Costume Party

TGIF, folks. Glad to see you all liked Ali G's guest post. You ready for this weekend? I know I am. I'm going to a Halloween party at my friend John's house in Pittsburgh tomorrow, and the Fu-Manchu is almost ready to be unvailed. I can't wait. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the girlfriend; the idea of me having a ridiculously hot mustache on our one-year anniversary just doesn't spark her in the panties like it does me.

So what are you going to be for Halloween? Let me know.


This is hilarious. Go Yoda, it's your birthday, you're gonna party like it's your birthday...

Hollywood

• Upcoming Quentin Tarantino produced and Eli Roth directed film The Hostel, in theaters just in time for Christmas Dec. 21st.
• Rundown: Three horny Yankee duders backpacking across Europe find themselves in big trouble when they accept a hook up to a slut haven Hostel in some Slovakian city. They wind up getting more than just a slice of hair pie as it gets “Sunday Bloody Sunday”.
• A review of the film
• Jessica Simpson has the best cleavage in Hollywood, according to In Touch Weekly. What, no Jessica Alba?
  

Featured Band: Dropping Daylight

I got this email yesterday from Jon Creech about a band called Dropping Daylight. I looked around on Elbo.ws and The Hype Machine and didn't see any other posts about them, so I figured I'd go ahead and give them some love.

My name is Jon and I learned about your site from Elbo.ws, and now I check it all the time. I am contacting you today to introduce you to the great new band, Dropping Daylight. When I began working with this band, I thought that Veritas Lux Mea would be interest in hearing their music.

Dropping Daylight released on October 11th a 4 song EP "Take a Photograph" on Octone Records and they will have a full length out in January 2006. The way to describe Dropping Daylight is to observe the effect they have on music listeners. They find metal heads transcribing classical piano licks, and easy listening fanatics playing air guitar in their living rooms. Punk kids reflecting on some powerful lyrics, and Lilith Fair fans starting a mosh pit. What they do for you is for you to decide - check out the MP3 below to see what it does to you.

Fronted by 21 year old classically trained pianist Sebastian Davin and his brother, 16-year-old Seth Davin on guitar, this Minnesota band's music has been featured on The Real World of all places.

Dropping Daylight - "Lucy"
Dropping Daylight - "Brace Yourself"

Ali G Wrote this Post

Well, Hump Day has come and gone and now it’s time to grind out da chill of da week. Do yous have your Halloween costume ready? Me sure hope so.

News

Note to self: Heavy drinking may harm sperm. Further note to self: Start gettin ratted!

Stay out of Madison dis Halloween if you're from Minnesota. Like, seriously. We don't dig you.

Mustache of the Day: da Ben Affleck-stole-my-halloween-costume-idea mustache

Ben is back sporting da ol’ Fu Manchu, which me is also just days away from sporting for our Pittsburgh White Trash Halloween Party. But seriously, we don’t hear anything of Ben for weeks and then all of a sudden he springs a FuMan on us?! me mean, come on, at least ease us on wiv a little of da batty fashioned Chasing Amy Affleck goatee or something, don’t just hop right on to da Fu Manchu. Gotta ease us in geezer! By da way, me respect for Affleck has now regained da status it did have after he made Dogma, but before Gigli.

Questions and Answers with Veritas Lux Mea


Concerned Feminist Conscious asks,
Q: Goose, why is yous always posting pictures of scantily clad wimin on compromising positions?

A: Well basically coz me dig women. me didn’t make these bitches put a bandana over their chest and call it a shirt, nor did me ask them to do so, get sloppy drunk, make out wiv each other, and then post their pictures all over da internet for everyone to see. I’m just reporting da facts as me check them.

Readers, do yous have a question you’d dig Goose to answer? If so, submit them by comment or email.

Music

Call Me Mickey has a review of da Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show he just saw. Plus, he's from Philly, so he's awesome.

Interesting article from Pitchfork checkin out da link between suicide and speeden garage and roll.

Seu Jorge - "Rock and Roll Suicide" from da Life Aquatic Soundtrack

More Life Aquatic:

Joan Baez - "Here's to You"
David Bowie - "Queen Bitch"
Iggy Pop and the Stooges - "Search and Destroy"

A couple good, American songwriters for your Thursday, courtesy of Insound...

David Dondero
This is a perversely American record maximum of sentimentality, contempt, humor, and lust - a aggro yet hopeful statement from a geezer who knows dat da life of a hangin musician is as rewarding as it is hard. is ability to shine a light on da human condition is inspiring. Restless, prolific, and endlessly on da road, Dondero makes a quicrest stop to drop off is sixth release. Considering everywhere he’s traveled, it’s not surprising dat geography permeates is songs. He connects da highway lines into a collection of literate, impressionistic, folk-blues mini-epics, conjuring da spirit of Henry Miller. Dondero is dig da ex-patriot returned - passionately and sublimely relaying how wicked and mingin dis turf can be.

David Dondero - "Laying Low in Eli, Nevada"

Craig Wedren
Dis is da label debut from acclaimed art-rock frontman of bitch and Shudder To Think. Lapland features a collection of songs dat would have appeared on da next Shudder To Think album if dey were still active, and rare songs he composed for film. "...it feels dig a slightly mellower, clearer, and more organic/oceanic Shudder To Think," says Wedren.

Craig Wedren - "Night is Over"

Much Respect. Check yous tomorrow.

Post written using the Ali G Translator.

All Things Humpity

Proof that life does not suck as a SI.com photographer

Well it's finally Hump Day, which means two things: Medieval Women's Lit for me followed by pizza and beer, and the announcement of the caption contest winner for you. Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot to choose from, as only three brave souls (two by comment, one by email) submitted captions. This proves two things: either (a) nobody has any creative talent or (b) you're all fucking illiterate, in which case a novel isn't going to do much for you, in which case might I suggest a little Reading Rainbow.

Nonetheless, I have to give the prize (a copy of Nick Horby's High Fidelity) to someone. It was hard deciding between Kevin's caption, which was truly great, and the email submission I got from Matt, who gets bonus points for style and creativity for drawing caption bubbles on the picture:

I was pleased by both submitter's attempts to convey the serious man-love going on in this picture, and considering Kevin already has a copy of the book, I decided to award the prize to Matt for all his hard work with the caption bubbles. Matt, expect to be recieving your copy of High Fidelity shortly. Not that you have any time to read it. To everyone who submitted, thanks for playing!

Sports

• The Nashville Predators improved to 8-0 last night. In more important news, Nashville has a hockey team?
• Cheryl Swoops likes the vagina. Go figure.
• One of my favorite columns to read during the week is ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, who profiled Tara. W of the Cinncinnati Bengals as his Cheerleader of the Week:
  

Proof that Veritas Lux Mea is more than just T&A, Tara graduated magna cum laude from the University of Kentucky and is a PhD student in cell and molecular biology at the University of Cincinnati, with a specific focus on Cancer research. This combination of brains and beauty gives Tara nuggets of wisdom such as this: "You can't adjust the wind, but you can always adjust your sail." She'd also like to meet Jesus. Go Bengals!

Personally, I'd like to meet Amber, who "likes reading fiction."

Politiks

Is America the new Rome?

The presence of one of my favorite authors, Joseph Conrad, on the War of Terror.

TEN REASONS WHY YOU, AUDREY TAUTOU, GAMINE FRENCH STAR OF AMÉLIE, SHOULD DATE ME, TEDDY WAYNE, from McSweeney's.

Hollywood

Zach Braff is the new Fletch.

Man I love this show.

Music

LHB links to a Billboard article with Rivers Cuomo and the Onion AV Club's Halloween Mixlist.

Spoon Announces Fall Tour. No stops in PA, however. Bollocks.

10-26 Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theater *
10-27 Louisville, KY - Headliners #
10-28 Urbana, IL - Foellinger Auditorium #
10-29 Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall #
10-30 Las Vegas, NV - Vegoose Festival +
11-01 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Theatre #
11-02 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soba #
11-03 Boston, MA - Avalon #
11-04 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street #
11-05 New York, NY - Nokia Live #$
11-06 Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw #$
11-08 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club $
11-09 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel $
11-10 Columbia, MO - Blue Note $
11-11 Omaha, NE - Orpheum Theatre %
11-12 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater $
11-14 Salt Lake City, UT - Velvet Room $
11-16 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre $
11-17 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern Theatre $
11-18 San Diego, CA - Cane's $
11-19 Mesa, AZ - Grand Cayenne Music Fest ^
12-08 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar

Spoon - "I Summon You"

Weird music trivia of the week: Blake Schwarzenbach of Jets to Brazil now teaches undergraduate english at Hunter College in New York City.

JTB - "Resistance is Futile"

Featured Artist: Paulson



"Throwing an overt drum 'n' bass rhythm section, as well as a glaring use of keyboard,s alongside their plaintive vocals and wiry lead guitar lines, Paulson create music which is both deceptively disjointed and emotionally involving all in one" - Kerrang!

"[Paulson] mixes seemingly disparate influences into a suprisingly cohesive whole." - Allmusic.com

"The successes of this record lie in their attention to details, especially with regards to the flawless guitar interplay" - Law of Inertia

"Paulson pushes the envelope when it comes to trying something new ... If you're looking for a band that will stand out and isn't afraid to put the "new" back into New Jersey, Paulson is your band!" - TheScout.net

"In essence a sonic experiment as much as they are a band, New Jersey's Paulson seem intent on pushing the envelope. Their creative blend of music is both progressive and highly amibitious, yet often comes off as organic and flowing." - ThePRP.com

Paulson - "A Great Pretending"
Paulson - "Feast or Famine"

Stream their new CD All At Once at their website.

Oct 27 2005 7:00P
Livingston Student Center New Brunswick, NJ
Nov 4 2005 6:00P
Washington Township VFW Washington Township, NJ
Nov 5 2005 6:00P
The Harmony Grange Wilmington, DE
Nov 6 2005 5:00P
The Globe Bethlehem, PA
Nov 7 2005 7:00P
George Mason University Fairfax, VA
Nov 8 2005 6:00P
Sweet Caroline's Virginia Beach, VA
Nov 9 2005 6:00P
The Refuge Johnson City, TN
Nov 10 2005 6:00P
Creation Skatepark Kernersville, NC
Nov 11 2005 6:00P
Plan B Danville, VA
Nov 12 2005 5:00P
Kingsland Church Richmond, VA
Nov 12 2005 10:00P
The Nanci Raygun Richmond, VA
Nov 13 2005 4:00P Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ

Clap Your Hands Say Snow!

Back at my apartment today because the Nor'easter cut short my little vacation and our travel plans to Pittsburgh. A week ago it was in the 50's with sunshine here in Pennsyltucky (ie. Western PA); today, some areas are expected to get 3-6" of snow. This shit is bananas:


Pittsburgh has been pretty much shut down today as bad as Lidge in the World Series, and the Nor'easter is looking to kick some ass. And people thought Wisconsin was bad. Hah!

Sports

Featured Story: Not only is Ahman Green done for the season, but the Packer's injured running back may very well be done in Green Bay, reports Yahoo Sports. With Najeh also out, the Packers will look to third-stringer Tony Fisher to handle the rock. I'm just betting my dad isn't too happy with that one back home in Packerland. Just wait til they sign Fed Ex, who will basically be the nail-in-the-coffin of the Packer's season. If you don't believe me, ask the Eagles.

Uber-knife-in-my-side Julius Jones is expecting to miss this week's game against the Cardinals as well, the team is reporting. What's that now, three damn games? I already traded away my first fantasy pick (Jamal Lewis) because he runs about as well as the 1971 AMC Green Hornet I used to drive, and I've been without my No. 2 pick Jones for the past two weeks now, having to rely on Willy Parker, Mewelde Moore and Anthony Thomas as my backfield trio. This is just another string in the line of shit luck I've had this season with my fantasy team.



My pay league fantasy review:

• Trent Green? Forgot how to throw touchdowns, so I traded him away and ended up with Marc Bulger.
• Bulger proceeds to get hurt the next game and is out 2-3 games, forcing me to turn to Josh McCown (shudders).
• After dumping Lewis, I'm left with Jones and Parker in my backfield. Jones gets injured, Bettis comes back to limit Parker's carries, and I end up having to make some trades for Mewelde Moore.
• Darrel Jackson? I was so pleased I picked up D-Jax in the draft. Until he got hurt as well. Donald Driver has been consistent all season, but now that the Pack lost Ferguson and Walker, he's going to draw more double teams and likely get less looks.
• Defensively, I thought I could lean on the Eagles, a perennially tough team. Then they give up like 30 freakin' points in back to back games. What gives!
  

Good to see my $50 is being spent well, with the stress likely taking years off my life. But hey, that's why we play the game. On the bright side, I'm continuing to rock ass in the Music Blogger Fantasy League, despite jokers like Ryan thinking they are going to steal my crown. Too bad I'm gonna light him up like a Christmas tree in Week 9.

I was listening to Jim Rome on the radio this morning on my drive back. I'm not a huge Rome fan by any means, but I love it when jackasses call in to give their two cents., because it really makes me feel smart once in awhile. This morning some Houston Astros fan called in to talk about how bad the Chicago White Sox fans have been to the Houston Astros fans and players' wives, with one such winner going so far as to slap Craig Biggio's wife in the face before he ran off.

Houston fan feels that this incident is indicitive of White Sox fans in general, as he lumped them all together as "Democratic, union-working white trash." So, drunken Sox fans are likely democratic and union-workers because they attack player's wives. Great logic on that one, Astros fan.

Yahoo has a story profiling the soul of the Sox, and I love the quote one Sox fan gave: "F--- Wrigleyville," said Terry Lacino, a 38-year-old carpenter, while drinking a Miller at Jimbo's on Saturday. "You think I want some yuppie pissin' on my lawn?"

At least Ozzie Guillen isn't pulling the "law is not in my hands" card. Ozzie told police, "Don't put him (the unruly fan) in jail, bring him to me in the dugout." Damn straight, Ozzie.

Hollywood

• Premiere Magazine's Top 25 Most Shocking Moments in Film. No. 8 is classic.
• As if you needed another reason to go see Shopgirl: Claire Danes gets nekkid. The dream all you teenage-angst My So Called Lifers always wanted.
• Ryan Reynolds is engaged to Alanis Morissette? Really? Huh.
• This looks like it's going to be great.
  

Politiks

President Bush goes after The Onion for using his logo. Why not, it's not as if you've got anything else to concentrate on, like foreign affairs or domestic gas prices, right Dubya?

Music

Featured Album: Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980)


Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is the debut album by Dead Kennedys, released in 1980 through Jello Biafra's own Alternative Tentacles record label in the US, and Cherry Red Records in the UK. The best selling, certainly the best known, and generally the most critically aclaimed album by the Dead Kennedys, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables has become a major staple of American punk, a starting point for political punk. Although musical categories are difficult to define, many music historians also believe this to be the first hardcore punk album.

Although the raw production and strident assault have dated slightly, Jello Biafra's strong leftist statements on songs such as "Kill the Poor" and "California Über Alles", launched the Dead Kennedys into the political arena. It has been widely reported that this caused right-wing Christians and politicians to consider the Dead Kennedys "the most dangerous band in the world", although whether this is a direct quote is debatable.

Musically, Fresh Fruit laid the blueprint for future Kennedy's releases: loud, noisy, fast, but with a sense of dynamics and musical individualism. The surf and rockabilly-inspired riffs owe something to the Ramones' most influential recordings, drawing from early American AM pop and rehashing it in the immediate, aggressive context of punk rock. The lyrics lend a significant bite to the breakthrough of the already strident (yet suprisingly catchy) musical assault --- Wikipedia

Open directory, get em' while they last!

1. "Kill the Poor" (Biafra/Ray) - 3:07
2. "Forward to Death" (6025) - 1:23
3. "When Ya Get Drafted" (Biafra) - 1:23
4. "Let's Lynch the Landlord" (Biafra) - 2:13
5. "Drug Me" (Biafra) - 1:56
6. "Your Emotions" (Ray) - 1:20
7. "Chemical Warfare" (Biafra) - 2:58
8. "California Über Alles" (Biafra/Greenway) - 3:03
9. "I Kill Children" (Biafra) - 2:04
10. "Stealing People's Mail" (Biafra) - 1:34
11. "Funland at the Beach" (Biafra) - 1:49
12. "Ill in the Head" (6025/Biafra) - 2:46
13. "Holiday in Cambodia" (Biafra) - 4:37
14. "Viva Las Vegas" (Pomus/Schuman) - 2:42

Wilco news on Stereogum

Ekko shot me a comment yesterday (did you notice the change in background tint? I hope that's a little more eye-easy), so go check out his place, Berkeleyplace.

Guily pleasures:

• Madonna - "La Isla Bonita" Remix
• Weezer - "Surfwax America" (Live in Mexico City)
  

Ok, I've got 400 pages to read in two days. Not gonna happen, but I'll give er' the ol' college try anyways.

Freakin' Monday

A little fumed right now because my girlfriend's employer scheduled her to work this weekend on our 1-year anniversary even though she asked off three weeks ago. Wtf, Waldenbooks?! Ah, what a way to start off the week.

People, people, people. You have got to be kidding me with this caption contest! One submission?! So far, Kevin is the only one who submitted a caption, and it's a pretty damn good one too: "Roger Clemens pops a rocket all over his mancrush, Roy Oswalt." Nice, Kevin.

But here's the caveat: Kevin already owns a copy of High Fidelity, so it would be nice to try and give it to someone who doesn't own a copy. But fair's fair and if nobody submits anything else by Wednesday or comes up with a more creative caption, Kevin's got himself an early Christmas present.

Sports

• As if the loss to Minnesota Sunday wasn't demoralizing enough for my homegrown green-and-gold Wisconsin blood, the Packers also lost running back Ahman Green and WR Robert Ferguson to knee injuries. 2006 Draft here we come.
• Luckily, the Badgers continued to roll, setting up a huge Nov. 5th game at Penn State, which will likely determine the Big 10.
• My PA teams managed to go 2-0 on Sunday as well. The Steelers proved that Carson Palmer is not the second coming of Joe Montana as everyone wants to believe.
• Meanwhile, the Eagles (and more importantly, my fantasy defense) managed a come-from-behind win against the Bolts thanks to Quintin Mikell and Matt Ware, the City of Brotherly Love's new hometown heroes. Note to Andy Reid: Run the damn ball, son! 10 rushing attempts? Didn't you learn anything from Mike Holmgren?

Hollywood

• Donny Darko and Domino director Richard Kelly hits the screen in 2006 with Southland Tales
• Steve Martin's book-turned-movie, Shopgirl;
• Bonus: Interview with Shopgirl's Jason Schwartzman
  

Featured Actor: Jason Schwartzman

J- Schwartz is amazing. Practically every film he makes kicks complete ass. Let's review. Rushmore? Check. Slackers? Check. Spun? Check, if for nothing more than the crazy heroin-paced fast forward cinematography. I Heart Huckabees? Check. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Haven't seen it, but I'm assuming a check here. Shopgirl looks like it's going to be great, as does Marie-Antoinette, the fourth film from the amazingly talented Sofia Coppola, who directed great flicks like Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides. In Marie-Antoinette, Schwartzman plays Louis XVI. Louis-f'ing-XVI. It doesn't get much cooler than that, especially when Rip freaking Torn is playing King Louis XV.


Romance of the Jedi: Episode III remixed as a gay-love story. LMAO. Must-Git'-Lit

• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Oct. 25th.
• 1491: New Relevations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann. Link has cool timeline to check out from the book.
• Christ the Lord by Anne Rice (yep, the vampire lovin' one). Looks like someone found da' Jesus.
• Related news: The Morning News complies one-star reader comments submitted to Amazon.com on books selected for Time Magazine's list of the Top 100 books. You should read this so that you understand how stupid some people actually are. Case in point, one reader's one-star review of Toni Morrison's Beloved: “Morrison’s obviously a good writer, but truly, her subject matter leaves a LOT to be desired in this book. It’s raunchy beyond belief. People do things with farm animals that they shouldn’t. I couldn’t get through the first two chapters without vomiting. Some things you just shouldn’t put in your head.” Nice review, Adolf.
  

Music

Shit. I can't wait.

Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka - Porn Music for the Masses Full Album mp3 links (via Goldenfiddle)

Dane Cook

• Dane Cook - "Slip n' Bleed"
• Dane Cook - "Hopped up on the Q"

Some Live Austin City Limits music

• Franz Ferdinand - "Darts of Pleasure"
• Pixies - "Debaser"

Pearl Jam live in Osaka

• Courderoy
• Nothingman

I'll be in Pittsburgh tomorrow with the lady friend and her mom so there won't be a post tomorrow. See you back on Hump Day for a new post and the caption contest winner!

Rainer Maria + Rainer Maria Rilke

Featured Artist: Rainer Maria

Formed in the Midwest and currently residing in Brooklyn, Rainer Maria have written and recorded four studio albums: Past Worn Searching (1997), regarded by some fans as still their most intensely personal work; Look Now Look Again (1999), which landed on Spin magazine's Top 20 Albums of the Year list and brought them to national attention for the first time; A Better Version of Me (2001), which reached number one on the CMJ college radio charts; and Long Knives Drawn (2003), whose single "Ears Ring" was in rotation on MTV2.

2004 saw the release of their live CD/DVD Anyone in Love with You (Already Knows), the first comprehensive document of their legendary live performances. The band celebrated its release opening for Coheed and Cambria on a summer U.S. tour.

The band returns this year from the studio with Grammy Award-winning producer Malcolm Burn (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop et al.) and plans to release their as-yet-untitled fifth studio album in the fall of 2005. An immediately recognizable yet very different record for the band, the production is big, atmospheric, and extraordinarily moving. Fitting for an equally jaw-dropping batch of songs.

Rainer Maria - "Breakfast of Champions"
Rainer Maria - "Artificial Light"
Rainer Maria - "Ears Ring"
Rainer Maria - "The Double Life"
Rainer Maria - "Tinfoil"

Featured Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke

For the first time, I'm pairing a featured artist with a featured poet. I'm an English major, give me a break. Anyways, you should check out Rainer Maria Rilke because he's smooth as butter. Plus, he has a mustache, so I get to kill two birds with one stone by deeming the mustache of the day as The Poet Stache.




My favorite: "Falling Stars"

Do you remember still the falling stars
that like swift horses through the heavens raced
and suddenly leaped across the hurdles
of our wishes--do you recall? And we
did make so many! For there were countless numbers
of stars: each time we looked above we were
astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,
while in our hearts we felt safe and secure
watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,
knowing somehow we had survived their fall.

Night
The Swan
Spanish Dancer
Eve

Matt over at You Ain't No Picasso features "that song" from the Weatherman preview, which just so happens to be Iggy Pop's "The Passenger." Go get it, it's awesome. PS. Matt's sick. Send him some chicken soup.

And don't forget to submit a caption to the caption contest below for a chance to win a copy of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity.

Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams Caption Contest

Ok, this picture is worth a thousand words. Which is why I'm having a caption contest with it! That's right: submit your caption in the comments and if I decide you are the wittiest, I will send you a prize. Karma wise, it's about damn time I held a contest since I won Kevin's So Much Silence caption contest and Gorilla vs. Bear's Pitchfork review contest. As Jason Lee as Earl says, "do good things and good things will happen to you." C'mon, fantasy football karma!

Unfortunately, the prize won't be anything special, since I'm a poor graduate literature student. However, what I will send you is a new copy of the quintessential music-lover novel (retail: $12.95, I have two copies), Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, the book that inspired the movie starring John Cusack and Jack Black.

I'm going away this weekend, so I'll hold the contest open for one week, until next Wednesday at noon. So submit a caption, tell your friends, and possibly win a great read. Check back next Wednesday when I annouce the winner.

So I was late to posting today because I was on campus literally all day. Between an independent seminar meeting, an impromptu meeting with another professor, a workshop, some library time and class from 6-9 my ass was fairly busy, but I managed to squeeze a post in just after midnight. And that's after spending the past two hours in a bar, as we usually do on Wednesday nights (although I can't really say we anymore since outside of the Three Musketeers (me, KRS and Matt) everyone else's attendance is spotty)). Which doesn't surprise me.

It's getting to be that point in the semester when graduate students start to get their panties in a bunch because deadlines are approaching and it really matters to them to get Joe Professor's paper started. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for me. If you've ever seen Office Space, my attitude toward most of the work I do in graduate school (er, work assinged to me that I don't really want to do) is equal to Peter's attitude towards work after he gets hypnotized. Call it luck or call it a curse. Whatever it is, it helps me sleep better at night.


In a somewhat but not really related context, HigherED looks at drinking and debauchery in the Liberal Arts (which I have to say, is sorely lacking from my program). Hey, at least Dylan Thomas knew how to booze with the best of 'em.

Mustache of the Day: The Dictator Mustache

In our latest instalinment of our 92-part series (funny if you saw the Colbert Report the other night, which is now a must-see every night at 1130 pm ET after The Daily Show), we have the ol' chums Sammy, Joe, and Fido sporting their militaristic lip fur. Sammy and Joe keep their staches pretty tight and clean, but Fido rocks the all-out guerilla warefare style mustache: you never know where it's gonna be.

Random Links

• Popmatters.com asks, "If hip-hop can be colorblind, then why do rock concerts still seem segregated?"
• Buzz: Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
• South Park is baaaaaaaack

Music News

Jules needs a date to the Wolf Parade concert. I'd offer to go...if I didn't live in Pennsyltucky and didn't have a special lady friend that might not take to well to that idea.

So I got an email yesterday that looked like spam but was actually a promo for this band called Awesome New Republic. I thought, "wow, I must be cool," and was all psyched to promote them on my blog, until I saw that both Samantha and Dodge already did just that today. So instead of trying to find something they didn't say, I'll just refer you to their posts, which are, as always, well done. Speaking of music blog cross-polination, do you ever notice how often blogs cover the same band on the same day? Not that that's a bad thing, as Kevin proves by one-upping my Halloween, Alaska post into an actual band profile, rather than my little blurb. Big ups, moondoggy.

Obviously, it's due to the fact that most of us refer to the same places, 'zines, or blogs for our daily material, so the pool of material isn't exactly fresh. My favorite part is just seeing how everyone spins each band differently, and as long as that continues to happen, good things are bound to keep happening on the music blog scene.

Featured Band: Avail


Another band I learned about from my buddy, KRS. Avail is the best thing to come out of Richmond, Virginia (at least according to the band).. Richmond plays a big role in Tim's lyrics. Some common themes include the city's astronomical murder rate, pollution caused by local industry, and the class struggle in the Oregon Hill neighborhood. When the band isn't writing ultra intelligent songs, the members are hopping freight trains and playing basketball (Tim), skating and surfing (Gwomper), being late (Ed), driving Ford cars (Joe), or wrestling professionally (Beau Beau).

Avail - "Black and Red"
Avail - "One Wrench"

Celeb-Nation

*Orlando Bloom puts his mustache into action with a little beach grabby-grabby of Kate Bosworth (via Hollywood Tuna)
*Oh Alba (via Hollyrude.net)
*Rivers Cuomo is going back to Harvard to get his degree in English Literature. Dammit, now I have to compete with Rivers for a job now too?!
*Will Ferell to star in NASCAR comedy with Sasha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G). Big ups, man.

Bonus music:
Ice T - "O.G. Original Gangster"
Weezer - "Freak Me Out"
Surfjan Stevens - "Seer's Tower"
Radiohead - "Morning Bell"

ACDC discography and Clarkson is the Devil

Back to blogging as I recover from yesterday's surgery. Hey, you can't beat a morphine drip for breakfast, right? Thank to everyone who wished me luck and was concerned, it meant a lot.

Mustache of the Day: The Orlando Bloom

Orlando is sporting the French style mustache, but with a little more substance, a little more "oo-la-la" for the ladies. I wonder what his current flame Kate Bosworth thinks of the lip fur, which makes him look like a Zorro-wannabe. Unfortunately, Zorro he is not, as that role has once again been snatched up by Antonio "no no no, too sexy, too sexy" Banderas. Perhaps next time, Pirate Will Turner.

Sports

• It seems only fitting that the same day I move into first place in the Music Blogger fantasy football league, the quarterback I just traded Jamal Lewis for in my money league (Marc Bulger) goes down with an injury. Oh cruel karma.
• And by the way, Albert Pujols is wicked-clutch.

News

• Do you ever wonder what words you use originated on The Simpsons? I sure do. I guess me calling everyone a "jerkface" isn't so original now.

Featured hottie: Kelly Clarkson

• James links to a presentation of Kelly Clarkson's "Since You Been Gone" in Powerpoint format.
• Stereogum highlights Kelly Clarkson's declining career, but fails to mention that she is a devil worshipper. Or a Metallica fan. Or a faux-rock star, but I prefer to think the first.
  

Proof below in the pictures (notice the classic "devil sign" and extended tongue). You also might want to notice her incredible hotness, a sure sign of her seductive, satanic nature.

Kelly is obviously ackowledging allegiance to her master, the evil one himself, pictured below:

Featured Artist: AC/DC


What better than some AC/DC to kiss your ass into gear for the rest of the week?

Discography with MP3 links:
High Voltage (Oz) [1975] - "It's a Long Way To the Top"
T.N.T. [1975]
High Voltage [1976]
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Oz) [1976]
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap [1976] - "Big Balls"
Let There Be Rock [1977] - "Dog Eat Dog"
Powerage [1978] - "Kicked in the Teeth"
If You Want Blood [1978] - "Whole Lotta Rosie"
Highway To Hell [1979] - "Highway to Hell"
Back In Black [1980] - "Hells Bells"
For Those About To Rock [1981] - "Night of the Long Knives"
Flick Of The Switch [1983] - "Guns for Hire"
'74 Jailbreak [1984] - "Jailbreak"
Fly On The Wall [1985] - "Playing with Girls"
Who Made Who [1986] - "You Shook Me All Night Long"
Blow Up Your Video [1988] - "Ruff Stuff"
The Razors Edge [1990] - "Thunderstruck"
Live (Special Collectors Edition) [1992]
Live [1992] - "TNT"
Ballbreaker [1995] -"Hard as a Rock"
Bonfire [1997]
Stiff Upper Lip [2000]

Under the Knife

So I figured I'd post Sunday night since I'm going to be incommunicado tomorrow following my morning surgery (meatoplasty) in New Kensington to correct a medical ailment (urethral stenosis). Unless you're a med student or just a fan of urologists you probably don't know what that means, and trust me, you really don't want to. Anyways, things should go smooth but wish me luck anyways.

Sports

The football this weekend was amazing. I got to see Wisconsin win on the blocked punt (and I revamped the site's colors in honor of that), Michigan on the last second touchdown pass to Manningham, USC on the Matt Leinart run all on Saturday. Not to mention the games I saw today (Dallas-Giants; Saints-Falcons). I don't remember such exciting finishes all in one weekend. Ever.

And by the way, Tommy Maddox should never play football. Ever. Again. I could have sworn Dave Krieg (who went to my high school, and the only "celeb" I've ever met or seen eating cereal in his boxers in his living room) and his butterfingers came to life after the Kenny Mayne ESPN segment to play quarterback for the Steelers, but nope, it was just Tommy Gun at his best throwing away the game. Shit, Chuck Batch could have done that.

Yaxley: I'm going to name my firstborn son Tommy Maddox.
Auto response from uwlax96: Tommy Maddox is the new Kordell Stewart
Yaxley: Then I'm going to beat him every night.

Good news on the fantasy front (well, for me at least). I managed to cut some dead weight (Jamal Lewis and the injured Darrel Jackson, who is going to be out at least 6 weeks, not 4 so don't believe it for a second) and pick up a decent QB (Bulger) to replace the deadpan I have now (Trent Green). Hopefully I can move Green or my other backup, McCown, for a reciever or runningback.

News: Only in Wisconsin... The Stuffed Squirrel and Chipmunk Museum, located in the basement of Madison's Cress Funeral Home.

Ladies, Ladies, Ladies

Wtf? Still hot.

• Post-pregnancy Brittney Spears looking not-too-shabby. Does that make her a MILF?
• Egotastic has a link to the Anne Hathaway scene from Havoc. Hot.
  

Music

The Rolling Stones now roll with a defibrilator instead of sex groupies.

Kevin sent me a great Jets to Brazil track to help orientate me in their work, so I'll pay it forward and share it with you: Jets to Brazil - "Perfecting Lonliness"

Sorta-Featured Band: Halloween, Alaska

HALLOWEEN, ALASKA first appeared in Minneapolis in 2002, quickly picked by Twin Cities clubgoers as a unique and compelling new attraction. Over the subsequent year,the group squeezed scattershot recording sessions into their busy creative lives (members can also be seen and heard in The Bad Plus, Happy Apple, Love-cars, et al). They quietly released a self-titled disc via the local Princess Records imprint in early 2004, featuring seven original songs and an eerily tweaked cover of Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper." The disc rode a surprising wave of word-of-mouth and college radio buzz to become a chart favorite at CMJ and on non-commercial and Internet radio stations across the U.S. The band and the album enjoyed an extra boost when its songs "All the Arms Around You" and "Des Moines" were featured in the first two seasons of the
Fox TV series "The O.C.". In 2005, the debut disc was reissued on East Side Digital with the addition of a few bonus tracks.

• NRP profiles Minnesota band Halloween, Alaska.
• Their featured post on Silence is a Rythm Too
  
• Their Myspace page.
• Download: Halloween, Alaska - "Call it Clear"

More music:
Rogue Wave - "10:1"
Silver Jews - "Tanglewood Numbers"
Pearl Jam - "Bushleager"
My Morning Jacket - "Tonight I Want to Celebrate With You"

The Weatherman/Waiting

I just, JUST saw a preview for the upcoming Michael Caine/Nic Cage film, "The Weatherman," while watching the USC-Notre Dame game.

What an great looking movie. It has to be good if at one point Michael Caine's advice to Cage comes in the form of Devo lyrics.

Popular Chicago weatherman Dave Spritz has a shot at the big time when a national morning radio show calls him for an audition. Professionally, Dave is on top of the world , but his personal life is in complete disarray. The harder he tries to hold on, the more he loses his grip.

The film, directed by Gore Verbinski, opens Oct. 28th. Count me in.

Apple trailer for the film

Annie Hayden - "Weather" (via Sixeyes)

More "weather" related tracks at Something I Learned Today

UPDATE: So I went and saw "Waiting" tonight. Terrible movie. I was absolutely dissapointed with the effort. To think, a movie with Dane Cook and Ryan Reynolds being that bad? Chris thought it was funny. Don't get me wrong: I like cock jokes, vaginas "Oh it looks angry!" and underage sex as much as the next guy, but fuck, at least make it worth the 8 dollars I have to pay to see it. Or you could just go ahead and cast Ryan Reynolds' Van Wilder character in a restaurant movie, throw in some usual MTV charicatures like two white dopeheads who think they're black, a few (mostly underage) slutty girls, a shy guy, and a wise dishwasher and call it a feature film. Tisk, Ryan Reynolds, tisk.

Flickerball Photos

Matt (left) and Jeff playing some Flickerball

Last night I hosted another Flickerball (my PA version of the WI game, Five Score) at my apartment. I won for a change, dethroning Jeff (in the green shirt) with a come from behind win in the championship game. Check out Matt's shirt. That's some crazy shit. A 30 pack of Natty Light, some friends, a few laughs...all in all a good night.

Badgers! Badgers! Badgers!

Wisconsin recovers blocked punt in endzone to come from behind and defeat Minnesota.

Wow. That was probably one of the most exciting college football comebacks I've ever seen. After everyone, including that pseudo-annoucer Lou Holtz wrote the Badgers off with them down by 3 to the Gophers with 30 seconds left in the game, the defense comes up huge, with Jonathan Casillas blocking a Minnesota punt and recovering in the end zone for the game winning touchdown. Suck on that, doubters.

Saturday links:

• From LA Weekly, how MTV sold its soul.

• XMEN3 launches website for the movie.

• From LHB, Nobel Prize in Literature Harold Pinter's poem "American Football." Worth the read.

A Lesson in Constructive Criticism

I'm all about constructive criticism; being a graduate English major, it's supposedly one of the most useful tools we have as writers, one that connects us with our readers in a process of negotiation. Of course, that's only the case when it's constructive criticism. I bring this up in light of a recent comment by "Anonymous" which I will share with all you, my readers, to highlight my point.

A couple days ago, I ran across a copy of the supposed Arcade Fire Christmas Album from last year, A Very Arcade Xmas. Not being a huge fan of Arcade Fire (I own Funeral, but that's about it), this was news to me, and since it's getting to be about that time of the year I thought, what the heck, I'll post a few tracks. So I tracked down the Pitchfork review of the album via Brooklyn Vegan, who linked to it last December, threw out a couple tracks (which were obviously in jest to a real "christmas" album) and figured that would be the end of it. I didn't spend hours researching it, or anything else I usually find; after all, this is free mp3's we are talking about, not Middle Eastern politics. However, my error in not mentioning that the songs weren't sung by Arcade Fire was picked up on by "Anonymous," who had this to say:

Oh please. The band has already stated on their site that no REAL arcade fire members were involved in the making of those christmas tracks, just some friends. There was even a pitchfork interview with them in which they (PF) apologized. You're late and get your facts straight.

This comment brings to light a couple of things. The first being this is not what I would consider constructive criticism. The tone is unapologetic and generally bitter. So it's not sung by Arcade Fire. Big deal. One could easily say "actually it was sung by some friends and not the band, which they say on the website" instead of an insulting tone that attacks the writer's knowledge and delivery of the material. Like I said, not very constructive.

Well anyways, that's my schpeel on reader commentary. Criticism and counterarguements are great. Being bitter about someone's lack on knowledge on an area only makes you look like a jerk. More importantly, I could give a shit. It's free music. I don't have to spend an hour everyday looking for it to give it you, so shut up and download it.

Music: Saturday Mix

The Boy Least Likely To - "My Tiger, My Heart"
The Boy Least Likely To - "Paper Cuts"
Audioslave - "I Am the Highway"
The Rolling Stones - "Miss You" (Dr. Dre Remix 2002)

Sorta-Featured Artist: Evergreen Terrace

I saw some Emo-looking kid in Martin's the other day wearing a black hoodies that said "Evergreen Terrace" on it and my first thought was "isn't that a road back home?" Then I thought of the Terrace in Madison, WI. Not until today did I realize he was talking about the band Evergreen Terrace, who fits into that punk/metal screamo stuff the kids are all about today. Currently on a European tour, more Evergreen Terrace info can be found here.


Evergreen Terrace - "New Friend Request"
Evergreen Terrace - "Zero" (Smashing Pumpkins cover)
Evergreen Terrace - "Understanding the Fear that Lies Within"

Chris and I Love the Alba

Veritas Lux Mea poster girl Jessica Alba doing her best Maggie Gyllanhaal from "Secretary" impersonation for Esquire

Having the gang over tonight to watch The Big Lebowski, drink Natty Light and play Flickerball. If only I didn't have class for three damn hours from 6-9 pm.

Politics:

• The Curious Case of Russ Feingold
• Columbus Day Lies
  

Worst News I Heard All Day: MTV buys IFILM

Girls:

• All the Heidi Klum you could ever need.
• Jessica Alba got all dolled up for Esquire's photoshoot in which she renacts film's sexiest roles (via JustJared.com). I see Chris is honing in on my poster girl, and who wouldn't? I guess I can play fair and share her.

Humor: Mcsweeney's Other Places Jimmy Buffett Wasted Away

Featured Artist: The Hush Sound

Browsing around on Punknews.org, I ran across a little ditty of a band called The Hush Sound. Bob, Greta, Darren and Chris, all hailing from Chicago, IL, are the members of The Hush Sound, whose debut album So Sudden hit stores Tuesday.

With the ever-exploding Chicago music scene, which is rapidly becoming known for producing some of today’s best underground bands, comes The Hush Sound – a much-needed breath of fresh air from the monotony of today’s oversaturated music scene. The Hush Sound offers something different. Comprised of four members (who all sing, by the way), this indie-folk-pop-rock band spurts out songs that are full of catchy guitar riffs, uplifting piano parts and layered male/female vocals. Their style is hard to pinpoint as anything but original and imaginative.



Upcoming shows:
10/16/05 Poplar Grove, IL
11/04/05 Wheaton, IL

The Hush Sound - "Crawling Towards the Sun"

Listen to the So Sudden sampler and a few more tracks at Purevolume
Click here to order the CD
The Hush Sound on Myspace

My friends have all been recommending songs to each other on our message board, and since they were kind enough to post downloads to their recommendations, I thought I'd pay it forward and give you a listen as well:

From Grego:
Royksopp - "Sombre Detune"
RJD2 - "1976"
Common - "The Corner"

From Pingel, all selections from Showtime's Weeds:
Melvina Reynolds - "Little Boxes"
Martin Creed - "I Can't Move"
NRBQ - "Wacky Tobacky"

My Choices:
Wolf Parade - "Shine a Light" (seriously, who hasn't posted this song in the past two weeks?)
Bear vs. Shark - "Buses/No Buses" from one of the best new bands out there in my opinion
Jets to Brazil - "Lemon Yellow Black"

And finally, from ThePartyParty website, some politically inspired audio mixes:
HIV/AIDS
Dick is a Killer

Midnight Mustache Ride

Ok, I've got some time to relax since I've sworn off reading any more film criticism or Medieval women's literature until tomorrow. Did anyone besides me catch Letterman's interview with Howard Dean last night? Dave was asking some ball busting questions, way to go Davo. Dean's explanation of his "hiding the salami" quote was classic and can be accessed here. Or here, from Hardball.

News You Can Use

• How to make one million friends on Myspace. Actually, it's pretty easy. Just post the kind of pictures you see below, and you'll have every horny dude and pseudo-bi sexual chick on Myspace instantly wanting to "add you" at the click (or should we say "double click") of their mouse:
  

• A critical look at Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code.
  

• Forget the avian flu or SARS, the real epidemic is fear. What's worse is that bloggers are only helping to perpetuate the epidemic of fear, according to the article. "Helping to accelerate bird flu mania is a growing band of flu bloggers -- techno-agitators and armchair epidemiologists who see each new flu report or update as a call to arms, and use their blogs as a medium to inform and scare the daylights out of each other." They should just switch over to posting mp3's and fantasy football stuff; it's much more agreeable on the stomach.

• Head over to EBAY and bid on the opportunity to record live in a Chicago studio with rocker Ted Leo.

• Like crossing the line? Me too. Here's a bunch of offensive religious jokes. Don't tell my Mom, who insists I'm still a Cathoholic.
  

So yeah the whole idea shirtless men campaign has been put aside in favor of my masculine pride, but never fear, I plan on providing you ladies with some man sex somehow. With that, Veritas Lux Mea launches the 2005 Mustache Campaign, highlighting the sexiest and down right manliest mustaches this side of Pennsyl-tucky.

Stache of the day: The drunken stache

This guy is obviously intoxicated, and from the looks of his lip fur, he might have been drunk when he shaved.

In honor of my inaugural mustache post, you should head over to the Thunderbirds are Now! website to check out the stache-loving boys, or download their song below:

Thunderbirds are Now! - "Title" from Ryan via his interview with the band.

Music of the Day: The Dropkick Murphys

I'm Shipping Up to Boston
The Burden
Take it and Run

Hell of a Thursday

"long and hard is the way that out of hell leads to the light..."

I don't really have any time to post much of anything today thanks to a heavy workload this week and annoying health things like having to go get bloodwork done (you'd think they would tell you more than a day in advance of when they need it, wouldn't you?) so I'll keep this short.

Quick links:

• ESPN Page 2's review of Two for the Money, with my boy, Matt McC. I can't wait to see that (cough, cough).

• Playwright Harold Pinter wins Nobel Prize in Literature. I've read "The Birthday Party." Good stuff.

• Paradise Lost to land on big screen. Hmm...just in time for my dissertation on Milton, too! I love how the article states, "Milton declared that the poem's aim was "to justify the ways of God to men" but debate has raged as to whether he achieved this or rather exposed the cruelty of the Christian God." I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you right now it's not the second one. There, now you can sleep better tonight.

• Chris and others get mentioned by the Portland State U. Vanguard. Maybe they'll notice my link on his blogroll. Maybe?

• Ryan's going to see QOTSA tonight, plus those NIN guys.

• Some Black Keys over at James crib.

Iron Maiden - "Wasted Years". Sorta fitting, don't you think?
Surfjan Stevens - Come on! Feel the Illinoise!

Hump Day Double Post

Looking forward to a productive Hump Day. Got a six page paper to whip up at the library and since class is pushed to friday night this week, I'm heading out to Culpepper's for some post-birthday beers.


Featured Artist: Millenicon

I mentioned these guys briefly yesterday. Here's a fuller take on them.

Erik, Mathias and Nikola started the band in October -92 in Örebro Sweden, back then we were playing in other punkbands and singing in Swedish. Erik played guitar in Charles Hårfager. Nikola and Mathias had their band called Seigmenn. We all started skating around -87 and we got into punkbands like Operation Ivy, Mc Rad, Descendents & Odd Man Out from skatevideos. So we decided to start a skaterock band. We got the name from the skatetrick ”Melancholy” (also known as sad air), but we changed the spelling a bit so it sounds more like a name.

We recorded a ten song demotape called ”Goofy” in early -93, played one show, then Larzon joined the band. Larzon played in a band called Kung Pung at that time. We needed two guitars live and Mathias, who played the drums in Millencolin before Larzon joined us, was more of a guitarplayer. The three bands we played in before, all released one 7" each, which we paid for ourselves. Both Seigmenn and Kung Pung broke up early -93.

Charles Hårfager got signed to Kamel Records who put out their 7" again. Erik did one more single with Charles Hårfager before he quit the band called "korpen faller". The other guys in the band continued to play together and recorded two cd's before they split up. Erik also ran a fanzine at that time called Jagular music & skate zine, he only put out one issue. In the summer of 1993 we made a new ten song tape which we named ”Melack” (the songs are now spread out on different compilations). The recording was made with Dan Swanö at Unisound Studios, where we later on recorded all our stuff up to-98...

The bio

The Music:
Home from Home
Pennybridge Pioneers
For Monkeys
Life on a Plate
Same old Tunes

News

As if Garciaparra wasn't already popular.

Nobody under 55 reads the newspaper. Agreed. We have this thing called the internet.

Facebook and stalking 101.

Continuing Vertias Lux Mea's non-gender biased picture posting...I give you:

The girl: Kiera Knightly

The guy: Jared Leto

Happy Hallo...um, Christmas?

Well, it's almost that time of the year again...time for pathetically trying to lure some hot girl you have no chance with under the mistletoe, eggnog bongs from the blue horn, and...the Arcade Fire? Apparently, back in 2002, AF put out a "Christmas Album" mostly with butchered versions of Christmas songs. News to me.

Pitchfork gave a review in which they said, "Oh, dear. The holiday season is a perfect time for doing things we'll likely later regret, but few of us could claim to have the indie paparazzi crosshairs imposed upon us as violently as The Arcade Fire in recent months. The band's rise to prominence sent legions of fans searching for any scrap of material they've ever recorded, and someone has finally unearthed "A Very Arcade Xmas", recorded in 2001 to be distributed as a gag gift (along with a few tracks that later appeared on the band's debut EP) to a small circle of friends on Christmas 2002. So it's my unfortunate duty to publicly flay this thing, a task I don't particularly enjoy-- but since many of you will probably seek the material out for yourself, I might as well give fair warning.

The most disconcerting thing about "A Very Arcade Xmas"-- the epic conclusion to a set that includes purposely decimated versions of "O Holy Night" and "Jingle Bell Rock" (actually, the former track is pretty hilarious)-- is that, retroactively, it sounds like a group of embittered backlashers ruthlessly parodying Funeral at a Christmas party. The simple piano figures, glockenspiel decoration, and choral "oohs" are all here, albeit in a demented and essentially unlistenable form, while Win Butler wails out a rambling, incoherently improvised narrative about finding the perfect Christmas gift at the turn of the 20th century. Equal parts Gilbert and Sullivan, elementary school band holiday concert, and group caterwauling, the song wears out its welcome immediately and sticks around for another eight minutes. I'm guessing none of this stuff is going to show up on a rarities comp any time soon, but anyone who takes this band way too seriously right now (myself included) should consider ignoring this."

Anyways, listen for yourself, and maybe add a track or two to your Christmas Party Playlist.
Jinglebell Rock
Chestnuts Roasting on a Open Fire
Oh Holy Night A Very Arcade Xmas

The rest of the album (courtesy of Regnyouth)

Veritas Lux Mea gets female friendly

It has been brought to Veritas Lux Mea's attention, thanks to uber-U2 fan C from Scatter O' Light, that I have been, ahem, neglecting the female viewers with my frequent pictures of scantily clad hotties of the female persuasion. The Goose agrees with you, C, but unfortunately is not a huge fan of shirtless men.

Don't get me wrong, I wrestled for seven years so I'm not above showing off some male skinnage for my female readers, but Tony Parker? Put on some meat, boy! Oh wait, you're French; skinny is your thing.

Somehow Tony got cropped out of my original picture of Eva. I don't know how that happened..

All I have to say is c'mon Eva. You could at least snorkel it up with a true stud like my boy, Matt McC


Some words of wisdom from Matt (wav format)

All of the non-biased Eva-Tony snorkeling pictures can be found at JustJared.com.

Bullocks.

F*$# it, Dude. Let's go bowling.

Eva Longoria snorkelin' it up

It's nice to see that Eva can get out and enjoy the weather, unlike us Pennsylvanians right now who are stuck with low 60's cloudy and occassional rain all week. As if that wasn't bad enough, I've got a ton of reading to do this week: Trey Ellis' Platitudes, a bunch of women's medieval writing and scholarship, and even Thomas Watson's All Things for Good if I can squeeze it in. Did I mention my Wednesday night class got moved to Friday night this week? Yeah, friday night, 6-9 p.m. Who does that? "What's this day of rest shit? What's this bullshit? I don't f#*&!$' care! It don't matter to Jesus."

Luckily, tonight's the big EGO (English Graduate Organization) bowling event, which my buddy Chris drew up as the new Social chair. I just have one question to you, "are you ready to be f#$@&*, man? Dios mio. Liam and Me, we're going to f*&^ you up."

News

Evil Empire goes down for the count.

Penn State literature professor Michael Berube not only got to watch Penn State beat Ohio State this weekend in the luxury box, but did so with NCAA president Myles Brand and Big Ten Comissioner Jim Delaney. He chimes in with his thoughts about their conversations and the game.

More Vonnegut.

John Updike on book and their covers, from the New Yorker. Also from the New Yorker, Ann Hulbert asks "are we living in a post-teenage wasteland?"

A feminist look at the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

Music

Lagwagon, whom I know KRS is all about, is set to open up a new tour in support of their new full length CD that comes out Oct. 31st, Resolve. You can see a list of their destinations as well as links to the band that they will be touring with, The Lawrence Arms.

Lagwagon - "Automatic" off Resolve.


More Lagwagon:
Falling Apart
Today
Razor Burn
A Feedbag of Truckstop Poetry
Leave the Light on

Millencolin has a cool Sin City themed music video for "I Shut You Out" that you can check out.

Bonus song: Millencolin - "Man or Mouse"

Ryan has a Pearl Jam-Sleater Kinney cover of "Harvest Moon" that you have to pick up.

Bonus songs:
Mountain Goats - "Down Here"
Mountain Goats - "Minnesota"

And oh yeah, The Killers are on Leno tonight. Watch it.

Monday Morning Cleanup

America, Fuck Yeah! (scroll down to Music section for picture context)

I'm back home at school today after a great birthday weekend at the girlfriend's. Cake, lasagna, wings, apple dumplings, and little reading equal out to a great weekend, birthday or no birthday.

Not a bad weekend fantasy football wise either. In our Music Blogger League, I'm throttling Kevin's first place team, So Much Silence, 72-35. As I predicted, Josh McCown threw up a solid 14 points to put me safely in the lead, while Kevin got blanked by leaving Vick in as his quarterback, while Marvin Harrison didn't help him out any by putting up a doughnut as well. Console him by voting on his tracks today. Muck Fichigan and Nice Piece, the other two teams ahead of me, both lost this week as well, so that bodes well for me once the standings shake out Tuesday morning.

Thanks to everyone who gave me input on the blog. Matt, Kevin, Chad, Gina, Placidian, and Today Was an Evil One all chimed in some good input (basically, everything is A-ok, but more Alba never hurt anyone). Make sure you check out Placidian's site, Gina's Hello Gina, and Everybody Cares, Everbody Understands.
The other chaps are found in the blogroll.

Sports

On the real field, my Green Bay Packers returned to form by drubbing the Saints, which I honestly thought could have gone the Saints way on Saturday. Thankfully the boys proved me wrong. I started Davenport in my money league, and he produced 2 TD's for me before breaking his ankle. Way to take one for the team, Najeh.

The Eagles are in trouble defensively after dropping 33 points to the Cowboys. The Cowboys defense is pretty good, but it isn't THAT good. I may have to look at moving the Eagles from my defensive spot on my fantasy squads if they continue to give up 30 points a game, ala the Cardinals.

The Saint's McAllister is gone for the season if you're interested in a RB, pick up Antowain Smith. I'd go for him if I didn't have three solid backs.

And if the Yankees lose tonight's game to the Angels, is anyone even going to watch the World Series? If Clemens is pitching in it, I'm in.

In college football news, my Wisconsin Badgers fell to the Northwestern Wildcats after the Badgers defense made Northwestern quarterback Brett Basanez look like the 2004 version of Peyton Manning, dropping the Badgers down to #23 in the polls. Meanwhile, Penn State jumped to #8 after thankfully defeating Ohio State, who I'm pretty sure nobody likes, ever, unless you're from Ohio. That sets up a huge matchup between Wisconsin and Penn State on November 5th in State College, in a game that could decide the Big Ten Championship (if Minnesota doesn't have anything to say about it).

News

In a rare mix of politics and football, The Nation has an article on late NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who believed the Iraq War was "f'ing illegal," and loved Noam Chomsky. It's interesting then that Ann Coulter called Tillman "an American original--virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be."

New York Times takes, well, time to say "God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut."

Heartbreaking story about a Myspace user found dead, and how her Myspace account continues to live on.

Music

I Don't Like You That Way clued me into the fact that Christina Aguilera recently sang the national anthem at the Pittsburgh Penguins game. Being in close proximity to Pittsburgh, I feel like it is my duty to mention this, post the song, and give you another hot picture of her.

Christina Aguilera - The National Anthem

Monday Slow Jam

Audioslave - "Be Yourself"
Coldplay - "Green Eyes"
Oasis - "Champagne Supernova"
Dave Matthews Band - "Cry Freedom"

Where is the love?

Wow, pretty steady decline in the readership this week. Maybe people aren't down with the "intelliposts" about things such as Salman Rushdie's take on intelligent design, why Ph.D education needs reform, or even a quirky link to social theorists as lego figures.

Or maybe it's the lack of concert reviews, photos, and live music (which I half blame on living in Nowhere, PA and half blame on my graduate student expense and time budget) which tried-and-true bloggers like Dodge and Chris are always sure to provide.

Regardless, let me know what you like/don't like about this blog either in the comments or by email, because I really do want to improve its readership (hell, it was mentioned in a newspaper back home, I gotta do something to keep it respectful). Criticism is good, so gimmie some, son.

Oh yeah, and it's Saturday, so here's your Saturday dose of college football tailgate hotties (click image to enlarge):

Wisconsin 17, Northwestern 23 3:57 3rd Quarter

Florida State 20, Wake Forest 10 2:57 3rd Quarter

Michigan State bye

Penn State vs. Ohio State 7:45 pm ET tonight

Music

HORSE the Band (whom I saw this summer with Bear vs. Shark in Penn Run) recently had their album reviewed by Punknews and recieved some kinds words:

"While certainly lengthy at 13 tracks and over 50 minutes -- with the last four songs on the album all surpassing the four-minute mark -- The Mechanical Hand manages to mock an entire genre or two not just with the addition of a single instrument, but like the truly unique outfit's first record, with an entire theme surrounding it. It's about as entertaining as music as can get, and how long HORSE can drag out this likeable schtick will be determined in the near or far future. For now, they're refining and tinkering with their sound and coming out with results increasingly amusing, enjoyable, and ridiculous all the same."

Judge for yourself with "Birdo" and "The Black Hole"

Saturday's rest:

Utah - "Pick Up the Boom"
U2 - "The Fly"
Better Than Ezra - "Good"
Counting Crows - "Colorblind"
The Mars Volta - "Pour Another Icepick"
Pennywise - "Above My Head"
Ester Drang - "Come Back Alive"

TGIF: Thank God for Images of Fiona

TGIF: Thank God for Images of Fiona.

Well, birthdays come and birthdays go, and now I'm 24. One more year til a quarter-life crisis, I can't wait.

I'm up at the girlfriend's this week celebrating my bday weekend by taking care of her sick ass, so I have some time to post while she coughs up a lung or two.

Bellwood, PA is just a hop-skip-and 45 minute jump from State College, which means all I heard about all day long was tomorrow's Penn State-Ohio State game. Penn State, ranked at #16 with their undefeated record, welcome the #6 Buckeys of THE Ohio State University, whom I hate of course being a Wisconsin fan. For what it's worth, I hope Joe Pa pulls out the upset so I can see the look on their stupid Buckeye faces. On a sidenote, I'm still looking for a Penn State-Wisconsin ticket. Contact me if you have one.

I'm gonna go a little eclectic on your asses today instead of posting some picture of a scantily clad coed or talking about McNabb's sports hernia, I'm gonna tell you about my boy, James Wright. Now I know most you hate poetry. Hell, I'm a graduate English student and I generally don't like poetry, but I love the James Wright. I'll spare you the bio, which can be read here, and post some of his best stuff, as well as give you a link so you can go read it in between fantasy football injury updates. Just do it, your girlfriend will be impressed.

"The Jewel"

There is this cave
In the air behind my body
That nobodyt is going to touch:
A cloister, a silence
Closing around a blossom of fire.
When I stand upright in the wind,
My bones turn to dark emeralds.

From "The Beginning"

I stand alone by an elder tree, I do not dare breathe
Or move.
I listen.
The wheat leans back toward its own darkness,
And I lean toward mine.

Saint Judas
Small Frogs killed on the Highway

Music

You Ain't No Picasso has been giving The Weez some love lately. Check out his post on Weezer covering Foo Fighters and Weezer live concert videos.

Featured Artist: Fiona Apple


Fiona's new cd, Extraordinary Machine, which everyone has been hyping, came out Tuesday. Stereogum has a nice post about the CD and a version of "Oh Well" for you to download.

Tidal, Fiona Apple's major label debut, came out when the singer-songwriter was only 18, yet she managed to sound old beyond her years, hooking in listeners all over the age spectrum and bypassing the teen pop ghetto that comes with a fiercely enforced "sell- by" date. Her debut single, the darkly baroque "Shadowboxer" was a moderate hit on both alternative rock and adult contemporary radio and along with Apple's often harsh back story, and moody, highly photogenic beauty, Tidal became a worldwide hit. Apple's follow-up LP was hindered by having an entire poem as its song title and a cover shot that downplayed her austere beauty. If that seemed like a deliberate attempt to make listeners concentrate on the music, it worked -- especially when When the Pawn... went on to win rave reviews and shoot up to No. 1 on the then-new Internet sales chart. Once again, Apple's pained songcraft slightly obscured how good she really is. If an indie rock band crafted arrangements that recalled the experimental orchestral side of the Beatles and the strum-und-drang clang of Tom Waits they'd be getting major music magazine space instead of features in Jane magazine. Apple took some time off between releases, but returned to the spotlight with Extraordinary Machine in 2005 - RS


I've had the disc for awhile, and its good; no Tidal, but good. Check it out yourself below (follow links):


"Not About Love"
"Get Him Back"

Fiona's Tour dates

Naked As We Came

Dont' worry, the creepy guy is just my dad

It's my birthday today (the big 2-4) so I'm not going to spend any time reading through the countless news, media, sports and music blogs I usually do, because I'm devoting today to the coolest person I know, me (kidding). Go me.


Anyways, I'm having people over at my place tonight for the 1st Annual Flickball tournament. It's the 1st annual here because, well, we invented it back home in Wisconsin. It basically consists of flicking, bouncing, or throwing a ball into a cup taped to the edge of a table. Flicking earns 1 point, bouncing 3, and throwing 5. You play against someone and the first person to 10, exactly 10 (which means you have to plot out your throwing method) wins, or whoever is ahead after 10 minutes. Sounds pretty lame, but it's actually pretty damn competitive and hard as shit when you place some objects in the way. Who'd have thought it would be so hard to flick a ball in a straight line?

The best part of the tournament is the trophy. Tonight, some lucky and skilled Flickballer will go home with the Matthew McConaughey Trophy, otherwise known as the Sweaty Pits Award.

Let the games begin.

My birthday song this year:
Bear vs. Shark - "Ma Jolie" courtesy of File Under Softcore Seizures, a promising new blog. Check it out.

Up in Lawrence Arms

Brian Dawkins, the leader of my fantasy football defense

Happy Hump Day once again, reader. Sorry, no picture of a hot girl doing something obscene today, you just get Brian Dawkins. I have a tight schedule today with some meetings about my independent seminar and a six-page review of criticism due for class tonight (which is a joke, in my opinion: the paper AND the class). If that weren't enough, it took me 35 minutes to find a parking spot this morning. I circled campus four times. Unacceptable. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I didn't photoshop my header picture. A rainbow reflected off an upside down CD laying on my printer and made a rainbow right over my highlighters. Incredible picture nonetheless. That being said, on to the goodies.

Sports Brief

Cadillac unsure for Sunday. As a non-Cadillac owner, let me just say "thank you, Jesus."

Entertainment

Britney Spears sex tape to possibly be released. Oh no she didn't!

Microsoft taps Peter Jackson to produce film version of "Halo."

The "Halo" movie will be shot in Wellington, New Zealand, and will use Jackson's production and post-production facilities there. "He eradicates any cynicism that might exist with core fans (of the game). At the same time, he makes a movie like this appealing to a mainstream audience," Langley said of the director, who is an avid video game player and fan of "Halo."

USA Today examines the literary references in the show "Lost."

Music News

You're the Apple of my eye: Fiona Apple will be in Philly for two nights of her upcoming tour. Miss Apple stops by the City of Brothery Love's Tower Theater on December 8th and 9th in support of her new album. The rest of the dates can be found at Pitchfork.

Conan O'Brien will hand over his entire Oct. 7th (that's Friday, folks) show to U2. Can't miss that if you're a Bonomaniac.

Featured Artist: Lawrence Arms


I'm not sure if anyone has posted about these guys before or not, so I'm going to go ahead and do just that, and sorry if I step on anyone's blogosphere toes. Chicago's Lawrence Arms are a gritty but clever punk rock trio that trace their beginnings back to 1999. These three punks/hunks/drunks blend East Bay punk with an intelligent and introspective Midwest sound. Take those musical influences and add a heap of bad television, some leftist literature, and exactly three cases of the cheapest most watery piss-beer you can muster, and you're just beginning to get an idea of what this band is about.

Imagine Aaron Cometbus and the guys from Jawbreaker sitting around happily drinking Hamm's from martini glasses in a dank Chicago basemant whilst watching Press Your Luck or The Rockford Files. Their Fat Wreck debut, Apathy and Exhaustion, was pretty much the best independent record of 2002, so now you know. After almost two years of nonstop touring, they followed that up with their second Fat LP, The Greatest Story Ever Told, which is equally amazing. The kids (that's you guys) tell us that it's their best shit yet, so check it out. These poor homeless bastards tour like the dickens, and if you like drunken punk rock, you'll really enjoy their live show. Go see 'em.

The Lawrence Arms - "Criminal"
The Lawrence Arms - "On with the Show"
The Lawrence Arms - "Navigating the Windward Passage"
The Lawrence Arms - "100 Resolutions"
The Lawrence Arms - "Nebraska"
The Lawrence Arms - "Chicago is Burning"
The Lawrence Arms - "Light Breathing"
The Lawrence Arms - "106 South"

Loss and Redemption

Loss Redemption

Picked up another win in both my leagues this week, which was nice to see. I've got a huge matchup this week with Kevin of So Much Silence, who's currently sitting in first place. Of course, my QB, Trent Green, is off this week, so I have selected none other than Josh McCown to lead me to the promised land this weekend. Believe it or not, I benched Trent Green in Week 4 in favor of McCown and it got me the win in my pay league.

News (lots of links today)

In Wisconsin high school football news, a Merrill man faces charges after punching a student streaker that ran across the field during the D.C. Everest (my alma matta) homecoming game at Merrill. Bobby Grunenwald, who is the father of Merrill's quarterback and kicker, became upset because he thought the prank distracted his son, Alex, and made Alex miss the extra point, according to the criminal complaint. The elder Grunenwald then left his seat in the bleachers, assaulted the student and swore at him, police say.

Jewish porn star Ron Jeremy debates christian author Michael Leahy at LSU campus about censorship and porn.

What Bruce Wayne and Anakin Skywalker can tell us about America's political mood.

McSweeney's presents Jim Jaramusch's notes for a Ghostbuster sequel.

Veritas Lux Mea poster girl (seen at bottom of screen in footer) is in trouble with Mammy. Apparently, Alba's grandmother is upset with the amount of skin Alba shows (link has pictures and link to better pictures) in her new film, Into the Blue. Well, I now know what I'm doing this weekend.

On a side note, it looks like Christina Aguilera is back to being really hot in a Tara Reid pre-breast implant kind of way. Sidenote: This dude is totally obvious.

My friend Chris has a link to the 10 foods you should never eat. I'm guilty of eating three of them at some point.

Sports

Man, that sure was some inspired comeback by Brett Favre last night. Unfortunately for him, me, and the rest of Packermania, the defense and the rest of the team is absolute shit. The result: Packers start 0-4 for the first time in team history. Oh how far the mighty have fallen.

Ryan says so long to Eddy Curry.

Music

Around the League... Chris has pics of the Fruit Bats show. Dodge has some Butch Walker (you say who?) you need to hear. Undervalued man. Scatter O' Light has U2 covering the Ramones, and the Ramones being the Ramones. Samantha says being short sucks. Hey girl, I agree (I'm 5'4). Peter has his September mixtape up, but he violated one of the cardinal rules of mixtapes: two songs from the same artist! Still great though.


Brush up on mixtape rules, ala High Fidelity: "To me, making a tape is like writing a letter—there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again. A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You've got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention (I started with "Got to Get You Off My Mind," but then realized that she might not get any further than track one, side one if I delivered what she wanted straightaway, so I buried it in the middle of side two), and then you've got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch, and you can't have white music and black music together, unless the white music sounds like black music, and you can't have two tracks by the same artist side by side, unless you've done the whole thing in pairs and...oh, there are loads of rules."

Kanye West Jesus Walks video
Snoop Dogg - "The Bidness"
50 Cent - "A Baltimore Love Thing"

Elliot Smith May 3, 2003 at The Steamboat in Austin, Texas
Elliot Smith - "Pretty Ugly Before"
Elliot Smith - "Memory Lane"
Elliot Smith - "Between the Bars"

Straylight Run

State of Da' Pack?

Well, I get to see my first Green Bay Packers game of the season tonight on Monday Night Football, so I'll get to see how bad my home state team really is this season. Carolina's been up and down this season, so who knows, but let's just say I'm not holding out any hope for the Creedence (Big Lebowski reference).

Not much news today, cept that August Wilson died (1945-2005). Head over to my friend Matt's page, Frosty Chocolate Milkshakes, for a rundown on Wilson and some quality links to more info on the great playwright.

Featured Artist: Straylight Run


I'm sure someone has posted about this band before, but I just found the link to Straylight Run's band website that my friend Jae posted a long time ago on our message board but got lost in my endless amount of bookmarks.

In July of 2005 Straylight Run began work on an EP that would be entitled Prepare To Be Wrong. It would be their first studio project since the release of their self-titled debut album in October of 2004. The resulting recordings would be very different than their first. “This time we had a much clearer idea of what we wanted to accomplish in the studio, and since we were co-producing the recording we had the control to make it sound the way we wanted it to. We also learned a lot from playing together over the past year and I think that all shows on this EP”, said singer John Nolan.

The band, which includes bass player Shaun Cooper, singer, guitarist and pianist Michelle Nolan and drummer Will Noon, has played many, many shows together since the release of their first record.

In 2004 they toured as direct support for Rooney and Something Corporate followed by a co- headlining tour with Hot Rod Circuit. There were also countless weekend shows and short tours with bands like Dashboard Confessional, Brand New and The Get Up Kids. Then in 2005 they embarked on their first headlining tours, including sold out tours of the United Kingdom and United States.

Their new 6 song EP "Prepare To Be Wrong" is available on October 4th.

Straylight Run will be playing the IUP campus (yeah, that's my school) November 12th with Simple Plan? Wait, how did I miss that? Oh that's right, because NOBODY IS ADVERTISING THAT. Well, looks like you heard it here first, IUPers. Too bad Simple Plan is with them.

Straylight Run - "Hands in the Sky"
Straylight Run - "Your Name Here"
Straylight Run - "Existentialism on Prom Night"

Sneakin' One In

Wisconsin 41, Indiana 24

Minnesota and Michigan State both went down as I predicted. Gotta watch out for Penn State now though on Nov. 5th. PS. State College area people, if you know how I can get a ticket to that game, let me know.

Did anyone see tonight's Saturday Night Live? Steve Carrel (The Office, 40 Year Old Virgin) hosted and Kanye West was the music. The Mike Meyers-Kanye bit was hilarious. Good to see SNL getting back to aggressive social commentary (Horatio Sanz: "George Bush is a genius." Instert Anti-Bush monolouge here).

Speaking of social commentary, Wired looks at how Jon Stewart is reinventing television.

I was lucky enough to recieve Kevin's gift to me for winning his caption contest, a sourceVictoria CD.

I posted about sourceVictoria awhile back, and since Kevin's brother is in the band he would know a lot more about them than me, but let me assure you, they're a good band. I put on the tunes and cleaned the apartment today and had my self a good old fashioned rock-n'-roll Saturday afternoon.

sourceVictoria are profiled in The Arizona Republic, and at their Myspace page.

I uploaded two songs of the CD before savefile crapped the bed on me, and they are below:

sourceVictoria - "No Safety in Numbers"
sourceVictoria - "Opportunistic"

More songs are available at So Much Silence.

Bonus: Radiohead - "I Will", a nice creepy song for 1:30 am in the morning.

Girls Love Da' Badgers

Fuck the Hoosiers

Lamb of God - "Break You"