current preoccupations

Mel C and Zooey Deschanel. How, I ask you, could they not rock? Their contributions to "boring mainstream culture" are Actually Good. This sometimes involves the odd duet -- Mel C with Lisa Left Eye (bless 'er soul) or Bryan Adams (she makes him sound half decent), and Deschanel with Elf costar Will Ferrell, doing a luscious, in-the-shower version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside". (How is it that I actually enjoyed a feelgood Christmas movie?) Deschanel does an even more charming version (available here for a short time) with Leon Redbone for the soundtrack, singing through a lazy smile -- a perfect hybrid of Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day and Astrid Gilberto. These Big Marquee Duets are on constant rotation here. So strange! Weirdly, the lyrics of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" are borderline date-rape stuff -- I mean, Deschanel does a wonderfully deadpan "say, what's in this drink?" halfway through. Whatever. Duets are the new black. I'm off to look for my Tom Jones albums...