Beltmann

Ditto. I've been listening all week, mostly because I can't stop. Right now I'd say it ranks among my favorites of the year. Side comment 1: Would I have purchased You Are Not Alone if Tweedy was not the producer? I dunno, but I'd like to think that if I heard those snippets and read those reviews, my ears would have been interested, Jeff or no Jeff. Side comment 2: One sign that I'm getting older might be that I bought six albums this week--including Weezer, Of Montreal, James, and Florence + The Machine--but my two favorites (by a wide margin) are Mavis Staples and Robert Plant.

I just bought this album today and wasn't aware of this track until it came on--what a terrific surprise to hear it! (I must have somehow missed this thread last week...)

One of your finest qualities, I must say.

Won't be the same without him. I've seen a lot of Chabrol's films, but my favorite is probably Le Boucher.

OSS 117: Lost in Rio is not as fresh and inspired as the first OSS 117 movie, but the lead performance is still enjoyable and a welcome parody of how James Bond always was a bit of a dandy.

That's probably one of my ten favorite movies of all-time. I re-watch it every few years, and get the same jolt every time. (I'm not saying it's one of the ten best movies of all time...) No, it's not. But I wish it was!

I'm gearing up for the Milwaukee Film Festival, which starts Sept. 23. I'm enthused to see Blue Valentine, A Film Unfinished, Cell 211, Jack Goes Boating, Waiting for Superman, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Vengeance, Last Train Home, No One Knows About Persian Cats, Katalin Varga, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, A Somewhat Gentle Man, and Buried, among others.

I had read about that series, and was very intrigued. Hopefully I'll be able to see it on DVD at some point. Glad to hear your positive review!

It was actually one of my favorite movies that year. Here's what I said at the time: "Mining his own memories of wearing steel-toe boots, Shane Meadows crafts a convincing, social-realist portrait of tribalism and forgotten youth. At stake is the soul of a prickly, 12-year-old outcast taken under the wings of two surrogate dads, first a genial skinhead and later a bullying ex-con spewing National Front propaganda. This is about England in the post-punk Eighties, yes, but it’s also about the serious choices of every childhood, including how to search for an identity, how to pick friends, an

I am a huge fan of both The Hit and This Is England. Now watching:

Very entertaining and informative piece of activist filmmaking.

More Wisconsin pride! This project sounds awesome... I'm going to start downloading right now. Thanks, Ryan!

That's probably my favorite Lancaster movie (and I share your opinion of his acting in general). He's been in quite a few good movies, but he's not usually what's memorable about them.

Movie producers often use the phrase "the fans" the same way Republican bloggers use the phrase "the taxpayers"--to appeal to some nebulous, monolithic conception of the common man.

Four of them are not on a proper Eels album: "Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas" was the B-Side for the "Cancer for the Cure" single and a version can now be found on Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased; "Man Up" was recorded for the movie Yes Man; "I Need Some Sleep" was recorded for Shrek 2; and "Royal Pain" was recorded for Shrek the Third. My own list would have a lot more love for Beautiful Freak and Electro-Shock Blues.

There are a lot of Hold Steady fans here at VC. They are one of my favorite bands, and Heaven Is Whenever is one of my favorite rock records of the year--partially because it presents a new, more reflective tone for the band that I can easily relate to.

My Top 20 would look substantially different, but here's a fun YouTube that catalogs one guy's favorite EELS tunes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vODiD5Ru6Y&feature=related

Speaking of Tom Courtenay, I just watched The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner two days ago.

My wife and I went to the movies last weekend. Her choice? "Screw that Julia Roberts thing, let's go see The Kids Are All Right." I once saw Booty Call, The Sixth Man, and McHale's Navy back-to-back-to-back. I can take anything. By the way, congrats Scalzunfield!!

I dunno... I remember that video well, and would have considered it for my top ten, too.

Unfortunately, I pre-ordered the regular edition and only later learned that there was a deluxe edition... anybody willing to help me out with the bonus tracks?

Another one that's pretty direct: Lily Allen's No prizes for guessing who it's about. (It's not sophisticated, but it sure is catchy!) Look inside, Look inside, Your tiny mind. Then look a bit harder, cause we're so uninspired. So sick and tired. Of all The hatred you harbor, so you say It's not okay to be gay, Well I think You're just evil. You're just some racist. Who can't tie my laces, You're point of view Is medieval. Fuck you, fuck you Very, very much. Cause we hate What you do And we hate Your whole crew So please Don't stay in touch, Fuck you, fuck you Very, very much Cause you

Me too. I'm also excited for the new Eels album which comes out Tuesday--especially since I wasn't smitten with January's End Times. Often I open this thread (and others like it) and start picking names to check out on eMusic. Helps a lot!

I know I'm in the minority on Twin Cinema--it's the only NP album that, upon release, I didn't feel the urge to listen over and over obsessively. But I still like it a lot and love at least a handful of the songs, including "Bleeding Heart Show."

That's pretty much how I felt about Twin Cinema, but then Challengers was great, and Together knocks me out--it might be my favorite NP album since their second. It's been in heavy rotation all summer, and I haven't tired of it one bit. The first half contains some of their finest tunes, I think.