Evan Almighty...so much promise, so few laughs

It was seriously not funny at all, and bordered on being a wholesome family movie only worthy of ABC Family. Somehow the combination of Steve Carell and Lauren Graham yielded about 3 laughs during the entire movie and nothing clever or funny.

:(

Blah

I got into a big fight today with a very very racist person. I'm not sure if I handled the situation properly, because there was so much yelling on my end, but I generally feel the need to defend my anti-racist ideology against bigots who create hostile environments for the people I work with. When I got home, my best friend sent me this, and it reminded me that everything is going to be okay. It's a recording from a few years ago. See if you can guess who is singing.

She's truly truly truly outrageous

Jem and the Holograms was probably my favorite childhood cartoon. I mean, seriously, what's better than female rockstars in general, especially ones with magic earrings and hologram alter egos? Jem and the Holograms were awesome. I knew all of their songs and still own a lot of the videos. It didn't occur to me until recently to find out who sang for Jem, though.

Britta Phillips is a pretty lady in a band with a guy named Dean. Together, they are Dean and Britta, and sort of remind me of stuff my parents would have listened to in the 80's. Britta sounds just as Jem-like as before, but much more ethereal and dreamlike. I seriously doubt that they play any old Jem songs on tour, but it would be awesome if they did.

Check out their website and buy an album.

OMG OMG OMG

*From:* "House of Tomorrow Newsletter " [and posted to The House of Tomorrow by Claudia Gonson]
newsletter@houseoftomorrow.com>
Date:* Sat, 16 Jun 2007 10:01:36 -0700

> Greetings! It's been a while since the last mailing, so here's an
> update to fill in for the gap. First: the new Magnetic Fields
> album is now planned for release in early 2008. The exact release
> date and album title will be announced shortly, as well as
> information on other Stephin Merritt projects. The Magnetic Fields
> look forward to playing some US shows following the release of the
> record. Meanwhile, Stephin Merritt continues to work on developing
> several new projects in theater, including a stage adaptation of
> Neil Gaiman's children's book, "Coraline."

This may be the best news ever. Although, I was pretty excited about i and it ended up not being my favorite album ever. My favorite thing about TMF is how gracefully they pull of concept albums without being hokey or sentimetal. I can't wait for the release of the new album's title.

New blog

I've been keeping a veg*n food blog about my feeble attempts at being a foodie with limited summertime kitchen capacities. My camera is MIA so there aren't any nice Flikr pictures yet but there will be. I mostly just screw around with recipes from my favorite vegetarian and vegan cookbooks until I like them better and/or they are preparable in my kitchenette. Mostly baking but also other things.

You can read it here.

I caught my heart run away in the street

I know I'm mid-summertime mix posting, but I'd be really unhappy with myself if I didn't post about this. Stars in Coma is a guy named Andre who I found the other day looking for a Music is my Girlfriend t-shirt. I've had the chance to listen to him a bit more since then, and I really have to say, this guy is awesome.

Most of the time, Stars in Coma sounds a lot like later Belle & Sebastian (more of The Life Pursuit era, but maybe a bit of Books, too). Other times, SIC reminds me of what I love about Stephin Merritt: sweet, quiet melodies coupled with more electronic sounds; a quiet man's voice; dynamic rises and falls. Songs like "Life without the Community" and "Moonport Sickness" are every bit as jangly and complex, without being overly sentimental. "I Wish Someone Would Dance With Me" is probably my favorite, though "If I Could Describe" comes pretty close to being the best song I've heard all year. Too bad it's from last year.

The last thing I'll say is that Andre appears to be incredibly prolific. Last year alone, he put out 2 albums and 2 EP's. You can find the whole Velvet Mountains EP here. You can buy albums at Cloudberry Records, Music is my Girlfriend, and actionpop!.

Some songs you should listen to:

If I Could Describe
I Saw My Heart Passing By
I Wish Someone Would Dance With Me
Life Without the Community
Moonport Sickness