Donnacha Costello LWE Podcast 46; "Ted Mosby is a Jerk"

This has to be the oddest review pairing I've ever done, but that's the sort of week it's been -- when I haven't been catching up on past seasons of "How I Met Your Mother", I've been really feeling this podcast.

Donnacha Costello's "Together Is the New Alone" was so awesomely beautiful that it pretty much made me a fan for life. That album made my shortlist of about fifty albums that I eventually pared down into my Top 30 of the 00's. He later made a bigger name for himself via his Colourseries releases on his own Minimise label. His recent EP "Before We Say Goodbye" has me stoked to hear the full-length album of the same name, and this podcast for Little White Earbuds is part of his promotional rounds for the release of that album. Don't be fooled into thinking "oh no, not another 'old school' mix". He forgoes many of the obvious classics and brilliantly meshes styles, ranging from minimal (G-Man's "Quo Vadis" might be overplayed, but g-ddammit, it never gets old for me) to 20-year old house and techno tunes. It's a kicking mix from start to finish, and probably the best I've heard so far this year.

The best episode of season three of "How I Met Your Mother" was easily "The Bracket". In short, Barney is trying to track down women who he's wronged in the past. He finds one girl who is still furious with him, and in front of a cafe full of people, loudly announces that she has no intention of taking down the website she created to spite him: http://tedmosbyisajerk.com/. You see, in season two, Barney picked up this girl by impersonating his architect friend Ted (Mosby). Even one year later (in TV time) the girl had no idea who he really was. All she knew was that she was consumed by her hate (and as it turns out, love, and hate, and love, and ...) for who she thought was Ted Mosby.

As soon as she said the name of the website, I stopped the video and checked for it on the internet ... and found that it really exists! How can you not love a show with such a high degree of attention to detail? But not only did the show's producers create the website, they recorded a song for it. A brilliantly catchy song at that, one that's half "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", and half stream-of-consciousness emo-driven weepie. The girl sings, cries, whispers, and vomits her way through an rage-fueled lament for "Ted Mosby" ... FOR TWENTY MINUTES. Try to stick it out until the bitter, confused end, because each simplistic and ridiculously timed guitar, sitar, brass, vibraphone, and saxophone solo is worth hearing (and laughing at).