My rasterbation project went well. I'm not sure what I will do with the final result but it's hanging on my wall right now, all 66"x48" of it. Whoa, if you don't know what rasterbation is, those first couple sentences probably came off sounding pretty weird. No, there's not a huge...nevermind. There's a pic of it in the "More Pictures" link to the right (and down).

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I bought the new Secret Machines album and The Rapture's Echoes today. Following in the footsteps of Elefant and Interpol, The Rapture is a band I didn't like on first hearing but who Mulldoggey convinced me of. Thanks Alex. I still think their lead vocals could be better but "Sister Savior" alone was worth buying the album (used @Newbs for $7, thank you very much). I really love the video for this song--it's right here. I think what's so cool about it is that it has a very underground feel--the clips of the band interspersed with the shots of the kid walking around with the lyrics flashed over the screen. It makes me want to see them live. Which I will in June.

The Secret Machines I've mentioned before...they could also use cooler, more disaffected vocals--their sound is a stone's throw from BRMC, with a slightly stronger hint of electronic music. They also have a terrific album title: Now Here is Nowhere. That's fucking cool. And I bet they all told each other that when they came up with it.

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Even though I love cars and I don't care tons about the environment, I've never "gotten" SUVs. Why be big, ineffecient and not overly roomy (which too many SUVs are) when you can be fast, sleek, and cramped for the same price? More specifically, I think the Hummer H2 is just about the dumbest vehicle you can own...it just strikes me as utterly pointless, especially when it's within 20 miles of city traffic. Whatever. In any case, it's no surprise then that I really like this site.

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I always feel obligated to see good German movies when they come down the pike (which is rarely), so I made a point of seeing Good Bye, Lenin! last Friday. Shabs wasn't quite as impressed, but I really liked it a lot.

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Intriguing flicks now with trailers:
Collateral, starring Tom Cruise as (gasp) a gray-haired bad guy.
The Bourne Supremacy, which from the looks of it probably has Matt Damon in a 47 minute car chase or something. I know everyone thought the original was better than Jesus in a dumptruck, but I was expecting a little more. I thought the fighting was a little too...whatever.
The Terminal starring Tom Hanks is apparently based on the true story of a guy who had to stay in an airport terminal when his country was burned down or something. But then they said he could leave and it became apparent that he was also fucking crazy. Something like that.
Coffee and Cigarettes is about as "intriguing" a film as they come. But at the same time, if the Jack and Meg White vignette is any indication this could also be the dumbest/biggest-of-time movie in recent memory. I won't see it anyway, but there ya go.
Alien vs. Predator is intriguing if only because you wonder how they came up with it. I'm not surprised someone came up with it--let's be honest, some stoned college kids probably postulated the potential ramifications of this plot at some point in the late '80s. But you expect more from people who know what they're doing. I think.