While I Was Away

Fear Not loyal readers. I will be back to the 69LS breakdown soon. I've just been busy. The Summer storms have come and gone and left us up to our ears in... well congratulations, if you can finish that quote on your own, you're as much of a Mr Show fan as I am.

Stuff that has been keeping me sane these past weeks in the face of work:

10. Mad Men. A recent affair, but a good one. Just finished the second episode. To quote the missus: "Ergh! This show gets me so mad!... in a good way!"
09. M83. The frenchy electronica band that played Pitchfork a few weeks back. I've been listening to Saturdays = Youth a lot. Its very summery and light, but my work friends have told me: "You listen to the same music as pretentious 12 year-old girls." Um, thanks?
08. the Tribe. My favorite baseball team has slowly been dismantled. Goodbye Victor. Goodbye Phifer. Hello 2012.
07. United 93. A terribly disturbing re-enactment of 9/11 and the passengers who attempted to re-take their hijacked plane. Not a perfect film by any means, but the subject matter alone makes it deeply moving.
06. Green Lantern Comics. Sinestro War! Blackest Night! Zombie Elongated Man and Martian Manhunter! Scratch the 'pretentious 12 year-old girl' comment from above an replace it with 'average 12 year-old boy'. But man I love me some green lantern.
05. Dirty Projectors. Their latest album Bitte Orca is my runaway choice for album of the year so far. It's strange and catchy and playful and awesome. Listen to the song "Stillness is the Move" and if you aren't sold, then you should just give up on contemporary music.
04. the "Very Short Introduction" series by Oxford. So far I've read their intro to Dinosaurs and WW1. Up next: Consciousness? Dada and the Surrealists? We'll see...
03. Homicide. The non-fiction account by David Simon. I am a Wire fiend and it's come to this in order for me to get a fresh fix.
02. Inherent Vice. the novel by Thomas Pynchon. technically it goes on sale tomorrow, but there are some perks of working in books. I liken this novel to the Big Lebowski set back in 1970, where the Dude isn't a burn-out quite yet. A little more conspiracy-er, too. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.
01. The Simpsons. I've made it my mission to rewatch the series in order. So netflix has been sending me a DVD or 2 a week. I've just finished Season 2. Amazing how good this show was so early on. They really found themselves quite quick. Also amazing how much better the 3rd-7th season will be, if memory serves.

anyhow. thanks for your patience...