A “pal” explains to The Sun why Noel Gallagher is selling his pad in Ibiza:
“He can’t stand the thought of James Blunt writing crap songs down the road.”
February 29, 2008
February 28, 2008
Three things that I was reminded of yesterday
So after last night’s highly uninspiring American Idol, I watched the Coachella DVD. The performances were generally pretty good, but it was limited to one song per band (I didn’t bother watching the Chili Peppers to see if they were granted more) and there was really no documentary footage beyond one or two kids talking about playing hacky sack or scalping tickets between each band. The best performances were Belle and Sebastian, the Arcade Fire and Radiohead. The Mars Volta was pretty eh. Everyone else was pretty eh.
Oh, but what I was getting to – the Pixies were just phenomenal, and it seems like I forget every so often just how good they were. When I listen to Nirvana now, it seems a bit dated and doesn’t get me going quite like it used to. The Pixies, however, are just eternally awesome.
Also awesome: Goo Goo Clusters. I hadn’t had one in forever and found one in the snack bin in the breakroom. So good.
Not awesome: the Polyphonic Spree. Stupid neckbearded permasmiling hippie crap. This wasn’t good when it was called “Up With People”.
February 27, 2008
Two things that have caught my attention this morning.
1. Vosges has a new boutique chocolate bar featuring the wonders of bacon:
2. Having sex with Pete Doherty must do wonders for the body’s constitution:
Kate Moss has started using Nicorette patches to kick her smoking habit, but still gets through 30 cigarettes a day.
February 26, 2008
If I watch too long, my eyes will fall out.
Okay, so I’m about 2 weeks back into Netflix and had a good viewing pace going until poor planning on my part and what seemed to be slow transit on the USPS’s part brought things to a halt. While I wait for more discs to view, I’ll assess what I’ve gotten through so far:
Mutual Appreciation : Great music, crap movie. Filming this in black and white does not make it “artsy”, it just makes it “lame”. Slow, slow, tedious junk. The Bishop Allen music is really good, though.
Pride Shockwave 2004: This is the first PRIDE event I’ve ever watched beginning to end, and I was very impressed. Mark Hunt is my new hero after his fight against Wanderlei Silva. There’s some great stuff on here and most DVD remotes have “chapter ahead” buttons for the Giant Silva fight.
Me and You and Everyone We Know: Sadly, I will never have these 91 minutes back in my life. Gratuitous, tedious, lazy crap. I was surprised that Parker Posey didn’t show up at some point.
Burn to Shine: Washington, DC 1/14/04: If you’re not familiar with the BTS DVDs, here’s the scoop: there’s a house set for demolition that is donated to the fire department for firefighting training. The day before the fire, hipsters congregate and put together a who’s-who of indie rock to play one song each. I’d only seen the Chicago edition before yesterday, which I enjoyed immensely. The Washington one is pretty ehh – good, but not great.
Ted Leo and Bob Mould are two of my favorites and both turn in nice solo performances (“Bleeding Powers” and “Hoover Dam”, respectively) but they’re pretty paint-by-numbers. In fact, that’s my complaint about the whole thing – none of it is too terribly far off from listening to a studio CD version of these songs. Q And Not U (“X-Polynation”) is a little more spastic than normal but that’s not necessarily a good thing. The French Toast song (“Insane”) is probably my favorite track on the whole thing, and the Evens track (“Mount Pleasant Isn’t”) sits at the other end of the spectrum, which is a disappointment as much as I like the Evens.
The King of Kong : What a wonderful film. This is a documentary look at the world of classic arcade gaming, specifically the battle between Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe for the all-time high score in Donkey Kong. This could’ve come off as really dry if in the hands of others – instead, it’s done in a very fun manner and the characters just lend themselves to this sort of thing, especially the eminently unlikeable Billy Mitchell. Cannot recommend enough.
I’ve got three discs at home to watch, so I’ll have more to report on soon. If you have suggestions, feel free to share. Next up, I will thrill you with my thoughts on the recent contents of my DVR.
I am made of blue sky and hard rock and I will live this way forever. 