Let me lead off with a link to a terrific site: GigPosters.com. Moving into the post-college, post-dorm poster world can be tough, so this site is a goldmine. You can search for concert posters from about 30,000 bands, and while you can't buy them from the site, most posters are linked to artist home pages which often do still sell them (look for the little house icon next to the artist name). They're also relatively affordable ($20 usually) and you're getting limited edition printings on good cardstock. I bought the following two posters:


These are 18x24, and designed by Aesthetic Apparatus

Some of the best poster sites I've found are Aesthetic Aparatus , Small Stakes, and Lure Design.

********

I've reorganized my "Newer" picture gallery so that, for the moment, it's normal pictures ("La Vie") and stuff from shows ("Music"). I need to take more pictures I think, but for some reason I'm always kind of self-conscious about being that guy who is always taking pictures. But seriously people, I'm just trying to keep the memories alive...

In the music gallery I've added some from the Longwave show.

********

My "sources" in Milwaukee tell me that Michael Jordan will buy the Bucks at some point in the near future, under the condition that they stay in Milwaukee.

********

I found Saved! to be a very amusing movie. It certainly beats Jesus jokes to death, and yet not in a really obnoxious way. Macaulay Culkin had some of the best lines, but most of the cast was pretty good. It was also refreshing to see normal looking kids (Mandy Moore aside). Jena Malone is the main character and isn't hot, and seemed to have an acne problem that they were fighting throughout most of the filming. Patrick Fugit is a pretty normal-looking dude, and it was good to see he still existed since Almost Famous came out, what, four years ago? Also, Susan Sarandon's daughter Eva Amurri plays the token Jewish girl at the school, who, while having a pretty ill body, does still look kind of like Susan Sarandon.

Plus, it doesn't just rip on Christianity; while it certainly rails against fundamentalism, it underscores the fact that belief and religion is a spectrum, not a binary system. In any case, it's definitely worth a look.

********

Rolling Stone has been working its way back into my good graces. My perspective on RS is that if they are kind to an album I like, then it's kind of gravy because it must mean that there's some sense of more mainstream appeal. Hence the Killers' album getting 3.5 stars, though still underrated in my perspective, was perfectly acceptable to me.

They then made me happy by giving Wilco's new A Ghost is Born 4 stars, and then following up with a nice article on Jeff Tweedy. It's similar to the one in last month's Spin, just shorter. Check dis.

If you're keeping score at home, EW and Spin gave A Ghost is Born a B rating and Pitchfork gave it a 6.6/10.0 (they have YHF a perfect 10.0). I do like it a lot, but I just don't see it matching YHF, which would have been nearly impossible, but...

********

Pitchfork is having their remember the 70s deal this week, and because I'm not interested enough to read it through, I'll pass along some choice stuff Mulldoggey found:

On Led Zeppelin's IV: "Nothing is bigger than Led Zeppelin IV. It tears your skin and grinds away your doubt and self-hatred, freeing the rage and lust and anger of cockblocked adolescence. Listening to this album is like fucking the Grand Canyon."

I don't know what that means, but I LIKE IT. Reading just a little bit of their 70s thing really underscores that Pitchfork are the gold standard of music snobs. They're better than you, me, and everyone else. And yet you know they're a bunch of 20-something people living in mediocre apartments, earning dick, and frustrated as hell.

********

"Reno 911!" is back with its second season. I've determined that by comparing this show with some of my other favorites, most notably "The Office," that my favorite kind of comedy is the kind that plays on subtle and not-so-subtle awkwardness. I also picked up the Reno 1st season on DVD, which makes me happy. It's really a great show that I can watch over and over, unlike "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which for some reason I have less interest in watching over and over. My fave episode is Dangle's moving episode, not because it implies that Jonesy has sex with Dangle, but because of Travis Junior's tour he gives the pre-pubescent junior deputies. In the course of about 10 minutes, he describes why they have glass cell walls rather than metal bars, how to make wine in jail, and why they nailed down the bunkbeds. Seems harmless enough, but I think this is my favorite bit the show has done. The DVD also has outtakes and deleted scenes, including one where Terry, the rollerblading gay prostitute who likes getting hopped up on "skittles" describes Reno's overlooked ninja problem.

Kind of like "The Office," Reno seems to have a never-ending supply of good characters. Each of the main players has their own quirky greatness--Wiegel, Garcia, Dangle...ok, pretty much everyone but Raineesha is awesome. Plus then the other randoms/recurring characters are also really strong, whether it's the "don't judge me" guy, the aforementioned Terry, and Wiegel's serial killer boyfriend Craig.

Plus it's great to see alums from the State (Lennon, Garant, Kenney) doing well and making me laugh my ass off.

********

If you use a microwave to warm up cold pizza, don't. Use a toaster.