never thought i'd need so many people

Slowly but surely, indie bands are getting bigger.

At first, there was Broken Social Scene. They had a very cluttered sound, but it worked. There were about 12 people in the group, and I will hopefully see all of them come October 20th. If nothing else, the sound requires a great number of people.

However, something bugs me about other bands that pull this. Architecture in Helsinki has 8 people, and I can't help but wonder if one guy's there just to play the triangle every other song. Polyphonic Spree... well, they're just fucking creepy.

The worst offender would have to be I'm From Barcelona, however. Jesus. There's a guy who writes the songs. He has a decent-sized band to play the songs. And then he has about 23 of his friends sing the choruses. It screams gimmick, and if I didn't like the album so much I would hate the group. Also, I hate how the lead guy looks. Still, the album will most definitely be on my top ten. It's that good.

I like that people are breaking the mold of a regular rock group: two guitars, one bass guitar, and drums. Hell, I even like 2-people groups like Mates of State, The Black Keys, and The White Stripes. I just think that people like the Barcelonians (who are actually from Sweden) are taking it a bit too far.

requiem for gloria

"You only live a day, but it's brilliant anyway." -Elliott Smith

This past Monday, Gloria - my favorite iPod - died an ignomious death. She was a little younger than a year and a half old. I named her after this crazy bitch on The Sopranos. Paul was actually around for her first weekend. It was a special time.

She came with me to all sorts of places. She's been to Europe, both England and Holland. She helped me write papers in a stifling little computer lab in Trinity College.

I used Gloria to block out noise, to shut myself off into my own little world. (My social life in my senior year of college left something to be desired.) Now, without her, I'll be forced to listen to people smack gum, prattle about unimportant things, and generally be annoying.

I'll miss you, Gloria. But I'm poor, so you're probably going to stay dead. If it makes you feel any better, you probably won't be replaced.

Degrassi Update

It’s a well known fact that when it comes to television, I have a guilty pleasure and that guilty pleasure’s name is Degrassi. Degrassi is Canadian melodrama which chronicles the often intertwining lives of two groups of teenagers from junior high onwards. Last night was the premiere of the sixth season and I must admit, I am excited for things to come.

Degrassi’s history, at least from my perspective has been somewhat like a rollercoaster. The first two seasons were close enough to amazing, but season three was iffy at best. Four was near-perfect, full of nice, clean character development and excellent storytelling. Season 5 was iffy. There seemed to be too much trying to force issues on certain characters instead of just letting the characters be themselves. I stopped watching it about half way through because I couldn’t take it anymore. However, I did tune in to see the season finale and I was amazed. They seemed to bypass the previous suckitude, and with a little help from Stars, ended the season on one of the highest notes the show has ever hit.

So, with last night’s premiere, it looks as if they plan to continue the quality. About half the students are now in college and most of the rest are seniors. The characters have grown up and thusly, so has the show. Everything about it seemed more mature, from the credits to the plots. This is still melodrama, but I’ll be goddamned if it isn’t well written, compelling melodrama (I’m looking at you, Grey’s Anatomy).

Most of last night focused on Emma and Sean who returns to the show as a regular this year (!!!!). Of course, Emma is happily involved with Peter, so things get tricky! Seeing Emma and Sean together again were probably the best moments as my heart did a bit o’ melting every time they were on screen. Sean and Emma are like, the couple and you know they have to be together, no matter what. The whole street racing thing was a little lame and another example of the shows writer’s trying to be too topical, but whatevs. It left me eagerly anticipating next week’s episode.

A few other notes. I’m so glad that the Spinner/Jimmy drama is over. The dynamic between them is pretty great when they’re actually friends. And seeing Spinner, Marco, Jimmy, and Ashley all playing together at Paige’s going away party. OMG. Speaking of Paige, I hope they actually do something interesting with her as she’s really the only one going away to school. Make it interesting, folks.

And that’s all I have to say about Degrassi this week but if I’m really lame I will update about each new episode because this is my only outlet.

i should be suspended from class

Kyle tells me to update and I tell Kyle that I hate him. We are the best of friends.

I haven’t been listening to much lately, aside from Emily Haines. She might make a move up the top 10 list. We’ll see how things go. Right now I’m rocking Camera Obscura, which might not be cool enough for the top 10 but they’re definitely cute enough to listen to from time to time. Kyle will probably hate me for this but as far as cutesy girl groups go, I’m digging this a lot more than the Pipettes. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Pipettes.

I wish I had more time for pleasure reading but I can say to stay away from The Sea by John Banville. He writes beautiful sentences but those of us that like a bit of plot in our novels will probably be disappointed.

I did have to read The Maltese Falcon for school and I enjoyed it. I think noir has come quite a way sense then, but Hammett was quite the writer. I have to finish the Turn of the Screw by Monday and I’m going to post extensive spoilers so that Kyle won’t be able to read it.

The Office? The Office was good. They continued to tease us as the look on Pam’s face at the end of the episode was more than enough to make me wish that it was already next Thursday. Best show on television? Probably.

fine, fuck you paul

I wish I had something to update about. I suppose I could talk about some of the music I've been listening to.

The Thermals - kind of a punk rock band. Really good, "Pillar of Salt" is one of my favorite new songs. They're a little grittier than Ted Leo, but they do the same sort of thing that he does - mix the anger of punk (which I hardly see from any 'punk' bands these days) with songs that don't either sound like A) pop one step away from Britney Spears or B) screaming over loud and unpleasing power chords.

The Pipettes - a pop group reminiscent of girl-group motown singers. Very fun, but makes me feel like much less of a man when I listen to it.

Devin Davis - he made an album in his basement (Lonely People of the World, Unite!) and it's not that bad. Not amazing, but not that bad at all.

Talking Heads - their self-titled album from 1977 is a lot of wacky weird fun! I highly recommend it. (look at me, I can recommend like Jeph Jacques.)

White Whale - taking up the mantle of shanty rock where the Decemberists left it. They don't sound that derivative, actually, which is why I'm enjoying them I suppose.

Elvis Costello - I've tried to get into him, but it doesn't seem to be catching on just yet. It may just be that his singles are better than his albums.

As far as old people releasing new music, Bob Dylan's new album is pretty cool, kinda bluesy. I've only listened through it once but I like it a great deal. Also, the Who (or what's left of them) are releasing an album. Granted, the half that's left is the creative side of the team, so it may well be pretty decent. But I miss those technically talented guys as well.

In conclusion, read Achewood.

kyle should update

The new Emily Haines album continues to grow on me the more I listen to it and that really surprises me. There are a few Metric songs which I might classify as “decent” and her work with BSS is good enough, but for the most part, I’ve always considered Ms. Haines to be a pretty poor songwriter. Something about her rubs me the wrong way. But her solo album is pretty fantastic. I generally hate piano driven music as a rule, but she happens to be a lot better looking than Chris Martin and her voice isn’t nearly as grating.

100 words on kyle

The Last Kiss was a pretty decent movie which probably wouldn’t have been as decent if it weren’t for Zach Braff. From the movie, I learned a few things.

- I’m a sucker for sad endings.
- Sitting in front of doors is so cool.
- Knocking someone up and then cheating on them: even cooler.
- Mix CDs lose their appeal after a certain age.
- I never want to reach that age.

Everyone agreed that Rachel Bilson was crazy. Aside from me. I guess I will always be a sucker for the crazy chicks.

Kyle is a bitch.