MOG

Sometimes I find music in surprising places. I discovered Josh Ritter, for instance, when I heard "Good Man" on a House episode, and from there it was only a few steps to my computer where I could buy The Animal Years.

Pretty much my only connection with Buffalo Tom is through My So-Called Life, which used a couple of their songs to great effect, and that's my excuse for writing about the new and excellent DVD box of the show, which I loved to pieces when it first aired and am now enthralled with all over again. This show is utterly beguiling, and smartly written; it's acted beautifully, and even shot beautifully. (I remember being slightly stunned when I watched the show the first time and discovered that I was the age not of Angela Chase, our awkward and angsty heroine, but of Angela's mother-- so true was the high-school agony and my connection to it.) The music (and many thanks to the people who put the DVD together for including the credits for each show) was as shrewdly edited as the rest. (Search for "Angela Chase dances" on youtube to see what they did with "Blister in the Sun.")

Without a doubt, my favorite moment of the show is this one. As Joss Whedon says in his essay in the box's accompanying notes, this is a show "where the act of a boy taking a girl by the hand made for a more exciting climax than most summer blockbusters could dream of providing." It takes my breath away every time I see it.