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Taylor Swift on "Saturday Night Live"

 Clearly, it was a big weekend for Taylor Swift, and thus a big weekend for my family; we watched the Fallon appearance and the SNL clips, and we listened to several of the "new" songs.


Swift's Jake Gyllenhaal era is notable because Jake seems like such a villain. When you walk through the door with him, "the air is cold." He complains that your album isn't on par with his "indie records." He calls you up again just to "break you like a promise."

Jake treats a family visit as if it's a "talk-show appearance." He gives you a month of the silent treatment, then says he "needs more space."

All this makes Jake a classic fairy-tale rogue--a menacing wolf under a puppy-dog exterior. He is the beast in Grandma's gown, or the beautiful sorceress who is in fact a grotesque witch. Jake has a "sweet disposition."

I guess I thought--in the midst of the new ten-minute "All Too Well"--sometimes less is more. Taylor seems drawn to Jake *just* because of the "sweet disposition"--and though people are irrational in life all the time....in storytelling, a little slice of repetitive bad behavior can go a long, long way. We don't always need ten minutes of that bad behavior.

I found myself missing the Harry Styles-era songs; it seems that Taylor actually had fun with Harry. I get that impression from "Style," and also from "Out of the Woods." Those two took crazy Polaroids on a couch! They drove their Snowmobile too quickly! And Harry had that James Dean/daydream look in his eye....

OK, that's all. Thanks for indulging me. Till next time.
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