Storage War$ Rundown Episode Four

Not in it to win it.

Storage War$ still has my complete attention with its riveting drama and unanswered questions. Who will win that sweet locker? Did Barry take his meds today? Why is big breasted Brandi still with Jarrod? When will Darrell purchase some sunscreen? It took all my willpower not to power through all the episodes I have on my computer.
After taking an episode off Barry was back and on his meds for the time being. Don't fret, he was crazy enough to wear skeleton gloves and bid on a locker that was full of items from a beauty salon. The irony of Barry's purchase is that in it he found a mini piano and in his last episode he had a midget with him, what I would give to see his little person friend playing that little piano.

Barry commented on the fact that he was all alone at this auction more than once. On one hand I feel a little sorry for Barry having to auction by himself but on the other hand this makes me almost certain that Barry will have awesome partners in tow in future episodes.
I don't have much to say about Dave, he continued to mogul. Dave did talk shit quite a bit and ran up bids, clearly he is the villain of the series. My man Darrell did manage to figure out Dave's tell, simply put, when he is interested in something he criticizes it. The producers set this up nicely with Darrell breaking down Dave's strategy followed by Dave explaining the strategy like it was genius.

For the sweet love of Christ, give me sunscreen!

Yes, Darrell is still sun burnt, either this entire series was shot in one week or he doesn't care for his skin at all. Besides his brilliant insight into Dave's strategy Darrell admits to stupidity in this episode. His admission turns out to be misplaced because he scores a sports memorabilia collection amongst a locker full of junk that he was purportedly stupid for buying.
Jarrod and Brandi ended up not buying a locker this week but not for lack of trying or maybe it was from lack of trying. Brandi was very interested in the "salon unit" that Barry ended up with and instructed Jarrod to get it. Jarrod admitted to the camera that he was only bidding to shut Brandi up but didn't really want it. Brandi quickly caught on to the fact that he was not in it to win it and took over the bidding herself but without Jarrod's support dropped out early, she was not pleased.

The greatest moment in the show came at the very end, after Jarrod explains to Brandi how the auction works with a series of cliches she looks at the camera in the interview and says "Yeah, that's the father of my children."

Jeans, Proof of God

Only divine inspiration could lead to something as amazing as the Fresh Jive "The Hellions" fleece jeans. Just look at that, a jean cut but sweatpants material. I have two pairs of sweatpants courtesy of my good buddy Union Shane but this being Paris I've never worn them outside the house in fear that the Parisians would throw stones at me because of my fashion faux pas. But these are the answer, I'm assuming they are as comfy as sweats but still look like a great pair of jeans. They come in the classic gray or a darker charcoal color. Nice work Fresh jive.
Now if anyone wants to buy me a pair I would probably take a 38 since I like my sweats and jeans loose and these are based on Fresh Jive's slim cut hellions jean.
Get 'em here in gray or here in charcoal which for some reason are 4 dollars more.

Storage War$ Rundown Episode three

Ahh Storage War$ is back, in fact, I found several new episodes. First things first, Darrell still has a sunburn. There was a lot happening in this episode, Darrell brought his son Brandon and Jerrod has Brandi in tow once again but Dave was flying solo.
Darrell decided to run up the bids on a couple of lockers and got a little carried away and got stuck with a locker he didn't want. Unfortunate since we learn in this episode that Darrell is financially providing for his niece. but hings work out in the end because Darrell finds a coin collection amongst the junk he's bought.

Jarrod cracks a safe.

Jarrod leaves the bidding up to Brandi because for some reason no one but Dan knows she is Jarrod's wife. You can't fault Jarrod's logic since Dave says he would have run up the bid if he had known who Brandi was. There ends up being a safe in the unit and Jarrod brags on his safe cracking skills for a minute before getting into the safe only to find it full of paper.

Brandi is pleased with her purchase.

The locker Jarrod and Brandi buy ends up being full of unopened electronics so they make a nice profit and their thrift store is stocked.
Sadly Barry didn't bring his crazy to the auction.

So Dope

This is so awesomely bad and so NSFW. Rhymes this dope are rare.

Will Farrell as Bowie

Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy with Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly from Will Ferrell

This is Christmas magic.

Eiffel penis

This is the view from the Eiffel Tower last Friday. The question is was it tourists or Parisians? My money's on the French.
(from Boing Boing)

Henry & Glenn 4-ever X-Mas Special

The Igloo Tornado guys are back at it with this hilarious Henry & Glenn X-mas Special. These guys are genius. If you don't have the book yet get it immediately right here.

Cycling Pixies

The Pixies got with Miltag to create this cool cycling jersey. It's hard to tell but that's the flying P that makes up the pattern. You can see detailed picture and buy the jersey here(quantities are super limited.) or on the Pixies official site. I'm not sure that even the XXL would fit Frank but damn these are sweet. The Pixies are into cycling!

Michael Stipe Photo Project

Our boy Michael Stipe is busy, R.E.M. has a new album on the horizon and he finished a cool photo project that Slam X Hype did a great write up on complete with behind the scenes video.

Vans x Tron

After all we've seen the new Tron movie can't be bad, right? It would be a major bummer if it were. I read somewhere that Disney won't re-release the original on DVD until after Tron Legacy hits screens. The rational behind the move is that if people think the original was cheesy they won't see the new flick. I'd bet that there are enough of us nerds out here that we will see it regardless and hey, we loved the original.
This post was supposed to be about these new vans branded with the tron logo. They should be out soon but regardless of whether Tron Legacy rocks or not these shoes look great.

Storage War$ Rundown Episode two

I don't know when Storage War$ actually airs but I found episode two the other day, and got way too excited about it, here is the rundown.

Darryl hopes this locker has sunscreen in it.

The biggest disappointment of episode two is that Darryl was only in it a little bit, he didn't buy anything this time but he did still have that gnarly sunburn. He also said something about whoever had owned one of the storage lockers being a pack rat, I guess he forgot that we saw his house last episode.

Barry is getting in our heads.

This was "The Collector" Barry's breakout episode. He rolled up to the auction with a midget named Jay, stilts, and night vision goggles. The problem according to Barry was that he wasn't able to get a good look at the locker contents when they opened it up for the five minute observation period. I had assumed that he would get on the stilts for the bird's eye view and the Jay would take the low view but instead Barry decided to put the Jay on the stilts in effect making him normal height. The lockers are dark so the night vision goggles were a good idea but a little person on stilts? It did allow Barry to nab the locker with a hidden, wait for it... micro car, you can't script shit like this.

Plenty of leg room in here.

Not too much from Dave this episode, he did take a little too much pleasure in running up the bids on "The Young Gun", Jarrod. Dave's partner Steve was absent but we did get a quick introduction to Dave Jr. whose job was to look up prices for the stuff Dave Sr. had bought, riveting television.

The watch dude and his VCR hat.

I thought Darryl was my favorite character but now I think Brandi is gonna be my number one. She had a bigger role in this episode, showing up at the auction to keep Jarrod's spending and crap buying in check. She was unsuccessful. They overpaid for one locker that she was quick to point out had porn in it. While going through said locker she pointed out that if Jarrod were to break his neck she would be out.

Brandi is not happy.

They thought they had scored with an expensive watch so they went to the watch expert and she began making fun of his hat. I like this girl. I also think she might have nice breasts.
Jarrod's best quote had to be when other "people see junk, I see mystery." He probably just saw that stack of porn.

Grammy Predictions Part two

More grammy predictions!
21. Best Rock Album. Backspacer - Pearl jam
I know that Muse album kicks ass but man that Pearl Jam album is good.
22. Best Alternative Music Album. Brothers - The Black Keys
Toughest category by far.

23. Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Faith Evans
I voted for Faith because i've never heard of anyone else in this category, oh wait, I know who Monica is maybe I should vote for her.
24. Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. Usher
Is that Debarge, Debarge? I'm still going with Usher.
25. Best R&B Performance by a duo or group. The Roots.
Ok, I guess it's John Legend and The Roots but the Roots are where it's at.
26. Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. john Legend and The Roots
R. Kelly is in this category, is he still peeing on ladies?
27. Best Urban/Alternative performance. Cee Lo Green
None of these are alternative bands.

28. Best R&B Song. Shine - John Legend and the Roots.
Debarge is up for another award.
29. Best R&B Album. John Legend and The Roots
30. Best Contemporary R&B Album. Usher
Contemporary means older folks listen to it right? If so I gotta go with Usher, he's harmless and the old people like that.
31. Best Rap Solo Performance. Eminem
Just as long as it's not Kanye. i wonder if he would interrupt an acceptance speech by Eminem?
32. Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz
I haven't heard any of these songs but it's Jay-Z.
33. Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz
Again, it's Jay-Z.
34. Best Rap Song. Empire State of Mind
Great song, maybe the song of the summer, I heard it a lot in New York this summer.
35. Best Rap Song. The Blueprint 3

Winona Black Swan

This is what Winona Ryder wore to the premiere of her new movie Black Swan. Very disappointing Mrs. Ryder.

Grammy Predictions Part one

The nominees for the 53rd Grammy awards were announced this week. What could be more fun then making predictions, 90% of which will be wrong? The Grammys have never really meant much to me but it's fun to see where the bands I like (I do have superior musical taste) rank within the confines of the pop leaning Grammys. i should mention that there are 110 categories so I might be skipping around.
1. Record of the year. Fuck You - Cee Lo Green
Based on plays on my itunes I have to go with Cee lo with Jay Z a close second.

2. Album of the year. The Suburbs - The Arcade Fire
What's the difference between Record and Album of the year? I know full well that Lady gaga will win this one and Boobalicious Katy Perry will be right behind her but who would I be if I didn't cast my lot with one of the greatest bands in the world?
3. Song of the year. Fuck You - Cee Lo Green
I know that Ray Lamontagne is in this category and he put out a good record this year but damn that Fuck You song is good. What are the chances he'll perform and what will he wear?
4. Best new artist. Mumford & Sons
My head tells me that it's Justin Bieber but my heart says it's between Mumford & Sons and Florence & the Machine and they actually put out good music.

5. Best female pop vocal performance. Lady gaga
It's gotta be Lady Gaga, right? She did wear that meat dress. Wait, Norah Jones has a new album? Then again, Katy Perry has those breasts...
6. Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Half of My Heart - John Mayer
Ugh, what horrible choices. I chose based on tattoo quality.
7. Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals. Don't Stop Believing - Glee Cast
I like Glee.

8. Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. California Gurls - Snoop Dogg and Katy Perry
Snoop Dogg!
9. Best Pop Instrumental Performance. orchestral Intro - Gorillaz
The Gorillaz album is one of my favorites of the year.

11. Best pop vocal album. The Fame Monster - Lady Gaga
She's going to win a bunch of awards right? This is a good bet.
12. Best Dance Recording. Rocket - Goldfrapp
I'm going Goldfrapp but La Roux has awesome hair.
13. Best Electronic/Dance Album. La Roux - La Roux
Really awesome hair.
14. Best traditional pop vocal album. Crazy Love - Michael Buble
The older ladies love Buble and they are the ones voting, right?
15. Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. Angry World - Neil Young
Why is everyone in this category old except for John Mayer?
16. Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. Tighten Up - The Black Keys
Tough category, there are actually several good groups in this one.
17. Best Hard Rock Performance. Let Me Hear You Scream - Ozzy
There is no one I'd rather see on stage accepting an award.
18. Best Metal Performance. World Painted Blood - Slayer
Never bet against Slayer.
19. Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Black Mud - The Black Keys
Man that Black Keys album is gooooood.
20. Best Rock Song. Tighten Up - The Black Keys
Again, that Black Keys album is good but the Mumford & Sons song has a great shot.

Storage Wars Rundown Ep 1

Barry started collecting antiques when he was fifteen.

There is a new show on A&E called Storage War$ (the $ is their doing) that I stumbled across a couple of days ago. The title really told me nothing, which made me curious, which meant I had to watch it and somehow I got hooked. I should probably confess that i've got a soft spot for reality t.v.; cooking shows, fishing, pickers, builders, I actually watched a couple of episodes of that Vanilla Ice remodeling show.

Jarrod owns a thrift store.

Obviously my standards are incredibly low so this may sound really stupid but the show is about people who buy the contents of storage lockers once the owners stop paying their rent. The exciting part is that the storage lockers are auctioned off by another colorful character, Dan. Dan lays out the most important rules of the auction
1. Cash only (Dave likes to bring at least ten-thousand with him.)
2. The bidders only get five minutes to look at the contents of the locker before the auction begins.

3. They can't actually go into the locker or touch anything!
Riveting television right?

Brandi is pissed at Jarrod.

Let's run down the characters shall we? Darryl "The Gambler", may be my favorite. He has been in the auction buying buisness for a long time. I say "long time" because he says twenty years at one point and then a commercial break later goes with thirty years. His most noticeable quality is the horrific sunburn he sported all episode long. If that had been me I would have been wearing a half inch of aloe and trying not to touch anything.
After the scenes at the auction Darryl volunteers to take the viewers to his house so we can see "the life of an auction buyer", I had a brief "Cribs" flashback which was spoiled when we entered the cluttered house. Darryl found four Picasso's in a storage locker, he tells us that many times. He also bought an expensive flower pot and a shit-ton of comics. Darryl is the blustery type that every reality show needs.

Dave knows organs.

Barry "The Collector" is the old dude. He's been collecting antiques since he was fifteen, seems like a strange hobby for a fifteen year old but ok. Soon after claiming his cred as an antique collector all he ends up buying a bunch of clothing from Suge Knight's movers. Not the antiques I was thinking of but he does end the show with the biggest profit.
Dan "The Mogul" owns a thrift store and a consignment shop. I guess the rules for moguldom have changed during the recession. Dan also has a partner, which feels a little like cheating but he does say that he's the boss so we can let it slide for the time being. Dan strikes out by buying a locker he thought had a Hammond B3 organ in it. It did not but did contain a bunch of baseball cards so he finished strong.

Darryl needs sunscreen.

Jarrod "The Young Gun" has a wife, Brandi. Brandi did not go to the auction with him and was pissed when he came home with a bunch of crap and a questionable car. The car ended up being worth something which was a nice save for Jarrod but isn't the real head scratcher here. Brandi is actually kinda cute (the picture does not do her justice), why is she with Jarrod? He gives of a faint mexican gangster vibe and owns a crappy thrift store. I hope that question gets answered during this season.

Good Web: Terry Richardson's Diary

I thought I'd share some of the web sites I check out on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. First up, Terry Richardson's Diary. You're probably familiar with Terry's work, he's the famous photographer from NYC who shoots lots of hip people in a stripped down but recognizable style but also does commercial work for all kinds of companies including high fashion mags like Vogue. The reason we should all love him is that he's a big fan of nudity. His site is NSFW and if you get uncomfortable around naked dudes it might not be for you. The site is a visual diary that mixes street shots with off-the-cuff studio shots and occasionally highlights some of his commercial work.

p.s. Speaking of commercial... don't forget to click on those adds to the right.

Iron & Wine

After years of nothing (Around the Well wasn't new material), there is a lot of cool stuff happening with Iron & Wine in the next few months. Sam Beam dropped a pretty amazing single last Friday for the black Friday Record Store Day event. The track, Walking Far From Home, is streaming on the Iron & Wine myspace page (there's still a myspace?). Check it out, this is another big musical leap forward for Sam.
The new album Kiss Each Other Clean drops here in Europe on January 24th and in the states a day later. Check out the track listing for the new album. There's a song called Monkeys Uptown, how kick ass does that sound?

Walking Far From Home
Me And Lazarus
Tree By The River
Monkeys Uptown
Half Moon
Rabbit Will Run
Godless Brother In Love
Big Burned Hand
Glad Man Singing
Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me

Iron & Wine hit the road in January and will be playing a show in Paris at Alhambra on February 17th. This is one of the bands on my Must-See-Before-I-Die list (the Pixies were a long shot on the list for years but were finally crossed off) so I'll be making a big effort to make it to this show. If the countless bootleg shows i've listened to are any indication it should be a hell of a show. I've narrowly missed seeing the band twice and have kicked myself ever since so keep your fingers crossed.

Girl talk Breakdown

The Girl Talk obsession continues unabated here and since we can't get enough of the new disc now we can listen to the entire album and watch exactly where he drops each sample on this site.

A big thanks to Matt for the heads up on this one.

Here's another site that does the same thing but in a slightly less visual way.

Looking for a cool way to support GT and pick up a Christmas gift for someone? Check out the t-shirts here. I'm torn between "Night Ripper" and "I'm not a Dj".

Amazing moves : Kilian Martin

This video of Kilian Martin is sick, this kids skills are amazing. Shot by Brett Novak this is a very well put together video.

Katee

I don't know why the fact that Katee Sackoff is on CSI has me so excited but she does the bad ass cop very well. I only know her from my much loved Battlestar Galactica(may it rest in peace) where she played the bad ass pilot very well.

Girl Talk All Day

It looks like my album of the year may have just dropped. Girl Talk is back at his mash-up magic with a new disc, All Day. The term mash-up doesn't do justice to what he's doing. Gregg Gillis plays samples like other artists play instruments to craft pop gems. If this great new album (I'm one listen in) gets as much play as his last disc it will soon dominate my itunes top 25 most played list. Like all his work the new album is free, get it here. The list of all the samples used isn't out yet but I hear some amazing things in this album.

CocoRosie Gallows

I've never been a big fan of CocoRosie's music but they really nailed the creepy vibe with this great song and even greater video. It's not that I think they aren't a good band but I can only take that fragile, high pitched, warbly sound in very small doses. It's kinda like the voice of the guy in The Crash Test Dummies, it sounds really cool for a song or two but drops off into annoying territory pretty quickly. But I digress, the video has some classic creepy elements, Victorian dress, twins and bloody tears ranking high on the creep o meter. Bonus points for making me think they were topless for a moment.

Not much going on there but their official site is here.
You can get their new album Grey Oceans from the Sub Pop site.

Rosie Huntington photo shoot

Proof that there is a God. NSFW because of boobs.

Engineered Garments Irving Jacket

This isn't a fashion blog but I'm really digging this herringbone jacket by Engineered Garments. This could be dressed up for a fairly formal event but would also look great over a t-shirt and jeans. You can buy it at Inventory Stockroom but the price isn't listed which means it's probably not cheap. Bonus points for being made in the U.S.A.
Buy it here.

Octophant

This great group is putting out some great work. I love the Octophant idea, how cool of a tattoo would that make? These pieces are very reasonably priced, hello Christmas.
Check it out here.

Maxence Cyrin Where is My Mind?

Some times the best covers are so widely different then the originals that it takes a few minutes to place the tune. Check out this amazing Pixies cover.
Or how bout a little Arcade fire? The crazy videos are just icing on the cake.


I'll leave you with a little Daft Punk as a nod to my adopted country.

Daft Punk and Tron Legacy

When I was a kid Tron was one of my favorite movies so I was a little worried when I heard they were making a sequel. Thankfully, every piece of information that has come out about It has been cooler and cooler. Daft Punk creating the soundtrack is brilliant and obvious at the same time. Check out this video for another taste of what's to come.

Pixies Music relaunch

One of my favorite bands of all time are up to some pretty cool stuff. The Pixies have re vamped and relaunched their web site Pixiesmusic. The site looks great, they've obviously put some thought into it. All the usual components are there, merch links, tour info and current news but the band sets this site apart in a couple of cool ways.
They have shows available for download. If you sign up to the mailing list you get one for free. All the shows are priced at 3.99 USD for the digital download or the CD plus the download. The site says that they plan to release a new show every week. So far they cover a huge span of time, one show from '88 and two from '04. I might have to buy the shows I saw.
Another cool feature is the gigography where fans can upload pictures and video of shows and make them available for everyone else in the pixies universe. I'm gonna have to dig out my old pictures, I wonder if they want shots from Frank's solo acoustic show I attended before the band had officially broken up?
One last note, if anyone wants to get me a super awesome Christmas present the band still has the super deluxe "limited edition" of their minotaur package that contains all the pixies stuff you could ever need for just 449.99 USD.

Die Antwoord coming out

Die Antwoord, the South African internet sensation, recently released another video, this one is called Evil Boy and is pretty awesome and very NSFW. I went back and looked at their other videos and a couple of live performances and I'm gonna have to come out and say I really like what they're doing. It's strange that the bad tattoos, bad hair and the performing in boxers thing works so well visually. The music is just weirdly cool with Yo-Landi's weird voice, the tempo changes, South African slang and well put together beats.
They have a show scheduled for Paris on November 17th at the Social Club that I might have to look into attending.
Check out their web site for videos, more tour dates and merch.

Video of the Day: The Cribs

My love affair with The Cribs' album Ignore the Ignorant continues unabated. I might have to figure out a way to make this my album of the year despite the fact that it's a 2009 release. Anyway here is the video for We Share the Same Skies which seems fitting on this cold, gray, overcast morning in Paris.

NBA bans APL shoe

Look at this crazyness. The NBA has banned these Concept 1 shoes from advanced propulsion labs due to the unfair competitive advantage they provide. In essence, David Stern has endorsed these shoes as a way to better your game, specifically these increase a players vertical leap.
While these aren't bad looking for technical basketball shoes, they currently only come in two colorways, the black shown above and a white version. They also come with a pretty hefty price tag of 300 dollars. These are almost guaranteed to do well now. Every middle aged weekend baller with a little cash will be sporting these soon so I'm sure new versions will be out soon. I suspect that the average 18-25 year old will avoid these in favor of "cooler" brands but if APL can place these on the feet of a few college teams that may change.
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Remember that the last shoe the NBA banned(the Jordan I) went on to do pretty well.

Read more about the technology behind these shoes and get a pair here.

Zombie Attack

Is it too early to vote for parents of the year? Those kids will be messed up for decades.

Zombie review: "Brains a zombie memoir" by Robin Becker

I worked at a Border’s book store for two years right before the big box book sellers started their nose dive towards bankruptcy. In those two years the number of zombie books available was unbelievably small. It wasn’t until the very end of my time there that World War Z came out, so imagine my surprise when on a visit to the states this summer I wind up in a Border’s and on the new release table I find two zombie novels. I picked up Brains because it was a couple dollars cheaper and several hundred pages smaller then the other book. I thought it would be the perfect size to get me through an upcoming day of sitting in airports.

Right out of the gate I was a little intrigued and a little skeptical, a “zombie memoir?” I’m a zombie classicist. I prefer my zombies in the Romero vein, stupid, lumbering, brain hungry corpses. I once started a short story about a camera man who is bitten while his camera is recording but that’s as close to a zombie memoir as I could imagine. But in this novel, the zombie actually writes his own memoir. (This is the same zombie who lacks the dexterity needed to start a car.)

I know that the bulk of this write-up is going to sound a little crazy, “you can suspend disbelief enough to get into a book about zombies but this other stuff gives you fits?” Yes, yes it does. Let me clarify, I like the idea of a zombie memoir in that we are seeing the apocalypse through their eyes. I can see a person getting bit and writing about the process until they actually die and reanimate but I can’t buy the professor zombie who retains the ability to think and write.

Huge props to the author Robin Becker for exploring the zombie morality side of things. I love the comparisons to sharks that simply do what they do. They are simply designed to kill with no particular love or hatred towards their prey. That aspect of the novel was really cool and something that I had never thought of despite being a long time zombie fan. The whole slave to a biological imperative take on things was very fresh.

Unfortunately the novelty of the zombie point of view wasn’t enough to get me past the “what the heck” parts of the story. I might have eventually gotten behind the professor zombie but when he meets up with a former nurse who can’t help but patch up any zombie in her vicinity I was out. And the list of zombies with “special powers” continues to grow through out the book. There was the zombie kid who could think and move like a human, the two former soldiers with the ability to think and one of them could even speak, and the icing on the cake is the child born of a zombie mother who resembles a red-eyed, pointy-toothed devil. If I were somehow inclined to go along with the idea that a few zombies out of millions might somehow retained some of their human abilities how could I possible believe that they would all end up in the same place? It’s just too much for me.

My other complaint with the book is the tone. I really felt like the book suffered from either too much or not enough work shopping. On the one hand, I can see a group praising some of the witty, throw-away pop culture references. An author could easily think “if two cute literary references and one pop culture nod to Scooby-doo went over so well why don’t I squeeze eight references into the next paragraph?” Or the exact opposite could occur when writing in a vacuum (like blogging) since no one is around to step in and say “Jesus Christ, do you really need to reference eight super heroes and throw two Keats quotes into the same paragraph?” All in all it feels like the author is aware that she is “slumming it” as far as the subject matter goes and loads the book down with witty references to show you that she knows she’s above it. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a fun read. It moved along and was engaging. As I said before, I really liked the bits concerning the zombie’s view of his role in the (almost) destruction of the human race. This short 182 page book that I expected to read in a day’s travel ended up taking me almost three weeks to get through, and that’s not a good thing.

I’m a sucker for all things zombie so I’m not sorry I bought this book and believe me, I’ve read books on the subject that were much worse. I’m happy to add this to my zombie collection. I think in the end I’m too into the classic zombie and was unable to step out of that box and enjoy a new take on the genre.

I have to give this two out of five severed fingers.

Buy it from Amazon where it's also available for Kindle

Tell 'em Steve Dave: Night of the Livid Walt

Tell 'em Steve Dave is a relative newcomer to the podcasting game but they have pretty quickly become one of my must-listen podcasts. They are part of Kevin Smith's Smodcast empire and have an amount of fame due to their affiliation with Smith's movies. Recently one of their listeners animated one of Walt Flannigan's stories and the result is amazing. Check out the clip above and start catching up on the podcasts immediately.

An evening with Puggy

Last week JO, G and I were able to attend an industry event for the band Puggy. You may remember that when we attended the taping of the show Taratata a few months ago, Puggy was one of the bands we had never heard of but really liked. This event was for winners of some contest, Universal staff and select members of the media(that's us, bloggers count). There may have been 150 people in a tiny venue filled with great champagne(Mumm) great finger foods, and skinny French folk.
We arrived early and found the champagne almost immediately so instead of a detailed journalistic description of the night let me run down my impressions.

• It's hard to convey how small a space it was but in a good intimate, right next to the band way. There was a separate room with a giant sunken hot tub in it. The funny thing is that I walk past this place almost every day and never knew it was there.
  
• The drinks were fantastic and the champagne came in glasses that lit up when full and winked out when empty. These were later accidentally smashed on the sidewalk in front of the Marie.
• The band sounded fantastic, they played all of my favorites from the new album. I still think "How I needed You" could easily be a big hit.
• Matthew, the singer guitarist, is a really good guitarist.
• The band soldiered on for half a song sans electricity, nice work.
• The band was super cool, we talked to the lead singer for a solid half hour right after their set and also got in some time with the other two band members.
• Matthew is a big metal fan and was able to carry on an in depth conversation about a bunch of great bands including a good five minutes on Pantera. Not only were the band members willing to talk about whatever but each one asked about us in a genuine interested way, again, great guys.
• All the band members speak English and French really well. The singer is English but grew up in Belgium, the bassist is French and the drummer/pianist is Swedish.
• Matthew demonstrated a pretty good knowledge of 80's skaters when I compared his hair in a shot from the "I Do" video to Bones Brigade era Tony Hawk.
  
• They haven't played the U.S. yet, how is that possible, Americans would eat this music up.
• They have a great "big break" story involving incubus and faulty video cameras.
• They toured with the Smashing Pumpkins recently and actually defended Billy Corgan's live singing abilities.
• At the end of the night when i finally remembered that I had the new album in my bag Romain, the bassist, took it around to all the band members and had them sign it, awesome guy.
  
• Mumm might be my second favorite champagne.

All in all it was a great night with a great band. Puggy will be playing my favorite Paris venue, La Bataclan, in a couple of months and I hope to see them then. Check out their new album "Something You Might Like," you won't be disappointed. A big thanks to our lady at Universal music for inviting us to the event.




Check out the singer when they are walking towards the Monolith, Tony Hawkish?



The exploding bunnies are the best part of this very cool video.


This is my favorite song on the new album. We were at this taping, you can't see us but we are behind the unused drum set.

Links:
The French site
Twitter
Buy the album:
Itunes
Amazon
Pictures by JO and G via Iphone