Appreciation... Chairlift

The song "Bruises" was the catchiest and cutest indie pop song I had heard in forever and it finally has a video! Not just the track from an I-Pod commercial anymore, this is the single from Chairlift's album "Does You Inspire You".

Anticipation... The Smiths Vinyl Reissues Hit Soon!

Now this is something! If you've been waiting anxiously like I have for remastered editions of The Smiths' albums, then save your pennies and mark August 25th on your calendar! The four original studio albums all will finally see a quality reissue on that day on vinyl with the inclusion of a digital copy of the tracks. As of right now there's no word on any reissue of the US singles compilation album, Louder Than Bombs, or the live album, Rank!. I would love to see the British singles compilations, Hatful of Hollow and The World Won't Listen in the future too!

Frustration... Video Shutdown

Well, thanks to a lot of new efforts by recording companies to control and restrict how their bands' videos are shared online, I seem to have a number of videos disappearing from my blog. I had debated scrapping this whole effort, but I am confident through other sources I will be able to find something to post on here. I understand why these policies are in order. I am merely promoting my interests with this site and collecting mementos of my fascinations, curiosities, and guilty pleasures into one place. I own none of the material presented and do not upload any material for one to consume and violate copyright laws of any kind. I credit each artist and state what album one could obtain to buy such songs. I encourage real album buying, but if mp3s are your thing there's plenty of legal sources for that. I personally am divided in my feelings regarding downloads and even online shopping, because I am tired of watching brick and mortar stores shrink their inventory of CDs and DVDs. But that's a whole other topic for ranting...

Appreciation... New Coldplay Video

Here's a video I really like right now! This is the official music video for Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing", from their album Viva la Vida! This video is directed by the creative/animation team Shynola. If you'd like to learn more about this team's work, just check out this link for a list of their video credits.


Coldplay - Strawberry Swing
Vezi mai multe video din Muzica

Recognition and appreciation... 40th Anniversary of a Man Walking on the Moon

Forty years ago today, July 20th, 1969, NASA's Apollo 11 mission successfully put the first man, specifically Neil Armstrong, on the surface on the moon.

Armstrong was joined in his exploration of the moon's dusty surface by Buzz Aldrin, while Command Module Pilot, Michael Collins remained in orbit circling the moon. They embarked on the lunar bound mission with the launch of the Saturn V rocket on July 16, 1969, and some four days later President John F Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s was fulfilled. A famous aspiration he had expressed during his speech given before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

For anyone interested in celebrating the day in true cinephile fashion, Turner Classic Movies is showing a variety of "Moon" related films to honour the occasion all day long. I highly recommend the prime time showing tonight of director Al Reinert's 1989 documentary, For All Mankind. It airs at 8:15PM. Also recommended is Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff (1983), then at 10:00PM. The prime time segment tonight also features introductions by TCM host Robert Osborne with special guest host, Buzz Aldrin.

In the meantime here's some video from the ReelNASA channel on YouTube which is certainly marking today in high clip fashion! This is a wonderful resource collection for anyone looking to remember the history of NASA's accomplishments or to learn more about these missions for the first time. The general public doesn't quite follow the exploits of the work NASA continues to do in space, but here's hoping an anniversary such as this may ignite some new imaginations regarding the possibilities in space that still lay ahead for all of humankind.

Appreciation... The Sundays

Just time for a quick post for today! I'm off to do some shopping and enjoy a day of rather idle activity. I thought this track would be most appropriate for a sunny summer Sunday afternoon!

The Sundays - "Summertime"

The Sundays - Summertime - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Appreciation... The 50% Off Criterion DVDs Sale at B&N!

I am connected to Barnes and Noble merely on a consumer level, so this post is merely to state my satisfaction as a DVD buyer because hot damn has 50% off Criterion DVDs made my weekend a little more special! I know other places have run good deals on them online, such as Criterion themselves, but to walk into a store and be able to drool over the assortment and then take my purchases immediately home... well, that is where it's at for me! I made the fine purchase of two British films, The Red Shoes(#44) and the D-Day saga,Overlord(#382), the French New Wave masterpiece, Last Year at Marienbad(#478), and the landmark German film, The Testament of Dr, Mabuse(#231). It will be a fine movie watching weekend, indeed!

Thank you Criterion and thank you Barnes & Noble!

Here's some trailers for my picks!

The Red Shoes(1948)



Overlord(1975)



Last Year at Marienbad(1961) - (a re-release trailer)



And finally... The Testament of Dr. Mabuse(1933)

Appreciation... Kate Bush

I am not sure why but I have had Kate Bush's song "Wuthering Heights" in my head all night! It was the first video track of her video collection The Whole Story, which I still proudly hold in my VHS tape collection but I'm unfortunately without a VCR at present. Fortunately thanks to the magic of the Internet I can indulge in viewing this video on occasion! I also learned there's an alternate "Red Dress" version, so I am including them both!

Version one...



And version two...



I'll have to do further research to find all the other twelve videos from the collection some night!

Appreciation... Franz Ferdinand

Just a quick post of Franz Ferdinand's rather clever video for "Can't Stop Feeling"! Sadly I have to admit their third album Ulysses took some time to grow on me, but seeing them live back in May certainly helped! It was an amazing show! I have to say they are the most energetic band I have ever seen live! I've been enthralled by this album ever since!



I hope to have more time to post tomorrow, as I still want to rave about the Camera Obscura show!

Thanks to Sphere of Repugnance for the video recommendation!

Realisation... Today is the Birthday of Ian Curtis

If he had not hung himself on May 15, 1980, Ian Curtis, the front man of Joy Division would have been 53 years old today. I thought I'd post the video for "Atmosphere" tonight in remembrance of him.



If you don't know about Ian's life and work but would like to do so, you can read more here.

Appreciation... New Regina Spektor album!

I had been anxiously awaiting a new album from Regina Spektor and on June 23rd the album, Far, finally arrived and well worth the over three year wait since Begin to Hope which hit back on June 13th, 2006! Wow... where does time go!

So let me share some tracks with you! First up is "Laughing With" with a video directed by Adria Petty that is visually beautiful as the song is lyrically!



Equally gorgeous is the song and the video for "Eet"

Appreciation... Anni Rossi

I have to admit that I had never heard of Anni Rossi before attending the Camera Obscura show in Philly recently, but seeing her live made me an instant fan! She was the opening act for the evening and when she took the stage with just her violin and her drummer, Devin Maxwell, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was instantly astounded by her songs, her voice, and her versatile handling of her instrument. I can't think that I have ever seen someone handle their violin not only as a classical string instrument but as a percussion instrument as well. But you don't need my meager assessment of her work, just watch the videos here and let her performance speak for itself!

Live from The Interview Show hosted by Mark Bazer at The Hideout, in Chicago, here's the track "Machine".



Also here is her official video for "The West Coast" off of her new album Rockwell, out now on 4AD Records. This was directed by: Rollin Hunt.

Greatest appreciation... God Help the Girl

On June 22ND, Lexi and I had the good fortune to see Camera Obscura in Philly at the Theatre of Living Arts and the show as well as the entire day was incredible! I forgot how much fun shopping on South Street can be. Especially cool was devoting some serious time to some serious searching for music at Repo Records! We came out of there with some cool finds like an Adorable collection, an old Idlewild CD, a Voxtrot EP, and several other older items, but our two new album purchases for the day were the new Regina Spektor and the Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian spin off concept musical story project, God Help the Girl.

It's an ambitious project and the result is an infectious album that I can't stop listening to even now some three weeks later. The project is supported by a fine website featuring music, videos, news, and all sorts of information on the players and the tale. While I've been lamenting the lack of a new Belle and Sebastian album for some time now, I will say I couldn't be more pleased with this distraction for the band. This project musically offers all the classic sophisticated pop sounds one expects from Stuart and the gang with the flavour of the best girl groups of the sixties thanks to the musical addition of a cast of superbly talented female vocalists.

Here's the video introduction to the project!


Also check out the video for the single "Come Monday Morning"



And if you are still with me, here's a behind the scenes clip I'm including mostly because you can catch a bit of guest vocalist, Neil Hannon's contribution on the track "Perfection as a Hipster" during the beginning of this segment.



Next posts will cover the Camera Obscura show, Anni Rossi, and the new Regina Spektor album! Stay tuned!

How about a new post!

I thought it was time! It's been too long since my last one, but I guess I am not ready to abandon this effort quite yet! I have all kinds of things in fact to go on about like new shows, new albums, new books, my rekindled fascination for Twin Peaks and cherry pie... the list goes on and on! I am also going to try to get many of the incomplete drafts of posts that I started here and there over the last couple months completed to fill some holes in my posting breaks. I can do this and I am getting ready to create another blog with my girlfriend, so that's coming too!

Please stay tuned!

Also I want to wish my little sister a Happy Birthday! Love you, Jen!