Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

Bafflegabs

@bafflegabs.bsky.social

2K followers 210 following 1.7K posts

Senior Producer at Smartless Media, formerly Earwolf. Staying Alive/ClueLess/Bad Dates/Just Jack & Will/HDTGM/Get Played/Comedy Bang Bang/Video Archives/Unspooled. Character-wise, I’m kind of borderline shy/wild. I like to surf & turf, in that order.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · May 4

We went with my mom to the lovely celeb cemetery in Westwood Village, some of my all-time favorites are taking their final naps there. But this is potentially the single greatest headstone of all time, my man.

Headstone reads “JACK LEMMON in” with the grave directly below.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 13m

Like a Tuesday in Nov 2019 would be “hey so today you’re recording Freakonomics at 9, we’re just doing Scott’s end of the interview, then Conan has Eric Idle, then HDTGM is in with Daniel Radcliffe, and then Paul’s gonna do the mini” & there was no lunch break but the coffee was on tap & it was rad.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 16m

There’s almost nothing I treasure more than time spent listening to Bob talk about songwriting over a coffee. There is nobody on this planet more serious about their craft than him, I mean it!

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 18m

How few tracks can I use and still have it feel complete? How portable can I be in writing and even completing songs in different places? How close can I get to sounding like Broadcast without it being ridiculous haha? All these questions and more…

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 20m

I had to go in to the studio over the last week to record episodes with Pally & Gabrus, Joel Kim Booster, Nicole & Sasheer, PFT, Scotty Aux, Zouks, Bang Rodgman, & Casey Wilson, & if you squinted it was almost like old Earwolf. Which was nice to feel 1/10 of, those were some magic clubhouse vibes!!

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 28m

Undefeated.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 37m

I bought the goddamn Orchid today, ten minutes before the pre-sale ended, I am so excited. I can feel what my next record is going to feel like, and it needs this little dude in a pole position. Gauzy, dreamy, hypnotic. It can do an F#min jazz!! youtu.be/hbO1z13WP8o?...

"How to Orchid" by Telepathic Instruments

YouTube video by Telepathic Instruments

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1h

Absolute elite tier! Up there with Force Of Evil, The Naked City, The Big Heat, Body & Soul. Fav line: "Joe, tell the man I'm gonna break him so fast, he won't have time to change his pants.”

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 7h

“Stole” is a pretty specific word implying something nefarious. You can see why what you said didn’t really read as “he did it so much better that it barely seems like a NIN song anymore” and came off more like “Johnny Cash ripped Trent Reznor off.”

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1d

It was even from one of a long and very successful series of records of almost entirely covers haha. Did he steal Rusty Cage too? Somebody call Nick Cave, Johnny Cash has done a thievery haha

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1d

I do not mean that, no…are you unfamiliar with a cover song?

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1d

Of course, I could write a scholarly work about how Hank Williams Sr was more punk than any Sex Pistol, so I may be in the advanced class on this one lol

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1d

LOOK AT THE PICTURE, MAN. LOOK AT ANY PICTURE. HE IS VISIBLY COOL haha

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1d

For sure, that’s just such a huge category of I’d guess hundreds of thousands of films made not in the US, it fully overloads my brain trying to even figure out what my own criteria would be for picking only one

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1d

Or look, let’s keep it simple and random. You throw a dart at Bergman’s 1950s-60s output and, with only one or two exceptions, you are going to hit one of the best movies ever made and I am happy to live with that.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1d

I find this phrasing tricky, it’s like “name your favorite non-taco meal,” there’s quite a lot to pick from lol. HOWEVER, if it’s not by Vera Chytilová (let’s say Fruit Of Paradise) it’s probably by Claude Chabrol (La Ceremonie, my evil friend). Godard’s Weekend, or King Hu’s A Touch Of Zen…

Sophia_Nyx 🏳️‍⚧️ @sophianyx.bsky.social · 1d

Name your Fav Non-American Film.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah well only one of the three of them
was a Columbo killer and covered Nine Inch Nails, so I’d say the cool war has BEEN won.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 1d

There’s too many! Girl From Germany, Amateur Hour, Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth, Forever Young, Angst In My Pants, Now That I Own The BBC, I Wish You Were Fun…they’ve essentially never been bad!

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 2d

I may or may not have stayed up until 1am working on a Jim Croce cover in the style of Talking Heads, and I may or may not be quite pleased with the direction. Next I’m planning to see if I can do a Randy Newman like The Human League. One must fill the days.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 4d

“MacArthur Park”?!? Yeah, I guess those 218 cover versions all happened by accident. It’s been a Top 10 hit three times in totally different genres because it is bad, makes sense.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 4d

Griff 😭😭😭

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 4d

I feel like “surprise pet” is one of THE most universal don’ts, am I disturbed?

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 5d

🎶it’s the story, of a Doc named Wiley, who was busy with a Heat Man of his own…🎶

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 5d

It’s not that I don’t want to find a new cat friend, but my gf just randomly brought a foster home and I’m like very mad about it? She didn’t check with me at all, she just left the house to do an errand and did it? I’m still grieving my friend and this feels very uncomfortable?! I feel weird.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 5d

There’s one particular car chase sequence that was so original and hypnotic, I had my mouth wide open the whole time. I can see it all in my head, I’m not sure I blinked for ten minutes. Feels likely he’s going to win some Oscarage for this one.

Bafflegabs @bafflegabs.bsky.social · 6d

Birthday purchases: deluxe CD version of Wildflowers & All The Rest, & the deluxe CD version of Arthur or The Decline & Fall Of The British Empire, both come with lots of fun pins, 7”s, posters, stickers, & things. Also got the deluxe Fables Of The Reconstruction, has an absolutely massive poster.

Tan box the same size as a 7” record, Tom Petty: Wildflowers & All The Rest, with red circle patch in the center. Sitting on top of a navy grey cat tree.

Sky blue box the size of a 7” record, has the cover of The Kinks’ Arthur, with various objects and a hand holding a Kinks banner. Sitting on the same cat tree.