Kill Bill 2 is AWESOME. The perfect way to finish a terrific story. There are a million reviews out there to read, so I'll hold off on going on a long rant about it, but you must see this film. It's brilliantly shot, scripted, and acted, as well as often hilarious. Every character who has more than three lines seems perfectly cast and written--especially David Carradine's Bill, but even more minor characters like Esteban the Mexican pimp or Pai Mei stand out. I really hope Carradine gets a best supporting actor nomination.

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So I've been listening to A Ghost is Born rather religiously since it was first posted on Wilco's official site last week. The good news: it's a great album. You have to have patience though, both within individual songs as well as with the album as a whole. It has more of the austere production value that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot used so perfectly, but at the same time there's a definite stroke of Beatles/Lennon melodies on songs like "Theologians" and "Hummingbird," which reminds me a little more of the Summerteeth era Wilco. There's a lot of piano. There's a lot more range in Jeff Tweedy's vocals, and it's at turns dark, moody, foot-stomping, and poppy. I haven't heard a lot of Neil Young, but some reviews are floating that comparison which makes sense from what I've heard. And best of all it's by no means a rehash of YHF; as great as that album is, they manage to move forward, and while I'm not sure if this album could possibly top that one, it doesn't disappoint.

The album opener, "At Least That's What You Said" is probably my favorite at the moment. It starts out as a quiet lullaby before crashing into a spasmic, electric guitar foot-stomper about two minutes in. I also love "Theologians," as kind of the purest pop song on the album. As I said, you have to be patient sometimes. "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" sounds at first very repetitive before it launches into an awesome guitar part four minutes in (the song itself is over 10 minutes long). Other highlights are "Hummingbird," "Company in My Back," and "Handshake Drugs" among others.

I've managed to encode the entire album into wma files...my method for circumventing streaming content is ironically by using Microsoft's own Windows Media Encoder software. The quality isn't the best in the world but I can now burn myself the CD a full two months before it comes out. Good times. Let me know if you want some of the songs, or just leach them off my shared folder via IM.

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So this I never would have guessed when I first started maintaining this page 18 months ago: Kevin John Dmochowsky is trying his hand at the blog game. Those of us fortunate enough to know Kevin know he's a terrific orator, but I have the feeling his skills--in multiple languages no less--will carry over quite well into the written word. His page is the aptly titled "Dmocracy"--http://dmocracy.blogspot.com. Check it out. How great is that title?

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I'll post a lengthier review of my dentist visit(s) later on, but suffice to say, the whole "you need to get your teeth cleaned every six months" thing is a sham. Now, I feel like an idiot for letting it happen, but due to an array of circumstances I had not seen in a dentist since September of 2002. Yes, that's a year and a half. This despite having wisdom teeth erupting/exploding/etc. Despite not wanting to get cavities. Despite not being afraid of dentists. Did I tell my new dentist that it'd been 18 months when I went in yesterday? No, I lied and said I went in January of '03. Yeah, I know, I'm a pathetically small human being. Fortunately, he didn't even say anything about it, and went on to become my favorite dentist of all time when he told me I didn't have any cavities (sorry Kev...hope you're doing OK). In any case, more details no one cares about very soon. Yay!