Beltmann

That's it! For the life of me I couldn't remember the name of it. Thanks!!!

I used to have a terrific free audio converter that handled all sorts of different files (not FLAC), but I lost the software when my PC crashed a few months back. Anyone have a recommendation for a simple replacement?

It's a terrific venue--intimate, comfortable, well-maintained. My wife and I will be at the M. Ward show, too!

The 1949 film of All the King's Men is really great, too.

PM sent.

I have tomorrow off, so my weekend is still going strong.

Yeah, but didja ever have your nads zapped by an electric fence? I still can't grow the hair back. That's embarrassment that keeps on giving.

Brianne, I was just reading your blog and laughed out loud... my wife and I were in the Twin Cities yesterday--for her brother's wedding--and as we tried to follow the Mapquest directions to 94 East, the exact same thing happened to us! I think we even stopped at that same gas station...

Ack, wish I had gone...

I'm 32, married, and my daughter turned two yesterday. Although I enjoyed a brief term wearing sweat pants as a freelance researcher--for example, I wrote many of the annotations for a special edition of Gone With the Wind--I now serve as a veteran teacher of high school literature. Occasionally I publish pieces about movies for a few print and online outlets, although that endeavor has largely been paused while I continue working on my master's thesis. (This thread is distracting me from that right now.) UT, Farrar, and Tweedy had been on my radar for years, but it was YHF that finally

I had tickets for this, but didn't go... Three hours prior to the show, I was still driving home after four days of wedding festivities in Minneapolis, and after six hours on the road, I wasn't feeling up to spending another hour driving for a show. I will regret this, I'm sure.

I like his stuff a lot, but a little Bird goes a long way for me. I rarely listen to Eggs from start to finish, and the short Summerfest gig was just the right length.

Six hours long. Six. But worth every minute.

That reminds me of the time one of my students farted himself awake.

Agreed... but I'll second cryptique's recommendation of Gallipoli. Terrific movie.

Same here. I keep rooting for him, but interest is fading fast.

I don't like getting out of bed for urination. Typically I keep a cup bedside.

Whose blood?

There was. I was looking for it earlier. Wha' happened?

Labels may not do anything for the music, true, but I would say labels--even the most vague, generalized, or unfair ones--exist mostly to help listeners discuss the music, by providing common reference points. Case in point:

Is Richard Linklater one of the best filmmakers in America? Can't wait for Fast Food Nation.

I'm reminded of something Phillip Lopate once wrote: "The job of the American film critic is complicated by the fact that virtually all Americans regard themselves as astute judges of movies." That complication, which I think applies to music as well, is compounded by how the Internet has turned anyone with a mouse into a "published critic," vastly undermining the value of real criticism written by individuals who actually know something. One of the first critics I ever read faithfully was Jonathan Rosenbaum, and I read him because he knew more than I did and I learned a great deal from his

Clerks II is the first Kevin Smith movie I've enjoyed since Chasing Amy. There's something familiar and comfortable about Smith's good-natured filth--even if he finally goes too far with the donkey show, in my perhaps prudish opinion--partially because this time he finds the right strains of heart and sincerity to give the raunch context. Plus, the movie has an appealing slacker rhythm, a tone that feels less forced and less cartoonish than in any Smith movie since, well, Clerks. It earns more goodwill than I anticipated.

That + The Caine Mutiny = Mister Roberts

Haneke is a fascinating director--among many great films, I think I like Funny Games best of all. (An American remake is planned, with Haneke himself directing.)