, then you're probably getting your feelings mixed up with what you'll feel about this rapper from here on out in his timeline. Here, as Eminem exists on his first album, it's all just kinda... ehhh.

It's okay, though. Let go. Let free your responsibilities here as a music critic. It's not a great album, but there's more to it, more to the story. You know it. You know the story already. Eminem sells this mediocre-at-best album out of the trunk of his car, somehow Dr. Dre finds it, signs him, and Eminem goes on to become the most well-known and arguably best white rapper of all time. You hear nothing like that here, but let the spoilers from the story ahead rev the engine of the story as you see it here. That's fine. Think about it like: here's this hungry young scrapper, bold, trying his best, getting his feet wet but still so cocky that he names his album Infinite, implying that he will live forever, that his name will never die, like Shakespeare or Whitman or Frost. Like, fucking imagine how insanely cocksure you gotta be to imply that on this basic-ass album. Who the fuck is listening to this album and expecting greatness? The only way you could do that is through the magic of retrospection. But fuck it, retrospection can improve the quality. Why not? Who gives a fuck? There are no rules here.

I'm just saying, if Jim M. had an Infinite cassette in that Walkman on that ride to the battleship, then I don't know if I'd have remembered ever feeling anything about this dude's music. Negative one bottles of beer on the wall would have turned into negative two, then negative three, forever and ever. We might still be singing that song, just so that we could feel something, since Eminem as he existed at the beginning didn't seem to interested in doing that.

GRADE: 2 pukes out of 5

In My Place 267

September 24, 2026. 40.07312, -75.06944. See the updated map here. See all the blog posts here.

There's a list of tasks I need to do in the next few days, like get the oil changed, but that's not the list I'm talking about here. I'm talking about the list of tasks I need to do in the next few months. Like trim the overgrown grass near the fence pillars. The hope is that the tasks on this list don't accidentally fall onto the other list, that list of tasks I need to do in the next few years. It's easier than you think. The human mind is infinitely capable of ignoring things. I've ignored this shit all summer, and probably last summer too. Definitely not gonna get done in the next few days. 

Never Seen It #336: Winter's Bone

You don't wanna go around Little Blogger's askin' them people about anything they ain't offered to talk about. That's a real good way to end up watchin' 500 movies you never seen before... or wishin' you was.

Winter's Bone

2010

Debra Granik

Zoom: September 22, 2026, 9 PM to 10 PM

Participants: Brianna, Chelsea, Joe, Sean E., Stef

I think the first question to ask yourself is: how accurate is this movie? That's what it all hinges on. It's a fictional movie, but if it seems real, and if it's how they're really living out there in the Ozarks in the '00s or whatever, then it's gonna be a good movie. If it's unreal, or exaggerated in any way, then it becomes a farce. It felt like we were all in agreement that it was a "real" movie. Thus, everyone enjoyed it. 

Is that how the best movies function? That they feel real, even if it's not, like, a documentary? I don't know. Something to chew on. Lots to chew on with Winter's Bone. We had a great discussion! Here's some other shit we chatted about, in case you missed it:

• There was "zero catharsis," which set a good pace for the movie, in the opinion of most
• The lack of music was eerie, but also made the one scene with the family jamboree pop more (that scene was described as "an Anthony Bourdain episode")
• This was a real place that they filmed at, which made it more accurate
• Dale Dickey, great actress
• The is a code for men and women in this community, rules about violence
• But don't forget that Teardrop was violent too, but within the agreed boundaries of the community... what do we think about all this?
• What was the point of the squirrel dream? To show that Ree felt protective of the woods (and her siblings)? The chainsaw sounds foreshadowing the climactic scene with the chainsaw and hands?
• What's up with the mom? Mental health or substance abuse? Both?
• There is hardship here in this life, but acceptance as well, perhaps too much
• I.e. how resilience can be a bad thing, like what happened to cause that resilience to build, and what fucked up in society to make it get that way?
• What does it do to a community when no one trusts each other?
• On the surface, there is good will, but a lack of true trust among family and friends here below that surface. Communities need trust to function.
• Where is Teardrop off to? He says he's going to avenge his brother's death. What is Ree's reaction to that as it's happened?
• "Never ask for what oughta be offered"—thoughts on this line? Does it have to do with dignity? Or a literal inability to find anyone who can help?
• What is the banjo at the end signifying? The repeating of a cycle, or the breaking of that cycle?
• People used to move when things are bad. But now, with thing moderately better, especially in small towns, people feel stuck. Did Ree feel stuck?
• Why don't they sell the house? Because of that feeling of being stuck. But also, it is their one true reliable thing.
• Good acting; good singing from that one lady
• Is this a bleak ending? A bleak movie?
• Probably some other stuff here, but I'm falling asleep typing it up, sorry...

After the discussion, but probably even before it too, I'm giving this film a 4 pukes out of 5. Sad and realistic and incredibly well-made, but perhaps a little too chill. Admirable to eschew catharsis for the sake of realness, but I could go for some catharsis every once in a while. Good movie overall though.

How about you? What did you think? Any cool thoughts to share? Drop 'em in the comments!

(NEXT TIME: One more round of small groups before we knock everything down and regroup—In the Heat of the Night is up next)

In My Place 266

September 23, 2026. 40.06852, -75.09038. See the updated map here. See all the blog posts here.

Shit, man, you remember that time? You know the story I'm referring to. The one with the night after the, uh, the keg, which one was that? Dude brought his boys from the soccer team, three or four of 'em, never been to a woods party before, and the one with the hair, you know that dude, right, 'member him? He's with what's her face, oh god you remember, and they came here, after the party, to... you know, you remember, how could you forget? Jeez dude, that was... that was something alright. I don't even know why I brought it up. I wonder if she remembers, what happened, back then. You remember though, right? That one time?

A Year of Blind Spots: Standing on the Verge of Getting It On

Joe is working through a list of albums that he considers "blind spots," i.e. albums that he's never heard but feels like he should.

My OCD when it comes to categorizing music puts me at odds with the mess that is George Clinton's discography. As we explained last time we entered this iconic artist's world (sidenote: he's acclaimed because he starred in Trolls World Tour), we explored the Blind Spot that was Parliament, and their album Mothership Connection. I learned then that the band name Funakdelic was a misnomer, and that Parliament was the funk band, whereas Funkadelic was the psychedelic rock band. Over time, those lines blurred, and currently, George Clinton is usually just performing songs from both bands at once. But here, on this Funkadelic album, we're comfortably back in the rock sound that was first seen (by me, anyway) on the Record Club album Maggot Brain.

I'm not too impressed with Standing on the Verge of Getting It On, but I like it all the same. Clinton's music is fun, for the most part. Some of it has aged poorly (in tame ways, i.e. that it's kinda lame now), and some of it is a little too indulgent for my taste. But when the groove is locked in, something like "Sexy Ways," then it's undeniable why this band is (or, these bands are) a go-to example of '70s funk rock. I was actually thinking that maybe the quality doesn't need to bleed through everything for that reputation to stand firm. George Clinton is probably already confirmed as the Godfather of Funk Rock at the point this album drops. Even if half the album was dumb as shit (and it sort of is), then just its existence and its feel would be enough for Clinton to affirm that legacy.

I appreciate the fact that the album is bookended by its two worst songs, because this was the exact set-up for Maggot Brain. I wonder if that was on purpose, or like if this is a thing they do across all albums, putting the experimental stuff at the beginning and the end and stuffing all tight poppy funk songs in the middle. It's probably not a coincidence that Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel left the band after Maggot Brain and returned for Standing on the Verge; on both albums, there is a long guitar piece with a minimal number of discernable hooks or patterns.

"Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts" has the same momentum-killing aura as "Maggot Brain" does, but at least this one comes in at the end. The lyrics are cringe pop-psych bullshit, but the guitar playing is fine. It's obviously a retread of a successful gambit that Hazel and Clinton pulled off the first time. The first song's excuse was that Clinton was under the haze of LSD and told Hazel to play like his mother was dead. What's the excuse for "Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts"? Hazel's mother gets songwriting credits, but that's just so Hazel could sidestep some legal issues. There's no indication that his mom actually had anything to do with the making of this song, not even spiritually.

She gets credits on all the songs instead of Eddie Hazel, except for "Red Hot Mama." That song is the exception because it's a rework of a song that Hazel already had songwriting credits on, back from when it was performed by Parliament. And in fact, this song apparently predates even that and was at one point a song for the Parliaments? I don't have the chronology available to me right now. I think it's cool that there was a song that united all three versions of George Clinton's vision of music. I conversely think that the beginning of Funkadelic's version of it is so bad that it hurts. I know this song predates the reference by 36 years, but I fucking hate hearing a Minion voice when I'm trying to just listen to some fucking funk rock.

The five tracks in the middle, though? Great stuff. The title track goes hard, probably the funkiest shit you'll hear in this supposedly not-funk band. I'll go to bat for "I'll Stay" too, which has less heat but still manages to lock into a nice little groove. Even "Jimmy's Got a Little Bit of Bitch in Him" passes the sniff test, if just barely. If there's anything that pushes the limit of "aging poorly," it's this, but I don't have any real concerns about the intentions of this song being impure. It's a song about a gay friend. Does it seem like the best choice of words, even right there in the title, to describe this? No, not necessarily. But there's also evidence that George Clinton was greatly upset at all the actual, verifiable homophobia that was being laid out over samples of his tunes, once the G-funk hip hop thing started in earnest.

Overall, let's chalk this album up as a win. Any issues I have with it have already been litigated on this blog previously, and extra points for Funkadelic remaining consistent, flaws and all.

In My Place 265

September 22, 2026. 39.95103, -75.15377. See the updated map here. See all the blog posts here.

I would say an important, maybe even a pivotal, moment of my life happened here, though "pivotal" is probably stretching it unless you're talking about finances specifically. Yes, indeed, yes, a pivotal financial moment happened, here in this space, at that SEPTA fare window yonder, approximately twelve and two-thirds years ago, when I coincidentally followed a coworker to the El after our shift at the radio station (not that kind of radio station, you know the one I'm talking about, ACAB and all that). She went first, and showed the teller her dispatchers ID, and the dead-eyed man behind the glass didn't look down as he pressed a button and a little "ding" from the turnstile indicated that she (god, what was her name, Amanda I think?) was good to go, good to go through, for free, one gratis ride on the El, in whichever direction she chose. This blew my fucking mind. You mean I didn't have to pay? I showed the dude my ID, and he let me on too, just like that.

From then on, for maybe the next five or six years and occasionally after that, it was a constant battle of trying to be discreet, trying to find the right teller with that same dead-eyed uncaring look, trying to cover the expiration date on a long-expired ID, paying only when I absolutely had to. How much money did I save, over those years? I have no way of knowing. Had to be in the thousands, I would guess. It required some morality scaling, sure, which probably meant I fit in more at that police station than I realized at the time. But I wasn't pushing the button, and I wasn't stealing. I was just asking for a free ride, and more often than not granted one. Good luck to us all as we do whatever we can to survive out there.

The PoYB Monthly Playlist: September 2026

You get a dozen songs every month, in playlist form, that act as official PoYB music recommendations, since none of the other music columns are necessarily recommending anything, just exploring. These are your recs. Fuck the algorithm.

A little more than two months till Listmas. What do you have as your best songs of 2026? Here are some frontrunners for yours truly, in playlist form.

September 2026

1. "Lost Boys" by Phoebe Bridgers — I successfully avoided this song until I could hear it within the context of the album, and it was fucking worth it. Incredible song. Totally would've played it out had I heard it as a single. Things move quickly with the new music these days, though, and I'm thinking maybe I didn't give the new Bridgers album as much attention as I should have. It grew on me for a while, and then I gave it a break. I should return to it. It feels like one of those albums that's gonna keep growing.

2. "Guided Thunder" by Twisted Teens — Sometimes the speed of new music means that you have to make conscious choices. I started to see some heat for Twisted Teens for their second album of 2026, Florida River Blues. Pretty good! I like garage rock, of course I'm gonna take a swipe at any contemporary version of the genre you wanna throw at me. But then Twisted Teens went ahead and announced a third album for the year. Was this album good enough for me to want more? I don't know. Let's see how it shakes out.

3. "Round of Applause at the End of the World" by Wild Pink — There's just too much new music usually, is the thing. I say this all the time on the blog, and I'll say it again while I'm listening to the sweet-ass accordion on this bangin' Wild Pink track: I will probably never slow down in my intake of new music, but sometimes, I wish I could just spend a whole year pouring over like four albums. I could find so many nooks and crannies in this thing, I bet.

4. "My Guy" by Sam and Louise Sullivan — There's too much new music, but music criticism works. If you find good tastemakers that you trust, then it's a little bit easier to stay on track and discover something that feels new and fresh. I have a few people I trust employed at Stereogum, and I read a great interview with this Philly brother-sister duo that got me to try out the newest album, and I've been hooked ever since. The way I described it to Pam: "rediscovered Lindsey Buckingham side project from the '70s."

5. "Overdog" by Star Moles — And then that Sam and Louise interview mentioned another artist from their same little Philly cohort, Emily Moales a.k.a. Star Moles. Almost as if Emily had taken these guys under her wing or something. Then I saw the new Star Moles album in the top ten of Stereogum's Best 2026 Albums So Far list when I went back and checked. So it all makes sense, how the coverage is all connected. And while I'm not over the moon about Highway to Hell like I am Love & Devotion, it's still pretty dope. Nice moving through some new-to-me sounds in this very good year of music.

6. "Blow Your Nose" by Rico Nasty — But it's nice returning to some old-to-me sounds too, ya know? I absolutely fucking adored Rico Nasty's 2019 album Anger Management, and I've followed her since then, but this new one is her first since Anger Management to be produced by Kenny Beats, and it's not really a surprise it's my favorite Rico Nasty album since then too. Rico sounds absolutely vicious no matter what she's rapping over, but something about the offbeat, oddball production value of Beats' sounds really does wonders for her voice. It's just a perfect fit. Glad to revisit it in its newer form.

7. "Tiger's Blood" by Brandon Flowers — I guess that's the big question with returning artists in the year 2026: does their new shit sound like their old shit, and if so or if not, is that a good thing or a bad thing or what? I got at least one text that said "lol it's a country album?" in reference to Flowers' new one, THRASHER. Yes, it is, but it's not like that. It's not modern country, but instead steeped in the sounds of very old country, like Grand Ole Opry or whatever. But also, it fits comfortably next to the Killers' most recent album, 2021's Pressure Machine. And the fact that a bridge was so adeptly built between those two sounds makes this new album a wonder. Does his new shit sound like his old shit? Yes, but also no, and both are a good thing.

8. "Kiss the City" by Petey USA — When it comes to "old shit" and Petey USA, I'd really only be referring to The Yips, which I only got hooked on like ten months ago. He's already back with a new short album of eight songs, and again, it both is and isn't like his "old" shit. I guess there are more electronic elements in this one? I'm still into it but maybe not as much as the Midwest emo-tinged Heartland rock that this former(?) TikTok personality(?!) hit gold on last year. All good, I'm totally locked into Petey enough that I'd follow him to whatever sound he wants to try next.

9. "Satre-torial" by Cola — Gosh, I guess that was only last summer when Record Club explored the "old shit" of Ought. I knew then that a couple members of that band had reformed into a band called Cola, but I wasn't so into Ought that Cola would've been a lock. It in fact took me finally paging through Steve Hyden's Best Albums of 2026 So Far list to be convinced. I don't feel strongly about this album either way, but this particular song has a riff that I can't seem to shake. That's why it's worth it explore all this new music! If from a pretty good album comes one incredible chorus, then it's all worth it.

10. "St. Agnes" by Cardinals — Here's another one I got from Hyden's list. When was the last time that Steve Hyden introduced an artist to me that I completely fell head-over-heels for? I can't even remember. Cardinals ain't it, but they fit the mold of what I typically get from Hyden—extremely competent and occasionally great music for indie rock dudes who have jumped into the next age bracket. I like Cardinals, and I'm glad I'm listening. I would recommend them for sure, hence their inclusion on this playlist. But I question my authority as an amateur music critic sometimes, just like I question Hyden's authority as professional music critic.

11. "Hard Drive, Ontario" by Kiwi jr. — I didn't hear about Kiwi jr. from Steve Hyden. I don't even remember I first heard about these guys. Probably on a message board sometime around COVID. I've been following them for their past four albums, and while nothing gets me overly excited about them, they have become one of the most reliable indie rock bands. The new stuff is no different. This jangle pop is comfort music. With all the new music out there, you need something that you know is going to give you comfort and not necessarily challenge you too much. I don't need to mix it up THAT much. Comfort can be nice.

12. "Hurts like Hell" by Charlotte Cornfield — Then again, it's nice as hell to discover something truly surprising. Beautiful song, and pretty much the opposite of whatever corny-ass country music you're thinking is gonna come out of the mouth of someone with the stage name of "Cornfield." This is the title track on her newest album. It's probably not even the best song on there. More on this later in the year. For now, suffice it to say that a lifelong commitment to music discovery is the only way to live. Doesn't matter how you do it, just try. Start with this playlist, even, and go from there.

In My Place 264

September 21, 2026. 40.07296, -75.06948. See the updated map here. See all the blog posts here.

From the forced silence

uneasy, lying there, then—

fox murders a bird.

The squeals, and the squawks, and, and—

and then true silence begins.

Record Club Alumni Association — Minutes from Meeting #15: Hopesfall, Squarepusher, Jesse Ware

The Record Club Alumni Association meets every week to discuss the larger body of work that our RC alumni have put together, outside of the specific albums that were covered in the main section of our club. You can follow along with everything that the RCAA has covered so far HERE.

(Deeper Dive)

Hopesfall

Arbiter — RC Week 32 — 1 puke out of 5

The Satellite Years

October 15, 2002

I already did my atoning for that screw-up at the beginning. I'm really proud of how that album review was written, but I no longer agree with the subjective conclusion of Arbiter being a bad album. I have been cleansed, and now I am free to say that I thought The Satellite Years was pretty good! There is screaming, which I'm more neutral on these days. There were also some moments where the screaming ceased; when the "normal" vocals happened, I got the feeling that I get sometimes when I'm listening to prime-cut emo. That wild, almost frightening feeling that equates to a thrill. So if we're breaking this album down into parts, I'd say that the metal side of it is fine albeit a bit generic, while the emo side betrays that Hopesfall are way more artful than you'd assume. It's just that those two sides aren't balanced very well, and so you get maybe 75% of an album that's fine, and 25% that makes you think that Hopesfall could pull it off one day. I don't think I saw them do it here, in this 2002, and I guess at this point, we'll just have to settle for pretty-good.

GRADE: 3 pukes out of 5

(Follow-up)

Squarepusher

Go Plastic — RC Week 155 — 3 pukes out of 5

Dostrotime — RC f/u #28 — 3 pukes out of 5

Kammerkonzert

April 10, 2026

What in the world... I can't believe Squarepusher managed to upend my expectations on their newest album. Go Plastic was bonkers D&B shit, and I think Dostrotime was more of the same? But this. This is, um, chamber music? Classical sounds from the deranged mind of someone whose brain has already melted? Like, imagine Go Plastic but an orchestra attempting to play it. It's not good, mind you. I think I actually hate it. But holy shit do I respect it. There are some artists who are content with pumping out the same content they always have. There are some artists, on the other hand, who are like, I know I'm good at glitchy breakcore music, but now I'm going to try to sound like Music from the Penguin Cafe. I also got "middle section of 'Terrapin Part 1' by Grateful Dead" vibes (not complimentary). I will never listen to this album again, and I will be happy, but I will think about it often. Wow.

GRADE: 2 pukes out of 5

Jesse Ware

That! Feels Good! — RC Week 222 — 3.5 pukes out of 5

Superbloom

April 17, 2026

I hate to say it, but with some of these albums, if we're at the five-month mark since they dropped, and there's been a noticeable lack of heat in that time, then I usually assume that there's a reason for that. In other words, that the album is not that good. Of course there are many, many exceptions, but it's an accurate rule of thumb, generally. I haven't heard shit about Superbloom since last spring, and listening to it now, I can confirm that the reason is indeed the obvious one. Jessie Ware is doing her thing; it's not a bad album. She's still got her fingers pressing the disco buttons, and there is at least one song ("Sauna") for which this works very well. But otherwise, this feels like the type of disco that would be at the end of a disco album. Disco made for when it's the end of the night and there are only a few stragglers left on the dance floor. It would be like if the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" became THE iconic disco song, as opposed to "Staying Alive." That! Feels Good! was Jessie Ware's "Staying Alive," and Superbloom is her "How Deep Is Your Love." In other words, it's kinda boring. I also had a thought at certain points that this is what Lizzo's music would sound like if she got rid of the snarkiness (and never forced her employees to sodomize strippers, but that's not the point I'm making here). A serious Lizzo—not exactly what I'm looking for! The less said about the embarrassing "Ride" (an attempt at chasing the pop country wagon while keeping a toe firmly planted in disco land), the better. I tried reading an interview with Ware about this album, just to make sure I didn't miss anything, but no, there's no reason for this, she's just doing whatever. Though she did drop a Minnie Riperton reference. Damn, now that's a great comparison point. Not my shit, mostly. The critics' silence was right.

GRADE: 2 pukes out of 5

(Random RCAA News)

• MUNA spoke out about how they ended up appearing on Kimmel on the same night as Gal Gadot
• Taylor Hanson (he of Tinted Windows, and possibly another band that I'm blanking on right now) is on the current season of Dancing with the Stars.
• Sturgill Simpson covered INXS.
• Alanis Morissette teamed up with Brandi Carlile.
• RC album Face Value got a deluxe edition release last week.
• New Brunswick hardcore band Taylor Swift acted in a skit at the Emmys, while Noah Kahan sang Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" for the in memoriam segment.

In My Place 263

September 20, 2026. 40.08125, -75.08584. See the updated map here. See all the blog posts here.

Looking through the window and seeing the monstrosity that is a closed pool. Closed as of hours ago. Summer officially over, the last of many markings of time throughout the season that indicate change, a slowing down, and ending. It's sad, in a way. It would be sad if I loved going in the pool and loved the ritual of family swims. I don't love that, but it's still sad.

Autumn is better though. Happy autumn, everyone.

Album of the Week: Infinite

Hard to believe we've been doing this shit for almost 400 weeks. I've always made the joke that "we only have [1000-x] weeks of Record Club left!" under the assumption that Week 1000 would be our final week doing this. But I don't know. I don't see why it wouldn't stretch on indefinitely. Not sure how you feel about it, but for me, Record Club is a stabilizing presence in my life, and at this point I really can't imagine functioning without it. So let's keep going! Let us know what you think about this Marshall Mathers joint this week!

Record Club:

archives | supplemental

spotify playlist | youtube playlist

choose | writing

WEEK 399 — September 20-26, 2026

Infinite

by Eminem

LISTEN:

Spotify | YouTube | Bandcamp | Apple

(if you need mp3 copies, let me know!)

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PICKED BY RC ALGORITHM

ALGORITHM EXPLANATION: Eminem was mentioned in nine separate RC reviews. This was tied with next week's artist, Lana Del Rey. I gave the win to Lana Del Rey, though, because five of the nine Eminem references were from reviews for the same RC artist. This was K'naan, who, yes, sounds like Eminem. But that was a tiebreaker concern. Otherwise, yeah, it makes sense to me that Eminem has been mentioned a bunch. He's a pretty well-known guy.

RC REVIEWS WITH EMINEM MENTIONED: Tom's review for How I Got Over by the Roots; Joe's review for The Dusty Foot Philosopher by K'naan; Gary's review for The Dusty Foot Philosopher by K'naan; Pam's review for The Dusty Foot Philosopher by K'naan; Nate's review for The Dusty Foot Philosopher by K'naan; Walter's review for The Dusty Foot Philosopher by K'naan; Nate's review for this is what ____ feels like (Vol. 1-4) by JVKE; Joe's review for The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess by Chappell Roan; Sunny's review for Face Value by Phil Collins.

JOE'S PITCH: There were some choices regarding which album of Eminem's we could do today. But I thought it would be fun to pick something that I knew most people hadn't heard. Or maybe I'm wrong! Are people familiar with Eminem's first album? I didn't even know it existed until I went on his Wikipedia page, so that's what I'm basing the assumption on.

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ALBUM DETAILS

GENRE: Boom bap, conscious hip hop, jazz rap

RELEASED: November 12, 1996

LENGTH: 37:54

TRACKLIST:

1. Infinite
2. W.E.G.O. (Interlude)
3. It's O.K. (ft. Eye-Kyu)
4. Tonite
5. 313 (ft. Eye-Kyu)
6. Maxine (ft. Denaun Porter and Three)
7. Open Mic (ft. Thyme)
8. Never 2 Far
9. Searchin' (ft. Eye-Kyu and Angela Workman)
10. Backstabber
11. Jealousy Woes II

LYRICS: Genius.com

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ARTIST DETAILS

PRONOUNS: he/him/his

ABOUT: Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972. He was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, but grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He had a tumultuous family life living with his mother, and found an outlet in hip hop. After selling his first album out of the trunk of his car, he signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. He became one of the best-selling rappers, and musical artists in general, in history. Outside of his 30-year solo career, he was part of rap groups New Jacks, Soul Intent, Outsidaz, and D12. He starred in a loosely autobiographical film about his life called 8 Mile, and won an Oscar for Best Original Song from that film. He uses alter egos in his songs (e.g. Slim Shady). He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. He is one Tony Award and one Kids Choice Blimp away from earning a coveted KEGOT. He has been sober since April 20, 2008. He owns a restaurant called Mom's Spaghetti.

DISCOGRAPHY: Eminem has twelve albums. Infinite is his first, and the only one not available on typical streaming services. The next three—The Slim Shady LP (1999), The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), and The Eminem Show (2002)—are his most well-known. His most recent is The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) from 2024.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

READING SOME SHIT: 2017 interview with Elton John for Interview Magazine

WATCHING SOME SHIT: five minutes of an Eminem performance from 1996

RECORD CLUB CONNECTIONS: Wikipedia has an extensive list of all the artists who have claimed to have been influenced and inspired by Eminem, and many are RC alumni, including: Kendrick Lamar, Cordae, Tyler, the Creator, Ed "Not Complicit" Sheeran, Jackman Harlowman, Danny Brown, BTS, Jelly Roll, Lizard Person Demi Lovato, and Mac Miller. (K'naan, basically the reason we are here, does not make the list, though he does really sound like Eminem, doesn't he?)

Eminem was inducted into the R'n'R HoF the same year as Dolly Parton. Both are certified rockers! Eminem has won the Best Rap Album Grammy six times. He's beaten the Roots twice, and Missy Elliott once. He lost to Doechii though.

We covered Cheshire Cat by blink-182 with a song called "M+M's." That album felt similar to what we're doing here, i.e. an artist's debut album that came out before they became commercially and critically famous. We covered Infinite Arms by Band of Horses too; now we just need to find an album called Arms.

I found a list of artists and celebrities that Eminem has mentioned in songs over the years. A very long list. Britney Spears is probably the most famous one, off the top of my head ("So you can sit me here next to Britney Spears?" on "The Real Slim Shady"). Just scrolling through, I see Bobby Brown, Halsey, Ozzy Osbourne (the guy from Trolls World Tour), Katy Perry, probably more, I dunno, see for yourself.

MENTIONS ON THE BLOG: I reviewed Eminem's 2009 album Relapse on the blog in 2024. This was part of the RC-adjacent "Kailyn's Dozen" project, which you'll probably have to look into if you want to have any fucking clue why I wrote about Relapse like I did.

Otherwise, a bunch of off-hand mentions (the dude is pretty ubiquitous within our generation), but most a lot of song choices for Song Challenge and the Monday Morning Mixtape. We have: "Who Knew" on MMM 005 by Jeanine, "Lose Yourself" on MMM 063 by Zach, "Stan" on MMM 075 by Joe, "My Name Is" on MMM 082 by Sunny; "So Far..." for SSC Day 21 by Fisher, "Not Afraid" for SSC Day 34 by Stephan, "Kim" for SSC Day 47 by Bob, "8 Mile" for SSC Day 67 by Bob; "Detroit vs. Everybody" for YSC Day 5 by Bob; "Insane" and "Kim" for YSC Day 20 by Jeanine and Sara, respectively, "Superman" for YSC Day 39 by Bob, "Lose Yourself" for YSC Day 43 by Bridget, "Stan" for YSC Day 54 by Bridget, "Houdini" for YSC Day 73 by Nate, "Love the Way You Lie" for YSC Day 91 by Allison.

~~~~~~~~~~

RECORD CLUB ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
***our fifteenth RCAA meeting was bumped till tomorrow

This week's discography dive album: Stone Soul by Mongo Santamaria

This week's follow-up album: The World Is to Dig by They Might Be Giants and Angel in Plainclothes by Angelo de Augustine

This week's keeping up album (probably): Might have time to get some Carly Rae Jepsen thoughts on the record, we'll see! If not, next week for sure.

Listen with us! Keep your favorite Record Club artists in the rotation!

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COUNTDOWN:

69 Weeks Until Week 420

ralph spitting mad bars

We are tracking and counting down every week from here on out till Record Club Week 420. We started this countdown 69 weeks out. During Record Club Week 420, we will be covering Donny Most by the esteemed Happy Days virgin Donny Most. The goal for Week 420 of Record Club is that it will feature 69 reviews from 69 different people. 

THIS WEEK: We are 21 weeks away from Week 420.

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Happy listening, RC family!
Have a great week!

In My Place 262

September 19, 2026. 40.06707, -75.0931. See the updated map here. See all the blog posts here.

Alright guys, c'mon, we gotta try something different. I don't have the stamina to track three different mini-golf games. Don't think if it like you're individuals. Please don't think of yourselves as opponents. Think more like... you're a team. Golf can be a team sport. Try to work together to get the lowest score, as a team. Cheer each other on. Don't run to the next hole until everyone is done this one. Do not get upset. We're just having fun together. It's not that big of a deal. Just a game. Etc.

Song of the Day: "Downtown"

A column about music, and about how the music informs our lives. Today's author is Joe. See the previous songs HERE.

"Downtown"

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

from This Unruly Mess I've Made

2016

Let's survey the history of Macklemore on this blog. I won't try to be cute about it; I'll tell you why I'm doing this right here at the beginning. I've been thinking about Macklemore because he was kicked off of Ed Sheeran's stadium tour, for reasons that bothered me. When I'm bothered by something, I usually turn to the blog, as one might do with their own diary or journal when attempting to explore their emotions surrounding a particular subject. I'm trying to "get to the bottom of it," as they say. Why does something that happened to Macklemore in the year 2026, at least fourteen years past his cultural and commercial peak, perturb me so?

In My Place 261

September 18, 2026. 39.9756, -75.11612. See the updated map here. See all the blog posts here.

Free parking is so fucking suspicious. I'm conditioned to think that every time I park more than a mile from my house, there are tow trucks prowling and ready to pounce at the slightest misstep. What's even more anxiety-inducing is that, when I lived in this area, this spot was basically a pile of dirt. Now you're telling me that under I-95 there's multiple well-lit parking lots? And they are all free? Too good to be true. I'm getting fucking towed.

Discussion — Week 398: New Miserable Experience by Gin Blossoms

How's it going out there? Are you doing okay after 398 weeks of Record Club? I felt the weight of that number, and the impending Week 400, this week. Maybe thinking there wasn't all that much to say anymore. But we have some really interesting album picks coming up over the next couple months, music that I think is going to inspire us in some really good ways (though not always with quality music, but more often than not that too I think!).

In the meantime, what are we thinking about Gin Blossoms? Final verdict? Would it have been better or worse to choose some of their lesser-known albums? Does "Hey Jealousy" hold up? Is "Allison Road" the dark horse winner of "best song on the album"? Let's hear your thoughts, before we close the door on the '90s FOR GOOD!!!!!

New Miserable Experience, Sunny

Amazing how nostalgic an album I've never heard before can be. I never had a Gin Blossoms kick, thinking before Sunday there was a definite article The in that band name. Sunday is where I also learn the band named about alcoholism has a depressive alcoholic in it who gets kicked out and then kills himself. RC really is a way to find out more about the two-hit wonders that hasn't been possible since the VH1 popup video days.

The 2.5 hits on this album still hit decades later. I am sure Gin Blossoms are absolutely destroying basement bars and state fairs with a fifteen-minute closer that brings tears of childhood memory to elder millennial eyes. In between those hits there are a half dozen indie rock tracks which range from totally fine to pretty fun, and then a long tail of bizarre choices like "Cheatin'."

Unlike some of our more recent RC picks, this has been an easy album to throw on anywhere (party, office, crowded elevator) and get an acknowledging nod of "is this The Gin Blossoms?" and a knowing nod I give in return.

New Miserable Experience, Nate

A brief list of new miserable experiences, circa 2026:

• Emotional and psychological whiplash from first enjoying, then being anxious, about unseasonably warm weather
• Wrestling with the idea of immigration—not in a political sense, but in the evolutionary movement-of-humanity-as-a-biological-imperative sense—and with the notion of there not being anywhere else to go, species-wise
• Trying to order food via telephone and being told to use the app
• Trying to call a restaurant and discovering their only consumer-facing platform is a social media page
• Getting three children into the goddamn minivan by 8:30 every school day without feeling as if you spend your waking hours screaming at the little beasts you love so much, yet wish they would just brush their fucking teeth and learn how to put their socks on or lift a single item in the living room when looking for a shoe
• Idly looking at houses in your old neighborhood and realizing you've been priced out in what seems like no time at all
• Seeing a character on television intended to be the totem of slovenly unfitness and realizing you'd swap bodies with that jabroni right now
• Thinking about your father alone on his wedding anniversary now that his wife has died
• Hearing the long-thought-lost music of an old friend and discovering that not only was it always better than your own output, but that it remains great in both timescapes
• Trying to call and cancel a pest control service subscription, being told to wait on the line for the next available service representative, then waiting for 25 minutes before being dumped onto a voicemail box that is, you're not going to believe this shit, already fucking full

In short: It was a nice week for some downtrodden power-pop with brief forays into country and calypso. I don't know if Gilson will wind up submitting a review this week, but in case he doesn't, he called it when he said if this album had been released ten years ago it would be seen as a generational indie rock record. I'll go a step further and say it'd be somewhere in the Hotelier / Cheap Girls / Beach Slang lane, and yes I recognize two of those three bands are not welcomed to be mentioned here. Come on down to the comments and correct me, Joe, you Bari Weiss-ass. 

Additional miserable experience:

• Calling someone a "Bari Weiss-ass" for reasons that are not clear to yourself, or likely to the person they were directed at

New Miserable Experience, Gloria

I saw the Gin Blossoms perform in 2018 at LeadingAge, which is an annual senior care conference. I also met Annie Leibovitz at the same conference (we spoke for all of 30 seconds while she signed my book, haha)! I remember it being a good conference overall, but nothing I learned or connections I made really stand out.

That's kind of how I feel about this album too. It's nice—it has a really strong '90s rock sound, good vocals, good music—but nothing really stands out right now.

I think music like this has a real disadvantage when reviewed on the blog, since most of us are in our mid 30s to early 40s. We grew up hearing "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You" on the radio. These were staples for alternative rock stations back then. It was pervasive, always just kind of around. So this is old enough that it's kind of baked into our baseline sense of what "rock" sounds like. It's hard to hear something new from this for me. It's nice, but nothing outstanding.

New Miserable Experience, Joe

Insert opinions here. Write about Gin Blossoms. Put something here about how it's a good album but that you fear its goodness has more to do with nostalgia than anything. Explain how nostalgia as a concept has turned toxic as it's been commodified over the last however many years. Write about how it's okay to kowtow to nostalgia as long as you're doing so appropriately. Insert something about Gin Blossoms just making good music, and not needing to worry about nostalgia being used to press any type of thumb against any type of scale. Something, something, etc., etc. Write more. Elaborate later.

Save this space for darker subjects. Write about the guitarist who killed himself. Write about what it means to have the writer of the band's biggest hits to be dead, to have died hating the band and mournful of his own actions in severing ties and regretting the dark place it sent him. Make sure to clarify that you can't see into anyone's soul or actually know what anyone else is thinking. Note that it's all just posturing for an album review, in a possibly misguided attempt at understanding the art on a deeper level. Make sure you say "this was good" or even "this was bad" multiple times, to keep focus on the main purpose of an album review.

ENTER MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT "HEY JEALOUSY" HERE, if any.

Explore deeper cuts. Spin the wheel and pick out at random if you need to. Thoughts about "Hold Me Down." Freeform write about the intersection of alt-rock and jangle-pop. Evaluate whether Gin Blossoms hit the mark, then write that down too. This can all be filled in later. Whatever you end up thinking at the time. Choose which side you prefer. If it's alt-rock, write about "Found Out About You." If it's jangle-pop, write about "Allison Road." (If it's "other," write about "Cajun Song.")

The format should look like the following:

A) intro

something about a subject that has nothing to do with the album

something you're feeling

get inspiration monday or tuesday, enter it here

B) bend the subject back to the album thoughts

how do they relate?

^^^this is important, don't forget

C) fill it out with more thoughts on more albums

run-on sentences would go here

D) "BUT"—find a "but"

something that's holding me back

whatever

i don't know yet

and that's where you can end it. Maybe with a button at the end, but not necessarily.

listen to gin blossoms a bunch

write down thoughts

like or not like?

thoughts, off the cuff (organize later):

i like this

7 hands are tied - cool rising action

there are 3 hits on here

how do they affect my experience

wtf with the country song

base entire review around gin blossoms ending on country song?

no

write how weird it is though

"value in outliers" or some bullshit

therapist conversation

what's holding me back

another review of good music i didn't connect with

don't have to connect with everything

plus i connect with hey jealousy

could've done whole review from that

was going to but couldn't fill the space

thoughts aren't that deep

pretending its deep would be disingenuous

i don't hear the darkness in the song

darkness of the writer of the song or character in song

just a pop hit from my youth

simply nostalgia

which makes me simple

and disappoints me on a certain level

to not have the tools to pull anything significant or meaningful from this

i dunno

nothing else holding me back, really

worth a listen if you're available

surface level stuff though

which is fine

haven't we been over this before

too many weeks

too many weeks in a row

writing too much

v tired

falling asleep

drop grade

3.5 pukes out of 5

that's good enough for now

INSERT ABOVE:

proofread

the subject of jealousy fascinates me, and so perhaps this is why im drawn to the song hey jealousy

this is the opposite side of the coin as stutter by joe

the other joe

in that review i wrote about how i didnt understand y jealousy was a thing ppl dealt with

in gin blossoms hey jealousy, the protagonist seems to have taken that lesson to heart

wonder if robin wilson listened to stutter eight years later and thought about doug hopkins

    the protagonist is fully aware of his emotions, he acknowledges that he is jealous, but he has the strength to temporarily put it to the side and recognize destructive behaviors, its been years ago mind you, but hes still grieving, still jealous of whoever is with his ex now, but hes not gonna like go out drunk driving or whatever, save that for tomorrow, for tonight lets just sleep on the couch and think about it, sleep it off maybe, and hope for a brighter future, one in which this toxic jealous feeling is replaced by something else, optimism maybe, kindness perhaps

        hey jealousy is a song for when you feel down, because it can give you the emotional stamina to address the reasons you feel down, and the strength to address those concerns in concrete ways, even if it just means being patience. patience requires strength too.

    dont be like the dood in found out about you, in other words

In My Place 260

September 17, 2026. 39.95416, -75.16595. See the updated map here. See all the blog posts here.

This is me, experimenting.

To be very clear: I am experimenting with camera angles, and NOT with explosives. I am chilling with a friend in LOVE Park instead of Dilworth Park because Dilworth Park has been evacuated due to a bomb threat, which I have NOTHING to do with. "Wouldn't it be nice if we weren't under threat of bomb because we were working from home?" some city employees might be asking. But not me, I'm not asking that. I'm not threatened, nor threatening. I'm just trying out tilting the camera, like what if I tilted it enough so that the foregrounded table's edge was straight along the line on the 3x3 grid, even if that meant that City Hall was crooked in the background?

But that's all that's going on here. I am not in the bomb threat zone, and had nothing to do with creating that zone. And if you had questions for me about whether I had anything to do with a bomb threat at City Hall, then I think many or maybe even most of those questions can be answered with this "I did NOT call in a bomb threat" blog post, which I'm writing now, and which you are reading now. Thanks for reading, and for understanding that this is a photo blog post only, and that I'm just here in LOVE Park by coincidence, nothing more.

Never Seen It #335: Amélie

Amélie has a strange feeling of absolute harmony. It's a perfect blog moment. A soft light, a scent in the air, the quiet murmur of the city, 500 movies she'd never seen before. A surge of love, an urge to help mankind overcomes her.

Amélie

2001

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

For this final entry into Film Club's "Already Seen It" mini-series, we coincidentally had two FC members choose the same movie that they've already seen. Allison and Brittany were both asked to give me a prompt or question or whatever, and their emails are below. I will also say that, in the week between asking them for their thoughts and sitting down to write this blog post, I hung out with Allison, who seemed a little concerned that I wouldn't like Amélie. I do! I like it! I also appreciated Allison teaching me how to correctly pronounce it (AH-muh-lee).

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brittany

I guess my questions and prompts are: what did you think of the movie? This was made in 2001, and I  haven't watched it since probably 2007. Did anything seem unusual watching it in 2026, or is it "ageless"? What was your favorite part of the movie, and what was your least favorite part?

Thinking about this movie myself, one thing that always cracked me up was the "how many people in Paris are having orgasms this very second?" And it does the little orgasm montage and then she goes, "quinze." I also really loved the mystery of the photo booth and the scene where they ride on the moped together. I thought that was such a beautiful scene. It's been almost 20 years since I last watched this movie, and I always remember the moped scene.

Did any scenes stand out to you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Allison

Brittany, great taste! 

Joe: Did this movie make you feel whimsical, or inspired you to live a more whimsical life?

Talk about color! The film is so rich and saturated, I forgot how stunning some shots are. 

Thoughts on the narrator?

Does Amelie go too far in meddling with her neighbors? Things work out for most, but that stuff with the letter could have gone sideways. Sure, she psychologically terrorizes the grocer, but he kind of deserved it. Georgette, however, definitely gets shafted.

Finally, did this movie make you want to get baby bangs or is that just a universal girl experience?

If you liked this, absolutely watch A Very Long Engagement. You don't have to blog it, you could just enjoy it!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Joe

My thoughts are disjointed, which usually happens for a movie I like. I liked Amélie a lot! Totally bought into the whimsy. I think I caught on to the aesthetic around the time that they showed all the garden plants with holes punched in them. The whimsy allows you to consider the film lighthearted and fun, while also giving plenty of room to take it seriously. When Amélie's mother dies, it's both tragic and sort of funny, right? Or did the whimsy mislead me?

The only thing I knew about this film before watching was the theatrical poster / DVD cover / image of Amélie smiling. The past 25 years of movie PR advertising may have warped my brain into thinking that this was going to be a horror film, based on that image. So that was the most relieving thing about this film-watching experience, learning that Amélie's smile was meant to be sincere, not ironic. Though I did see, in my surprisingly difficult hunt to find a free copy of this on the internet, a file called "Amélie cut as a horror movie," and I can't imagine that was too big of a stretch.

Because it requires a buy-in to this world. It requires you to buy into the idea that moped rides are charming, that Amélie has the best interest of her community at heart, that this is a sweet romantic film with no villain and no evil external forces and just exists as a nice little story. I buy in, and I agree with all of this, and I do think that Amélie was a great film for all the reasons that Allison and Brittany imply above.

I too loved the opening sequence that led up to the (famous?) orgasm bit. I especially liked how we got micro-vignettes from a bunch of characters we'll never see again, like when the narrator shot around the city to see what a bunch of people were doing at the exact same time. I love stories like this. How would I describe it? I guess it's just a symptom of having an omniscient narrator who isn't afraid to break the fourth wall. It's using the narrator as a device to flesh out the story with details that important, not to the plot, but thematically.

What is the theme, then? The purpose of this story? My interpretation is that it's the story of a woman who learns that it's easy to help others, but it's hard to help yourself. Or rather, not that this lesson is universally true (lots of bad people find it really easy to help only themselves), but that this lesson applies to this character, she finds, and it's the story of her figuring that out. Amélie's discovery that she likes helping people is discovered rather early on, but as we move through the movie, enough complications pile up (Georgette getting "shafted," as a great example, or drawing out her cat-and-mouse game with her crush for waaaay too long) that it starts to shake the whole foundation of that new discovery. Is helping people in spite of your own needs noble, or is it cowardly? The euphoric moped ride finds the answer somewhere in the middle.

And the answer is probably not the following, something said by the failed author: "Life is a long rehearsal for a show that never plays." That felt meaningful when he said it, but also bleak. Almost as if life doesn't actually matter. That's the opposite of what Amélie is trying to say, I think. I think the movie argues that life matters very much, that our choices are important. It's helpful to see Amélie make a bunch of right choices and a handful of wrong ones too. It's not easy to make the right choice. (Actually, now that I think about it, you could probably apply this lesson to the making of this film itself. The colors definitely popped, and I think that's a choice. The choice the attempt at making this a fun and whimsical and ultimately optimistic film. We'll ask the questions but have a lot of fun doing it!)

To answer Brittany's question, I think this is the way that makes the film ageless. There's a specific time and place to the setting, but it could be anywhere at any time, and it'd still be the same movie. The character has good intentions, and she discovers herself and her place in the world. It's a thrill to watch.

In the interest of answering every question: I have inquired with my barber and have scheduled an appointment to get baby bangs.

GRADE: 4 pukes out of 5

Thanks to Allison and Brittany for their help!

NEXT TIME: Film Club gets together on Zoom to talk about Winter's Bone, see you at 9 PM on Tuesday!