jakobnicholas

I like One Wing a lot. Of all the new-ish, unreleased Wilco songs, I'd rank my top 3: 1. "Wake Up, won't you..." (the song first played on 10-26-08) 2. One Wing 3. Let's Fight

For a second, you're almost positive the first shoe is gonna nail him in the forehead. It's pretty amazing how quickly he reacted to it to duck and miss it. I want him on my dodgeball team.

For those who don't like Meloy's voice.....I totally understand and you have every right to not like listening to them. His voice doesn't bother me. I like the campiness of the Decemberists. Much like I like the red/white/black and some of the dramatics of Jack White in the White Stripes. And I like how Michael Stipe wears goofy makeup and/or dresses on stage. To me, it adds a little mystery and excitement. Some of Meloy's lyrics you could say are showing how smart he is, but I love the characters he creates in other lyrics. The Bus Mall is one of the most beautiful songs they've w

I've been checking all these setlists. Thanks to all those posting the sets and reviews! Wilco is no doubt on fire right now and can play all these usual songs to thrilling perfection. But anyone else longing for the shows in 2009 that will surely have at least 5-10 new songs? Personally, if I get to see them in the Spring or Summer, I'd be OK if they didn't play one song that's on a past album. This band is too creative and talented to be playing the same 50 songs over and over and over and over.....

From Billboard: Fountains Of Wayne Get Busy On New Album It's been a busy year for Fountains Of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger. After nabbing a nomination for best original score for the songs he co-wrote for the Broadway adaptation of Cry-Baby, he was asked by writing partner David Javerbaum to help pen the lyrics for "A Colbert Christmas Special," which began airing this week on Comedy Central. Now, things are back in motion for Fountains Of Wayne's next record, which Schlesinger hopes to have out in 2009. "We still have a ways to go, but we have eight songs that are relatively close to

Fountains of Wayne DVD in Feb: No Better Place

Yes. I can hear the tunes.

No it didn't.

I think both bands have had generally weak lyrics of late. Many are ripping Bono's lyrics for being sappy and cheesy. I'l grant some of that....though, to me, songs like When I Look At the World, Miragle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own and Yahweh are examples of Bono nicely expressing his thoughts, even if a tad on the syrupy side. Stipe's lyrics after UP (I LOVE his lyrics on this record...."pounce pony" excluded), just seem WAY forced. Reveal was OK, but Around the Sun and Accelerate have moments that make me pull my hair out, saying, "WTF?!". Some samples: Electron Blu

If these 2 revered bands were only judged on their mediocre-to-crappy last 3 records, who's better? REM: Reveal Around the Sun Accelerate U2: Pop All That You Can't Leave Behind How To Dismantle an Atomic Bond Personally, I'd give the edge (no pun intended) to U2. I'd rank them: Pop (I like this one) Reveal (I like it in a pleasant, pretty kind of way) How To Dismantle an Atomic Bond (contains some really great songs and holds together decently) All That You Can't Leave Behind (hard to say many great things about this one. "Kite" is a cool song.) Accelerate (I like that they

Wow! From Variety.com: Disney/Pixar’s robot love story "Wall-E" was named best picture of the year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. on Tuesday, marking the first time in the org’s 33-year history that an animated film has taken the top prize.

That's what I wonder. I imagine Leno will still have guests....will he get better guests than Conan? Most of what I'm reading is that NBC is using this as a good opportunity to try down-sizing a bit in this era of there being so much competition with all the cable networks. Big networks are finding it hard to fund programming that isn't getting its money back. That's why we've seen more reality and game shows. Paying Leno and the cost to run his show is WAY cheaper than what it would cost to put 5 hours of original programming on. And NBC hasn't been to great lately at finding hit show

Maybe I'm being too harsh on Modern Guilt. I haven't bought a ton of new music this year and I'd put Modern Guilt no better than 6th or 7th on my own list. So I'm assuming there have been other albums better. I think it's good. But not in the great category that I'd place a few others. Hard to explain the sound of You and Me. It's got a melancholy feel to it, sometimes bare in sound, other times like a late night bar band. Kind of has different textures and sounds...including the singer's voice, which is amazing (no, he doesn't sound like Okkervil's singer, which I can understand people no

I'm A Wheel is a great choice. It would fill out the 10-15 seconds nicely.

I heard this earlier today. It's really not a bad move, I don't think. It's gonna save NBC millions each week. They'll get 46 weeks of fresh programming in a year. Plus, NBC won't have to worry about Conan competing against Leno....which no doubt would be won by Leno. Like Leno or not, he's proven he knows how to get an audience. It will be ineresting to see if he can maintain it. It may blow-up in NBC's face, but with the economy down, it might turn out to be a gamble based on frugality that ends up working. I don't know if this is good for Conan or not....maybe it won't make any

Ran- dom post.

Good question. I'd pick something that was loud and in-your-face. I remember at a Royal's game, a slow, dry country song was played....it didn't exactly fire up the crowd. I'd pick: a snippet of At Least That's What You Said.....probably a part that included Glenn's machine gun drums.

I agree about that song. It IS a great tune and deserving of radio play. The rest of the record, as a whole, doesn't come close to living up to the single. Another album (besides The Stand-Ins) that's hugely deserving is The Walkmen's You and Me. I've only heard about 10 of Glides's top 40 picks, but You and Me tops them all. Also....I LOVE about the first half of Modern Guilt. But then drops off. A good album....but not worthy of top 20.

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated: Why hoops' regular season rules Now that college football's BCS madness has been sorted out and the bowl picture is complete, I have the distinct pleasure of writing about a sport where the regular season actually means something. That's right, you heard me. College basketball's regular season is far more meaningful, far more compelling and far more important than college football's. That's because college basketball actually has a postseason tournament where the champion is decided not by pollsters and computers but by what happens on the court. Since m

It's a compliment, in a way. I'm just sick of Stoops and Oklahoma winning the Big 12 just about every freaking year. And I think Stoops doesn't know when to pull back in game. He was having his team throw bombs with 2 minutes left against Missouri, when they were already up 30+ points. And his whiny, defensive comments about why his team is deserving of winning the South division was annoying. Truth is, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech ALL are equally deserving. Seemingly, the only reason Oklahoma got the nod was because they scored 60+ points in multiple games. I'm sure Texas and Texas Tech c

Agreed, though Oklahoma's defense is much better than those outside of Big 12 county probably think. Many teams in the league run a spread, and run them quite well. It's damn hard to stop. But Oklahoma's speed on defense is very impressive....it's the only way to really stop the spread, and OU showed they could by whomping T. Tech and Oklahoma State and Missouri. My brain tells me it will be close. My gut tells me OU will win by 14 or more. My heart tells me I want Stoops embarrassed and humiliated and lose by 50.

Texas WILL blow out Ohio State. They're pissed and will take it out on the weaker-than-usual Buckeyes. USC WILL blow out Penn State. Again, USC will want to show their worthy of top-team discussion. I can't decide on the OU/Florida game. I think Oklahoma's the better team, but Florida is favored by 3. This will be a very competitive, close game that will be decided by one or two critical plays late. Speaking of OU, I thought it was total BS to pile on points at the end of the Missouri game. Granted, the late long run for a touchdown can't really be faulted, but just before that, Bradfo

Okkervil River's "The Stand-Ins" is left off of their 40-album list, making the list a joke.

An early review is on Variety.com. I skipped over some it, because it might have spoilers. But here's a few paragraphs that generally sum up what the reviewer thinks of the film: At 78, perhaps the only actor in the history of American cinema to convincingly kick the butt of a guy 60 years his junior, the hard-headed, snarly mouthed Clint Eastwood of the 1970s comes growling back to life in "Gran Torino." Centered on a cantankerous curmudgeon who can fairly be described as Archie Bunker fully loaded (with beer and guns), the actor-director's second release of the season is his most stripped-

I'm Catholic, and if you are saying Catholics are taught to believe that Jews are going to Hell, you couldn't be more wrong. Catholics are taught not to judge anyone and we do not know who will or will not go to Hell.