ACTION IS HIS MIDDLE NAME

Morrissey is coming to Portland on Friday. One hopes. He still has two days. The dude is cagey.

Morrissey's every effort these days is always to be met with cautious enthusiasm. I've seen shows where he's been amazing, I've seen others where he's really stiffed it and looks like he couldn't be bothered. I try not to pay attention to the talking head version of the man anymore. His views are far too calcified, and he plays the bully when faced with opposition. His latest antics with Jimmy Kimmel are all you need to to know to see he has pretty much lost all sense of humor and isn't even on point enough to realize that of course Kimmel wasn't going to be pushed around by him and of course he'd make fun of Moz for it the next day. The Morrissey of my youth would have gone on the show, performed "Meat is Murder," and rewritten the lyrics to apply to ducks.

That said...I am still pretty stoked for the concert. It was supposed to happen last fall, and we've literally been waiting months now.

Way back when, Ned Lannamann at the Portland Mercury suggested I write their preview for the show, but only if I could give him something about the singer he'd never read before. I thought he was nuts, but I decided to try.

This is what I came up with.

I'm pretty proud of it, I must say.

Current Soundtrack: Kate Nash, Girl Talk

MUSICAL YOUTH II

While I haven't scanned anymore photos of my groupie days since my original Musical Youth post, the lady on the right of this photo, Alex, posted this photo of us with Gene-frontman Martin Rossiter to Facebook this morning.

I look absolutely awful. Judging by the size of my hair, I am guessing this is post-show, so I am all pit-wrecked from being down front. This would have been from Seattle in1995, I think, from Gene's first tour of the States. They played Moe's. I got my vinyl copy of Olympian signed.

Alex and I went on to co-host @lright, the infamously terrible cable-access show about Britpop, a few years later.

Martin Rossiter released his first solo album last year. It's positively lovely and worth seeking out. In fact, it's only an $8.99 download at Amazon.

Current Soundtrack: Martin Rossiter, The Defenestration of St. Martin

Suede - "It Starts And Ends With You" (Official Music Video)

MINING FOR MEMORIES: What did I listen to in 2012?

As I guess is now becoming my tradition, I am forgoing any top 10 or other rankings and letting statistics speak for me.

According to the LastFm, these are the artists bands, by the numbers, I listened to more than any other over the last 12 months.

Lots of older bands mixed in with newer releases, and one comedian. Blur and Suede both had big restoration projects in the last 18 months, and so there was som re-visiting of their back catalogue. The Beasties got a lot of play, unfortunately, due to the death of Adam Yauch. The top 4 acts all had new albums, though, as did many of the others.

The most-played song list, if presented at face value, would be skewed toward bands like fun. and the Vaccines whose albums I had on repeat for a while, so I am going to only list the singles and isolated cuts. "Losing You" by Solange was easily my favorite song of the year, though, so it's no surprise that it dominates with 57 total plays. Had she released more than an EP, and had it been earlier than in the last months of the year, Solange would easily have made the top 25 artists.

Interestingly, enough, despite being my most played artist and having a great new album, Elysium, none of the Pet Shop Boys singles ranked in the final tally.

1. Solange - "Losing You" (57 plays)
2. fun. w/ Janelle Monae - "We Are Young" (47 plays)
3. Michael Kiwanuka - "Tell Me a Tale" / fun. - "Some Nights" (33 plays)
4. Christina Aguilera - "Your Body" / fun. - "Carry On" (30 plays)
5. Paul Weller - "That Dangerous Age" / The Shins - "Simple Song" (28 plays)
6. Saint Etienne - "Tonight" / Frank Ocean - "Thinkin' About You" / The Vaccines - "Teenage Icon" / Fiona Apple - "Hot Knife" (27 plays)
7. Muse - "Survival" / Arctic Monkeys - "R U Mine?" (26 plays)
8. Muse - "Madness" / Frank Ocean - "Pyramids" / The Vaccines - "No Hope" (25 plays)
9. Michael Kiwanuka - "Home Again" / No Doubt - "Settle Down" / Blur - "Under the Westway" (23 plays)
10. Paul Weller - "When Your Garden's Overgrown" / Taylor Swift - "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" (22 plays)
11. Martin Rossiter - "Drop Anchor" / Of Monsters and Men - "Little Talks" / The xx - "Angels" (21 plays)
12. Brett Anderson - "Isolation" / Spiritualized - "So Long You Pretty Thing" / Bat for Lashes - "Laura" (20 plays)
13. Saint Etienne - "DJ" / Santigold - "Disparate Youth" / Nicki Minaj - "Starships" / Bloc Party - "Octopus" (19 plays)

Notable old songs that got played a lot include the Hollies "The Air that I Breathe" (28), Simon & Garfunkle "Kathy's Song" (26), Nico "These Days" (19), and Suede "Breakdown" (19).

Current Soundtrack: Billie Holiday, The Complete Commodore/Decca Masters

MUSICAL YOUTH

Found some photos of me meeting bands in the early '90s.

With Harriet Wheeler from the Sundays, Blind tour 1992.

Brett Anderson from Suede, just before their debut Hollywood show, 1993.

Adam Ant, Wonderful tour 1995.

Current Soundtrack: Silver Linings Playbook OST

TONIIIIIGHT I'M A PODCAST STAR

I was lucky enough to be a guest on Nerdfight #8, the music-themed episode. Hear us debate Metallica vs. Van Halen, Nirvana vs. Pearl Jam, and Prince vs. Michael Jackson, while putting the hurt on the likes of Weezer and Foo Fighters. Lots of knowledge dropped in this podcast. Not by me, of course. I just zinged some snark into the ether.

Get it from the Chronicles of the Nerds site, or grab it from iTunes.

Current Soundtrack: A Creation Records playlist on Spotify

THE ACTOR (LOVES HIMSELF)

Hey, check it out. I'm quoted in a movie trailer for the first time ever. And it's an actual quote for a movie I loved, not some doctored pull that doesn't quite jibe with the truth.

So, give a look to the new trailer for Jobriath A.D.




Current Soundtrack: A Place to Bury Strangers, Worship

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE SUCH SWEET MUSIC

I think I have come to the tail end of what turned out to be more labor-intensive for an obsessive-minded music nerd such as myself than even I anticipated.

Given the positive reaction to the Spotify playlist that I created for Bobby Pins and Mary Janes, I decided to backtrack and rebuild the playlists for all my books that had them or could have had them.

For instance, if I had a Cut My Hair mix, it was on cassette. There was no such thing as iTunes or Spotify back then. So, for that book, I just pulled out a copy and flipped through the pages, building a rather long playlist based on chapter titles and significant songs. You can access the results through this link if you have Spotify.

It's not as complete as I'd like. A couple of songs are missing. In fact, a lot of the playlists I have built are incomplete. Some of the more obscure Britpop that makes up a lot of The Everlasting's original list is just not available in the States. Neither is the Faye Wong track that should be on the Have You Seen the Horizon Lately? list, not to mention the Geneva title track. Same goes for My Life Story's "12 Reasons Why I Love Her"--in fact, 12 Reasons has such a bad batting average, I was forced to actually label the list as "incomplete."

On the other hand, almost all the songs from Love the Way You Love are there, and you can hear tracks from all three Spell Checkers books, including the one that isn't out yet.

The Spotify interface is a little weird for getting the urls for individual lists, but essentially, if you got to the Cut My Hair list or Bobby Pins and Mary Janes version, and then click on my profile name, you can see all of my public lists. The books covered are:

* 5 1/2 - the book in progress
* 12 Reasons Why I Love Her
* Cut My Hair
* The Everlasting
* Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?
* Love the Way You Love
* Spell Checkers

It should be noted that I don't actually like all the songs in Spell Checkers. I picked that Lady Gaga one for the party scene in volume 1 because the lyrics are so bad!

Current Soundtrack: take your pick!

THE FIERCE LAST STAND OF ALL I AM

Just received my copies of Unite and Take Over, vol. 2, the comic book anthology featuring stories inspired by Smiths songs.

Christopher Mitten and I adapted "Well I Wonder" from Meat Is Murder into a dark tale of crime and romance. Chris and I have been wanting to work together for a long time, so I am really glad he was able to do this.

The folks at SpazDog did an awesome job of bringing the book together. Chris' art printed really nice.

The comic also contains stories by my friends Jennifer de Guzman and Eric M. Esquivel. Ask your local comic shop to order it, or get it from Amazon by pressing the button below.

Current Soundtrack: Garbage, Not Your Kind Of People

I LOVE A GOOD FIGHT

NEW TO THEATRES...

* Bernie, Richard Linklater reteams with Jack Black for a semi-successful comedic take on the true crime genre.

* The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen's latest is big on laughs and small on story, but if you like his stuff, the giggles win.


OTHER ARTICLES...

* This weekend in Portland, the sixth-annual Queer Documentary Film Festival is going down. I wrote a round-up of the event for the Mercury. If you are in town, you have to do what you can to go see Jobriath A.D. It's excellent!

* To commemorate the passing of Adam Yauch, I wrote about the Criterion Beastie Boys Video Anthology.

Current Soundtrack: Asobi Seksu, "Miniature Cities;" Ian McCulloch, "Vibor Blue (Acoustic Version);" the Monarques, "It's All Over Now"

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich

STILL STUCK IN YOUR THROAT

Updates have been terrible lately. I've never liked to post just to post, so when I am focused and otherwise have nothing to say...I don't post. That's what my tumblr is for! So, just a reminder, I have regular posts over there, mostly just marking what I am watching, hearing, and reading. Midi-Confessions123.

NEW TO THEATRES...

* Jeff, Who Lives at Home, a preciously magical comedy. Or magically precious. I can't remember which. Either way, it's very good.

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* Letter Never Sent, a beautiful wilderness survival story from the director of The Cranes are Flying. (Also at DVDTalk.)


THIS WEEK IN DVD/BD REVIEWS...

* Conversation Piece, the elegant penultimate film from Luchino Visconti.

* Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, an in-depth documentary on the seminal Los Angeles rock band

* Looney Tunes Super Stars: Pepé le Pew, I should have reviewed this as if it were a tragedy, not a comedy.

* Public Image Limited - Live at Rockpalast 1983, a classic live concert from Lydon & Co.

Current Soundtrack: testing out the playlist for tonight's "The Karl Show! starring Jason" broadcast; see my next post for details

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich

LEARN TO LOVE ME AND ASSEMBLE THE WAYS

The folks over at SpazDog Press are doing a second Unite and Take Over anthology, collecting comic book stories inspired by Smiths lyrics.

For this volume, I have written a script suggested by the song "Well I Wonder," and the amazingly talented Christopher Mitten has drawn it.

Here is a sample page:

The publisher has a Kickstarter campaign going to help support the book. Here is the page. Please look it over and, if any of the rewards offered strike your fancy, consider donating to get this comic off the ground. There is also a full list of contributors and the songs they are tackling, and plenty of good people are involved.

Current Soundtrack: Teenage Fanclub, Shadows

MAKE SOME NOISE: 2011 MUSIC

This year's music for me was dominated by reissues and reunions, if my LastFM scrobble list is anything to go by.

My top 15 bands, judged by the amount of listens from January 1 to December 31, 2011 are as follows:

1. Suede
2. Nicki Minaj
3. Radiohead
4. Brett Anderson
5. Elbow
6. Asobi Seksu
7. Morrissey
8. Beastie Boys
9. Alex Turner
10. Christina Perri
11. Duran Duran
12. Pet Shop Boys
13. Duffy
14. The Raveonettes
15. Arctic Monkeys
16. The Beatles
17. Underworld
18. DJ Shadow
19. Low
20. The Horrors

The Suede posting was definitely the double-disc reissues of all five of their albums, while the Duran Duran listing was a combo of All You Need is Now being released and getting my hands on their double-disc reissues for the early albums, as well. Morrissey flooded the market with compilations and dredged-up rarities, and The Beatles had the Anthology series come out again. New efforts from both the Beastie Boys and Pet Shop Boys also sent me into their back catalogue a little.

Alex Turner gets a special note since the Submarine EP was just an EP, and so it took more dedicatied listening on my part to get those numbers. If it came down to it, that soundtrack would easily be my album of the year, and "Piledriver Waltz" was my favorite song. It showed up in a different form on the Arctic Monkeys album Suck It and See, which narrowly missed this list, giving Turner another boost.

I quite like this solo performance of the song from French radio:

Other notable songs in terms of how many times they got spun around here (a couple obvious holdovers from 2010):

Elbow - "The Night Will Always Win"
Christina Perri - "Jar of Hearts"
Brett Anderson - "Brittle Heart"
Kanye West, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, & Nicki Minaj - "Monster"
Nicki Minaj - "Right Thru Me"
Asobi Seksu - "Trails"
Beastie Boys - "Make Some Noise"
Mogwai - "Rano Pano"
Duffy - "My Boy"
Beady Eye - "Four Letter Word"
The Strokes - "Under Cover of Darness"
The Horrors - "Still Life"
The Joy Formidable - "Austere"
Little Dragon - "Ritual Union"
Desire - "Under Your Spell"
Miles Kane - "Come Closer"
Cults - "You Know What I Mean"

SUNDAY, MONDAY, WE LIE AROUND BUT IT'S NOT EASY

This is a bit crazy to even consider, but wow, "I Don't Know Why," the first Suede track since 2003.

Just live now, and clearly rough since Brett is still not even sure of the lyrics (not the first time I've seen a singer with a lyric sheet; Michael Stipe has one for every song, so not sure why some people are freaking out). The song is solid, sort of a mix of latter day Suede and Brett Anderson solo; not epic, in other words, but still exciting.

I'll admit to having high expectations, but the general thrill of a mention of "I Don't Know Why" landing in my inbox was pretty amazing. New Suede singles were always something I used to build to and get geared up for, so even in the old days, it was rare to get surprised with no warning like this.

The band are clearly using this Russian tour to sort out some new material. In addition to "I Don't Know Why," there is a snippet of something allegedly called "Falling Planes," a video here connecting the end of a song called "The Only" to one called "Someone Better," and a slower song called "Sabotage."

The band keeps playing coy about the prospect of a new album, and probably smartly so--it gives them the option of walking away if it never gels--but these leaks give us new hope.

I also quite like this audio of Brett covering the Horrors on the radio.

I've been a bit frustrated lately at not being able to get my hands on the B-sides to "Crash About to Happen," since they are UK-only downloads and have not been physically released. Anyone got the hook-up?

HALF THE WORLD AWAY

2011 is half over. Here are the top 15 bands I've listened to the most so far this year.

1. Nicki Minaj
2. Elbow
3. Asobi Seksu
4. Alex Turner
5. Morrissey
6. Radiohead
7. Beastie Boys
8. The Chemical Brothers
9. Duran Duran
10. Underworld
11. Duffy
12. Christina Perri
13. Beady Eye
14. Mogwai
15. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

You know, because no one asked.

Current Soundtrack: Dean & Britta, "Teenage Lightning & Lonely Highways (Sonic Boom Remix)"

MOVIN' RIGHT ALONG



This past weekend, my friend Robert Fortney (who also snapped the above photo) and I took a road trip down to Coos Bay, Oregon, to see the second-ever live performance of Mike Allred's band The Gear. We then hung out at Mike's house and enjoyed that famous Allred hospitality. (So much French Toast!)

Bobby was driving, and our trip was going to be over 3 hours, so I made a 3-hour, 23-minute road trip mix, with an ear towards propulsive rhythms and choosing songs that had some sort of thematic connection to travel, running, the sun, freedom, etc.

52 songs in all. If anyone wants to try to rebuild it themselves, here is the full track listing.

1. Nigel Godrich - "Universal Theme"
2. Bat for Lashes w/ Beck - "Let's Get Lost"
3. Cee-Lo Green - "What Part of Forever (Remix)"
4. Primal Scream - "Loaded (Single Version)"
5. Jim Reid - "And Your Bird Can Sing"
6. The Beatles - "Free As a Bird"
7. Spiritualized - "Run (single version)"
8. The Troggs - "Any Way That You Want Me"
9. Pink Floyd - "Apples and Oranges"
10. The Trash Can Sinatras - "Oranges and Apples (Single)" [a tribute to Syd Barrett]
11. Low - "Fearles" (a Pink Floyd Cover)
12. Cat Sevens - "Wild World"
13. The Rolling Stones - "I Am Waiting"
14. The Kings - "Powerman"
15. Broken Bells - "The High Road"
16. Suede - "Europe Is Our Playground" [Best of version]
17. Morrissey - "Moonriver (2011 - Remaster)"
18-19. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - "Fury [Ferry Across the Mersey]/Born To Run"
20. One Dove - "White Love (Radio Mix)"
21. The Style Council - "Everything To Lose (Blue Remix/Extra Demo)"
22. The Divine Comedy - "A Woman Of The World"
23. Dum Dum Girls - "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"
24. Alex Turner - "Piledriver Waltz"
25. Elvis Costello - "I Can't Stand Up (For Falling Down)"
26. Sam & Dave - "I Can't Stand Up"
27. Wanda Jackson - "Let's Have a Party"
28. Gorillaz - "Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)"
29. Scissor Sisters - "Invisible Light"
30. Cee-Lo Green - "Fuck You"
31. Harry Nilsson - "You're Breakin' My Heart"
32. The Who - "I Can See For Miles"
33. David Bowie - "I Can't Explain"
34. Wire - "Three Girl Rhumba"
35. Pulp - "The Professional"
36. Super Furry Animals - "Juxtaposed With U"
37. Cults - "You Know What I Mean"
38. Christina Aguilera - "Woohoo - Feat. Nicki Minaj"
39. Kanye West - "Monster (featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver)"
40. Nicki Minaj - "Girls Fall Like Dominoes"
41. A Tribe Called Quest - "Can I Kick It"
42. The Velvet Underground - "Ride Into The Sun"
43. Ride - "Twisterella"
44. Otis Redding & Carla Thomas - "Tramp"
45. The Supremes - "Run, Run, Run"
46. Dusty Springfield - "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes"
47. Marvin Gaye - "Hitch Hike"
48. My Chemical Romance - "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)"
49. Arctic Monkeys - "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala"
50. New Order - "Krafty"
51. Depeche Mode - "Free"
52. Geneva - "Have You Seen the Horizon Lately? (Aloof Mix)"

***

And don't forget, you too can see the Gear playing at the Tr!ckster event during Comic Con!

Current Soundtrack: The Band, Greatest Hits

IMAGE FANTOME: AM I NORMAL?

My old pal Marc Ellerby contacted me last week to help out on a short comic he was needing to get done. Five days and three pages later, he's got the thing colored up and in my inbox. Bam!

More details to come, though I am sure the comics detectives out there can put two and two together and come up wiht something close to 1, 2, 3, 4, GO!

Current Soundtrack: Cee Lo Green, The Ladykiller

LOVING THE ALIEN

NEW IN THEATRES...

* The Other Woman, in which Natalie Portman gets really, really sad. Really.

* Paul, the new Simon Pegg/Nick Frost comedy takes on sci-fi as the genre of choice, and though it's funny, you will miss Edgar Wright.

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

* The Double Life of Veronique, revisiting Krzysztof Kieślowski's masterful film on Blu-Ray.

* Topsy-Turvy, Mike Leigh's impressive dramatization of Gilbert & Sullivan writing The Mikado. (Also at DVD Talk.)

THIS WEEK IN DVD/BD REVIEWS...

* Heartbreaker, a rom-com that reminds us that the French make crappy movies, too.

* Sunday in New York, a flaccid 1960s romantic comedy with a very non-flaccid, sexy Jane Fonda.

* Teen A Go Go, a DIY documentary on 1960s Texas garage bands.

* Two in the Wave, a documentary about Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard that mostly preaches to the choir, but is still entertaining.

Current Soundtrack: The Office, Valentine's 2011 episode

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Midi-Confessions123 * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2011 Jamie S. Rich

BOXES & LISTS: MUSIC 2010

Release dates feel so amorphous in the digital age, and since I am also extremely lazy, I am not going to dig through my music collection and figure out what actually came out last year. Rather, I'll let someone else's statistical tracking of my listening habits create a picture of 2010.

According to my LastFm account, the top 15 artists I listened to the most in the last 12 months are:

1. Christina Aguilera - 1,055 individual song plays
2. Gorillaz - 722
3. Brett Anderson - 614
4 Janelle Monáe - 577
5. The Trash Can Sinatras - 547
6. Brian Eno - 434
7. Rihanna - 378
8. Massive Attack - 377
9. Suede - 360
10. Charlotte Gainsbourg - 354
11. M.I.A. - 334
12. Paul Weller - 327
13. Ash - 321
14. Broken Bells - 303
15. The Roots - 300

To be fair, I should also note some of the most prolific listens from the last 3 months, accounting for late year releases who had to do some catching up:

Belle & Sebastian - 245
Nicki Minaj - 202
Bruno Mars - 197
Duffy - 164
Bryan Ferry - 154

As far as individual songs are concerned, the picture is cloudier, dominated by the artists who ruled the overall charts. Out of the top 15, four are Christina Aguilera, one is by Broken Bells, and the rest are Brett Anderson.

Top of the list is Christina's "Lift Me Up" at 59 plays, followed by "Not Myself Tonight" at 43, "You Lost Me" at 42, and a few slots down, "Birds of Prey" at 39.

Brett Anderson's "The Hunted" dominated at 40, and the rest of his Slow Attack album was right behind with plays in the 30s.

Broken Bells' "The High Road" had 37 plays.

Other big ones:
M.I.A. - "XXXO" - 35
Metric - "Black Sheep" - 26
Bruno Mars - "Grenade" - 21
Duffy - "Well, Well, Well" and "Endlessly" - both at 18
Belle & Sebastian - "I Want the World to Stop" - 15
Christina Aguilera - "Express" - 15
Rihanna – "Only Girl (In The World)" - 14
Nicki Minaj - "Right Thru Me" - 14
My Chemical Romance – "Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)" - 12

Most of those had the cuts from their albums hovering at numbers just below their main hit entry. Metric is really the only individual song that pushed through, and that is off a pretty killer soundtrack; there is no great one-off single lurking around, sadly enough.

I wish I had thought to record what my total play count was at this time 12 months ago so I could see how many songs I listened to this year. For posterity, in case we try again in 365 days, Last FM says I have listened to 165,017 songs in some digital format or other since June 18, 2007.

Current Soundtrack: Lily Allen, It's Not You, It's Me (I woke up with "Not Fair" stuck in my head)

HAMBURGER BREATH STINKFINGER

A little late putting the list together this week. Like so many others, I did some traveling over the holiday and didn't have the computer access to really put this together. Visiting family is always time for me to see bad movies, too, so I sat through one pretty decent one (The Next Three Days--slow start, excellent final act, kind of lame final scenes), a mediocre one (Karate Kid; Jaden Smith is the most phony actor, I don't get it), and one truly awful, awful piece of crap (Grown-Ups; an ironic title since the humor was aimed at dimwitted toddlers). I washed it all away with the original True Grit when I got home. I am so ready for the Coens now.

NEW IN THEATRES...

* Burlesque. I still love you Christina, but why did you make me sit through this? Cher is going to be great in the Ben Stiller threquel Night at the Wax Museum.

* Outside the Law, a familiar but overall solid story of three brothers in the fight for Algerian independence.

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...

My last three Criterion reviews have a running theme: socially conscious comedies from the past that are still relevant today.

* Modern Times, the classic Charlie Chaplin comedy manages to remain timely and hilarious. [Also at DVDTalk.]

* My Man Godfrey, with William Powell as the butler who is more than he seems.

* Sulivan's Travels, a profound comedy about the power of laughter and the human spirit from Preston Sturges.

THIS WEEK IN DVD/BD REVIEWS...

* Metalocalypse: Season Three: Somehow the cartoon series manages to overcome its thin premise (chronicling the over-the-top situational adventures of the biggest black metal band in the world) and continue to crank out the comedy. Best season yet.

* The Venture Bros.: Season 4, Vol. 1, one of the best cartoons on TV has a bit of a lacklustre cycle, but still worth it for when the jokes hit their mark.

Current Soundtrack: the Ride station on Pandora

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2010 Jamie S. Rich