i spent a long time this afternoon staring at this cool photo that features 75 band references. if you keep staring at it, you get more and more. it's awesome fun. don't look at the answers until you absolutely have to.

love is a molecule.

rhett miller at joe's pub. something was missing here. not enough banter or charm. i miss the casual fez days. he played a bunch of "new" songs off his upcoming second solo album, "the believer," including "singular girl" (hey, that's not new) and "question" -- in french! that was really not necessary. (early blog buzz on the record is not good, with the reviewer "troubled by some of the bombastic, overly compressed production and a few of the silly, epic songs." i should say so. that first song is awful -- and WHY re-record singular girl, rhett, why?) good outfit, though. i proceeded to get drunk and go on a date with a man i met on the internet. he was/is 45 and very hot. how about that!

thanksgiving. when my dad picked me up at the train station, he asked me, "what do you think of thanksgiving?" and i said, "it's boring." he laughed and said that janet suspected that it must be more important to us kids than to them (british), as if steve and paul and i have some deep connection to the pilgrims because we were born on american soil. not really, folks, though i do enjoy eating turkey and passing out. especially because, as a child of divorced parents, i get to do it twice. here is a funny video of my dad grappling with a parsnip (aka "swede"). on sunday i ate my mom's awesome turkey/noodle/broccoli/cheese/gravy concoction and bought two new pairs of pants at the freehold raceway mall. really, i love thanksgiving. also: long live springsteen! i discovered this weekend that my brothers harbor a deep, intense hatred of the man at odds with my recent fascination with his music, itself a curious development after a lifetime of jersey-bred indifference. weird.

walk the line. this movie's movieness is so strong, you'll never, ever be able to forget you're watching a movie. it's heavy-handed and melodramatic in just about every scene. way to go, hollywood. joaquin phoenix is very hot, however, and his performance is perfectly fine.

the ice harvest. has its moments, but also mostly lame. even perennially hot billy bob cannot save it. i don't know why all the comparisons to "bad santa" -- rent that instead. billy bob is much hotter in that, anyway.

a history of violence. sometimes i see movies that are good. this i saw a while ago, but i feel it is so good, it should be on the record as pita-approved. it is absolutely all about violence, where it lurks and our reactions to it. you'll be surprised at how much you laugh, and then you'll wonder why you did. extremely well-crafted movie. one of the best i've seen this year, and one i'm still thinking about.

giant drag and the comas at pianos last sunday. fucking a-class rock, y'all. both of 'em, but especially giant drag, who reminded me of p.j. harvey and the breeders and, as fluxblog noted, the 90s in general. the singer chick, who talks in a cracked-out baby voice, is exactly as crazy as her blog suggests. more so, really. she was hilarious. go see them if you get the chance.

two gallants' new album, "what the toll tells." it was guarded with the utmost of seriousness by publicist and blogger friend alike, but in the end p2p won the day (surprise, surprise), and i heard it. the man cannot and will not keep me down! i'm not sure it's as good as their debut, but i'm reserving full judgment for now. plus there are some definite keepers, like this stomping first single, "las cruces jail."

the hold steady acoustic thang. sweet.

the magic numbers at a packed mercury lounge last night. they were excellent. their happy indiepop was a little grateful deadish at times, i thought. they also covered beyonce's "crazy in love," which was hilarious and unexpected and great. two thumbs up.

i heralded friday's party at my house, on the brilliant evite, as Return of the Party, because it had been a long time, probably about a year, since the last one. we're known for having good parties at my house, and we did it up right this time as well. wall-to-wall people dancing and getting stupid, hooking up and getting down. with kurt out of the picture it was easily the most heterosexual party we've ever had, and also the rockingest. no cops came; nothing major got broken or stolen (despite a brief ipod scare); people were making out all over the place; everyone loved the beer-based punch. total unadulterated success. i wish i could say more about the shenanigans, but people, my parents read this website. yeah, it was that kinda party. i may have some more donated pictures later, so stay tuned. update: thanks betsy!

a friend of harry's took some really great photos with a clearly very expensive camera.

1. the hold steady.
2. two gallants.
3. wolf parade. blood on the wall: a perfect, thrilling blend of sonic youth and the pixies. everyone needs to hear "awesomer." (note: i could put at least three other bands here easily.)
4. the strokes: the new (leaked) songs off "first impressions of earth" bring a life and vitality and a joie de rock that is impossible to resist. i am only slightly embarrassed to admit that "you only live once" and "the other side" are among the most exciting songs i've heard all year.
5. ryan adams.
6. oneida: made one of the most interesting, ambitious records of the year in "the wedding," which expanded their heavy psych-rock sound to include a whole lot more melody than usual. extra points for using a giant homemade music box to do it.
7. sleater-kinney.
8. devendra banhart.
9. spoon.
10. john vanderslice.

looks like BV went totally insane in the membrane with his list. not that there's anything wrong with that....

santas, start your engines: for anyone who is interested in participating in santacon this year, the date has been released. december 10, merriment will commence. no spectators. go "ho" or go home.

big scoop for billboard on the latest bob pollard news, if by "the latest" i mean "last week's." it's probably already obsolete. he's recorded a follow-up to the double album that hasn't yet been released on merge, and there are various other albums in the works. see? you just can't keep up. important info, though: he will tour starting in january. best quote: "I don't think it will be much different than a Guided By Voices show," Pollard says. "I don't know how else to do it. It's not going to be me sitting at the piano with a spotlight on me. I'll get drunk, come out and stumble around!" and he will play gbv tunes. rock!

(related: what the F am i going to do for new year's eve??)

i would now like to call for a boycott of iggy's. i have long enjoyed it for its dumpiness, happy-hour specials, and jukebox containing betsy's mix cd from three years ago, when the bartenders were friendly and cute. yesterday i had a most unpleasant experience in there. vanessa and i went in there, enticed by the "2 for 1" sign outside, ordered our drinks, and each received a playing card, presumably to be redeemed for our freebies. when i was ready for my next one, i offered my card and asked for another. this big dumb german (what is a german doing working in an irish pub anyway?) was like "it's two cards for the free drink." i was all, "that's a really weird definition of 2 for 1." and then he got completely confrontational with me! "well you're the only one who doesn't get it! what, you think you get a free beer for one beer? maybe in india where they're 25 cents!" um...okay. i tried to explain it logically: "usually 2 for 1 means 2 drinks for the price of 1. what you're giving me is 3 for 2." he sputtered incomprehensibly and kept challenging me in a really hostile manner until i told him to forget it and gave him vanessa's and my cards. he then went down to the end of the bar and laughed about it with his friends. no tip for you, dick. so be advised, people: DO NOT GO TO IGGY'S. hello, local 138!

::: Black Eyed Peas, "My Humps" ::: i haven't yet started working on my party playlist (email me if your invite got lost in the email, or if you have any must-hears), but i am positive this song is going to be on it. betsy played it for me last week (prompting move-busting). it's about butts, and i think if history has taught us one thing it's that there are no bad songs about butts.

it's pretty safe to say that i had an almost magically great weekend. the full report: friday night i went to see tom vek and reached concert nirvana multiple times even though he's sorta the ricky martin of indie rock. saturday betsy flounced into town and we went shopping in nolita, where i purchased a really fabulous cuff bracelet made out of a record. then we had asian tapas at kuma inn, many drinks at fat baby, and finally some jim beam and tater tots (mmm) at home with taylor and his 17-year-old punktastic friend. sunday we lurched out of bed and down to 4th avenue in brooklyn for the marathon, posting ourselves outside of a party house blaring things like "born to run" and "twist and shout." the marathon made us very verklempt; i will now go every year to feel the overwhelming positivity and yell for people named hamish and claudio and tizzy. we then shopped park slope, and i spent too much money on things like a cute black-and-white striped dress, tiny cute figurines, funky yellow fabric, and cute little figurines. so much cuteness! have you heard of this "brooklyn"? it's kind of cool. we also visited dave eggers's superhero store, where i recited the vow of heroism before making my purchase. so hilarious. and then last night we ran in the rain over to cake shop, where may or may not totally killed. such shiny happy pop, they even got me to clap along to their audience-participation song, in which the name "CATHERINE" figures prominently. i have never heard a good catherine song! she goes out every night and is never wrong, apparently. so fun. you can stream the demo of it on their myspace page; it's the one called "work by nine." graham smith was awesome, too, all quirky and funny and rockin'. i sat on the comfy couch and laughed a lot with tamar and matt and michelle and various denizens of the midwest. sometimes i love cake shop. and that's pretty much the end of my report.

i would now like to give public props to the listman at knitting factory. i showed up for the mountain goats show on monday sans ticket, thinking mine was at will-call. faced with the indignity of not being on the list, i stepped aside to think and confer with my peeps. a few minutes later, i decided to make an honest plea, with perhaps some less-honest eyelash-batting thrown in for good measure, and hope for the best. so i approach this longhair and i'm all, "hi, i know i ordered a ticket, it was probably a paper ticket, but if there's anything you can do for me so i don't have to go home and come back i'd really appreciate it"...somewhere in there i realize to my horror (and also, let's face it, amusement) that the dude is in the middle of blowing his nose while he is listening to my spiel. what keen timing on my part! he also appears to be blowing his nose _very slowly_ so he can still hear what i am saying. so awesome. anyway, dumb story short, i got in. thank you longhaired listkeep! and though i have been skeptical of the bleating mountain goats in the past, i found myself sort of rapt during their set, open-mouthed and hanging on every word. pretty amazing show.

real church signs.

::: Aqueduct, "Growing Up With G'N'R" ::: i didn't dig on this song too much when brian first sent it to me, though i really wanted to, having, in fact, grown up with GNR. now i love it. the dude's voice is so rich and awesome, even when it comes slightly unhinged, and there are so many changes in the song that it takes a few listens to digest it. i've listened to it like eight times today.

::: Baby Dayliner, "Raid!" ::: this is another one i can't stop listening to. can't get enough of the lo-fi synth-y goodness. think magnetic fields crossed with, maybe, beck. he's playing at the mercury lounge on saturday.