Disappointment – spent the past two days downloading the Spider-Man movie off Kazaa, and it turns out that it’s not only of mediocre picture quality, but the pan-and-scan version! Heresy! Just goes to show, this downloading thing is more trouble than it’s worth.

On the positive super-hero movie front, I finally saw Unbreakable tonight. I thought it was terrific, a very unique and creative take on the notion of super-heroes. I am a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan and his twist endings, and I didn’t see this one coming. Bravo.

After just a couple listens, I have to say the Ken Stringfellow disc is pretty special. Very pretty, like an Elliott Smith record, but without so much of the sad and wounded quality of Smith’s work. It’s still melancholy, but more upbeat and less Beatle-esque. Worth a listen, there’s a reason this guy is a (touring) member of both Big Star and R.E.M.

np – Swerverdriver / Mezcal Head

There’s a video for Spoon’s video for “Small Stakes” here.

Did some not-so-exciting shopping today. Went to Dufferin Mall, which I’d never actually been to, and hit the Wal-Mart for some soap, socks… intended to get razors but they keep those behind the customer service desk and the lineup was about 25 people deep. Screw that. Also got some hanging-hooks for the rehearsal space, for coats and cables and whatnot. Told you it wasn’t exciting.

Swung by Sonic Boom and grabbed some lunch with Brad, also found a used copy of Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea – I already have it, but it’s such a good album and so impossible to find used, I bought it anyway. Kyle still didn’t have copy – he’ll thank me for it later.

Also bought Toshack Highway’s Everyday, Rock’N’Roll Is Saving My Life EP and Ken Stringfellow’s Touched record – thank Jack Rabid and the Big Takeover for prompting me to check these out though I’d never heard any of their stuff previously (not counting Swervedriver).

It also dawned on me that after three years, I was actually buying more comics and not less, so I got a membership at the 1,000,000 Comix around the corner from my place. Shoulda done that years ago… and I got the second Ultimate X-Men paperback to break it in.

Also rented Unbreakable and The Iron Giant, which is probably the only Vin Diesel movie I will ever see. Had to go to the Blockbuster up in the Annex since the Rogers by my apartment sucks ass.

np – Spoon / “Loss Leaders”

The trailer for the new Tarantino film Kill Bill is up here.

I’m not a big Tarantino fan, but I will admit this one looks very cool. Uma Thurman in a kung-fu flick? Yes, please.

np – Tobin Sprout / Carnival Boy

It’s still snowing snowing snowing out there. And of course, in Toronto, snow almost instantly turns to slush as soon as it hits the ground. I may have to break out my boots.

This two-day week has messed me up… yesterday felt like Monday, for obvious reasons, and I can’t figure out what today feels like. It feels like one of those days in high school where it was snowing so much that they cancelled the buses but kept the school open. Since I was one of those who’d rather hang out at school with a few people than sit around at home by myself, I’d make the trek in and inevitably end up sitting around the chemistry lab watching Terminator and playing cards with Mr Picone. Except today, I’ve hiked in and still have to work.

Stephanie has made me a little snowman in a bowl and put him in Mark’s seat across from my desk, since I’m the only one in the Fishbowl today. I now get to watch this little simulacrum melt away into nothing over the course of the afternoon.

Brian Eno has a nice little rant against America in American Empire As Gated Community.

NEWS – Spoon and Ben Kweller will be on PBS’ Austin City Limits this month. In the Toronto area, it’s on Friday, January 17 at 11:30 PM on WNED channel 17.

UPDATE – I fixed the Eno link, I noticed the one I had was dead. Hopefully the new one will stick around. I hate dead links.

np – Dinosaur Jr / Green Mind

Damn it’s snowing out there.

So I’m seeing a lot of movies lately. By my count, eight in the past two weeks or so? I think that’s more than I saw in the entire first half of last year.

Anyway – tonight, Igby Goes Down, which I’d wanted to see since it went into limited release last Fall. It quickly and quietly made it’s way to the reps, where I saw it, and is on DVD in a month.

A deliciously black comedy about a boy, Igby, who flees his dysfunctional ‘old money’ family, and the expectations put upon him. An obvious touchstone for a lot of the themes in the film is The Catcher In The Rye, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it was intended as a homage to Salinger’s classic tale of adolescent rebellion and discontent.

A surprisingly A-list cast for such a small film (Susan Sarandon, Claire Danes, Jeff Goldblum, Ryan Phillipe), the most impressive performance comes from Kieran Culkin, who plays the titular Igby. If the younger Culkin siblings (Kieran and Rory, in last year’s Signs) keep up the quality work, the surname ‘Culkin’ may well cease being a punchline.

Igby Goes Down is smart, funny and cynical. Definitely worth seeing.

np – Spoon / A Series Of Sneaks