August 28th through October 4th: Epic Entry

I've been gathering links for ages without properly posting them. Here goes.

MUSIC

Oh Kings of Convenience, how I needed and missed you. And the same goes for you, too, Sondre!

Kanye's Swift interrupting tactics have been deemed press-worthy, because the theater of entertainment news loves simple stories. Jay-Z defended him. So much saturation that I saw this headline and thought "why did Venezuela have a summit just to criticize Kanye West?"

Jay-Z has been in the press a lot (just as planned, I'm sure) including highly publicized comments about indie rock and an appearance on Oprah and a huge press-event concert.

Epic rap track is epic.

Los Campesinos! are swinging back into prolific activity.

Mr. Magic, hip-hop DJ of the oldschool variety, has passed.

Wavves and Black Lips got into a fight.

Lil Wayne got friendly with Weezer. This kind of thing has become the norm.

Lyrics websites are being targeted for copyright infringement.

Muse (wisely) asked professional jackass Glenn Beck to retract his praise of the band.

Rock City keep releasing rad mixtapes. Don Cannon is obnoxious though.

Summertunes was released. Chiptune greats abound!

Is anybody having as much fun as Basement Jaxx are these days?

FILM

Good short films deserve to be seen.

Henry Gibson has died.

The old Polanski wounds have all reopened after the director's apprehension in France. Celebrities have weighed in. My take? The man committed a terrible crime and deserves to be punished for it.

Disney acquired Marvel.

Antichrist looks terrifying and crucial.

Paranormal Activity has been pretty brilliantly hyped.

AICN has exciting news about both Thor and the Facebook movie. Also, Woo's Red Cliff is finally coming stateside.

Fascinating-looking movie, and fascinating that "Hurt Locker-style" has become a thing.

Up In The Air looks fantastic, as do The Revenant and Metropia.

The Cove may have helped alleviate dolphin killings.

/Film loved Parnassus.

A filmmaker who chronicled El Salvador's gangs was shot dead.

A visually stunning Confucius biopic is coming soon.

Harmony Korine's latest sets a new standard for weird.

With all the hubbub about New Moon's soundtrack, it's notable that Jonah Hex is getting soundtracked by metalheads Mastodon.

I received an odd satisfaction, seeing Rob Zombie punished for making stupid, pretentious movies.

WEIRD

Facebook played a strangely significant role in a recent jealousy-fueled UK murder.

Russel Crowe was mean to a journalist. Flashback much?

New movie with The Rock looks impossibly braindead.

WORLD

Iran draws closer to nuclear capabilities.

U.S. unemployment soars.

Obama's recent speech to public school students caused a furor.

Ashcroft can be sued.

The scale of gorilla poaching is horrifying.

Interesting Net Neutrality laws were passed.

The last man to see Hitler alive recounts the experience.

PERSONAL

All I know is that I'm tired.