A bit of happy news – according to Chart, the / Wilco project, aptly titled Down With Wilco is getting a February 25 release date after being delayed indefinitely from it’s initial scheduled release this Fall. It’s coming out on Yep Roc instead of Mammoth. 2003 is shaping up to be another good Wilco year. We’ve got this release, the Jim O’Rourke / Jeff Tweedy / Glenn Kotche project Loose Fur out in January, and that new Wilco record that’s been in the can for Lord knows how long, Decibels Per Minute, should be out in the calender year as well. Huzzah.

Other bit of interest to Torontonians – On December 11, the Bloor Cinema is presenting a free-to-members showing of the classic Bob Dylan documentary, Don’t Look Back at 9:30. I’m planning on going, I expect I’ll have to be there early.

np – Mogwai / 4 Satin

Liked : Celebrity camoes by David Bowie, David Duchovney, Jon Voight. The monkey scene. Gasoline fight. Christine Taylor, who’s all kinds of hot. Break dance duel. Walk-Off. Owen Wilson.

Disliked : Moments that were probably supposed to be funny but just weren’t. Owen Wilson’s nose (what is up with that thing?!?). Weird sherpa sex. Milla Jovovich.

It was okay, not a bad way to while away a Sunday evening.

np – Starflyer 59 / Leave Here A Stranger

This is why I like Flash N Crash Music up on Bloor… I finally got around to selling my CDs and as they say ‘Up To $8 A Disc’ and target a certain music audience (people like me), I figured it’d be my best bet for a one stop unload of all my stuff. As I’m pulling the stuff out of my bag, the guy’s eyes bug out when he sees I’m ditching all my Galaxie 500 and Velvet Underground stuff. Before he reaches over the counter to beat me over the head (he said he was going to) I tell him that it’s okay, I’ve got the box sets now. This appeases his sense of good taste and music snobbery… I should have told him I needed the money for a Christina Aguilera DVD or something. He would have gone apoplectic. But I did indeed get top dollar for my stuff, more than I expected, and he took it all. Easy peasy. As a bonus, when I walked by the outside of the store later, they had the melodious strains of G500 coming out the speakers. It’s always nice to bring a little joy to the world.

You’d think with all that scratch burning a hole in my pocket I’d have gone buck-nutty and blown it all on cheap whores and booze, right? Close, I did score Superdrag’s Last Call For Vitriol and Starflyer 59’s Leave Here A Stranger at Sonic Boom. Been looking for the Superdrag for a while and I’ve meant to investigate SF59, so a good haul.

At Sonic Boom I asked Brad to snag the poster promoting Bea Arthur’s 2-week stand at the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre for our rehearsal space – because nothing is more inspiring than the head Golden Girl – but he said someone had already come in and begged them for the poster whenever it came down. Seriously.

np – Superdrag / Last Call For Vitriol

Mission accomplished. Rented The Negotiator, had Burger King for dinner.

I enjoyed The Negotiator and am glad I didn’t bother with the TBS Readers Digest version any longer. I am amazed that they managed to take a 2h20m movie, cut out so much content and yet stretch it out to a 3h broadcast time.

Samuel L Jackson plays the same character he almost always seems to be cast as – the intense inherently good but pushed to the edge of breaking man. Kevin Spacey is inscrutable as the negotiator called in when Jackson, framed for his partner’s murder and about to be sent away, takes hostages in a federal building.

The script itself is fairly standard fare and the direction, while capable, isn’t outstanding. The twists and turns are effective enough to keep the viewer interested enough to keep the viewer paying attention throughout the course of the unusually long running time.

The real strength of the film comes from the principal actors and their execution of the material. Both Jackson and Spacey are doing what they do best. No awards for breaking new ground but kudos for not phoning it in. I enjoyed this one, not a bad way at all to spend a Saturday night. I suppose I should thank TBS just a little for that.

I also rented Zoolander despite my general disdain for Ben Stiller… This one has been recommended to me by enough people and has the Chris Large seal of approval. I’m assured that it’s surprisingly good, which shouldn’t be hard since I have fairly low expectations. But one never knows.

The Leafs whipped the Flyers 6-0! I am having a kick-ass night in the hockey pool. Cue rejoicing. I am also 45 minutes away from winning Velvet Crush’s Free Expression on eBay. Wouldn’t that just make my evening. Fingers crossed.

np – Dot Allison / Afterglow

First thing I did this morning was do housecleaning on the chromewaves server. greatly simplified my file architecture, erased a bunch of files that were doing nothing. Just tidying up as befits a Saturday morning.

I started watching The Negotiator on TBS but decided that sitting through three hours of a TBS-ised film was probably not going to be much fun. I am going to rent the film, probably tonight as nothing else is going on, because the 40 minutes or so that I did watch were pretty engrossing.

Went out with Vic to do some shopping after that. First to the Hairy Tarantula because Vic needed his comic fix… man – it’s been a while since I’ve been in a hardcore comic store. My usual stop is pretty neutral, the staff mostly indifferent to their wares. But the guys (and clientele) at this place? Whoa. talk about stereotypes and cliches come to life. I think back to my days as a regular at Target Comics in Oakville, and all I can say is there but for the grace of God go I. I discovered bathing at just the right time, I think.

Then it was wandering around the Eaton Centre while he shopped for Christmas gifts for Liz. A month to go and the mall is already getting stupid. No clue what to get people this year, as with every year. Only guarantee is that I’ll be waiting till the last minute and my dad won’t ever use whatever I get him anyway.

Vic did take the time to show off his shiny iBook. I will be the first to admit it, it’s an impressive little hunk of technology. If I weren’t firmly entrenched as a Windows user, I’d be sorely tempted. But fact is, I can’t be arsed to switch OSs for whatever reason. Bouncing icons be damned. But using Sherlock to get local movie times and view trailers and synopses? Cooool.

No interesting plans for the evening, I’ll probably just go rent some movies, I’d like to see all of The Negotiator, and sit around on my ass. Crappy take-out is in order for dinner.

Once again, I did not make it up to the Annex to unload my CDs. But at least now I have something to do tomorrow…

np – Tobin Sprout / Let’s Welcome The Circus People