The Galleria
Yesterday, I went to the Galleria to buy some new shoes. Man! What is happening with St. Louis County, with the upper-ish middle class, and with this country? I feel like everything's a little more upscale in food, in fashion, in everything, but in the process, scads of people must be getting priced out of being able to afford it. $100 jeans, people. $100 jeans. Welcome to the future. Macaroni and cheese is $8.

Whoever came up with the idea for purple and green shoes needs to be punched in the mouth.
- posted by Eric @ 11:01 PM
Comments (0)

 
Attention
Puerto Muerto. October 27th, 8:00 PM, Off Broadway. Who's with me?
- posted by Eric @ 12:29 AM
Comments (0)

 
The Creation of an After-School Activity
Folks, I've entered the world of online video. How, you ask? Am I vlogging? Do I have a slick new mini-DV camcorder? Video podcasting? Of course not! I just put a video that I made when I was sixteen with a dumpy Panasonic VHS camera on YouTube. Enjoy!

And if you've already seen this back when it was hosted on standard webspace, well, nuts to you.
- posted by Eric @ 4:02 PM
Comments (0)

 
Two best decisions in recent memory:
Buying a car cassette adaptor for my iPod, and buying the second Mutantes album, as Vintage Vinyl is currently carrying what would appear to (due to their FBI warnings) be major-label stateside releases of the first three Mutantes albums. Granted, the booklet's still all in Portuguese... But I do declare, I might like this album the best out of the lot of them.

So who's going to Calexico tonight, eh?
- posted by Eric @ 12:44 PM
Comments (0)

 
Not involved with it, just sounds interesting:

- posted by Eric @ 12:32 AM
Comments (0)

 
I'm Lovin' It
I'm way into when the new version 9 of the Flash plug-in makes Internet Explorer 7 epically crash. Especially when I'm in the middle of a large, internet-assisted academic undertaking. That is so awesome. Thank you, Macromedia. Thank you, Microsoft. Way cool. Radical.
- posted by Eric @ 1:56 AM
Comments (0)

 
SkyMall, part III






Much thanks to my friend Steph!
- posted by Eric @ 10:51 PM
Comments (0)

 
Li'l pieces of sonic joy
If you've been the recipient of one of my [in]famous mix CDs, you may have already heard one or more of these, but I feel compelled to share a bunch of my favorite-favorite songs of late. That's right, my blogging has been lagging just that badly.

The Decemberists - The Engine Driver
Lyrics about using the writing process to deal with lost love mixed with a just fantastic melody. What's not to like?

Nina Simone - Lilac Wine
I loved Jeff Buckley's "Grace" as much as the next guy, but his cover still had nothing on the original.

Todd Snider - You Got Away With It (A Tale of Two Fraternity Brothers)
Thank you KDHX and Pop Life with Anton. Thank you so, so much.

Orson Welles - Frozen Peas Spot
Okay, not really a song per se. But it is one of the all-time greatest, most tragic figures of U.S. cinema obsessing over the shortcomings of a script for a British frozen peas commercial. Sometimes, that's enough.

Godzuki - Your Future
Out-of-print late 1990s Cure-influenced indie-electro-pop straight outta Detroit. Most pleasing.

Mulatu Astatke - N�tsan�t
1970s Ethiopian jazz-funk.

Julia Sets - National Steel
This song only showed up on the band's mp3.com page and on a pretty limited cassette release, but I still wager that it's one of the best songs by one of the best St. Louis local bands of the last 15 years.

Kettel - Through Friendly Waters
I think this guy is Dutch? Pleasant, leisurely IDM.

Magazine - Shot by Both Sides
Oh, this Buzzcocks offshoot. Oh, how they rock and how they roll.

The Skalars - High School
I think that long-lost local faves the Skalars may have made my favorite ska song outside of the Specials or Desmond Dekker.

Kenickie - Lunch at Lassiters
It's just catchy, y'know?

Neko Case - Look For Me (I'll Be Around)
Better than the Sarah Vaughn original. The entire "Blacklisted" album is just tremendous, really. Neko has to be the reincarnation of Patsy Cline, swear to God.

Tiger Trap - You and Me
Sunny, happy '90s indie pop.

The Plastics - Digital Watch
Like a Japanese version of the B-52's, except with more drum machines.

So there you have it. It's like an mp3 blog without all of the illegal!
- posted by Eric @ 4:22 PM
Comments (0)

 
If only I could be as Cool as Ice

Continuing with the YouTube theme...
- posted by Eric @ 3:47 PM
Comments (0)

 
Hey!

Well if it isn't prominent Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa talking about Machu Picchu. Los Jaivas follow with some progging out within.
- posted by Eric @ 12:28 AM
Comments (0)

 
I wholeheartedly endorse:
You know, for ages, I'd not actually listened to WGNU, 920 AM. This Friday, I finally did, and you know what? I heard Dr. Laura, and she's a nutcase. It was hilarious. I just really hope that people don't follow her advice.

Also, Snakes on a Plane. As dumb and as great as expected. I wouldn't watch it twice, but I believe that everyone should watch it once.

Finally, I think I'll give away a secret of mine. I went to the annual Japanese festival at the Botanical Gardens, and as with every other year, I went to the counter with $1 home videos of Japanese TV. As always, my results were excellent. The last time, I got a 6-hour tape that alternated between Crayon Shin-Chan and Doraemon. Doraemon, I could take or leave, but Shin-Chan, even with me only understanding every twelth spoken word, is hilarious. This summer, happily, a dubbed version finally came to Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, and it's even raunchier and more hilarious than the original, I think. As for this year at the festival? After looking for about ten minutes, what did I find on the rack among all of the Japanese-language Pokemon but "クレヨンしんちゃん." End result? The 1997 Crayon Shin-Chan birthday special, complete with Star Wars parody. Wonderful.
- posted by Eric @ 7:15 PM
Comments (0)