tripping is for teenagers

I haven't been posting because I've been at home, not really on the computer that much.
Since I've been home, we get this channel called Ovation and they have this wonderful show called the Artist's Den.
It's an hour long program of some pretty great musicians. Today I watched Josh Ritter tear through a set of mostly songs from his newest album and another episode featuring The Swell Season.
I've made a couple of posts this year about The Swell Season, or Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who starred in last year's wonderful film Once.
You can track down the other two posts to read up on the music and the film, but these two are creating some wonderful heartbreaking music and it was great to watch them in a live setting.
Also, the new Hold Steady leaked and I'll hopefully put up a post real quick on that.

Luke

it's goin' down, like it always do

second rap release (album, couple of hot mixtapes out there) worth a second listen this year.

his head was a city, of paper buildings

I've completed my first semester in Carbondale.
I'd feel terrible if I didn't mention some good folks who made it quite worthwhile, especially those who are leaving town for good with their degrees.
Kyle Fisher, Matt Shapiro, Bryan Menke, Bryan Darger... thank you all so much for making me feel welcome right away. Without all of you guys the transition to a brand new school would have been so much harder.
I wish all of you guys the best of luck in your future endeavors, I know you'll all do wonderful in your respected fields.

Real Talk,

Luke

I don't play when it comes to money, guess that's why i'm okay when it comes to money

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0954965/


So this is where Juelz has been hiding? The only real relevant member left in Dipset pops up in some indie movie trailer. Why can't he give us another full length? TIP did ATL and American Gangster and still put out an album (albeit hit or miss). Get back in the studio please JuJu.

dry your eyes mate

Darger just finished up the series and as I was reflecting on the final episode my thoughts gravitated towards this scene.
It's so heartbreaking if you've followed these characters over the past two seasons.
Now as always when I make a post about The Wire, here's my obligatory recommendation to get to watching it already !

my faith in the buzz cut has been restored

Robert Downey Jr. pulled down May's GQ cover with the release of Iron Man and is rocking one clean buzz in his layout.
I wonder if he uses the same Remington beard trimmer for cleaning up his dome as I do for mine?

tryin' to catch up with this girl like some 57 heinz

After being at home all week and not being on the internet at all I just got the new Wayne track, California Love.
Just like Lollipop before it, Wayne's on his autotune game. My initial reaction was worrisome. I was thinking that Wayne's going to get stuck in this sing-songy vocoder schtick that he's been riding for a while and The Carter III is just going to be a massive disappointment (if it ever drops).
But dammit if Wayne's autotune jams don't get stuck in my head after a few spins.
Now, after listening through a couple of times the only thing that's ruining the track is the weak Tyga guest verse, which Wayne thankfully relegates to the end of the track.
The track's slow burn is really clicking for me, even though Wayne's verses aren't really anything to get excited about. However, this is the first new rap song I've listened to more than once in a couple of weeks.
Here's to hoping The Carter III comes out before Wayne either A.) dies or B.) gets locked up.

i'm packin' up and i'm runnin' away

Charlie Wilson's War is a highly enjoyable film, with some pretty tame performances from some wonderful actors.
Word on the street is that director Mike Nichols strayed pretty far away from Aaron Sorkin's script. Having not read that original script myself, I find it quite disheartening that Nichols felt the need to chop this film to a speedy 97 minutes instead of including, what is by all accounts, a darker story.
Hanks and Hoffman are likable enough, but their characters just don't get fleshed out. Supposedly the real Charlie Wilson had quite the drinking problem, which caused the man some serious problems as he was fighting communism behind closed doors. The only evidence of this is Hanks constantly having a drink in his hand. We don't get to see the ramifications of his problem.
Also, around the time of the film's release there was some talk over how there was no mention as to how America supplying these weapons lead to 9/11 and the rise of intense fundamentalist groups. There is mention of this covert operation backfiring and the film ends with a quote from the real Wilson saying, "...we fucked up the end game." But it's a few scenes towards the end of the film were Hanks' eyes are just filled with guilt and despair over not getting to finish what he had started in Afghanistan.
Now I don't want to sit here and just crap on the film, I'm glad I took an hour and a half to watch it. It's a funny 90 minutes and doesn't do much pulling on the heart strings. Totally worth your $2.50 at Family Video or $9 at Blockbuster.