Decision 2006

This week I have decided a few things.  Because I'm the decider.  Not you.  Me.

* If we give James Blunt to Hezbollah, and allow them to do whatever they want to him, will that end the war?  Is he what all this fighting's about?

* Cinderella Man was almost a great movie.  I enjoyed it immensely, way more than I thought I would.  I came out of it giving Ron Howard, one of my least favorite directors, a great deal of credit for the incredible job he did.  But then I read up on the "bad guy" of the movie, Max Baer.  He was portrayed as little more than a womanizing, arrogant (unbelievably so), and proudly murderous fiend.  Very little of that is true; in fact, Baer was more of a clown than anything.  Howard made a big deal out of the fact that Baer killed two men (one indirectly) in the ring, and conveniently made Baer's character a guy who relished that power.

* Cansei de Ser Sexy is being hyped up an awful lot, but rightfully so.  They tap into the broken-English-girl-band-run-by-men territory that The Go! Team recently made successful.  I'm sold, albeit w/ reservations about the "obsession with sex" that their female vocalists have.  I feel like I'm 13 again, being scandalized by "Sir Psycho Sexy" and tittering in a corner.  But good God are they fun.  Who wouldn't want to listen to Brazilian women boasting about how sexually active they are?  The music's pretty fun too.

(As an aside, CSS just played the Pitchfork Festival.  You may remember Pitchfork from such declarations as "most of !!!'s audience has come to accept Nic Offer's generally asinine lyrics as an inherent part of the group's unique dynamic." [Nick Sylvester, 6/8/04]  That's right, because Pitchfork would never champion or promote an artist whose lyrics are asinine.  !!! sure stands in sharp relief next to CSS' Proustian tribute to the restoration of the life spirit and the delicacy of human existence, as found in their song "Artbitch":

Lick my art-tit
Lick my art-tit
Suck my art-hole
Suck my art-hole

Bra-fucking-vo!  Leaves of Grass, my ass!  So, putting that big jug o' drivel into a song is okay because... why?  Because it's sung by sexy Brazilian ladies flaunting themselves?  Well, never mind then!  Who needs standards?  Actually, on second thought, sexy Brazilian ladies... hmmm... maybe Pitchfork's onto something...)

* Also found in my car stereo recently is lo-fi-bande-de-l'année Tapes n' Tapes.  Pretty good.  Not great, but good enough to grow on a guy.  And good enough to justify their "your blog made my band overrated" fame.  The Loon is pretty creative, given the low-budget constraints.  I see them kicking some ass in the future... unlike certain other lo-fi bands.  (Hype Your Band Say Yeah!)

* Big, big props to Robert Randolph and the Family Band for cheering me up all week.  Check out Live At The Wetlands if you want the inside of your brain to burn down with joy.  Or check out their Austin City Limits appearance on PBS.  I now believe that Congress should pass a law banning all religious ceremonies held in the absence of the Sacred Steel.  (Separation of church and what now?)

* I wonder if anyone's made a t-shirt yet with Mel Gibson's unkempt, bearded face, above his now-infamous complaint: "What Do You Think YOU'RE Looking At, Sugar Tits???"  You know, cause it's the next big thing now.  (In fact, that picture of him on TMZ might go nicely with a Photoshopped set of earlocks and a yarmulke.  Shalom!)