Caught my first movie at the Bloor in many many months last night – The Triplets Of Belleville. Visually, it was amazing. I always have and always will maintain that there’s nothing like hand-drawn cell animation to capture the true essence of an animator’s vision. Nuts to computers, celluloid and ink is where it’s at. The Triplets Of Belleville is packed to the gills with amazingly inventive imagery and sweet comic touches. I had no idea what it was about going in – it’s basically the story of a grandmother who travels from France to Belleville (read: America) to rescue her kidnapped cyclist grandson from the clutches of the French Mafia with the help of a trio of former cabaret singers from the ’30s. I had expected the storyline to be a somewhat more outrageous – something to match the visuals for their sheer creativity – and was just a little disappointed with the slightness of the plot. That’s just a minor complaint, though. Interstingly, the tale is told with an absolute minimum of dialogue – None of the main characters speak (or just barely), except to sing, and the tale is told almost like a silent movie. Which is good, because what little spoken dialogue there is is in French, and my French ain’t so good. Which is to say, it sucks. But the movie is fun and different – recommended.

While Rachel Goswell’s The Sleep Shelter EP will be released in the UK next Monday, people on this side of the pond might have some trouble finding it in their local shops. If you don’t think your local Walmart will be stocking enough copies or if you just don’t want to wait, 4AD has the entire EP, complete with artwork, available as a 192 kps mp3 digital download here for the reasonable sum of 3 pounds sterling. 4AD also has her artist page up now. Thanks to Ed, webaster of the Mojave 3 website for reminding me of this.

And speaking of things you can buy online, Magnetic Fields tickets are on sale now – click here. They’re not cheap – $25 USD each, and after service charges and shipping and all, they’re running about $45 CDN a piece. Ouchie. I’m going to take a chance and see what they’ll sell for locally… Never thought I’d be counting on Ticketmaster to save me some cash.

And another segue – Stephin Merritt and Sufjan Stevens sound off on the current state of pop music.

I found a used copy of the new Modest Mouse last night and we’re taking one last flyer on the band based on so many positive reviews of the record and the fact that the couple songs I’ve heard are pretty good. Verdict so far? Hmm. Still deliberating. Will report back later.

The powers that be must’ve known it was my birthday – yesterday in the mail, I got a couple free movie passes from Bell Canada for the debacle that was my busted phone line last month, and the Toronto Star is giving me free Monday to Friday papers even though I’m only paying for weekends. Of course, I won’t have time to read most of it and it’s just exponentially more recycling for me, but it’s the thought that counts.

Yeah, it’s my birthday today, or at least that’s what my mom said when she called this morning. She should know, I guess – she was there. It’s the big 2-9 today. Should I initiate a full-on panic for the last 365 days of my 20s? Whatever. I was going to post a picture of me as a wee toddler from way back when, but upon closer inspection it appears that the photo I’ve been toting around with me for the past few years is in fact probably not me, but my brother. So never mind that, maybe I’ll post it on his birthday.

np – The Magnetic Fields / i

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