By the grace of Amazon marketplace I received two more additions to my Joel RL Phelps/Downer Trio discography: their self-titled EP and second full length 3. My love for Joel (ex-Silkworm), Robert Mercer (Treasure State/brother of the guy from The Shins) and William Herzog (Neko Case, a million other bands) knows no bounds. I almost paid $45 for 3 ( Read more... )

The interview with Achewood creator Chris Onstad is at the Onion AV Club here. What's gotten me really excited is his mention of a Great Outdoor Fight trade paperback that fleshes out the story and legend of the G.O.F. It's one of the best pieces of comic storytelling I've read in a while, and it all starts here. As he mentions in the interview, ( Read more... )

I had a dream about visiting JR in Dayton. Somehow I was able to do this after work but before having to pick up Kristin. Also I havea truck. So I go to Gem City Records but he's on the phone with the guy who gave Bruce Springsteen guitar lessons. I wander around and see a bunch of random people from high school whose names I can't remember. In the ( Read more... )

The trailer for the Cohen brother's adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel is up. I haven't been this excited to see a movie in a long time, though I'd like to read the novel first. Right now I'm in the middle of the Harry Potter saga, though at this pace I'll be done by the end of the month. I hear McCarthy's novels are unrelentingly bleak and ( Read more... )

Last night, having exhausted all of the interesting shows on On Demand (including a local pet adoption program), we watched The Universe documentary on the History Channel. Unbeknown to me, there is more to Saturn than the rings. Scientists have known since 1972 that there is an unmoving, perfectly hexagonal shape at the north pole of Saturn. How ( Read more... )

Five episodes into a seven movie series, the actors and production style of the Harry Potter films have settled into a comfortable style. Given the transitional nature of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the director had little choice but try to keep the plot's gears from grinding too much, giving us the highlights of a weighty tome while ( Read more... )

It took almost exactly two years (how's that for symmetry) but I completed Thomas Pynchon's dense tome this morning. It all kind of makes sense, past the monster Adenoid, the attacking octopus, the shit-eating, the immortal lightbulb, Enzien and his Herero mandalas, various orgies, a multitude of MacGuffins and Gottfrieds' eventual martyrdom to the ( Read more... )

I haven't even logged on to Livejournal since right before we moved last week. Thankfully all of our crap is in the new place and so far the commute is actually shorter (we'll see what it's like when school starts). So far the washing machine leaked, the kitchen faucet leaks, none of the promised repairs have been made, and the apartment above us ( Read more... )

I'm still trying to figure out how this guy does it. Two hand tapping is usually boring to listen to, but this guy uses it as a tool, not as a means to an end. Similar to crazy man Michael Hedges (RIP).

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Right before I left for Italy I burned 2 albums onto one CD-R from Joe, who has disappeared off the face of the earth but is probably due to his crazy girlfriend. Anyways, they were by Commander Venus and Discount. The former was a reverse-supergroup for the emotional set, and the latter were pop-punk in the best possible way. I discovered those ( Read more... )