Uhh… today. Got rained on. Dried off. Got rained on again. Learned the hard lesson that while the weatherman is sometimes wrong, he is also sometimes right.

Kill Rock Stars has an mp3 from the forthcoming Decemberists record, Her Majesty The Decemberists, for your consideration. Link from Donewaiting.com.

From the Believe-It-Or-Not files: A positive review of Gigli. The mind boggles.

np – Galaxie 500 / The Uncollected Galaxie 500

I’m not a football fan. I don’t dislike the game at all (though the fans and surrounding culture is another story), and I understand the rules well enough to follow a game if I felt so inclined, but I don’t follow the sport at all. So when I found myself at my second-ever CFL game tonight with the BC Lions in town to face the Toronto Argonauts, it was mostly for something to do and to see my university friends who’d come into town for the game. As it turns out, though, I had a really good time and saw a very exciting match.

The Canadian Press does a much better job of reporting on the game, so I won’t try too hard. It started out looking like a rout of the Argos by the Lions, but the home team staged a pretty impressive comeback to put it into overtime (I didn’t even know football had overtime). In the extra frame, they traded field goals until the BC kicker inexplicably hooked a 19-yard field goal wide of the mark and gave the Argos a 28-26 win. Especially noteworthy was Toronto quarterback Damon Allen completing a 30-yard pass in the fourth quarter to give him more than 60,000 career yards – only the third player in professional football history to reach that mark. As I said, I don’t really know football, but I do know that Warren Moon and Dan Marino are pretty esteemed company. It was nice to be there for the moment, particularly since it came against Allen’s old team.

The halftime show was pretty curious. Some of the players from Evita, which has just rolled into town, came out and did a lip-synched dance routine. Because, as everyone knows, football and musical theatre go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Huh.

Yeah, I’m actually talking about football. How about that?

np – The Tyde / Twice

So I get out of the subway coming home from rehearsal last night, and this is what I see. The entire intersection at Yonge and College plus about at least a half block in every direction is cordoned off by police, gawkers and emergency services vehicles everywhere. I didn’t see any of the vehicles involved in the chase or pile-up, but I didn’t hang around to try and get an eyeful – that’s not my thing. But wow, that’s some crazy shit to go down two blocks from your apartment.

Rehearsal itself was longer and louder than usual, but necessary considering we’ve got a show in a couple days, haven’t practiced all together and plugged in in over two weeks and were trying to work a couple new songs into the set. But if anyone attending the show on Sunday thinks we sound sloppy or confused, the party line is WE’RE DRUNK.

It’s August. AUGUST. When did this happen? (About midnight, last night). Oh, ok. Thanks, smart ass. It will be Autumn before you know it. Summer 2003, we hardly knew ye.

np – Guided By Voices / Mag Earwhig!

I’m glad the Stones thing went off without a hitch and that everyone had a good time. It looked like fun, but I don’t regret not going one iota. I’ve been to my share of big-ass festivals and attend over two dozen concerts a year… I will watch the concert when it’s repeated ad nauseum on television for the next few weeks, but I had no interest in being there for the sake of being there.

Bill Maher has a blog. Good stuff, I only wish Jon Stewart had a blog. Oh wait, I guess he does. It’s called The Daily Show. I should watch more TV. Thanks to Kyle for the link.

Stock up on crazy sci-fi movie memorobilia. I gots to get me a Battlestar Galactica uniform.

It figures that the one week Sneaky Dee’s doesn’t run an ad in NOW is the one week that we’re playing there. Not that it would have made a difference, it’s just neat to see our name in print. BUT! We did rate a Critic’s Pick in the show listings. Check it out. Probably more for Les Mouches, but we’ll take it.

np – American Analog Set / Through The 90s: Singles And Unreleased

Thanks to Kate’s member-of-the-press-ness, I got to attend an advance screening for American Wedding, which may as well have been subtitled “Stiffler’s Big Adventure”. It’s all about Seann William Scott, which makes sense since he’s the only cast member who seems to have any sort of career at the moment (note that I said, “at the moment”). If you liked the first two, you’ll like this one because it’s pretty much the same film, same characters, same sexual hijinks and gross out gags. And lots more Stiffler. Stiffler this, Stiffler that. It’s pretty damned lightweight (duh) and if they never make another one I won’t be saddened at all, but it was fun and I laughed out loud more than a few times. Take that as you will.

My new comics discovery is Lenore, The Cute Dead Girl by Roman Dirge, published by Slave Labor Graphics. Actually, I discovered Lenore back in May from the SLG Free Comics Day Special Edition, but this was the first time I’d found a regular issue, and damn if this isn’t some of the funniest stuff I’ve read in ages. There’s this little dead girl, and this little dead boy, and all these vengeful mice, and this guy with a pitchfork and a bag on his head, and scabies, and… Well, it’s bloody funny. Trust me.

np – The Flaming Lips / Fight Test