We finished watching Veronica Mars season 3 over the weekend.

Consensus seemed to be that it dropped off from the first two seasons, and that it was screwed over by the network.

Still, it was pretty enjoyable. It's also nice that this DVD package was quite generous with commentary clips and things compared to the earlier packages.

I guess the biggest deal in many ways is the Season 4 pitch (fast forward 5 years to VM in the FBI).

It's pretty impressive that the presentation was as good as it was on apparently 12 days from conception to production.

I think I'm ok that the show is over after seeing the pitch, as I would tend to think that everyone who was annoyed with season 3 would just be more annoyed by this potential season 4. It seems like stuff would be retread (the pilot presentation sets up uncomfortable romance stuff that was done already) and we'd be hanging on for the inevitable and inevitably disappointing "Special visits" from characters from earlier seasons....

Here's youtube of part of the presentation...

Not impressed with the new music for Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Not an upgrade.

Second best birthday present this year was a copy of The Wall by Peter Sis. It's perfect for someone like me. Not sure about how much mass kid appeal there is for a Cold War quasi graphic memoir/journal/picture book. It's in the regular picture book format...the cover image you see online is a bit misleading as it makes the dust jacket not look quite so much like a dust jacket. I wonder if a more grownup looking format (smaller, softcover) would actually have more appeal... and reach a bigger audience.

I haven't read too many books to kids so far this year. Typically slow start and cleanup/tech fixing to be done. Did the Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider combo, which was well received. (Need to get Diary of a Fly) Also a few back to school books, pretty well mixed into the goodreads right now. I managed to read Fireboat and The Man Who Walked Between the Towers out loud this year for the first time. I liked them enough for what they were when they came out, but this was the first year I felt ready to really present them. Man Between the Towers led me to this video, which I transferred using zamzar (presented at a work conference last spring despite its questionable legality...but is useful). It's a nice Ric Burns clip. There's also an animated version of Man Between the Towers narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal.

Also goodreads noticers will have noticed a bunch of recent comic book reading. Identity Crisis certainly the best I've read in a while. Justice league but not for kids. So for me, basically.

I also got a new computer and portable music listening device so the emusic subscription is proving useful and I'm listening to more music on the commute than I had in a while. I'm liking the new Okkervil River well enough. Also the new Caribou is good, and I recently added the Oakley Hall and Beirut so I guess I'll have opinions on those later.

I rewatched the first two years of Veronica Mars over the last month. It held up pretty well to repeat viewing, and M. enjoyed watching it for the first time. I didn't really pay attention to the show when it was on tv, so I guess I'll pick up the suposedly-not-as-good final season when it comes out.

In other news, a 7 year old came into school today with a Tupac patch pinned to his backpack in the style of Kurt Cobain mourners circa 1994.

HARP Magazine talks to Bill Callahan

The Village Voice saw St. Vincent. I downloaded the album from emusic, but need to let it settle for a bit longer before deciding if I like it.

Here's an Mp3: Now Now

HARP Magazine on cover songs

This Cover Browser site lets you see a whole bunch of Question covers, for example. Neat...

Prefix has a Fiery Furnace new song for streaming

Chris Noth can't keep a partner on law and order.

MP3s from subpop:
Tiny Vipers : On this Side

The Brunettes: Small Town Crew

Iron and Wine: boy with a coin

crime show news:
Jack McCoy gets a ‘Law & Order’ promotion - TV DRAMA - MSNBC.com

rumor:

Wolf, by the way, is still searching for an actor to play the assistant district attorney role on “Law & Order” since moving Sam Waterston’s Jack McCoy to DA.

Sources tell me a deal was almost cut with “West Wing” actor Bradley Whitford, who’s free now that “Studio 60 on Sunset Strip” has been buried at sea. But the Wolf budget may not be big enough for the L.A.-based star.

Veronica Mars seems to be almost definitely done, despite candy bar protests.
Seems to be a bit complicated:

Why Snickers Almond Bars you ask? Mars (the company) stopped making U.S. Mars Bars a few years ago and later changed its name to Snickers Almond. So because we've bought out all the available Mars Bars in the U.S.A., we switched to Snickers Almond.

Apparently VM might become a comic book.

I thought this was an OK idea a few months ago. I think that it would have been a smoother transition to comic land had this last "at college" season never happened on TV. That way the characters could continue in college indefinitely, and it would kind of be ok. I'm not that excited by the college setting/characters to really follow three more years of VM in college via comics.

I watched the first two seasons on DVD just this past year, and I think that's the way to appreciate this show. I've watched some of the current season, but the season long arc was abandoned and the college setting/character transitions seemed to weaken the show, although it has still been enjoyable enough. I'm not sure the fast forward thing was ever really going to happen, as the seemingly necessary loss of the Dad character would seem to mess up one of the primary things the show had going for it.

I suppose my question now regarding Veronica Mars on TV is: What exactly was Rob Thomas planning for when he set the show up with high school juniors? A two year show, if that? They didn't try and stretch out high school over more than two seasons... Probably, he didn't expect the show to be around in three years, I guess. What show has really done a good transition to college/adulthood?

more crime show for me to watch

Here's a summer music festival article in the NY Times.
At Mccarren park pool:

JellyNYC has booked nine Sundays this summer, and though the dates have not been announced, the bands are to include Illinois, I’m From Barcelona, Man Man, Dengue Fever, Blonde Redhead, Ted Leo and the Thermals

The River to River festival:

The offerings in its sixth year are vast, from the must-see hipster series at South Street Seaport (the National, Camera Obscura, Menomena, Fujiya & Miyagi, Animal Collective, Battles) to the aging-hipster lineup at Castle Clinton (Ron Sexsmith, Roky Erickson and Alejandro Escovedo, Drive-By Truckers). The New Pornographers play the Battery Park Lawn on July 4; Spoon is in Battery Park City on July 11.

Summerstage:

The full season has not yet been announced, but among the free shows are Cassandra Wilson (June 15); Television with Dragons of Zynth (June 16); Neko Case and Eric Bachman (July 20)

The Celebrate Brooklyn schedule is up.

I didn't see any Spiegeltent shows last summer, but the list for this year's shows is out now.
Sort of intriguing but pricy shows including Badly Drawn Boy, O Death, etc.

Here's an article about Robyn Hitchcock.

Craig Finn has a piece in the Guardian:

October 1984 found

me 13 years old and drudging away in the eighth grade at Valley View junior high school in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb just outside Minneapolis. Valley View was a terrible place, designed to let seventh, eighth, and ninth graders sit and spin while they waited out puberty. The teachers were often the trophy-winning athletics coaches from the adjoining Edina senior high school, a sports powerhouse. Most classes began with the lights shutting off, followed by the hum of a film projector, and a movie that may or may not have anything to do with the ostensible subject of the class. In the hallway, the small and bespectacled of us moved hurriedly between classes, avoiding the eyes of the bullies and the jocks who seemed to only love two things in life: sadistic acts of terror and spitting.

Here's an interview with Finn about baseball

Here's an article about Miranda July
Apparently, George Saunders coined the term "July-esque," which I'm sure is both flattering and uncomfortable. He described it as "infused with wonder at the things of the world."

That interview doesn't really make me want to read the collection, though.


Apparently Law and Order might make new episodes for TNT

Law and Order and/or Criminal Intent might die.

Crime Shows’ Last Verdict? These Are Their Stories - New York Times

a bunch of stuff

soccer news:

Rapidman might live on after all.

These articles mention Colorado Rapids' "partnership" with Arsenal. The name Rapids hasn't disappeared yet. Considering the team announced new colors and has put pictures of new uniforms on their website, it would seem pretty silly to rename the team now. Of course, the URL arsenalcolorado.com points to what is now the Rapids site...so who knows.

books:

Here's the New York Review of Books on the last H. Murakami story collection. (via BCR) Amazon is taking preorders for his new novel (via largehearted)

J. Patrick Lewis reviews Jack Prelutsky in the NY Times

The SU paper covers George Saunders, making note of his genius status.

Michael Chabon answers readers' questions in the NY Times magazine

crimeshow:

How Law and Order rips off the headlines

music:

Here's an article on Yo La Tengo; I wish they would come play a local show. There was just a Jersey City show last fall...

Law and Order's anti-business bias exposed

Related: the new opening sequences of Criminal Intent really bother me. The new style also fails to impress.

Here's an article about Jennifer O'Connor
and here she is sortof promoting ford cars

Here's an article about the Broken West.

S Jobs on drm

Apples in Stereo album player

Covering Multiple Modalities

Ears

The headline in this article doesn't refer to Antony as Antony...how rare.

here is a brief interview with the Decemberists, who we see on Tuesday.

Predictably, the Animal Collective listens to some obscure stuff (and the Silver Jews)

There was a David Berman appearance a few days ago that sounds interesting.

Eyes

Here is a good article on "authors who read books before they should have".

George Saunders:

"If you're that scared, that's a powerful thing and that proves that words have power . . . and if a work of art is good, and allows kids to confront these fearsome things, then when real evil or bad luck comes at you, you have a kind of scale model with which you can deal with it. You can look at yourself as a part of this long tradition of people who've faced evil or hardships. But to pretend that a kid of four or five has no idea of evil...I was much more aware of good and evil when I was that age...and I think it is more of a disservice when you tell a kid that the premonitions of evil that she has are made up, that they don't exist."

The Seattle Times reviews the Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil

Paul Auster goes on about the struggle of writing

Ears and Eyes

The NY Times says that SVU is now the most popular 'Law & Order'

A bunch of links regarding the Squid and the Whale, which I hope to see.

According to this review, The Squid and the Whale is "about three-fourths of one of the greatest films you will ever see."

New York Daily News - Entertainment - Meet the divorcees So the Squid and the Whale is autobiographical. Not so surprising, I suppose.

But for me, the news here is that Fantastic Mr. Fox is stop-motion (not just animated). That is neat...

Newsweek has some pseudo math breaking down Squid and Whale

Jim Jarmusch doesn't like being called quirky

Wired News: Dave McKean Works Digital Magic

Legs

So yesterday I went through a Corn Maze for the first time. It wasn't super impressive, and the two little girls who ran through it showing us where everything was somewhat ruined the effect. But apparently this is a big thing...here is a website for a whole tour of things.

Missing Michael Keaton

So we saw Batman Begins. I thought it was pretty good, which is better than just good. It mostly held my attention, although there were several things wrong with it. First, the positives. The old famous actors were good. The DA character was very obviously modeled on Sam Waterston's Law & Order character, in haircut and mannerisms. The Sergeant Gordon moustache was neat.

The negatives: Katie Holmes looked like she was 12 and I couldn't believe in her as a DA. The Crane/Scarecrow guy also looked like he was 12 years old. The League of Shadows concept was (I think) a not-great idea that got over-conceptualized by the writers until they thought it was a good idea. It reminded me of those Escapist comic books thought up by Michael Chabon. Some degree of interest but forced into existence and over nurtured with pseudo intellectualism that ultimately is just frustrating.

I missed Michael Keaton, who I think was better as Batman under the suit than Christian Bale. I could hardly stand the way Bale sounded when he talked as Batman. It was as if his IQ took a 50 point hit when he put on the pointy ears.

There was also not much fun in the movie. I think the Tim Burton movies lost some degree of cool points after the bad Batman movies (the ones with Jim Carrey and Schwarzenegger) came out, even though TB was not responsible for those.

This movie was made for people who had seen the old batch of movies, and in some ways it was an improvement. When I think of the 10 or 11 year olds who will see this, howver, I think the pseudo-sophistication will just confuse them.

So anyway, see it if you want to. It is pretty long, but kind of interesting to compare to the old ones. You can also spend a lot of time on wikipedia trying to sort bits of it out.

Batman Begins on wikipedia
IMDB page
official movie webpage

ready to be un-sick

A Rapper Renounces His Rocks - New York Times Good for Kanye. I saw a Law & Order episode once that has convinced me that diamonds are essentially not good, given the circumstances of their harvesting and trade.

Also, in the NYTimes, a lament over Dave Foley's career. But I liked News Radio.

Remember how the Smashing Pumpkins, they had no function? Someone has decided to compare/contrast the Malkmus solo albums.

A review of Lethem's The Disappointment Artist calls the cover "winning", though my girlfriend finds the melting ice cream stick gross.

An article about eels

What is the law and order sound?

Tom Shales in the Washington Post says "Plink-Plunk."
The South Bend Tribune says "Ba-bing!"
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette says "doinkdoink"
The Pittsburg Post Gazette can't decide whether it is "chung-chung" “bong-bong"
The Boston Herald says "ching-ching"
CNN says "Chik-chok!"
The NY Times says "Cha chang!"

I saw most of the first couple episodes of the Trial by Jury spinoff. It seems pretty good to me.

Law and Order Consulting Shrink Messes Up a Real Trial

The New York Times > Arts > Television > Even for an Expert, Blurred TV Images Became a False Reality

Fairly strange.

R.I.P. Jerry Orbach

Jerry Orbach died a few days ago

Jerry Orbach was very very good on Law and Order. I had just read that he was going to be on a new spinoff. I think my appreciation of Law and Order is severely heightened by the fact that the shows are made in New York City. Tomorrow TNT will be showing a million episodes of Law and Order, so if you want to, tune in.

My impression now

Last night we saw Guided by Voices and Chavez at Irving Plaza. Chavez was pretty exciting for all the boys in attendance. Boys like their math rock. GBV is on their "final tour", and this show felt a bit like an endurance session (we ended up leaving about 2 hrs, 15 min into the show.) I'm a bit sorry I missed some of the hits (Cutout witch, motor away, full setlist here) but it was a good time. GBV is known for live sloppiness but then every few songs they pull out something really good.

Here's the lego version of the bible. There are helpful ratings, too. The Christmas story is rated N for Nudity and V for Violence.

The holidays are upon us. Here is a trackstar exercise I made quickly. Quick links to fun: spin the dreidel, dress the snowman.

Jens Lekman is giving away some songs for the holidays. Click over here.

A copy of Soma magazine turned up in my mailbox. It's got some interesting photographs in it. If you know how it got there (I don't remember subscribing) let me know. Thanks.

Idiot of the day: Gerald Allen.

In other news, I miss Law and Order: CI on Sunday nights. This holiday programming nonsense needs to stop.

I hope he's ok

Vincent D'Onofrio faints after rehearsal in New York

an update

I have been delinquint in posting to this weblog for a while. In the meantime, here are some things that happened/are happening.

I have been writing a paper about the Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning and their relationship to the standards movement and their implications on instructional theory for student research. Also I've been wrestling with the APA style manual.

I purchased some cd's, including a Vic Chesnutt reissue, the Rogue Wave, Brian Wilson's Smile, the new Interpol, the new Talib Kweli and a Polyphonic Spree cd that I maybe shouldn't have. A lot of those were used, so I hopefully I haven't been too wasteful.

My bank switched from being Fleet to being Bank of America. I don't like the new color scheme.

I am enjoying new episodes of Law and Order: Criminal Intent as well as watching the episodes on the dvd set I got for my birthday.

We saw the Huckabees movie on Saturday. I thought it was much better than the Eternal Sunshine movie, which I relate it to because they are vaguely similar.

I fell asleep during the debate on Friday. I couldn't be bothered to read the whole NY Times magazine article about Kerry. There is however a new ditty urging people to vote by Chris Stamey with Yo La Tengo.

I will try to catch up and put some of those fun hyperlinks in later.

Vincent D'Onofrio is very smart

I watched Law and Order: Criminal Intent tonight. It is the only Law and Order series that I like. The reason I like it is this: Vincent D'Onofrio is very smart. Tonight he worked out this whole thing having to do with horses and heroin and fertility drugs. He was also good in the movie Steal this Movie, in which he did not play Vincent D'Onofrio but instead played Abbie Hoffman. Incidentally, in Rick Moody's Garden State, which I finished a while ago, there is reference to a band named D'Onofrio. I hope that Vincent D'Onofrio considers this a tribute, even though any correlation is highly doubtful.