amazon's indie music class is in session!

are you serious?

they are serious.

there is even a photo album.  "indie yearbook photos."  featuring adorable portraits of the likes of mates of state, sam beam, flight of the conchords, and more!

there's a list of "head of the class" solo artists.  did you know that "bright eyes has risen to the head of the class with [his] talent and incredible independent releases?"

there's a g-d "zoology" section for bands with animals in their titles.

i can't handle it.  somebody is super proud of this page.  somebody worked very hard on this.  somebody got paid to do this.  i still don't have a job.

rest in peace sydney pollack

one of the greats in the film world has passed on at age 74.

he directed many great films including tootsie, out of africa, the firm, the way we were, and the interpreter.  he produced more, from cold mountain to searching for bobby fischer.  as an actor, he made an unforgettable performance in eyes wide shut, in addition to the player, husbands and wives, and of course will & grace.

i don't know.  to me personally, i feel like he's another of that great generation of filmmakers that made the greatest films ever and now they seem to be dying off.  it is very sad.

tomorrow is my dad's birthday!

hooray for my dad.  great guy.  if we hadn't had his celebration today, there are some things i could've gotten him, because it's also tuesday tomorrow!

music:

*al green - lay it down.  my top release of this week for sure.  i haven't listened to much of his recent gospel stuff and haven't been really interested, but i've heard a little bit of THIS album, and it sounds just great.  ?uestlove produced the thing and it's got john legend and corinne bailey rae.  i know lots of new albums by old artists feature new talent and all that, but this one really seems special to me.

*cyndi lauper - bring ya to the brink.  ow ow!

video:

*cassandra's dream.  very curious about this one.  i missed it when it was in theaters (for the whole one week it was here!).  it seemed to get very little hype.  but i enjoy even recent woody allen works (especially match point), and i have to at least see this one.  netflix here it comes!

*absolutely fabulous - absolutely everything.  it's EVERYTHING!

*the thief of baghdad. criterion.

the big one is al green.  the rest are filler.  unless cassandra's dream turns out to have been an overlooked gem.

devastation

so...interesting day today.

today this happened.

now, Quiet Brandon is currently based out of Denver, and in Denver, we just got a little rain.  no biggie down here.

but windsor, the town that was hit the hardest and most directly (as in, well, directly), is where my parents live.

now, fortunately for them, the tornado hit the east side of windsor and the downtown area.  and my parents live on the west side.  but damn if it wasn't scary.

thoughts and prayers go out to the people that got the brunt of the storm, the people whose houses were torn up.  

that is all.

is it tuesday already tomorrow?

so since i stopped doing that one show that i used to do on the internet where we'd talk about all those new albums that came out and all that, i have stopped doing much research about stuff coming out in the distant future.  so most of these are pleasant surprises to me.  a bunch of artists i'm allllll about are putting albums out tomorrow, and i didn't even know they were even in planning! or i may have forgotten. either way, pleasant surprises (except for my non-income means i can't really afford to get these).

music coming out to you and me:

*free kitten - inherit.  free kitten is kim gordon's other band.  it's been over 10 years since they put anything out.  i didn't know they were gonna put anything out again.  but guess what? this is out tomorrow!  it's only $8.99 on amazon so hopefully that means it's cheap everywhere.

*islands - arm's way.  return to sea was a great sleeper album for me.  most critics and such praised it though, i believe.  but i personally didn't listen to it much but i remember when i did, i loved it.  this one isn't so much a surprise as an "oh yeah, these guys!"

*jim o'rourke - tamper.  this is a re-release of his 1991 album.  he is amazing.  i did know about this but forgot when it was coming out.  still, here it is.

*mudhoney - lucky ones.  legendary, they are! i even got to interview them (or run a camera for an interview with them) a couple years back.  this is their 8th album.

*the dresden dolls - no, virginia.  i half-like them.  this seems to be outtakes from yes, virginia.

*mates of state - re-arrange us.  they are pretty damn cute, i tell you what.

*scarlett johansson - anywhere i lay my head.  everybody knows about this one.  if you've read a blog in the past few months, you've known about this one.  i personally don't care much.  i heard that one song and it was pretty boring.  i'd rather just listen to tom waits.  it's disappointing because dave sitek produced the album, and i love tv on the radio.  ah well.

there's not much notable out on dvd.

*night of the living dead.  40th anniversary edition.  remastered and "loaded with all new special features."  i don't know what these special features are.  but this is one of the greatest films ever.  and according to an amazon review, george romero never put a copyright on the original, resulting in lots of public domain dvds of it.  this is the one put out by him, the "official" version that will actually support the artist.

*square pegs - the complete series.  sarah jessica parker's show before sex & the city.  it's pretty cute from what i remember.

james stewart - the western collection.  he is my favorite "old timey" actor.  this collection includes destry rides again, winchester 73, bend of the river, the far country, night passage, and the rare breed.  all for $30, a pretty good deal.  these are all already available, but still a nice collection.

nina b is a icon?

i cannot yet attest to the quality of this, but there is a free album that you can download if you go here.

it's a madonna tribute mash-up featuring nina b.  i'm guessing it's like the rhymefest/michael jackson one that came out earlier this year that is AMAZING.  but possibly not quite so amazing.  but it's free, so what've you got to lose?

tuesday tomorrow

i have been so bad at blogging lately.  well actually i've been busy.  after actually working the week before last, i almost got a job or two last week, and i also went on a road trip (to chicago and south bend, yeah! with my parents!) for the weekend.  so i've been busy.  but it's all back to normal now.  unless i get another possible job.  two are up in the air right now.

so anyway, it's monday so that means it's...

tuesday tomorrow!

there's stuff coming out for you to buy...

music:

actually nothing i'm really interested in.  that new death cab album comes out, but i don't really care for death cab.  am i missing something? or is there really nothing?

EDIT: ok Kidz in the Hall have a new one out, maybe it's good too.  it's called The In Crowd.

video:

a lot better this week:

*la chinoise - golden era godard.  i have not seen it yet.  to me, 60s godard films are the greatest works ever created.  so i will get this even though i don't have a job and i haven't seen it.

*le gai savoir - ANOTHER 60s godard film.  i will break the bank!

*the lovers and the fire within - criterion collection.  two classic louis malle films being released by criterion on this day.

*saturday night live - complete season 3.  i need to watch these more in depth, i do.  i have season 1 somewhere low on the queue on netflix and then it will be 2 and now 3 is out as well.  oh boy.

*indiana jones trilogy - some sort of special edition.  good timing.

*some frank sinatra collections are out too.  so that's pretty cool.

basically, i cannot recommend those godard films enough, even though i haven't seen them.  that's my confidence in how on-fire he was for a full decade.  everything else...well, if i've mentioned it it's probably worth looking into.  but music sucks this week.  

tuesday, tomorrow,

etc,

let's see, what do i need to remember to purchase, once i get a job,

musically,

$ elvis costello & the imposters - momofuku - finally out on cd.  whatevs man, this is old news to me!

$ lost season 3 soundtrack - yeah...season 3 wasn't that good.

$ the coup - genocide & juice - this is a re-release but i don't have it yet.

$ animal collective - water curses - it is a single/ep thing but it's probably worth it because all 4 tracks are unreleased.

$ Lykke Li - Little Bit - also an EP but it is cheap.

none of these really excite me that much though.  am i supposed to be excited about tim fite? maybe i'd like him.  i don't know.

video...ly,

$ I'm Not There - i dug this movie, particularly the reference to masculin-feminin.  oh and the soundtrack. and just about everything.

$ Serial Mom - collector's edition but i can't figure out what's so collector-y about this edition.

$ Teeth - so so so weird.  i wanted to see it in theaters but didn't.  perhaps netflix is the way to go here.

$ Delirious - i did see this one.  it's pretty good if you're a buscemi fan.  it also has an elvis costello cameo so that's rad.

pretty slow week in my opinion.