Nostalgia

Happy New Year, my friends! 2007! Enjoy every minute of it, time flies.

Oh...and, don't forget to eat you black-eyed peas!

You Ain't Missed Much

Yes, I managed to survive Christmas.

Here's what's been going on:

This is one of the coolest things I got for Christmas. My sister got it for me after shaming me for still using the same college ID case I have had for a decade now. You know things are critical when your lesbian sister is giving you grief about your accessories. Thanks, sis!

This is one of the coolest things I gave this Christmas. I gave Possum the photo book European Fields: The Landscape of Lower League Football, by Hans Van Der Meer. Beautiful photos, even if you aren't a fan.

Random things I have been thinking about:

Patterdale Terriers. A friend has a puppy, aw.

John Terry's back.

President Gerald Ford.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving(NSFW!)

Merry Christmas!

My Favorite Things 2006

OK, here goes, this is my attempt at compiling a list of all(some of) my favorite things from 2006. If I was Oprah I would give you all one of each :-)

(Standard end-of-the-year-list caveat applies; items may pre-date 01/01/06, but this is the year that I became obsessed with them.)

CDs that I played WAY too much: Dog Problems by The Format, The Life Pursuit by Belle & Sebastian

Books I enjoyed: Peyton Amberg by Tama Janowitz, A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot , Don't Tell Me the Truth About Love by Dan Rhodes, Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

DVDs: The Secretary, Trois Coleurs, Footballers Wives

LMAO: Karl Pilkington, (you really should listen to these free pocasts, they usually charge for this nonsense!)

Food Finds: Emelia's Kitchen, Monte Ne

Pamper Me: Apparently, The Secret To Supermodel Skin IS NOT cigarettes and heroin(this stuff is AWESOME!), Chandelier earrings from the $1 jewelry store.

Getaway: To Pasadena, CA with Possum.

The Special One: Jose Mourinho

Soccer Moments: Macclesfield v Walsall, My boy scoring his very first goal, yay!, The entire World Cup, oh and I think Zizou may have headbutted someone or something.

That's all for now. Feel free to remind me of something that I prattled on and on about sometime during the last year. 2006 really ain't been all that bad!

The Christmas Spirits 2006

The Format - Dog Problems

So, Of Montreal might be Dead To ME...On the other hand(bad pun intended), The Format still just tickles me pink!!!

Mighty Big Talk for Someone Doing Outback Commercials

Some of you may remember my infatuation last spring with the band, Of Montreal...especially their song "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)"...which they have since changed the words and turned into an Outback Steakhouse Commercial. Not that there is anything wrong with selling out. But when I learned that in their new album their is a whole track devoted to dissin' Little Rock, well that just earned them a place on my "Dead to Me" list. (Dead To Me list Fall/Winter 2006: 1. Gwen Stefani: Seriously, Gwen, Jr. High Marching band music and yodeling? 2. Arsenal FC: For Arsene Wenger, for Thierry Henry never playing, and for playing bo-ring games just when I was getting interested.)

You can read the whole Pitchfork article here.

But even internet marketing geniuses face day-to-day challenges offline. For instance, Barnes' wife, Nina, lost her hat in Little Rock, Arkansas, inspiring the new Of Montreal track, "Little Rock". What hardship! As previously reported, the song was released yesterday via Polyvinyl as a B-side on the limited edition (2000 copies on blue and yellow wax) seven inch for the Hissing Fauna number "She's a Rejecter".

"Little Rock" documents the incident ("Little Rock, I offered you my heart and you tried to steal Nina's hat. Little Rock, why'd you have to go and do something as stupid as that?") and Of Montreal's subsequent disdain for the location ("We're never coming back to your shitty little town") in a 58-second mostly-acoustic ditty.

Of Montreal without layers upon layers of instrumentation? Believe it, and download the track below. And get ready for the diss track by the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, hopefully coming to a mixtape near you soon.

And just to remind you, Of Montreal will launch a three-month-long North American tour this January. And out of all these dates, there is not one show scheduled in Little Rock. Walking the walk...we like that.

OK, so like, who goes to Little Rock and DOESN'T expect to get their hat stolen? Gah!

Snow Day