Adventures in Narcissism

by Reihan

I've been meaning to write a semi-serious post. My time at The Daily Dish will soon draw to a close. For now, I leave you with two overlong interpretations of modern indie classics, which you will find below.

Who doesn't love Silver Jews? Crazy people, that's who. But as it happens, some crazy people, yours truly included, also enjoy Silver Jews, particularly when I'm feeling blue. It's cold outside, and the cold is having a deleterious impact on my life expectancy. I don't know about you, but I'm very glad Silver Jews frontman David Berman is no longer smoking hard drugs. I can imagine my detractors saying, "I wish the same were true of you, Reihan. Please spare me your hellish warbling! Murder my cat, stab me in the belly. Just please, please, no more YouTube videos." And it's true, you make a compelling point, detractors. However, it is also true that this video is something of a public service announcement, in which I celebrate the healing power of pears and, by extension, all fruit. Eat your greens, people. You heard it here, first.

This next video reflects my longstanding love for The Smiths, and also Keith Fleming's excellent The Boy with the Thorn in His Side, a memoir of a disastrous bohemian adolescence. I also strongly recommend Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance, perhaps the most serious-sounding title of a rock and roll biography I've ever encountered. This video is exactly as horrible as the others, possibly slightly more horrible, but it does include a very lengthy scat singing interlude. I think we'd all be better off if this video never surfaced again. Troublingly, it appears as though I am experiencing a stroke for about 35 percent of the time I'm singing. That would explain a lot about my mental state.