Pop 5: Danceable Summer

1. Shake It Up -- Selena Gomez
2. Trouble For Me -- Britney Spears
3. Love You Like a Love Song -- Selena Gomez
4. Super Bass -- Nicki Minaj
5. Whiplash -- Selena Gomez
6. Oops! ...I Did It Again -- Britney Spears
7. Rolling In The Deep -- Adele
8. Boys (Co-Ed Remix) -- Britney Spears
9. Jumpin', Jumpin' -- Destiny's Child
10. Say My Name -- Destiny's Child
11. Independent Women, Part 1 -- Destiny's Child
12. Again and Again -- The Bird and the Bee
13. If I Die Young -- The Band Perry
14. All of the Lights -- Kanye West

Is it time for a new one already? YUS. Not the most premeditaed pop compi I've ever made, but decently well thought out still. Had kind of a thing for Destiny's Child lately thanks to frequent play at work. Also discovered that Selena Gomez is a pretty great artist. She's prolific like Miri, and while Selena's music isn't on quite that high of a level, it's a lot more modern-styled than Miri's so it's easy enough for me to enjoy.

As far as Britney goes, I remember her from my own youth (e.g. "Oops I Did It Again,") but what I didn't know is that since then she's done a lot of electronic dance pop that's quite up my alley. Figure I ought to familiarize myself since I'll be seeing her live soon.

And.... that pretty much covers it. Named it Danceable Summer in honor of the fact that it's been over a year since the second edition of my pop collections series came out, "Adequate Pop: Summer Fun Edition."

New Horizons in Children's Television

I'm a proud Nickelodeon fan. Over the years, Nick and The Disney Channel have both had their share of decent shows. But over the last half-decade or so, what Nick brought to the table has been so transcendental that my friends and I have come to sort of shun Disney. iCarly, Victorious, and Avatar The Last Airbender are three of the finest programs ever to grace television, and Disney has never authored even one series that can compete.

But Nick has been running on empty for some time now. Airbender is long gone, and for an entire year iCarly has been subjected to mammoth two or three month gaps separating new episodes. Now even Victorious's progression has slowed to a crawl. I've been so desperate for new light-hearted television that I began checking out what Disney has to offer. And to my surprise, it's really good.

The convenient thing about Disney Channel is, they play their decent material pretty much all the time. 2am, 11am, 10pm, you're liable to catch Disney's best show. This is a huge breath of fresh air compared to Nickelodeon, whose best material maddeningly runs strictly in a 5 or so hour block during the afternoon & evening. Nickelodeon's time is segmented by a lengthy "Nick Jr." toddler block in the morning and a lengthy "Nick @ Nite" syndicated sitcom block at night. And during the brief period where Nick runs their A-material, you're just as liable to run into Big Time Rush or Supah Ninjas as you are to stumble upon iCarly or Victorious.

Disney's shows aren't as well-written or legitimate as Nick's greatest work, but they're funny and genuinely better than everything on Nick's unfortunately prominent list of b-material. Shake It Up, ANT Farm, Good Luck Charlie, Wizards of Waverly Place, My Baby Sitter's a Vampire, Hannah Montana reruns.... even Phineas & Ferb is alright, almost everything Disney has is pretty decent, and they air new episodes in a timely manner. By far my early favorite is the hip dance-themed show Shake It Up. Sort of ironic because it's the show Kelley once tricked me into thinking she loved. I think she might secretly dig it. ;)