Comic blog The Beat is reporting that the title role in the next Superman film has finally been cast. According to their sources, Some dude named Brandon Routh will be donning the tights and leaping tall buildings in a single bound, and unnamed Warner Bros execs have confirmed the casting. There’s even pics of him dressed up like the big blue banana for a costume party of some sort circulating – though how these got out so quickly, I don’t know if I want to know. I realize those big black plastic National Health-type glasses were supposed to make Clark Kent look extra nebbish, but nowadays they just make him look like some hipster or emo kid. But I suppose that’s offset by the fact that he sometimes wears his underwear on the outside. Interesting bit of trivia – Mr Routh’s birthday is October 9 – the same day that the last Superman, Christopher Reeve, died. Last movie Superman, anyway. Dean Cain is still alive, even if his career isn’t. Zing!

And not to be outdone by his Metropolis rival, Gotham City’s Batman today released additional cast photos from the his upcoming film, Batman Begins, including a shot of Ken Watanabe as Ra’s Al-Ghul.

I’m quite excited about the release of Pavement’s Crooked Rain Crooked Rain in its expanded L.A.’s Desert Origins double-disc format next week. In addition to the original album, there’s an additional 37 (!) tracks filling out the set – as much as I liked the Slanted & Enchanted deluxe set, I think I’ll prefer this one simply because it collects material from an era where they were arguably at the peak of their powers. I like scratchy, lo-fi recordings with noisy, hamfisted guitar as much as the next guy, but the extra bit of refinement and polish that the CRCR material should have in the production, performance and writing departments will be quite welcome. Anyway, until the reissue hits the stores, both their North American and European labels are doing what they can to further whet peoples’ appetites – Domino Records is streaming 21 of the new tracks, one per day, through the rest of October. They’re already a cou[le days in so you’ve missed a wee bit of it. Meanwhile, Matador is letting you have only one track for the time being, but they’re letting you download it and keep it and rename it “Skippy” and build it a little house out of a matchbox if you so desire. Cause they’re just those kind of guys. Thanks to Catbirdseat and Stereogum for the tip-offs.

Spin gets Jeff Tweedy to list off the records that changed his life. Link from For The Records. Update: Odd, link doesn’t seem to be working anymore…

Stylus handicaps the Shortlist of Music finalists.

The Modern Age has come back out of hiding in her /temp directory.

Note for anyone else who’s planning to hit the Saturday Looks Good To Me at the Silver Dollar tonight – doors at 9, openers are locals The Don’t Be Shys and Picastro and the headliners should be on at approximately 11:15. Cover will be approximately $7. Approximately.

So I’ve been going through my Chromewaves email inbox and seen there’s been a number of emails that I haven’t replied to or have otherwise gotten lost in the shuffle – if you’re waiting for a response to something, I apologize. I am utterly slack sometimes. Um, but don’t necessarily interpret this as a sign that you WILL get a response back any time soon – I’m just apologizing.

np – My Bloody Valentine / Loveless

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