• Best one line review of Revenge of the Sith: "Is Darth Vader gonna have to choke a bitch?"

• Miss Modern Age also discovers that Belle and Sebastian track around the same time as me and offers a much better review and download.

• I saw in the paper that Screech is doing a show at a comedy club and that he's really "blue". Only dipshits would pay $25 to go see Screech swear.

• Louis XIV - Paper Doll video featuring the Suicide Girls (NSFW). Comment on Brookln Vegan post about the video:

  If this were a movie, there'd be a voiceover dude saying "In a world... Where everyone has herpes!"

• Man that new Coldplay song is so boring. I've never been a fan but there's absolutly nothing that's catchy about it. I can see why "Yellow" or "In My Place" or even "Clocks" were huge hits, they were catchy. But what's there to like about Speed of Sound? Is radio playing it just because they're Coldplay and the "new" world's greatest band? When do they hit that Pearl Jam point where radio will play their new songs just cause they're a big band and their old songs were good and not because the new song is any good?

  Chris Martin: Coldplay Want To Better Mozart

  also

  Why do rock songwriters lose their touch as such an early age when classical composers didn't?

  Answer: Drugs.

• Man the internet is boring on US holidays. And when you return from Canadian holidays like Victoria Day, you have twice as much to catch up on.

• Inviting me to the beach on a hot day is the equivalent of me inviting you to a death metal concert.

• My idea for the tagline for that TAG body spray: "Bitches, come." I really need to get into marketing.

Weekend Plans:

	+
Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River		A Wild Sheep Case by Haruki Murakami

From last Friday's Conan:

Morbidly Obesis:

Lovelass - one of the few female Star Wars fans:

The Honesty EP:

• Wolf Parade - You Are a Runner, And I am My Father's Son
• The Lost Patrol - No New Manifesto
• Decemberists - The Engine Driver
• Okkervil River - Black

The only reason I never gave Belle and Sebastian a chance was cause of their name.

First I thought they were part of the soundtrack for Beauty and the Beast. Wasn't the candle called Sebastian? They're releasing a CD? Do they sing "See my vest"?

Then I found out they're two guys from Glasgow and I figured they walk up on stage in black unitards, dressed as Mansies (half man, half pansy) and step up to the mic with an acoustic guitar and go:

"oooh look at me! i'm Belle! heehee" *frollick*
"and i'm Sebastian!" *twirl*

With that said, I'm only now coming around. Your Cover's Blown from last year's Books EP is pretty cool, and they always have good covers:

A friend uploaded their discography. Maybe I'll give it a shot. *twirl*

The LCD Soundsystem setlist from the Seattle show:

Best setlist ever.

[photo from the ILM LCD Soundsystem/M.I.A. OMG WTF EEEEEE! tour thread]

I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars

LCD Soundsystem and M.I.A. kicked off their tour last night at Commodore Ballroom here in Vancouver.

A few hours before the show, I was walking around Future Shop killing some time, when M.I.A. walks right by me! She walks by and down a CD aisle, I turn around to make sure it's her and, holy shit, I think it's her. I've had a crush on her ever since I saw her shitty dancing in the Galang video. She's walking to me and I think she notices that I'm looking at her fawningly. I ask her if she's Maya (her real name) and she says yes. I told her I'm going to the show tonight and that I really like the CD and hope that the tour goes well. She smiles and says thanks and then says bye.

However, in my alternate universe: I met M.I.A. and she fell madly in love with me and she invited me onto her tour bus where we made out, and now there's gonna be an arranged marriage. Forget Diplo, your mom doesn't want you with a white guy!

Actually it was kinda like Aziz and his M.I.A. story (watch the video).

The show itself was amazing. M.I.A. played for like 45 minutes straight with hardly a break in between songs. She was having a good time, smiling and just showing a lot of energy. Much better live than when she was on Jimmy Kimmel show where the brutal camera work ruined it. She also danced. Really shitty dancing that I love. I think it hits the same area in my brain that causes me to love bad photographs.

The crowd was super into her, even bringing her back for an encore (Hombre). It was the most dancing I've ever seen at a Vancouver show before. Vancouver crowds are known for standing around.

Richard was there, but I didn't see him. He didn't like it that much, but he set himself up for that. The mix was shit, it was just LOUD. Bring ear protection, makes everything sound better. Richard didn't even stick around for LCD Soundsystem which was a HUGE mistake.

LCD Soundsystem is dance music for people who like rock music. Loud dance music with guitars and cute asian keyboard players. Well, only one cute asian keyboard players but James should add more. The drummer is insane, with James Murphy thanking him multiple times. Playing dance beats live on the kit ain't easy kids.

The album is above average, only brought down by the Pink Floyd or Beatles tribute songs that I don't care for. Luckily LCD Soundsystem is well aware that people come to the live shows for the singles and to dance, not to shoegaze to "Never as Tired as When I'm Waking Up". So they stuck to all the good songs (Give it Up, Beat Connection, Daft Punk, Losing My Edge, Tribulations, Movement, On Repeat, Yeah), and none of the "check out my influences" songs (Too Much Love, Great Release, Never as Tired).

They finished the set with a Siouxsie cover and then "Yeah (Crass Version)". If you know me or talked music with me in 2004 then most likely I tried to get you to listen to "Yeah". And if you have, you've probably played it in your room or on your headphones at work and started having a convulsion filled freak-out during the last 5 minutes of the song. That's what it was like live, only much louder and much more devastating, and with 2000 other people dancing and freaking out in strobe-light epliptic fits.

Holy fuck, I danced at a show.

The new winner of the "Kirk Van Houten Award for Excellency in Song Naming" goes to:

Oasis - Guess God Thinks I'm Abel

Way to go, uh, lads. A more accurate title would have been "Guess God Thinks I'm a Mediocre Insufferable Twat".

Past Winners:
Youth Group - Why Don't the Buildings Cry?

My public Backpack page: Favourite Album Covers of 2005.

That's my initial list. A work in progress, obvs. Let me know of any other covers you like.