A newsletter Strait to you
Everyone always says "yeehaw," but nobody ever asks "Haw yee?"
Hi y’all! Welcome back to Jacob’s Letter, a free pop culture newsletter full of puns and dog photos. (And Nova says “Howdy”)
I’m out of town, headed to see George Strait in Atlanta with my family. Those of you who know me know I’m a huge movie fan, but I’m an even bigger country music fan.
So this week’s big story is a ranking of George Strait songs, followed by a movie trailer and a Friday News Dump. Check it out below, and always remember: If you buy that Strait’s ever going to stop performing, there’s some oceanfront property in Arizona for you…
Does Atlanta ever cross your mind?
Despite retiring from full-time touring in 2013 after his Cowboy Rides Away Tour, George Strait still tours, just on his own terms.
More: George Strait’s new album features the first Willie Nelson and George Strait duet
That means residencies in Las Vegas and limited tour runs, including this weekend at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, a two-night November stand at the newly-minted Dickies Arena in Fort Worth and a couple other big stadium shows elsewhere.
Even more: George Strait's new song 'God and Country Music' is a master's take on a tired country music trend
His Atlanta show will feature three openers: Ashley McBryde, Chris Janson and a little young indie upstart named Chris Stapleton. I haven’t seen Stapleton live since I saw him play ACL Live almost two years ago, and I’ve never seen McBryde or Janson live. All three are distinctly different brands of country music, so the night should be a lot of fun.
Hey, here’s another link: Check out my rankings of the best country albums of 2018
With Strait’s latest album “Honky Tonk Time Machine” out today, I’m looking back at my top five favorite Strait songs. (I know, narrowing down a lifelong career into five songs is some listicle B.S., but hey, this is supposed to generate conversation. Let me know your favorites in the comments!)
I think this was the first George strait song I ever heard. Somewhere at my parents’ house, they still have the original “Pure Country” soundtrack tape this is from. A classic.
A nice little linguistic cousin to “Unwound,” and a Billy Bob’s Texas dancehall set staple when I was in college.
The reason I never refer to skies as “clear blue” anymore.
My go-to karaoke song, and (with a few exceptions) wholly accurate in my case.
I dare you to listen to this and not get misty-eyed if you are, or are related to or married to, someone who has to travel a lot for work.
What do y’all think? Let me know our favorites below. Here’s a Spotify playlist to help you out.
Trailer Park
Not much on the movie trailer front this week. However, everyone’s favorite Spanish-speaking explorer is finally getting a live-action film, and there’s just so much going on in this trailer:
First, there’s no Spanish. And no Swiper, although IMDb tells me that Benicio Del Toro will voice him. But Boots (voiced by…Danny Trejo) is still there, and this thing has Michael Peña and Eva Longoria as Dora’s parents. And Dora carries a knife now? Oh, and the trailer song is Kesha’s “Boogie Feet” (as in…dancing boots, heh).
I’m old enough to have been out of this show’s target demographic when it first aired and young enough to have put it on in the background whenever I was watching my little cousins, so seeing this is kind of jarring. But hey, if they’re not going to make an “Uncharted” movie any time soon, this looks like “Uncharted” for Kids.
Movie review: A clanging iron
I volunteer at my local library every now and then, and sometimes I get to pick stuff from the donation pile to take home for free. This week I snagged a copy of “Iron Man 2.” I haven’t seen it since its release in 2010. It’s interesting watching it now, in light of the insane cross-promotional endeavor that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become. It doesn’t hold up at all, and it’s easily the most forgettable MCU film (aside from maybe “The Incredible Hulk,” which I also haven’t seen since its release and remember nothing about). Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, John Slattery, Garry Shandling AND Scarlett Johansson are all in this movie, and I completely forgot about all of it.
And Iron Man drunkenly DJing his own party is…a low point, for sure.
My rating: 2 scratched DJ records out of 5
Letter of Recommendation
Instead of lumping in online links with all the movies and books and other stuff I’m enjoying, I’ll put those recommendations here and leave the News Dump for actual articles.
Movie: This month marks the 20th anniversary of “The Matrix.” Go see it, if you haven’t already. Or, if you’ve already seen it, watch it again.
Book: I tore through Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary” this week in preparation for the new movie coming out next week. For my money, this is the scariest thing King’s ever written. It works as horror, yes, but it also works as a portrait of a family who can’t quite conquer their own grief. Haunting, chilling and poetic.
Video Game: “Ape Out” is a game for Nintendo Switch and Steam that allows you to play as an ape on the run from evil scientists. Your goal is simple: Make it from one end of the map to the other without getting killed. Every time you kill an enemy, a jazz music cue plays on the soundtrack. It’s loud, fun and addictive.
Music: I like to listen to instrumental music when I write. I recently rediscovered ‘ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro’s debut album “Sunday Morning” and have been playing it a lot lately.
Comics: Saladin Ahmed’s new run on Ms. Marvel, “Magnificent Ms. Marvel,” is great for two reasons: It doesn’t dumb down its cultural signifiers for a white audience, and even within the only issue out so far, it constantly subverts every story expectation one would have; and it is, ahem, magnificently realized through the artwork of penciler Minkyu Jung, inker Juan Vlasco and color artist Ian Herring. Check it out.
Friday News Dump
A list of online stuff I really liked this week:
This Dallas man saw that low-income people in his community couldn’t make it to work on time solely relying on public transportation, so he rented vans to drive them. Now his business is thriving. (via WFAA)
Country music is not a genre anymore, and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” is proof (via Saving Country Music)
I’ve been following the stuff Siddhant Adlakha writes since I saw one of his bylines at Birth.Movies.Death. Starting this week over at /Film, he’s been thoughtfully re-examining every MCU movie in preparation for “Avengers: Endgame.” So far he’s covered “Iron Man,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Iron Man 2,” Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger.” (via /Film)
As stated above, the 20th anniversary of the release of “The Matrix” is this weekend. The film’s been interpreted from almost every school of thought. In light of the fact that the Wachowski siblings have both come out as trans, this trans reading of the film, written by a trans person, made me look at the movie in another light. (via Birth.Movies.Death.)
Is human contact becoming a luxury only the wealthy can afford? (via New York Times)
I’ve read a lot of thinkpieces about “Us” since i saw it, but this one about costuming ties a lot of pieces together (via The Atlantic)
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See you next week,
Jake