The Eagles Are Coming, The Eagles Are Coming!

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

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

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

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.

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.