The Miracle That You Missed…
Posted on February 2, 2005 at 10:42 am | No Comments
Let’s just skip the pleasantries, shall we?…
As promised, I pulled a bunch of mp3s off the ‘Nac on Monday, and boyohboy am I getting overwhelmed with emails from the unlucky. Sorry ’bout that, but space was running out and a house-cleaning was long overdue.
And a note for a few: If you’re thinking of asking me to repost ’em, or send them straight to ya, try not demanding it, and while you’re at it, skip the l33t $p3@k. “wud u post fil3z plz?! can u uze s3nd1t?” guarantees a direct flight to my trash folder.
Might as well get the token Arcade Fire mention out of the way, right? They appeared last night on Conan O’Brien, and their performance of ‘Neighborhood #2 (Laika)’ was… well… odd. Here, see for yourself (avi video captured by Aeroplane from the af.net forum. update: here’s the easytree torrent, too). Something was certainly lost in the televised translation. I mean, it was them, but their on-stage theatrics seemed fairly out of place when viewed on the tv screen, and not from the middle of an enthralled crowd.
Speaking of which, Amie and I will be at the Roxy tomorrow night for their return to Boston. I can only hope it measures up to what I experienced at TTs last fall. I’m going to try recording it again, so keep an eye here for some mp3s in the next few days.
The Ida show that was bumped by the Blizzard of ’05 has been rescheduled for Sunday, February 20th. Tickets are available over at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts site, and thankfully, the lineup is exactly the same, with Thalia Zedek & Jodi Buonanno opening up.
I’m damn glad I’ll be able to make it, as the new date missed my D.C. trip by just a few days. Whew. I can’t stop listening to their new record… as a matter of fact, it’s in my headphones right now. I’ve got it in constant rotation with the new Low and the way-better-than-expected Lou Barlow disc.
Spent a bunch of time this weekend recording many of the stellar streams from the CBC Radio site. If you haven’t been over there yet, gogogo (click the ‘table of contents’ link once you’re there).
102 different live sets, all of pretty great sound quality, with photos and write-ups to go with ’em. You’re bound to find something you already love, or discover something totally new. So far I’ve grabbed about a dozen different sets, and I have so many more to go. (thanks to chris for the heads up)
As a big fan of Ricky Gervais and the Office, I shook my head last year at news of the proposed U.S. remake. Then I heard he’d be directly involved, and my hopes rose a bit. Then I heard Steve Carell would be playing David Brent, and they rose a bit more.
Well, someone shared up the entire pilot, and it’s pretty much a carbon copy… it renders the remake as redundant as their staff at Slough. I honestly wish I could erase my memories of the original so that I could watch it with fresh eyes… for anyone who’s seen the BBC version, they’ve made it impossible to watch this new one without comparing it scene by scene.
Credit to Carell, though… he does the best he can given the situation, and the rest of the cast hangs in there. We’ll be seeing Carell again in another all-too-familiar role, as Don Adams’ Agent Maxwell Smart in a new Get Smart movie. I’d be more frightened if Mel Brooks and Buck Henry weren’t writing it. Might not suck.
My favorite Boston band of the moment… On Fire
2004: The Rest Of The Best Of
Posted on January 31, 2005 at 2:32 pm | No Comments
Following up on my favorite music of 2004, here are a few quick lists of the other random things that occupied my time last year. Figured I’d post this before ’04 is more than a month behind us….
Favorites in film…
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Garden State
House of Flying Daggers
Sideways
Infernal Affairs
Ong Bak : Thai Warrior
The Incredibles
Hero
The Twilight Samurai
The also-appreciated… The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Spider-Man 2, The Bourne Supremacy, Hellboy, Saved!, Fahrenheit 9/11, Robot Stories, Team America: World Police, Criminal, Shaun of the Dead, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Napoleon Dynamite, and Undertow.
The letdowns… Donnie Darko: Director’s Cut (echo = yes, inxs = nononono), Silver City (was no Lone Star), Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow (lotsa flash, zero substance), Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman (sooo sleeeepy).
The flat-out terrible… The Butterfly Effect, Troy, Stepford Wives, Wickah Pahk, Troy, Starsky & Hutch, Open Water, and Troy. (thank the prophets they were all free)
also saw a couple great plays last year… Pullman’s His Dark Materials and Mamet’s Oleanna in London
Favorites in comics…
Bendis / Oeming: Powers
Whedon / Cassaday / Martin: Astonishing X-Men
Wood / Cloonan: Demo
Vaughan / Harris: Ex Machina
Vaughan / Guerra: Y the Last Man
Bendis / Maleev: Daredevil
Willingham & Co.: Fables
Rucka & Co.: Queen & Country
Thompson: Blankets
Diggle / Jock: The Losers
Bendis / Gaydos / Bagley: Alias / The Pulse
Brubaker / Phillips: Sleeper
Cooke: The New Frontier
Favorite hardcover collection… The first five years of James Kochalka’s American Elf
Favorite daily webcomic… surprise, it’s American Elf
Favorite minicomic… Kochalka / Thompson: “Conversations #1”
Favorites in print…
Chris Ott & Joe Pernice – their 33 1/3 Series contributions
Neil Gaiman – American Gods
Howard Frank Mosher – Waiting for Teddy Williams
The Daily Show – America The Book
Robert B. Parker – Stone Cold / Melancholy Baby
George Pelecanos – Shoedog
Greg Rucka – A Gentleman’s Game
Looking forward to in ’05… Rucka’s 2nd Queen & Country novel, George RR Martin’s “A Feast For Crows” (Jul. 26), the first Warren Ellis novel.
Favorite video games…
(aka “the games I actually had time to play in 2004“)
Half Life 2 (PC)
Doom III (PC)
GTA: San Andreas (PS2)
FarCry (PC)
Halo 2 (XBox)
Call of Duty: United Offensive (PC expansion pack)
Favorites on TV…
The Wire
The Amazing Race
Da Ali G Show
Justice League Unlimited
Lost
The Daily Show
Arrested Development
24
Wonderfalls
Angel
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Sealab 2021
Alias
Significant Others
Biggest gift… Farscape returns briefly
Biggest tease… Enterprise flirts with goodness
Biggest disappointment… the assimilation & dumbing down of The Screen Savers
Biggest bummer… the undeserved end of Angel