This “directors cut of Finding Nemo” pic was sent to me by my brother. He is sick sick sick.

Watching the provincial leaders debate last night, I realized that all three candidates annoy the hell out of me. I don’t know if political debates are always like this, but I was expecting a little more dignified and mature conduct from those who would be our leaders. Silly me.

I took my old Telecaster into Songbird to put on consignment yesterday – they figure it’ll sell within a week, which suits me just fine. The money I get will pay off the practice amp I picked up – one of these babies. It looks awesome, sounds really good and was cheap.

The Flaming Lips are really milking Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell will be the second domestic EP to be released from the album, to say nothing of the DVD-Audio version of the album that came out last month. The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Assassination of the Sun

2. I’m a Fly in a Sunbeam (Following the Funeral Procession of a Stranger)

3. Sunship Balloons

4. Do You Realize?? (Jimmy Tamborello Mix)

5. Ego Tripping (Ego in Acceleration Mix)

6. Ego Tripping (Self-Administration with Blow-Up Mix)

7. A Chance at Christmas (Say It Isn’t So)

Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell is out November 18. Info from Delusions Of Adequacy.

Of Pitchfork’s 50 most common used CDs, I have 21 of these. Which means absolutely nothing, not unlike the article – the author, whose name I can’t be bothered to look up, seems to think the frequency with which a record appears in used bin is inversely proportional to the quality of the album. An interesting theory which is, of course, a heap of steaming shit. The only reason I can think of that PF-dude had for making such a list is that it afforded him the opportunity to poop on albums he can fairly sure a lot of people own, thus maximizing his outraged reader potential. After all, I think that the law of averages dictates that for every used copy of a CD you will find, at least a half-dozen more copies still have loving homes. Except for Justin Guarini – no one kept that shit.

Advance tickets for Belle & Sebastian at Massey Hall go on sale Monday September 29 at 12 noon, EST at musictoday. Once again, I’ve been elected to put hundreds of dollars of concert tickets on my Visa so my friends can pay me back at their leisure. Someone remind me again why I do this?

np – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists / The Tyranny Of Distance

In celebration of Rough Trade’s 25th anniversary, they are releasing a compilation album of tracks by past Rough Trade artists covered by current Rough Trade artists. Some highlights of the 16-track album are:

The Hidden Cameras – “Dunes” (Originally by The Clean)

The Tyde – “Tell Me” (Originally by Galaxie 500)

Royal City – “Is This It” (Originally by The Strokes)

British Sea Power – “Tugboat” (Originally by Galaxie 500 )

Belle & Sebastian – “Final Day” (Originally by Young Marble Giants)

Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before is out October 7 and should be discount priced.

Update: This comp is actually out today – prices online range from $11.99 to $15.99 CAN.

The video for the new REM song “Bad Day” has its own minisite at www.morningteam.com. It’s a pretty good song in the old-school stripped down REM vein. Yeah, it sounds fairly like “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It”, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And it’s a fun video. “Bad Day” is one of the new tracks on the best-of compilation, In Time, out October 28.

Madness at the subway station today. Lineups winding every which way as for whatever reason, there weren’t enough streetcars to clear up the backlog. No one had any idea where the line started or ended and resorted to just standing behind people at random, hoping to start a new lineup. To top it off, there was this woman walking around with no top teeth except her canines, going through the garbage bins. She was just peculiar. I did run into former Lake Holiday keyboardist Brendan in line though, and got to congratulate him on his recent wedding, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. I eventually gave up waiting and took the subway down to St. Andrew and then the streetcar across King. I suspect the folks in Spadina station are still waiting.

np – The Sadies / Pure Diamond Gold

Matador are re-releasing The New Pornographers’ debut album Mass Romantic on October 7, fully remastered. It seems curious to remaster an album that was released just a couple years ago, but according to Matador, “It sounds so much better it’s insane – it’s not just punchier, with more bass, but you can understand the vocals better and hear all these background instruments more clearly”. That sounds like good news, but it was my understanding that the original pressing on Mint was how the band wanted it to sound, perceived aural shortcomings and all. So the question for me, who doesn’t own the first album but want it, is which one do I want to get? Better sounding or truer to the artistic vision? The answer, of course, is that I will get whichever one I find used first. Ha.

One of the funniest scenes in Lost In Translation comes when Bill Murray is taking direction in Japanese from the director of the whiskey commercial he is in Tokyo to film. The directore doesn’t speak a word of English and Murray doesn’t understand a word of Japanese, and they have to make use of a clueless translator. A large portion of the scene has been translated for the benefit of those of us with as much comprehension of Japanese as Murray’s character – and it’s just as funny as the original scene.

This site compiles all the political humour and quips from the previous night’s late-night talk shows. Laugh at the barbed satire, then cry when you realize this is the only sort of criticism of the current administration that ever seems to make the airwaves.

Frank Black tries to communicate with his fans on a fansite message board. Hilarity ensues.

np – The American Analog Set / Know By Heart

Farewell, Galileo. Vaporizing over Jupiter is almost as good as a Viking funeral.

Elvis Costello talks about Diana Krall, being in love and North.

Ween play the Kool Haus in Toronto November 3. Curiously, their Quebec tour doesn’t have a Quebec date. All together now… “Where’d the mothafuckin’ cheese go?” “I dunno!” All right.

Pitchfork’s love affair with Toronto bands continues – this time, The Deadly Snakes get some P-Fork lovin’.

I’ve realized why Rachel Goswell’s vocals aren’t so prominent on the new Mojave 3 album – Neil Halstead has perfected his falsetto to the point that their voices sound pretty much identical when he’s in that range. And while I’m hardly an unbiased judge of M3, Spoon And Rafter is lovely. Much of it is slower than the last two albums, more in line with Ask Me Tomorrow, but lusher in sound and more expansive in arrangement. I am waiting anxiously for a North American tour (Rachel reports a full tour in the works for Februrary 2004) – you would never guess, but they are one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen.

np- Mojave 3 / Spoon And Rafter

The fundraising party for Shameless Magazine went really well, I think, and was a lot of fun. If you don’t feel like clicking the link, the Shameless manifesto is as follows:

“Shameless is for young women who want more than the hair and makeup tips shovelled out by typical teen mags. Shameless is for girls who are drastically underrepresented in the mainstream media: freethinkers, queer youth, young women of colour, punk rockers, feminists, intellectuals and activists. Shameless tackles social issues, politics and independent arts with wit and wisdom.”

It’s a good idea and has some really good people behind it. They’re hoping to publish the first issue in or around Februrary 2004.

The party itself featured music from locals The Sick Lipstick, an abraisive-sounding no-wave band that got the crowd up and dancing, The Creeping Nobodies, who likely have more than a few Sonic Youth records between them and Pomegranate Squad, who can lay claim to the title of “finest all-girl Klezmer band in Canada”.

It was good to get out and hang out with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while, meet some new people and have a good night out for a good cause. And I was able to offer a belated Happy Birthday to Kate, since I forgot on Thursday because I’m an idiot.

And yes, I was dancing. I fail to see why that’s so newsworthy.

np – Steve Earle / Ain’t Ever Satisfied – The Steve Earle Collection