So I have my new speakers, and they sound lovely. It’s amazing how much weight everything has now that I have boxes capable of generating some respectable low end. Considering that my living room is probably an acoustic nightmare, they’re not nearly broken in and I’m using basic Radio Shack speaker wire, I figure it can only get better when I tweak bits of my setup or move into a room that doesn’t suck. But hey – sounds great to me for now, and that’s really all that matters. I expect that I will now spend the next while re-listening to everything I own, or at least a lot of it. First album to get spun through these puppies? Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, of course. I can really make out all the scratchy, bleepy background noises now. Why would I want to? I don’t know. And what demanding piece of cinema did I use to see how they handled soundtracks? Lord Of The Rings? The Matrix? Yentl? Nope – the second Family Guy box set. Hey, it may not be THX-certified, but there’s poop jokes and Adam West.

Oh, and if you missed the Osama Bin Laden joke that they excised from the DVD edition of Family Guy, you can see it, and other ‘forbidden’ scenes, here.

So this year’s Lollapalooza lineup seems to have finally taken shape. Check it out (I’m not linking all these): Morrissey, Sonic Youth, Le Tigre, PJ Harvey, Modest Mouse, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, String Cheese Incident, Gomez, Flaming Lips, the Thrills, the Polyphonic Spree, the Coup, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Elbow, Wheat, Dresden Dolls, Broken Social Scene, the Walkmen, the Killers, the Von Bondies, Secret Machines, Bumblebeez, Sahara Hotnights, Danger Mouse and the Datsuns. Not bad, even spread out over two days. Now I just need to see if they’re coming up here, how much tickets are and what acts are playing which day. Though just the thought of spending two days out standing in a field makes me tired. Me so old. Billboard has more details.

On July 2, the Trinity St-Paul’s United Church will be transformed into the House of Tomorrow as The Magnetic Fields will be in town to promote i. Trinity St-Paul’s is not even a ten minute walk from my house, which is ironic since I was planning to be on the other side of the continent that weekend. I was thinking about heading out west the last week of June (Canada Day long weekend), but if that means missing Nellie McKay, The Magnetic Fields and possibly Sea Ray, I may have to postpone. I had been hoping to be over there in time to catch Steve Earle in Seattle on the 30th of June, but that may no longer be compelling enough to get me over there that week. And people always wonder why I never go anywhere.

A second Pixies show has been added for Arrow Hall in Mississauge, November 25. On sale tomorrow.

Sweet Adeline gets an update on the release of Elliott Smith’s final album from his father. In brief, look for it in September or October. From Donewaiting.

24 – I think those 24 writers are having a little fun nudging against the fourth wall. “Oh, bet you think we’re gonna have Kim kidnapped again! Smarty pants, we’ll show you!” Har har. I don’t understand why they gave Michelle her test results like they were SAT scores. And how would Saunders have known to have a team in position at the hotel? Not terribly credible, sorry. And while I have this sneaking suspicion Tony is going to regret his decision at the end of the episode, he still gets full points for “Chloe, I’m getting real sick of your personality.” Zing! Four hours to go. Tick tick tick. Honestly, I love May for shows hitting their season finales – not for seeing the cliffhangers/stunt casting/crazy plot resolutions, but because it means I don’t have to schedule my evenings around bloody television shows.

Oh, I can’t believe Montreal coughed it up last night. I changed the channel with them ahead by one and only 45 seconds remaining. Tampa hadn’t even managed to pull Khabibulin. Poor Habs. Hope the Leafs fare a little better tonight. If they go down 3-0, it’s over. I can, however, believe the Jays coughed up a 1-run lead in the bottom of the ninth against Minnesota, though. How very disappointing the start of this season has been.

np – Sea Ray / Stars At Noon

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