Short Ends

Just a few bits and bobs here and there:

1) Sufjan Stevens "Chicago" has become my favorite song of the summer. It was tough, but this one came in at the end, at the right time. You can find it on a bunch of albums out there right now. On Stevens' own "Illinoise" is where first appeared, but you can also catch alternate versions on his just released "The Avalanche", which is pretty badass, and it's also on the "Little Miss Sunshine" soundtrack.

Other rockin' albums I've enjoyed this year include (in no particular order) Tom Petty's "Highway Companion", Gomez's "How We Operate", Hot Chip's "The Warning", Jurassic 5's "The Feedback", Gnarl's Barkley's "St. Elsewhere", Thom Yorke's "The Eraser", Built to Spill's "You In Reverse", the Soundtrack to "Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift", Nick Cave and Warren Ellis's soundtrack to "The Proposition", Eagles of Death Metal's "Death By Sexy", New Maximum Donkey's "Spirit of the Donks", and Massive Attack's "Collected". I'd also like to throw a shout out to local boys City Museum. They're pretty cool.

And in the "Brrrraaafffffffffff!!!!!!" category, I must say the soundtrack to The Last Kiss, which he helped compile, is pretty damn solid.

(The curse of the ex with awesome music taste still remains in me. I love music again, and I need to constantly seek it out, and there's a lot this summer! And I missed a lot of live shows, including Gomez AND The Shins, which hurt in oh so many ways.)

2) Fans of Ricky Gervais and The Office need to go check out this link at Defamer as long as it's still up, and you have at least 20 minutes to spare. It's an office training video for Microsoft, featuring Gervais' David Brent character from The Office. It's brilliant. I wish I could be as funny as that man.

FUN SIDE FACT: I have a friend. She works in Post on a successful television series. She cut the gag reel for the show's wrap party last season. Anyway, she gets into work, and finds Gervais in her office (he might be involved with this season, I'm being vague to protect everybody, just in case). Gervais is watching her gag reel, and laughing his ass off. The kicker is, she had no idea who he was, and how utterly cool it is for Ricky Gervais to be laughing his arse off at something she did. NOW, she gets it, but still. That is the coolest thing I heard this summer.

3) Off topic rant about Snakes on a Plane for a second, that I didn't realize stayed with me until this morning. So the film opens in Hawaii, and the doomed flight departs Hawaii for LA. At the airport, there's a passenger boarding the plane (who I believe becomes nameless snake fodder in the latter half of the film, not too sure) with a baseball type t-shirt with the name "Honolulu" clearly printed on it. I get it, the movie takes place in Hawaii, so it kind of makes sense. What sticks in my craw is that I have the exact same T shirt. EXACT SAME, I swear. And I got it not in Honolulu, but at the Old Navy in Wayne, New Jersey. It's the shirt I had my mug shot taken in. It's an Old Navy shirt, clearly purchased for the production of Snakes on a Plane, because it takes place in Hawaii. But for some reason, (after putting on the shirt this morning and making the connection) this really bothers me. There are a lot of reasons why, but they're all too stupid to even get into. Point is, I'm terribly vexed by this.

I was bored at work, hence all the links. Have a great rest of the week. And sucker punch any loser who tries to tell you today is "Hump Day".

Right in the throat.