In The Company Of Sandwiches

Apollo And The Buffalo And Anna Anna Anna Oh! – Sunset Rubdown

In case you couldn’t guess by today’s song choice, there is a new Sunset Rubdown album out called Dragonslayer and I can tell you that it is excellent. It’s quite different from the first CD actually, sounding like it could be yet another Spencer Krug side project rather than a follow-up to Random Spirit Lover. For one thing, Dragonslayer actually has clear breaks between songs, which is bizarre after listening to the last album. While Random Spirit Lover came off as a funky, modern opera, Dragonslayer actually kind of sounds like a CD that one could listen to without the assistance of hallucinogenics. Though by all means, indulge.

If it weren’t for the fact that the album is only eight tracks long and yet somehow manages to clock in over 40 minutes, I’d go as far as to say that this album is more accessible than the last. Of course, any hopes of that are dashed by the time you get to the seventh minute (only three more to go) of the album’s title track. This is classic, pretentious indie music at its best. Soak it in!

One more thing about today’s song choice. It is the latest contender in my illustrious “2009 Song Of The Year” competition, going head-to-head with the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that is Battlefield. Apollo And The Buffalo And Anna Anna Anna Oh! jumped out at me from the first listen and it’s one of those songs that…how to best explain this…remember that scene in High Fidelity where the guys are listening to the tape by The Kinky Wizards (those little skater fucks)? Jack Black is just shaking his head in resignation and he goes, It’s really fuckin’ good like he can’t even understand how that’s possible? That’s how I feel whenever a song just instantly clicks with me. I’m sort of happy, but mostly defeated and eventually just depressed that I can’t even begin to understand how an artist like Spencer Krug goes about constructing these monstrous compositions. He’s the best songwriter out there today and not just because Rivers Cuomo died four years ago.

Oh, speaking of Rivers, I thought that this was fucking sick. Weezer covers MGMT and Lady Gaga. Considering that Kids is way better than anything that Rivers has written recently, this must have been refreshing for the band.

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In other music news, here are a couple of bits that may or may not (likely not) peak your interest.

Not that anyone gives a shit about these Scottish hooligans except for me, but here’s the new single from The Twilight Sad, I Became A Prostitute.

And here’s the new Clipse video, Kinda Like A Big Deal. This shit is bananas.

Let’s do a tally here. I’ve just blown through the latest Sunset Rubdown release and The Twilight Sad and Clipse are expected to release new albums sometime in September. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Damn it…damn it, life is so good.

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Considering my reputation as an underdeveloped man-boy, it should come as no surprise to you that the most basic tasks can be both challenging and enlightening to me. Take de-fogging your windows for example. For some reason, I can never remember whether or not I’m supposed to heat or cool the car to perform this task. I know, this is elementary school science but again, I am a retard. After futzing around with the controls the other day, I finally figured out that cooling was the way to go and even though I’d witnessed it a hundred times before, I found myself entranced. As I watched the cold air chase away the fog, I found myself thinking about Shirley, knowing that it’s the kind of scene only she would appreciate.

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Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Sporcle quiz. In case you’re wondering, it is randomized every time. Now would be a good time to mention that I am addicted to doing Sporcle quizzes.

Sexual moments in video games. Yeah yeah, we all know about Ring King! and the Cho Aniki games, but there are some hidden gems in here.

After creating the post-modern comedy classic Ghost Town, at last Ricky Gervais is ready to release his latest slice of genius, The Invention Of Lying (formerly This Side Of The Truth). I mentioned this months ago and it looks promising, but there is one thing I hate about the premise and it’s the same problem I had with Liar, Liar. Why do writers assume that when someone loses the ability to lie that they feel compelled to blurt out their deepest, most embarrassing thoughts. There’s a difference between not being able to lie and not being able to shut up, isn’t there?

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The Andrea trail has gone cold and in my defence, you’ve got to realize that socializing with girls at work is difficult. We don’t work in the same area, so I have to go out of my way to talk to them. The only reason I got to know Andrea a little bit is because we had lunch together once, which is was a completely random occurrence. My work relationships are completely predicated on whoever I end up having lunch with on a given day. On Tuesday I ate by myself, which was not depressing whatsoever.

Wednesday was a different story. I go in to eat lunch hoping that maybe Andrea will be there or that I’ll at least have the company of sandwiches again, but instead I go in and find one of the waitresses reading a book. A lot goes in that initial moment of recognition: Should I interrupt? Do I need to introduce myself? What’s for lunch today? Should I ask how lunch is? And so on and so forth. I decide that an introduction is never bad and she tells me that her name is Kayleigh. I take it as a good sign that she looks up to respond and doesn’t immediately return to reading.

It turns out that she’s a fellow Markham-ite (Markham-ian? Markhami-ish? Markham-ese?) and even better, a fellow English major. For whatever reason, we seem comfortable with each other right away. So much so that within two minutes of meeting each other, I somehow find it appropriate to mention how I’ve taken an oath to tell no gay jokes for a whole day (that’s another story entirely). Thankfully, she laughs. It’s a good lunch and not just because the chefs make a good shepherd’s pie. We spend a lot of time talking about Asian people, believe it or not. Like I said, it’s all quite comfortable, almost too much so. It’s the kind of engagement I expect from a girl who…*sigh* probably has a boyfriend. Despite my attempts to probe for boyfriend bombs, nothing came up. I remain cautious.

Nothing to get too excited about, but you should know by now that in my life, “a girl talked to me today” is always going to be worth mentioning.

I wanted to want something as much as people wanted these plants. But…it isn’t part of my constitution. I suppose I do have one unembarrassed passion. I wanna know what it feels like to care about something passionately.