It's like no-one here has worked on tv before.

  ¶ posted by darkness at 10:23 PM

  CNN article on Brian K. Vaughan

I'm kinda surprised to see this. If you aren't into comics, Brian K. Vaughan is a young-ish writer guy who's responsible for some of the best comics of the last few years, like Runaways, Y The Last Man, and (my favorite) a really awesome Dr. Strange mini that came out last year. His comic work has kinda dwindled since becoming a staff writer on Lost last year. He was apparently in the dramatic writing program at NYU at the exact same time I was, but I have absolutely no recollection of ever meeting him. I think he was a year ahead of me.

Anyway, it's always great to see good comics get mainstream attention, even if the story is about tv as much as comics.  ¶ posted by darkness at 1:03 PM

  the guy I was gonna vote for in the primary is out, apparently...

This vote is now officially up for grabs. So get a-courtin', Senators. What will you promise to do for me? Like, specifically, directly, individually me? A snow-blower would be a nice start.  ¶ posted by darkness at 10:26 AM

  Fuck the Mets.

Johan Santana was my favorite non-Brave until today. Now I hate him with the fury of a thousand exploding suns. Unlike Pedro, Johan isn't nearly awesome enough to make me forgive his horrible Mets-ness. He's also an asshole for refusing Minnesota's totally reasonable 5-year / $100 million offer. Still, this'll make it even sweeter when the Braves when the division next year.

And shit, I have way too many Mets on my keeper team now. Johan, Pedro, David Wright: all are available, if you're still in Baseball Moguls. Which I don't think is a single one of you dickheads.  ¶ posted by darkness at 5:10 PM

  SANTANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Man, what a dick this guy is! Too bad the Mets will still suck next year.  ¶ posted by Jerkwater Johnson at 4:34 PM

 

  ¶ posted by darkness at 12:55 PM

  Our very first comment ever...

was left at 9:49 am on February 5, 2004, by somebody called Franky. The commenter posted from the IP address 67.33.149.129 and entered fuckyoudicklick@momma.com as his/her e-mail address. The comment reads in its entirety:

"hey at least you aint blowin up that new drowning pool!"

The comment was in response to this post, a list of Elliott's favorite records of 2003.

Our first commenter was kind of a dick.  ¶ posted by darkness at 2:15 PM

  BEST VIDEO GAME OF '08



BARKLEY, SHUT UP AND JAM: GAIDEN

The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041, a day so painful to some that it is referred to only as the "B-Ballnacht". Thousands upon thousands of the world's greatest ballers were massacred in a swath of violence and sports bigotry as the game was outlawed worldwide. The reason: the Chaos Dunk, a jam so powerful its mere existence threatens the balance of chaos and order. Among the few ballers and fans that survived the basketball genocide was Charles Barkley, the man capable of performing the "Verboten Jam"...

Flash forward 12 years to the post-cyberpocalyptic ruins of Neo New York, 2053. A Chaos Dunk rocks the island of Manhattan, killing 15 million. When the finger is put on the aging Charles Barkley, he must evade the capture of the B-Ball Removal Department, led by former friend and baller Michael Jordan, and disappear into the dangerous underground of the post-cyberpocalypse to clear his name and find out the mysterious truth behind the Chaos Dunk. Joined by allies along the way, including his son Hoopz, Barkley must face the dangers of a life he thought he gave up a long time ago and discover the secrets behind the terrorist organization B.L.O.O.D.M.O.S.E.S.

Download here.  ¶ posted by darkness at 7:32 PM

  McDowells

  ¶ posted by Elliott at 11:10 AM

  So I decided to quit my job

Cumulus can suck my balls...here's the playlist from my last show. The Whigs and the Selmanaires came by and jammed. Awesome! DJ...where the fuck were you beyotch!? The France had an open invite

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
The Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations
Vampire Weekend - A Punk
Editors - Road to Nowhere (Sunday School live session)
Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins - Rise Up With Fists!!!
Black Lips - Veni Vedi Veci (Diplo remix)
Mastodon - Sleeping Giant
MGMT - Time To Pretend
Spoon - Don't You Evah
Black Mountain - Evil Ways
Gentleman Jessie & His Men - I Don’t Wanna Know
Ween - Friends
Mars Volta - Wax Simulacra
The Whigs - Already Young (Live In Studio)
The Whigs - Right Hand On My Heart
Against Me! - Stop
Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan (Sunday School live session)
Janelle Monae - Violet Stars Happy Hunting
Queens of the Stone Age - Make It Wit Chu
Still Flyin' - Rope Burn
Hot Chip - Shake A Fist
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts
The Coathangers - Parking Lot
The Selmanaires - Long Road (Live In Studio)
The Selmanaires - Broken Mirrors in the Mud
M.I.A. - Paper Planes  ¶ posted by Elliott at 9:52 AM

  The Most Underrated Movie of 2007

The Brothers Solomon is excellent. I just finished it right now. It's completely hilarious, but I can understand how people with bad or no taste could hate it. It's even better than Grandma's Boy.  ¶ posted by darkness at 2:52 PM

  The Pitts to return as an animated program?

Remember The Pitts? The sit-com that ran for four weeks on Fox back in April of '03? That starred Dylan Baker, Lizzy Caplan, and the late Kellie Waymire? Created by a guy who worked on The Simpsons for like 15 years, including the '91-'95 glory days? Directed by total pros like Tom Cherones (familiar to anybody who ever watched a bonus feature on the Seinfeld DVDs) and Lee Shallat Chemel (Gilmore Girls, Arrested Development, Newsradio, Head of the Class, Cavemen, uh, Becker... like twenty dozen more...)? Had an episode where the teenaged daughter's brand new Volkswagon bug was possessed by the ghost of a pedophiliac black man? Which made the daughter depressed, because she already had a haunted cello? Had another episode in which the parents entered a fun run, wound up lost in the misty moors, and got bitten by werewolves? Well, it was a pretty great show, and apparently it might be returning in animated form. With the same writers, with Baker and Caplan, and with Andy Milonakis voicing the son. This is potentially good news.  ¶ posted by darkness at 1:05 PM

  Sidewalk: 1, My Back: 0



There's a reason you're legally obligated to shovel your sidewalk in Massachusetts. Today I completely wiped out on some lazy asshole's iced-over sidewalk on Mossland while walking to the train, and my back and elbow have been aching ever since. If this shit isn't better by tomorrow morning, I'm definitely suing the hell out of somebody. Good thing I wasn't walking Oscar, or I could've crushed the little guy.

And hey, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts - that was a total dickhead move you pulled yesterday. You know what I'm talking about.  ¶ posted by darkness at 1:23 PM

  SNOW DAY

Man, I was so disappointed by this movie.  ¶ posted by darkness at 2:02 PM

  ITALIAN SPIDERMAN

  ¶ posted by darkness at 6:14 PM

  RIP: Dave Day of the Monks

He's why I bought that banjo that I hardly ever play.

  ¶ posted by darkness at 8:43 PM

  nerding it up in '08

My Wii friend code is 8403 1305 0597 7398.

My X-Box Live gamer tag is Je Suis France.

This information will remain on this site's side-bar for the forseeable future.

I'll take on any challengers in Rock Band, Team Fortress 2, or Super Smash Brothers Brawl, once it comes out.

I really don't have too much of a life.  ¶ posted by darkness at 9:11 AM

  I interviewed James McNew of Yo La Tengo less than a week ago...

and the article's already in the Flagpole. That's some turn around. The thing can be read here.  ¶ posted by darkness at 8:54 AM

  my five favorite video games of 2007

I'm not ashamed to play video games. Not too ashamed. Okay, maybe kind of moderately ashamed, but only when around my father-in-law, or when I meet my boss's thirteen-year-old son and wind up talking about X-Box for ten minutes. But c'mon, I grew up with video games, they've grown up with me, and if the technology existed before our generation then I'm sure adults would've been playing them for decades.

I finally tracked down a Wii in February, picked up an X-Box 360 on New Year's Eve, and have never even seen a PS3 out of the box. I feel like my knowledge of 2007's Wii releases is fairly comprehensive, whereas I've barely scratched the surface of the 360's amazing line-up of games. Still, I've played a handful of the most acclaimed X-Box games, and you'll see a few near the top of my list. And despite what some on-line critics write, 2007 was a pretty damn good year for Wii games, too.

What makes a good game, in my mind? I don't really care about graphics, per se, but look for good art design, intuitive controls, an engrossing story, and, above all else, enjoyable gameplay. A game can excel at the first three but still suck if it's not fun to play. If the gameplay is great enough, lapses in one or two of the first three are totally fine.

(I realize controls are an integral component of gameplay, but when I say "intuitive" I'm talking about controls that are easy to grasp and make sense within the context of the game and story. A game with good gameplay will have, at the very least, adequate controls. Metroid Prime 3, Wario Ware, and skate. are good examples of games with control schemes that are elegant and intuitive enough to be worthy of praise outside the rubric of gameplay. I guess it's more of a bonus than a necessity, then. Anyway...)

So here's my top five, with the caveat that I haven't played many of the most acclaimed games. I haven't played Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, anything on the PS3, or Bioshock beyond the demo. That demo alone almost got it a spot on my top five list. It could very well displace one of these games, whenever I get around to playing it.

1. Portal (part of The Orange Box for the X-Box 360) and Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) (tie)

In the end, I couldn't decide against either game. Both games are simply amazing, and both rely heavily upon understanding the physics of the universes they create. Other than that there's almost no similarity. Portal is a revolutionary first-person shooter in which you don't actually shoot anybody or anything; Galaxy is a third-person 3D platformer that injects new life and a new perspective on perhaps the most classic gameplay elements ever devised. On one hand Portal should be the clear winner; it's definitely more important to the future of gaming than Super Mario Galaxy, and its story is far more clever (and cleverly told) than the almost non-existent story in Galaxy. Still, it is only three hours long. I’ve put four to five times that many into Galaxy and still don’t have all 120 stars. And almost every minute of Galaxy has been thoroughly fun and enjoyable. Galaxy is like downloading pure undiluted fun directly into your brain. It’s almost like Galaxy is the near perfection of what games have been, whereas Portal is a brief glimpse into what games can (and hopefully will) become*. Both games are supremely satisfying; Portal's satisfaction is more intense but short-lived, whereas Galaxy remains a constant source of fun for weeks on end. I simply can't label one better than the other. Both are absolute must-plays, and the best games released in 2007.

*: this is adapted from a comment I made on Nick Sondgeroth's best-of list over on the Kindercore blog

3. Rock Band (X-Box 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2)

My wife and I bought this on Friday; it was her decision, and frankly I've never been prouder of her. She loves to sing, and wants to learn the drums, and I'm all for that. Meanwhile, I kinda liked the Guitar Hero games, but got bored with them in maybe two days when I borrowed them from a co-worker. If I want to play "War Pigs" on a guitar, I'll play it on, you know, a real guitar. I also want to learn the drums, though, and playing fake video game guitar is a hell of a lot more fun when you've got your wife playing along with you. And I've been trying to get her to play video games with me for years now. So yes, Rock Band solves like two dozen different problems, right there, while also being tremendously fun. Once I'm able to kick ass on the drums on "Foreplay / Long Time" on the expert level, I'm heading directly to the nearest music store to buy myself a real kit.

4. Metroid Prime 3 (Wii)

The Metroid series has been my personal favorite since my older brother brought the original home from school one day back in 1988. It was the first game I ever played where I really felt immersed in its environment, and that immersion has only increased as the series has developed alongside advances in the technology. With the Prime series, Metroid's art design truly became, in my mind, the best in video games, and that accomplishment still stands (or at least did, until I played that Bioshock demo) on the game's first Wii incarnation. What's always been totally god-damned awesome about Metroid, then, is that the gameplay is always as excellent as that fantastic art direction. Prime 3 is no exception, as it finally finds a way to make the Wii remote (with nunchuk attachment) controls work perfectly in a first-person setting. The controls are the best in any game I played this year, truly intuitive and elegant, and a marked improvement over those found in the first two Metroid Prime games for the Gamecube. And the newly increased control over Samus's ship is a great, if underused, addition to the venerable series's gameplay. My only complaints are that the constant world-jumping slightly disrupts that classic Metroid retraversal gameplay, and that the hand-holding Aurora units make this installment noticeably easier than the previous two. Still, this is a beautiful game, and one of the most satisfying gaming experiences in recent memory.

5. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii)

Bad name, but an awesome game. Capcom's adorable adventure game is a throwback to classic point-and-click series like Maniac Mansion and Myst. Unlike the p&c standard, though, Zack & Wiki is broken up into distinct levels that are basically giant puzzles that need to be figured out one step at a time. Solutions are found through interacting with both the environment and objects found therein, and almost any misstep leads to Zack's gruesome death. It's not all trial-and-error, though, as common sense and knowledge gleaned from previous levels can help prevent the cute little guy's misery. It is supremely satisfying to finally figure out the solution to a level after dying repeatedly. The Wii remote is perfectly suited to the gameplay, and the cel-shaded graphics, reminiscent of Zelda: The Wind Waker, are amazingly cute and charming. This is almost the perfect example of how to successfuly utilize the strengths of the relatively underpowered Wii. Games don't need to be as visually amazing as Call of Duty 4 or have environments as large and densely populated as Assassin's Creed to be great; with the right visual flair and a gameplay style that exploits the system's unique controls, games for the Wii can be just as satisfying as anything on the more powerful consoles.

Honorable mentions: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS); Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (DS); Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (Wii); that damn Bioshock demo (Xbox 360)  ¶ posted by darkness at 2:26 PM

  Vampire Weekend - A Punk



This video is rad  ¶ posted by Elliott at 1:19 PM

  Music is my jam*

*Taken from the July '07 France tour.

'07

Albums:

1. Panda Bear: Person Pitch

I read somewhere that the reason this album is so fucking excellent is because it takes the past (samples from the last - I don't know - 50 years of music) and melds it with the future (the act of stripping and treating and bending and editing samples to the point that they no longer are parts taken from songs, but are only parts comprising a brand new song in and of itself). To think about this music in those terms makes this something to behold, but it's not even my favorite thing about the record, which are the glorious vocals shimmering on top of the music. The melodies are so gorgeous that you're glad you can't see music because this would blind you.


2. Animal Collective: Strawberry Jam

When Sung Tongs blew my mind in '04 the musical euphoria reminded me of high school, which made me think I was going to get deeper and deeper into "experimental" music, as my high school musical discovery days kept leading me deeper and deeper into (relative) obscurity. It turns out I didn't really delve any deeper than AC; they're pretty much exactly what I want to hear in music: adventurous pop songs. By now they've firmly settled in as my favorite current band (a term that doesn't hold nearly as much significance as it used to - I am old), and I am already foaming at the mouth in anticipation of their NEXT album. While the highs aren't as high as their previous two lps, Strawberry Jam is their most consistent album, with only one song that doesn't really do it for me. This one has a lot more Panda Bear on it than Feels, which is, duh, a good thing. Seriously, I considered putting a live post-Strawberry Jam song as my favorite song of the year. That shit is going to rival Sung Tongs.


3. Vampire Weekend: Blue cdr

The first three songs I heard (Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, A-Punk, and Oxford Comma) threw me into an obsession that ended when I found the rest of their songs from this demo cdr. They were all enjoyable, but I had started with the cream of the crop. Unfortunately the soukous comparisons don't really extend beyond the songs that directly reference it in their titles (i.e. only one song), but the singer sure has a stranglehold on melody, and the rest of the band understands the art of economy in arrangement.


4. Life Without Buildings: Live At The Annandale Hotel

Man alive with this was still a band alive. Hearing them live adds a new layer to my appreciation of them.


5. Bruce Springsteen: Magic

The boss and E Street band covering Magnetic Fields songs!


6. Robert Forster & Grant McLennan: Intermission

This is sort of a best-of compilation of choice cuts from their 90's solo albums. Either they were in a lull or something magical happened when they made music together under the same moniker, and that makes me even sadder that there won't be anymore Go-betweens albums.


7. Je Suis Animal: album demos

Gary and Yoshi requested that this band open for Still Flyin' in Oslo on our last Scandinavian tour. I was really excited to see them just because of their name; then they played and blew me the fuck away. Broadcast meets My Bloody Valentine is sort of the realm of what they're doing. They sent me a bunch of demos for their album and I love it.


8. Night Moves: Up A Crane

Makes me want to start a record label so can I put this out. It's a personal treat to hear Adrian knock it out of the yard fronting his own band. Nite grooves.


9. Various Artists: After Dark/ Chromatics: Night Drive

Satisfies some part of me I didn't know needed satisfaction.


10. Vit Pals: ep #4

Weird Swedish pop songs. Sounds like a dude with a four-track who made up a tune and played it for his friends at the murder mystery dinner party and everyone decided the murder mystery dinner sucked and opted to record some more tunes and just jam or sing in the background. Hang out music with no murder and no mystery, just a vit and some pals.

11. Papercuts: Can't Go Back
12. Ladybug Transistor: Can't Wait Another Day
13. Deerhoof: Friend Opportunity
14. Times New Viking: Present The Paisley Reich
15. Architecture In Helsinki: Places Like This
16. Smallgoods: Down On The Farm
17. Lucksmiths: Spring A Leak
18. Clientele: God Save The Clientele
19. Folklore: The Ghost Of HW Beaverman
20. Panda Bear: Live at ZDB

2006 Album Jammer:
Zebras: Worry A Lot


Albums that I haven't heard that I probably would/will enjoy:
Dungen, Electrelane


Songs:

1. Panda Bear: Bros
2. Animal Collective: Fireworks
3. Je Suis Animal: Secret Place By The Window
4. Panda Bear: Take Pills
5. Vampire Weekend: A-punk
6. UGK: International Player's Ball
7. Chromatics: Running Up That Hill
8. Vit Pals: Enda Stallet
9. Times New Viking: Teenage Lust
10. Animal Collective: Derek
11. Vampire Weekend: Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
12. Panda Bear: Carrots
13. Vampire Weekend: Oxford Comma
14. MIA: Paper Planes
15. Vit Pals: Loving You Was Crazy Shit
16. Bruce Springsteen: Livin' In The Future
17. Ladybug Transistor: Three Days From Now
18. Panda Bear: Ponytail
19. Shins: Australia
20. Smallgoods: Traipse Through The Valley


Shows:

1. Konono no.1: April 28th Great American Music Hall SF
2. Je Suis Animal: April 12th Blaa Oslo, Norway
3. Jens Lekman: November 9th Bimbo's SF
4. Rump Posse: July 14th Drunken Unicorn Atlanta
5. Animal Collective: September 17th Fillmore SF
6. Lucksmiths: September 30th DC9 DC (yes it sounded excellent at that place that night)
7. Huey Lewis and the News: June 17th Stern Grove park SF
8. Night Moves: July 21st Caledonia Athens/October 5th 40 Watt Athens
9. Vit Pals: April 14th V-dala Nation Uppsala, Sweden
10. Forever Dudes: December 22nd Caledonia Athens  ¶ posted by Jerkwater Johnson at 2:33 PM

  Movies I Jammed Last Year

My Faves:

1. The Lives Of Others (dvd jam)
2. Knocked Up
3. Superbad
4. Darjeeling Limited
5. No Country For Old Men
6. Hot Fuzz
7. Half Nelson (dvd)
8. Little Children (dvd)
9. Bourne Ultimatum
10. Last King Of Scotland (dvd)

Oh well.  ¶ posted by Jerkwater Johnson at 3:38 PM

  how does this X-Box Live thing work, anyway?

I now have an X-Box 360, and with it an X-Box Live Gold membership. My gamer tag is currently Je Suis France, but that's kinda lame so I'll probably change it soon. Is that enough info for any of you guys to befriend me? We don't have wi-fi, so my 360's not always on-line. I plug it direct into the modem when I feel like downloading something. If anybody wants our consoles to high-five and play some Team Fortress 2, leave a comment with all relevant information.

btw - Portal is amazing. Jesus.  ¶ posted by darkness at 12:41 PM

  2007...pour one out for your dead hommies

Here are my Top 10 records of the year. These are the ones I listened to the most. There are probably some that are better, but fuck it. This was the first full year of doing my show, so I played the shit out of these on the air and I also started Djing a lot more around town, so that certainly influenced the list a lot too. Jam on!




10 – The Coathangers – s/t
Girls from Atlanta are bad ass




9 – Rilo Kiley – Under the Black Light
Jenny Lewis is rad…she was in the Wizard




8 - Justice – Cross
French dudes normally are lame…these dudes aren’t




7 – Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
These dorky ass Canadians ball like Shaq & Bron Bron




6 – Kanye West – Graduation
Duuuuude…this album rules




5 – Lily Allen – Alright, Still
Girl…why did you get preggers from that douche in the Chemical Bros. They’s gay




4 – White Stripes – Icky Thump
You think you know, but you have no idea




3 – Against Me! – New Wave
There’s a wildcat on the album screaming at your face




2 – LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
Sounds like my ears got a handjob




1 – Black Lips – Good Bad Not Evil
This why is Atlanta is the greatest city ever…fuck you New York, fuck you LA, fuck you London, fuck you Brisbane. Athens and SF…y’all get a pass this time

Songs of the year::

10. Let’s Go Sailing – Sideways
9. Simian Mobile Disco – I Believe
8. Klaxons – Golden Skans
7. Modest Mouse – Dashboard
6. Band of Horses – Is There A Ghost?
5. Spoon – The Underdog
4. Justice – D.A.N.C.E.
3. LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
2. White Stripes – Icky Thump
1. MIA - Paper Planes

Bonus awards

Remix of the Year:
Peter Bjorn & John – Let’s Call It Off (Girl Talk remix)

Import of the Year:
Kate Nash – Foundations

Show of the Year:
Deerhunter – Georgia Theatre December 5th

Lifetime Achievement Award:
Radiohead

Less art, more awesome…ohhh and they got jokes now too


Honorable mentions:
Still Flyin'
Je Suis France
Jay Z
Band of Horses
The Shins
Lil Wayne
UGK....RIP Pimp C
!!!
Queens of the Stone Age

Here's to '08....Happy New Year fools!!!  ¶ posted by Elliott at 3:04 PM

  07 TV for me

My favorite TV things I watched on Tivo/DVD/DVDR/BitTorrent:

1. the Wire s4 (dvdr)
Soooooooooo easily the best show of all time.








2. the Office s3/4 (tv)
Still doing it. The hour longs at the start of season 4 didn't work as well.
3. Battlestar Galactica s2/3/tv movie (dvd/bittorrent/tv)
The highs approach the Wire in greatness, the lows approach the shitty sci-fi show you expect this to be before you see it.
4. Friday Night Lights s1/2 (tv)
I should probably rank this number 3 or 2, but the fact is I don't get as excited too see this as the Office or BSG. Season 2 is not as good as season 1, but what is?
5. Deadwood s3 (dvd)
Not as good as the prior two seasons, and the abrupt ending really left a bad taste in my mouth knowing that it was completely over.
6. Lost s3 (tv)
Once they came back after the break they really nailed it. Finally.


7. 24 s5/6 (dvd/tv)
Season 5 was great, season 6 nope.
8. Studio 60 s1 (tv)
I would rather watch this than SNL.
9. Flight of The Conchords s1 (bittorrent)
Funny to the point that I don't really laugh out loud, but I laugh a lot inside of my mind.


10. Reaper s1 (tv)
May have stopped watching this. It's hard to come up with ten shows that I watched.  ¶ posted by Jerkwater Johnson at 2:55 PM