Brief plotline: Vampires meet the Matrix in Moscow.
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I’m going to be posting a series of Logan-like posts the next couple weeks. Each day I’ll post a song that has a particular moment that just kills me, for whatever reason (and I’ll update the original week’s post each day). A lot of my favorite songs have those kind of moments in them–moments I live for. Sometimes it’s something the singer does vocally, sometimes it’s a harmonized vocal part, sometimes it’s something going on musically (usually a crescendo).

Obviously, I know these songs backwards and forwards, and many of them are in my list of all-time favorite songs. But don’t worry if you don’t like ‘em, I won’t take it personally. (Mostly you’ll just be getting a glimpse into what makes me love a song, I guess.)

And I’m starting out with…

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….Rebecca has set-up a Kulturblog Oscar predictathon: http://predict.oscar.go.com/predict/frontpage (group: Kulturblog; password: movies).

Hey gang, who knew you were such Justin Timberlake fans! The Frames’ cover of “Cry Me A River handily won the T-dome. This week: Alt-Country.

update: I’ve been informed by multiple Gregs that the Mountain Goats aren’t alt-country. So, Whiskeytown’s “Waiting to Derail” has replaced the MG’s song. Votes have been reset, so vote again! (more…)

Lately, I’ve been feeling the need to expand my music collection to include classical music, but I don’t really know where to start since I am hardly an aficianado when it comes to this genre. I generally know which composers I really like (Debussy, Chopin, Mozart). The problem is choosing from among the zillions of different performances of [insert your favorite composer here]. I really don’t know quality when it comes to buying classical.

So, I am selfishly asking a little help from anyone here who knows his or her way around classical music recordings. Do I buy based on the performer rather than the composer – for example, if I like Bach, how much difference does getting a Bach CD with Glenn Gould make? I’m sure there’s tons of Bach recordings out there – how do I tell what’s quality without having to do a ton of research? Or do I have to do a ton of research?

I guess the another factor with classical music recordings may be the production value of the recording. I dunno. Please help me out! I am especially interested in Debussy and Chopin simply because my piano teacher made me play a lot of that on the piano growing up. Thanks!

Close call this past week in the Battle of the Cool TV Show Theme Songs, with House’s theme, “Teardrop” by Massive Attack, winning over Veronica Mars’ theme, “We Used to be Friends” by the Dandy Warhols. Good stuff. (more…)

I’m a big fan of the TV show “House.”  (Winner, indirectly, of last week’s Thuderdome.)  It’s one of the four shows that I make a point of recording and watching regularly.  Hugh Laurie is arguably the best actor on television–usually way better than he needs to be.  “House” is also quite a bit more edgy than the average TV drama.  For one, the protagonist often acts in ways that are morally reprehensible, sometimes with pragmatic justifications for doing so, but often without.  For another, the show relishes it’s (usually well-produced and effective) cringe-worthy moments.

This week’s episode, however, was more than just edgy; it was clearly over the edge.

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Allison asked over in Rusty’s thread if we could start a guilty pleasure thread, about bands we shouldn’t like but do anyway.

I find this topic perplexing, as I’m not embarrassed about anything, and I’m totally with D. when he said, “Just like what you like, and leave the rest, and don’t feel guilty about it.”

Should I be embarrased for liking doom metal? Leo Sayer and Air Supply? Why?

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This tickled our very own UK Office groupie, ECS. How do you get from Elisabeth to Ricky Gervais in four moves:

1. Elisabeth knows Mrs. Ronan (Rebecca)
2. Rebecca knows Lucy Davis’s sister
3. Lucy Davis plays Dawn on The Office
4. Lucy knows Ricky

How many people separate you from the rich and famous?

On my commute this morning I enjoyed listening to who I consider the greatest non-English speaking band ever: Maná. These guys are incredible. They’re from Mexico and have been playing since the late 80′s. I saw them live in Phoenix and put on one of, if not the best show I’ve ever been to. I’d say their best albums are ¿Donde Jugarán Los Niños?, Cuando Los Angeles Lloran, Sueños Liquidos and Maná Unplugged. The Unplugged ablum is pretty good if you’re looking for a live “greatest hits” album. Of course, so is En Vivo.

I also enjoy Eros Ramazotti, Enrique Iglesias (pre-English days) and Shakira (pre-English days). Another amazing Spanish-speaking band is Soda Stereo (from Argentina), though I’m not as familiar with their music. Some other traditional Spanish bands that I like are Alejandro Fernandez and even a little Los Tigres Del Norte. A non-English, non-Spanish group that I often listen to is Sigur Rós.

I know there’s a whole world (har har) of music out there that I’m missing out on, what do you guys got?

You may have noticed a change in your local newspaper on the funny pages, or the puzzle pages recently. Alongside the venerable crossword puzzle, the oh-so-witty jumble, and the cryptoquote, little 9×9 grids partially filled with digits from 1 to 9 have started to pop up all over. It’s called sudoku, and it’s doing for puzzles what TV dinners did for fine dining at home.
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As I was scrolling through my iPod the other day I realized I’ve got a lot of music that I have for the sole reason that I’m “supposed” to have it, not because I like it. Sure I’ve listened to it all, but it’s always been out of obligation, I’m never in the mood for it. I should probably feel ashamed but I don’t. So here’s the list:

Al Green
Peter Gabriel
Eric Clapton
Elvis Costello
Metallica
R.E.M.
The Cure
The Strokes
The Velvet Underground

Who are yours?

Phew! Led Zeppelin won one at last, with “Ramble On” winning 23 of 38 votes.

Sorry about all that. Let’s try something new this week — can anyone guess the theme? (more…)

At the group blog Throwing Things, BobE is going through his digital music collection and writing about songs that begin with the word “the,” based on this slender premise:

Idiosyncratically, iTunes does not ignore the words “the”, “an”, or “a” at the beginning of the title of a song. As it turns out, that means that I have 24 songs on my iTunes list that are grouped together because their titles all start with the word “the.”

(See also So Quoted.) Something about the arbitrariness of this exercise is inexplicably appealing to me. In fact, I was so taken by the concept that, even though I don’t use iTunes, I spent far more time than might be considered normal or healthy searching through my computer’s “My Music” folder for songs that begin with the definite article. (more…)

KB commenter Tom offers this review of Low in concert.

When I read Alan Sparhawk’s message that Low’s 2005 summer tour was cancelled because of his mental instability I was a little bit sad for him and his family, but I was a lot sad for myself. Low’s stop in Baltimore was going to be the one bright spot in my sucky summer. So I’ve been anxious for them to make it up to me by getting back on the road and coming to Baltimore. This past Saturday they came close: they played in DC at a stinky old night club called The Black Cat. (more…)

I said “dish,” not “diss.” Allthough feel free.

I’m not exactly qualified to make this post, since I didn’t actually see the entire show. I tivo’d it so I could skip the annoying acceptance speeches and various blatherings and get to the good stuff–live performances. So I’ll have more to say once I’ve watched all of it. I did however catch a few minutes here and there…

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It’s coming up folks. Sorry.

For this thread, a particular challenge: best movie involving Valentine’s Day. I submit two contenders: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Sleepless in Seattle.
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Anyone who watched the Superbowl with any amount of objectivity will admit that the refs were on the Steeler’s side the whole game. The supposed pass interference, the two bogus holding calls, the Steelers not-touchdown, etc. The problem is that there really isn’t anything you can do as a Seahawk fan. You know that the Seahawks really dominated the whole game (except for THREE plays… can you name anything else the Steelers did well the rest of the game other than those three plays?), the refs made such bad calls I just don’t know how to not sound like a whiner when I emphatically tell you that the refs gave the game to the Steelers.

Hmm. The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” won last week’s race, garnering 18 of 36 votes. The Who’s “Magic Bus” came in second with 11 votes.

Okay, seriously, just one last time. Trust me. (more…)

VOTE:

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A couple of nights ago, I was watching one the episodes of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes–”The Three Gables,” to be exact–and was suddenly caught completely off guard: one of the minor characters of the story was being played by a black man. It didn’t matter to the story any, but I’ll admit that the casting did make it a little bit difficult to imagine his character interacting with Holmes and Watson the way he does in the story, seeing as how the setting was Edwardian London. But that just made me think–when do I expect race-sensitive casting, and when don’t I? And does it matter either way? (more…)

Sean Combs (P Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean John) will soon be debuting his new cologne called Unforgivable. I know, it can’t get any more lame… but it does, check out the slogan/quote: “Living life without passion is unforgivable.” Um… wait a sec, did I just hear you say that living life without passion is your cologne? (more…)