So yeah, I thought it would be important for my mom to know what I’m listening to, because after all, a sermon once said it was important. Thus, a list of my current tunes. The Group or Performer is in bold, and the Album Name is italic. I hope no one minds italic.

Belle and Sebastian, Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Chevelle, Wonder What’s Next
Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlantacism
Dido, No Angel, and Life for Rent
Jars of Clay, Much Afraid
Jimmy Eat World, Bleed American
Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand
Lauryn Hill, Unplugged
Modest Mouse, Good News for People Who Love Bad News, and The Moon and Antartica
Norah Jones, Come Away With Me, and Feels Like Home
Sonic Youth, Sonic Nurse, and Expirimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star
Turin Brakes, Ether Song
Wilco, A Ghost is Born

As it turns out, I’ve also watched a movie or two lately. I will provide commentary.

Bend it Like Beckham. A very good movie if you ignore the continuation of institutional rebellion as presented. Basically a young Sihk teen goes against her parents wishes and become a footballer (which for all you Americans is soccer player), while her older sister is about to be married to the handsome son of a wealthy Sihk family. She eventually falls in love with her soccer coach, inspiring the jealousy of one of her football friends. It’s a good movie regardless of its faults. It’s sort of a cheap version of Fiddler on the Roof. Nothing rememberable, but a pleasant watch. 7.6 out of 10

The Princess Diaries. Okay, it has Julie Andrews. Otherwise, a cutsie fairy-tale for pre-adolescant girls. 6.5 out of 10

The Punisher. A stupid, stupid, stupid revenge flick about a guy who kills the people who killed his wife and kid. Based on a comicbook. Sucks in a major way. Was a punishment to watch, really. 2.3 out of 10

Elephant. Gus Van Sant’s films are typically very gentle with their male protagonists. Elephant, a film about a Columbine-like shooting, does the stars (unknowns Gus Van Sant picked from a high school somewhere in California, I believe) the same justice. It offers no morality or explainations of why two boys would do something like that, content instead to merely record the lives of those involved. In that way, it’s strikingly different from just about every other Hollywood film that deals with a similar problem. Excellent film, and a strangely moving ending. 8.3 of 10.

Spirited Away. Japanese animation hasn’t fallen into the same computer-animated rut American animation houses have died of. Spirited Away is an Alice in Wonderland-ish tale of a girl caught in a strange and wonderful world. Nonstop images and action that puts Disney’s Alice to shame. 8.5 of 10

And that’s it, folks. Have a good day.

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