Archive | October, 2008

Let It Be Him

10 Oct

I’m a couple days early, but I’m just so looking forward to the release of Ray LaMontagne’s new album, Gossip in the Grain, on Tuesday that I wanted to get something up here now so you could spend the weekend downloading some tracks and being just as excited as I am for it. Ray’s most recent album, Til the Sun Turns Black, was one of my favorite albums of 2006 (it still is a favorite). This new one sounds even better. I mean, check out “You Are the Best Thing,” which you can download here or just listen to here. There’s a music video up at Amazon.com that pretty much nails the sultry, romantic vibe of the song. There’s another track, “Meg White,” up for previewing at Stereogum. Those two are great, but for weeks now I’ve been hooked on another track, “Let It Be Me,” which you can download here or listen to here. If you ask me, songs don’t get much more beautiful than this one. I’ve posted the lyrics below so you can follow along while the song plays. Please, do yourself a favor and run to Best Buy or Newbury Comics (or whatever your favorite music retailer is) on Tuesday and buy this album. Or, just go right to iTunes right now and pre-order it. I haven’t heard all of GitG yet, but I will promise you that you won’t be disappointed.

“Let It Be Me”
There may come a time, a time in everyone’s life
where nothin’ seems to go your way,
where nothing seems to turn out right.
There may come a time, you just can’t seem to find your way.
For every door you walk on to, seems like they get slammed in your face.

That’s when you need someone, someone that you can call.
And when all your faith is gone, feels like you can’t go on,
let it be me.
Let it be me.
If it’s a friend that you need,
let it be me.
Let it be me.

Feels like you’re always comin’ on home,
pockets full of nothin and you got no cash.
No matter where you turn you ain’t got no place to stand.
Reach out for something and they slap your hand.
Now I remember all too well
just how it feels to be all alone.
You feel like you’d give anything
for just a little place you can call your own.

That’s when you need someone, someone that you can call.
And when all your faith is gone, feels like you can’t go on,
let it be me.
Let it be me.
If it’s a friend you need,
let it be me.
Let it be me.

Update 10/11: I found it all. Click here to download the full album.

Ask for It by Name

10 Oct

And you thought pink-hatted Red Sox fans were stupid. Check out what some women down in Tampa are doing to show their support for the Devil Rays …
http://gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-wtsp-3313-pub01-live/current/articleplayer/singleclip/client/embedded/embedded.swf

(By the way, a guy named Gareth posted the best reaction to this so far on UniversalHub.com.)

Say It Ain’t So, Gov

6 Oct

A Special Comment from Keith Olbermann.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27057346#27057346

Out of Tune

5 Oct

Welcome to New York.

It’s a place that’s practically empty on a Friday night, where there’s always a parking space right in front of clubs, and where high school kids can not only get into bars easily, but they can bypass the lines with ease and can be served alcohol — enough to get totally drunk.

This is the New York of Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist, where everything is seemingly just right so as to engineer the kind of “crazy” night that may lead to an unlikely and rather forced love connection between our leads Nick (Michael Cera) and Nora (Kat Dennings).

Infinite Playlist is that kind of movie, complete with a hip soundtrack, and made for a particular target audience that doesn’t really include me. Continue reading →

Happy Birthday!

5 Oct

According to a survey by AnyBirthday.com, more Americans are celebrating their birthday today, October 5, than on any other day of the year.

How do we know this for sure? Well, AnyBirthday.com claims to have a database of more than 135 million people’s birthdays. And their survey asked 12,576 people — not a huge sampling, but big enough, I suppose.

(By the way, the least common birth date in the U.S. is May 22.)

If you think about it, it’s not sooo surprising that October 5 is a popular birthday. After all, what was nine months ago? That’s right, conception would have fallen on New Year’s Eve.

Oddly enough, I have more than 350 friends on Facebook, and not a single one of them is celebrating their birthday today.

But if you are, then allow me to wish you a very happy day.

Sarah Says

4 Oct

And now, a message or two from Sarah Palin … courtesy of The Late Show with David Letterman. Jeez, I wonder which candidate he’s going to vote for next month.

The Gospel of I Don’t Know

4 Oct

God, Bill Maher, and the director of Borat walk into a church … No, that’s not the setup for a joke, it’s the basic premise of Religulous, a documentary in which Maher goes in search of answers to the question of Is religion good or bad for society? He travels to Israel, to a truckstop church in North Carolina, to Washington, D.C., Salt Lake City, Amsterdam, and other places, and talks to members of most of the world’s more popular organized religions. Suffice it to say, everyone gets skewered. Maher pokes all the expected holes in the idea of faith, in the double-standard that says God loves but he hates gay people, in the sexism that is so common, in the obsessiveness of some people, and then some. Much of the movie is quite funny — dare I say it’s funny as hell? — and director Larry Charles makes great use of archival and related film clips to enhance the humor. Ultimately, though, Religulous is tainted by Maher’s negative attitude. Healthy skepticism is good, and some aspects of religion are certainly ripe for questioning. But Maher doesn’t really seem to have a point here, other than saying religion is bad, and the film’s last five minutes leave the viewer with such a bad taste that it corrupts the humor that previously was so engaging. I was tempted to give Religulous a higher grade, but ultimately I’m going to stick with a B. If you’re looking for a warmer look at religion’s place in modern society, may I highly recommend A.J. Jacobs’ The Year of Living Biblically.

About Last Night …

3 Oct

In case you missed it (and apparently, not many people did, since about 70 million people watched), here is the VP debate in about three minutes, courtesy of Keith Olbermann.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27015706#27015706

Enough Wining

2 Oct

Alright, so maybe I’m overdoing it with the political blogging lately, but I thought this was an amusing story worth posting. Seems there’s a Chilean wine called Palin Syrah (of course it’s a red wine), and ever since John McCain picked his running mate, sales have been off. How off? Well, that depends on who you ask and where you go. According to Fox Noise, sales are down in San Francisco but up in Houston. And according to this Associated Press story, sales are up just outside San Fran in North Berkeley. The Palin (pronounced pay-LEEN) Syrah is a 100 percent organic wine, so given Sarah’s views on the environment, I’m thinking she wouldn’t like this wine anyway. But that said, on this, the day of the much anticipated VP debate, I’m guessing you can tell who people are rooting for by what’s in their glass.

By the way, what would your name be if Sarah Palin was your mother? You can find out by clicking here. You can call me Log Justice Palin. (Actually, don’t call me that. Thanks.)

Stump the Candidate

2 Oct

For your viewing enjoyment (or, more likely, horror), here’s a collection of Sarah Palin’s pre-debate greatest hits (more like misses, if you ask me), courtesy of Keith Olbermann.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/26982680#26982680

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