From the "It's Funny Because It's True?" Desk...

A Carrie Brownstein Excerpt

The Shins-Honey Poke Shimmy Lantern
James Mercer and crew can do no wrong. They've added the Decemberists, the Thermals, and Spoon to their lineup. Recorded inside a deer carcass, the sounds on Honey Poke are haunting and cervid. These songs will change your life back to the way it was before The Shins changed it the first time. Remember that song "Red Rubber Ball?" It's on this album!

Rating: $800

The White Stripes-Pale Pail
This album was recorded on an abacus.

Rating: Seborrhea

Tift Merrit-Another Country
Tift Merrit sings the book by James Baldwin.

Rating: Really, really fun.

You should be reading this blog.

This video is great in about eighteen different ways - I'll leave it up to the reader to identify those ways

Things that bother me about American Gangster

Ok, so I felt that American Gangster was a pretty solid movie overall and an enjoyable way to spend an evening. That said, watching it was a pretty frustrating experience because it was nowhere near as good as it could have been. Before I really get into it, however, let me disclose that I have never really enjoyed any Ridley Scott movie [Alien is ok, but obviously pales in comparison to its sequel], am completely ambivalent about Denzel Washington, and actively dislike Russell Crowe. So that probably colored my thoughts quite a bit. I'm trying to avoid spoilers here since the movie just came out on DVD, so bear with me if some of this sounds very vague.

- American Gangster plays like a greatest hits record of mob movie tropes over the past 40 years or so. Wait, what's this? You mean that mobsters can run their business in a manner parallel to legitimate corporations? World political events providing a catalyst for the film's action? A mob man maintaining a family and trophy wife while at the same time being a ruthless killer? Yea, it's all here and more. These omni-present conventions [a cynic might call them cliches] would be forgivable if there were excellent performances or interesting camera work, but unfortunately neither of those exist in American Gangster. This leads to a kind of bland movie, overall. Though RZA's performance gave me particular enjoyment.

- Again, my prejudiced eye is probably abnormal in this regard, but so many things about American Gangster seemed questionable from a legal point of view. The police force, as depicted, shows a mere modicum of respect for the Fourth and Fifth Amendment, and there is a big professional responsibility issue that pops up in my mind, but I won't detail it. In addition to having studied criminal investigation, I really think that watching The Wire has spoiled me. The investigations on The Wire are so wonderfully detailed and logical, that watching American Gangster makes Russell Crowe's investigative team look like the Superfriends.

Photo courtesy of Seanbaby. Anyway, the point is that the investigation techniques used in American Gangster are glossed over at best and moronic hunches that somehow turn accurate at worst. It really marred the movie for me, but I'm a dork like that.

- The final scene, and particularly the final shot, are really silly. So many unnecessary and unexplained things. I'll leave it at that.

- The fact that the movie was based on a true story, so any of my claims that parts of the movie's plot are untenable are null and void! How frustrating!

Ian Paisley has quit as Ulster First Minister

While I'm glad he's gone, it should not go without saying that Paisley did at least some good by recently helping to reconstitute the Northern Ireland Assembly. Well, here's one of Ian's greatest hits which should be of interest to amateur parliamentarians, religion aficionados, and those into public dissent. It certainly gives me a chuckle.

Now I know what the guy who plays Kenneth was doing during the strike

Getting even more typecast.

One month til BSG

With one episode left of The Wire, good television is running out.  Thankfully, Battlestar Galactica is almost back.  [in addition, I'm also highly anticipating the return of 30 Rock]  Get caught up with things with this really funny recap of seasons 1-3.  Note, this will probably be completely worthless if you haven't already watched all the episodes.

Tangentially Tim Curry

Scene stealing performance by Ms. White.  I do adore the super cute killer types...

This song is really good, though I would have preferred to post Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me, but you know that's a little racy for this family type blog.

I saw this movie on my 10th birthday.  No lie.

Wait, Sinbad had a talk show?  Also, this clip is pretty boring so don't waste your time watching all of it.

I think in the years hence, this role has come to compete with Frank-n-Furter for Tim Curry's most famous role.  Also, did you know that Home Alone 2 is on Youtube in its entirety?  Somebody on Fox's legal team is asleep.