Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu celebrated an important anniversary this week: Getting fired from his accounting job. Ten years ago, the Canadian Marvel hero got laid off from Deloitte after spending a significant amount of time and money trying to please his parents. Turns out, he couldn’t be more thankful to have gotten the axe.
In a lengthy Instagram post marking the momentous anniversary, which makes Liu “introspective” every year it comes around, the burgeoning actor thanked the people who fired him.
“To Paul Gibbon and the offices of Deloitte Toronto; sincerely, honestly, THANK YOU,” Liu wrote. “You did for me what I never had the courage to do myself; you destroyed a life that I was building for someone else, so that I could finally begin to build a life for me.”
After being fired, Liu dedicated himself to breaking into acting, taking whatever jobs he could get. The stars began to align when he was cast in the Canadian sitcom, Kim’s Convenience, which snowballed into his newfound fame in the MCU. But even if his career wasn’t a success, he still would’ve been thankful for leaving the accounting world behind:
“I know luck has played a substantial role in my successes but I am sure that if I hadn’t been cast in two life-changing roles, I’d still find purpose and meaning in the pursuit of success on my own terms. Not my parents’ definition – MINE. I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, but no amount of money is worth compromising your vision for yourself. The pursuit of a dream- YOUR dream- against all odds… that’s what life is all about.”
You can read Simu Liu’s full anniversary post below:
It’s gotta be a pretty powerful artistic feeling to imagine what your songs might sound like backed by a full orchestra and then making it happen. That’s exactly what Faye Webster is doing on her newly announced Car Therapy Sessions EP. The release is a compilation of three songs from 2021’s I Know I’m Funny Haha, a suite of both versions of “Jonny,” off of 2019’s Atlanta Millionaire’s Club, and the new song, “Car Therapy.”
The video for “Car Therapy” is out now, with Webster (who’s about to embark on a tour with Haim) playing the song backed by a 24-piece orchestra. Like the album, the song is conducted and arranged by Trey Pollard at Richmond, Virginia’s Spacebomb Studios, which was the recording home for amazing albums like Natalie Prass’ self-titled debut and Julien Baker’s Sprained Ankle.
Webster said in a statement:
“I chose these songs mostly for them being some of my favorites but also thinking about how different they would sound with an orchestra. Especially ‘Cheers,’ I feel like that’s the one song people wouldn’t think I would choose but that’s exactly why I did. Trey also made all the arrangements so that they start off playing songs of mine that I didn’t end up choosing, which I thought was brilliant. The recording experience was beautiful, I was truly fighting tears. I think I had actually even cried listening to the demos. I was put in a position where I could see the conductor as well as the producer, which I needed because I honestly couldn’t pick up on my cues sometimes even though I wrote the songs. I was so distracted in how beautiful the orchestra sounded I would forget to sing sometimes.”
Watch the video for “Car Therapy” above and check out the album artwork and tracklist for Car Therapy Sessions below.
Faye Webster
1. “Kind Of (Type of Way)”
2. “Sometimes (Overanalyze)”
3. “Car Therapy”
4. “Suite: Jonny”
5. “Cheers (To You & Me)”
Car Therapy Sessions is out 4/29 via Secretly Canadian. Pre-order it here.
Since Mike Richards was fired at Alex Trebek’s replacement in August 2021, Jeopardy! has split the hosting duties between Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik. Both have expressed interest in the full-time gig, but no decisions will be made until at least the end of season 38, which concludes on July 29. It’s clear who Jeopardy! fans want as the permanent host, however, based on a poll conducted by TV Insider.
“Of the [29,683] votes cast, Jennings took the lead with a majority of 70 percent with 20,885 votes — meanwhile, Bialik came in at 30 percent at 8,798 votes. While both had a strong showing of support, it’s clear who’s favored to be the permanent host among our readers, and that would be Ken Jennings,” TV Insider reported.
Jennings is also the favorite among children who write freaking adorable letters to game show hosts, as well as Jeopardy! champ Amy Schneider. “Ken Jennings should be the host,” she told CNN. “I didn’t necessarily think that before going into this because, yes, he was a great champion, but this is a different skill set. But you could see the work that he put into it, and I just thought he did a really great job. That’s my endorsement.”
Meanwhile, Bialik has said that she would “love” the full-time job, and she’s even received Trebek’s family’s blessing. “I got to meet them when we dedicated the stage and just feels so humbled around them,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I want to only honor and you can’t match him and so there’s no need to try, but [we] really do continuously kind of want their blessing, that they feel what we’re doing is supporting that legacy.”
Counterpoint: let the Muppets host Jeopardy! No one will be mad at that.
Inner-MAGA conflict is as entertaining as clashes come in politics, and the whole “Trump endorses Dr. Oz for Senate” thing has created quite a backlash in Pennsylvania and beyond. There’s no telling why Trump decided to endorse a guy who sees no chance of winning that seat, although Trump declaring that “TV is like a poll” is quite telling. The ex-president is, after all, a reality star, but his endorsement of Mehmet Oz could actually be the proverbial back-breaking star for some conservatives.
Even Fox News host Laura Ingraham ain’t buying what Trump is selling here. She did, as well, call out her colleague, Sean Hannity for being on board with the Oz thing, and she clashed with Kellyanne Conway on the issue, too.
Kellyanne is working for Oz’s primary opponent. But despite being repeatedly asked if Trump’s endorsement of Oz was a mistake, she won’t do that. Not sure what Corman is paying for, but it ain’t this unprincipled cowardice. pic.twitter.com/plHeQEh9AS
Kellyanne, who’s all about PA right now (she’s working for gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman) wouldn’t budge on the issue, but Ingraham ran out of patience:
“Hannity, I think, I believe endorsed Oz and I think that’s, you know, that’s probably not inconsequential for President Trump. You wouldn’t answer the question whether it was a mistake. I think it was a mistake to endorse Oz. I’ll say it. I’m not afraid to say it. It was a mistake to endorse Oz.”
That’s be kind-of wild if Trump’s Dr. Oz endorsement turned out to be the one thing that could destroy a 2024 candidacy where the far-right is concerned. Sad!
Lucius had a major opportunity when they featured on Harry Styles’ single “Treat People With Kindness,” as the band’s Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig sing the chorus completely unaccompanied by Styles. Strangely, though, they aren’t credited as featured artists on the song, despite their prominent role in it. Now, Wolfe and Laessig say that rubbed them the wrong way.
In a new Los Angeles Times interview, Wolfe says of Styles asking them to sing on what would become “Treat People With Kindness,” “We were like, ‘Yeah, of course.’ If it’s just ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs,’ it’s not a big deal, and it’s a good opportunity for us, but we started singing and we were singing the whole chorus.”
Laessig added, “We thought he was gonna add on top after and that we’d be in the background.”
The feature then notes Styles “declined to list Lucius as a featured act or even to tag the duo on Spotify so that Styles’ millions of fans might easily find the rest of their music.” Indeed, neither Lucius nor Wolfe and Laessig individually are listed on the song’s credits on Spotify.
Wolfe continued:
“Two weeks later, they sent us the track, and it was literally us. We start the song, we sing every chorus, just us. We trade off the bridge. It is us and Harry Styles. Harry Styles and us. […] It just hurt. Here was an opportunity to spread the love a little bit, which he purports to do all the time, and it could’ve really helped us. I’ve been to Harry shows and he’s always been very charming and kind. We’ve sung live with him.”
When he’s not obsessing over Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s swollen testicles, Tucker Carlson has spent the better part of the past two years spreading dangerous misinformation and downright dumb opinions about the COVID virus as well as the vaccines and safety protocols meant to prevent it from killing millions more people. Yet he has been weirdly evasive whenever he has been asked about his own vaccination status—until now.
Earlier this month, while Carlson spoke at a California megachurch where he loudly and proudly told the crowd that skipped “the first three doses” of the vaccine, and had no intention of rectifying that—or standing in line for the fourth dose. But Jimmy Kimmel isn’t buying it.
On Tuesday night, the late night host shared news of Carlson’s “interesting confession,” and joked that the Fox News host “said he wanted to get vaccinated, but every time he tried a caravan of migrants blocked him from the entrance to the CVS.” On a more serious note, Kimmel made his own admission: He thinks Carlson is lying.
“I have to say, I don’t believe he isn’t vaccinated. I don’t believe it for a second. I think he is vaccinated. Tucker Carlson is the vaccine equivalent of the guy on the Titanic who dressed as a woman to get on the lifeboat first.
“The sickest part is his audience is mostly scared and impressionable senior citizens, who happen to be the most vulnerable group when it comes to COVID. This is like selling Girl Scout cookies outside a diabetes clinic. But I’m glad to see the church welcoming prostitutes, as Jesus taught us to do. Especially during this holy week.”
“I think that poll of almost half of Americans being in favor of me running for president is so humbling. It sits me down and I don’t know any other way to describe it. To have a little ability to potentially galvanize our country is humbling, very humbling,” he said about the poll, although he added, “Might be the Teremana [his tequila brand] talking here, but I still don’t know a damn thing about being a politician. I don’t know if I have that politician gene in my DNA. Leader? Yes. Patriot? All day long. Politician? No.”
He’s already got the president-speak down (which sounds a lot like wrestler-speak).
The 2024 presidential race is wide open among Republicans, and at least one member of Donald Trump’s administration thinks The Rock has as good as chance as anyone (except Ted). When asked by Politico who could “mount a serious challenge to Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP primary,” former-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney replied, “[Florida governor Ron] DeSantis could give him a run for his money. [South Carolina senator] Tim Scott can give him a run for his money. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson could give him a run for his money.” And… that’s it. “It’s a short list,” Mulvaney added, ominously.
“By the way, there’s one other person who could beat him — which is himself,” added Mulvaney, who resigned his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland shortly after the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “Donald Trump is sometimes his own worst enemy when it comes to campaigning.”
When Kurt Vile was in his 20s, he was known around the Philadelphia music scene as “the CD-R guy,” an eccentric hustler constantly trying to get people to pay attention to his melancholy, lo-fi psych-folk songs dubbed on cheap circular plastic. But now that Vile is in his 40s and has firmly established a well-respected career as one of the most consistent and unique singer-songwriters in indie rock, he knows he doesn’t have to push so hard.
“I’m not too worried about anything really,” he tells me during a recent interview. “I feel like I’ve proved a lot on this album, to be honest. But at the same time, I have nothing to prove.”
The album to which he refers is (Watch My Moves), his eighth solo LP due on Friday. While Vile is justifiably proud of the record, he concedes that listeners might need to spend some time with it before it fully sinks in. In the 2010s, Vile earned comparisons to classic rockers like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty thanks to durably hooky indie hits like “Baby’s Arms,” “Wakin On A Pretty Day,” and “Pretty Pimpin.” But lately, he’s favored dreamier grooves and free-floating arrangements that let songs drift for several minutes, as if lost in a stoned reverie. The languid epics of 2018’s Bottle It In signaled this change in direction, and (Watch My Moves) fortifies it.
Over the course of 20 years, Vile has compiled a large catalog of collaborative albums and EPs, including 2017’s Lotta Sea Lice with Courtney Barnett and 2020’s thoroughly charming country-tinged effort Speed, Sound, Lonely KV, which featured the late John Prine. But when we met up to discuss his discography, purely for the sake of relative brevity, we opted to focus only on his solo albums, which Vile happily (and proudly) discussed.
Constant Hitmaker (2008)
I’m honestly pretty proud of all my phases. I’m not embarrassed about anything. It’s just a timeline for me, of what I was into and where I was at. I got a crazy photographic/audiographic memory. I can even see the albums. You see a lot of things at once. It’s pretty cool. The mind is a very psychedelic tool.
The way I’m talking now, I was talking the same way then. I’m talking the same game. That’s why on Constant Hitmaker, I was talking about writing hit songs. Songs like “Freeway” that could have been a hit. Should have been a hit. “Don’t Get Cute,” “Freeway,” “Breathin Out” — they’re all catchy pop songs. It was all the best songs on my previously released CD-Rs that not many people heard.
I like how it’s got a stretch of pop songs. Then it gets a little psychedelic, like an American folk/pop version of shoegaze music where it just goes up and down. If you listen to those segues and then you flash forward to the new record, they’re still there. They’ve always, ultimately, been there. But especially when you’re working from home, I feel like those things creep in a lot more. When you’re at home, you tend to play more weird synths on the fly. Or you’re just going about your day and you start messing around with something. Because it’s all your gear. Whereas if you go into the studio, you’re bringing everything. All already it’s gotten altered somehow. All of a sudden your brain got altered.
Whether it’s on your nice equipment or on a tape recorder upstairs or on a Zoom recorder or your iPhone, the one lesson I learned is, it doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, you can mix it all together. People don’t notice or care. Or if they do notice it often sounds cool if there’s a little hiss.
God Is Saying This To You … (2009)
Keith [Abrahamsson] at Mexican Summer, who put the record out, says there’s something special I was onto then, that I never did again. He’s right. Songs like “Beach On The Moon,” you can hear the melancholy in the lyrics. And you can hear the urgency in “My Sympathy” and that finger-picker “Songs For John In D.” I really think that I’ve come back to that. Because I can hear the same sound in my voice in “Flyin’ Like A Fast Train,” the same quick urgency. I feel like I’m there. I feel like I’m off the grid. I feel like my guard is completely down again. I do feel like I can tap into the past and the present and the future. I feel like I can do that now.
Constant Hitmaker came out, and then Keith got in touch with me and wanted to put out a record. I was like, “Oh, that sounds cool. I’ll have to go through my CD-Rs.” I was about to go on my first European tour ever, opening for The War On Drugs. I was in The War On Drugs, and I was opening as Kurt Vile.
God is Saying This to You … came out a little before Childish Prodigy. The Hunchback EP also came out in 2009. That was all a result of getting a bunch of offers. Matador definitely wasn’t too happy, I’d say, that they all came out at the same time. But it was like a freak perfect storm of coming out of that DIY, lo-fi scene. Putting out some obscure albums and then getting offers for more cool vinyl releases.
Childish Prodigy (2009)
I had most of Childish Prodigy in the can since 2007 or so, and I had been shopping it around with no luck. That was my “studio” album that I was saving for a bigger label. Except the more up-to-date song was “He’s Alright,” which is a great song. That got added at the last minute.
We got Matador to put it out, but we sent them the same record twice. We sent it once and I guess they heard it. Then we played a show in New York where they came to see if they wanted to sign that band Tyvek. But we opened and my manager Rennie sent them the record again. You want to hear the new Kurt Vile? Just playing dumb. Then they listened the second time.
It was my new sound. I just knew that was where I was at. It is where Adam [Granduciel] worked with Jeff Ziegler for the first time. Jeff did all of Slave Ambient and some of Lost In The Dream. But that connection first started from Adam working with me on Childish Prodigy. In September 2005, me and Adam took a couple of weeks off our jobs to record. We got songs like “Overnite Religion” and “Blackberry Song.” Those were the throwbacks that made it onto Childish Prodigy. But they felt the same. They had that same psychedelic sort of thing.
I like that Childish Prodigy is the closest to a punk record I’ve made. It’s like a psychedelic punk record that also has some blues. There’s some Charley Patton-style finger-picking and delivery in songs like “Dead Alive.” But there’s also noise and stuff like that. That’s definitely an underrated record, if you’re talking in Pitchfork terms. But I know it became Kim Gordon’s favorite record. I know it became Bradford Cox’s favorite record. I know it was an influential record.
Smoke Ring For My Halo (2011)
I was noticing getting more shows and taking all the offers I could. And I could see a difference in my fans. I remember playing Primavera Fest and the European people just screaming out for me. It was surreal, but it was beautiful. But that’s a melancholy record and I think it’s my only conventional style “classic” record. The closest version to some kind of classic rock record
It’s also got a lot of folk. Folk music was probably my biggest influence then. Like Bert Jansch and John Martyn. Definitely into Joni Mitchell and things like that. There’s a Joni Mitchell delivery on “Ghost Town,” it’s got “The Last Time I Saw Richard” vibes. I wrote “On Tour” on this early bare-bones tour. It was a tough tour for the band to go on. I enjoyed it, but not everybody in the band enjoyed it. There were some disagreements. Then I remember I was feeling sensitive after a fight. I wrote “On Tour” backstage. Lord Of The Flies. “Watch out for this one, he’ll stab you in the back for fun. I’m just playing. I know you man. Most of the time.”
But “Baby’s Arms,” that should have been a hit. That was an older song. It sounded cinematic. That song really is a special tune. There’s no beating around the bush with that one.
Wakin On A Pretty Daze (2013)
I guess you could say that’s my epic classic record. It’s fully produced by John Agnello, same as Smoke Ring. But we spent more time in the studio. I had big ideas. I was on the road a lot for Smoke Ring. Those were the kind of songs I was writing at soundcheck. “Wakin On A Pretty Day.” “Was All Talk” — they got a lot of parts to them.
I was just liking the idea of classic ’70s songs on the radio that you want to play over and over again, except you don’t have to press play. You don’t have to start it over as many times, because the songs are longer. I didn’t necessarily think “Wakin On A Pretty Day” would be 10 minutes long. I didn’t think “Goldtone” was going to be 10 minutes. But I just knew they had a hypnotic quality, like a dolphin or something. Go under the water, come up for air. I wanted to make it seem disorienting, and I pulled it off.
John Agnello was there to capture us rocking out. That’s the only thing you can really do, just rock out. Just play those clubs and play loud and rock it out. Maybe that’s part of why there are so many guitar solos on that record. But I don’t think about it that way. On B’lieve I’m Goin’ Down, I kept removing the guitar solos because something was bothering me about overdubbing. I just like to be live more and if it’s not live, I wanted to be playing with people while we overdubbed together.
B’lieve I’m Goin’ Down (2015)
We didn’t use a conventional producer. We didn’t know what we were going to do. My bandmate Rob did a lot of the engineering. And also my drummer Kyle, who has a home studio in Athens, we used him for certain tracks. Then I went out to the desert to reconnect with Farmer Dave Scher from Beachwood Sparks and All Night Radio. He’s my California buddy. He’s a character. He played a lot on Wakin. We went out to L.A. for the first time on Wakin for some of the sessions and brought John with us. Then Stella [Mozgowa] showed up and she saved that record. So, I knew I wanted to go out to the desert and record and have Stella come, and Farmer Dave and Rob. I feel like I wrote “Wheelhouse” right as soon as I showed up in the desert. I don’t think it was even written.
With that record, I think it was me knowing I can’t just do one thing. I know I have strengths here with the Violators, but I also have these other friends I want to play with. The more West Coast thing. But at some point we hit a wall. Around that time, I recorded the song “All In A Daze Work” and it’s just solo acoustic. It had that heartbreak vibe in it. We went out to L.A. again to try to keep the flame burning. That’s when, coincidentally, Rob Schnapf got in touch with Chris Lombardi at the label. He was like, “I’d like to work with Kurt.” I was like, “Oh wow. The dude that worked on Mellow Gold wants to work with me.” Then while I was out there, totally inspired, I wrote “Pretty Pimpin.” It’s been my biggest hit yet.
Bottle It In (2018)
I’m really proud of Bottle It In. It’s a transitional record. That was all about being out there on the road and capturing a feeling on tape and continuing with trying to do the live thing. I had the keyboards prerecorded. I knew the lyrics. But I showed up in L.A. basically after playing with The Sadies at Stagecoach. They’re really good friends of mine. Dallas [Good] just passed away. Insane.
The title track, you can’t touch it. That’s as close as I can get to spiritual jazz with a rock element. I have a Mellotron horn solo that happens in the middle. All that happened live. Then you listen back, you’re like, wow, it’s going to be tough to edit this down because it’s got so much feeling. “Bassackwards” is similar. It’s just a hypnotic groove with the lyrics. It’s some kind of folky shoegaze thing where I just go in and I bob my head up and down. Sometimes I come up for air. Sometimes I go to outer space and then I come back. There’s lots of really cool production on that record. You got to spend time with it. But I revisited it early in the pandemic and I’m really proud of it for sure. Deep record.
(Watch My Moves) (2022)
It’s been a weird couple years, but I liked it. I built a studio here. Luckily I had a few songs in the can. Well, more than a few. But three songs made it that were in the can before the pandemic hit. If I had to start a record from scratch on a new label just in my home studio, that’d be weird. Because I like to have my worlds overlap from the previous phase, ideally. When the record was finally due, I actually panicked and booked more time with Rob Schnapf in L.A., just because he has an established studio. I love working with Rob. I went there over this past summer three times in two-week increments. It ended up being an even split between studios.
Now, even after the record’s finally turned in, I’ve been working. It’s even more comfortable. It’s just like, learning how to fake yourself out so that it’s the most natural laidback scenario possible. There was some good tension, I guess. I feel like the studio was not quite ready and I had to rush to get it ready. Then I wasn’t necessarily comfortable in it right away when Rob got here. But then by the time he left, I was totally comfortable. I like when nobody’s here.
“Exploding Stones” was really just a demo that I had recorded. I had the Violators play over top of it one morning when I was feeling too out of it. It was the first time we had reconnected since the pandemic, when people were comfortable being around each other without it being too weird. Next thing you know, we added all these synths to it pretty quick. That was the first song to really have some promise when we got back together.
I’ve always loved that Springsteen song “Wages Of Sin.” There are certain songs on Tracks in particular — “Janey Don’t You Lose Heart,” “Restless Nights.” More recently, one that I rediscovered was “Sad Eyes.” That’s when I got back into “Wages Of Sin.” We recorded a version of that with Jeff Ziegler back in 2007, the original Violators, including Adam. But I was always wanting to revisit that. I turned my bandmate Kyle, my drummer, onto it. He really got into it on the Bottle It In tour. He was like, “Oh, we could do our own version of that.”
I think my records are always enough of something new in my evolution. I’ve always got new things to say. I just think I’m emitting my personality and being comfortable where I’m at in my life. It’s a little bit cocky, and sometimes funny. But it’s also confidently played with dreamy chords, and it just puts you in the zone. All those things that I’ve become a master of, it’s what I’m doing and I’m cranking it out from my own house at this point. It’s just the way it is.
Basically, I just want it to be as honest as possible. I want the songs to creep up to me. In the older days, I used to think too much. Oh, why am I not writing? Am I going to write a good song? None of that matters, because now I like when I’m not writing. I like to be present in whatever I’m doing and then the music comes through inspiration. If you just go about your day, inspiration’s going to strike. I’m not too worried about anything really. I feel like I’ve proved a lot on this album, to be honest. But at the same time, I have nothing to prove.
There are plenty of music awards out there but perhaps the most prestigious is a work being selected for preservation in the Library Of Congress’ National Recording Registry; Recordings are selected after being deemed “worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical, or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.” It’s a major achievement, as only 600 recordings have ever been honored.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden says, “The National Recording Registry reflects the diverse music and voices that have shaped our nation’s history and culture through recorded sound. The national library is proud to help preserve these recordings, and we welcome the public’s input. We received about 1,000 public nominations this year for recordings to add to the registry.”
Keys also noted, “I’m so honored and grateful that Songs In A Minor, the entire album, gets to be recognized as such a powerful body of work that is just going to be timeless.
Find the full list of 2022 selections below and read more about them here.
1. “Harlem Strut” — James P. Johnson (1921)
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Complete Presidential Speeches (1933-1945)
3. “Walking The Floor Over You” — Ernest Tubb (1941) (single)
4. “On A Note Of Triumph” (May 8, 1945)
5. “Jesus Gave Me Water” — The Soul Stirrers (1950) (single)
6. Ellington At Newport — Duke Ellington (1956) (album)
7. We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite — Max Roach (1960) (album)
8. “The Christmas Song” — Nat King Cole (1961) (single)
9. Tonight’s The Night — The Shirelles (1961) (album)
10. “Moon River” — Andy Williams (1962) (single)
11. In C — Terry Riley (1968) (album)
12. “It’s A Small World” — The Disneyland Boys Choir (1964) (single)
13. “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” — The Four Tops (1966) (single)
14. Hank Aaron’s 715th Career Home Run (April 8, 1974)
15. “Bohemian Rhapsody” — Queen (1975) (single)
16. “Don’t Stop Believin’” — Journey (1981) (single)
17. Canciones de Mi Padre — Linda Ronstadt (1987) (album)
18. Nick Of Time — Bonnie Raitt (1989) (album)
19. The Low End Theory — A Tribe Called Quest (1991) (album)
20. Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) — Wu-Tang Clan (1993) (album)
21. Buena Vista Social Club (1997) (album)
22. “Livin’ La Vida Loca” — Ricky Martin (1999) (single)
23. Songs In A Minor — Alicia Keys (2001) (album)
24. WNYC broadcasts for the day of 9/11 (September 11, 2001)
25. WTF With Marc Maron (Guest: Robin Williams) (April 26, 2010)
When shows stick the landing of a perfect first season, I always have mixed feelings about them continuing. That’s especially the case if an ending (and the season as a whole) feels so flawlessly swift, with not an ounce of fat in sight and in its cadence, and it wraps up so satisfyingly that a worthy followup seems impossible. That was my fear with this season of The Flight Attendant, since the first one achieved such an effective amount of turbulence. That’s why I worried about the upcoming Russian Doll followup, too, and it’s why I wasn’t crushed to not see another season of Watchmen, and to be frank, I would have been alright to not have more of The Flight Attendant.
How could this show, as gleefully dark and funny and surreal and absurd as it was, possibly sustain the same level of success? I mean, my god, this series — meant to only be a limited series, as based upon Chris Bohjalian’s book of the same name — started off with a horribly bloody murder, following an ill-advised, boozy one-night stand, and it just barreled into more mayhem from there. Mystery abounded, and Cassie had her butt saved by numerous parties, including Shane (Griffin Matthews), who revealed himself as a CIA asset by season’s end. And the source material was a pitch-perfect vehicle for Cuoco to finally strut her charismatic stuff and prove that she was underrated as a power player, post-Big Bang Theory, as more than the voice of animated Harley Quinn.
Now, I know that I’m a worrier, so naturally, I had apprehension about a second season. But there were a lot of reasons to worry, including the story going off-book, but also, Cassie got sober. That changes a lot, meaning, is she still capable of attracting such chaos? And could it be done convincingly? Well, yes. That’s where one must remember that the first season found some of its wildest moments in Cassie’s head, when she got all hallucinatory. This also, paradoxically, lent a sense of balance to the chaos that swirled around her. She visited her past trauma, and she talked with the dead guy, and it was kind-of therapy for the audience, too, since the show otherwise may have been too absurd to convincingly process without that inner discussion. There was some closure there, so with this second round, something similar needed to fill the void.
HBO Max
Without spoiling too much, the show does go there again, and it pulls off the twisted feat. Cassie’s inner life is as active as ever, and in fact, it’s hyperactive in a way that no one would want to endure. Furthermore, Shane set Cassie up with a side gig for the CIA, so there’s spy drama and never any possibility for a dull moment, even more so than with the first season, which focused on a smaller scope in terms of Cassie’s ass being grass. While attempting to go on the straight and narrow, Cassie discovers another nefarious plot, coupled with plenty of mystery, to keep her on her toes, as the story jets toward new shenanigans all over the globe (including in Iceland).
Yep, one thing that this show does super well is that it places characters into scenarios and surroundings that are exceedingly more glamorous and adventurous than a flight attendant could realistically experience, side gigs and all. And that continues here, although not as much flight-attending happens as during the last season, and unfortunately (at least in the first six episodes), there’s not enough of Shane and Rosie Perez’s Megan (who is back on her bullsh*t when we do see her again), but there is a new character (played by Mae Martin) who I want to hang out with sometime.
HBO Max
Also, I am pleased to report an abundance of Zosia Mamet’s Annie on the scene. She’s a mess of defense mechanisms and trying to put her life back together, and she’s somehow even more self-defeating than Cassie. Zosia’s terrific, and Deniz Akdeniz still does best as Max by allowing the ladies to shine over him. That’s another thing I love most about this show (and one that’s amplified in this round), which is that most male characters act in furtherance of the ladies’ journeys, and it never feels like things were painstakingly plotted out that way. It’s simply how the story rolls in an organic way, and this show achieves perhaps one of the smoothest executions of this feat.
HBO Max
Visually speaking, The Flight Attendant is still a stunner, too, and I recall thinking that the first season felt like a sunshine-splashed, Kaley Cuoco-starring version of Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. The morbid humor was there, of course, the opening animation sequences threw off the same vibe as the Netflix show, and Michelle Gomez (who portrayed Madame Satan for Sabrina) was on hand for seemingly nefarious reasons. In actuality, the show’s aesthetic actually takes inspiration from the 1990s Cowboy Bebop movie. Those sliding frames and disjoined visuals only accentuate the story that’s meant to never let you let that guard down, and the signature visual cue feels comforting while also signaling that one should never feel too comfy in this universe. The smallest details, like Cassie’s ringtone, still act as a bridge to the familiar; all of it a chaotic work of art.
More than anything, this season feels like Kaley Cuoco is having such a good time toying with our expectations of her. She must have seen those articles that marveled at her post-Big Bang Theory success. So, let’s just say that The Flight Attendant continues what we’re used to from the show, but it also subverts the very subversive expectations laid out in the first season. And I marvel at how the powers that be really let Cuoco, as an executive producer, really take the ball and run with it. She’s no mere hired gun, and she’s helped to engineer this show into what it is today, from being one of HBO Max’s canaries in the coal mine into a staple for the streaming service.
I mean, sure, it’s great to have that massive WB archive and some tried-and-true franchises (Game of Thrones) promising to pump out followups, but damn, I have to say that HBO Max is really about pushing original stories with unapologetic ladies. There’s Jean Smart getting her leading-lady due in Hacks (can we get a crossover?) and Kaley Cuoco proving that the bubbly blonde archetype is worth smashing into smithereens. Likewise, she’s stumbling through Hitchcockian visuals and playing against the icy blonde and saying screw convention, and screw the idea of sticking for-or-against type. Cassie and pals are going up against something much darker than they could have ever fathomed dealing with this season, and fortunately, The Flight Attendant never feels heavy and remains a blast.
‘The Flight Attendant’ takes a second (weekly) voyage on April 21.
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(@RonFilipkowski) 
