6 - Friday, October 3, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Building a perfect
playlist for a party
With today's musical
diversity,you can't
please everyone
By KEN SELANDER
DailyArts Writer
The course load at the
University of Michigan is time-
consuming and requires a lot
of hard work. Music definitely
helps me to relax, unwind and
chill out during a stressful day.
It's no secret that students
also like to unwind by partying,
whether you're in Greek Life or
throwing a rager at your house
or apartment every so often.
I recently found myself at a
party where the music selection
on a friend's playlist was simply
not cutting it. I stepped in
and DJ-ed for an hour (read:
plugged an aux cable into my
iPhone and pressed play on a
bunch of songs). By the endI felt
as if I had compromised my own
musical integrity for the sake of
entertaining people. Everyone
responded well to Katy Perry,
Gnarls Barkley and Eminem,
but the second I turned on some
personalfavoriteslike ZZ Topor
Lil Boosie I could immediately
see the dissatisfaction brewing
in the crowd.
What exactly makes a
good party song? How did I
intuitively know which songs
people would make people stay
and which would be a stretch,
and how do others know the
same?
Obviously this article will
be biased toward my own
experiences, but I'll proceed
anyway.
To loosely define a "party,"
as I'm trying to explain it,
whoever is running the musical
selection cannot personally
know the music preferences of
the majority of people attending
and there can't be a theme
dictating the tunes.
There always seems.to be a
basic formula applied to concoct
a playlist to appease the general
audience. Typical playlists at
parties consist of the following:
EDM/Dubstep, throwbacks,
pop music and novelty songs.
All of these selections have
either lots of bass or are simply
well known.
Electronic music is
commonplace at parties
because it'supbeat, excitingand
often has aggressive, repetitive
bass that's easy to dance to. I've
heard "Clarity" by Zedd way
too many times. Throwbacks
are tracks known by most
everyone because of their
convenient placement in our
childhoods, so they resonate
with everyone's younger self
and are fun to sing along to. In
my mind, pop music consists
of rap (whether for comical or
hype affect) and anything on
the Top 40 - "Anaconda" by
Nikki Minaj, "Wrecking Ball"
by Miley Cyrus or anything by
Juicy J.
The novelty category applies
to songs that a lot of people
know because they are bizarre
or wild. The couple tracks that
immediately come to mind are
"Gangnam Style" and "Hot.
N*gga," both of which have
accompanying dances, too.
And yes, that's a lot of songs
covered in the four categories,
but there are still a number of
genres left out.
As a music snob of sorts, I
find myself exclaiming "this
song sucks" a handful of times
at parties, but is there crossover
between good party music and
good music in general?
Yes.
Looking at my own track
record of musical interests, I'm
all over the board -rock, rap,
hell, even heavy metal. I qualify
mostofwhatI listento as "good"
music because it requires skill
in my mind. Accordingly, I often
ponder the difference between
what is more thoughtful rap and
extreme gangsta rap - Gucci
Mane, Migos, Lil' Boosie and
Chief Keef - and why a very
white kid from the suburbs
listens to some Boosie Bad Azz
on the way to class in between
Led Zeppelin and Elvis records.
Why do I like it? Analyzing
gangsta music in the context of
party playlists, it's essentially a
grey area between party music
and good or personal music.
It's just fun to listen to - I don't
think it has any particular
musical value to speak of, and I
sure as hell can'trelate to selling
crack out of a trap house. I'm
not saying Oj Da Juiceman is the
greatest rapper ever, but "Make
the Trap Say Aye" is too funny
not to blare on some speakers.
How do I relate this tangent
to party music? The ever-
constant song requester.
When you think- about it,
that requester bothering a
DJ despite your carefully
selected playlist is actually a.
good sign. The requester is just
attempting to make a party
more personal. While requests
in my experience are highly
obnoxious and frequent, the
basic concept behind such
requests shows exactly how
party playlists are supposed
to work - the requesters are
satisfied enough to stay at the
party even though a particular
song they want hasn't been
played, but nonetheless they
want to hear their own song so
they can feel special.
So in the end, party music
keeps everyone content and in
attendance - until the booze
runs out, that is.
a
'O Packers!
From screen to plate:
my top 10 cinematic
food scenes
a
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Iceed.
I'm not sure if there is a
defined genre of food movies,
but if there isn't, there should
be. However, that doesn't
mean that there aren't mov-
ies, or at least scenes in them,
invested in
food and
cooking,
in chefs
and restau-
rants. Yes,
these mov- ,
ies can ulti- GIANCARLO
mately be
about life BUONOMO
or love, but
the food
still matters. As Jim Harri-
son once said to a New York
Times reporter, "Food is a
great literary theme. Food in
eternity, food and sex, food
and lust. Food is a part of
the whole of life. Food is not
separate." With that in mind,
I would like to share with you
a few scenes that celebrate
food, scenes that have ment-
and always will mean a great
deal to me.
10) The cooking scene
from "The Godfather."
Peter Clemenza shows
Michael Corleone the secret
to making great spaghetti and
meatballs: a dash of sugar.
It's a sweet moment between
two guys who end up killing
about a dozen people each.
9) The roast chicken
scene from "Amlie." .
Our titular heroine finds a
box hidden in her bathroom
wall, placed there by a boy
named Dominique Breto-
deau years ago. She wants
to return the box to the now
adult Dominique, and season
his life with sone happiness.
However, we learn what real-
ly makes him happy: carving
up a roasted bird and then
sinking his hands into the
steaming carcass to pick out
every last scrap of meat.
8) The sandwich scene
from "Spanglish."
I've always found it, well,
funny, that Adam Sandler
excels in dramatic roles.
This is one of his best, in his
portrayal of LA chef John
Clasky. In one scene, John
improvises a glorious sand-
wich that looks like a combo
of a ham and cheese and
BLT, complete with a runny
egg. My favorite part of this
scene is that world-renowned
chef Thomas Keller actually
designed the sandwich for
the movie and taught Sandler
how to make it.
7) The eggplant scene
from "The Lunchbox."
I saw this film over the
summer, and when I left the
theater, I didn't talk for a
solid 20 minutes. Of all the
"food" movies I've seen, I ..
think "The Lunchbox" is
the best exploration of what
food can mean both by itself
and as a source of connec-
tion between people. A young
housewife sends a lunch-
box into Mumbai everyday,
except instead of going to
her husband it gets delivered
to a widowed accountant.
Food and memory constantly
intertwine - she sends him
a special eggplant dish, the
comforting flavor of which
reminds him of a dish his
wife used to make.
6) The spaghetti and
risotto scene from "Big
Night."
As an admittedly snobbish
Italian, I've always gotten a
kick out of the saga of two
old-world brothers and theirw
struggle to serve authentic
food to Americans. Thafun-
niest part is when a customer
tells Secondo, the general
manager, that she wants a
side of spaghetti with her
risotto - a starchy taboo.
When Secondo brings this
request to Primo, his brother
and the chef, he exclaims
"That bitch!" Secondo pleads
with him to just indulge her,
but Primo replies, "She's a
criminal. I need to talk with
her!"
5) The Big Kahuna Burger
scene from "Pulp Fiction."
After a vigorous exposi-
tion of what McDonalds in
France calls their burgers,
Vincent and Jules barge in on
Brett and his buddies, who
have Marcellus Wallace's
briefcase. As a gesture of his
power over Brett - or maybe
just because he's hungry -
Jules takes a nice bite out
of Brett's Hawaiian burger.
I've always wondered how
a burger becomes "Hawai-
ian"; is the bun a Hawaiian
roll? Does it have pineapple?
Either way, that look on
Jules' face when he washes
the burger down with Brett's
Sprite is priceless - it can
only be described as an extra-
terrestrial smirk.
4) The soup scene from
"Ratatouille."
Anyone can cook, accord-
ing to this Pixar tour-de-
force. How they came up
with the plot - a French
rat who wants to become a
gourmet chef - is beyond me,
but that's why I don't make
movies. The best scene by
far is when Retmy covertly
3) Anything from "Chef."
So that I don't turn out
like Jonah Lehrer, I won't
just quote the review of it I
wrote this summer, where I
couldn't contain my excite-
ment for this magical movie.
It's as if Jon Favreau was
smoking joints rolled out
of back issues of Gourmet
Magazine.
2) The shrimp-vibrator
scene from "Tampopo."
This Japanese flick, Tffec-
tionately labeled a "Ramen
Western," is one of the fun
niest films ever made. The
main story arc is the plight of
a young widow to make the
best ramen possible, aided
by a truck driver and her
young son. However, there
are numerous other vignettes
that all deal with food and
sex and folly. My favorite is
one about a mobster whose
appetite for food overlap
with his appetite for his girl-
friends' body. One of his pre-
ferred games is placing live
shrimp in a bowl with some
soy sauce, and then over-
turning it onto his ladies lady
parts. The crustaceans thrash
and swim, giving her a literal
food orgasm.
fixes Linguini's soup. With
that great big-band music
in the background, Remy
pours in broth and cream,
salt and seasoning, herbs
and whatever else he can get
his paws on. Apparently the
animators researched how
leeks fall off the stalk when
sliced. Whatever they did
worked, because the ones
Remy throws in the pot are
tres bons.
I
I
.'
0-
1) The dinner scene from
"Tom Jones."
Based on Henry Field-
ing's novel, this quirky com-
edy chronicles a hedonistic
yet kindhearted foundling,
raised as a country gentle-
man, and his quest to learn
his origins and win the love
of his life. In the dinner
scene, Tom and a woman he
met on the road share supper
at an inn. Without speak-
ing, they slowly consume a
variety of foods - oysters,
chicken, fruit, soup - while
imitating each other eating
in the most innuedo-laden
manner possible. I'm talking
tonguing drumsticks, fruit
juices dripping down the
chin, slippery oysters slurped
... OK, you get the point.
Buonomo is making a vibrator
out of shrimp. To try it, e-mail
gbuonomo@umich.edu.
0
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