This is the part of the blog where I discuss all things that I am currently finding awesome.
First off is Noah and the Whale‘s new album Peaceful The World Lets Me Down. To regular readers of this blog, Noah and the Whale should be a familiar name, I first learned of the band almost a year ago through their single “Five Years Time” and I’ve began talking them up ever since. The band has done pretty well for themselves booking a main stage spot at Lollapalooza (which unfortunately they had to cancel) and having “Five Years Time” appear on a national car commercial for Saturn.
The new album is a mixture of previously released songs (like the previously mentioned hit single, “Five Years Time” and “Rocks and Daggers” which I reviewed here) and new tracks. Unlike some bands who make their name on fantastic singles, the band’s new songs are just as strong as the old ones making for an extremely satisfying listen. I’m sure that once their debut album is officially released they will continue to win fans over with their charming and infectious folk-pop sound.
MP3 Noah and the Whale – Five Years Time
MP3 Noah and the Whale – Rocks and Daggers
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In local/festival news, the Pygmalion Fest schedule has been recently released and I’m getting pretty excited for the upcoming fest. The line-up is scheduled so that you can catch all the big acts that you’d like to such as Yo La Tengo, Asobi Seksu, Dan Deacon, and Black Mountain and still have tons of time to catch the lesser-known bands.
Other than the four mentioned above I’m getting really excited for Titus Androcius, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Oxford Collapse, Pattern is Movement, and PWRFL Power. It will also be nice to see Evangelicals, Headlights, Catfish Haven, and The M’s again. If you live in the midwest and haven’t been fully informed yet, click here for festival information.
MP3 Yo La Tengo – Our Way To The Fall
MP3 Asobi Seksu – Thursday
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I don’t know about all of you, but I get really excited when critics and moviegoers just tear into a really horrible movie. I don’t think there’s been a better example than the blatant hatred exhibited for “Disaster Movie“, the latest and perhaps the worst entry into the god-awful “___ Movie” series. It has a well-deserved 0% at rottentomatoes, is rated the worst movie of all time at IMDB.com, and opened 6th on a slow weekend at the box office, all of which means humanity might still have a chance. Here’s a couple of my favorite quotes from reviewers:
“there’s probably enough suicide-inducing material here to make a send-up of The Happening redundant. ” – Jam! Movies
“As so-called writer-directors, (Friedberg and Seltzer) are cretins whose sensibilities never rise above that of a messily overflowing sewer and whose intelligence borders between that of a three-eyed inbred sheep’s and a human vegetable” … “‘Disaster Movie,’ which only half-heartedly recalls literal disaster movies but is a pure disaster all the same, is as depressing and empty a cinematic experience as any other picture this year or last (or maybe the whole decade). To label it as simply unfunny or vacuous or ugly or boring would be a compliment. ” –The Movie Boy
“Embarrassment. It’s a feeling you should get used to, Freidberg and Seltzer. You should feel it deeply and painfully. You should be ashamed to tell anyone your names. May you never befoul another cinema with your grotesque comic abortions. ” – Film.com
Also, there was, at one point, a detailed blow-by-blow of the plot (if you can call what it had a plot) at wikipedia, that completey trashed the movie, but it was taken down because it was “biased”. Luckily you can still read it here, if you really want to know excactly how bad “Disaster Movie” is, without going to see it.
MP3 The Futureheads – Stupid and Shallow
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For those of you LOST addicts like myself, there is finally something noteworthy to talk about (I don’t consider Michelle Rodriguez returning for one episode to be anything too exciting personally). There’s a new cast member on board for season 5 for a character named Illana, a dangerous and intelligent female fatale.
The actress playing Illana is Zuleikha Robinson, who has previously starred in New Amsterdam, Rome, The X-Files and that movie where Aragorn had to enter a horse race. Obviously, the above character description could fit just about any LOST female (except Claire, I guess), but EW is suspecting that this could another one of Sayid’s lady friends. Only time will tell the role that Illana plays in the LOST creator’s plans for the ever-anticipated season 5.
MP3 Tilly and the Wall – Lost Girls
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Has anyone tried out that new Chrome browser everyones talking about? Personally, I don’t see myself leaving Firefox any time soon, but once Google gets around to making a mac-compatible version, I’m planning on giving it a spin.
Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good 
