DVD: Hollywoodland.

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If you liked Zodiac, you’ll probably like this as well. Unsolved crime from years ago, completely obsessed in-this-case private eye (in-that-case reporter) who winds up endangering the rest of his life with his need to figure out what happened.

Slow moving, with a constant intercut between the PI (Adrien Brody, usually creepy but very effective here!!) in the present and Reeves and Mannix (Affleck and Lane, both giving great performances!) in the past. Moody with strong subcurrents of regret on growing old, lost opportunities, mishandled relationships. Very noir-ish. (I wish they would have shot this in black & white!)

I particularly enjoyed Bob Hoskins and hello flashback Kathleen Robertson (Steve’s girlfriend “Claire” in the later seasons of 90210!!!).

À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…

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Making: About to blindstitch the binding to the back of Mariko’s quilt. Halfway through the second sleeve on Maddox.

Reading: “Landor’s Tower” by Iain Sinclair. Actually tried to read this once about two years ago and never got past the first chapter. Picked it up again and am zipping right through. Very Joycean in its language and rhythms.

Watching: Season one (and perhaps the only) of Jericho. After reading Meg’s recent post, I decided to try it out. Even though Skeet Ulrich has always given me the skeeves in the past, I am totally diggin’ him on this show!

Listening: Jason Isbell, which finally hit iTunes. Like it a lot!

Album: The White Stripes “Icky Thump”

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So in the past, I have always thought “naw, I don’t think so” when a new White Stripes album comes out. Then a few weeks after its release, I start hearing it everywhere and loving it. Then I finally buy it and it becomes completely indispensable to my listening ears. So this time, I bought it right away. Good idea — ’cause I love it! I mean I LOVE it EXCEPT I HATE “St Andrew (blah blah)”. That song just grates on my ears and in fact I believe I will DELETE it from iTunes altogether when I get home tonight so it never accidentally starts playing! Hate. Love. It’s always a fine line!
Actually I love this album so much that I think I may finally have found my new AC/DC. You know, that one band in a genre you never ever listen to but you just love that one band so much you listen to it constantly? Because THIS album to me is not rock. It’s HARD rock. Metal, almost. I mean, seriously…it rocks. It’s loud and sassy and all BEAT and GUITAR and hello is it not hard rock to you?
As close to listening to Headbanger’s ball as I will ever be, EXCEPT of course AC/DC “Back in Black” which I did in high school (and still do) listen to full-on over and over. Hello if you went to high school when I did, you young folk, there is no way you didn’t know all the words to at least three songs on this album, whether you liked it or not. And it’s certainly the only hard rock I was interested in then. (And OK, during high school, I was willing to make out to Whitesnake, but I wouldn’t listen to it otherwise.)
So there’s two recommendations for you: White Stripes “Icky Thump” = THUMBS UP. AC/DC “Back in Black” = in my all-time Top 10, no question. (Whitesnake = only during heavy petting.)

New Releases I Bought Last Night on iTunes:

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  • Crowded House
  • Stars
  • Sara Bareille (only $6.99! can’t go wrong)

New Releases I Considered Buying But Decision Postponed:
  • Spoon
  • Smashing Pumpkins
  • Jesse Harris
  • Interpol

New Releases I Wanted to Buy But They Weren’t There:
  • Jason Isbell (Why, iTunes? Why?)

Quote of the Day.

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God strike me with a urine-soaked newspaper if I ever do this drug again…
–from an article in July issue of The Sun. Let me flip back and see… “Methamphetamine for Dummies” by Poe Ballantine. I haven’t actually read any of this yet, the page just flipped open to this as I was picking up my mail the other day (like two weeks ago! doh!).

Summer Mixes.

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I have yet to make one myself (hello, you remember how I’m a lazy procrastinator, right?) as I usually never get around to it until the END of said season, but here are a few (1, 2, 3, 4) suggestions if you’re looking to make one on your end. (Hey, send me a copy!) And here is the “mix” I’m listening to right now: Japanese pop!

Maria Taylor: New to me. New to you?

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So you may or may not remember me liking the Maria Taylor song that’s on the Paste #30 sampler. I bought her latest album “Lynn Teeter Flower” shortly after that. It’s a little quirky / songs are very stylistically different from each other / you just don’t know what to expect and it feels a bit off kilter, like she hasn’t found HER sound yet. But I am quite enjoying it and can’t quite compare it to anyone else. How refreshing!

And I am also quite enjoying her 10 Things list (linked to today by Largehearted Boy). I am soooo with her on #6 and #3 (except for the fine arts high school bit. Hello there were 40 people in my graduating class, that supported one crappy high school and certainly not a fine arts high school in addition or instead).