This Week #1

Last night, as I lay in bed, sleeplessly listening to The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive, I had one of those moments. You know the kind. A minor epiphany, largely meaningless to anybody other than yourself, but demanding that you act on it at the earliest possible opportunity. Well, this is the earliest opportunity, and here is my epiphany.

I think you and I would both be happier if I wrote here more often.  My Tumblr is lazy and ineffective, and I haven’t truly figured out what to do with it. So here’s my compromise: a week in review, at this blog, that might make sense or give you something you can use. Some things I read, watched, listened to and noted can live here, and you can make of them what you will, starting now.

Metronomy, Nights Out

Metronomy has put together a great album in classic style, from an evocative title to the intros and outros. This band cares about the details, and the album rewards a few solid listens as a result. Sure, you’ll find the strong single — Heartbreaker — but there are also some real growers here. The End of You Too and A Thing For Me crept up on me gradually and charmed me completely. Listen to a bit at The Hype Machine.

[Photo from unblogbar.org on Flickr]

Kieron Gillen’s Top 40 Tracks of 2008

You’ve likely picked up by now that I’m pretty impressed with Kieron’s comics writing on stuff like Phonogram and Busted Wonder. Well, he also knows a thing or two about music. His list features a smattering of songs that I felt were woefully underlooked by some Internet critics (ahem, Pitchfork), alongside the best of the obvious choices (Estelle’s American Boy, for example). Which isn’t to say I entirely agree with his list. I can’t imagine leaving off something from the aforementioned Hold Steady record, and he picked my second-favorite tracks from some favorite albums. If you’re looking for something fresh to listen to, though, Gillen>Pitchfork. He also inspired my own list, which I swore I wouldn’t make this year. I’ll post it soon.

Let The Right One In

I’m probably preaching to the converted, considering the flood of praise I’ve read for this movie lately, but it’s as good as people are saying. I don’t want to spoil much, but Let The Right One In is the freshest take on vampires I’ve seen in quite a while. Both of the lead kids turn in great performances in some gorgeous snowy settings, and the whole film is full of great shots. It’s not a scary movie, and it doesn’t trade too heavily on shock value. It just slowly unsettles in a way that I found quite satisfying.

Oliver’s Twist

This Seattle bar never lets me down. Some friends took me out for a late birthday this week, and we stopped by for after-dinner drinks. Ok, full disclosure: I stopped by for before AND after dinner drinks. The Artful Dodger, one of the many original cocktails at Oliver’s, impressed as always. Favorite new discovery? They make a damn good Manhattan. I also endorse literally everything on the food menu. If you’re not hungry, you still can’t go wrong with garlic truffle popcorn.

[Photo from Wonderlane on Flickr]

The Stranger’s Slog

At a talk in Seattle last summer, Dan Savage said that The Stranger, Seattle’s best alt-weekly, IS the Slog. The paper still comes out every week, and it’s still good, but the life of the thing is all online now. I finally got around to subscribing to the Slog when I was home, and it’s already paid off. I mean, otherwise, I never would have seen that video of the woman smashing a watermelon using just one of her breasts. Seriously, though, that video traumatized me. Really seriously, though, the Stranger reports on Seattle more thoroughly than anybody else out there.

What I’ve Written This Week:

31. If I Tickle Her … at Am I Flirting?

Tiltshiftmaker, Twitterfriends, Easy Writer, YackTrack, Twitter Phishing Scam and Google’s Hidden iPhone Menu at Download Squad.

Also, speaking of Gillen: my interview with him and Jamie McKelvie is in the January Geek Monthly, which is on newsstands now. It’s got a Janeane Garofalo cover.