Beltmann

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was arrested for "unspecified crimes" several months ago, and I've been following the story ever since. (In my view, he's one of the best film directors alive.) Apparently, he is now planning to protest via hunger strike. Linky

That's the key, I think. I don't think anyone was seriously suggesting that Barb abandon her long-standing relationships. That phrasing was really just a way of making a larger, more serious point. At least that's how I interpreted bobblehead's remark.

We are so over.

Trevor Hoffman makes me cry. A lot. Might Rollie Fingers consider a comeback?

Wow. Good for the guys. After a week, I can say this: I've listened to nothing else for a week. Those poor New Pornographers, sitting on the shelf, not getting their fair due. And I haven't even cracked open the Dead Weather. Right now, I don't want to hear anything but High Violet. It's fast on its way to becoming an important fact in my life.

That's what I was thinking.

I think you might be right, bleedorange. I voted for YAMF (and apparently I'm the only Wilco fanatic who doesn't love "Impossible Germany"). Speaking of songs that we didn't like at first... initially I thought "On and On and On" was one of the weakest tracks in the entire Wilco catalog. I've come around on it--it's now one of my favorites on SBS. Seeing it live--and seeing the emotion in Tweedy's performance--helped it to open up for me.

I saw that when it first came out, and it was my introduction to Eric Bana. Later I was stunned to learn that, before Chopper, Bana was best known to Australian audiences as a comedian. Very convincing as a psychopath.

NP are playing Milwaukee in June, if that helps. I plan to see both NP in June and The National later in the summer.

That's how I view it, too.

Drag the River might be a good choice, too.

How about Langhorne Slim's Be Set Free? I love it for some of the same reasons I like the Avett Brothers. Let me second Mumford & Sons and also Deer Tick--definitely pick up Born on Flag Day. It's a little grungier than the Avetts, but terrific.

Has anybody mentioned the weird noise that sounds like a spring in "Far, Far Away" at about the 2:39 mark? Weird, but I like it!

Not sure if this has been posted... The National is scheduled to appear on David Letterman's show on Thursday, May 13.

Perfect, too, for thematic reasons: The entire record is about the difficulties of communication.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is one of the great American movies in recent memory, I think. I actually just finished teaching the movie in a high school course called Film as Social Criticism; we studied it in terms of allegory and what it says about our modern cult of celebrity.

I had seen the other one many times, but never this one. Thanks!

I wasn't crazy about it either--too much pageantry, too little intrigue. It looked great, though, and I definitely felt that the last 45 minutes were better than the rest.

I haven't seen Hard-Boiled for more than a decade... I should re-visit that one soon. Chow Yun-Fat back when he was the coolest man alive. (I always liked The Killer a little bit more, though.) Speaking of John Woo action scenes, did anyone see Red Cliff?

Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Rum is one of her most accessible films. Definitely recommended. Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, on the other hand, is junk. It doesn't even attempt to replicate the tone of the book, which I wouldn't mind at all--a film ought to be taken on its own terms--except that the new approach is asinine.

Definitely one of my favorite Wilco clips ever.

Nice to see a clip of Jay...

In the last few months, I have listened to this album more than any other. Love it.