Please excuse the brutally obvious title of this post.

Went to see Pedro Almodóvar’s Talk To Her tonight. It’s the story of two men who bond when they women they love are gravely injured and end up in comas. Like his last film, All About My Mother, Talk To Her is richly detailed with subtle, nuanced performances of people dealing in very believable ways with personal tragedies. I think what I like most is that at the film’s end, the characters don’t live happily ever after, but simply continue living. You’re welcomed into their worlds for a time and then excused, and that’s ultimately more satisfying.

Check out this ridiculously cool Honda Accord commercial thingee.

Excellent Online has an interview with Mark Gardener here.

np – Matthew Sweet / In Reverse

The French Kicks will not be opening for Idlewild on Friday at Lee’s. Instead we get Windsor rockers Full White Drag. I don’t know Full White Drag. But I didn’t know the French Kicks either, so I guess it’s a wash.

The new GBV finally seems to have a finalized title. See the cover art for Earthquake Glue here. Link from Largehearted Boy.

A Mighty Wind opens today, the new film from Christopher Guest. Spinal Tap for the Birkenstock’s set. Hilarity will ensue.

np – Bright Eyes / Lifted, Or The Story Is In The Soil Keep Your Ear To The Ground

I have just made an appointment with an accountant to take care of the business end of my taxes for 2002. I figure if I can save as much off my taxes owing as what I will pay him, it will be worthwhile. I feel like such a grown-up!

I had forgotten that Friday is a holiday. I had been planning my week around five days, and now I have four (or one and a half, from this point). It’s left me all rather confused.

Bad night for the good guys on my Tuesday night TV shows. But Kim was noticably absent from 24, which just happened to be one of the best episodes of the season. Coincidence? I think not. And Faith was back on Buffy.

Yeah, not much going on this morning. I’m hungry.

np – The Flaming Lips / Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

Elvis Costello is back in town at the Hummingbird Centre on July 2. A little pricey and I saw him last year – albeit a fantastic show – so I will probably pass.

I will NOT be passing on Wilco at the Kool Haus on June 20, though. Booyaka.

So long bloody show last night. My legs and back are killing me – standing for four and a half hours will topple even the sturdiest of punters. I don’t feel like getting too in-depth, so I’ll keep the reviews sorta brief.

Daniel Johnston is a strange, strange man. He’s a mentally ill folksinger with a devoted cult following including Sonic Youth, Nirvana and Sparklehorse. People seemed pretty excited that he was in town, and I was mostly just curious. Picture a fat, disheveled man pounding frenetically on a classical guitar and singing simple little songs about love in an erratic voice. He displayed a little more prowess on the keyboards, but overall, it was a curious spectacle. He played for about a half hour.

Portastatic plugged in impressed. Mac McCaughan is a helluva guitar player – I’ve never seen Superchunk live, but his “quieter” (a very relative term) act still rocks out pretty hard. I liked them well enough to want to find their non-soundtrack stuff. I would have bought one of the CDs at the show, but I was already out of cash from buying a YLT t-shirt and a copy of The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science (purchased from Ira, again. Any band at their level that still sells their own merch deserves your respect).

Yo La Tengo. I think I have to be in the proper mood to appreciate them live. There’s no question they’re exceptional musicians, but the long drawn-out jams get tiresome, especially if you’ve been standing for hours already. Since they drew mainly from Summer Sun, the straight-ahead tunes were at a minumum to begin with. They trotted out some of the chestnuts in the encore, but the main set – all two hours of it – was dominated by jams and noisefests. The set time also came from the fact that no one played the same instrument in consecutive songs, and I do have to say, wandering around the stage wondering what to play next looks like fun. Their extended four-drummer version of Sun Ra’s “Nuclear War” (It’s a motherfucker!) was fun, but much of it crossed the line into self-indulgence. And, of course, they did an encore of “Speeding Motorcycle” with Daniel Johnston on vocals. But when the second encore ended and the house lights came on, I was more than happy to boot it out the door and home to bed. Love the band, but they may have worked themselves off of my “must-see-whenever-in-town-always” list.

np – Yo La Tengo / The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science

I promised a pic of my monitor-top Buddha, so here he is. I’m still not entirely sure where he came from. I belive Derek had something to do with it, but what exactly, I do not know. Click for a larger pic.

Go here. Sign the petition. These people must be stopped AND made examples of. Someone get my sack of doorknobs.

Look at this. I know I am. And thinking. Contemplating. Wheels are turning. Hmmmmm.

I don’t really know anything about golf, but I do know that winning the Masters is a big deal, so congratulations to Mike Weir, first Canadian to wear that oh-so stylin’ green jacket.

No band practice tonight, as both Brad and I are at Yo La Tengo. However – that doesn’t mean there’s not news! We may have found some tenants to replace the Biters in the rehearsal space, good news – I was getting a little nervous that we’d have to split rent two ways instead of three. This should all be confirmed in the next few days. Clay is out of commission because he apparently drank dirty well water? Where the hell does someone find well water – dirty or otherwise – in Toronto? Drummers. What are you gonna do. And some summer shows are slowly taking some shape. Or we’re being proactive about it, at least. Anything confirmed will be reported here first, since 517 is being molasses-slow on getting the proper Lake Holiday site artwork done. MOLASSES.

np – Ivy / Guestroom