January 15th, 2009

A little late tonight; explanation in the Personal section.

MUSIC:

Everybody (even Paste!) is buzzing about the free Decemberists mp3 from their upcoming, ahem, rock opera. And you know what? If this track is any indication, Meloy is going to pull it off. In the context of this song, and the narrative sweep of "The Mariner's Revenge Song" or "The Bagman's Gambit," this rock opera makes perfect sense; it's suddenly confusing why this wasn't an obvious development.

As mentioned, Gorillaz recently previewed some demos over the radio; NME writes up some info and Pitchfork has streams of the demos.

DiS likes the Blood Bank EP.

HipHopDX has officially put Platinum Pied Pipers on my to-buy list. Stream this now, it's only slept on if you guys are sleeping.

Continental Divide's "Golden Throat" is crunchy, jagged, and rewarding. Juelz Santana's new track, on the other hand, comes off equal parts smooth and braindead.

FILM:

Watchmen settlement at last! I'm still pissed at Fox, of course, for bleeding a legitimate project for its own cynical profit.

Keanu confirmed for live-action Bebop.

/Film has some nice 500 Days of Summer clips.

Also, some clips from Moon. I'll be honest... this film looks awful. What a terrible waste of a good premise. At least it will fuel some "Har har Moon is made of cheese har har" review titles.

The Lennon biopic, Nowhere Boy, is establishing its cast. If you're like me, right now you're asking: "what Lennon biopic?"

IFC points me to Jerichow, which looks fantastic.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is directing a feature!

WEIRD:

Laserdisc is finally dying. My high school physics teacher is going to be really bummed.

Speaking of physics, ice is ridiculously fun.

WORLD:

The Israeli invasion continues; Israel is targeting hospitals and media buildings. According to UNRWA officials, Israel is using the experimental "white phosphorus" weapon.

As the New York Times reports, the gas dispute in East Europe continues. Evidently, the issue is a bureaucratic one, with the Ukrainian company refusing to transport the Russian company's gas into Europe until the Ukrainian company has its own rates cemented.

PERSONAL:

After a relatively stress-free packing job today, my father drove me back to campus. If I have any advice for yet-to-be college freshmen, this is that advice: the words "I'll just clean the dorm after break" are fatal. My floor is filthy, the refrigerator looks diseased inside, and I spent no fewer than three hours just cleaning this damned thing up. Atrocious! At least I got to eat at Veggie Heaven earlier. Oh Protein 2000, how I've missed you.

I am apprehensive, hoping to hit my stride sometime in the near future. Oh, and for the record, it is just above 60 in the dorm right now, despite the thermometer being set at 80. I'm talking to the RA tomorrow to get this fixed.

2009 FILMS SEEN: 1
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 59
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, back on the laboriously (temporarily? [cynically]) clean desk of my frigid dorm room in Austin.