A Musical Examination of Randall "Randruff" Park & Ali Wong's Netflix Film Always Be My Maybe & Hello Peril (Spotify Playlist/Soundtrack)

Just this past Friday night, my lovely wife, Caroline, and I bought a well-deserved pizza from a local, newly-opened pizzeria. We, then, decided to rent a movie, which I'll whole-heartedly admit, my wife picked: Always Be My Maybe released on Netflix earlier that same day. Always Be My Maybe—yes, named after Mariah Carey's similarly-named 1996 hit single!—was penned by long-time friends, Randall Park (Fresh Off The Boat) & Ali Wong (American Housewife) along with co-writer Michael Golamco. It was directed by Fresh Off The Boat creator Nahnatcka Khan and has been widely framed as an Asian-American version of When Harry Met Sally, as well as Eddie Murphy's Boomerang; Wong was active as a writer on Seasons 1-4 of Fresh Off The Boat, as well. Simply put, IMDb bills Always Be My Maybe as, "A pair of childhood friends [who] end up falling for each other when they grow up" and we'll leave the general plot at that without giving away any spoilers... however, the film is primarily set in The Bay Area, California throughout the decades, as Park & Wong's characters, Marcus Kim & Sasha Tran, grow up, apart, and, eventually, back together.

As soon as I heard D'Angelo's "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" during one of the early 2000's scenes, I immediately started Shazam'ing songs from Always Be My Maybe to piece together my very own official/unofficial soundtrack accompaniment. We're talking everything from AWOLNATION to Alicia Keys and literally, everything in-between; I've put together a 33-song Spotify Playlist fittingly titled Always Be My Maybe "Soundtrack" (The Witzard Edition.) It features 16 songs I unearthed with Shazam (Tracks #01-16) as well as 13 additional selections (Tracks #18-31) which are tracks I may have missed that were identified by the good people over at REFINERY29, plus, a few "Bonus Tracks," for good measure. Additionally, Marcus Kim, is part of a live instruments-accompanied Hip-Hop band, à la The Roots, called Hello Peril, which, oddly enough, echoes Randall Park's own experience as part of Ill Again from about 2003-20??. For purposes of the film, Hello Peril consists of Marcus Kim, Diet Coke Feisty Cherry advocate Karan Soni as Tony, Ginger as played by Charlyne Yi, and "The Bay's Darth Vader," Quasar, as portrayed by Tsutomu "Tom" Shimura AKA Berkeley-based rapper/producer Lyrics Born.

Hello Peril have three songs featured within the film: "Hello," "Tennis Ball," and "I Punched Keanu Reeves," all of which are, also, featured on the Always Be My Maybe (Original Music from The Netflix Film) EP. For purposes of said soundtrack/EP, Hello Peril consists of Randall "Randruff" Park, Lyrics Born, and super-prolific Indie Hip-Hop producer Dan The Automator. In addition to Hello Peril and the music within the film, Always Be My Maybe, also, features a handful of music-related Easter Eggs, such as: a Handsome Boy Modelling School So... How's Your Girl poster, a Diana Ross impersonator, a Hieroglyphics Third Eye/8 logo T-shirt, and on-screen cameos from Lyrics Born, Dan The Automator & DJ Q*bert. Always Be My Maybe is now available to stream on Netflix, as well as in select theatres Nation-wide. Fingers crossed, Hello Peril-branded T-shirts, trucker hats, and... tennis balls will be made available for purchase before too long!

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel

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