the scowl

If I worked in a record store, I think I’d play the Lounge Lizards’ Queen of All Ears and tell patrons that it was the new !!! record.

Update: this would only work for certain songs on the record. Damn. Another bit of witty repartee lost.

I had mixed feelings about The Matrix Reloaded, but nonetheless, I’ve spent the past hour or so on the official website, looking at some of the Matrix-universe comics posted there (the one by Stray Bullets creator David Lapham is particularly good). I’m now on the “Animatrix” website, seeing what’s available there. Trends in my life come and go, but there’s an inner science fiction geek that appears eternal…

Just started Paul Auster’s The Book of Illusions. Nice to read Auster again – the man has a remarkably warm authorial voice, and reading a new one of his books feels like a return to something comfortable, in the best way possible. Recently finished Jonathan Franzen’s Strong Motion; my opinion of it is still up in the air. I’ve now read all three of Franzen’s books, and the urge to make something of an overall judgment of his body of work (fairly strong, with some reservations) is high. I’ll probably leave that for another day, though…

It’s been a rawk kind of day for my stereo – X-Ray Spex, Superchunk, and now Waxwing.

Time to get caught up on some emails. I think this is the week that I’ll start proofing the Lengthy Fictional Project, as well as – possibly – the Weird Three-Part Screenplay. Need to get both into something resembling shape before I move on, lest I lose enthusiasm for them….

Via diepunyhumans.com, an essay by Bruce Sterling with much proverbial food for thought…

Antarctic webcams, which are inherently cool…

My hometown’s website. When I was a freshman in college, my roommate introduced me to the wonders of an ethernet card. I can still remember near-obsessive pursuits of assorted things on the internet – this still being a time when you didn’t just assume that everything had a web presence. Seems so long ago, now…

The +/- full-length currently playing in my iMac is quite good. I’d seen them opening for Versus a few months ago and felt lukewarm about them – some of their songs sounded unsure of themselves; others had a nice drive to them. This album, though, is a nice hybrid of straightforward guitar-centered indie rawk (given James Baluyut’s tenure in Versus, that’s not surprising) and post-shoegazer work (think All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors).

Hm. I seem to have re-entered the blogging world sooner than expected. Not necessarily a bad thing, but….well, it’s unexpected. And, as you may have guessed, I’m testing out my handy “BlogThis!” link and feeding all sorts of links onto my page, because I damn well can.

Current listening: Dave Fischoff, +/-, The Thermals.

I swear….if I have to look at the “weasels deck” ad one more time when I go to drudgereport.com, my head’s going to explode….

Second Nature Recordings – home to Rocky Votolato, early work from Isis and the Blood Brothers, and more. The Casket Lottery, in particular, do the stop’n'start posthardcore thing better on their album moving mountains than most…

bob hund, whose website makes me wish I’d paid more attention to those high school Swedish classes I had. Oh, wait…

The photos of Justine DeMetrick – via gernblandsten.com. Of special note to many will be a collection of photos of a very young Ted Leo in his Chisel days. Pardon me a moment to wax nostalgic over set you free…

Also on the Gern site is a “family tree” diagram, which is fascinating. I suspect that the Van Pelt – whose non-Leo members have gone on to stints in local heroes Enon and Jets to Brazil, among others – are going to take on quasi-mystical significance to a certain type of indie rocker five or ten years from now.

fracture – photos of music and assorted happenings in and around Vancouver, hosted by one of the nicest folks I know.

The Heavy Party. A website that’s torture on the eyes, made by folks who make websites that tend to be easy on the eyes.

Hm. 11:50 on a Thursday night. I’ve just ordered collections of music from the Swans and Jawbreaker. Rawk.

yarrrr……