BOO!! Ghost Songs

Theme mix #2 is complete in my series of mixes for Jamie's drive-in commute. I got a few suggestions for this one from D'Anne, but mostly I came up with them my own self. The theme is simple enough: songs with the word "ghost" in the title. I was inspired by the recent Concrete Blonde show, because I didn't expect them to play my favorite song of theirs. Then they did and it was awesome. I am now on a quest to find a karaoke spot in town that has "Ghost Of A Texas Ladies' Man" in its collection.

Here's how the mix turned out:

BOO!! Ghost Songs

1. Parry Gripp - Ghost Slug Theme (suggested by D'Anne)
2. Concrete Blonde - Ghost Of A Texas Ladies' Man
3. Mojave 3 - Ghostship Waiting
4. Spoon - The Ghost Of You Lingers
5. Heartless Bastards - Searching For The Ghost
6. The National - Anyone's Ghost
7. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - I'm A Ghost
8. Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost
9. Harlem - Friendly Ghost
10. The White Stripes - Little Ghost
11. Breathe Owl Breathe - Ghost in the Morning Moon (suggested by D'Anne)
12. Patti Smith - Ghost Dance
13. Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks
14. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Natural Ghost
15. Glass Rock - Ghost Of A Dream
16. Stars - The Ghost Of Genova Heights
17. Sea Of Japan - Undead Ghost
18. Trembling Blue Stars - The Ghost Of An Unkissed Kiss
19. Ed Harcourt - The Ghosts Parade
20. Amy Millan - Bruised Ghosts
21. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - The Ghost

If you have a good theme mix suggestion, please leave it in the comments.

You just ride a bike like a normal person

Unless you can do any of this, or are well on your way to learning, please do not tell me about how you're "really getting into" fixed gear bikes. Seriously.

Aaaaand ACTION! Songs Related To Movie Films

So now that my girlfriend goes to Plymouth every night for her drive-in movie job, she's got a decent commute - one that I am committed to making more tolerable through a series of mix CDs. But I like a challenge, and asked her to assign me various topics or themes for these mixes. The first one was songs related to the movies. I thought it would be fun to open this up to the many folks I know who are music minded, so I asked for suggestions on my Facespace page. Though only a few of those songs made the end mix, I was really happy to see so many great suggestions and this exercise reaffirmed that I have surrounded myself with people of exquisite taste. I have a list of the left over songs and almost have enough for a second mix - so if you think of any more great movie-related songs, please leave them in the comments. Here's the mix:

Aaaaand ACTION! Songs Related To Movie Films

1. Soda Dog Refreshment Squad - Groovy Time For A Movie Time
2. Thrush Hermit - From the Back of the Film (suggested by John)
3. The Long Blondes - Lust In The Movies
4. HorrorPops - Hitchcock Starlet (suggested by Andrea)
5. Morrissey - Drive-In Saturday (live)
6. St. Vincent - Actor Out Of Work
7. Of Montreal - The Actor's Opprobrium
8. Dubstar - I'm In Love With A German Film Star
9. Belle & Sebastian - Like Dylan in the Movies (BBC Session)
10. Rags & Feathers - Silent Movie Starlets (suggested by D'Anne)
11. Thomas Denver Jonsson - Dreams At The Film Club (suggested by D'Anne)
12. Curtis Eller - Buster Keaton (suggested by Scotter)
13. Lambchop - Steve McQueen
14. The Divine Comedy - When The Lights Go Out All Over Europe (suggested by Ras/Michael)
15. Richard Davies - Why Not Bomb The Movies?
16. Earlimart - The Movies
17. Okkervil River - Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe
18. April Smith and the Great Picture Show - Movie Loves A Screen
19. The Everly Brothers - Wake Up Little Susie (suggested by Seth)
20. Yo La Tengo - Deeper Into Movies
21. Black Francis - Cinema Star

I would make this one of those fancy mp3 lists that you can go ahead and download and stuff, but I don't want Blogger to shut me down. Because they love to do that apparently. Plus I don't know how! BUT - if you for real want a copy of this mix, I would be happy to make you one. We could trade! It will be like 1998 all over again.

Next challenge? Songs about comics/superheros! Know any good ones? Please leave them in the comments!

Bollywood Time: Lagaan

So this movie magazine world wide web site Empire posted this totally rad list titled "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema." I love looking at lists like this even if it's a constant reminder that I am not nearly as cultured as I think I am. I've watched a LOT of movies - but from this list, I can only claim to have seen 17 in full. If somebody shows this list to Bristol Palin, and her number is 18 or more, I will kill myself.

But two of my favorite Bollywood movies made this list - Lagaan and Devdas. I'll save Devdas for another day and focus on Lagaan. Here we go:

If I wanted to, I could scare you away from watching Lagaan (2001) with one quick sentence: "It's a 4 hour movie about taxes and cricket that takes places during the period of British colonial rule over India." But I do not want to scare you away from watching Lagaan! Even if it is a four hour movie about taxes and cricket that takes places during the period of British colonial rule over India.

But Lagaan is such an epic and beautiful movie. And Lagaan has something everybody loves, and that is an "underdog sports" story. Hoosiers. Rudy. Teen Wolf. We never tire of rooting for the little guy. Even when he's a wolf. Especially when he's the wolf. I don't know.

The point is, the more unlikely the victory of the underdog and the higher the stakes of said victory, the better this story formula works. That being the case, I would argue that Lagaan is the ultimate underdog sports story: Peasant villagers playing cricket against the fucking British Empire. On the line? Oh, basically the sovereignty of their entire nation. So like, big stakes, right?! Add to this the fact the peasants have never played cricket before. Their team is so rag-tag (including a crippled Untouchable) they make the Bad News Bears look like the New York Yankees.

So how does this peasant cricket team even learn to play the game, let alone get competent enough to play their British overlords? Well, from The L Word's Helena Peabody, of course! Everybody knows that lesbians are awesome at cricket. Actually, they learn from Elizabeth Russell (who is played by Rachel Shelley who went on to play lesbo Helena Peabody). Elizabeth is the sister of Captain Andrew Russell - the commanding British officer. He is a major dick to the Indian people just to be a dick, and Elizabeth is tired of watching his dick-like behavior. She also has a case of "masala fever" due to her mad crush on one of the villagers - a handsome young guy named Bhuvan (played by Bollywood superstar Amir Khan). To get back at her brother, and to get closer to that hunky peasant, she decides to basically sneak around to coach their team. So their best hope is learning the game from a white lady in frilly dresses and a parasol who maybe has never even played the game! Also, hello total language barrier between coach and team! Success is so imminent, yes?

The actual cricket match is a doozy and takes up almost the whole second half of the film! But it is oddly watchable! Not once did I ever feel the urge to hit fast forward and watch them play the game Benny Hill style. Cricket isn't a game I'm terribly familiar with, but the movie does a pretty good job of using narrative to explain what the players are doing. Pretty soon you'll comprehend all the "wickets," "bowling," "quaffles" and "Golden Snitches" and whatnot.

I'm not going to tell you who wins because that would be spoiling it. But I already told you it's the ultimate underdog sports story, so stop being dense and watch Lagaan. And before you get all, "Oh, I just can't imagine watching such a long, long film," don't make me remind you how many times you've watched an entire season of America's Next Top Model in one "TV-on-DVD-binge" weekend. That's what I thought.

The Wonder Twins go see a play. Like civilized people.

New Wonder Twins in today's Metro Times. This time we decided to go see a PLAY. You know, get some CULTURE. Learn about LIFE through the ART of ACTING.

But then we decided all that was pompous and lame and decided to go to the Ringwald to see Code Foxy: Man Down. Yes, it's a play, but it's void of culture. So you'll be safe. It is playing again this coming weekend. So go see it.

Child Bite on Daytrotter

Whoo! Child Bite on Daytrotter!

Don't piss on Detroit's perfect game and tell us it's a Corvette

Are you or somebody you know a Tiger's fan? Then you are so mad right now! Because what a rip off! And a Corvette isn't going to make things better. Just faster. And that's not always better. I do not think. Well, that Dyspathy guy is selling a t-shirt that you should consider purchasing. Because a united Detroit is a strong Detroit - even if what we are united about is being ripped off once again. Here's the shirt:














Clever yes? I bet it would look good on your dad. And Father's Day is coming up! You're welcome!