January 12th, 2009

It's been a weird and generally poorly-reported day. Thankfully, there's such a thing as BoingBoing.

MUSIC:

Pitchfork says you can get the new Fever Ray album tomorrow. (Fever Ray = one half of The Knife) But they didn't say how it would be released. This led me to try and find where it would be released, and uh, Pitchfork? Rabid already has it up for sale. Full review pending; if it weren't for Animal Collective I'd suspect this as being clear and away the album of the month - this is moody, evocative, smart, glorious stuff. Those vocals can really chill, moreso than the voice of any other working musician, I'd wager.

Bouncing back, Pitchfork gains serious points for the news that new Gorillaz songs are appearing, then loses them all over again by referring to Murdoc as an ape. You guys are having an off day, huh? At least they hooked me up with some sorely needed new Morrissey.

Pet Shop Boys to release a new album. Marr? Owen Pallett? This sounds badass.

If you need to dance today, and you'd like your dance complete with bizarre interjections by the utterly irreplaceable Lil John, Fader will hook you up.

The people you would expect to actually care about Biggie actually care about Biggie. MTV's take on respecting Biggie: you only love him if you pay the film's patrons, like MTV: "Don't disrespect the icon's memory by seeing the bootleg — go to the box office if you want to see the film." Classy.

Oh, and lest I forget to mention, Drowned in Sound is back from what felt like a decade-long vacation! In case you were wondering, they like Merriweather Post Pavilion.

FILM:

If you missed the Golden Globes, /Film will hook you up with the best acceptance speeches. Also, the folks at /Film discovered crack cocaine today.

AICN is on a roll lately. They've got exclusive Adventureland footage and a great interview with an actor in Soderbergh's Che.

I'm absolutely desperate to see Waltz With Bashir. NYT got a great, insightful interview with Folman.

Judging by MTV's braindead speculation on the minutia of comments by David Goyer and Aaron Eckhart, it's time for the internet to freak out about the Dark Knight sequel.

A little late on this one, but Egoyan's working on a new picture!

WEIRD:

BoingBoing is weird as hell today. Highlights:

How to hallucinate with a radio and a ping-pong ball, via BoingBoing. A lot of these are activities for two... best date ever?

Also via BoingBoing, Megaman versus Everybody. Oh Auntie Pixelante, you appeal to the DIY-gamer in all of us. Well, maybe not ALL of us.

To round it all out, pictures of weird diseases and stuff, yeah!

Unfortunately, BoingBoing is bested by TMT, which already wins the prize for best headline of '09. Oh, Jackson. You and your bizarre, cartoonish, grotesque antics!

WORLD:

Democracy Now reports the Palestinian death toll at 900; Israel now admits that no rockets were launched from the bombed UN school being used as a civilian shelter; Israel was aiming at a different target.

Also, Blagojevich was impeached.

PERSONAL:

Today was nice and relaxing. I did give Fever Ray's album a thorough listen. It's so beautiful!

Unrelated, but something I definitely didn't expect: 50 Cent's verse on Crack a Bottle is becoming my favorite on the track. How the hell did that happen?

2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 38
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, on the desk of my old room due once more to fears of overheating.