The Morning Dump: Hallelujah resurrected, McSweeneys conceited, Canada explained (sorta), Nicki Minaj examined
2010 February 27
- I remember discovering Jeff Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” sometime in the late ’90s and feeling like I had found something so special and private I couldn’t share it with anyone. That was youthful naivete of course, and now “Hallelujah” and its multitude of versions (from Rufus Wainwright to kiddie band Paramore to popera group Il Divo to national songstress K.D. Lang) have taken the song into hallowed territory. It’s likely also the success of Justin Timberlake’s version for Haiti relief that prompted Maura Johnston to explore its cyclical resurgence in a piece for VanityFair.com.
- McSweeneys can be a veritable minefield of hipster smarm, but you have to give credit for effort sometimes, even when the conceit is conceited. Lynsey G. layers on the analogies, citing Charles Bukowski and essentially calling Disney a bunch of pornographers. This wouldn’t be out of place in Adbusters, so it’s definitely a bit of an ideological stretch, but the prose is quite entertaining from someone who clearly is a soulful writer cum porn columnist. Pun intended.
- There’s no better time to take a closer look at Canada’s obsession with it’s Olympic (men’s) hockey team – something our neighbours to the South have been trying to grasp ever since the Games started. Adam Gopnik is the first one to actually get it though, and in this NewYorker piece he not only manages to explain the utmost importance of something that is trivial to so many Americans, but manages to put some actual intelligent words down on paper about our “niceness,” unlike some others.
- I’d like to welcome Mr. Jonah Weiner of Slate to my Nicki Minaj appreciation club! With most people either unequivocally hating the rapper or imitating her in biarre displays of loving fandom — neither of which interests me — let me tell you, it’s a lonely club. And while I don’t agree with all of what he writes in his Minaj dissertation, I do definitely agree that Minaj is doing something really fascinating with identity and hip-hop, and that she’s doing it consistently and with purpose. And BIG FAKE BOOBS. Haha sorry. We’ve gotta get our hits somehow. Not too many kids these days googling “identity and hip-hop”. Where was I? Oh right. OMG NIP SLIP.
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That McSweeney’s article is great writing. I recommend it.