Tunes:

St. Etienne / "Lose That Girl"
I posted this a little while ago but the link stopped working so now I'm trying again. This is perfect pop music. With a cowbell, too.

The Organ / "Brother"
New Order bass riff, with a lead singer who does just enough not to ruin it.

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness / "When You Go Out"
Cumbersome name, Interpol-ish sound. Produced by fellow Texan (and Spoon frontman) Britt Daniel. Who also did a remix of Interpol's "Slow Hands." Connect the dots, tra-la-la...

Bloc Party / "Helicopter"
Not as good as "Banquet," but no song this year was, so it's OK. More reason to have high hopes for the band's forthcoming debut, Silent Alarm.

More added at right...

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I freely admit that my not drinking is kind of lame, but it sure beats destroying your liver by the age of 20.

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I saw Sideways [trailer] the other day despite initially not wanting to. Why? Well, Thomas Haden Church is in it with Paul Giamatti (who I thought was great in American Splendor), and here's why this presented a problem for me. So Church was the handyman on Wings, which I actually watched way back in the day (his name was Lowell Mather--was there a Harvard grad on the writing team?). I didn't have a problem with him, but then he was in some show on Fox with Debra Messing and I watched one episode and thought it absolutely blew, so for about 8 years I've thought Thomas Hayden Church sucked, which hasn't had a significant effect on my life because he's been pretty anonymous since then. [Note Bene: I just looked it up and the show was called "Ned and Stacey," and besides sharing a parallel name structure with "Will and Grace," this show also starred Messing as a woman who moved in with a man who she was not involved with (Church's Ned wasn't gay though, and they actually got married in the show at the outset for non-romantic reasons that I will not bother discussing further).]

Well it turns out Church is actually very amusing in Sideways as the promiscuous actor best friend of Giamatti's loser misanthrope. The movie has some pretty bizarre parts, though the entire conceit (best friends go to wine country for a week of fun before one gets married) makes for some pretty amusing stuff. My biggest problem with the film is that the basis for the pair's friendship isn't entirely clear. They're diametric opposites in most respects, though some of that is because of the differing turns their lives have recently taken: Church is finally getting married and looking to get a piece of his soon-to-be father-in-laws real estate business, while Giamatti is a divorced writer/eight grade English teacher whose struggles getting his latest book published are beginning to make him question whether he can honestly call himself a writer anymore.

In any case, the film relies heavily on the awkwardness of its main characters for comedic effect, and it succeeds despite being essentially a combination buddy flick/road movie. I also appreciated the heavy use of wine references, not because I know anything about wine, but because it was pretty informative for someone as uncultured as myself. Either way, worth a look.

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The new Batman trailer is up.

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Because it's easier than being creative myself, here's Conan:

"Syndicated radio host Don Imus was slapped with a lawsuit for calling his nanny a terrorist on his show. The nanny wants monetary damages and the destruction of the state of Israel."

"This year, the White House Christmas decorations include a gingerbread replica of the White House that's authentic down to the smallest details. It's so authentic that today eight of the gingerbread men resigned."

"According to a new safety report, pedestrians are far more likely to be killed in street accidents than drivers. The statistics were released by the US Department of 'Duh!'"

"Yesterday soul singer James Brown gave away 1,000 turkeys to the needy in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia. Apparently, Brown shot the turkeys himself during a dispute with his fourth wife."

"It's been reported that David Lee Roth is now working as a paramedic on New York City ambulance. Unfortunately, earlier today the ambulance crew fired Roth and replaced him with Sammy Hagar."

"Last night at the Vibe Awards, a fight broke out and someone was stabbed when rapper Snoop Dogg was trying to honor Dr. Dre. Later it was learned that stabbing someone is one of the most common ways to honor Dr. Dre."

"It's been reported that someone is trying to blackmail New York Yankee Gary Sheffield by claiming they have a video of Sheffield's wife having sex with R. Kelly. Apparently Sheffield is confident the video is fake because his wife is over 18."