Love in the Time of Darwinism

Very interesting article about how hard it is to be a single guy right now. I can relate to pretty much all of it, especially the stuff about how nice guys get screwed. Or don’t get screwed, as the case may be…

You have to check out Pomplamoose!

Pomplamoose (which is French for “grapefruit”) is the best thing I’ve discovered in quite a while. They’re Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte. She’s cuter than a kitten with a pocketful of buttons and he really knows his way around the ol’ bedroom studio. They make these things called VideoSongs. A VideoSong has two rules: 1.) What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice). 2.) If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds). Here’s Little Things:

You should really check out all of their videos. She apparently has a Master’s in French Lit and occasionally sings songs en Français. Which is effin hawt in my book. (for instance, check out their cover of La Vie en Rose…)

I’ll Tumbl for Ya…

So, I’m on Tumblr now. It’s really pretty cool. If you’re a tumbler, follow me and I’ll follow you… if you’re not, check it out.

Trailer for A Serious Man (Coen Bros.)

So I have insomnia. I’ve literally been up all night. Have to be at work in three hours. I predict some serious crashing out around 2:00 pm-ish. Which will suck…

Alabama’s Crappy Constitution

Check out It’s a Thick Book, a very interesting and informative video essay by Lewis Lehe about Alabama’s bloated (and quite possibly fraudulent) Constitution and tax system. It’s a little lengthy (48 minutes) but well worth your time. I learned things about my state that have really opened my eyes. And I don’t like what I’m seeing…

Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale

Even if you think you’re not familiar with the pentatonic scale, you are. Think of those famous five notes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. With that in mind, watch this.

some really cool t-shirts

Check out Amorphia Apparel and it’s sister sites for some really cool t-shirts.

Dibs on this one. And this one. Oh, and this one too.

Evolution T-Shirt Banned in Missouri High School

Unbelievable.

“I don’t think evolution should be associated with our school.”

So I guess the biology classes are the next to go.

The fact that this Sherry Melby idiot is a teacher saddens me.

a word or two about the new job

So I started my new job as an AT&T DSL tech on Tuesday. After months and months of either being jobless or working for peanuts at dead-end jobs, let me tell you – it’s nice to finally get paid what I think I’m worth. Also, I’m very proud to finally work for a union shop. The union rep hasn’t come around to my new hire class yet, but in a few days I will become a member of the Communication Workers of America. Labor unions have done a world of good for people who, before the advent of unions, had no choice but to work under deplorable conditions. Yes, I’m a pinko socialist wingbat and proud of it.

Let the Right One In (2008)

I cannot adequately explain how good this movie is. It’s certainly the best movie I’ve seen since Synecdoche, New York. This Swedish masterpiece shows us how Twilight would actually play out if the characters acted like they truly existed and were not stuck in some tween emo fantasy. Sure, it’s a vampire coming of story, but there is so much else to see below this movie’s icy surface. No frame is wasted and each plot point serves the characters and not the other way around. Director Tomas Alfredson has crafted a beautiful, moving, chilling piece of work. His tableux are so expertly set up that you can feel the chill in the air and taste the tang of blood as its copper stench rises from the snow covered landscape. This is a subtle movie perhaps, but it is definitely no boring movie.

Set in Stockholm in 1982, Let the Right One In is about Oskar, a pale twelve year old boy who is routinely bullied and who is painted in lonely grays and off whites. His parents are divorced and you can see in his eyes that he is searching for some place to fit in, somewhere that he doesn’t feel abandoned. Enter Eli, a mystery who is even paler than Oskar and has a penchant for appearing out of nowhere. When Oskar asks how old his new friend is, Eli replies,  ”Twelve. More or less…” Finally Oskar has met someone as lonely as he is, if not lonelier. So begins a relationship that is heartbreaking and (dare I say) life-affirming at the same time.

Make no mistake: this is a genre film; when all is said and done this is a vampire movie. It hits all of the familiar notes in that old song but manages to rearrange them into an entirely new tune. And the result may be one of the greatest vampire movies of all time. It’s neither camp nor overly romantic. Let the Right One In takes its subject very seriously and there is plenty of blood. Eli walks a fine line between pale flower and ravenous animal. And it’s that dichotomy that turns Oskar’s pre-adolescent crush into something poignant and poetic.