Michael Showalter at SLC

from Wikipedia, 'cause why not?:

Michael Showalter, an American actor, writer and director best known as one-third of the protagonist trio of Stella, was born in Princeton, New Jersey to an Episcopalian father and a Jewish mother, the literary critic Elaine Showalter. Showalter first came to recognition as a cast member on MTV's The State which aired from 1993 to 1995. He co-wrote (with David Wain) and starred in Wet Hot American Summer (2001) and he wrote, directed, and starred in The Baxter (2005), with Michelle Williams, Justin Theroux and Elizabeth Banks. Both of these movies featured many of his co-stars from The State, and so do several of his other projects.

Last night, he gave a "lecture" at Sarah Lawrence.

An example (and peep the screen behind him with your x-ray vision):



By the way, after that, he says, "Duck with a penis."

In related news, those who enjoyed Wet Hot American Summer will be thrilled that David Wain will be directing another film, but look at the cast list. That's ridiculous.

These Motherfucking Snakes

It comes out tomorrow, and there's a showing tonight at ten. That's all I have to say about that.

But then there's this.

The soundtrack to Snakes On A Plane should be the best soundtrack in all the land; hands-down, the most excellently cheesy album ever to set its cheesy foot in the iTunes music store. It should be awesome and awful and awesomely awful and awfully awesome. The movie's called Snakes On A Plane. Snakes On A Plane! But it's not awfully awesome, it's just awful, for the most part; peep the tracklist:

1. Cobra Starship - "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)"
2. Panic! At the Disco - "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage (Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Remix)"
3. The Academy Is... - "Black Mamba (Teddybears Remix)"
4. Cee-Lo - "Ophidiophobia"
5. The All-American Rejects - "Can't Take It (El Camino Prom Wagon Remix)"
6. The Sounds - "Queen of Apology (Patrick Stump Remix)"
7. Fall Out Boy - "Of All the Gin Joints in All the World (Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Retouch)"
8. Gym Class Heroes - "New Friend Request (Hi-Tek Remix)"
9. The Bronx - "Around the Horn (Louis XIV Remix)"
10. Armor For Sleep - "Remember to Feel Real (Machine Shop Remix)"
11. The Hush Sound - "Wine Red (Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Retouch)"
12. Jack's Mannequin - "Bruised (Remix)"
13. Coheed and Cambria - "Wake Up (Acoustic)"
14. Donavon Frankenreiter - "Lovely Day"
15. Michael Franti & Spearhead - "Hey Now Now"
16. Trevor Rabin - "Snakes on a Plane - The Theme"

Sam Jackson is in this movie. He says things like, "I've had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" and "You know all those security scenarios we ran? Well I'm smack in the middle of one we didn't think of." and "It's my job to handle life and death situations on a daily basis. It's what I do, and I'm very good at it." All that and we get to listen to faux-funkified remixes of emo songs, which is little less than exciting. Now there are a few exceptions, one of which being the still not very cherry but funny theme song performed by ridiculous and completely fictional supergroup Cobra Starship. Watch the silly video here. Then there's this one from everyone's favortie big soul guy, which is actually an extremely good song with an awesome shoutout to the movie:

Cee-Lo - Ophidiophobia (mp3)

Oh, and Michael Franti & Spearhead. And Trevor Rabin. That's not emo either.

EDIT. 12:52 AM: It was everything I hoped it would be, and more.

The snakes (who were on crack) bit through wires, necks, eyeballs, ankles, butts, cats, thighs, little dogs, brains, and various genitalia of all varieties. They squeezed fat British guys, fell out of the oxygen mask compartment, and got punched in the face by Sam Jackson. They were chopped in half by an axe, sprayed with a fire extinguisher, fried with a makeshift flamethrower, sucked out of the pressurized plane, and blown up in a microwave by a flamboyant flight attendant. Keenan Thompson fucking landed the plane. And as a leather-clad, mustachioed Sam Jackson ran across the top of the seats toward the snakes, taser in hand, zapping them to all hell as he went, I realized that this movie is everything it should be.

Kinda Like A Knight With A Sword

I have no idea if the new Outkast project, Idlewild, is worth a damn, but here are some mp3's, which certainly are.

Outkast - The Mighty O (mp3)
Outkast - PJ & Rooster (mp3)
Outkast - Morris Brown (mp3)
Outkast - Idlewild Blue (mp3)

MSTRKRFT it is, then.

The following was posted today on DEATHFROMABOVE1979.com:

hey

i know its been forever since i wrote anything on here. im sure by now most of you assume the band isnt happening anymore since there are no shows, no work on a new album, etc. well. i wanted to let you know that your assumptions are correct. we decided to stop doing the band... actually we decided that almost a year ago. we finished off our scheduled tour dates because there were good people working for us who relied on us to make a living and buy christmas presents and pay rent etc. we couldnt just cancel everything and leave them out to dry... plus i think we wanted to see if we would reconsider after being out on the road. our label was really hoping that we would change our minds, so they asked us to keep quiet about the decision for at first. well, its been quite awhile now and we are still very sure the band wont happen again, so i guess its time to say something.

we started as a punk band with pop aspirations and we met every goal we set for ourselves. a few weeks ago, the album finally went gold in canada and that was the final mark i really wanted to reach.. it was my goal to see how big we could become without ever compromising or changing what we did right from the start... and now i know. we did way more than i ever expected and i like to think the fans (you?) enjoyed it as much as we did.... watching us sneak our way onto network tv, big festivals and sports arenas... playing music that most people assumed only belonged in basements and dirty rock clubs. we played our first show in a living room on long island for about 12 people and played our last in the calgary saddledome for 12,000. ha! what more could i have ever asked for? ive been in lots of punk bands over the last 15 years and i played every basement, squat, hole and alley from here to eastern europe. dfa79 was the first time i ever really played on a stage, yet i really didnt change what i was doing from what id been doing in the past... hell i was even using the same amplifiers!

i never would have imagined that the wall of noise i love so much could have come this far. to see my silly elephant trunk idea become so popular... im sure its the greatest piece of graphic design ill ever do.

over the last 3 years of touring, sebastien and i had grown apart to such an extent that the only real time we spoke was just before we would play and during interviews. we both changed so much that the people we were by the end of it, probably wouldnt have been friends if they were to meet for the first time again. its a totally normal function of growing up. like how your high school bf/gf that meant so much to you would probably be the last person you would date at 30, ya know? thats where we got to. its not sad.

it would be more sad if we stopped changing and growing and kept playing the same songs for 40 years like the rolling stones. for me that would be a nightmare.

thank you so much for your support from beginning to end. thanks ache records for giving us that first 325 dollars and thanks last gang for taking us the rest of the way. thanks to everyone who came out to our shows, wrote letters just to say hi, baked cakes and made your own t-shirts. i kept everything you gave me. thanks so much to the kids who came really early to see us when were were opening for bigger bands... that meant so much to me.

i hope i have been a positive example and not a bad influence and i really want you to know that when you stop me on the street and i dont know what to say, its not because i dont appreciate you, its just not something ill ever really get used to.

thanks again.

j f k

Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights (mp3)
Death From Above 1979 - Black History Month [Josh Homme Remix] (mp3)
MSTRKRFT - The Looks (mp3)

[buy You're A Woman, I'm A Machine at Insound]

Black Fiction

MY BABY LIKES

my baby likes

THE WARM SUMMER BREEZE

the summer breeze

BUT SHE DON'T LOVE ME WHEN

she don't love me

BUT SHE DON'T LET ME BREATHE

she don't let me

MY BABY LIKES

my baby likes

HER BREAKFAST IN BED

her breakfast

BUT SHE DON'T LET ME IN

she don't let me

THERE'S A HOLE IN MY HEAD

a holeinmyhead

I'M A GOOD LOVIN' MAN

i'm a man

WHEN I SPREAD THE DISEASE

disease

BUT SHE DON'T LOVE ME WHEN

she don't love me

SHE IS ALL I NEED

all i need.

Black Fiction - I Spread The Disease (mp3)

[buy from Midhaven]