Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Bonnarooooooooooooo!

-Yes folks, it's official, I bought my Bonnaroo tickets yesterday. I'm blowing my tax return in style this year. Here's a link to the artist list for the festival. It's pretty sick. Beck, Tom Petty, Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie, Son Volt, Steve Earle, etc. I can't wait.

-Going to see the founders of postsecret and found speak tonight. Can't bloody wait! For those of you who don't know, postsecret is this place where people send their secrets, presented in some creative way. Some of them will take your breath away. And found is a magazine where people send things that they have found on the street or wherever, and they are published.

-That's all I got today. Maybe later.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

.... and again!

Hey everyone. Now that school is over with for the summer I should have time to post on the blog fairly regularly. As the bullet point style seemed to work well for me last time and as I now think in bullet points, I will be going back to it this time around. Enjoy!


-I am listening to the new Dixie Chicks album right now on AOL, and I have to say that it is not bad. Not bad at all. Oh God, what am I saying???

-I was not able to find an internship for the summer in some exotic locale, so I will most likely be in jolly old Richmond for the summer. I am going to try to do freelance work for places over the summer, but I don't know how many agencies are going to want a student doing freelance work for them. Then again, I'll do it for next to nothing!!

-My little brother Nat's birthday was yesterday. Those who know him give him a holla!

-I saw the Da Vinci Code over the weekend. It sucked so bad I wanted to punch someone. I wasn't holding out too much hope, to tell you the truth. I thought that the book was awfully written, and while the story was compelling at points, it was on the whole lifeless and predictable. But the movie is so, so, so much worse. First of all, there's no making out at the end. This is probably because there is absolutely zero sexual chemistry between Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, and as a result they build up absolutely no sexual tension between the two of them. Secondly, they whitewash the Catholic cover-up aspect of the story. So as not to offernd any money-carrying churchgoers, I guess, but those people were most likely not going to go see it in the first place I thought. Leave them their "Passion of the Christ" and "Stick It" for their pleasure! And third, it was just about the worst-told story ever. There was almost no narrative tension built. I had no idea Ron Howard was such an incompetent director.

-Just finished watching the third season of Scrubs. Still the best show on television.

-Am about to finish the second season of the Sopranos. While it is good, I expected it to be better. Everyone used such hyperbole about it when it was coming out, I expected this huge deal. It wasn't. Good, but not amazing.

-Watched The Constant Gardener last night. Pretty yawn-worthy, but nicely shot and a pretty good story. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood.

-What I've been listening to lately (besides the Dixie Chicks):
*Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome - Perhaps the most exciting album of the year. Absolutely wonderful.
*'Til Tuesday - first two albums - This was Aimee Mann's first band, best known for their one single Voices Carry. Their first two albums are pretty damn good. Cynthia and I went on a John Hughes marathon over the weekend and watched Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Weird Science within a 24-hour period. So I'm into the New Wave at the moment. But regardless of that, check these albums out. They will surprise you.
*Band of Horses - Everything All the Time - For fans of My Morning Jacket and old Neil Young. Solid coutry space-rock.
*Calexico - Garden Ruin - Simply amazing. They are a band from Texas who meld mariachi and indie rock influences. This is their most fully realized and least gimmicky release yet. Worth buying, whoever you are.
*Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and A Curse - Best album yet from Southern rockers. Like Skynyrd except the frat boys don't sing it when they get drunk.
*Editors - The Back Room - Pretty good NYC rock. I like them better when they were called Interpol though.
*Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere - Exciting soul-breakbeat fusion. Pretty sloppy, though, it sounds like Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse just got high and decided to make some weird music. I guess that's part of its charm though.
*Gomez - How We Operate - These guys have always broken my heart. They had so much potential but always only halfway realized it. Until this album. It's sharper and more focused than anything they've done previously, and the songs are just as good.
*Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris - All the Roadrunning - I believe Tara said it best when she said, "How can you go wrong with those two?" It's just as good as you want it to be. Understated, classy, and damn good songwriting.
*Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - If you don't have it, get it. My vote for album of the year so far.
I just got the new Paul Simon and Pearl Jam albums, I will let y'all know how those are when I digest them.

-Heading to the beach for Memorial Day weekend. Can't fucking wait.

That it for now folks. Good to be back.