a broken lull.

sad news: 24: The Complete Third Season is getting released december 7th; i thought we'd get a september release like the other ones, but i guess i forgot to notice that it's now september and no date had even been mentioned yet. how the fuck are you supposed to get new folks excited about the new season if you only give them a month to watch 24 episodes?? we can handle it, of course, but normal people don't make time for that kind of schedule. i wanted my friend, who's watched season one in french last spring, to be able to watch season two this summer (which, admittedly, she hasn't done yet, so i guess i was fucked anyway) and catch season three this fall before the next season starts up. aw, well. i'll still buy the set and get hyper-actively happy before the new season rolls by. it should be a great one... :)

Posted by Anonymous | 12:37 AM |

the sky is getting ominously dark in this late afternoon. maybe God knows about the RNC convention in New York.

yes. i went cd-shopping again today. didn't think i'd come back with so many, though. honestly. i was just going to the used record store to pick a couple of discs i'd left there last time i went. here were my finds:

Nas - Nastradamus
Nas - The Lost Tapes
Mobb Deep - Free Agents - The Murda Mix Tape [ 2cd edition. nice ]
P. Diddy & the Bad Boy Family - The Saga Continues... [ only got this to finally get my hands on the Neptunes' fabulous "Diddy" ]

that was all fine. then i swung by a couple of record stores (HMV didn't have Mobb Deep's Hell on Earth on sale anymore. bastards. get your stickers right). nothing. until the last one. here's what i ended up walking out with:

Hayden - Elk-Lake Serenade [ extremely cheap and i'm heavily into folk these days ]
Wilco - Being There
Wilco - Summerteeth

my Wilco collection is only missing A Ghost Is Born now; which i could have gotten but i think i'll be alright for a few days with these :) i also got the Wilco book, Learning How to Die, by Greg Kot. Frank Chromewaves raved about it the other day and i've always been curious about in-depth analysis of songs and music in general. add Wilco to that and this is a perfect fit for me. huge thanks to Frank for letting me know this was not just a 'band biography'.

musc-wise, this was a very successful day for me.

np: blue rodeo - casino

Posted by Anonymous | 4:37 PM |

just watched 1973's Lady Snowblood, believed to be the tentpole film for Quentin's Kill Bill. not a bad film. Tarantino even used the theme song for his epic. the violence caught me off guard a bit. there are not shy about gushing limbs. the story is even cooler than Kill Bill; Quentin somehow twisted it and i can now see that the (obvious 10 months ago why the hell are they talking about it now) buzz about a possible KB3 15 years from now was not just a whim on Quentin's part. it's definitely part of the original story. very cool, indeed.

you gotta read this cleansing primer on the Republican National Convention by Jason of 1115.org before the whole shabang starts up monday. very calming.

this was happening tonight. i would give it some serious thought if i were living in Montreal. i know it's not the first time this type of game has been played but it's the first time i've heard about it happening in Montreal. it sounds cooler now that it's happening in places i know and love.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:18 AM |

wow. going to bed around 4 in the morning and waking up at 10 doesn't really give you a good night's sleep. that's what i found out today. fuck. lol :)

this past week has been a really good one for me, music-wise. here's the total tally:

Blue Rodeo - Casino *
QB Finest - Queensbridge the Album (Nas, Mobb Deep, Capone, ...) *
Nas - Stillmatic *
k-os - Joyful Rebellion +
Young Buck - Straight Outta Ca$hville (very cool limited edition) +
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut our Hair When We're Gone? ++
Molasses - Trouble at Jinx Hotel ++

* used record store finds - which i am marking because it's always fun to stumble on these
+ incredibly cheap new releases
++ finally ordered directly from alien8recordings

i wasn't sure about the Young Buck record but the reviews, cool packaging, and cheap price convinced me to get it. and i'm glad i did because so far (and i haven't even listened to it all the way through yet) this is by far my favorite G Unit album (and not only by default because the others have been tepid affairs either; what i've heard so far is actually really good). i'm not a G Unit fanatic; i like some of their songs. but this one's the best one. i'll have to go back to the used record store this weekend to get a couple of other albums i saw, and i might swing by HMV afterwards for some cheap Nas and Mobb Deep records.

don't forget -- for some reason NBC is starting the new SCRUBS season next tuesday at 9:25 pm (yay! it won't conflict with the BB5 at 8 * special time only for next tuesday).

Posted by Anonymous | 10:05 AM |

very late posting. came back from work. exhausted. work week finally over. double-fuckin-yay. i should have taken my shower and gone to bed by now but, yep, i'm trolling around the netesphere. had to post this, though:

the version of "Oceania" with both Björk and Kelis that's floating around is the real deal and not a mash-up. obviously this needs to make its way onto a single or something.

"We were doing a show called Fashion Rocks in London last year, and our dressing rooms were right next to each other," Kelis said. "Björk had a Peaches CD that was skipping, and I gave her my copy of the CD. So we started talking and we hung out after the show."

i'll update a bit more about this past week this coming weekend.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:05 AM |

nope. i ain't dead... ;)

update: holy shit, batman!

Short Cuts is coming to dvd through The Criterion Collection!!! november 16th is the date for the two-disc set. fuckin' yay! check out that masterful cover. this rounds out the Altman batch for this fall. pretty impressive, if you ask me. and this last one comes on the heels of the breathtaking 5-disc set for Bergman's long-awaited Fanny & Alexander. all hail Criterion once again...

Posted by Anonymous | 1:06 AM |

hello. a bit of late posting tonight. and i haven't written much this week (anybody still reading this? :) i just wanted to write tonight because i'm feeling a bit sad. there's this girl at work. we spent the last two months working the same monday through friday evenings. that's nice. she's nice and funny. she's been working there for a few years. things are fine. this week she started getting on my nerves for some reason. dunno why but she did. anyway. i was attracted to her 'cause she's beautiful but i always left it at that because i never thought there was much of a future there. and there isn't. don't worry, this ain't a shoulda-woulda-coulda story. but we got on great. especially this past year. without being part of her inner circle, we'd actually grown kinda close these past few months. working every day with someone you get along with 80% of the time, and can laugh at anything with, does that to people. and sometimes, while waiting to get out of work, she'd come sit beside me and we'd talk more openly (mostly due to the exhaustion and proximity of sleep) and we'd get a glimpse of the real person. it was nice. it happened a few times this month. but the story has a twist. school starts next week for her so she's leaving her mon-fri post. but i knew that. and i was fine with it. but what i didn't know and that i learned tonight, 10 minutes before we left for the weekend, was that, starting monday, she's only gonna be available to work on weekends. that's usually fine. but i'm working the damn mon-fri schedule for the next two months!!! lol :P damn. she won't be working weekdays and i ain't working weekends for a while. that fuckin sucks. so if we're gonna be seeing each other it's gonna have to be at some parties outside of work - and those aren't happening much with us; we all want to (apparently) but it ain't happening right now. so that's it. i'm just a bit sad tonight, coming home from work. she was my pretend girlfriend, i guess, unbeknownst to me. i guess i'll miss her a bit, is what i'm trying to say. thank you and have a good night :)

ps.
BB5. i was in a lose-lose situation with yesterday's eviction episode because i've loved Will since the beginning but i'd also fallen hard for Marvin's no-nonsense approach for the past month (i swear someone's gotta be feeding him lines; the man is one funny mofo). Nik getting HOH was just pure heaven. CBS didn't treat us to much of anything post-competition to see if Nik still had the fire in her (i wasn't doubting it but she didn't gloat about her win to the twins either). well, i was just gonna read up on what the days are like with the new HOH and i stumbled upon the nominations (forgot they'd already done those in the real world). and damn am i proud :D our girl's still got it.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:39 AM |

watched BB5. right now, since Scott and Jase are not there anymore to be made fun of, i've kinda let go a bit of the show (recaps included. i don't read them as religiously as i used to these past couple of weeks). but i am watching the shows now to see if they get the general tone of the house right. and last night's episode was a good one, demonizing their much-loved twins a bit. thank god they didn't gloss over that one.

i woke up to an email from DVDPacific this morning telling us that they'd found a worm in their system and to check our credit card bills. i checked mine and there, hidden among the various charges i recognized, was a $35 charge from some company out in the Netherlands. DIAGE.COM was the name. typed it up and sure enough, it's real. an email service of some kind. i emailed them asking if they were doing business with companies i could have bought from (i couldn't figure out if i'd bought something i couldn't remember). but then i googled it up and found out that a lot of DVDPacific customers got the very same charge as i did. called up the Visa rep but she says to wait for an answer from Digital Age before doing anything. i guess she wasn't aware of that company yet (i hadn't come across the fraud when i called her up either). so that's it. just wanted to give you a heads up if you ever come across it. i just sent a second email to Digital Age asking them for a full refund. i don't suspect them, i believe the person who did this used the company. or something like that.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:14 PM |

oh, man. i'm über-bored today. should've gone out and run some errands but i feel tired. how interesting, uh? yep. i smell pizza. hmm...pizza. i might order that for tonight.

why does Missy's Da Real World turn me off so much? seriously. i consider her and Timmy the Queen and King of hip hop but i can't, for the life of me, listen to that album and not get immediately bored by it. it doesn't have any personality. i guess the overall dreadful feeling it gives off must have been hanging over their lives at the time so that could explain the non-interest it generates. the first cool musical lick, for me, comes from track 11 ("smooth chick"). this album is so off (although it does get huge props for adding MC Solaar to the mix).

stuff i'm discovering because i'm bored (all courtesy of davisdvd): the 24: The Complete Third Season cover, a cool Star Wars Home Video Timeline, and special editions of Monster and Hellboy (which sports one of the coolest covers i've ever laid eyes on).

np: missy misdemeanor elliott - da real world

Posted by Anonymous | 2:12 PM |

BB5.
as the weeks go by, we're getting HOH's with better tastes in music (after some Maroon 5 and Evanescence). last we had Nakomis with The Flaming Lips and now ... Adria's HOH CD is Ludacris. very cool :) (update: now there's talk maybe she got an Usher cd. or maybe she got two 'cause the recappers certainly heard Ludacris the first time). i just watched last night's episode and i must say that i was a) letdown by the houseguests' backing down from their planned Jase-bashing as he was gonna get out the door, but b) Big Brother came in and stole the show by bringing back Holly and giving us a Jase-cringing orgasm!! wow. that dude looked relaxed... lol :P props to BB for that. it took some balls.

it's still raining down hard today. urgh. i like the rain but i'm umbrella-less at the moment and it makes running from the car to the hospital rather blah. i only got a raincoat and that's clearly not enough this week.

my god. was anybody else watching the opening ceremony for the Athens Olympics?? it was magnificient!

Posted by Anonymous | 1:45 PM |

work week as always. working evenings. things are good. and it's raining hard. especially today. it's been kinda muggy for the past couple of days and the humidity was getting back up to its summer average. the rain feels good.

i'm very excited about the albums i was able to find today:

mobb deep - amerikaz nightmare
damien rice - b-sides
the tragically hip - in between evolution

i finally started playing the Damien Rice cd two days ago. and it hasn't left my damn computer cd player since. seriously. it's damn good. not necessarily mind-blowing or outta this world, but really good music. and the songs have started sticking since yesterday. thus the excited purchase of his b-sides ep. btw, anyone know if the album is a collection of the actual b-sides from his singles? i know it might be obvious but reading the tracklistings from the singles it's not clear whether those are official studio versions or live versions (like some the ones found on the ep). scratch that. i just read the revised titles for the alternate versions from the ep on Damien's site and they are the single versions. thanks. that's pretty much it for today. don't forget to watch Big Brother live tonight on CBS to (probably) see Jase get his ass kicked the fuck out of the goddamn house. hopefully the hamsters stick to their plan of making the eviction a living hell for him.

np: damien rice - o

Posted by Anonymous | 1:28 PM |

light posting today. work. they switched my partners on me. was not happy but will make the most of it. blah blah blah. oh, i went running last night after work. not for long but i got a cramp 'cause i'd eaten right before i went. at least i went out running and it felt great.

Shirley's back and comes out swinging.

Jimmy Chamberlain opens a journal.

Billy writes again. (a Yelena cover? that's very cool. i was under the impression that they weren't talking anymore. good for them.)

np: damien rice - o

Posted by Anonymous | 10:52 AM |

that was just the sweetest Big Brother episode this season. i knew who'd been put up but Nik's nomination speech was truly perfect, complete with calling out Diane on her alliance with Drew. ha. genius. hopefully Jase fell for it a bit because i know at some point (between HOH and the nomination ceremony) Jase thought about the possibility of them keeping Jase to replace the vetoed house guest. i know he figured it out before the ceremony but i hope Nik's speech fooled him (he sure did look like he thought was safer in his diary room interview afterwards). keeping my fingers crossed that everyone keeps on a straight face, plays it like there's several alliances within the big Girl Power (which there are but they all know that there's no point in fighting it out right now; feel the love), and that no one listens to Jase this week.

update, 9:59 am: not only was Jase on "Will & Grace" (the irony is so lost on that boy), but last night he told Cowboy, Will, and Marvin that he was one of the stripper cops on "Arrested Development"!! i totally remember that episode. i wish Fox would re-air it sometime soon so i can spot my favorite receding hair-line jock (dude, bringing down your hair on both corners of your forehead ain't fooling anyone).

very cool favorite summer albums lists from a bunch of cool indie rock musicians you might like. [ chromewaves; travelers diagram ]

Posted by Anonymous | 10:03 PM |

i am so enjoying the über-revived BB5 house. the recaps have been tremendous fun to read and Nik is one of the sharpest minds in the house right now. so perfect for HOH this week. hope her plan goes smoothly :) for those interested, Adria and Natalie have a website. btw, i wanna put it in writing -- my favorite final three is: Will, Nik, and Marvin. i love the Girl Alliance but these are my three favorite people (and players) in the game right now. all three seem to be genuine people and can see through all the bullshit. go team go!

Posted by Anonymous | 8:09 AM |

here's a quick, late post. just checking in to let you know about a friend of mine who's starting a new blog :: Dissolve into Molecules :: go check it out and say hi. i'm gonna go take a shower and watch tonight's big episode of Big Brother 5. have fun and enjoy yourselves.

update, 10:26 am:
i don't know if this has been mentioned much but Bill Clinton will be on The Daily Show monday.

i watched BB5 last night and ... hell yeah!! :P such happinnes. i was yelling out left and right when Scott was finally evicted (and he was actually stunned and looked so shocked. the dude looked like a hurt kid that doesn't know what just happened. good), i screamed from joy when Natalie entered the house and Jase looked just defeated on the couch, and Nakomis getting HOH was just a blessing. ha! this show was a stunner. did ya see the wheels in Jase's head when he saw Nat enter the house?? lol. the fucker knows how to count. his alliance is done and ass is out the door next week :) (Nakomis was even the one last week who talked about a way to nominate people so that the one you want out doesn't get the veto and actually gets booted out.) i guess you shouldn't brag in anyone's face about being back and wanting revenge before the next HOH ceremony is done, uh? lol. fucker. this is just too cool. and the girl alliance took very nicely to the big twist :) i'm glad about that. i was expecting Adria and Natalie to have to go talk to them to let them know that's why they'd been acting weird lately and that they really wanted to be with the girls but there was just no need for that. very cool. fucking revenge indeed ... :P

Posted by Anonymous | 12:39 AM |

well i just got my first Kiley Dean single. i ordered her two singles from mymusic last weekend but this is the only that's shipped right now. the second one is apparently backordered and is gonna shipped next week (my third item, Timbaland and Magoo's first album, Welcome to Our World, was sadly out of stock from them too; but i only learned that after i put in my order. now i'm paying $6 worth of shipping on two $4 singles. that sucked big time). about the single now. "make me a song". all my frustration about the ordering situation vanished as soon as the first note struck out of the speakers. whoa, baby! the song is good. but as i'd feared from seeing the title, is anybody thinking this is kind of a knock-off on Celine Dion's 1991 single "des mots qui sonnent" where she asks songwriter Luc Plamondon to write her a top ten single, something that will resonate, etc? not only does Kiley's title suggests the same subject matter but the lyrics border closely on copying. i'm not saying that's what they did. but it's one mean coincidence in the world of songwriting if they didn't. still an enjoyable song, though. hopefully we'll have a full album from her soon (dammit).

np: kiley dean - "make me a song"

Posted by Anonymous | 2:11 PM |

i was flipping through the channels this morning and stopped on "The View". there was this bearded guy who seemed to be an actor but he'd also been homeless. his story was truly fascinating. then they flashed his name on the screen "Tom Jane" -- fuck! it's Thomas Jane!! i'm fuckin' ever gonna be in love with him because of his Boogie Nights performance (even in Renny Harlin's Deep Blue Sea). the man is a frickin' chameleon. he was there talking about his new film The Stander, which takes place in Johannesburg (another fascinating story was told about that experience). then someone blurted out that he'd had to work out for his role in ... The Punisher. fuck. me. Frank Castle. that's who it was! i think it was just last week that some coworkers mentioned that film and i was wondering if it still watchable (i dabbled in a bit of Punisher reading a while back). but i couldn't figure out who the actor was. i could only think about Hugh Jackman but that wasn't him. with this new fact revealed i may have to give the film a spin after all. not for the film, i know it's supposedly bad (although this review from the Washington Post is giving me some hope they got some of it right - "Unlike some of its recent ilk – "Spider-Man," for example – The Punisher is, no disrespect, a thoroughly morose and bilious affair. That is precisely what I like best about it."), but i wanna see my man Thomas here playing Frank Castle. damn. is the film already out on dvd?? fuck, it was released in theaters april 16th! lol. damn. they're making the jump to video shorter and shorter. aw fuck. september 7th is the date for the dvd :(

i see that Laurent Cantet's Human Resources is coming out on dvd today, for some reason. add it to your rental lists. i haven't seen the film yet but i'd say this is a no-brainer. i fuckin' loved his Time Out and couldn't find this one. now it's finally out.

fuck me: The Beta Band calls it quits ...

np: broken social scene - you forgot it in people

Posted by Anonymous | 11:57 AM |

BB5: god i love my little team. as much as the boys were getting swayed left and right every ten minutes (sometimes even by themselves), my girl team (+will) is one consistent motherfucker. i'm so proud of them. each time i see one of them talking strategy with a meathead, i get scared a bit. but then i see them reporting to the team back in HOH (almost religiously) and having no problem whatsoever keeping their eyes on the goal. so proud of them.

have a good night, kitties :)

np: unity - athens 2004

Posted by Anonymous | 11:56 PM |

actually dragged my ass out to get some Tide, Mr. Clean for the bathroom, exchange the t-shirt i got yesterday and got myself two cd's:

the killers - hot fuss
unity - the official athens 2004 olympic games album

mishie: finally :P Future Shop didn't have the Unity album (more on that later). i didn't wanna leave eampty-handed (that's just not my style :) both The Killers and Hip albums were looking mighty fine at $12.99. i went for the Killers (for now). Unity album: they told me they had to send them all back because of mispressings. my hopes were dashed. went to HMV, they had one copy at $20.99. i listened to the first track and all seemed fine. i immediately got it.

update, 5:11 pm: the Garbage Fan Site reports that january 2005 is a more likely date for the new Garbage album to drop. with the gang expected back in the studio (Smart or L.A.?) this month i'm assuming this date is close to being solid. i don't care if i have to wait a bit longer. this one is looking promising enough (new Garbage songs and outside production - this from John King. i can't lose).

np: unity - athens 2004

Posted by Anonymous | 3:30 PM |

very late posting. i enjoyed tonight's episode of Big Brother. more good things are coming (the atmosphere in that house has turned 180 degrees now that the "girls" have HOH. go read the recaps if you're into the show. they're definitely worth it. i just hooked two of my friends in the last week :) i also watched The Blind Swordsman: The Tale of Zatoichi, which i enjoyed (but i must stop eating at the start of a film!! argh. i keep dozing off after an hour). did they know they would be doing a whole bunch of films on this character? it felt like they took their sweet time introducing him to the audience. i didn't mind it one bit, i actually dug the slow pace of the film. the only action sequences (the two of 'em) were stunning with their violent energy. they freaked me a bit; this is a 1962 film, for christ's sake. they had the same shocking energy that Kurosawa put in that Throne of Blood scene i won't mention (my favorite filmed sequence -- ever).

what prompted me to post before going to bed was this -- four new discs coming our way from the good people at Criterion (i believe these are all october releases):

we get two Robert Altman's, with Secret Honor (1984), in which "a disgraced President Richard Nixon arms himself with a bottle of Scotch and a gun to record memoirs that no one will hear", starring Philip Baker Hall, and Tanner '88, in which "filmmaker Robert Altman and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Garry Trudeau created this mock-documentary television miniseries, which brought a fictitious presidential candidate out on the campaign trail and shed a revelatory light on America's political process". seems interesting. and it's getting released to coincidence with the november election (and apparently a couple of new episodes; to be included in this set? one could draw that conclusion from the following words: "The Criterion Collection is proud to present Tanner '88 in its entirety, from New Hampshire to the convention, and beyond."). then it's Catherine Breillat's 2001 Fat Girl (with both DD and DTS tracks! and i assume the film was shot in french, so, if true, this is a very cool move from the folks at Criterion). and finally, Georges Franju's 1960 classic (apparently, because Criterion fans have been talking about this one for months) horror film Eyes Without a Face is coming out.

Posted by Anonymous | 1:26 AM |