Stop-Gap/Premonition

Hey folks. Just a quick update in lieu of a real post (coming soon!!1)…

First off, did I call it or what? Pitchfork gave the Band of Horses record a glowing review yesterday (along with an eight-point-eight and a “best new music” tag). The significance? Well, lets just say that when I was logged into my favorite P2P app yesterday afternoon, practically everyone downloading from me had Band of Horses queued. I counted at least fifteen or so. I was wondering what the hell was going on, but when I checked Pitchfork it all made sense. I’d had a hunch, and sure enough there it was. Hype machine or not, it can’t be denied that those people are tastemakers.

Also, the new Stereolab record, Fab Four Suture, is actually pretty damn good! Listen to “Get a Shot Of The Refrigerator” and tell me it’s not bad ass. More of the same is not a bad thing when it’s quality stuff.

The French film, Cache, is excellent but very frustrating. A good review can be found here. [Warning: kinda spoiler-y]

New updates coming soon:

Hey, Remember the 90’s? - a new band sounds like bands did when I was new to new bands.

Girls With Guitars - a trio of intriguing folky females from the past.

March 21, 2006 | Filed Under Film, Music | Leave a Comment 

Dark Green of My Soul

1. Never be disappointed: expect nothing.

I’ve been cleaning my room. It’s all dust and pennies and unmarked CD-Rs. It feels good to do something productive on an otherwise lazy weekend. I didn’t get out on Friday, due to the bad weather and my usual end-of-the-week collapse. Saturday’s highlight was a good Thai meal with Jonathan and his friend Brent. I’ve decided that Pad Pik King is a simple yet delicious dish. I wish I had leftovers.

I worked a little on these button designs I’ve been thinking about for a while. Allison has a button maker thing and will hopefully hook me up after I’ve printed them. I’ll post those when I feel like it. In other semi-creative news, I did some precursory recording of this song I’ve been fucking around with lately. It’s not really a song yet, just a couple different bass parts and basic drums. I really like the bassline I came up with, so hopefully I can take it somewhere.

2. Movies are photographs, twenty-four times a second.

I watched the Criterion Collection edition of Slacker today, a most fitting title for my weekend. Despite being nearly fifteen years-old, I think it’s aged pretty well. Speaking of Linklater, I’m really looking forward to A Scanner Darkly this summer. [Trailer here.] I’ve been reading the novel recently, on loan from Tim.

3. Music is for chumps.

Last night I discovered this little section of reviews on Tiny Mix Tapes where they recommend older records and review them. I love that. You’re bound to find out about something cool that you missed the first time or rediscover something you already have but haven’t listened to in a while. Give ‘er a try.

I found the latest Four Tet album, Everything Ecstatic, on SoulSeek last night (also thanks to TMT). I haven’t listened enough to get a good impression, but it sounds at least decent so far. Looks like legal copies will be out May 23rd on Domino.

Coming this week on my little ol’ site: recently acquired records I’ve been enjoying, site updates to the oft-neglected photos and music sections, and The End of Days.

PS: Fuck daylight savings.

April 3, 2005 | Filed Under Film, Music, Personal | Leave a Comment 

River’s Edge

I finished watching River’s Edge last night. Holy shit, what a great movie. I’d never seen it before, despite hearing about it over the years. For instance, it was mentioned a lot in reviews of Bully when that movie came out. Guess I just kept forgetting about it.

Crispin Glover’s over-the-top performance as Layne is just amazing. He has so many awesome lines, I can’t even begin to pick one out. Besides, you won’t appreciate them without context and Glover’s delivery. It sort of reminds me of Jack Nicholson in The Shining. While they’re two very different characters, each of them have this awesome overblown delivery. Speaking of freakshows, Dennis Hopper as Feck is pretty good, too, with his sex doll girlfriend and his prosthetic leg. He has a few great/awful lines himself (e.g. “I used get so much pussy, my mustache looked like a glazed donut.”).

So now I’m obsessed with seeing Crispin Glover movies. At the top of my list is 2003’s Willard, a remake where he plays some guy into rats. Then there are these: Dead Man, Bartleby, Racing With The Moon (from 1984, w/Sean Penn and Nicholas Cage), and High School USA—a TV movie from 1983 starring Michael J. Fox and Todd Bridges.

Sadly, there a few very interesting Crispin-related titles which are not available. Does anyone know where I can find a bootleg of either of these:

The Orkly Kid
The Beaver Trilogy

March 30, 2005 | Filed Under Film | Leave a Comment 

Wild Parrots

Marc clued me into this film showing at E St. right now called The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. I watched the trailer and it looks pretty cool. Plus, it’s set in SF, which is rather timely in light of my recent post. Besides, I’m always up for an interesting doc and it’s been a while since I went out to a movie. Think I’ll see it tomorrow—by hook or by crook.

Yessiree, work is almost over for the week. In about 15 minutes I’ll be in one of my favorite states of mind—that after-work-on-Friday feeling I get during my way home on the train each week. It’s gorgeous.

March 18, 2005 | Filed Under Film | Leave a Comment 

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