I probably won't be coming around here much anymore.



http://wafti.wordpress.com/
http://vicarhelmet.blogspot.com/

Right?

Runners Up:
The Who - Who's Next
Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels to Be Something On
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
Okkervil River - Down the River of Golden Dreams
Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire

10) Weezer - Pinkerton
09) Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
08) Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
07) Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
06) Built to Spill - Keep it Like a Secret
05) David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
04) The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
03) Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
02) Spoon - Girls Can Tell
01) Radiohead - In Rainbows


For today, at least.

The Incredible Suck
(In Which Our Author Is So Enraged By The New Hulk Movie That He Breaks A Three-Year Writing Silence To Take This Fucker To Task)

Every comic book movie requires some amount of disbelief suspension from its audience - this is what makes them fun escapism, and is the main draw of the genre. However, the best of these movies never, ever throw away the simple laws of cause and effect. A plot that remains grounded in real-world logic and common sense is the sugar that helps the medicine of super powers and insane explosions go down. And this is where "The Incredible Hulk" fails.

To be fair, it starts off strong. The opening credits sequence is madly ingenious and evocative of the 1980s television series. It tells us all we need to know about the Hulk's origin, why he's on the run, and who our main characters are, all sans dialogue, all in a manner of minutes. Bruce Banner (Ed Norton) is hiding out in Brazil from General Ross (William Hurt) who wants to use him as a weapon because he turns into a giant green man who beats the shit out of people. That's fine.

Explain to me, then, why the military doesn't continue chasing Banner when he races into the rainforest? After all the fuss they make about capturing him, I'm surprised they didn't blanket that sucker with dogs, helicopters, human chains and Chinese fortune tellers. Similarly, and more to the point, if the military already has all the (spoiler alert) data about what made Banner into the Hulk, why don't they just reproduce it instead of tracking him down to take it from him? And when they succeed in making Blonsky (Tim Roth) into a super-soldier/Hulk-like thing, why do they continue to track down Banner? Did anyone actually read the script?

Also problematic is the origin of the word "Hulk." We see a bystander on the news describing a previous showdown between the military and Banner with the utterly unconvincing "it was like...some kind of hulk," which makes me wonder if "hulk" would even be a commonly used phrase without the famous comic. Meta contemplations aside, it's interesting how everyone in the military suddenly starts referring to Banner as "Hulk" - would this really happen? The absurdity reaches critical mass when Banner himself says "Hulk smash!" Watch carefully and tell me when Banner would have been able to see this broadcast, or hear himself referred to in this way.

"Spider-man" solved this problem elegantly, first via a public authority (the Daily Bugle newspaper) blaring the name in headlines, then in a stroke of comic genius, showing the phenomenon spreading virally through street performers, cops and everyday people. Not to say that Hulk should have aped this, but certainly someone could have thought of a solution that actually makes sense.

It would be both easy and exhausting to make a list of all the distracting logical fallacies in the movie. It's true that movies with even less basis in reality have succeeded on spectacular, larger-than-life performances. Sadly, the cast of Hulk seems as confused as the plot. Norton and Liv Tyler have no chemistry together - their (one) attempt at playful banter is undermined by pancake flat delivery. It seems like Norton is trying very hard to give a purposely understated performance, so I wonder if he was informed that this is a comic book movie? His glazed eyes and expressionless face aren't necessarily bad - just entirely out of place. In their defense, Liv Tyler and Tim Roth make absolutely nothing out of even less. Both characters exist for singular purposes - Betty is there to help Bruce, Blonsky is there to hinder him, and nothing else. Yet their performances are unnervingly slack-jawed. Or did I miss the subtext that everyone in this movie has a nasty Vicodin habit?

By far, the worst performance comes courtesy of Hurt as the overbearing father General, who delivers stock military cliches without the slightest sense of either irony or sincerity. It's the kind of performance that comes after you've won an Oscar, but still appear in movies like "Lost in Space," "Vantage Point" and "The Incredible Hulk." You can see the apathy dribbling off his chin. The only actor in this entire movie who is aware he's in a comic book movie is Tim Blake Nelson, who geeks all over the scenery in his role as a nerdy scientist, Samuel Sterns. I admire that he's the one person who tries something different with his performance, even if it is fucking terrible.

Poor pacing, generic cinematography and Sci-Fi Original Movie calibre CGI punctuate this dreadfully boring mess. Do you really care which Nintendo character wins the 26-minute slugfest? I didn't.

(Incidentally, the action movie phrases "Is that all you've got?" and "Any last words?" need to be retired. Instantly. They don't make your characters sound badass, they make them sound boring.)

Dear People Involved In Creating "The Incredible Hulk": I give it a half a star, because congrats, you made a movie.

"The Incredible Hulk" (1/2)


PS: Do yourself a favor and watch the infinitely superior Ang Lee version from a few years ago. It has its flaws, but it makes up for them by actually being interesting.

Something has struck me about year-end best-of lists. Fact is, most of these rankings by the so-called experts are almost gluttonously engorged, listing 50 to 100 "best albums" for this year alone! I can hardly be arsed to name my 50 best albums of all time, let alone of this year - I suppose when you get paid to listen to music, you accrue an arsenal of names to drop, but even so, that leaves the rather weighty (in my mind, at least) problem of comparison. How do you rank, say, The Arcade Fire versus Jay-Z? LCD Soundsystem versus Radiohead? Bruce Springsteen versus Animal Collective? It seems almost nonsensical, like trying to prove whether The Godfather or Eraserhead is a better movie - the two works don't even exist in the same context*.

Point is, it takes a lot of pomposity to stack a list with acts whose only point of comparison might be that they all, at a base level, do something with notes and rythyms. Rather than muck about with some unhelpful and ultimately frustrating rating scale, or pretend to have anything close to comprehensive knowledge of this year in music, I've decided merely to gush enthusiastically (and alphabetically) about the albums I found myself returning to over and over this year:


Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Trading in the apocalyptic frenzy of Funeral for post-apocalyptic dirges and jangly, anthemic folk jams, The Arcade Fire found substantial musical growth while retaining everything that made me fall in love with them in the first place. Barring a few all-too-earnest lines ("Mirror, mirror on the wall / Show me where them bombs will fall"), Neon Bible was the most significant protest album of '07, as well as one of the most emotionally resonant. Angry as it is, "Antichrist Television Blues" (arguably the best song on the record) hints at a poignant empathy for its ugly protagonist, while "Ocean of Noise" invites us to sink into oblivion with its lying narrator. Yet amongst all this dread, hope still prevails (in staple anthems "Keep the Car Running" and "No Cars Go"). Allegedly, the band broke down in tears while recording album closer "My Body is a Cage," and it's not hard to believe - the transcendent beauty of the piece is enough to sweep you away.

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Easily the weirdest album on this list, yet undeniably entrancing. At one point this year, a friend asked me which song off this album would be the most accessible to include on a mix CD, and I found it impossibly hard to answer. For one, accessible is probably the least apt adjective to apply to Strawberry Jam - from the stomach-churning cover art, to the nonsensical lyrics, to the glitchy, quirky tunes to the chanting shouting yodeling vocals, it's all a bit of a whirlwind. However, when taken in its entirety, the album slowly coalesces into a beautiful experience, with swells and ebbs and a timely resonance. It is one of the most complete musical experiences released this year, and a joy to hear. (PS - I ended up going with "For Reverend Green," although "#1" was also a strong contender. If you've heard the album, you know exactly how silly that is.)

The Bees - Octopus
Free the Bees was an obsession for me back in 2005, so I was anxiously awaiting The Bees' follow-up this year. I was not disappointed. While palpably darker than their previous outing, Octopus is still firmly rooted in retro pop rock. Listening to The Bees is like a tour through the Rock 'N Roll Circus - the album opens with the consciously Beatles-esque "Who Knows What the Question Is" and steams on through "Love in the Harbour," which is a better Who song than the Who ever wrote. Octopus assuredly has a swing in its step, bringing the funk for dance-ready "Left Foot Stepdown" and "(This is for the) Better Days." My toe is tapping just thinking about it - this is an album that will make you move.

Feist - The Reminder
Feist's vocal delivery is effortlessly impeccable, evoking such beautiful emotions, it took me about two seconds to get over thinking that "Feist" was an obnoxious name. She can make you dance ("My Moon My Man"), lull you slowly and beautifully into sleep ("The Water"), break your heart ("Limit To Your Love"). "I Feel It All" is, to me, the indie-rock anthem of the year. Similar acts stick to niches - Fiona Apple has her (excellent) moody, jazzy tunes, Regina Spektor sticks mostly to (excellent) radio-friendly, slightly quirky piano ballads, but Feist has the gamut covered.

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Once Soundtrack
If there's one genre that feels much too bloatingly over-saturated, it's the sad-sounding accented man avec acoustic guitar, but somehow these songs are just too good to take to task for sentimentality - that's what lost love songs are all about, innit? Perhaps it's that Hansard finds hope among the despair, in lines like "You have suffered enough / and warred with yourself / it's time that you won," or perhaps it's the elegant harmonies of co-vocalist Irglova - like in the film, Hansard and Irglova's chemistry with each other is fascinating. It's true that the songs are given even greater resonance in context with the (excellent!) film, but so many of these are such instant classics ("Falling Slowly," "If You Want Me," "When Your Mind's Made Up," etc). Cheers to them for including the hilarious throw-off "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy."

Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortelada
If Sufjan Stevens wrote epic, anthemic 60's pop tunes instead of epic, anthemic folk tunes, and also if he had a Swedish accent, he'd be Jens Lekman. Far from simple love songs, Lekman's tunes have a deeper scope and a surprising sense of humor. Where "Sipping On the Sweet Nectar" laments the loss of love and good times, "Shirin" tells the tale of a beautiful Iraqi refugee who runs an illegal beauty salon in her apartment. Lekman's tales are vibrant touching, and his music strangely fresh - even if it does make you want to dance the disco.

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Speaking of dancing. What more need be said? Sound of Silver is the album to shake your booty to. And yet, so much more must be said - while "Get Innocuous!" will make you feel like the ultimate badass, LCD Soundsystem is layers deeper than your standard club fare. Hypnotic gems like "Someone Great" and "All My Friends" hide mature, contemplative lyrics that explore the loss of, well, someone great, and lament getting caught up in the race (strangely applicable to my life: "You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan, / and the next five years trying to be with your friends again"). Let it not be said that singer/songwriter/producer James Murphy has no sense of humor, however - "North American Scum" is both arrogant and acerbically tongue-in-cheek, and "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" speaks for itself. The real star here, however, is the way the music subtly grows, deftly arranging loops and beats that would be repetitive in lesser hands, and building and building to critical mass before resolving elegantly.

Menomena - Friend and Foe
Here is an album of absolute beauty, at times both dense and stark, with divine harmonies, thumping basslines, glitchy drums, orchestrated guitars, moody pianos and sing-along lyrics. When "I Am The Fun Blame Monster" came out years ago, I knew I liked Menomena a lot, but who could have predicted the massive steps they would take to their second album? The trio morphed from an atmospheric, brooding electronic act into a full-blown rock band with shrieks and whispers, choirs and crashes. It's an album that's crafted, every piece singularly and yet imperceptibly placed. The dark jam "The Pelican" stutters into the delicate nudgings of "Wet and Rusting." "Weird" thrashes its way into the chill-out groove of "Rotten Hell." It's the most organic album I've heard in years, and considering it was made mostly with computers, that's something to say.

The National - Boxer
Aside from one or two songs, Boxer is mostly a restrained exercise in toned-down beauty, full of low-key ballads with crooning vocals that will steal your heart away. It's the perfect late-night album - dark and delicate, with moments of understated beauty. "Slow Show" is, for my money, the love song of the year. (Take that, "Umbrella"!)

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
"Frenetic" is the best word I can think of to describe Of Montreal. "Hissing Fauna..." is certainly frenetic, not even pausing for breath between track after energetic track. Sometimes the band doesn't even wait for the track to change to start playing a new tune (with the notable exception of "The Past is a Grotesque Animal," which goes on and on and on, although curiously you never want it to stop). Filled with infectiously poppy tunes and lyrics that border on just a little too quirky, this album is wildly original. My favorite tune is "Gronlandic Edit," which sounds a bit like Queen teaming up with a funk band, although the Beck-ish "Faberge Falls for Shuggie" is undeniable fun. Lead singer/songwriter Kevin Barnes has a sense for the operatic ADD pop song.

Radiohead - In Rainbows
When a band has already revolutionized the way you think about music twice, it can be unreasonably hard not to develop unfair expectations on the eve of a new album, especially when said album has just revolutionized the way you think about buying music. But when all the hubbub about the self-pricing died down, the album we all downloaded turned out to be a surprise after all. It's true that Radiohead (or any other band, for that matter) will probably never deliver an album with the effect of OK Computer or Kid A again, but what they have delivered in In Rainbows is their most beautiful and timeless album. Warmth permeates the record, from the blazing rocker "Bodysnatchers" to the sultry "All I Need." From the meandering melody of "Nude" to the golden placement of the titular line in "Reckoner," In Rainbows is more than just a rock album, it's a rock work of art. (And it sounds even better in vinyl!)

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
I am convinced that Spoon's last four albums are perfect. These guys are masters of pop rock, growing while simultaneously shedding - "The Ghost of You Lingers" is both the sparest and best song they've ever written. However, even with their bones showing, they've never jettisoned what makes them good - the fun, the attitude, the method and the bounce behind their songwriting. The addition of an occasional horn section could have been unbearably cheesy, but suddenly I can't imagine hearing Spoon without the horns. It doesn't hurt that Britt Daniels has the best voice in rock, either.

Various Artists - I'm Not There Soundtrack
The movie had a high reach - perhaps too impossibly high - but was entirely too uneven. The soundtrack doesn't have the same problem - even with the occasional uninspiring track, so much of this is so good, it's silly. But that's what happens when you get some of today's best artists covering one of the greatest songwriters. Cover albums are inevitably hindered by unoriginality - the general rule is that if I want to hear a song played exactly the same way it was originally written, I'll listen to the people who wrote it. Yet even when the artists follow Dylan's lead to the T, the album never drags or feels contrived. It's a testament to the timelessness of Dylan's songs, and the talent of the performers.


Next time I'll talk about a few of the albums that didn't make the cut and why, and also a few albums from the past I've only just discovered.



* That won't stop me from making a top ten 2007 movies, though! I've got a degree in it, suckas!

Inspired by this recent feature on the Onion AV Club, I've decided to construct a 24-hour Halloween Movie Marathon out of the contents of my DVD collection*.  Unfortunately, this is purely theoretical, as most weekends I have actual things to accomplish, and there's no way I could rope The Girl into watching one horror movie**, let alone an entire day's worth.

I've put the list in rough viewing order, assuming that each movie is approximately two hours, which is blatantly not the case, but hopefully some will run under, meaning you'll have time for food, bathroom breaks, etc.  In the event that there is a lot of extra time, I have also included a few films that didn't make the cut.

Please comment with your own lists, observations, complaints, etc.  This could be fun!

Noon - 28 Days Later
Start off with a good ol' fashioned gore flick.  This modern classic reinvented zombies, making them (gasp!) actually interesting.  Fun fact: whenever my neighbor sneezes (easily the loudest, most disturbing sneeze ever - it comes right through the wall) he sounds exactly like the zombies in this film, which should make for an interesting surround-sound effect.
Two PM - Alien
Next, up the ante.  This classic has both bone-riveting suspense and gore aplenty.  I dare you not to jump when the Alien sneaks up on Dallas in the tunnel.
Four PM - Aliens
How can you watch Alien without Aliens, the rare sequel that surpasses the first?  While more an action film than a horror film, it has its share of frights.  For bonus points, watch the director's cut, which adds essential character development.***
Six PM - Ghostbusters
Time to cool down.  Grab some grub and laugh over this campy horror-movie send-up.  Bonus points if you can recite the lines along with the characters.
Eight PM - Donnie Darko
The perfect movie to take you into the witching hours. 
Ten PM - Lost Highway
The first of two Lynch movies on the list (although you could probably spend half of the 24 hours just watching Lynch films), Lost Highway will usher you into the shadows. After this, there's no chance of you nodding off in the next twelve hours.
Midnight - Evil Dead
You got a taste of it back in Donnie Darko, now the quintessential midnight movie is back for more.  The last of the two true gorefests on this list, Evil Dead is the perfect Halloween flick.  Yeah, the tree branch scene is tasteless, but horror is pretty much synonymous with "no tact."  Just be glad I didn't make you watch The Re-animator.
Two AM - Eraserhead
It's two a.m. - the perfect time to fuck your brain up.
Four AM - Pi
See above.  If these two movies (combined with the late hour) don't make you go batshit, there's something wrong.
Six AM -  The Sixth Sense
After the last two, your mind deserves a break.  This slow burner will give you therapeutic goosebumps.  Make some popcorn, drink something caffeinated, and enjoy the sun coming up as the twist ending plays out.****
Eight AM - Dark City
You're starting to sober up - the light peeking through the blinds is slightly reassuring, but the marathon ain't over yet.  This dark noir will keep your head whirling for the morning.
Ten AM - The Prestige
Easily the most off-topic of all on the list, yet so creepily atmospheric and so aesthetically suited to Halloween.  A great way to ease yourself out of the marathon, ensuring the ensuing day-long nap will be filled more with goblins than demons.


Runners up:
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Might be a good replacement for Pi.  Another mindfuck black and white film, the oddity of German Expressionism and, of course, lack of dialogue, will have you afraid of the corners of your eyes.
Return to Oz - One of those kids' movies in the great tradition of Grimm fairy tales and other "kid-friendly" creep fests.  Ideal come-down movie.
Sleepy Hollow - Probably the closest thing to a slasher flick I have in my collection.  While Edward Scissorhands and Nightmare Before Christmas come to mind, those films are best suited for the winter holiday - this or Beetlejuice (unfortunately, not in my collection yet) is the Burton film to make the list.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - The Gene Wilder version, of course.  While mostly lighthearted, it has a sinister air throughout - plus, the candy theme fits right in.  And that boat scene will always creep me out.


* Full disclosure: There is one movie on the list that I don't own, but I've always meant to pick it up, and I know for a fact it's $10, so I could easily pick it up the day before.  Bonus points if you can guess which one.

** After scrutinizing my collection, it becomes very apparent that I own very few actual horror movies, which comes as no real surprise as I tend to be entirely underwhelmed by the genre.  Hence, quite a few of the list's entries are more "creepy" than horrifying.

*** Yeah, yeah, I know.  Horror movies aren't supposed to have character development.  This is also why I don't watch many horror movies.

**** It's better if you've never seen it before, but even if you know the twist there's plenty to appreciate.

Almost a year ago, I deleted my previous livejournal in a fit of paranoia, embarrassment, emotional instability and overzealous bridge-burning.  I can't say it was a terrible idea, but unfortunately I also lost a good 2-3 years of almost daily writing.  Most of it was terrible and/or useless, but there were a few standout entries that I wish I still had access to - entries that captured certain emotions, or just had plain ol' good writing.  Of course, livejournal saves deleted journals for a short period of time, but as I found out tonight, not long enough for my regret to catch up.  As I began to use livejournal more and more, I also abandoned my written journal, and I haven't written a word in it for years.  Essentially, there's a big chunk of my life missing, which is all the more regrettable since they were some of my most formative years, and fell in a period of great tumult and change of personality.  But anyway, c'est la vie.  I still stand by my decision to erase that journal, although it's the sort of melodramatic action I would avoid at this point, certainly not without archiving.


Entirely unrelated, here are ten of my wish characters for the new Smash Bros. who I suspect will not actually be in the game.

10. Vectorman
09. Ryu from Ninja Gaiden
08. Simon Belmont
07. Q*bert
06. Lode Runner
05. Shigeru Miyamoto
04. Toad
03. Mega Man
02. Cranky Kong
01. Mii

It seems my decision to stop watching Heroes could not have come at a better time.  If ||this|| is any indication.  I could list my problems with this show, but frankly, I'm too bored, and squandered potential always leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so I'll move on...

If it wasn't already apparent, I watch a lot of movies, and a lot of TV, and I tend to write about it.  I have a sneaking suspicion that no one really cares what I have to say about shows and films they probably aren't watching, but I do it anyway, because it's fun, dammit.

This season, I've limited my TV watching to what I can find free on the internet.  We're not paying for cable, but oddly enough, I've watched more pilots this season than in seasons past - partly because of my insatiable urge to be in on the "next big thing," but mostly because my interest in television as a medium grows with time.  For every twenty awful shows, there seems to be one-and-a-half good ones, but those good ones tend to be ||ground-breaking, genre-busting medium expanders||, and that's well worth the search.

No such shows this year, I'm afraid - although they tend to be ||few|| and ||far between||.  However, there have been a few perfectly enjoyable pilots, the stand-out of which has been ||Pushing Daisies||.  The high-concept premise is a good start that could have gone poorly in many ways (see ||Raines||), but the whimsical atmosphere and light humor set the perfect tone for what will hopefully be an enduring series.  My only worry is that the formulaic approach will get stale, fast - although I'm well aware that I'm quite alone in despising a show's crippling adherence to ||formula||.  It seems cliche to say that originality is underrated, but then again, a lot of people jumped off the LOST ship in season two, proving that the average viewer has the attention span of Paris Hilton in a diamond discotheque. 

||Aliens in America|| is amusing (albeit poorly named - how many of the target demographic will eschew it as "some weird sci-fi show"? Although to be fair, this is the CW...) in that "we're totally not ripping off ||Freaks and Geeks|| guys LOL" way, but to be fair, the high school outcast has precedence in television, so that's hardly a criticism.  In fact, after dozens of shitty shows along the same vein, it's refreshing to see one that's not only funny, but takes risks - by putting a Muslim foreign exchange student in some rural Wisconsin school.  Sure, he's probably the friendliest, PC-est, most Americanized Muslim ever, but this is television, after all.  I like that the teenagers look like actual teenagers, and I like that it makes me laugh.  Looking forward to more, here.

On the fence is ||Dirty Sexy Money||.  (C'mon...with a name like that, how could I not check it out?)  The pilot hit all the right notes, but the second episode flounders, unsure of whether it wants us to love or hate the Darlings.  (Why can't it be both?)  Plus, it has a sneaky bit of Twin Peaks-itis - will anyone care once Nick finds out who killed his dad?  That they've already seemingly negated two or three characters from the line of suspects by episode two doesn't bode well - I'm hoping they prove me wrong, and these characters have many more facets than we previously suspected, and that the secrets run deep.  Donald Sutherland, in particular, seems to be miswritten - he should be the lion of the family (great imagery in ep2, btw), predatory yet protective.  Instead, he seems to be reprising his role from Ordinary People.  A show to watch, with caution.

Strictly in the guilty pleasures section - ||Californication||.  What?  David Duchovny is sort of irresistible, and while it's trashy, it's sort of fun trasy - although I've only seen the first two episodes.  I've heard better things about ||Tell Me You Love Me||, but haven't caught it yet.

Finally - while hardly a new show, it's new to me: ||How I Met Your Mother|| is hilarious, insightful and addictive.  Have I been mistaken to write off sitcoms for so long?  We'll see - I'm thinking about adding season one to my Netflix queue.


So on the odd chance that anyone read that and cared, anything I'm missing that I should not be without?  I've heard good things about Reaper (which I think looks terrible), and Sci-fi has some potentially interesting things going on with Flash Gordon, although without cable I'm a bit screwed.  Obviously, I'm looking forward to the Feb. premieres of ||BSG|| and LOST. 

A virtual tour of our new apartment, ande a Brief Adventure.

What Has Gone On Since Last We Posted:

I've moved to New York.  I've graduated from college.  These things did not happen in quite that order, although I haven't yet received my degree in the mail, so who knows.

I live in Brooklyn Heights, which is apparently also home to Paul Giamatti, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins.  So far, no sightings, but I have run into the world's most hipster girl about a million times.  Or three. 

New York was exciting at first, but as the weeks have gone on and finding a job has proven harder than I'd originally imagined, I find myself approaching every bit of "fun" with some trepidation as the attached dollar sign looms in my eye.  Despite this, I've managed to go to a handful of limited release films and eat out at Japanese, Thai, genuine Italian, and grungy diner restaurants.  I also went to a used CD, record and book sale the other day - everything was a dollar, records 5 for a dollar - and had way too much fun elbowing my way through crowds to rifle through boxes of whatever was hip last month.

Someone the other night said, "Once you get out of college, making new friends is all but impossible."  Definitely feeling that - although The Vicar and I have had our adventures, to be sure (on the floor of Cat Power and Interpol at Madison Square Garden for no money at all, classic).  Funnily enough, most people I know are going to Chicago (which has its own rapidly expanding Little TC, I hear) or LA, of course.  Or staying in Michigan, boo.  I've had a bit of homesickness - missing trees, mostly, and reasonably priced body soap - but nothing to speak of, and certainly nothing I can't enjoy on odd visits.

My days are occupied mainly by job applications and Wii, let's be honest.  Strangely, I've eschewed progress in Metroid Prime 3 for more simplistic joys on the Virtual Console, and of course populating my Mii village (Catherine calls them "Wiiple" or "Wiirsons").  Most of the cast of Harry Potter, Lost, The Smashing Pumpkins and the Spice Girls can be found in our Wiilage, not to mention Orson Welles. 

The apartment is fantastic - easily the best place I've lived so far, barring a real home.  Maybe I'll post a video of it one of these days.


Currently Reading - "Only Revolutions" Mark Z. Danielewski
Best New Album Lately - either "Boxer" by The National or "Strawberry Jam" by Animal Collective.
Best New Movie Lately - David Lynch's "Inland Empire."  It's hard to get through, but it'll have you thinking for hours.
One Movie I Don't Think I Could Sit Through - 20,000 Leagues Of Their Own