1985 - 2009

Dear Broken Friend,

I knew you in the days of strapping on proton packs and rolling around in the grass wearing Halloween masks. Enjoying the freedom that only youth could provide, we cavorted about our earliest days with impassioned exuberance for the imagined. We romanticized adventure and played out our endless dreams in the fields of childhood and hoped that one day we might live through to see such impossibilities with our own eyes. A man flying caped through the sky, a dinosaur hidden in the trees, a radioactive spider and a mutated strand of DNA; these were our realities, however fantastic they were.

Living through childhood with you was the most thrilling experience I can now imagine, and only now have I been able to tug at some of those memories I'd thought forgotten. So often did it seem that days of my life, nearly every day in fact, revolved around getting home as quickly as possible so that I may find myself at your front door in an effort to pick up where the previous outing left off. We would start stories for ourselves that lasted for days, unfolding in ridiculously epic fashion, oftentimes ending right where we started in an effort to replay the joy again. In these days that now find worrisome thoughts about the so-called tangibles that make modern adulthood possible, it is easy to lose sight of those things that made those days as joyful as they were. I now know that there will always be a place in my heart for those times and that imagination.

We were brothers, Jonathan, though not in the traditional sense. We shared siblings and parents, possessions and rooms, everything that made up our young lives. You were always there for me, and I was there for you. You had a family that loved and admired you for yourself. You had your mother's laugh and your fathers looks; you had your brothers' attention and admiration, and you had your imagination. That is what I will always remember you for. During the Spring of our lives we dreamt up the greatest childhood anyone could have had through the seasons of youth and I'm now only sad that we'll not be able to dream up an Autumn together as well.

We'll always love you and miss you.

Your friend,

Kyle

End of Summer

Sometimes I think, Thank God for Summer. Everything seems much more relaxed during the few months that call the season their home, there's usually a vacation involved and the sun, oh the glorious sun. This Summer however, the prevailing phrase emblazoned on my frontal lobe has been Damn Summer. At this point, on this last day of the season I feel like it's okay to say, because here in Austin it's been too long and too hot.

Now the beginning of the season was great, don't get me wrong.

One of the more productive things to have come from the Summer of 09 hasn't been been musically related ["popular music" is driving me crazy right now -- lo-fi, wtf?] or creatively driven [about three things really to be proud of]. No, more than anything this Summer's joy has been derived from the resurgence of Summer Reading, and this year I think I've had the most productive stretch of reading since High School. Granted, there've been a few fluffs in there, but for someone that has always had an incredibly difficult time finishing a book, oftentimes starting a whole new one before I'm halfway through the first, this has been fun.

Let's review shall we?

Michael Crichton - Travels -- wonderfully exciting true tales from the only non-fiction book Crichton wrote [to my knowledge]. It starts with his journey through medical school and into his life travelling the world. You can see how his real life experiences provided fodder for his great life's work as a novelist. Incidentally, the only book I didn't finish this summer, but will end the season trying my damnedest.

Jules Verne - The Mysterious Island -- coming off reading of some of Crichton's adventures, I picked up a book I had started a year ago on a family vacation to Oahu. During the first go through, I got about 100 pages in. At this second attempt, all 629 pages went down in a blaze of glory. I felt like I was in 5th grade again reading Verne. The love of adventure and nature and science combined tugs at those strings attached to your heart, the ones in control of youthful exuberance and naive optimism. This novel wouldn't last a day if it had come out in our current decade, which is why it was a joy to read. There's hope for the world in Verne's Universe.

Ok trying to piece these all together is a little harder than I thought. I think we next move onto:

Jean-Dominique Bauby - The Diving Bell and The Butterfly -- what an unbelievably uplifting book, especially when compared to the tragic situation the man had to live through in the short time the book was written. It has stuck with me, this odd idea of feeling completely consciously liberated in your mind, yet trapped in your body. This is "locked in syndrome", and rather than go mad, Bauby wrote a book. You've probably seen the movie, and if you have before reading the book, like me, you'll undoubtedly find it impressing on you even more. After reading this book you'll want to craft your life into the best work of art possible.

Steve Martin - Born Standing Up -- I've always thought of Steve Martin as a total goober. Sure I enjoyed his movies like Three Amigos, and The Jerk, but I enjoyed them as a kid. I had no idea what Martin was ever trying to get at with his humor [ok so Three Amigos might not have the deepest underlying current]. Needless to say, the man is hilarious and he is probably one of the smarter entertainers around. The book chronicles his attempt at StandUp comedy fame, from his childhood in Waco, Tx to his formidable years in LA, jobs at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, to his inevitable celebrity. There's really not much more to say than, the book will make you fall in love with Steve Martin's genius [if you aren't already], watch all of his films [if you haven't already, and yes, you can skip most of this decade's work, save Shopgirl], and buy all of his comedy albums [if you haven't already... btw, he's got some of the best punchlines I've ever heard].

I might be missing one in here, but I'm pretty sure from here it's:

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- My girlfriend convinced me to start reading this after we'd gone to see Half-Blood Prince in the theaters. I was kind of surprised at my enjoyment of it. I've seen all the films to date and have really loved everything about them so far. The world is one that is easy to find yourself lost in, and that's all you really need. The anglophile in me loves the thought of Britain's popculture seen through the eyes of a wizard, and I won't lie: the scenery of snow in my mind, while lying in bed on a Texas summer night does wonders. So the fluff took over and I blew this out in a few days and moved onto...

J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -- again, not much to be said about these other than, once you finish one, you gotta move on. That said, this was a great one, liked it more than the first, and from all I've heard, they just keep getting better. So, after two books in a matter of 2-3 weeks I had to move on for a bit. Nothing against Harry & Co., but I needed a break from witchcraft for a while, which led me to the start of the summer.

Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park -- ever since picking up Crichton's travelogue there's been a nagging urge to pick up one of his books again and just eat it up. So I did, and for my choice I went with Jurassic Park, a book that my 7th grade teacher is pretty sure I read based on the spotty book report I put together after listening to the abridged book on tape back in Junior High. So I picked it up and finished it a couple days ago, and I must say, I enjoyed it more now than I sort of did then. Funny that I read The Lost World [Crichton's sequel, not Doyle's adventure] in 6th grade and finished it in two days, without reading the first. But I'm glad I did. And now, still enthralled by Crichton's style, I'm headed back to where the summer started, on this last day of summer, to try and get through a few more of his travels before the beginning of Fall.

How was your summer?

iNudge

holy s. I can now finally make that electronic album I've always wanted. Thanks to the glorious/terrible creation that is iNudge, I will now never get any work done.

I call this one, "Green + Wood" -- hit play in the bottom right corner please

Random Act of Art: Journal Edition

from the doodled journals of myself...

* * *

As a P.S. - - I love planning Halloween costumes 2 months in advance.
I've got this years completed save for one rare and possibly costly prop.

What I Need

Found a new blog, by Jonathan Burton, an illustrator.

The post titled Rain just hit me with a serious laugh, and it's got me seriously planning out my activity during the next rain here in Austin [whenever it may come]

Check out: A Break From The Heatwave...

I want to start doodling even more now

Too Hot

It is too hot to blog, too hot to think. I haven't done anything on this bloody page since 30 July and the time spent since has been sweaty, miserable and hot. This is the hottest summer ever recorded in Austin and the last time I checked we eclipsed the 50-day record for consecutive triple digit days. That was almost a week ago, and it has definitely been in the low 100's the past two days.

When it rains it pours, so they say. This summer, when it rains it sprinkles, for about 5 minutes, then it bakes you, steams you, and spits you out onto the asphalt. These sayings are also telling for my want of creativity. There've been maybe two things started and finished that I'm proud of, a half dozen more experiments in amateur literature that have been started and dropped - not for lack of quality, but merely for lack of motivation.

Sorry, I should have warned that this post might be a beat down.

Is there such a thing as the Summer Blues?

* * *

On another note: who wants to help me get the ball really rolling on a high-speed rail system connecting the Texas triangle? If I won the lottery, that's what I'd put the money towards, an eco(friendly)nomical transportation system from here across the major thoroughfares of Texas.

As long as we have better lobbyists than Southwest Airlines.

Folks....

There's a new blog in town. One that myself and a few friends are contributing to. So I expect all three of you to visit it.

Here ya go

Le Sigh...

Aint It Cool News just posted a story about a REMAKE OF LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, an amazing little Scandinavian film about coming of age and vampyrism that is vastly superior in my opinion, even without seeing or reading, any Twilight related nonsense. There's now a poster for the film, and it looks like Matt Reeves (dir. Cloverfield) is working in the right direction, but I've seen a shitload of terrible films that had awesome posters. So yeah. Probably a bad idea to remake this one.

The story

Still More Random Acts of Art

Last week I decided to use one afternoon to creating again and happened upon another random act of art (as I've called it in the past). Still the octopus seems to haunt my brush so to speak, as the only thing I've really been able to draw, doodle or sketch for the past six months tends to have at least one of the odd figures floating around somewhere. This description is no different for today's random act of art,

Encounter #63: Octopus
[click to bigify]

* * *

Also of note, I recently attended Spoon's three day stint at Stubb's in Austin as an official member of the photo crew and took some neat pictures. TheTripwire.com will be running 10 or so of them, but there are loads more where that came from, so after they sift through them, I'll post some more I thought were worth it. I feel special.

Newsy

I've been going news crazy lately it seems. And for a while there I thought I didn't have a writing outlet anymore. Good news is I do, and I've returned with more fervor than before.



AIR news
Spoon Haiku
Spoon news

Thanks Tripwire

Album Review

A few weeks ago my regular freelance writing gig was in jeopardy and looked like might be over. I had this review already written with no sign from anybody there that they would want it. I sent it in to a few other venues, websites, a newspaper, but no one got back to me. Now, my freelancing gig has resurfaced, but there's no room for the review for an album that came out last week. So here it is, for my blog friends. The album is Person To Person by Foreign Born. I'll let the review speak the

Foreign Born // Person To Person

Few things can beat the beginning of summer. That first heat wave of sunshine belting its way across the lawn mixing with wafts of BBQ, beer and sunscreen. It’s a melding of sensation, met and mingling with social enjoyment amongst the masses of sunbathers and swimmers, reveling in relaxation. There must be a soundtrack to this movement, something that seeps into the subconscious by way of association. Such is the case with the aptly named Person To Person, an album capable of spreading like wildfire over the coming summer months. There’s the possibility it’ll make some serious waves amongst the big boys, because while Grizzly Bear can at times be a bit too melancholy and slow, where Animal Collective can sometimes seem off the wall and finicky, Foreign Born’s easy indie-folk style fills the high profile void somewhere in the middle ground.

Fitting amongst Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket and The Shins (not just alphabetically) the second LP from this troupe of Californians is a study in aural pleasure. Taking pages from all that is enjoyed in modern music and stapling them into their own playbook of audibly friendly folk rock, the album unfolds easily and is one that can be thrown on to soften the background for the summer. On the whole it can be taken as 40 minutes of similar sounding, sunshine evoking joy. Separately, there are a few really notable tracks, in particular “Lion’s Share” and “Wait In This Chair” to fulfill the slower “ballad” tracks, and “Winter Games”, a song that starts off feeling like Bowie’s “Suffragette City” to me for some reason then quickly morphs into a hootenanny complete with pot & pan percussion and harmonized vocals that sounds one blown bell jar short of the Country Bear Jamboree (ooh, video idea anyone?). Big standouts of the album are definitely “Early Warnings” and “Vacationing People”. The former sounds like an island romp with an African lead trickling throughout. The latter unfolds like a road trip in your dingy camper filled with grinning eyes peeking from behind your most colorful ray-bans. The song was virtually constructed for 16mm home video footage.

It’ll remain to be seen if Person To Person’s charm will outlast the summer months, but during that time, it’s sure to please more than just the ears at the neighborhood pool.

Do This

New Fanfarlo album. I once included them on a Music Monday. They're really nice people [once met them at sxsw] and make lovely noises. And now you can buy their new album for $1 !!!

Fanfarlo

Definitely Promising

Matt Oliver/Jordan Johns (formerly of Sound Team) and A. Leonard Jones have formed a new band named TV Torso (where once they tread as The Minotaurs), which is either cool, or kinda lame depending on how you take naming a new band after an old band's song. Like I said, it depends. Personally I'm really excited about this new musical endeavor. Seen them a couple times live, could use a little more polish, but these recordings sound awesome. I want them now.

TV Torso // music

Good little pop gem oddities.

Vacation 09

Leaving today for Kauai until next Wednesday. Pretty excited.

[where's kyle?]

Music Tuesday: A Golden Birthday

Twenty-six years ago today, John Wayne was celebrating his 75th birthday; a 7.7 magnitude earthquake rumbled in the Sea of Japan causing a tsunami that resulted in at least 104 people dead; and 28 year old woman woke up to the early signs of childbirth, got dressed, packed, swept and vacuumed her house before waking up her husband to take her to the hospital. Roughly 12 hours later, I was born.

I've said before that birthdays seem more appropriate for looking forward and back, reminiscing on past enjoyments and making new year resolutions, because this is the day when your year really does end. Sure there's an actual end to a calendar year, there's an end to a fiscal year, but these restrictions have been imposed on us from the moment our real chronology began. So on my birthday I like to look back and forward on my life, if only for a little while, to see what I can improve. The one thing I want to improve about this upcoming golden year? Anything to make it the best year of my life. Travel, work, create, love, nothing short of everything at a ten.

So with this day comes another playlist. Last year's Quarter Century list has continued to be a source of great joy for me. Whenever it's played, enjoyment ensues. It'll be tough to top for me, as I hold it as probably the most enjoyable list I've put together on this foggy blog, but here's a go, in the name of John Wayne's 101st...

Music Tuesday: Golden Year

01. Garden Walk - J. Spaceman -- off the soundtrack to the film Mister Lonely. Never ended up catching this quirky film, but it's director was cited as the source of inspiration for Mr. Spaceman (aka Jason Pierce of Spiritualized) to finally finish his latest album Songs In A & E after a tumultuous recording period which saw him actually die as a result of complications from pneumonia (his heart stopped), only to come back to the land of the living. It made for great album fodder.

02. Silent Sigh - Badly Drawn Boy -- off the soundtrack to the film About A Boy. Sensing a pattern here... The film from Nick Hornby's book continues to surprise me whenever I catch it on TV. It's funny, heavy and light, and it's got a great soundtrack provided by a man that goes by the name of Badly Drawn Boy (aka Damon Gough). Here's a lovely tune that's ripe for a morning stroll/ride.

03. Sunny Goodge Street - Donovan -- off the album Fairy Tale. It's a repeat, and not even a repeat from long ago, this song was on the last list I put up here. To be fair, I don't really care. If I were to do a list sometime in the future of my top 5 songs of all time, this would make a third appearance on the blog. I don't know what it is about this song that tugs at me. I first heard it on a compilation cd in which the tracklist was chosen by one of my favorite songwriters of all time (read: the greatest) Paul McCartney, the first time I spent time out of the country. I was studying one summer in London, the second day I picked up the Mojo magazine that contained the album and I've been in love since. It's sweet, it's haunting, it's love. I wish to find this street one day.

04. Le Poinçonneur Des Lilas - Serge Gainsbourg -- off the album The Originals. This album hooked me on Monsieur Gainsbourg and the resulting buying spree of music is soon to leave a large dent on my financial situation. Here's one of the first that hooked onto me. No idea what he's saying, just like it.

05. Ram On - Paul (and Linda) McCartney -- off the album Ram. This album within the past year or so has apparently gained a ton of popularity in the indie circles of Los Angelos, which is absolutely awesome. I picked up this album in the amazingness known as the Half Priced Books used record collection. HPB has what I consider the best collection of used stuff I've seen in a record store. I'm always in love with what I pick up there, and it's usually a quirkier find than any "true" record store. This album is the true definition of quirky pop, and could be considered one of the first "indie" albums, by way of its DIY nature. The song is pure bliss.

06. Musicbox Underwater - J. Spaceman -- off the soundtrack to the film Mister Lonely. I'll again end with an instrumental from the same man that started us off. This really out to trail off into Our glorious May 26th, as you wake, watch the sun rise, get ready for work, drive, walk, run, bike, eat, love, work and sleep.

Happy Birthday guys.

Ooooooo

I generally dislike musicals, but this one looks right up my alley. Day Lewis as Mastroianni? Lovely. Let's hope it doesn't tarnish 8 1/2's good name, or is that film untouchable in our history?

Regardless, this looks real interesting.

While Claudia Cardinale is irreplaceable in my mind, Day Lewis bull-whipping the manifested loves of his life will do. Let's hope this thing is zany.

Great Shuffle

Here's a Shuffle of a post...

Ever have one of those days were your ipod just shuffles up the perfect list of songs. It's only happened to me a total of three times, where I get a good helping on songs on a drive without skipping to the next track. It happened to me yesterday, and it put me in such a good mood. I'd like to share the tracklist:

Beirut - In The Mausoluem
TV On The Radio - Staring At the Sun
The Soft Pack - Call It A Day
Bob Dylan - Down The Highway
Paul McCartney - Follow Me
Jennifer Gentle - Quarter To Three
Cut Off Your Hands - Still Fond
The Walkmen - New Country
Letters - Interlude
Nilsson - Down By The Sea
Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man
Spiritualized - All Of My Thoughts

I'd love nothing more than to share this as a playlist for you, but I'm going to right now. You should probably check out all of these artists if you haven't already. Ok, maybe there'll be a playlist at some point.

Also -- I now have a motorcycle.

[See?]

Well, I've had it for a while, about 2 months now. It's a 1980 Moto Guzzi V50 II, and it's really fun. I got it in terrific shape from the Vespa dealership here in town. For a used bike of that year, it looks and performs wonderfully. It's my first motorcycle, and it is just begging for a cross-state trip replete with Springsteen blasting along the way. Let it be known that riding a motorcycle makes me want to cruise around and listen to music even more. Let it also be known that I never do that, because it is incredibly dangerous. But man do I want to.

here's another pic:


Yes, it is dangerous, and yes I know what I'm doing. And yes, it is incredibly fun.

Also also -- this last photo was taken with a new camera I bought for myself. It's my first step up into non-commercial based photography [i.e., coolpix cams]. It's a Nikon D60 that I got on the cheap from a Wolf Camera that was going out of business. Look out graphic world, Kyle's on the ups.

Here's one of the first pics taken with it, of my girlfriend's family's Great Dane, Ferris the Lover:

[Ferr-ocious]

Music Monday: The Trip

It's really just a big ol' mash up of about 6 different ideas I had for lists, all half-complete, but hey who cares. Here it is anyway... and on a MONDAY!

I wanted to get this done because my friend, Anton, is headed out of the country for a month or so and I want him to listen to good music while he's gone. He's got great taste, so I'm sure he will anyways, but this is just a little extra bump of something new. Or maybe it's not new to him, who even knows these days, what with the ready supply of knowledge at everyone's fingertips. I had a friend once give me a mix CD before a two month trip overseas, and while about half of the songs were repeats for me, the pleasure of the whole of the album played together far outweighed the fact that I had doubles on my ipod. It was about the Playlist.

This little edition features 29 songs total [I'm pretty sure] and runs pretty close to all styles of music to be enjoyed. If you decide to download it, and it'll only be up for about a week I'd say, you'll find 8 folders, each containing anywhere from one to seven songs, depending upon how far along in the completion process I have found myself at this moment. The a couple lists have a point, a couple just comprise themselves of new music, and one is just a single 26 minute track from the film Jules Et Jim (I know you been digging it recently, Anton).

So here we go... I started out writing about each of these and man, it was a lot to write. I have about a paragraph for each of these tracks about why you should listen, sometimes more than a paragraph. If you really need to know why you should listen to these songs and feel like asking, feel free, I'll post any of my thoughts on any of these songs. For now though, just take a look at the track list I guess...

Music Monday: The Trip

After Beatles:: was supposed to be a quick 4 track sampling of each of the Beatles best song (as determined by me, at this current point in time) after their break up. I only got two songs in.
1. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) - George Harrison
2. Photograph - Ringo Starr

Austin's:: this started out as an Austin's Best list, but quickly became just a list of songs by Austin artists new and old that I really like.
1. Empty Rooms - Sound Team
2. Culver City - Yellow Fever
3. Let Me Go - The Early Tapes
4. Poem Party - The Strange Boys
5. Mean Mad Margaret - Spoon

New:: pretty self-explanatory. Full of new/newish tracks that you might not have heard. If you have, then you can pride yourself on it.
1. Inside Job - The Muslims (aka The Soft Pack)
2. La Llorona - Beirut
3. Kim & Jessie - M83
4. Video Tapez - Amplive (ft. Del tha Funky Homosapien)
5. Sleep All Day (demo) - Silverchair
6. The Lie - Bad Veins
7. Vacationing People - Foreign Born
8. Tree Bones - Port O'Brien
9. Airplanes - Local Natives

Old Warm:: an older selection of jazz and country cuts. The warmth exuded from these three songs is immeasurable. Even if the country songs are lonely. Wish I had more for this one.
1. Django Castle - Django Reinhardt
2. Amelia Earhart's Last Flight - The Greenbriar Boys
3. He's Solid Gone - Maybelle Carter

WA Film:: this was a list I was pretty excited about, but I never finished. Comprised of songs I thought Wes Anderson should have in his films it only totalled out to 3 songs. Two of them are here because the other one, Bob Dylan's "Fourth Time Around" wouldn't convert to an mp3 for me. This is another list I wish I had taken more time for and really finished. Maybe sometime down the line. It also is a little disappointing to not talk about these because they are definitely two of my favorite songs of all time.
1. Teddy Boy - Paul McCartney
2. Sunny Goodge Street - Donovan

Walkmen:: A list I talked about a few times already, this was supposed to show a track from every Walkmen album to date just to emphasize how awesome they are. Their latest, You & Me was my favorite album of 2008.
1. Mucho Mongo - The Walkmen
2. There Goes My Baby - The Walkmen
3. Canadian Girl - The Walkmen

Wave:: filled with four songs of late 70's/early 80's acts that have creeped into my heart over the past 3 years or so. The Smiths in particular. I love The Smiths. Glad that I can acutally appreciate their music at this point in my life.
1. Disorder - Joy Division
2. Venus - Television
3. This Charming Man - The Smiths
4. Seven Seas - Echo & The Bunnymen

Jules Et Jim:: one 26 minute track called Suite Symphonique from the 1961 film Jules Et Jim by Francois Truffaut. It was a glorious tale of drama, intrigue, passion and relationship, and this suite emphasizes each bit of it. Anton, you're in the mood to make a little love story in NZ, here's a bit of soundtrack to help you out.
1. Suite Symphonique (Jules Et Jim) - Georges Delerue

* * *

Alright so that was a long post.

Please enjoy this if you'd like. It'll be up for a week or so. If it's down when you try to get it, let me know and I'll put it together again for you. And again, if you'd really like more on any of these artists, ask me I won't say no, how could I? (Thanks Morrissey.)

Good Luck on your trip Anton.

Quinnstorm

I've talked about him a couple times here on my little brog, but my High School friend and old partner in crime Quinn Donahue has a great job. He works for C3 Presents (ACL Fest, Lolla to name a couple), he books bands at Emo's and for the smaller, newer fests that company is building up. He has parlayed that sweet gig into another more journalistic endeavor via Quinnstorm.com, a blog that features an occasional interview with someone you should know about.

Quinn knows what he's talking about. Really, he does. And while his little blog isn't updated near as often as it should be (and what blog really is?), the times when it is, you're definitely going to enjoy the output.

He's just put up a vid from Philly's Dr. Dog, a band that snags a new fan with each play. I've casually shown these guys to about ten people to date now, and each time at about 3 songs of foot-tapping in, they ask, "Who are these guys? They're f***ing awesome."

And that's really the truth. Their latest album, Fate, was top 3 of '09 for me and the back catalogue ain't much less enjoyable.

Check out Quinn's interview with vocal/guitarist for the band, Scott McMicken, probably one of the best interviews I've seen/heard/read in a long time. (I'd post it here, but you really should go to his site and check out the rest of his stuff, I will put up a Dr. Dog track though, for enticements sake, my favorite off of 08's Fate.. "The Ark")

wow, two posts in one day? and both about interviews? i'm on a trip

Awesome Interview w/ Awesome Director

Rian Johnson's Brick was probably my favorite film of the past 4 or so years. And after having recently read The Maltese Falcon, revisiting the high school noir has been a tremendous amount of fun.

Johnson's follow-up is the con-man flick The Brothers Bloom, and it looks like 2 hours of joy. The con-man film, when done right, is such good entertainment and the fact that this one's got the cast it does (Brody, Ruffalo, Weisz), the writer/director it does (Johnson) and the locations it does (PRAGUE - fav city in the world, Romania) we're pretty much looking at a recipe for smiles.

If you've been following Johnson's Bloom blog you might be familiar with the troubles he's had with this studio. The good news is, this film is finally coming out, and we're finally going to get to have a good bit of fun in the process.

Today this showed up on the blog, an interview /Film has with Johnson. It's great. I wish I could write/direct films like this. Check it out. [you can download it there as well]

* * *

Also:

~ LOST is destroying my life. I can't think about anything else hardly.
~ I want to put up a huge Music Monday playlist that combines every MM I've wanted to put up for the past two months, in celebration of Anton leaving the continent on a mission.
~ I've decided I hate these ~ things, whatever they're called.
~ Dave Eggers gets a lot of praise and a lot of shit, but I think his prose is dreamy.
~ Why am I still using these ~ ?
~ I want to put up the huge playlist by tomorrow, but I'm too busy hating the latest LOST happening. WHY FARADAY, WHY?