Pitchfork turns their critical sights on the domestic issuance of the Ride best-of today. They basically dismiss Smile, exult Nowhere and Going Blank Again and savage Carnival Of Light and Tarantula. While it pains me to read a harsh word about my four fey boys from Oxford, it’s difficult to defend those last couple albums. They were pretty dreck, Tarantula more than COL. But I will fight anyone who dares say an unkind word about GBA.

There is a new Jonathan Carroll novel out, title White Apples. I don’t remember what the last novel of his I read was… but surfing his bibliography it seems I’ve missed more than a few. I’ve always liked his stuff, the way he dresses up horror and fantasy as straight contemporary fiction. Sleeping In Flame was one of my favorites. I will have to hit the library.

Definitely downshifting into pre-holiday mode. Yesterday really wiped me out. One week to go…

np – Sparklehorse / It’s A Wonderful Life

For no particular reason, I am going to declare how much I love Yo La Tengo.

I love Yo La Tengo thiiiiiiiiiiis much. Georgia’s voice is like a big warm blanket you can wrap around you and curl up to sleep in at night.

Listening to I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One was one of the few things today that got me through the interminable drive from downtown to the northeast end of Mississauga – a drive that shouldn’t take longer than 30-35 minutes. Took me an hour fifteen. As always, the snowfall makes people go stupid and drive like little old ladies. It was good in a way, reminding me just why I never leave the city.

Getting there was only half the fun… spending the next eight hours in a boardroom being taught how to use the Microsoft CMS was the rest. And boy oh boy was it fun. Actually, it wasn’t that bad and it was definitely a meeting I needed to attend so as to address some project-related issues with the team from Washington state, but still. It was a looong day.

I think my eye is telling me that these disposable contacts are done…

np – Built To Spill / Perfect From Now On

Pitchfork has updated their release dates page. They’ve got some dates I hadn’t seen reported before:

Loose Fur / Loose Fur – Jan 28

Wilco / Kamera EP – Feb 11

Ryan Adams / Love Is Hell – Mar 25

Portishead / Alien – Mar 25

Radiohead / TBA – Mar 25

I would only pencil these in though, because there’s some info on the page that’s contrary to more official sources, like for the new Bettie Serveert, Minus Five and the Wilco DVD.

I get to spend all day on-site in Mississauga doing training on Microsoft’s CMS system. And if that’s half as much fun as it sounds, I’ll be lucky.

I am never going to get to see Adaptation. Made it as far as the theatre lobby today, with Kyle and Joe in tow – they’d come down to do some Christmas shopping and see the film – but the film was already about 98% sold out and the remaining 2% would have been right up at the front. I saw The Green Mile from the front row and all I really remember was staring up at Tom Hanks’ big jowelly face. I don’t need that from two Nicholas Cage’s. Maybe next week…

Spirited Away is now playing at the Bloor. I may go on Tuesday since there’s no early sneak preview screening of The Two Towers as there was last year for Fellowship. If I want to see it, it’ll have to be at 12:01 AM, and that’s not happening. Maybe I’ll duck out of work a little early on Wednesday and catch a matinee.

I got my dad a copy of Casablanca on DVD, so I’m almost done my Christmas shopping. And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as the mug exchange at work is over, I can’t walk into a store without finding interesting mugs. Go figure.

Music links – A full show from Loose Fur available for download here and a selection of live Yo La Tengo tracks can be gotten here.

np – Yo La Tengo / And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out

I’m not usually one for poetry, but Joe Pernice’s Two Blind Pigeons is really something. Not exclusively verse, there’s a fair bit of prose in the form of short vignettes, this work shows he’s a truly evocative writer no matter what medium he’s working in. The themes are classic Pernice – melancholy and the lives ordinary folks struggling under the weight of day-to-day existance. It’s a brief read, barely 40 pages, but Pernice manages to convey a world of emotion with an economy of words.

Updated the MP3 of the week. This week, Marine Research covering Built To Spill.

np – Velvet Crush / Free Expression