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"Big beat drum..."

What's your favorite song of 2006?

So impossible--I'm afraid I can't choose just one song!

Here are five, as a compromise. For the first four, I've linked off to The Hype Machine for your listening enjoyment; for the last, I've uploaded the track myself, and it's playable below.

• Destroyer, "Looter's Follies" (listen)
• The Fiery Furnaces, "Bitter Tea" (listen)
• Ghostface Killah, "Underwater" (listen)
• Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy" (listen)
• Scritti Politti, "Boom Boom Bap"

Boom Boom Bap

Scritti Politti

That was fucking tough, let me tell you. I feel as if I've missed so much else in that list, and the year is not even yet half over, & there are some fantastic albums out just in the last week that I've not yet heard, &c.

"We'd bump bump bump..."

Clay Aiken (American Idol 5 finale)

So here's the thing: I've watched the American Idol finales for each of the last couple of of seasons, and every time, they're always the same boring old bullshit, with performances from each of the final contestants, clips of their families, endless commercials, &c.

And so but this year, I've been so into Lost, and Lost's finale overlapped with American Idol, so being without dual-tuner-DVR, I had to forego the American Idol finale, figuring I'd just miss the usual drawn-out mess.

But: no, not this year!

I missed Prince--playing "Lolita", even!--& Clay Aiken [1], and I was oh so sad. Thankfully, there's YouTube to make it all better!

Prince on American Idol-Hidef by ExDeus

[1] Clay's performance was kind of... creepy.

But the weirdest thing was, when I first watched it on YouTube, it was all grainy & the sound wasn't that good, and I hadn't read about it being a Clay impersonator, &c. And so I was kind of like, what the fuck, has Clay always been this bad & I've just been so wrong for all this time? But then, no, Clay came out, and then all was at least partially right with the world.

Boo!

Do you believe in ghosts? Follow-up question: What's the most supernatural experience you've ever had?

To the first question: yes.

To the follow-up: I can't think of any specifics, but certainly there've been cases where things just haven't seemed right, or just so, or so-called "natural." I can't say that I'd really like to have a supernatural experience, because I'd probably be freaked the fuck out, but on the other hand, if I were to see some spirit, I'd probably feel quite vindicated.

& so but the thing that I always think of when I think of ghosts is this show we saw on some Discovery-channel special about a ghost in the Leap Castle in Ireland, called the Elemental, which is apparently the most evil ghost/spirit in the world, or something?

Honestly, the strangest thing about the Elemental is that, in the video footage--which is, admittedly, not actual video footage, but rather recreations of same--it looks like a little dog. It's all low to the ground, shuffling around, like a terrier, even, just following someone around. Kind of sad-looking, really.

Apparently I'm a closet Australian.

I took this quiz, & here are the results: [1]

Which country should you REALLY be living in?

Australia

G'day Mate! You're a yokker. A true Aussie. You love the beach and barbies, as well as sport and sex. Life couldn't get any simpler, and thats the way it should be. C'mon Aussie, C'mon!

In case you're interested in also ending up Aussie, when answering the quiz focus on beaches & alcohol. Part of me would've preferred Spain--because at least it's somewhat fucking close to something other than New Zealand--but I can happily live with & in Australia. [2]

[1] Yeah, so--I can't actually paste the results in to Comet, so instead I just copied the text & uploaded the Australia image. Not ideal, but it worked.

[2] Though I am a bit concerned about all of the deadly things in Australia.

Best badguy ever.

Groundhog Day

I should think Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

He's not perhaps what you'd think of as the typical movie villain, granted, but in so far as comedies go, he's a fairly real villain. I like it when he punches Ned in the face.

&, of course, he's got a happy ending (spoiler!).

"Memory wastes..."

This news makes me very sad: Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens has died at just 48 years old. The Go-Betweens message boards remember & reminisce.

I spent much of 2004, 2005, & 2006 getting quite into the Go-Betweens. I fell late, as I do often, but I fell rather hard, & I honestly feel as though they've marked some of the more significant memories of my recent years. 16 Lovers Lane is one of my favorite albums, ever: perfect, gorgeous, lovelorn pop music.

That Striped Sunlight Sound

Just a couple of months ago, after watching the concert captured on That Striped Sunlight Sound I wrote a bit about the warmth of their live shows, which came through even on DVD.

Of course, the music blogs have responded in kind to the news by posting loads of Go-Betweens music. Some of my favorites Grant tunes:

• "Cattle and Cane"
• "Love Goes On!"
• "Bye Bye Pride"

And, one of my absolute favorites (though this is a Robert Forster tune):

• "Dive For Your Memory"

Grant will be very missed.

"Now it's your turn to cry..."

As part of some online magazine subscription service we recently received a two-month-old issue of Esquire, which contained their "Best Song in the World" [1] poll.

It's structured as an NCAA-style single-elimination, complete with brackets, &c. and contains 32 songs at the outer level, which filter down to 1 Best Song.

Chocolate Factory

What it doesn't contain, however, are the actual best songs of the 21st century.

& they are: Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" and R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)". So I'm sorry to all of the people who've responded to the Esquire poll, but you voted for the wrong songs. You lose!

[1] "Best Song in the World" is a bit broad--what they're actually looking at is best song in the 21st century. And even then, that's rather broad, because it's really best single, and then, probably best single pre-selected from a group of very highly-selling singles in mainstream pop/rock/hip-hop.

Better on the Big Screen

This is admittedly somewhat tough, & I'm really not certain about my decision, as I'm so used to watching it at home now that it might be somewhat odd to watch it on a big screen [1], but: The Godfather Part II.

The Godfather, Part II

I've written about how much I love it before, and every time it's on television, or every time we watch it on DVD, I'm reminded of how great it is, because it's just so depressing & dark & brilliant. So I'd love to see it on the big screen.

[1] Not to mention surrounded by a bunch of people, which I assume is part of the unspoken downside of watching a movie on a big screen, yes? & but The Godfather Part II is tough here, because it seems to me to be something so much better experienced surrounded by close family or friends, or even alone, rather than by a bunch of strangers.