Get On The Bandwagon

I have been listening to a lot of the new tracks that have been popping up here and there from all the hip bands all the kids are listening to. On the top of my list right now is the new Modest Mouse song, "Dashboard" from We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. It's poppy, catchy, and extremely parasitic. I want to be driving cross country sweating in an old junker blaring this song through the radio, windows down with the car packed to the gils.

The new Shins album, Wincing The Night Away is worth the wait for those of you that haven't heard it yet. The first single "Phantom Limb" delivers what you would expect from the "New Slang" guys. Whenever I see James Mercer or read something about him I begin to understand how depressed that guy is. He looks like that quite kid in high school that always had something to say but was quashed by the rest of the class.

If you didn't know that The Arcade Fire are playing 5 shows at a church in New York City you can forget about even trying to go. Unless you have a really good friend or close to a thousand dollars you aren't going to get in. I was lucky enough to get two tickets to one of the shows, thanks tickets.com. When it comes to concerts that popular I really think they should be run on a lottery or something. There are a few tracks running around from Arcade Fire's forthcoming Neon Bible. You can probably track down Intervention, and Black Mirror, everything else has been taken down.

All the cool kids have been listening to these guys for years. Are you cool?

Stephen Merchant's Cameo With Jack Bauer

People are having a field day with the leak of the first four episodes of season 6 of 24. Yeah that's right Jack Bauer is back and so is Ricky Gervais' good friend Stephen Merchant. These pictures popped up from one of the new episodes.
Do you recognize that geeky CTU analyst?
Hilarious! I guess it was supposed to be Ricky on the show too but he would be too recognizable for the US audience. Keep your eye open for Stephen next week when season 6 of 24 premieres on Fox.

From RickyGervais.com:

RICKY Gervais, the U.K. comic who created and starred in the original edition of "The Office," recently filmed a throw-away scene with the cast and producers of "24." His pal, Stephen Merchant - who co-created "The Office" - took his "24" fanaticism one step further and actually landed a cameo in January's season-six debut. "Ricky was just too recognizable to put in the show," "24" executive producer Jon Cassar told The Post. "But Stephen actually walks up to someone at CTU and hands them a piece of paper." Cassar said he hopes Gervais agrees to let the scene he filmed be included as a DVD extra. In the scene, a group of White House brass meet to discuss an impending terrorist threat. Gervais, dressed like a presidential advisor, keeps whispering under his breath to give the mission to Jack Bauer - and then acts incredulous when someone else says it aloud and takes credit for the idea.

If You Sing Into A Microphone You Are Probably Autistic

I guess I'm new to the Ad Council's attack on Autism but I saw a print ad today in New York magazine that surprised me. It read as follows:

Autism
1:58000, chance your child's is a pop star
1:166, chance your child's is diagnosed with autism

The picture is of a little girl, much like the girl in the ad below with a microphone in her hand. Anyone who has ever sang karaoke or sang a song that isn't making millions as a pop star is autistic. Hell I'd even be willing to argue that most pop stars are autistic. Instead of calling them pop artists maybe we should call them pop autists. Thanks for brining this up ad council, I'm happy to know that most of my idols and most of the people I know are autistic. I'm going to put on some bright lights, headphones and pet some soft fabric.

Brought to you by the ad council.

Rowan And Hastings

They rang in the new year with a show in Williamsburg. It was fantastic and in honor of them here is their rap video tribute to Home Alone: