. . .

...to two of my favorites.


Jeff Tweedy, the brains behind my all-time favorite band Wilco, turns 39 today. Words cannot express just how much Tweedy's music has meant to me over the years.



Stuart Murdoch, the lead singer-songwriter of the brilliant Scottish band Belle & Sebastian, turns 38 today. I only recently "discovered" their wonderfulness. You may remember them being made fun of by Jack Black in High Fidelity:

Barry: Holy shite. What the fuck is that?
Dick: It's the new Belle and Sebastian...
Rob: It's a record we've been listening to and enjoying, Barry.
Barry: Well, that's unfortunate, because it sucks ass.

...and later:

[Rob turns off Barry's tape]
Barry: OK, buddy, uh, I was just tryin' to cheer us up so go ahead. Put on some old sad bastard music, see if I care.
Rob: I don't wanna hear old sad bastard music, Barry, I just want something I can ignore.
Barry: Here's the thing. I made that tape special for today. My special Monday morning for *you*... special.
Rob: Well, it's fuckin' Monday afternoon! You should get out of bed earlier!

I think I like them because they are sad-bastard music, but sad-bastard music crossed with 60s and 70s pop influences. (Christ that sounded pretentious.) Anyway, I've been really digging them lately.

Labels: music

• Man, this summer has been dead as far as TV goes. The best show I've seen has been The Hills, a spinoff of Laguna Beach. I highly recommend both shows - they are sort-of reality shows, in that they star actual people, but the scenes are staged and more or less scripted. Virtually nothing happens on either show - they talk about things, and I guess stuff happens, but I'm not sure. They are still addicting. The best character on the shows is Jason, a teenage lothario who juggled like three girls on Laguna Beach before dating LC, who is the "star" of spinoff. He's a giant douchebag, of course, but he somehow attracts all these girls despite being a total dick. He's either ignoring them or apologizing to them. Stephen and I think he's brilliant. He's also a giant cokehead; always disappearing into the bathroom with his "friends", and scratching his nose all the time.
  
• Because of this, I subscribed to Netflix. It is of course, awesome. Random movie thoughts:
• Brick: high-schoolers speaking in Raymond Chandler-esque language. A
• Metropolitan: a Whit Stillman film, which means lots of talking and not much plot. These types of films are like movie crack for me. A-
• The Long Goodbye: Altman's adaptation of a Raymond Chandler book, updated to '70s LA. Great stuff, not to everyone's taste however. A
• Wet Hot American Summer: Irony overload. A parody of summer-camp films by the guys from The State and Stella. Way, way overhyped, but Paul Rudd is predictably awesome. C-
• The Constant Gardener: Two hours of how America and large corporations suck. I live in America, so I already know it sucks. C
• Tristram Shany: A Cock and Bull Story: Sort of a mockumentary-ish, British film about filmmaking. If it's quirky and British, I'm all over it. A-
• Election: High school and election satire. Reese Witherspoon's finest moment. A-
• Magnolia: PT Anderson, 3 hours, John C. Reilly, and Tom Cruise in his only good acting performance ever. A
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: directed by the guy who wrote Lethal Weapon and other 80s/90s action movies. It's a deconstruction of and a good action movie at the same time. A-
• Saw Talledaga Nights in the theater. Absolutely brilliant. It's Anchorman on wheels, but I'm fine with that. Best comedy since 40 Year Old Virgin. Not as good as that one, but still funny as hell.
• Got a job. With the Richland Hills, TX Public Library. Stop in, and I'll pretend I don't know you.
  

Labels: movies, random, TEG