The Mayka Mei Media Report: August Edition of things I want to share.

A couple of songs I have on repeat:

• “Dough Boy Fresh” by Jay-Z
  Yeah, he stole the line from Run DMC, but I can’t stop hearing “I see you jockin’ Jay-Z!” in my head. I like it. Kanye produced it, reminding us of why people bother with his ego, and I like the slamminess to the track. Plus he still takes a swipe at Noel Gallagher, even though Noel Gallagher has since denied having personal beef with Hova.
• “Best Best” by Missy Elliott from Block Party
  This is a surprise from Missy, because even though she’s known for turning out some innovative stuff, the sound on this is so melodic and almost operatic that it doesn’t seem like it should come out of her genre. I honestly mistook the opening from something straight out of Philip Glass. I’m a big Missy fan and can’t wait to get Block Party next month. I would go on a diet to be her backup dancer.

A couple of artists I wish I discovered earlier:

Aside from the obvious enjoyment of watching some great dancers dance, So You Think You Can Dance also exposes me to some great music. (I pay particular attention to whatever tracks the modern and contemporary choreographers use.) The first time I heard of both of these artists was on SYTYCD’s finale a couple of weeks ago.

• Mirah
  She’s like Bjork but not as Yoko Ono-experimental, like Amy Winehouse if she was more together with her life. “The Garden,” from Advisory Committee, made me go on a hunt for every track Mirah has ever contributed to. I suggest finding her Songs from the Black Mountain Music Project, a collaboration with Ginger Takahashi.
  
• Duffy
  Brooklyn loves soul, and pointed me to the exact album (Rockferry) where the single “Mercy” comes from. Duffy is, like Amy Winehouse, from across the pond, like Amy Winehouse, very jazz club lovely, but unlike Amy Winehouse, Duffy is a cute little blonde. I once read a review where the writer said something to the effect of “And like Amy Winehouse, you wouldn’t expect that sound to come from Duffy’s mouth.” I think that sums up Duffy perfectly. A blonde girl with the pain of Mary J. Blige? That’s something else.

A couple of TV shows I love:

• Project Runway
  Do I really need to explain this? I like watching people create. I caught some Shear Genius and Glam God and decided the only fashion-inspired competition show worth producing is Project Runway. Everything else is just a watered down study on innovative style with a bunch of annoying divas. (Indashio needs to die shutthefuckup.)
• The Cho Show
  It’s about goddamn time! Margaret Cho has pioneered the way for a group of people who didn’t necessarily get her in the beginning. Her journey reminds me a bit of Ellen Degeneres’ coming out – When Ellen came out as lesbian, she more or less was moved to the B-list of celebritydom. And now? She’s the White Gay Oprah. When All American Girl was running, America didn’t get Margaret and Asians didn’t get Margaret. Now that the need for Asian American comedy has become more apparent (Read: Immigrants’ kids are now the prime target for Nielsen ratings!), we finally got Margaret as we’d love to see her, in Cho Show. Absolutely fucking hilarious.

My first audiobook:

• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, read by Jeremy Irons
  I love Jeremy Irons’ voice. Lolita is my first audiobook ever, and I picked it up because I wanted to supplement what I was reading in Reading Lolita in Tehran. So far I had only seen Stanley Kubrick’s interpretation of the novel, and the amount of stuff that’s left out in order to fit a cinematic timeslot is pretty alarming.