THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING IDLE

Christmas came early this year

2011-12-21T10:41:00.001-05:00

But now there's another whole year to wait for the actual movie. Crap.

BAW II: Electric Boogaloo

2011-12-02T11:00:00.001-05:00

Seriously, what would I be doing these days without Spotify? Sure, the ads in between every third song are annoying, but the ability to immediately pull up just about any music I want to listen to is worth the inconvenience. Last night, catching up on All Songs Considered podcasts while I was at the gym, I heard two bands I wanted to check out: Grouplove and We Were Promised Jetpacks. So when I got home, I opened Spotify, searched both groups, added their latest albums to my playlist (Never Trust A Happy Song and In The Pit of the Stomach, if you're interested), and I had a soundtrack for today. So easy.

As for the music, I'm digging both albums for different reasons. Grouplove plays a tighter version of 90's psychedelica, like a less trippy Flaming Lips, and despite their album title, there's a raucous joy in their music. If you can listen to "Tongue-Tied" and not tap your feet, there's something wrong with you.

WWPJ, on the other hand, play that angular British rock made popular by Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, and Bloc Party, but they have the ability to reach a more expansive layer in their songs. Listen to the instrumental opening of "Act on Impulse" for an example.

Grouplove, "Tongue-Tied"

We Were Promised Jetpacks, "Act on Impulse"

Bored at Work, part 1

2011-11-17T12:38:00.001-05:00

Lots of downtime at my new job (briefly interrupted by periods of OHMYGOD GETITALLDONENOWNOWNOW), so I'm going to start posting about what I'm doing in all this dead time, mainly because it's more interesting and uses more brain function than hitting refresh on my Google Reader every two minutes.

I've been using Spotify quite a bit, and the nice thing about it (aside from being free, of course) is that it's exposed me to a lot of music I might not normally hear. Right now, I'm listening to Childish Gambino's Camp. Childish Gambino is better known as comedian Donald Glover of that show Community everyone keeps saying I should watch but still haven't gotten around to yet. As rap albums by actors go, this one's much better than I expected.

I'm also reading Daniel Wilson's Robopocalypse (a novel set in the near future that chronicles sentient robots taking over the world and trying to wipe out humanity) on my iPad. Oh, delicious irony. Sadly, it's not as good as I'd like it to be — it's a pale imitation of Max Brooks' World War Z, by way of The Terminator. Swapping the walking dead for killer robots is already a downgrade, but if you're telling your story as an oral history, it works a lot better if your characters have distinct voices, which is where this book fails for me. Everybody (soldiers, senators, a 14-year-old girl from Chicago, a 45-year-old roughneck from Texas) sounds exactly the same: dry, unemotional, and way too quick with the exposition. Still, there's enough promise in the premise that I'll finish it and hope it gets better before the end.

P’s & Q’s

2011-03-15T15:13:00.001-04:00

In the category of unfinished business, I'm finally getting around to finishing my alphabet mixes. At this rate, I'm feeling a bit like Sufjan and his 50 States project. But hey, at least I have a realistic chance of finishing mine. After a 19-month delay, here’s P and Q:

1. Preservation… Aesop Rock & Del Tha Funky Homosapien
2. Paperback Writer… The Beatles
3. Please Don't Talk About Murder While I'm Eating… Ben Harper
4. Picture Book… Bill Lloyd & Tommy Womack
5. Perfect Games… The Broken West
6. Post Script… Finch
7. Pattern Skies… The Greenhornes
8. Party Pit… The Hold Steady
9. Permanent Hurt… John Hiatt
10. Pure… Lightning Seeds
11. Portland, Oregon… Loretta Lynn with Jack White
12. Postcard Of A Painting… Maxïmo Park
13. Piece Of Crap… Neil Young & Crazy Horse
14. People Got a Lotta Nerve… Neko Case
15. Pop Lie… Okkervil River
16. Portions For Foxes… Rilo Kiley
17. Paul Simon… The Russian Futurists
18. Prophet Of Doom… The Samples
19. Poison Lovers… Steve Earle
20. Panic… The Stills
21. Pure Juice… Summercamp
22. Pumping On Your Stereo… Supergrass
23. Pink Triangle… Weezer
24. Postcards From Hell… The Wood Brothers

1. Qué Onda Guero… Beck
2. Queen Of The World… The Bottle Rockets
3. Quattro (World Drifts In)… Calexico
4. Queen Of Charades… The Connells
5. Queen Of Hollywood… The Corrs
6. Queen Bitch… David Bowie
7. Quicksand… Dinosaur Jr
8. Quiet Houses… Fleet Foxes
9. Quiet Heart… The Go-Betweens
10. Quick Painless & Easy… Ivy
11. Quiet… John Mayer
12. Que Lindo Sueño… King Khan And The Shrines
13. Quiet As A Mouse… Margot & The Nuclear So And So's
14. Quiet Her… Matthew Sweet
15. Quannum World… Quannum MCs
16. Question… Rhett Miller
17. Quiet… Smashing Pumpkins
18. Queen Of Apology… The Sounds
19. QMS… T-Love
20. Quicksand… Travis

Another Star Wars fan film

2010-09-09T15:09:00.005-04:00

OK, despite the fact that Papa George is still trying his hardest to ruin Star Wars for my generation, my last two posts have been Star Wars-themed, fan-created video clips. That tells me two things: 1) the fans still get what makes this whole Star Wars thing great, and 2) maybe it’s time for Lucas to let somebody else make the decisions.

This short, fan-created film tells the story of the dumped cargo shipment that earned Han that famous price on his head from Jabba the Hutt. In under 6 minutes, this production crew manages to out-do anything in the prequels and give the Clone Wars cartoon a run for its money. Special bonus points for finding a voice actor who’s a dead ringer for Harrison Ford circa 1977. More, please.

Lando’s not a system, he’s a man.

2010-08-09T17:19:00.000-04:00

Lando Calrissian FTW. I would so watch this movie.

Hello Helvetica

2010-07-02T14:38:00.003-04:00

I have to admit, Jay-Z took a long time to grow on me (I think it had something to do with his use of the most annoying hook in the history of rap), but the longer he sticks around, the more respect I have for the guy. Talk about a master of personal branding. From the moment he decided to go with this whole hip hop Rat Pack thing, he’s projected such a fully-developed, well-thought-out image, from how he dresses to who he collaborates with to how his videos look. I’ve definitely got a soft spot for well-done typography motion graphics, but this video works especially well because the Helvetica fits perfectly with Jay’s back-to-basics classic style, as well as nodding to the New York public transit signage prominently featured all over Brooklyn. Given his attention to detail, I’ve got to think Jay had something to say about that choice as well.

Jay Z - "Hello Brooklyn" from Gregory Solenström on Vimeo.

Like chocolate and peanut butter

2010-07-01T11:06:00.001-04:00

Two great tastes that taste great together: words by Nick Hornby, music by Ben Folds. For fans of either, mark Sept. 28 on your calendars.

We Got This

2010-06-10T13:20:00.002-04:00

Just a friendly reminder to all the English fans out there that a little less than one year ago, the US beat the best team in the world. Saturday is gonna be like my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one.

Adidas’ World Cup commercial

2010-06-04T14:03:00.006-04:00

Star Wars™ Cantina 2010 / adidas Originals from Dominic Prevost on Vimeo.

I love soccer. I love Star Wars (well, at least the original trilogy). And I’ve invested so much money into adidas products, I should have a spot on the board of directors by now. So, on paper, this should have been the perfect ad. There’s even a cameo by Noel Gallagher, for cryin’ out loud. It’s like they tapped directly into my brain. But for some reason, the whole thing just kind of falls flat.

Maybe Snoop Dogg ruined it for me. Maybe soccer players and musicians are 100% the wrong people to ask to act in front of a green screen (I mean, Daft Punk have no lines, and they still look uncomfortable). Or maybe a mashup of so many of my favorite things could never live up to my expectations. Nike’s Write the Future ad works because it sticks to soccer. This adidas ad just feels like the creative team tried to cram a whole mess of crap into the pot, and it became a big steaming plate of WTF?

I can just imagine the meeting. “We got access to the cantina scene! The fucking cantina scene! Lucas never lets anybody mess with his stuff (other than himself, of course). What else we got? How about cameos from a California rapper and two English rock stars whose biggest hits were in the early 90’s! And, let’s get Daft Punk! They sort of look like they’re Star Wars characters. And Beckham’s injured, he’s not going to the World Cup, maybe we can throw him in there! And then let’s sprinkle a few more random people in the background and badly edit the scene to make sure this thing isn’t 8 minutes long. Perfect!” Ultimately, what does any of this mish-mash have to do with the World Cup? In the end, it just turns out to be a whole lot of wasted potential. Sorry, adidas. FAIL.

Still Lost...

2010-06-01T15:31:00.003-04:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

So, that feeling of wasting 6 years of TV viewing that I had immediately following the Lost finale is starting to fade away, but I still feel like I could have used a lot more answers. College Humor does a pretty good job of summing up the insane amount of loose ends, although they didn’t quite come up with 108 questions, which would have been a much better conceit. And they managed to leave out the most important question that remains unresolved. In the immortal words of Charlie Pace, “Guys, where are we?”

Nike’s Soccer Ads

2010-05-20T14:23:00.003-04:00

I may not always agree with everything Nike does as a company, but there's no denying they have a long history of amazing soccer ads. From the very beginning of my love for televised soccer, Nike has been producing great little mini films that reflect a lot of care, style, intelligence, and knowledge of the game, and this latest, “Write the Future” is no exception. Anybody who’s ever played a competitive match has had dreams of glory or fear of goathood flash though their head, but Nike takes this one to another level. After watching this, I’m really fired up for the start of the World Cup.

Here’s a few more classics from previous Nike campaigns:

Good vs. Evil is the first Nike ad I remember, and is also responsible for my love of Eric Cantona. The overall look may be a little dated, but that little "Au revoir" coupled with the collar flip could come off incredibly cheesy. Cantona makes it about as bad-ass as anyone would think possible.

The Brazilian squad with a little ”Jogo Bonito” in the airport. It’s funny to see some of these guys at their peak (Ronaldo) and some of them who dropped off the face of the earth soon after starring in this commercial (Denilson). Also, Cantona ges a cameo.

Guy Ritchie’s first person masterpiece puts you in the head of a lower division player whose free kick goal gets him a spot on Arsenal, superstardom, the Champions League and then eventually, the World Cup, all in 3 minutes. Genius.

The Roundup

2010-05-04T20:23:00.002-04:00

Nintendo mashups are cool.

The first look at Thor is, um, disconcertingly plastic. Maybe they plan to make it all shiny in post?

Letting a sick kid be a superhero for a day is heartwarming (and maybe, possibly, makes me a little bit misty-eyed).

Joss Whedon to Direct The Avengers?

2010-04-14T08:18:00.009-04:00

That sound you hear is a million geeks’ heads simultaneously exploding. I won’t fully believe it until it’s official, but if this really happens, I might as well start camping out at a theater now.

For the non-geeks among us, allow me to translate. Joss Whedon is the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, and the totally underrated Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. He’s also had successful stints writing comics for Marvel, most notably on Astonishing X-Men. (Why, yes, I am a fanboy. Why do you ask?) The Avengers is a superhero team made up of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and a rotating cast of supporting players (sometimes including the Incredible Hulk). The solo movies for those characters (Iron Man 2 comes out in a few weeks, Thor and Cap next summer) are all building to an Avengers movie in 2012.

Island Getaway

2010-03-30T18:39:00.004-04:00

As much as I love Lost, I’m still not totally sold on this final season. Where last season’s time travel storyline went too far into the sci-fi realm for a lot of viewers, this season feels a little too dumbed-down to me. All the creepy, mysterious fun has disappeared from the show, partly because we’re finally getting the answers we’ve all been demanding (prompting one of the little voices in my head to remind me to be careful what I wish for), and partly because this season seems to be yet another confusing reinvention of the format. To me, the writing is really suffering as a result of the departure of Brian K. Vaughn, but maybe I’m biased. I do love me some Y: The Last Man. I really wanted to be blown away by this season, and so far, it’s just not happening. Or maybe it’s just that I’m just sad that the show is ending and I’m preparing myself to be disappointed by the final episode. Either way, I guess I’m still watching.

That said, I still enjoy Lost-related media, and this is an extremely cool idea. An illustrator named Michael Myers (no relation to the comedian or the mass murderer of Halloween fame) did some Saturday morning cartoon-style drawings of the Losties for a made-up Lost: The Animated Series. I like it, although I couldn’t help wondering what they’d have to change Sawyer’s signature “Son of a bitch!” line to for the kiddies.

Illustrations by Michael Myers.

300 For Emo Kids

2010-03-25T18:52:00.010-04:00

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-gb&from=sp&fg=shareEmbed&vid=3dca99ef-87c0-4343-a0da-f7f329301841" target="_new" title="Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Trailer (HD)">Video: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Trailer (HD)</a>

Hi. I know, it’s been a while, but I’m back from my year of wandering in the desert that is Facebook. Frankly, that place sucks. Nothing but Farmville updates, Mafia Wars, and reminders that I forgot someone’s birthday.

Besides, I was just waiting for the right bit of pop culture to come along and give me a reason to start blogging again, and oh, wait, here’s something that combines two of my favorite things to write about... a preview for a comic book movie: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

If you've read this blog at all, you know I love me some comic book adaptations, but this one’s not exactly your standard superhero fare — more like a romantic hipster animé-inspired Nintendo game brought to life. And despite the fact that the trailer begins just like every other Michael Cera movie you’ve ever seen, this is not your typical rom-com. Just watch it, you’ll see.

Buzz has been building for this movie in geek circles for a while now, enough to get me to hunt down the source graphic novels/manga books (which, of course, I totally dig). I recently read a review of an early screening that said, “This movie is so true to the feel of the comics, it’s like 300 for emo kids.” Needless to say, I will actually be going to the theater for this one. And that doesn’t happen much anymore, especially since the theater chains are quietly raising prices this weekend. Way to make people want to stay home with their Blu-Rays even more, idiots.

Spring is coming

2009-03-15T11:16:00.003-04:00

Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and Fulham got their first away win of the season.

They may no longer be Fulhamerica (Clint Dempsey’s the only Yank left on the roster), but I still like to follow the Cottagers. And Dempsey’s having a career year. No goals in this one, but he was involved in the buildup to all of them.

Graphic Information

2009-03-06T00:54:00.004-05:00

In yet another victory for geek culture, comics have now become mainstream enough that the New York Times has added three different bestseller lists for “graphic books” — hardcover, softcover, and manga. I haven’t decided yet whether this is a good or a bad thing, or maybe just one more sign that America is always about 20 years behind Japan in everything pop culture.

Latrocious videe-i-e-i-e-i-o

2009-03-03T23:43:00.009-05:00

Apparently, the music video isn’t completely dead. Here’s a couple good ones I’ve spotted lately.

Lots to love here from Company of Thieves. Jangly indie pop that takes me back to my college days, Genevieve Schatz belting out the chorus like Björk fronting R.E.M., and a video homage to the opening sequence of Rushmore put this one on my radar. Good stuff. Link from /Film.

Andrew Bird is a genius, plain and simple. I saw him for the third time last Thursday at the Ogden Theater. It’s amazing to watch one guy play guitar, violin, xylophone, whistle and sing all in the course of one song, and do it all incredibly well. You can’t quite get the full effect in this live video for “Fitz & Dizzyspells,” from his latest album, Noble Beast, but the addition of the marching band makes up for it. Link from Stereogum.

And in case you don’t get the reference in the title, Three Times One Minus One’s gonna make it a'ight...

The Ultimate Mashup

2009-02-24T00:26:00.002-05:00

AT-AT vs. boombox. ‘Nuff said.

Faithfully

2009-02-24T00:14:00.005-05:00

OK, this is cool. Somebody took the “motion comics” version of Watchmen, made available online around the time all the hype started for the movie, and recreated, panel-by-panel, each shot from the Watchmen teaser trailer, making sure everybody who sees this realizes exactly how faithful Zack Snyder’s film is staying to the comic. Some of the early reviews I’ve read say too faithful, but as a devoted fan of the original work, I find that hard to believe. Besides, if you’re going to take on the task of adapting such a groundbreaking piece of graphic fiction, why mess with perfection?

Teaser Trailer:

Motion comics version:

The Expendables

2009-02-17T23:55:00.005-05:00

News broke today that Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined Sylvester Stallone’s latest project, adding even more star power to a cast that’s shaping up to be insane... both literally and figuratively. I’ll let /Film explain:

The cast now includes Mickey Rourke, Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren, Forest Whitaker, Eric Roberts and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film tells the story about an “expendable” team, hired to do jobs that no one else can or will. The team is sent to infiltrate a South American country to overthrow the ruthless dictator and liberate the country.

Wow. I’m surprised they didn’t consider re-titling this “Where Egos Dare.” (Thank you, I’ll be here all week.) I wonder who gets the biggest trailer on that set? If Jean-Claude Van Damme hadn’t turned Stallone down, this could have been an 80’s action movie fan’s wet dream. As it stands, it’s still pretty close. Obviously, we’re very likely talking massive train wreck, but there’s no way the inevitable bad reviews will stop me from seeing this movie.

Pop Tart

2009-02-17T15:48:00.007-05:00

It seems a little strange, but my favorite new music at the moment is Lily Allen’s “It’s Not Me, It’s You”. Girly pop isn’t exactly my usual genre of choice, but Allen isn’t exactly Hannah Montana either. Instead of the usual overproduced fluff from the latest American Idol cast-off, Allen’s new album is full of frank discussions of sex and relationship drama, set to some pretty catchy beats—a little spicier than your average fare. Listen to the lyrics of “The Fear” (here performed live on Jay Leno), and you’ll discover she’s actually skewering the tabloids (who have been pretty brutal to her in Britain) and the whole crop of celebutants they worship/stalk. It’s nice to know somebody can still do pop music with a bite.

Kingdom of Rust

2009-02-16T13:13:00.002-05:00

Doves just rolled out a video for the title track to their new one, out April 6. Me gusta.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

2009-02-12T11:39:00.003-05:00

2-nil, again. And the hits just keep on coming...

Awards Shows Suck

2009-02-09T20:18:00.003-05:00

I haven't watched or cared about the Grammys, um, pretty much ever, and I know plenty of people who feel the same way. So clearly the folks running the show knew what they were doing when they booked Radiohead... with the USC marching band. Made me watch.

An Open Letter to Denver Concertgoers

2009-02-05T01:53:00.010-05:00

Dear Denver,

Since 90% of you seem to need this, here’s today’s lesson in concert etiquette: Shut The Hell Up. If you’re there to see the band, take an Adderall and close your mouth for 90 minutes so you can enjoy the music. If you’re not there to see the band, why are you there? Is it really worth spending $40 + service fees just so you can drink $7 Coors Lights in plastic cups and act like an annoying douchebag? Next time you feel the need to shout over music while drinking shitty beer, there’s about 300 bars in this city with a jukebox and no cover. Try one out. Hell, try them all out. Just don’t stand next to me at the next show I go to and shout drunken bullshit in some girl’s ear all night. She doesn’t think you’re funny, and neither do I. Cheers.

Nothing Better

2009-01-14T21:16:00.007-05:00

1. Never Gonna Change… Drive-By Truckers
2. Naked As We Came… Iron & Wine
3. Nails In My Feet… Crowded House
4. Neal's Lament… Michael Andrews
5. Narcolepsy… Third Eye Blind
6. Never Tear Us Apart… INXS
7. Needle In The Hay… Elliott Smith
8. Nightingale Song… Toad the Wet Sprocket
9. Nightswimming… You Say Party! We Say Die!
10. No One Is To Blame… Howard Jones
11. N.M.I.… Sean Watkins
12. Nothing Better [Styrofoam Remix]… The Postal Service
13. New Slang… The Shins
14. No Room to Bleed… Ben Lee
15. Nightblindness… David Gray
16. Not A Job… Elbow
17. Not California… Hem
18. Nothing Left To Lose… Mat Kearney
19. Notice… Gomez
20. Night Walk… Belle & Sebastian
21. New Shoes… Paolo Nutini

How do you say "unstoppable" en Espanol?

2009-01-09T00:05:00.003-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina). If you don’t know his name yet, file it away for the World Cup in 2010. Watching him carve his way through opposing defenses is a thing of beauty.

My Life in Video Game Controllers

2009-01-07T11:38:00.005-05:00

Cool Infographics had this little nugget of joy this morning. This is just begging to be made into a t-shirt.

Missing Link

2009-01-04T22:30:00.003-05:00

1. Main Title… J.J. Abrams
2. Mercy Kiss… Abandoned Pools
3. My Own Worst Enemy… Lit
4. My Name Is Jonas… Weezer
5. My Sharona… The Knack
6. Man On The Moon… Sugar
7. Mary Jane’s Last Dance… Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
8. Mansion On The Hill… Neil Young & Crazy Horse
9. Making Memories… Rush
10. Massive Nights… The Hold Steady
11. Murray… Pete Yorn
12. Murdered By A Big Bomb… The Upwelling
13. Modern Way… Kaiser Chiefs
14. Moonage Daydream (live)… David Bowie
15. Me And Mia… Ted Leo / Pharmacists
16. Muscle Museum… Muse
17. My Coco… Stellastarr*
18. Motorcycle Drive By… Third Eye Blind
19. Missing Link… Dinosaur Jr & Del tha Funky Homosapien
20. Magic Power… Triumph

The Movies of 2008

2009-01-03T22:57:00.001-05:00

Great editing. Thanks to /film for the heads up.

The Year of Pleasant Surprises

2008-12-30T23:38:00.012-05:00

Obama aside, 2008 was a difficult year all around, and pop culture seemed to reflect that. I started working on some top ten lists to close out the year, until I realized that in most categories, I couldn't come up with more than three things that really impressed me. In fact, so much of what was produced this year was uninspired, uninventive, or just generally disappointing that it was almost a surprise when something turned out to be good. So, in recognition of that, here are my 12 pleasant entertainment surprises of 2008.

Wall-E. A kids’ movie about cutesy, animated robots that chirp and beep more than R2D2. A post-apocalyptic sci-fi story about a trash-collecting robot and his pet cockroach left behind on a over-polluted planet. A cautionary tale about the environment and the evolutionary effects of technology and lack of exercise. A sweet romantic yarn about a Hello, Dolly-obsessed loner who finally meets the woman of his dreams and crosses the galaxy to win her heart. Wall-E is all of these and more. Add in the fact that the two main characters barely speak any dialogue in the first 45 minutes except to repeat each other’s names, and you would expect this would make for a deadly boring, convoluted mess. Enter Pixar. If ever you doubted the genius of this studio, here’s all the proof you need. Wall-E is an incredible piece of moviemaking. So much is communicated through the smallest gestures, toots, whistles, and slight changes of expression that the lack of dialogue is barely noticeable. Hands-down, one of my five favorite movies of all time.

The Rhumb Line, Ra Ra Riot. An amazing mix of strong songwriting, catchy melodies, and driving strings made this my favorite album of the year. There’s a surprising amount of world-weariness for such a young band, and it gives the songs a lived-in feeling, even if you're only hearing them for the first time.

“Spiralling,” Keane. This track is so undeniably catchy, I almost forgive them for the bad 80’s synthesizers. OK, who am I kidding? The synths make the song.

The Dark Knight. I knew it would be good. I just didn’t know it would be this good. Total game-changer for all comic book films to come.

“M79,” Vampire Weekend. Imagine Graceland-era Paul Simon scoring a Wes Anderson flick. This song encapsulates everything that is great about VW’s debut.

Feed the Animals, Girl Talk. The most incredible mashup mix I’ve ever heard. So dense and complex in its use of samples that Wired devoted a full-page chart to breaking down one track from the album.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Proof that even Joss Whedon’s free time doodlings are works of genius (he wrote this to keep his mind fresh during the writer’s strike). Joss Whedon + Neil Patrick Harris + a musical about a supervillain’s video blog = comedy gold.

“Viva La Vida,” Coldplay. Yes, this song is overplayed. Yes, it may have been plagiarized. Yes, the album as a whole is so-so. No, I don’t care. It’s still impossible to get out of your head.

Iron Man. Not as gritty as The Dark Knight, but still a hell of a lot of fun. Favreau took the source material seriously, and Robert Downey Jr. was born to play Tony Stark. I went in with high expectations, and they were all met.

Lyle Lovett at Red Rocks. I maintain the belief that all Red Rocks shows are automatically 10% better simply because of the venue, but Lovett didn’t need the help. Despite the fact that I hardly knew any of his music, I was enthralled. Lyle is a true entertainer, and his band is top-notch.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson. This book was recommended to me almost simultaneously by my mom and Stephen King, which is strange, but also a testament to its appeal. The variation on a locked-room murder mystery (in this case, it’s a locked island) kept me turning pages all the way to the end...which I really enjoyed, despite it’s non-Hollywoodness.

Alpinisms, School of Seven Bells. Former Secret Machines guitarist Ben Curtis teams up with twin sister vocalists to create a new genre: atmospheric New-Age indie rock. This album is a gorgeously dense creation, full of layers and textures. Yet when I heard the Bells play an acoustic set on KEXP recently that stripped away all the effects, the songs held up.

“The Greatest Man That Ever Lived,” Weezer. Rivers puts on his Freddie Mercury hat and writes a 21st-century “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Good luck not singing along with the chorus.

Biggest disappointments of the year:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Thanks for ruining yet another beloved franchise, George.

Chinese Democracy, Guns N’ Roses. We waited 11 years for this? It’s obvious Axl has a frustrated Stephen Sondheim hiding inside him. I just wish he wouldn’t put the G N’ R name on that stuff.

Less than 100 people showing up for Matthew Sweet’s October show at the Fox Theater. That’s just sad.

Brad Pitt as Lion-O?

2008-12-22T21:33:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately, no. But as fake previews go, this one’s pretty amazing.

Guerra Fria

2008-12-17T02:08:00.000-05:00

Bring it, Mexicanos. Bring it.

Origin

2008-12-15T22:59:00.003-05:00

The last X-Men movie was a disappointment for me, so I wasn’t sure what to think when I heard they were doing a solo Wolverine movie. Well, based on this trailer, I think I’m going to like it.

From the Office of the President-Elect

2008-12-13T21:08:00.004-05:00

I may be a little late catching on here, but putting his weekly addresses to the nation on YouTube is such a smart move by Obama. Based on what he says here, it sounds like he's going to do his best to drag this country kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, and after using texts and emails to such great effect during his campaign, this seems like a natural next step.

Words

2008-12-11T00:01:00.002-05:00

This is really cool. I made a word cloud on Wordle based on the most frequently-used words in my posts. According to this, I like soccer and negative modifiers, and I have a bit of a potty mouth.

Yay

2008-12-05T13:34:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite bands, Doves, is finally getting ready to release their fourth album, a mere four years after their last one. Hope it’s worth the wait.

The Ultimate Geek Argument

2008-12-05T00:01:00.002-05:00

Star Wars vs. Star Trek, settled once and for all.

Nothing like a little holiday spirit to kick off the shopping season.

2008-11-28T18:29:00.002-05:00

Are you fucking kidding me?

I hope they throw the book at not only the people who trampled this guy, but everybody who walked past him as he lay there dying. Merry fucking Christmas.

Freddy Who?

2008-11-20T20:28:00.007-05:00

The kid is back. Shivered my way through the USA’s 2-0 victory over Guatemala at the Dick last night, and since the US had already qualified for the final round, I got a chance to see head coach Bob Bradley turn the reins over to the youngsters. Boy, did they not disappoint. Jozy Altidore and Kenny Cooper got their long-awaited combination off on the right foot as Jozy set up Coop for the first goal, while Freddy Adu and Sascha Kljestan ran the midfield the way everyone hopes they will for years to come. Special bonus: getting to see Freddy notch his first goal for the senior national team on an exquisite free kick (at the 2:45 minute in the highlights video).

Two downsides. One, the sparse crowd. Yeah, it was cold and a meaningless game, but that was a pretty weak showing. I’d be shocked if Denver gets another game any time soon. And two, this video is the official US Soccer highlights video. Um, hi. You guys are US Soccer. This is a US Soccer match. Yet you couldn’t come up with anything better to post than this clip that looks like it was recorded on an overdubbed VHS tape from 1986? Lame.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

2008-11-14T11:45:00.006-05:00

Hopefully, lots of moviegoers in March. Based on the trailer, this is looking like a note-perfect translation to screen of one of my favorite stories ever—the trick will be to get people to watch a film about characters they don’t know. All the superhero archetypes are there, and while Watchmen may not have the immediate name recognition as the superheroes we all grew up with, the footprint it left on pop culture is hard to measure (although Entertainment Weekly did a pretty good job). Suffice it to say, Watchmen is directly responsible for the current dark, “grown-up” tone of superhero stories, where heroes are real people who feel the effects and consequences of each and every one of their actions. Without it, the modern era of comic book movies—from Tim Burton’s take on Batman all the way through to The Dark Knight—may never have come to pass, and you can even argue that its influence spread even farther into sci-fi and fantasy, leading to the strong presence of geek culture that rules the entertainment world. By making comics acceptable for grownups, there suddenly emerged legions of adult fans who showed they were willing to pay good money if movies and TV took them and their interests seriously. Without those fans, we might never have seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer reborn on TV or Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy make it to film, not to mention projects like Lost, 300, and the upcoming Star Trek reboot. So after all that, you can understand why there’s a bit of weight of expectation surrounding this movie. Enjoy the trailer:

Strange Bedfellows

2008-11-07T18:23:00.002-05:00

Um, I don’t know who came up with the idea to put these two together, but that person is a genius. Best. Mashup. Ever.

The Art of Politics

2008-11-05T12:04:00.006-05:00

One of the most impressive things about Barack Obama’s campaign has been the level of inspiration he brought out in his supporters. We saw the results of that yesterday in the turnout at the polls, but another area where I’ve been equally impressed is in his effect on the artistic community. Obama supporters have produced some amazing images over the past 9 months, starting first and foremost with underground artist Shepard Fairey’s ubiquitous “Hope” and “Progress” posters, which were originally produced as an independent guerrilla project, but were soon assimilated as official by the Obama campaign. This iconic image spawned numerous alterations, knockoffs and parodies (including a DNC-specific variation by Fairey himself, created for a certain Denver magazine), but one of my favorite remixes combines Obama and David Bowie circa “Aladdin Sane”.

While Fairey’s image was definitely the highest-profile of the campaign, there’s been plenty of creativity to spread around. A huge amount of original artwork was displayed in Denver during the DNC, but this image, produced recently by illustrator Patrick Moberg in honor of President-Elect Obama’s historic victory, is by far my favorite. Simple, yet effective, it truly embodies the old line about a picture being worth 1,000 words.

I, for one, hope that this creative explosion continues throughout President Obama’s entire term, and that he can continue to inspire all Americans, not just the artists, for years to come. (Clearly, my post-election afterglow hasn’t worn off yet. Hope, baby, hope...)

Change

2008-11-05T10:24:00.004-05:00

Thank you, America, for returning to your senses.

Please vote responsibly

2008-10-31T00:19:00.004-04:00

If you haven't made it to the voting booth just yet, here’s a little something to help your decision. One heartbeat from the presidency, folks...

Finally... MTV remembers what (part of) their initials stand for

2008-10-29T00:15:00.007-04:00

Well, hidey-ho, everybody. MTV has gone back to the future by putting every single video from their entire archive up on their new website. Every free second I had over the next two months is now accounted for. See you in 2009!

Here’s one to start you off:

Guns N' Roses |MTV Music

The Roundup

2008-10-25T16:19:00.005-04:00

Things I’ve been into lately:

The Apple Juice Kid, Miles Remixed. I like when DJ’s hook up classic jazz: the Verve Remixed series being the most high-profile example. This album sticks entirely to the works of Miles Davis, but still comes off as a diverse mix. Great stuff, and best of all, available as a free download.

Dead Confederate, Wrecking Ball. This Athens, GA-based band has created the perfect marriage of Southern classic rock, Neil Young-influenced grunge and Brit rock.

Matthew Sweet, Sunshine Lies. Definitely nowhere near as consistent as some of his great albums from the 90’s, but he can still turn the most innocuous song into a work of jangly, toe-tapping beauty. I bought the deluxe edition from iTunes (for an extra $3, you get 6 extra songs), and it was well worth it — the bonus tracks are some of my favorite songs.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Harmless and cute, but funny — good date movie. I think Michael Cera’s ability to play the awkward indie kid is still second-to-none, but he’s starting to seem a bit like a one-trick pony. One more movie like this, and the backlash will be in full effect.

The Venture Bros. Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim has accounted for quite a bit of my TV watching in recent years (Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, The Brak Show, Sealab 2021), but nothing comes close to The Venture Bros. What started out as a simple Johnny Quest spoof has become a smart, wickedly funny action-adventure story with as many pop culture references crammed into each episode as humanly possible. With the first two seasons on DVD and Season 3 currently in reruns on CN, I’ve been watching at least an episode a day for the past month or so, and I still want more. Bring on Season 4.

“Lost” anticipation. Is it 2009 yet?

Posterized

2008-10-24T01:13:00.001-04:00

Sometimes, I need a post like this to remind me why I read so many blogs. Good stuff.

Old Friend

2008-10-21T01:29:00.013-04:00

Matthew Sweet / The Bridges at The Fox Theatre. I’ve been a Matthew Sweet fan since the early 90’s, and it’s been nine years since I last saw him (NINE YEARS!?!). During that period he’s put out a couple good albums (Kimi Ga Suki, Under the Covers Vol. 1) and some that are best forgotten (Living Things), but his recently released Sunshine Lies seems to be a return to the sound that made his earlier albums so successful. My brother got me tickets for my birthday, so he and I made the trek to Boulder to check out the show.

First up were The Bridges, an Alabama band made up of 3 sisters, their brother, and a cousin. Since Matthew produced their debut album, they were a natural fit for the opening slot. With 4 females contributing vocals, they have a very lush sound (imagine the Dixie Chicks if they played power pop instead of country), and you could definitely hear the Sweet influence in the song structures and harmonies. I was impressed enough that I’ll track down their album. I might have been persuaded to buy it at the merch table on the way out tonight, but I didn’t feel like fighting my way through the line of dorks awaiting their chance to hit on the hottie guitarist (not that she wasn’t worth standing in line for).

Matthew and band came on around 9:15. Without making too many excuses, there were a lot of factors working against the show (cold, rainy, Monday, the Broncos on Monday Night Football, playing in a college town when his audience has gotten quite a bit older than that), and it was reflected in the size of the crowd. I’d be surprised if there were much more than 100 people in the room. I think the band noticed, and it probably took some wind out of their sails and kept the show from being as good as it could have been. I don’t think it helped that they started to lose some of the crowd during the first half of the set, which contained mostly new songs, but they recovered in the second half, which drew pretty heavily from Girlfriend. Actually, I was surprised at the fact that the setlist ignored so many albums. Other than “Sick of Myself” and one song from Living Things, the entire setlist came from Girlfriend, Altered Beast and Sunshine Lies. I was bummed not hear anything from In Reverse or Kimi Ga Suki. Then again, the set was short — only about an hour and then a two-song encore (both Girlfriend tracks) — so there weren’t many opportunities to delve into the back catalog.

I don’t want to say the show was disappointing, because it definitely wasn’t. It was more like when you catch up with an old friend that you haven’t seen in years, and after a few minutes, you realize things have changed so much that you can’t just pick up right where you left off any more. For starters, Matthew’s gained a pretty shocking amount of weight since I last saw him 9 years ago (to the point that I’m actually worried about his health), which did take some getting used to. Plus, I was bummed to see so few people at the show, because I think after 11 albums, he deserves better, but I blame that partly on putting the show in Boulder instead of Denver. I’d be surprised if he has many college-aged fans these days, and I bet he could have easily drawn three times that crowd if the show had been in Denver, closer to an older fan base. Finally, I think he’s at that tipping point in his career where the audience wants his greatest hits, but he still wants to play the new songs, so the energy level just felt a bit off all night — huge drops when he played new stuff, big spikes when he trotted out the oldies.

That said, the band sounded tight once they got going. Yes, I wish the show had been longer, but despite some things not being perfect, getting to hear “Girlfriend,” “I’ve Been Waiting,” “Divine Intervention,” “Ugly Truth Rock,” “Sick of Myself,” and “Someone To Pull the Trigger” played live again made the night worthwhile.

UPDATE: Just for old times’ sake...

Humble Pie

2008-10-15T00:42:00.003-04:00

So I can’t remember how I ended up there, but at some point during my browsing tonight, I discovered that the newly-internet-friendly Metallica has a YouTube channel where they’re encouraging their fans to post videos of themselves playing along to Metallica songs. This one was pretty good:

And then, I watched this:

Every time I start to feel good about my guitar playing, something like this comes along to remind me how much I suck. Guess I’ll be practicing this weekend...

The Dark Knight (Pixar remix)

2008-10-06T22:30:00.000-04:00

Trailer mashups are the new black.

Ranting and Raving

2008-10-03T10:55:00.007-04:00

Not surprisingly, The New Yorker has endorsed Obama. Also not surprisingly, they give an excellent, clear, carefully considered, and factually-based argument in favor of Obama.

Sadly, I’m afraid this kind of endorsement won’t be enough. If this election was going to be decided simply on cold hard facts and rational thinking about who is going to be the best leader for this country in crisis, Obama could schedule his inauguration right now. Unfortunately, we live in Reality TV Nation, where the presidential election has become nothing more than a popularity contest in which the future of our country hinges on who can come up with the best sound bite. Maybe I have too little faith in the American public, but I have a feeling there are a lot of fairly intelligent but lazy people (along with a whole mess of total idiots) in this country who have been sucked in by the Republican misdirection, and are going to base their vote in the most important election in half a century entirely on the image of a pitbull with lipstick. Look over here, public. Watch the pretty lady, don’t think about that stuff that hurts your brain like the economy (which, by the way, we have no solutions for, because we don’t actually want to fix it). Call me a pessimist, but I fear for the next four years.

On the other hand, if McCain wins, maybe California and New England will secede from the U.S., and I can move back near a beach.

P.S. Have our standards really become that low for our leaders that anyone can crow about how well someone did in a debate just because she didn’t screw up? The whole VP show was pretty disappointing anyway. Trading 30-second sound bites doesn’t really qualify as much of a “debate”.

UPDATE: Happily, I was wrong, and the American public exceeded my expectations for once.

Spiralling

2008-09-29T15:30:00.004-04:00

Somehow, I missed Keane’s upcoming album in my fall music preview, but based on this, it sounds like the boys heart the 80’s big-time on this effort, and I heart the result.

And I'm All Like, "WTF, Becks?"

2008-09-23T19:02:00.003-04:00

Sometimes, things can be awesome even when they make absolutely no sense.

And Australia's All Like, "WTF, Mate?"

2008-09-22T21:48:00.001-04:00

I know you’ve all seen this before. But it’s still funny.

Thinking Clearly

2008-09-18T11:13:00.010-04:00

I promise to keep the political posts to a minimum this year (unless McCain wins and that flip-flopping nutjob Palin ends up a heartbeat away from the presidency — then I’ll probably be firing off political posts left and right from Barcelona or Berlin), but I finally got a forwarded email that was worth repeating. It does such a great job of showing how ridiculous the Republican hype machine really is when you break their arguments down. Here it is:

I’m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight....

If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you’re “exotic, different.” Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack, you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable. Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience. If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you’re qualified to become the country’s second highest ranking executive.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state’s school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you’re very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s values don't represent America’s. If your husband is nicknamed “First Dude”, with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

Sadly, half of America would read this and completely miss the sarcasm. And that’s why the pessimist in me has this sinking feeling that Obama is going to lose.

McCain image by Steve Sedam/XL Industries.

Culinary Delights

2008-09-15T22:06:00.007-04:00

And now for something completely different...

By no means would I ever consider myself resembling anything close to a chef. My kitchen is pretty much just a storage area that’s seldom used for anything more difficult than opening a new box of cereal. But every once in a while, I get the urge to eat something that hasn’t been handed to me through the window of my car, and that usually means it’s time to throw down on the grill.

Tonight was one of those nights. I had a good cut of boneless sirloin (Laura’s Lean Beef from Super Target—don’t knock it) that I marinated overnight in a mixture of Worcestershire sauce, cracked black pepper, and Simply Organic Spicy Steak Seasoning. Once I fired up the grill, I started sauteing some chopped onion and baby bella mushrooms in olive oil and a touch of the Worcestershire, just enough to give everything a hint of flavor. I threw the steak on the grill at medium heat, flipped it a couple times, covered it with the onion and mushrooms, added a glass of red wine (I prefer something more flavorful with steak—tonight was a 2004 Tinto da Anfora, a surprisingly well-rounded, full-bodied Portuguese red*, considering the price I paid for it), and voila! I’m stuffed and happy.

Thus ends what will probably be my first and last post about food, at least until the day Taco Bell and Pizza Hut join forces to create the Ultimate Deep Dish Spicy Chicken Supreme Burrizza. What a glorious day that will be...

*OK, full disclosure: I totally cheated and looked up reviews of this wine online. I buy all my wine on an aesthetic basis, meaning my design snobbery will not allow me to buy anything with an ugly label.

Damn, hippies!

2008-09-11T11:41:00.002-04:00

CSNY, just hangin’ out by the pool with a few thousand friends. The word “incendiary” comes to mind...

Thanks to Aquarium Drunkard for digging this one up.

The only way this might have been OK is if it was the Gallagher who smashes watermelons...

2008-09-09T19:30:00.007-04:00

A big “Get well soon” to Noel Gallagher, who has a possible broken rib and ligament damage after some jackass ran out of the crowd and shoved him onto his monitors during a show in Toronto on Sunday. To Noel’s great credit, he came back out with the rest of the band and finished the show after a brief delay before seeking medical attention, but what the fuck? There's a big difference between jumping onstage to promote your political views (anybody remember the “Soy Bomb” guy?) and jumping onstage to try to hurt somebody because you’re drunk and sad that you have a tiny penis. And Canadians call us the belligerent ones...

As fair punishment, security should have just thrown the guy in an interrogation room and let Liam go all Dark Knight on him.

I Predict A Riot

2008-09-08T21:54:00.011-04:00

On a Saturday evening few months ago, I saw Ra Ra Riot at the Westword Music Showcase, and I don’t remember being all that impressed. Granted, it had been a long day of standing outside in the sun, and the crowds had been full of annoying douchebags who apparently only came to hold shouted conversations over the music, so my tolerance level was pretty low. I remember thinking RRR might have some promise, but I wasn’t really in much of a mood to give a new band a chance that day. Well, after listening to The Rhumb Line for the first time this weekend, I won’t make that mistake twice. This album has pretty much been on repeat since I downloaded it—at home, at work, on my iPod while I work out—and while I can’t exactly pin down what it is I enjoy about it so much, it really struck a chord with me. The closest I can come to describing their sound is like a darker Vampire Weekend without the Afro-Pop influence. The strings (in this case, violin and cello) are central to RRR’s sound, and I think that’s part of it for me. I’ve gotten into larger bands that use strings (like Arcade Fire and Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s) in recent years, and I’ve always loved Mark Mothersbaugh’s chamber-pop-ish scores to Wes Anderson’s films, so it makes sense that a large part of why I love Ra Ra Riot is that they seem to be influenced by all of that music, but have taken that influence to its next logical step.

I could go on, but I feel like I’m not coming close to doing the music justice with my description, so just have a listen for yourself.

“Dying Is Fine” (mp3)

“Ghost Under Rocks” (video)

Long Past Fashionably, Just Plain Late

2008-09-04T00:44:00.006-04:00

OK, I’ve ignored this song for as long as I can, but every since Z-Trip brought down the house at Unconventional ’08 with MIA’s “Paper Planes,” I cannot get it out of my head. Who knew gunshots and cash register noises could make for such an unforgettably infectious chorus? Every time I hear it, I just want to dance around the room making pistols with my fingers (and except for rare occasions like VIP parties during Democratic National Conventions, I’m not much of a dancer). Also, it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that I didn’t pick up on the biggest summer jam until fall arrived. Alanis might call that ironic.

And just for fun, here’s the extremely NSFW Pineapple Express trailer that made “Paper Planes” the hit it deserves to be.

Work and Play

2008-09-04T00:25:00.008-04:00

Last week, due to a last-minute illness of one of our regular writers, I blogged for work. It was an interesting experience. Not because it was new, but because in the ~~four~~ five years that I’ve been posting here, I’ve created a voice for this blog that I’m totally comfortable with—if I had to give it a name, I’d go with “geek snark” (or maybe gnark? sneek?). Even though I got the opportunity to write about a really amazing night of music, comedy, and dancing (2 of the 3 will seem quite familiar to regular readers of this blog), the assignment for work presented a challenge for me, because it didn’t feel like the blogging voice I’m used to would exactly cut it in the world of real reporting. (On the other hand, if you look at some of the other posts on Elevated Voices around the same time as mine, you’ll find several videos of a drag queen and a guy pretending to be French hunting “celebrities” around Denver, so “real reporting” is a term I use loosely.) I can’t say I’m 100% happy with the end result, and unlike this blog, I can’t go back and make unlimited edits, but I guess it turned out all right for a first effort. If there’s one thing I’ve figured out in the extremely limited writing I’ve done, it’s that I can at least do a decent job of mimicking other writing styles, so hopefully, I’ll get more chances to practice other voices beyond this one.

(And because I know she’s going to post a comment to this effect anyway, my friend Jenny has been telling me to try writing for other outlets for years now. It’s just taken me a while to figure out that she might actually be on to something.)

Recently

2008-09-01T00:28:00.002-04:00

Another mix of stuff I've been listening to lately:

1. That’s All Right (Mama)… The Beatles
2. If Time Permits… Matthew Sweet
3. Soda Jerk… Buffalo Tom
4. Life On Mars?… David Bowie
5. Something In You… The Orange Peels
6. Just Blue… The Weepies
7. No Sunlight… Death Cab for Cutie
8. Constructive Summer… The Hold Steady
9. The Beauty of Gray… Live
10. 4:35 A.M… Gemma Hayes
11. Sit and Wonder… The Verve
12. Starman… David Bowie
13. Spreadin’ Rhythm Around [Lady Bug vs. Lady Day RR Remix]… Billie Holiday
14. My Revenge… Julie Ocean
15. Sequestered In Memphis… The Hold Steady
16. Remnants… My Morning Jacket
17. Took My Lady To Dinner… King Khan And The Shrines
18. Spiral Staircase… Kings Of Leon

Fantastic

2008-08-30T16:03:00.005-04:00

I just started watching the second season of I’m On Setanta Sports, a brilliant puppet show starring Jose Mourinho that reminds me a lot of Genesis’ video for “Land of Confusion” back in the late 80’s. Honestly, you’re only going to find this funny if you’ve followed English football in the past 5 years, but Rooney and Sven leave me laughing hysterically every time.

Little Wing

2008-08-18T23:12:00.003-04:00

This was one of the easier Alphabet mixes. Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” is one of my favorite songs, and since I own more than 20 versions of the song, it was just a matter of picking the best ones and fitting them on a CD.

1. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
2. Derek And The Dominos
3. Gil Evans & The Gil Evans Orchestra
4. Sting
5. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
6. Skid Row
7. The Corrs
8. Pearl Jam
9. Vitamin String Quartet
10. Jenn Adams
11. Concrete Blonde
12. South Austin Jug Band
13. Tak Matsumoto
14. Mark Selby
15. Eric Steckel Band

Falling Down

2008-08-14T00:09:00.002-04:00

New Oasis. Noel singing lead. My day has been officially made.

Just Browsing

2008-08-13T23:47:00.008-04:00

This is why I love the interwebs. I found this photoblog, Delineated.com, while clicking links on my Last.fm profile. Turns out one of ~~my neighbors (meaning, she has a very similar playlist to mine)~~ my friend's friends is a photographer in Toronto. The blog seems to be more miscellaneous stuff, but she also has a site of terrific concert shots, and I really dig both. After all, it’s not everyday I run across a photographer who likes to shoot old hotel signs and Bonnaroo.

Photo © Carrie Musgrave

Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist

2008-08-11T20:26:00.006-04:00

This is high on my must-see list for the fall (in theaters October 3rd). Michael Cera rocks, and I feel strangely protective of the kid. Maybe it’s because whatever he’s in, I tend to feel his character’s pain and find myself wanting to impart some big brotherly advice to help him through the awkward spots. Not sure what I’d do with the whole “George Michael’s in love with his cousin” thing, though. That’s just weird.

And on a totally unrelated note, why does it seem like romantic comedies always get released in the fall? Is that a particularly romantic time of year? Why wouldn’t there be a bigger surge around, say, Valentine’s Day?

Love Letters

2008-08-11T20:09:00.003-04:00

Think you know your movie posters? Well, so did I, until I took this humbling quiz offered up by Empire Online. The idea is to identify the movie based on 1 letter of the title from the movie’s poster. To give you an idea of how hard it is, I’d consider myself to have a better-than-average knowledge of movies and fonts, and I got 16 of 46. Frustrating, but it also made me want a second quiz. Soon.

"Just as modern as any city in the Federated States of Amerigo"

2008-08-10T16:16:00.003-04:00

For anybody looking for a insider’s tour of the city before the DNC hits, welcome to Denver, y’all.

Fantastic.

Link from The Denver Egotist.

Dark Shadows

2008-08-03T12:35:00.014-04:00

I went back to see The Dark Knight again yesterday, this time on the IMAX screen, and I also watched Batman Begins, mostly just for comparison’s sake. What’s amazing is, for all the hype and critical praise that was heaped on Begins for its dark and gritty take on the Caped Crusader, that movie has nothing on Dark Knight when it comes to (pardon the pun) darkness. Aside from Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy’s villains in the first movie being completely outshined by Heath Ledger’s electric take on the Joker, Dark Knight is a literally darker movie. One of the first things that jumped out at me was the difference in the color palette of the two movies. Batman Begins, which seemed so raw and ominous when it was released, now looks comparatively bright, shiny, and colorful when held up against its sequel. Until the final battle scene, much of Begins takes place in the light, whereas Dark Knight is just the reverse, with the majority of the movie taking place in dark offices, back rooms, alleyways and underground streets. Even the outdoor daylight scenes all seem to take place on gloomy, cloudy days. Knowing how much thought Christopher Nolan puts into his movies, I’m going with the assumption that this is intentional — that the darkness is meant to show just how bad things are in Gotham, lending weight to Harvey Dent’s statement that things are always darkest before the dawn, but also mirroring Bruce Wayne’s acceptance of Batman’s place as an anti-hero who must remain a shadowy figure to achieve his true purpose.

Intentional or not, the visual tone of the film is just one more reason why The Dark Knight is now one of my favorite movies of all time. It lost absolutely nothing on a second viewing, and I’d go see it a third time in the theater given half an excuse. Usually, the second time I see a movie is when I catch lines I may not have caught the first time and notice more flaws, but I was just as absorbed in the story as the first time I saw it. A couple things I did notice: the soundtrack is pretty incredible, mainly because it fits the action so well that I barely noticed it except to think, “That’s cool”, and Heath Ledger was even more impressive and creepy the second time around. He was mesmerizing in every scene, and if he doesn’t at least get nominated for an Oscar, it will be a crime.

And finally, this was my first IMAX experience with a Hollywood movie, and for me, it didn’t add much except to make the screen a lot bigger. Maybe it was the angle at which we were sitting (off to the right), but it was tough to see what was happening in a lot of the darker scenes... of which, as I said, there were plenty. On the other hand, it was worth the extra $5 per ticket not to have to watch commercials before the movie. Until the show started, all we got was a blank screen and the Dark Knight soundtrack playing quietly over the speakers. It actually allowed people in the audience to talk to each other, which was nice since the theater started filling up 40-45 minutes before the show (yes, a 12:20 pm screening was still sold out a full two weeks after the movie’s release). Once the lights went down, it was two previews and then straight into the movie. That in itself is enough to get me back to an IMAX show in the future.

Fall Music Preview

2008-08-01T15:55:00.012-04:00

Lots of potentially great new music coming out this fall. Here’s a list of what I’m looking forward to (I’ll continue to update as I find more info):

8.19
The Verve, Forth
The reunited Manchester outfit’s first album since 1997’s Urban Hymns. They’ve been playing new songs on tour this summer, and early buzz is good. Even if Forth is only half the record Hymns is, that would still make it a quality reunion album.

8.26
Matthew Sweet, Sunshine Lies
I’ve heard a couple tracks on his MySpace page, and I can’t tell if they're rough mixes, or if his production is that raw. His last few albums have been hit or miss for me, so I’m hoping this one will be more along the lines of In Reverse or Kimi Ga Suki, and not another Living Things.

9.12
[UPDATE] Metallica, Death Magnetic
I can’t decide about this one. It’s hard for me to get excited about a new Metallica album since their last few have sucked so hard, but the word is that they’ve returned to their roots for this one, tapping into some ...And Justice For All-type riffs. That sounds good... after all, Justice is the album that made me love these guys in the first place, but then again, it’s hard to forget how bad St. Anger was. I think I’ll give this one a listen before I drop any cash on it.

9.23
Kings of Leon, Only By the Night
Their last one, Because of the Times, was such an amazing leap forward, I’m interested to see if this is more of the same, or if these four Southern boys keep pushing their sound.
[UPDATE] If the first single (now playing on their MySpace page) is indicative of the whole album, I’d say they haven’t strayed too far from Because of the Times. I’m good with that.

Mogwai, The Hawk is Howling
Same here. I liked Mr. Beast a lot, and Mogwai’s the type of band that sticks with what works. Fine by me.

9.30
Ben Folds, Way to Normal
On the other hand, we have Ben Folds, coming off the underwhelming Songs For Silverman. I’m hoping he can get back to the fun of Rockin’ the Suburbs on this one.

10.07
Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos, Animal! & Not Animal! (2 separate releases)
No idea what to expect here, although I do know the excellent “Broad Ripple is Burning” will be on one of these.

Oasis, Dig Out Your Soul
It might suck, but I’ll still play the shit out of it. Easily worth it for the two or three Noel-sung songs that are sure to appear, like [UPDATE] the newly-released “Falling Down”. I'll buy it on the strength of that song alone.

11.18
U2, No Line on the Horizon
Early word is that U2 are “very, very pleased” with this one. Bono is happy, and just in time for the holidays. Looks like we’re in for 7 years of peace and prosperity the world over.

(Most of these dates come from Metacritic.com)

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." —George W. Bush, May 12, 2008

2008-07-28T23:42:00.005-04:00

The first trailer for Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic, W, has surfaced on YouTube. It’s like a horrific car wreck. I don’t want to see it, but I can’t look away.

Putting the "Street" back in Sesame

2008-07-28T15:45:00.002-04:00

I love people with too much time on their hands.

Monthly Fees

2008-07-26T11:43:00.005-04:00

The Soup sums up why I didn't buy a new iPhone. I mean, I love Apple and all, but I also like money. Until AT&T’s iPhone monopoly is over, I’m all good with Verizon and one of these.

Thanks to The Original Winger for the link.

Stay Positive

2008-07-23T20:05:00.010-04:00

Despite the title, this post has nothing to do with The Hold Steady’s excellent new album. It’s about a little movie you may have heard of called The Dark Knight that’s been breaking every possible box office record recently. I saw it two nights ago, and after a couple days to reflect, I’ve decided it’s in my top three all-time (alongside The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark). There’s a lot of reasons why, but the easiest explanation is that director Christopher Nolan took everything that was good about Batman Begins (gritty realism, almost total avoidance of CGI) and maintained or expanded on it, while also managing to improve everything that needed to be (Katie Holmes, camerawork during the fight scenes), all while getting fantastic performances from his actors.

Since I saw the movie, I’ve read several reviews which included a variety of complaints. I loved this movie, and I’m having trouble understanding all the negativity (hence, the title of this post). So, here’s my response to the most common gripes. [WARNING: SPOILERS]

At 2.5 hours, it was too long.
About two hours in, I thought, I wonder how long this movie is? Then I went right back to enjoying it. It didn’t feel long to me, it felt complete.

Heather Ledger’s death is the only reason so many people are seeing the movie.
OK, so the morbid curiosity aspect is legit, but those people are getting to see an incredible final performance from Ledger, and an incredibly high quality movie. Who cares why people come to the theater if they enjoy the movie? The Dark Knight certainly deserves this success much more than that piece of crap Spider-Man 3.

Ledger’s performance is way overhyped. I mean, Oscar buzz? Really?
Really. Almost all the actors gave incredibly high quality performances, but Ledger brought it on a whole new level. I really believed he just wanted to see the city explode simply because it amused him.

Batman was barely in this. Why didn’t they just call this movie The Joker?
I don’t get this one. Between Bruce Wayne and Batman, Christian Bale easily had more screen time than the Joker. I can see it being an issue in some of the older, campy Batman movies where guys like Ah-nuld and Jim Carrey stole the show, but I don’t see it here. I thought it was pretty well-balanced.

We didn’t get any back story about the Joker. Why didn’t they explain his origin?
OK, make up your minds, folks. Too much Joker, not enough Joker... Besides, aren’t villains more interesting and creepy when you don’t know their motives? Especially when you’re dealing with someone like the Joker, who’s only interested in panic and chaos. I agree with Stephen King: the scariest horror movies are always the ones where the killers just stalk their victims, and no reason is ever given why they’re doing it. Explaining the back story makes them more human, but also, less scary. The Dark Knight isn’t horror, but the Joker is a homicidal maniac, and if you’re doing a gritty take on him, he should have the ability to make your skin crawl. Plus, no definite back story gave the Joker the opportunity to keep changing his explanation about his scars, which I thought made him seem even more insane.

Two-Face’s story arc was too rushed. They should have kept him around for a third movie.
I really liked the fact that The Dark Knight felt complete in and of itself. If they never make another one (highly unlikely, given the way this film is raking in the cash), no one will feel like they were left hanging. I can’t stand it when a movie feels like it has no purpose other than setting up the sequel. Besides, I don’t know how much more they could have done with Two-Face. Aaron Eckhart’s performance was actually the biggest surprise in the movie for me—I thought he nailed Harvey Dent. But his purpose in the film was to be established as Gotham’s true hope—in a way, the anti-Batman, a normal citizen committed to cleaning up the city without needing a mask and fancy gadgets to do it. His arc ended once he was no longer the shining White Knight Gotham needed, and Dent’s fall forced Bruce Wayne to come to terms with the kind of sacrifices he would have to make to continue as Batman.

Of course, Two-Face is a comic book villain, and anyone who’s ever read comics knows that nobody stays dead forever.

Aside from the fact that they can’t ever bring the Joker back now (even if they wanted to re-cast, what actor would be crazy enough to take that role?), I don’t have any major complaints about The Dark Knight. A couple of casting quibbles, maybe (I’ve never been an Eric Roberts fan, and it’s hard for me to take Nestor Carbonell seriously since he played Bat-Manuel—unknowns in either of those roles would have been an improvement), but those were made up for by the dramatic upgrade of Maggie Gyllenhall over Katie Holmes. I’ll definitely see this one again in the theater, and apparently, I’m not the only one.

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On a different note, I’m going to try to get back to blogging more regularly. I’ve been pretty overwhelmed this summer with work and my brother’s wedding, but I’d like to get back to writing about my leisure-time experiences on a more frequent basis. In a way, this post is a chance to shake off the rust. So aside from going all fanboy-gaga over The Dark Knight, here’s a few things I’ve been doing lately:

Hellboy 2. A bit of a disappointment, since I loved the first one so much. This one seemed less focused and more choppy, and intent on setting up a third movie. On the other hand, the creatures made me really excited to see what Guillermo del Toro is gonna do with The Hobbit.

Watchmen. I just finished re-reading Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ amazing graphic novel after seeing the trailer for next March’s movie adaptation. It really is an incredible story, and hard to imagine that comics weren’t always like this. I just hope the movie can do it justice, since that will be the majority of America’s first introduction to the tale.

Concerts #99 and 100. I’ve been keeping track of every show I’ve seen since I was old enough to go without my parents. My first concert of my independent era was The Stones and Living Colour back in 1988 at RFK Stadium, and last Friday, I saw my 99th (Lyle Lovett and Leo Kottke at Red Rocks), followed by #100 on Sunday (day two of The Mile High Music Festival, where I saw some or all of the sets by Rodrigo y Gabriela, Flobots, The Roots, John Mayer, The Black Crowes, and Dave Matthews Band). Even though I don’t know a lot of his music, Lyle Lovett was a great show on a fantastic night at Red Rocks. As for Sunday, I wasn’t blown away by anybody, but the Roots and Rodrigo were both enjoyable, and I’d see either of them again. I’d also probably go see DMB again, but only if I could get good seats. Standing 400 yards away and staring over the heads of 60,000 other people kind of sucks. I think I’m also suffering from a bit of concert fatigue. In looking back at my list of shows, 52 of them have been since 2000, and 21 of those were in the past two years. I think it’s time to take a break, unless there’s somebody I really want to see.

Batman vs. Batman vs... Batman?

2008-06-28T11:41:00.003-04:00

I think I’ve mentioned it enough times now that you know I love well-done movie trailers. Well, even more than that, I love well-done fake movie trailers. And ahead of next month’s release of the Dark Knight, the folks over at Black 20 have got a freaking cool trailer that will settle once and for all who’s the best Batman. Who needs villains? The only disappointing part is, they didn't give Adam West his crack at the title. Nobody can overcome tilted cameras and animated sound effects the way he could.

Stripped Down

2008-06-07T01:30:00.006-04:00

As remixes go, file this one under “utterly brilliant”. (Stick with the video. The song kicks in at about 1:11.)

Read more about it here.

Thanks to gorilla vs. bear for the link.

Summertime

2008-05-19T22:46:00.007-04:00

This past week, Entertainment Weekly ran a small piece trying to predict what the “summer jams” of 2008 will be. A lot of mainstream music mags and websites generally do something along these lines around this time of year, and most lists are fairly predictable themselves. They will almost always include: 1 rap song with mail-order beats, tired references to how much money, cars and women the rapper has, and an incredibly annoying and repetitive hook; either a crappy Top 40 band masquerading as “punk” or “emo,” or some marginally “alternative” band slipped in by the editors in a desperate effort to hang on to whatever shreds of cred they might have once had; and inevitably, the list will be topped off by the current overproduced mess from the R&B or pop starlet of the moment, who 90% of the time can’t hit the high notes without the aid of pitch bending software. In recent summers, we’ve been treated to Rihanna, Beyonce, Avril, and Britney. This year, EW gives us three options: Mariah Carey (OK, she’s got a real voice), Fergie (absolutely hopeless without Pro Tools), and the coup de grace, Maroon 5 (kings of pitch shifting themselves) featuring Rihanna. Double the Pro Tools action, double the summer jam potential, apparently. Well, screw all that. If you can’t sing without a computer to help you, there’s no way you should be making money as a singer. But good luck trying to convince whoever is buying the iTunes Top 20 every week of that fact (I’m looking at you, High School Musical fans). Luckily for me, I haven’t crossed into that territory in many many years, and in that spirit, here’s my anti-summer jam mix. Perfect for rocking your Memorial Day picnic.

I Will Possess Your Heart… Death Cab for Cutie
Orange Crush… Editors
Grounds For Divorce… Elbow
Violet Hill… Coldplay*
Living Well Is The Best Revenge… R.E.M.
The Righteous Path… Drive-By Truckers
Rich Kid Blues… The Raconteurs
Just Like Heaven… The Watson Twins
Outfit [Live]… Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
I Like What You Say… Nada Surf
I Thought I Saw Your Face Today… She & Him
M79… Vampire Weekend
Lights Out For Darker Skies… British Sea Power
The Light… Sun Kil Moon
Shooting Star… Air Traffic
One Day Like This… Elbow

*Full disclosure: Coldplay is treading dangerously close to falling into one or two of the categories I listed above (for that matter, Death Cab’s not far behind), and I’m not 100% sold on the quality of this, their new single. But I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt until I hear the new album. Plus, c’mon, it’s Coldplay. They’ll be impossible to avoid in a few weeks anyway. Might as well start assimilating now.

Metalworking

2008-05-14T23:34:00.003-04:00

I just got back from my second viewing of Iron Man, and I have to say, I'm not at all surprised that it was just as good the second time. It’s a great movie. Not a great “superhero” movie, or a great “summer blockbuster.” It’s an all-around great movie. Sure, it hits all the right beats for a comic book movie (especially an origin story) and there were plenty of geek references for the comix fans (Rhodey eyeing up the silver armor, and did anybody else pick up on the Star Wars references?), but it wasn’t campy, it wasn’t overdramatic, and it wasn’t a commercial for merchandise—just a well-cast, well-marketed movie with a solid story at its core. Unlike most (OK, all) superhero movies, this one left me with the feeling that, given another 10 years of technological advances, it’s probably not all that far-fetched. I give most of the credit to director Jon Favreau for not letting the effects and tie-ins overwhelm the movie (OK, except the Burger King thing—that was a little gratuitous), and also to Robert Downey Jr. for making Tony Stark a living, breathing character, not just the cardboard caricature he could have easily become. I’ve always been a fan of RDJ’s, but he crushed this role (not that he had to stretch very far to play a “bad-boy” celeb). The supporting cast was great as well, if a bit under-used. Gwyneth and RDJ had very believable chemistry, and Jeff Bridges was so far removed from The Dude as to almost be unrecognizable. Even though I’ve never read any Iron Man books and only know the very basic backstory, I cared about these characters, I got sucked into the story, and I wanted to know what happened next. Happily, I’ll get that chance again. Thanks to Iron Man’s gigantic opening weekend, not only has Marvel already greenlit Iron Man 2, but as anyone who sat through the credits knows, there’s an Avengers movie in the works as well, which will tie Iron Man in with this summer’s Hulk reboot, as well as upcoming Thor and Captain America movies. The nerds truly are running the gym these days.

So after all that, I realized it’s been years since I actually went back to see a movie a second time in the theater, so the bar is set pretty high for this summer’s lineup. Next up, Prince Caspian. Let’s see if Walden and Disney can improve on a decent, not stellar, Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe.

Interactive

2008-05-03T22:57:00.004-04:00

Elbow at the Bluebird Theater. I always prefer small venue shows for a lot of obvious reasons—clearer sound, actually seeing the people onstage, and the chance for the artist to embrace and interact with their audience, an opportunity Elbow’s lead singer Guy Garvey grabbed with both hands last night. Kicking off off with “Starlings,” the opener from their new album, Elbow proceeded to mix their “golden oldies” with several more new songs. Elbow’s lush and layered sound came off surprisingly well live (if you’ve never heard their music, imagine Peter Gabriel fronting an older, smarter, and more cultured Coldplay). The band sounded tight, switching smoothly between rockers and the more mellow acoustic stuff. I was happy to hear “Scattered Black and Whites,” “Leaders of the Free World” and “Grace Under Pressure,” and the new single, “Grounds for Divorce” was a high point as well. The only disappointment for me was no “Fugitive Motel” in the set, but overall, I left quite satisfied. And openers Air Traffic showed a lot of promise, despite wearing their influences pretty blatently on their sleeve (I’m betting Coldplay, Muse, and even their tour mates are in heavy rotation in their van). They impressed me enough that I bought their album, and I’m happy to say it was well worth the $10.

But what stuck with me most on the night was Garvey’s electric personality and ability to handle the crowd. He provided interesting banter between each song, convinced a group of fans to buy the band a round of shots, drank toasts with the audience throughout the set, had the front row grabbing for his hand like some superstar televangelist, and shamed the ubiquitous howling Denver douchebag contingent into silence with a brilliant display of Northern English charm and wit. He even convinced the audience to sing a song of our choice instead of stomping and clapping to get the band to return for an encore. Unfortunately, the only song we could come up with that everyone knew was “The Wheels on the Bus.” Pretty lame. Still, I can count on one hand the shows I’ve seen where a performer has had the audience in the palm of their hand the way Garvey did last night. It’s an incredibly difficult stunt to pull off, which makes it all the more exciting when it happens. Most impressive.

Kaleidoscope

2008-04-16T23:02:00.002-04:00

This one’s all over the place. In fact, I think I’ve created a new musical genre: Classic-Turkish-alt-jazz-grass-punk-hop-tronica.

1. Kelly Watch The Stars [Moog Cookbook Mix]… Air
2. Knowing… Outkast
3. Kids With Guns… Gorillaz
4. Kirmizi Biber… Bendeniz
5. Kite Flying Society… Mark Mothersbaugh
6. Kaleidoscope… Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
7. Keep Me… The Black Keys
8. Kashmir… Led Zeppelin
9. Kusursuzsun [acoustic version]… Emrah
10. Ken’s Ode to Joy… Michael Andrews
11. Knockin’ On Heaven's Door… Eric Clapton
12. Keep On… Braille
13. Koka Kola… The Clash
14. King Caesar… Head Automatica
15. KRS-Lightly (Ft. S.A. Smash)… Vast Aire
16. Kite Song [rough mix]… Rosie Thomas
17. Kephra… The Impossible Shapes
18. Knee Deep In The Beats… London Funk Allstars
19. Keystrokes… American Analog Set
20. Kare Kare… Crowded House
21. Korn Dogs… Danger Doom
22. Knock Me A Kiss… Louis Jordan

Just

2008-04-10T01:08:00.004-04:00

Where the “I” mix was all about me, this one’s all about the ladies.

1. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine… The Killers
2. Judy Is A Punk… The Ramones
3. Jackie Big Tits… The Kooks
4. Jamie… Weezer
5. Justine… 120 Days
6. Jenni’s Song (1:00 AM)… Matthew Good Band
7. Josephine… Teitur
8. Jane (live)… Barenaked Ladies
9. Jayme Lynn… Béla Fleck
10. Jackson… Hem
11. Jenny Don’t Be Hasty… Paolo Nutini
12. Jezebel… Iron & Wine
13. Julia… Chantal Kreviazuk
14. Jessamyn’s Reel… Chris Thile
15. Jacqueline… Franz Ferdinand
16. Jenny… Stellastarr*
17. Jennifer Save Me… Golden Smog
18. Jenny Wren… Paul McCartney
19. Jolene… Mindy Smith
20. Judy And The Dream Of Horses… Belle & Sebastian
21. Julia… Mando Saenz
22. Jen Is Bringin The Drugs… Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s

Festivus (for the rest of us)

2008-04-08T22:15:00.012-04:00

Summer approaches, and that means summer music festivals. I’ve got several options to choose from this year. I can stay nearby for the return of the Monolith Music Festival at Red Rocks (which was a great success, for me anyway, in its inaugural year but has yet to announce a lineup for this year) or the new, well-intentioned but somewhat mish-mash Mile High Music Festival at DSG Park. If I feel like traveling (which seems likely, since Radiohead has decided not to play a solo show anywhere within 1,000 miles of Denver), there’s the pretty spectacular lineup of this year’s Lollapalooza in Chi-town.

But as fun as festivals are, they also have their drawbacks. Weather (hot or wet), overpriced food and beverages, and general music fatigue from watching 30 or 40 bands over 2 or 3 days can sometimes make festivals a trying experience, not to mention the high prices promotoers can charge for gathering so many artists in one place. So to avoid all that, I decided that this year, I’m flipping the script and putting together a summer music festival the way I want it. To start, I’ve worked with different concert promoters to spread the bands out so that this is truly a “summer” festival. None of this BS 3-day nonsense. This puppy lasts four months (from May to September). By spacing the artists out this way, I avoid music overload, but get the privilege of paying the ridiculous food and beer prices on multiple occasions, not to mention getting to see a good number of the more disgusting bathrooms in the Mile High City. Plus, as an added benefit, this setup lets me give Ticketmaster a lot more of my money. And trust me, there’s nothing I enjoy more than paying an extra 50% on top of the ticket price in “convenience fees,” “venue fees,” “sales tax,” and whatever other bullshit those greedy bastards have come up with so that their fat fucking pig of a CEO doesn’t miss out on his $12 million bonus check this year.

Aaaaaanyway... I’ll be announcing more acts as they come along, but so far, I’m pretty excited about my lineup. (Confirmed means I have tickets, unconfirmed means I’m still debating.)

April 28: The Raconteurs @ The Fillmore Auditorium (I’m considering this a pre-festival warmup show—Unconfirmed)
May 2: Elbow @ The Bluebird Theater (Confirmed)
May 16: Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s @ The Larimer Lounge (C)
May 20: Sea Wolf @ The Bluebird (U)
May 29: The Kooks @ The Ogden (U
June 2: The Roots @ The Fillmore (U)
June 3: R.E.M./Modest Mouse/The National @ Red Rocks (C)
June 5: Rush @ Red Rocks (U)
June 14: Drive-By Truckers @ Westword Music Showcase (U)
June 21: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss @ Red Rocks (U)
July 21/22: The Police/Elvis Costello @ Red Rocks (U)

So far, so good. Rock ’n’ roll will never die. It just gets more expensive.

I, music fan

2008-04-07T00:18:00.005-04:00

I’ve been crushed at work lately, but I finally had some free time this weekend to get back to reality. I did some serious spring cleaning to go with my seriously annoying spring cold, and got caught up on a lot of magazines and TV (Battlestar Galactica’s back!), but mostly I was able to sort through a plethora of new music. In turn, that motivated me to finally dust off the alphabet mixes, picking up with I. It’s always interesting to me how these mixes come together as I whittle down the playlists. In the case of this one, it became somewhat of an autobiographical mix: Everything here falls between the years 1983–1997, and the artists included all had some kind of impact on my musical tastes, guitar playing, and/or romantic life during that period. Really, it seemed rather natural that a mix of songs starting with “I” should be about me.

1. I Am One… Smashing Pumpkins
2. I Am Superman… R.E.M.
3. I Can Dream About You… Dan Hartman
4. I Can’t Wait… The Sundays
5. I Don't Think So… Dinosaur Jr
6. I Love You, What Are You?… Gene
7. I Remember You… Skid Row
8. I’ll Be Comin’ Around… The Bottle Rockets
9. I’ll Stick Around… Foo Fighters
10. I’ve Been Waiting… Matthew Sweet
11. If I Can’t Change Your Mind… Sugar
12. If You Leave… O.M.D.
13. In A Big Country… Big Country
14. In Bloom… Nirvana
15. In God’s Country… U2
16. In The Garage… Weezer
17. In The Valley… Midnight Oil
18. Into Your Arms… The Lemonheads
19. Iris… Live
20. It’s Only Love… Bryan Adams (with Tina Turner)
21. It’s So Easy… Guns N’ Roses

“You’re a... teacher?” “Part-time.”

2008-02-17T22:57:00.009-05:00

Summer movie season, here we come. Ahead of its release on Memorial Day weekend, the first trailer for Indy 4 (OK, fine—Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Blech. That title sucks.) made its way to the InterWeb this week. As expected, it looks action-packed, and I appreciate the willingness to crack jokes at the expense of Harrison Ford’s age, but there’s a few things that worry me. I’m remaining cautiously optimistic, but that shot of a car chase along the edge of an obviously CGI-created cliff is concerning. One of the greatest things about the original trilogy is that the locations were always real, and the stunts always looked like they could actually happen. George Lucas’ obsession with computer-created movies better not ruin this franchise too.

But as long as this movie remains firmly focused on Indy as the main character, and doesn't just become a setup to extend the franchise with Steven Spielberg’s boy-crush Shia LeBouf, I'll be happy. Something else that makes me happy is that Karen Allen’s character Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark is back. You can see her briefly in one shot, but she’s such a great character, I’m surprised they didn’t play up her return more. Maybe in the next preview.

Triple Threat

2008-02-02T10:03:00.000-05:00

Editors, Hot Hot Heat & Louis XIV, Ogden Theater. As my friend Luc said last night, there's a reason you go to see bands live. I own both Editors albums, and had seen about half of their set at the Monolith Festival last summer, but none of those things in any way prepared me for their thunderous live sound. In a way, Editors are Coldplay’s evil twin. Both bands play moody Brit rock, and have lineups consisting of guitar/bass/drums and a hyperactive lead singer who alternates between guitar and piano. But while Coldplay set themselves firmly on the path to the mainstream by following in the footsteps of mid-80’s U2, Editors were burying themselves in darker 80's music—The Smiths, Joy Division, The Cure and Echo & the Bunnymen. Much like all of those bands, Tom Smith’s lyrics find the tragic beauty in the grand Romantic themes of love and death, while live, the band leans heavily on their rhythm section (something The Cure has always done to great effect). On Editors’ studio stuff and even when I saw them outdoors last summer, it was hard appreciate the power of their drums and bass, but in the Ogden last night, that solid underlying groove was impossible to miss. Plus, I love what this allows the lead guitarist, Chris Urbanowicz, to do with his instrument. He very rarely plays any chords, instead either playing chiming melody lines or ripping off squealing fills behind the melody, which creates a really interesting texture (and also increases the similarities to 80’s Goth). I said in my Monolith review that I was intrigued enough to want to see Editors in a different setting, and I'm glad I did. They put on a great show (although at 1 hour and 10 min including encore, it could have been longer). But with the two openers, it was a pretty solid night of music top to bottom.

I could say many of the same things about the sound of both Hot Hot Heat and Louis XIV. I had heard some of their studio stuff, but they sounded a lot heavier live. Louis XIV sounds like the bastard child of AC/DC, Kiss and David Bowie, while Hot Hot Heat made me consider the result if Rush had been into punk instead of prog rock. I don't know if either band made me a fan, but I'd certainly like to hear more of their stuff. The nice thing was, both of these groups have enough of a following that the theater was full and rocking for all three sets, instead of the small and half-interested or nearly silent crowds that usually show up for the openers. It always surprises me a bit to see what a difference an active crowd makes to my enjoyment of a band, but I guess that, too, is part of the appeal of seeing live music, and definitely a part of why I keep going to shows.

Speaking of which, this was show #92 all-time for me (yes, I’m anal enough that I have a list), and looking back, I’m happy to say that almost all of them have been enjoyable. I guess that makes sense, since I’m not likely to go see too many bands I don’t like, but you’d think there might be a few more bad nights or bands that just suck live. Happily, I’ve been pretty lucky. Anyway, stay tuned for some kind of special thing when I get to #100. Maybe I’ll give myself a special award or something... ;-)

Good to Be Kings

2008-01-21T22:10:00.001-05:00

One of the first things I did after I bought my new TV and added the HD channels to my cable package was to set my DVR to record Austin City Limits. ACL has always had this legendary reputation, but it’s always been sort of a mystery to me. Despite the fact that some of my favorite artists have done incredible shows, I never remembered to watch it unless I happened to pass an episode while flipping channels. But thanks to my DVR, now I can see every new episode, and this season has definitely been worth it. For many years, ACL focused mainly on country and blues, giving the nod to local Austin acts whenever possible. But recently, they’ve begun to change their focus, booking younger and hipper indie bands. So far this year, I’ve seen sets from Wilco, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Explosions in the Sky, Paolo Nutini, and Ghostland Observatory. But the best so far was the band pictured above, Kings of Leon, who in just a few songs reminded me what an amazing live band they are.

I’ve seen the Kings live twice—a couple of years ago in Indianapolis at a small club, and last summer here at Red Rocks as part of the Monolith Festival—and both times, they’ve been fantastic. The Kings are pretty unassuming onstage. They don’t go for a lot a lot of banter or big fancy light shows; they just get up and play their songs (and play them well). Their music is a perfect blend of indie and Southern rock (think the Strokes meet Skynyrd), and it lends itself very well to a live show. When I saw them in Indy, they were there because they had a night off from a 3-night stint opening for U2 in Chicago and wanted to play somewhere that wasn’t a cavernous arena. They had the crowd of 500 rocking, and they sounded great, but I’m willing to bet their music sounded just as good in the United Center. It certainly sounded good at Red Rocks, where in my opinion, they were the highlight of the festival. If you’ve never heard their stuff, their ACL performance is a great place to start. PBS tends to rerun episodes fairly frequently, so check your local listings... or just set your DVR.

Other stuff I’ve been into lately:
There Will Be Blood. I had some issues with the story itself (I thought it was a little choppy and unfocused), but the combo of Daniel Day-Lewis and the score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood made this movie an incredibly intense experience.

Lost: Season 3. This season seemed a lot better when taken in a just couple of chunks, rather than spread out over seven months. I’m definitely looking forward to the new episodes, even if we’re only getting 8 of them.

GarageBand. I’m not a DJ, but I play one at home.

Salem’s Lot, Stephen King. The first time I read this book, I was 13 years old and it scared me so bad, I wouldn’t go down in the basement by myself for a month afterwards. It wasn’t quite as scary this time, but then again, I don’t live in a big house in the woods anymore with the wind blowing tree branches against my window all night. Even so, it’s still a terrific read, and it made me remember why I got so into King in the first place.

In Rainbows, Radiohead. Still amazing every time I listen to it. I’m just as excited by it as I was when I wrote this.

What A Year For A New Year

2008-01-02T22:31:00.000-05:00

As a whole, I can’t say I’m sorry to see 2007 go. But at least it ended well. I had no problems traveling around the holidays, got to spend some quality time with the fam, slept a lot, ate a lot, and got some great Christmas presents. In fact, I’m using the biggest one to create this post. (Thanks, Mom and Dad and Christmas bonus check!)

As for the media/entertainment-type stuff, I’d say I did all right:

Raising Sand, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
El Corazón and Washington Square Serenade, Steve Earle
3D, Casey Driessen
The Song Remains The Same [Remastered and Expanded], Led Zeppelin
The Terror, Dan Simmons
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, Alex Ross
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier, Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
Lost: Season 3

Not too shabby. I also saw The Golden Compass while I was home, which was OK, but not amazing. I think I suffered from having read the book, because I sent the whole time comparing and not just watching the movie. As is usually the case, the book is better.

The Eagles Are Coming, The Eagles Are Coming!

2007-12-19T11:45:00.000-05:00

I was gonna try not to get too excited about this news, but then I figured, what’s the point? Might as well start saving my spot in line now.

Wrapping Up

2007-12-19T00:23:00.000-05:00

As I’ve been sitting at my computer finishing up my Christmas shopping, I set up a playlist in iTunes for all the albums I own from this past year, and what I’ve discovered in retrospect is this: As musical years go, this one didn’t blow me away. I saw a lot of great live shows*, but as for album releases, meh. I’ve been looking over other folks’ year-end lists, which range from the tragically hip to the simply tragic, but barring one album, there’s nothing that screams “classic”. That said, I didn’t have much trouble coming up with a top ten for ’07. Here’s 2 through 10 in no particular order:

Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

Modest Mouse, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank

The Shins, Wincing The Night Away

Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City

Aesop Rock, None Shall Pass

Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha

Galactic, From the Corner To The Block

The National, Boxer

Kings of Leon, Because of the Times

And the easiest decision? The hands-down, no-contest, numero uno? I’m probably one of the few people who paid for it, and it’s been worth every penny.

Radiohead, In Rainbows

A few more Honorable Mentions:

Cabin, I Was Here EP
Ted Leo & Pharmacists, Living With The Living
Neil Young, Chrome Dreams II
Band of Horses, Cease to Begin
Dinosaur Jr., Beyond
Elliott Smith, New Moon

*Of all the shows I saw this year, Neil Young was my favorite, simply because I had waited so long to see him and it was still an amazing show. Bloc Party and Wilco were also highlights. What follows is an in-order list of every artist I saw live in 2007: Elvis Perkins > My Morning Jacket > Béla Fleck & the Flecktones > Adem > Badly Drawn Boy > The Noisettes > Bloc Party > Hot Hot Heat > Snow Patrol > Rush > Wilco > Everything Absent Or Distorted > The Broken West > Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band > Clap Your Hands Say Yeah > Das EFX > Kings of Leon > Editors > The Decemberists, > Black Rebel Motorcycle Club > Cake > Nina Storey > Little Ones > Meese > Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s > Ian Ball > Lords of the Underground > Art Brut > Spoon > The Flaming Lips > The Awkward Stage > Lavender Diamond > The New Pornographers > Crown City Rockers > Blackalicious, > Pegi Young > Neil Young > Jason Collett > Feist. Whew.

Hello Moto

2007-12-13T21:11:00.001-05:00

1. Hot for Teacher… Van Halen
2. Have A Drink On Me… AC/DC
3. Have Mercy… Loretta Lynn
4. Hard to Handle… The Black Crowes
5. Hotel Yorba… The White Stripes
6. He Lays In The Reins… Calexico / Iron & Wine
7. Hunger Strike… Temple Of The Dog
8. Hail Hail… Pearl Jam
9. Holland, 1945… Neutral Milk Hotel
10. Hurry Tomorrow… Los Lobos
11. House Of Cards… Radiohead
12. Half A World Away… R.E.M.
13. Headfog… Jeep
14. Half Light… Athlete
15. Hallelujah… Ryan Adams
16. Hey Jealousy… Gin Blossoms
17. Hurt… Johnny Cash
18. Hurricane… Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
19. Harriet's Got A Song… Ben Kweller
20. Handle With Care… Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins
21. Hello.........Goodbye… Sean Watkins

Warmup Act

2007-12-07T04:37:00.000-05:00

One of the few reasons I still enjoy seeing a movie in the theater is the previews. As I’ve talked about in the past, I’m always fascinated to see how the editing houses try to condense two-hour fims into two or three minutes. A well-executed preview can really amp up my anticipation for a movie (I still think Garden State was the most successful example I’ve ever seen in this regard), and conversely, a bad one can make me lose all interest. One of the best parts of this time of year is that the studios have started up the marketing campaigns for the movies they hope will be next summer’s blockbusters, and I’ve got examples of the good and the bad. I’ve already mentioned my love for the Iron Man preview, but beyond that, what I’ve seen so far this season either has me counting down the days with childish glee...

....or making me think the filmmakers might as well have flushed their $150 million+ budget down the toilet. Yikes. Good luck recouping your money on this one. I haven’t seen anything that looked this bad since I suffered through the first 10 minutes of Buckaroo Banzai.

Misc.

2007-12-03T22:16:00.001-05:00

It’s been a while since I last posted, and to be honest, I’ve been debating whether to give up on the blog entirely. I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I think for now, I’ll just continue to post when the mood strikes, and not worry about how long it takes me to come back to it. After all, it’s not like the internet is going anywhere.

For now, here’s a few things I’ve been enjoying lately:

• Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon — An instant classic of an adventure novel, written in the vein of Sir Walter Scott or Robert E. Howard. I started and finished it on the plane ride home for Thanksgiving. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
• Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson — Eerily prescient cyberpunk novel that influenced everything from The Matrix to Heroes. Also a great read.
• The World Without Us, Alan Weisman — A well-researched and interesting look at what would happen to the Earth if humanity suddenly disappeared. Unfortunately, our legacy would mostly consist of all the plastic garbage we’d leave behind.
• the audio/video page on Andrew Bird’s bowloffire.com — All kinds of cool live stuff and remixes.
• Jerusalem, Steve Earle — The more Steve Earle I listen to, the more he becomes one of my favorite artists. I just recently downloaded this anti-war album he released in 2002, and sadly, the themes are still way too current.
• classic Christmas music — From Charlie Brown to the Chairman of the Board, they just don’t make ’em like they used to.
• Automatic For the People, R.E.M. — 15 years later, this is still an incredible album. “Sweetness Follows” has popped up in my playlists several times lately, and it especially crushed me with its greatness.
• The Jungle Book 40th Anniversary Platinum Edition — This was one of my favorite movies as a kid, so I Netflixed it this weekend. Disney did an incredible job with the remastering. The movie looks gorgeous, and I was happy to discover that I still knew the words to all the songs. My neighbors, on the other hand... probably not as happy.
• the performances of Scarlett Johannson — I never thought I was much of a fan, until I realized recently that she starred in six of the top ten movies in my Netflix queue. In the past few weeks, I’ve watched Scoop, Girl With A Pearl Earring, Match Point, and Lost in Translation, and I have to say, there’s something indefinably sexy about her that I find kind of mesmerizing. I’m having trouble deciding whether it’s her voice, her lips, or most likely, some combination of the two. Plus, she does voices on Robot Chicken, so she’s got serious nerd points. And hey, Woody Allen seems to love her. (Then again, he also loved his adopted daughter who was half his age, so maybe old Woody’s not exactly the best measuring stick.)
• the Iron Man preview — Robert Downey Jr. was the perfect choice for Tony Stark, and I love that Jon Favreau refuses to overuse CGI. If the movie is half as good as the preview, I’ll be happy.

Adaptation

2007-11-18T00:46:00.000-05:00

I’ve said it before. No Country For Old Men is a great book. Now, thanks to the Coen Brothers, it’s an equally excellent movie. Both are bloody, violent, and not for the squeamish, but as I said in my review of the novel, the violence never feels out of character to the story. The film stays pretty faithful to the book, but the Coen Brothers manage to inject their particular brand of dark humor into the story. The cinematography is gorgeous, especially the shots of the landscape, which is such an important part of all of McCarthy’s books. It’s no different in this film, as the movie immediately establishes place, opening with shot after shot of the Texas plains in all their stark beauty. Throughout the movie, the quality of light made me feel as if I was standing in El Paso or along the Rio Grande, and that I could almost smell the grass and dust. I was definitely sucked in, and I wasn’t the only one. It was pretty incredible to sit in a packed theater that was completely silent for minutes at a time, only to hear the whole audience gasp as each character met their ultimate fate. Keeping an audience watching with bated breath is an impressive feat (especially these days). Javier Bardem is deservedly getting all the press for his turn as cold-blooded killer Anton Chigurh, but Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin give excellently understated performances as well. I won’t be at all surprised to hear a lot more about the film come Oscar time.

As an interesting aside, I couldn’t place the actress who played Brolin’s wife, even though she looked incredibly familiar. Thank goodness for IMDB. Turns out it was Kelly MacDonald, the Scottish actress who played the schoolgirl Ewan MacGregor hooks up with in Trainspotting. Lass does a pretty convincing Texas/white trash accent.

Old Man

2007-11-07T01:27:00.001-05:00

Neil Young at The Wells Fargo Theater. I’ve missed a lot of Neil Young shows in my day, and for a lot of reasons. I missed a couple because I was out of town. I missed at least one because I was too poor to afford tickets. I skipped one because I was going through a stupid and short-lived “I’m so tired of Neil Young” period. And there were at least two where the scalpers got all the tickets before I could. In between, tinnitus and an aneurysm (and let’s face it, the slow march of time) threatened to end his career. But tonight, 18 years after falling in love with his music, I finally got to see Neil Young live, and it was completely worth the wait.

In six days, Young will turn 62, but you never would have known it tonight. Splitting his show into two sets (solo acoustic songs followed by electric stuff with a full band), he managed to bookend his career, mixing some new songs from Chrome Dreams II with some of his earliest work. The acoustic stuff sounded fantastic: Just Neil, switching back and forth between one of the multiple guitars he had onstage, his harmonica, and his piano. At one point, he even broke out a banjo. There were a couple songs I didn’t recognize, but the majority came from the early days. He kicked off with “From Hank to Hendrix,” from Harvest Moon, and headed backwards from there through an eleven song set, incorporating three tracks from his classic album Harvest (including the highlight to close out the acoustic set, an amazing version of “Old Man”).

After a short break, Young came back to the stage and ignored his near-senior citizen status by bringing out his band and cranking the electric, tearing through several new songs plus some old gems like “The Loner,” “Cinnamon Girl” and “Tonight’s the Night”. I was well pleased to hear some personal favorites, “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” and “Winterlong”, and of the new stuff “Spirit Road” held up pretty well against the classics. The band, comprised of players from various stages of Young’s career, sounded really tight, and Young doesn’t appear to have lost a step either, still stomping his way around the stage during his solos.

“Old Man” and “Cinnamon Girl” alone were pretty much worth the price of admission, but for an artist who’s released so many live albums throughout his career (I can think of seven off the top of my head), I wasn’t sure Young could possibly bring anything new to some of his old favorites. Thankfully, I was wrong. I was impressed with how clear his voice was, even over all the distortion in the electric set. For a guy in his 60’s whose nickname is “Shakey,” he sounded incredible. And hearing the songs live with my own ears (as opposed to a recording) brought a whole new level of depth to each one. I picked up on some lyrics that I had never been able to make out on his recorded stuff, which is a testament both to his sound guys and to the acoustics in the Wells Fargo Theater. And I gained some new respect for a few songs like “Oh, Lonesome Me,” from After the Gold Rush, a track I usually skip over when it comes up on my iPod. After hearing it live, I’ll have to revisit it.

I’m sorry I had to wait 18 years to see Neil Young live, but I’m glad I caught him on a good night, and at a great point in his career. I would have been really bummed if I had waited that long only to find him a shadow of his former self. He may be heading into the twilight of his career, but he still puts on an incredible show. He’s become comfortable with his status as elder statesman, but not so comfortable that he’s willing to just rest on his laurels. How many other artists can say they’ve stuck to their guns and remained relevant and prolific for 40 years? At this point, when most of his still-active peers are simply cashing their checks on greatest hits tours, Young is cementing his legacy by continuing to put out albums worthy of his name that have some fire behind them. He’s not just making music to extend the brand (cough*Rolling Stones*cough), he’s doing it because he still has music to make, and that comes through in his live shows. It was clear to me last night that he still cares a lot about these songs, and I got the impression that if he ever stopped caring, he wouldn't be touring anymore. Ultimately, that passion is why people will still be listening to his music long after he’s gone. Almost 30 years ago, Young first sang, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” Happily, he no longer has to worry about either one. Which means I might actually get to see him again someday, and make up a little more for all those shows I missed.

UPDATE: Set list here.

Get Older

2007-10-27T14:10:00.000-04:00

I can’t decide which bothers me more—the fact that I was in Bed Bath & Beyond for more than 5 minutes this morning, or the fact the in-store music system was playing Feist’s song “1,2,3,4” (recently made famous by an iPod Nano commercial). I doubt anyone would ever consider Feist edgy or controversial, but the realization that music I would pay for and download is now apparently acceptable for older ladies doing their Saturday morning shopping is a little sobering.

For a lot of years now, I’ve felt like I’ve been pretty plugged in to current pop culture trends, but as I prepare to enter my final year in the coveted (by advertisers, anyway) 18-34 age demographic, I’ve realized that my need to be on the cutting edge is starting to fade away. At this point, I’d usually rather listen to music by artists I know I enjoy than someone I feel like I should listen to because everybody’s buzzing about them. That’s certainly not to say that I’m giving up on new music—just that I’m a lot less concerned about being the first one to discover it. That’s why I let some of those music blogs in that list over on the right do the legwork for me. I mean, it’s totally possible that Animal Collective and The Besnard Lakes are the dopest shit to happen to music since LL Cool J’s momma told him to knock us out, and maybe by this time next year, I’ll even believe that. But in the meantime, I’ll be just fine with the latest Neil Young, thanks. Speaking of getting older...

I guess what it comes down to is that I’ve passed the point of needing to constantly search for new and better music. I finished shaping my tastes. I know what I like, and I’m OK sticking with it. Even if that means I end up humming along with a bunch of grandmothers to the Feist song in Bed Bath & Beyond.

Glorified G

2007-10-14T14:24:00.000-04:00

1. Get Funky… Teenage Fanclub
2. Good Weekend… Art Brut
3. Girlfriend In A Coma… The Smiths
4. Girls Who Play Guitars… Maxïmo Park
5. Get Out Of The City… Ivy
6. Gamble Everything For Love… Ben Lee
7. Geography… The Judybats
8. Get It Faster… Jimmy Eat World
9. Go Walking Down There… Chris Isaak
10. Get Lucky… Heatmiser
11. Get Off My Cloud… The Rolling Stones
12. Get Older… Matthew Sweet
13. Ghostriders… The Rewinds
14. Gladiator Heart… The Connells
15. Glasgow Mega-Snake… Mogwai
16. Go With The Flow… Queens of the Stone Age
17. Going Mobile… The Who
18. Glory Of True Love… John Prine
19. Good Vibrations… The Beach Boys
20. Grab It… Dinosaur Jr
21. Gravity Fails… The Bottle Rockets
22. Greg’s Last Day… The Starting Line
23. Gyasi Went Home… Bedouin Soundclash
24. Ghosts… Ted Leo / Pharmacists
25. Golden Slumbers… The Beatles