From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V16 #309 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Thursday, August 30 2007 Volume 16 : Number 309 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: new on DIME: want want WANT ["Gene Hopstetter, Jr." ] Re: Total Eclipse, HSM, tatoos and other things ["Michael Sweeney" ] "breeder" thread ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] attack of the charismatic actors ["natalie jacobs" ] Re: "breeder" thread [Tom Clark ] Re: A long time coming......... [Rex ] Re: tattoos/piercings ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] Re: Total Eclipse, HSM, tatoos and other things [Rex ] Re: Total Eclipse, HSM, tatoos and other things [Rex ] Re: fucked by the boxed set ["m swedene" ] Re: fucked by the boxed set [2fs ] Re: less Buffy, more Callum ["Gene Hopstetter, Jr." ] Re: fegmaniax-digest V16 #307 [grutness@slingshot.co.nz] Re: fucked by the boxed set [Rex ] Most appropriate advertising scheme evar [Rex ] Re: that's the point [Rex ] Re: that's the point [2fs ] Re: that's the point [Rex ] Re: "breeder" thread ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] Re: that's the point [2fs ] Son of TL:DR -- The man shaped light will not deliver your sorry ass [Rex] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:42:03 -0500 From: "Gene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Re: new on DIME: want want WANT > From: HwyCDRrev@aol.com > Subject: new on DIME : The Soft Boys 21 November 1978 Leicester > University, Leicester, OK, I don't have a DIME account, but I'd be very appreciative if someone who does could give me a copy of this. I could trade for tasty things, like a mono needledrop of The Kink's "Something Else." Contact me off-list if you're feeling generous. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:25:56 +0000 From: "Michael Sweeney" Subject: RE: My name is Marc Alberts said:" >...I am saying that I >find it hard to take overpopulation threats seriously when those who claim >to >care the most about the planet refuse to take the logical >anti-overpopulation >step and off themselves for the good of the Earth. ...OK, Jonathan Swift -- whatever you say... Michael "I wept because I had no children, until I met a man with no children's shoes (or something like that)" Sweeney _________________________________________________________________ See what youre getting intobefore you go there http://newlivehotmail.com/?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HM_viral_preview_0507 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:44:59 +0000 From: "Michael Sweeney" Subject: Re: Total Eclipse, HSM, tatoos and other things Michael Wells said (re: Edward James Olmos, "Miami Vice" / "BSG"): >I still expect him to wheel through a bulkhead with his revolver out, >yelling for Sonny and Crockett. ...Uh, I almost hate to know this (kinda like the Don Henley lyric correction thing), but "Sonny" WAS "Crockett" -- it should be either "yelling for Sonny and Ricardo / Rico" or "yelling for Crockett and Tubbs." Michael Sweeney ...And besides, my vision of him on "MV" was almost always so calm he was practically comatose: sitting at a completely bare desk, near-whispering "Take him down" as the release-the-hounds order to Crockett and Tubbs... ps - Except in the excellent "Bushido Blade" episode (gawd - you CAN know too much trivia) where Olmos was quite the man in action against an old foe... _________________________________________________________________ Find a local pizza place, movie theater, and more.then map the best route! http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&ss=yp.bars~yp.pizza~yp.movie%20theater&cp=42.358996~-71.056691&style=r&lvl=13&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=950607&encType=1&FORM=MGAC01 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:52:42 +0000 From: "Michael Sweeney" Subject: Re: tattoos/piercings Jeff Norman said: >While we're on the subject, when I lived in Madison in the mid-eighties, >there was a gay bar with the best name ever: Rod's Rear Entry. True fact. On Chicago Avenue (here in Chicago) when I first started college (1980/1) there was a gay bar called The Loading Zone (which we all referred to as "All Deliveries in Rear"). We used to go up there from the dorm -- in pairs (lol) -- to get served as 18/19 year olds without much fear of being carded. ...But I DO remember some guy's visiting high school wrestler buddy freaking out and saying something like "No way - if you homos want to go in there, I'm leaving..." We tried to tell him it was all about the easy-to-get beer, but...he would have none of it. Michael "Not that there's anything wrong with PRETENDING it to get served underage..." Sweeney ps - perhaps Sen. Larry Craig should have thought about a similar excuse -- personally, I think he should have used Elaine Benes' "square to spare" defense... _________________________________________________________________ A new home for Mom, no cleanup required. All starts here. http://www.reallivemoms.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM&loc=us ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:13:32 -0400 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: "breeder" thread hi fegs, i know for a fact that some of you have children, perhaps even daughters. not that you're the ones who need any convincing, but i thought i'd post anyway... as much as i love being the odd one out (i.e. the girl in the boys' club), i'm all for letting the tomboys and cool girls in: http://www.livescience.com/health/070827_girls_math.html frankly i'm a little (make that a lot) bit sick of this attitude that "geek" is a dirty word. it's attitudes like that that helped get bush elected. x "proudly wearing my USB necklace" o - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:49:19 -0500 From: "natalie jacobs" Subject: attack of the charismatic actors > I think he's not only > a great actor, but he's got that charismatic "zing" factor that not > everyone has. He's one of those people I'm delighted to see in > anything, so "Callum Keith Rennie!" is right up there for me with > "look, it's David Thewlis!" Miles, do you and I share a brain? I know we've disagreed on something in the past, but I can't recall what it might be. n. p.s. Too bad Thewlis (or "Thewlol" as a friend of mine calls him) has been in so many, many very bad movies. It makes me sad. :( ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:06:56 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: "breeder" thread On Aug 29, 2007, at 4:13 PM, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > hi fegs, > > i know for a fact that some of you have children, perhaps even > daughters. not that you're the ones who need any convincing, but i > thought i'd post anyway... > > as much as i love being the odd one out (i.e. the girl in the boys' > club), i'm all for letting the tomboys and cool girls in: > http://www.livescience.com/health/070827_girls_math.html My 5.5 year old daughter is well on her way to geekdom. No princesses or Barbies for her; she wants t be Velma from Scooby-Doo. And there's this: http://www.danicamckellar.com/ I'll be in my bunk? > > x "proudly wearing my USB necklace" o Oh now you're just toying with me. http://tinyurl.com/336qhn - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:11:07 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: A long time coming......... On 8/29/07, Bachman, Michael wrote: > > http://www.thedailyswarm.com/swarm/believe-it-or-not-my-bloody-valentine > -reuniting-for-coachella-2008/ > > > Yes! Maybe this will get Slowdive and The Pale Saints going again as > well! Jesus Christ. And I say that because I figured he'd come back first. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:18:23 -0400 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: Re: tattoos/piercings Sweeney says: > On Chicago Avenue (here in Chicago) when I first started college (1980/1) > there was a gay bar called The Loading Zone (which we all referred to as > "All Deliveries in Rear"). only partly on topic (what was the topic? oh, wait -- i never care): my favourite bar name is the one in "infinite jest" called "the unexamined life." as ever, lauren - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:23:24 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: Total Eclipse, HSM, tatoos and other things On 8/29/07, michael wells wrote: > > > The original High School Musical is already a classic. Actually since the > basic plot outline was lifted from so many other classics, that much was > pretty much assured...but very well executed, and it sure struck a nerve > with kids from second grade on up to middle school (no small feat to cover > such a wide demographic IMO). But it's so... like.. pukey! What really got me was how well Disney had productized it at Disneyworld. We > were there in March, and at MGM they had a live show roll through every > hour > during the afternoon. Same thing at Disney's California Adventure. My, erm, biological kids, 4 & 6, are't as Disney Channel-saturated and weren't too impressed, the the 9-year-old went ape and had to see it, and dance along with it (which she does perfectly) more than once. It was kind of strange how the characters were not speicifically identified by name, but were obviously kind of "like" certain people from the film, but in an interestingly colorblind-casting way. I guess the recast touring-show version has probably paved the way to dispense with such alterations. And I'm sure you all noticed that Ashley Tisdale has bailed on The Suite Life of Zach and Cody this year. Gotten a little too superstar on us, eh? Plus, srsly, "High School Musical" is just the single least creative name for *anything* since that science fiction show called "Space". Really now. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:32:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: that's the point Jeff Norman wrote (regarding High School Musical): "This whole thing is a clear illustration of the difference between People With Kids and People Without Kids: until this discussion, I'd not even heard of this phenomenon. (Okay, might also illustrate the difference between People Who Don't Pay Attention to Mainstream Media Phenomena and vice versa...)." That's the point. I think there are lots of people (like me) who didn't really pay attention to mainstream media, and then they had kids. Then, all of a sudden, things came bombarding in that were unwanted and unexpected. I feel REALLY REALLY REALLY lucky. Although there are some somewhat objectionable intrusions into my happy oblivion (like High School Musical, a limited Power Rangers engagement, Stargate SG 1, and Dancing with the Stars), for the most part, my kids have impeccable musical taste (and my son can actually play and sing so that it sounds like something) and don't like a lot of crap (although the Keane thing is somewhat puzzling). I simply don't know what I would do if Britney and Christina and Fergie and Justin were blaring on a daily basis. I'm losing my son to college on Sunday. I need some sympathy. I won't hear him singing in the shower until Thanksgiving. Jill ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:25:25 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: Total Eclipse, HSM, tatoos and other things On 8/29/07, 2fs wrote: > > > Not that I expect him to do it, but it would be very nice if someone > rousted > the damned Puritans. I am so sick of Jesus this, Jesus that - if you love > him so much why don't you marry him? Oh wait - you can't: that'd be, like, > gay marriage. Not for the girls! But it would be bigamy, what with him being married to Mary Magdalene and all. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:50:44 -0400 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: fucked by the boxed set hi fegs, while following up on your buffy/angel suggestions (much thanks to all for advice and comments), i came across this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UX6THK/ref=pd_luc_02101B000TLTCU4B000UX6THK/104-8458211-2127155 does this mean a nice copy of the pilot will finally be available for the U.S. / region 1 folks? and for only $64.99? i think i'll stay with my vhs copy, commercials and all. oh, and look a bit lower: http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Five-Disc-Ultimate-Collectors/dp/B000K15VSA/ref=pd_sim_d_1/104-8458211-2127155 okay, two discs i can understand, but explain how did they pull *three* other blade runner discs out their asses? although cool packaging, i confess. as ever, lauren p.s. finally got "inland empire" from netflix...but noooooooooooooo, i'm too busy catching up on reading on classes but really searching for the buffy episodes with the highest SS** per minute factor. ** if you don't know, or even if you do, just ignore. p.p.s. oh, feel free to list episodes with a high factor. - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:56:22 -0400 From: "m swedene" Subject: Re: fucked by the boxed set > oh, and look a bit lower: > http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Five-Disc-Ultimate-Collectors/dp/B000K15VSA/ref=pd_sim_d_1/104-8458211-2127155 > > okay, two discs i can understand, but explain how did they pull > *three* other blade runner discs out their asses? although cool > packaging, i confess. One of the discs is the theatrical release, there is a working print, then the last DVD release and a "final" final version. The working print is supposed to be like a holy grail. There are bootlegs out of it that some guy left the camera running and recording on it's side and you sit there with your head tilted. There is cut dialog and the whole nine yards. I am sorry I know this stuff, or am I. My boss is a HUGE blade runner fan and he and I talk about this all the time. Mike "I am not an android" Swedene ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:05:55 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: fucked by the boxed set On 8/29/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > hi fegs, > > while following up on your buffy/angel suggestions (much thanks to all > for advice and comments), i came across this: > > > http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UX6THK/ref=pd_luc_02101B000TLTCU4B000UX6THK/104-8458211-2127155 > > does this mean a nice copy of the pilot will finally be available for > the U.S. / region 1 folks? and for only $64.99? i think i'll stay > with my vhs copy, commercials and all. Whereas I, because I am a Twin Peaks Geek, will probably buy the damned thing anyway. Perhaps I will take my old TP DVDs and, you know, in case Windom Earle shows up wanting to play a friendly game of chess, sharpen the edges to a razor fineness. If nothing else, I can get a nice clean shave with them. On second thought, I will probably wait a little bit: I'm guessing if this sells, they'll wait a little bit, and put out a new Season 1 box (with the pilot) with more features. Then again, the S2 box is a bit light on the features, and if this set has good ones. Oh hell I'm hopeless. Speaking of which: I thought I read they were re-releasing Elvis Costello's catalog yet afreakinggain. Enough, sez I. If there are any previously not-officially-released bonus tracks, I say we have a Feg Tree: anyone who either hasn't rebought the catalog, or wants to buy it, or just someone bein' all charitable-like, assembles all new tracks into a nice convenient torrent for us all. (I'd say the same for the Twin Peaks stuff but my 'puter forgot it could play DVDs...and it never could burn them. That'll change, eventually - but not for a couple of years I'm guessing. Right around the time DVDs are obsoleted again.) > > p.s. finally got "inland empire" from netflix...but noooooooooooooo, > i'm too busy catching up on reading on classes but really searching > for the buffy episodes with the highest SS** per minute factor. > > ** if you don't know, or even if you do, just ignore. I got thsi one - but I did mean to ask what the hell was that long acronym you were throwing around the other day? - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:12:24 -0500 From: "Gene Hopstetter, Jr." Subject: Re: less Buffy, more Callum > From: "Miles Goosens" > Subject: Re: less Buffy, more Battlestar > > I've been a Callum fan since LAST NIGHT, Thanks for the tip, it's in my Netflix queue. > I think he's not only > a great actor, but he's got that charismatic "zing" factor that not > everyone has. He's one of those people I'm delighted to see in > anything, so "Callum Keith Rennie!" is right up there for me with > "look, it's David Thewlis!" Plate of shrimp! Thewlis and Rennie are both of those stellar character actors I delight in watching and who always pop up in the neatest places. I also go out of my way to see things with Brad Dourif. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:21:40 +1200 From: grutness@slingshot.co.nz Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V16 #307 > Yeah, it's 3:12 AM, Yeah, I'm still up. But I believe James would agree with me - it''s worth it! The clouds cleared beautifully at about 10pm, part way through the totality, and it stayed more or less clear until the moon was about half clear of the penumbra, at around 11.30. Wonderful stuff - even managed to take a couple of photos which camer out nice and clear. James - -- James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- =-.-=-.-=-.- You talk to me as if from a distance .-=-.-=-.-=-. -=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time .-=- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:20:59 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: fucked by the boxed set On 8/29/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: d_luc_02101B000TLTCU4B000UX6THK/104-8458211-2127155 > > does this mean a nice copy of the pilot will finally be available for > the U.S. / region 1 folks? and for only $64.99? i think i'll stay > with my vhs copy, commercials and all. I'm surprised I haven't been put to work on this... usually when they actually do this, it's me ordering the master tape, if not physically shipping it... > oh, and look a bit lower: > http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Five-Disc-Ultimate-Collectors/dp/B000K15VSA/ref=pd_sim_d_1/104-8458211-2127155 > > okay, two discs i can understand, but explain how did they pull > *three* other blade runner discs out their asses? although cool > packaging, i confess. There are at least that many versions, although several of them share so much material that it's hard to imagine needing a full disc of each one. Now, housing all the different versions of APOCALYPSE NOW... that might push the number of necessary discs well over twenty... - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:22:31 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Most appropriate advertising scheme evar The busstop billboards for FAMILY GUY in syndication, which feature characters from the show posed next to lyrics from at-best-tangentially-related suggestive lyrics from Top 10 hits of the past two years ( e.g. Stewie (?) the evil baby "juxtaposed" with "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?"). Yup, that pretty much tells you all you need to know about the style and depth of satire on that show... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:04:55 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: that's the point On 8/29/07, Jill Brand wrote: > Jeff Norman wrote (regarding High School Musical): "This whole thing is a > clear illustration of the difference between People With Kids and People > Without Kids: until this discussion, I'd not even heard of this > phenomenon. (Okay, might also illustrate the difference between People Who > Don't Pay Attention to Mainstream Media Phenomena and vice versa...)." > > That's the point. I think there are lots of people (like me) who didn't > really pay attention to mainstream media, and then they had kids. Then, > all of a sudden, things came bombarding in that were unwanted and > unexpected. Indeed. I really don't have much of a line on pop culture above the tween level... for example: > I simply don't know what I would do if Britney and Christina > and Fergie and Justin were blaring on a daily basis. I still don't know from that shit. I could recognize one Britney song and one Black Eyed Peas song and that's it. I get a sideways glance into the teenage boy world because my stepdaughter has a teenage half-brother, and that basically seems to be a lot of videogamery of the type that I totally don't understand, it being all not-Galaga and stuff. My stepdaughter was just describing a music video to me, and I thought for a minute and then told her honestly that the last video I remember, with the ecxeption of a few ubiquitous YouTube clips, was "What You Do to Me" by Teenage Fanclub. Youth culture killed my dog, you know. > I'm losing my son to college on Sunday. I need some sympathy. I won't > hear him singing in the shower until Thanksgiving. Can't fathom it. Be strong. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:28:14 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: that's the point On 8/29/07, Rex wrote: > > > > > I simply don't know what I would do if Britney and Christina > > and Fergie and Justin were blaring on a daily basis. > > I still don't know from that shit. I could recognize one Britney song > and one Black Eyed Peas song and that's it. > I think very few people indeed, hearing only the instrumental tracks for upcoming, not-yet-released new tracks by those artists, could tell you which one was for which artist - especially given that in that genre, changing over to the new producer flavor-of-the-month is what gives you whatever cred you might have. It's a producer's medium. This all based on admittedly limited hearing of a handful of tracks from each of them...but that's definitely the impression I get hearing unknown tracks in the background where such music is played. That's so different from the sort of music I and a lot of us listen to: as an example, a few weeks ago I posted two tracks from the Mary Timony Band CD. Both begin with a solo guitar part - and both are immediately recognizable as her playing (well, 'recognizable' if you're familiar with her music otherwise...but distinctive, at any rate). - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:41:17 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: that's the point On 8/29/07, 2fs wrote: > On 8/29/07, Rex wrote: > > > > > > > I simply don't know what I would do if Britney and Christina > > > and Fergie and Justin were blaring on a daily basis. > > > > I still don't know from that shit. I could recognize one Britney song > > and one Black Eyed Peas song and that's it. > > > > I think very few people indeed, hearing only the instrumental tracks for > upcoming, not-yet-released new tracks by those artists, could tell you which > one was for which artist - especially given that in that genre, changing > over to the new producer flavor-of-the-month is what gives you whatever cred > you might have. It's a producer's medium. True, but once they're released and have titles and scale the charts, everybody knows whose songs they are. The best I can do is associate titles, and with Timberlake, Aguilera, and solo Fergie, I can't even do that. I don't even know who those various Simpson girls are or how they came to be, other than that there are a few and they started out as something other than muscial artists and were breifly reality TV personages. However, I will totally know who the next crop of people like them are. Probably already do, actually; see my prior references to the cast of SLOZ&C. Speaking of acronyms, somehow I instantly understood the new Laurenism you asked about... it was something akin to Oh Fuck It You All Know What I'm Talking About... I could check it but ICBBTLITARN. That's so different from the sort of music I and a lot of us listen to: as > an example, a few weeks ago I posted two tracks from the Mary Timony Band > CD. Both begin with a solo guitar part - and both are immediately > recognizable as her playing (well, 'recognizable' if you're familiar with > her music otherwise...but distinctive, at any rate). Yeah, we like that kind of stuff, us dinosaurs. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 23:20:03 -0400 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: Re: "breeder" thread tc says: > My 5.5 year old daughter is well on her way to geekdom. No > princesses or Barbies for her; she wants t be Velma from Scooby-Doo. plus chances are good that if you continue to call her "x.y" (instead of e.g. "x and 1/y") years old, she is well on her way to the good life. > > x "proudly wearing my USB necklace" o > > Oh now you're just toying with me. > http://tinyurl.com/336qhn actually there's been two of them as of late. it's geek central. sadly, your name doesn't seem to be on them: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-SDCZ6-1024-A10-Retail-Package/dp/B000EWARBG/ref=cm_ciu_pdpimg_prodinfo/104-8458211-2127155?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1188438732&sr=8-3 (dopes at amazon left out a necklace photograph.) (but you know, i _do_ have room for a tattoo or two...) as ever, lauren - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 23:00:17 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: that's the point On 8/29/07, Rex wrote: > > > That's so different from the sort of music I and a lot of us listen to: as > > an example, a few weeks ago I posted two tracks from the Mary Timony > Band > > CD. Both begin with a solo guitar part - and both are immediately > > recognizable as her playing (well, 'recognizable' if you're familiar > with > > her music otherwise...but distinctive, at any rate). > > Yeah, we like that kind of stuff, us dinosaurs. Instruments with funny moving parts and strings and shit? Weird... - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:32:20 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Son of TL:DR -- The man shaped light will not deliver your sorry ass Update: Interpol. Well, I think at long last I've had to conclude that while in theory it's all fine and well, in practice I have no use for this band beyond the first album, perhaps even the first single. The main problem with this new one is uniformity, which, if they're angling to be the Ramones of neopostpunk, is all fine and well: substitute seesawing chorused/delayed eighth notes and parallel fifths for power chords in 1-4-5 progressions, and you got it. Otherwise, take up the problem that the most interesting musical setting on the album is that cringe-inducing threesome song, add a single that towers over all of the rest of the tunes, and those horrid church chimes, and I think I'm out. For sheer soundscape pleasure, I keep returning instead to that Silversun Pickups record. Speaking of which, I dunno if this has happened to anyone else, but I accidentally burned that album in the reverse song order (shades of my original experience with EOL) and fell in love with it in that sequence. I've since re-burned it in the correct sequence and realized that I would definitely have been less immediately taken with it as it's supposed to be heard-- although the opener is strong, the next two or three tracks are among my least favorites by a pretty wide margin. But now I'm stuck with it for good. Another odd thing about how much I love this album is that in quite a few places it sounds rather a lot like Smashing Pumpkins, whom I loathe. I could postulate any number of reasons or excuses for this discrepancy: the singer's voice is better than albeit similar to Corgan's; the lyrics, while not always fantastic, are substantially better than Corgan's (or Interpol's for that matter); the aspects of the music that grab me the most are more clearly descended from Sonic Youth or My Bloody Valentine; or even the weak-ass fact that these are my neighborhood heroes. But the final truth is just that through THE MIRACLE OF PERSONAL, UNACCOUNTABLE MUSICAL TASTE, not beholden to any critical quantification or oath of consistency, I pretty much just love Silversun Pickups and still hate Smashing Pumpkins. So there. However, it's still not as good as the most recent Sonic Youth (released last year) or the most recent MBV (released in 1976 or so, I think). Update: Rilo Kiley. Okay, this record is just not good. The crazysexydumb "pop" tunes ("Moneymaker", "Smoke Detector", etc.) might be intended as ironic, but that can only be understood in the context of what's meant to be a commercial breakthrough of a record, and that's really never a good excuse for a labored-over but nevertheless disposible-sounding song. On any other RK release, they would be real head-scratchers. There are maybe three good songs sticking out like sore thumbs, but there's also the tune on which one of the guys sings instead of Jenny Lewis, and it pretty much sounds like Fleetwood Mac vamping endlessly on the bridge to "Every Breath You Take". Update: Lucinda Williams, "West". The songs that connect really stick, but the clunkers really clunk... it's pretty much a "wear out the grooves on Side 1, but never flip it over" kind of affair. Never thought I'd feel this way, but maybe Lu really needs to slow down... First Foray: the new Crowded House. This sounds pretty good, albeit a little understandably downbeat, and I haven't detected any standouts as of yet. Haven't had a chance to really pay it due attention yet, though... anyone else have strong opinions? Update: Fountains of Wayne discography. Still on the fence here, but definitely still listening. The Ray Davies-like character sketches work pretty well *as long as* the band can restrain themselves from, for lack of a better term, punchlines... that's when the song crosses over from Kinks or Replacements territory and into the realm of, say, Too Much Joy or something like that. They seem to be just a little too self-effacing to embrace the "bigness" or visceral nature of the very rawk that permeates their genetic code, too aware that it's all a rather silly enterprise )which is something that you have to love about an artist like Robyn, but he's more able to deliver a gut-wrencher without a wink). Every FOW record has definite keepers (the ballads as often as not) and definite off-putters. The most recent album, TRAFFIC & WEATHER, is by far the most irritating in that it's sequenced with the kind of songs I really like almost invariably alternating with the kind I really don't like ("Planet of Weed" just blows), whereas on the other records the greatness and the insipidness seem to cluster together. By contrast, the debut, on which I can now sort of detect the lingering but not overpowering odor of teen spirit that dates it, has a lot of strong songs that I tend to think of as later, more mature tunes until they pop up on there. Hmmm. Update: The New Phonogrammists, CHALLENGERS. This still rules. Been playing it back to back with TWIN CINEMA and loving them both, although I admit I'm a little scared to play either of the first two albums right now for fear that they will again blow my mind, mannnnnn. Update: The Fall, REFORMATION POST-TLC. Definitely a step down from the last couple, but with worthy moments. I liked it more on the first few listens than I do now. The first five tracks are incredibly great, actually (I love it when MES gets all prideful about himself or the band-- which he's entitled to, but the Fall are such an odd arty concern about which to crow "My God we are SO badass!", and when he does it he does it sooo well). The balace is qute filler-y indeed, even by Fall standards, really fragmented and replete with a sound collage that you just know *nobody* even listened to before slapping it on the album and leaving it for you, the listener, to test drive. Then suddenly out of nowhere comes the fantastically great "Systematic Abuse", and then one more sliver of fizzle. Ah, but even a halfass Fall record is a thing of wonder, and fright. Memo to self: burn Von Sudenfed album to disc for car listening. So, any strong recommendations for back-to-school listening? Potential top-10 of the year releases I've missed? And finally, they just towed away the Thing That Was My Car for More Than Ten Years. End of an era. Also it was 100 fucking degrees today and that's too hot. - -Rex ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V16 #309 ********************************