Beltmann

I haven't listened to the stream, because, despite my disappointment in Jay's work ever since Okemah, he still ranks as an artist I'll buy on the day of release. I'm waiting to listen until my (pre-ordered) CD arrives. I'm thinking about seeing him in June in Milwaukee, but I want to spend some time with the album first. The last few albums aren't enough to get me to his show (and the last Son Volt show I caught was underwhelming).

Agreed. I re-watched the film last Friday with my wife, a few days after writing my earlier posts about Lefsetz. While watching, I kept one eye on whether I had been too generous towards the film. I think it's fair to observe that the film is skimpy on certain facts, and perhaps guilty of cherry-picking for simplicity's sake without acknowledging that more happened outside of the frame, but overall I think its omissions are justifiable--as you said, the story told is a particular one, and that story centers on Rodriguez's unique relationship to South Africa, not his entire career. It might

Would it have been valuable to mention the '79 and '81 tours? It would have added journalistic texture, certainly. But I'm not sure it's relevant to the actual story being told. The film is told from a uniquely South African point-of-view; you could convincingly argue that the two superfans who collaborated to conduct the search--from their own measly and amateurish vantage point--are the main subjects while Rodriguez the man is a secondary concern. For the superfans, the myth matters more than the vagaries of the singer's career spurts, which is why the film takes time to describe the leg

Lefsetz raises important questions about whether the film has cherry-picked facts to enrich the fable, but his tone and observations seem rooted in willful contrarianism rather than a searching, accurate take on the film and its makers. The "obscurity" emphasized in the film is of course relative, and relatively speaking, I think the film correctly reports that Rodriguez's talent was virtually unknown among American ears for decades. A Sony re-issue, an overlooked sample, an overlooked indie film soundtrack, and minor Australian tours (the last in 1981) hardly suggest a notable North Americ

I thought Andrew Sullivan's on-going series about whether Bigelow is a torture apologist was particularly interesting, since we were able to witness an opinion evolve in real-time.

That's the one I'm most eagerly anticipating, at least for the early months of 2013. Release day is February 5. Can't wait.

That's a heckuva weekend. I also admired all three, and, after a week of sorting out my thoughts, feel that Zero Dark Thirty might be the best American film of the year. Equally engaging has been following all of the punditry and analyses related to its controversial elements.

My wife read a book called Blue Like Jazz, and reported to me that the author makes many Wilco references, and even included the band in the opening letter of thanks.

Moved. No worries, roadhse ma. I'm still reeling from the Packers debacle last week...

Even though it is filled with resentment and quiet desperation, there's something surprisingly compassionate and vulnerable about the Norwegian Oslo, August 31st, which separates it from most stories about addiction and recovery. It's been lingering in my mind, accumulating power after the fact. Worth mentioning is how it offers a beautiful, lively portrait of Oslo.

In a way, the misdirection of the subtitles seems fitting, since The Cuckoo is largely about communicating, misunderstanding, and talking merely to talk. It's been nearly a decade since I've seen it, but I remember thinking it was very funny, particularly for its ruminations on friendship, allegiances, and the folly of war.

Very underrated. I'd like to say The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of the best teen movies I've ever seen, but that would be unfair--it transcends the teen genre.

My wife and I caught This Is 40 today. We knew beforehand that "I Got You" (the new version recorded specifically for the film) is included in the ending credits, but were disappointed to discover that only the first 20+ seconds are heard before giving way to an outtake.

Awesome.

Thanks for the heads-up! Just downloaded.

Congratulations! One of the first things I did for my second newborn was a Wilco shirt, too. He's almost five now, and is getting yet another Wilco tee for Christmas. (And a Blues Brothers poster.)

His other favorite CD is the soundtrack to The Blues Brothers, which has been in heavy rotation for months now. (It's also his favorite movie; I made a kid-friendly edit for him and burned it to DVD.) That's inspired all sorts of great conversations about music, partially because so many other great performers are in the film. That kind of cultural knowledge is why I wanted the spawn to see the 12-12-12 concert. We skipped past much of it, but watched the good stuff. Couldn't get my daughter interested in The Who, but she already has a big poster of the Beatles in her bedroom, so she's o

My 7-year-old daughter said the same thing: "Ugh, what's he doing! He looks like grandpa!" As Lou said, it's unreasonable to think the voice is ever going to sound prime again. That said, I thought he sounded much better than at the Super Bowl, which was quite poor. Whatever the limitations of the 12-12-12 set, I'm grateful for it: After hearing them, my 4-year-old asked me to make him a mix CD of The Who, and he's been listening to it all morning while playing with Legos.

That get lots of play in our house, too. Haven't busted it out yet this year, but probably will over the weekend!

I've been meaning to see Lotte Reiniger's The Adventures of Prince Achmed for years, primarily out of historical interest: Made in Germany in 1926, it's the oldest extant animated feature. It was certainly worth the wait. As the stills above indicate, Reiniger's specialty was "silhouette animation." The visuals are gorgeous, but most remarkable are the bursts of imagination at work in the storytelling. It's a great movie, and its influence clearly extends to French animator Michel Ocelot, whose Azur & Asmar and Tales of the Night are two of my favorite animated films of the last ten ye

In the most recent episode of New Girl, one of the main characters had a Wilco concert poster featured on his bedroom wall.

I just bought that Blu-Ray this week. Holy hell. Worth every penny.

I like this post, Tweedling.

I teach, and once our superintendent saw me in a Wilco tee and said, "Love that band!" Another colleague saw the band at Red Rocks. One time, I was on an interview committee and lobbied hard for a particular hire based mostly on the fact that he was a professed Wilco fan. (He was the best choice for other reasons, too.) He got the job, and about six months later we went to a Tweedy solo show together.