I mentioned a few weeks back the new Mando Diao disc. Well, the nice people at Sound the Sirens have a nice little download for you.

Mando Diao / "God Knows"

I didn't realize until this song that the band have two primary vocalists; I prefer the guy who sings the refrain.

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I saw Der Untergang (US title Downfall) last week and it was well worth the investment of 156 minutes of my time. Portraying Hitler as something besides a cartoonish madman isn't generally done--heaven forbid anyone be offended by a more realistic portrayal--but the film manages to humanize Hitler without cutting him any slack. Of course, the delusional state that we find Hitler in during his last days are hardly going to win him much sympathy. If there is a moral gray area, it's in the way German civilians (as victims) and the Nazi leadership (as ruthless and traitorous perpetrators) are pitted against one another, without much reference to the millions of foreigners and minorities killed at the hands of the German war machine. But in fairness this movie isn't about the aftermath of the war so much as the immediate ending, though the increased popularity of German neo-Nazi groups in the past decade has only further highlighted the problematic nature of reconciling the suffering of German civilians with the "more innocent" victims of concentration camps and brutality on the Eastern Front.


While based on the memoirs of Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge (which inspired its own documentary before she passed away), the film weaves a couple ancillary storylines into the film for cinematic effect (after all, somebody has to be likable): the recently-drafted kids naively trying to protect Berlin against the oncoming Russian offensive, the German military doctor vainly trying to save the countless civilians trapped in the city. Certainly the latter vignette rather overtly lionizes a doctor whose closet likely would have its share of skeletons, but it seems the film has avoided much controversy stateside. In any case, if you have any interest in World War II the film is more than worth the high price of a movie ticket these days.

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Torr posted a link to somebody who has posted the new Garbage album.

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J.J. Jumper is the hardest-working, least-appreciated mascot in all of sports. The typical mascot is free of existential doubt: He showers his team with unconditional love and the team's fans love him right back. J.J. Jumper is nobody's mascot: He has no team, only a governing body.