At the coffee shop this morning I’m trying to find a quiet table near the back and I pass by this woman holding a baby. It’s super cute and I kind of lean in to inspect it a little better but the woman jerks it away and looks up at me like I’m crazy or wielding a knife or a wolverine or something and it’s only then that I realize that she’s breast feeding. Sigh.
For the next week only, Pas/Cal has a free download of their new single, “Summer is Almost Here.” Get it while the getting of it is still in prime condition.
Update: Pitchfork reviews the single here.
I had really fun plans for this evening but the weather’s not cooperating and the thought of schlepping a heavy bag full of rocks over to the cineplex just to throw them at the lines of Star Wars nerds doesn’t sound like as much fun if it’s gonna be pouring down rain the whole time. I know I know, I should just get off my lazy ass and do it, and it’s totally gonna be worth it when some superfan tries to use The Force to stop a rock from hitting him in the face. Okay, you talked me into it. I’ll go get my poncho.
Yes! I’ve totally been memed! This is my first time and I’m a little nervous so don’t mark me down if I screw it up. [deep breath] Here goes:
Total volume of music files on my computer:
27GB
The last CD I bought was:
Beulah’s The Coast is Never Clear. After enjoying it for so many years I decided I should probably go ahead and buy the album. Sorry Beulah (I did buy a t-shirt, though!).
Song playing right now:
The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders –Part I: The Great Frontier –Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now by Sufjan Stevens. Es muy excelente.
Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:
As Pierce said, this is impossible, so consider these my top 5 of the moment. Oh and all links go to the iTunes Music Store.
1) Scared Straight by The Long Winters
2) Wolfnotes by The Fiery Furnaces
3) Song Against Sex by Neutral Milk Hotel
4) Outta My Head by M. Ward
5) Untitled/Summer by Modest Mouse (It’s the third and final “Untitled” track on the album.)
Five people to whom I’m passing the baton:
I know even fewer people than Pierce, so I’ll just pass it to one friend and four people I don’t know at all.
1) My pal Sloop
2) Jim Renaud
3) Jared Christensen
4) Merlin Mann
5) Chris Zarate
Am I supposed to like notify these people somehow? Because I’m pretty sure four of the five don’t read this site.
Anthony Lane eviscerates the dead Tauntaun of a movie that is the new Star Wars.
“Break me a fucking give.”
Well, I’ve gone and got a nemesis! It all started when I began riding my bike to work a little over a year ago, and, to keep things interesting, turned my daily commute into a race. My competitors: anything that moves. Motorized vehicles are tough, though I diligently shake my fist at each and every passing car or truck, breathlessly shouting impotent threats along the lines of “I’ll get you yet!” or “You haven’t seen the last of me, Goldfinger!”
Fellow bike commuters are another story. Unaware of their participation in an all-out hardcore street race, they’re naturally at a disadvantage. Their surprise when I fly past is palpable, my arms stretched overhead in the international symbol for hard-fought victory.
There’s one cyclist, though, who beats me every time.
Wonder Twins Todd Levin and Bob Powers unite at the Morning News.
Todd becomes a pail of water.
Me: Did you just puke?
L: Yeah. You know sometimes you puke a little bit, but the sight of it makes you puke more?
Me: Yeah. I hate that.
L: Yeah. Then when I was brushing my teeth, I was thinking that if I was ever tortured I’d probably puke, and they’d probably make me eat it.
Me: Right.
L: And the thought of having to eat my own puke made me puke again.
According to this article I found at Low Culture, Tom Stoppard helped write the dialog for the upcoming Star Wars film.
He’s probably most famous for the play (and movie) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, but he also wrote the screenplays for several movies, among them Brazil and Shakespeare in Love. Those movies are fine and all, but they’re nothing compared to his plays. The Invention of Love, Travesties, and Arcadia are all among my favorite plays of ALL TIME EVER! Particularly Arcadia. If you’ve never read it, go out now and get it. It’s really small and cheap, and you can read it in a coupla hours (though by the time you’ve finished you’ll probably have a small pile of wet kleenex at your feet, or, like, you’ll have decided to grow a beard or become a math genius or something).
So you all know about The Hype Machine, right? It collects mp3s available for download on dozens of mp3 blogs. It only keeps the links around for a couple of days, though, so you gotta check back regularly. Also, sometimes the selection isn’t that great. Today, though, there’s free music by TV on the Radio, David Bowie, Iron & Wine, Kings of Convenience, Blackalicious, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Portishead, Elefant, Pavement, the Raveonettes, Hot Hot Heat, Modest Mouse (great song, “Paper Thin Walls”), the Futureheads, Weezer, British Sea Power, the Decemberists (yay! “The Apology Song”), the Walkmen, and Andrew Bird.
You can also have the music piped right into iTunes or Winamp, and if you’re currently rockin’ Tiger, Scott over at Plastic Bugs made an Automator Script that downloads every song linked to The Hype Machine’s front page.
Update: The Hype Machine now has an RSS feed. This is especially awesome if, like me, you use NewsFire to read your news feeds. Not only can you download the songs directly into iTunes, but you can listen to them right in NewsFire’s iTunes-like player. Pretty slick.
Sufjan Stevens has a new album out, and it’s the best thing I’ve heard in a while. I liked Greetings from Michigan… and Seven Swans, but I love Illinois. His earlier albums were great if you were, say, sharing a bottle of wine after midnight, or blanketed in front of a fire on a rainy Sunday, but Illinois is more upbeat (read: rockin’) and slightly more musically diverse (read: rockin’), and I’ve been listening to it pretty much nonstop since I first heard it.
Anyway, don’t take my word for it:
