In one of the comments, Phil asked me for Oscar predictions. I’m not sure why, considering I lose those Oscar pools every year. I haven’t seen everything nominated (I never do), but I’d assume Million Dollar Baby will be taking home everything it’s got nominated for. I thought it was good even though it feels more and more like a movie of the week in my memory. My opinion aside, it’s the kind of movie Academy voters just lap up, made by a guy the Academy loves.

The only reason to watch the Oscars this year will be to watch Chris Rock insult all of Hollywood.

If anyone wants toss in their predictions in the comments, feel free.

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Anyone interested in the Colin Meloy solo show should click here to download the full show from Schuba’s in Chicago. There’s individual MP3s as well as an RAR of all the songs. Fun Fun Fun!

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1) Romantic Rights – You’re A Woman, I’m a Machine – Death From Above 1979

With just a drummer and a bassist, DFA1979 sounds a like Lightning Bolt if they decided to be a disco band. It works, although if I go a year without hearing hyperactive hihats, it will not be long enough.

2) Frug – Initial Friend EP – Rilo Kiley

The first song from the first Rilo Kiley ep is so cute it’s almost a novelty track. For the record: I cannot do the frug, freddy or smurf, but I can do the robocop.

3) This Isn’t It – Lemona – Giant Drag

I’ve heard Annie Hardy throws a fit if you compare her to Kim Deal… so I won’t.

4) Everyone Comes Here – Demo EP – Vagenius

With a keytar and high spiky hair, I think Vagenius might be too 80′s at times. This track is vaguely Metric-ish, and suitably nails down the LA dream: “I want to be a star, like my friends all are.”

5) All Grown Up – Bespoke Songs, Lost Dogs, Detours and Rendesvouz – Tasmin Archer

Elvis Costello’s songwriting sometimes outstrips his vocal talent, so it’s nice to hear someone like Tasmin Archer give a torchy reading to some of Costello’s greatest lines. “You see, you’re still so young / you haven’t the earned the weariness / that sounds so jaded on your tongue.”

6) Humming One of Your Songs – Independent Sweden – Ane Brun

This was one of Duffy’s picks when we did our joint podcast. It’s a tad repetitive but it does have a creepy knack for getting in my head.

7) Eli, The Barrow Boy – Picaresque – The Decemberists

Eli’s the track that connects the Decemberists in my head to the early southern gothic tunes of R.E.M. It’s sort of a combo of Wendell Gee and Swan Swan H, except that you can understand the words.

8) Intervention – Morning Becomes Eclectic – The Arcade Fire

Since this was performed on MBE, it’s acoustic and spare… I’d imagine the eventual album version to have that built-up wall of noise that the Arcade Fire has done so well.

9) Jack the Ripper – Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey – Colin Meloy

The admittedly self-indulgent “Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey” EP plays better than you would think. I’ve never even heard the original, but at the solo show, Meloy’s reading of “Your face is as mean / as your life has been” just reached out and slapped me.

10) Don’t Wanna Be Like That – I’m the Man – Joe Jackson

I will occassionally feel the need to listen to Joe Jackson. Early Joe Jackson though. Only.

11) Get Over You – The Undertones – The Undertones

The next four songs are all cut from the same cloth. Short. Poppy. Catchy. Did I mention short? Part 1.

12) A Stare Like Yours – Fuckin’ A – The Thermals

Part 2.

13) Modern Kicks – Guitar Romantic – The Exploding Hearts

Part 3.

14) Southern Girls – Sweet Revenge – The Bangs

Part 4.

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When Colin Meloy played a pair of solo acoustic shows at the Hotel Cafe, it really wasn’t much of a stretch. While his main success is with the motley crue known as the Decemberists, his lonely early days in the Pacific Northwest consisted mostly of solo shows like these, in pretty much any venue he could book. After recording Castaways and Cutouts it was a solo acoustic set at a local showcase where Slim Moon signed him up on KillRockStars. Even today, at the beginning of each Decemberists encore, Meloy will return to the stage by himself to toss off a cover and a reading of “Red Right Ankle” before the rest of the band shows up.

The Hotel Cafe, once you cut out the bar and kitchen and stage, is about the size of my living room. Intimate doesn’t even really begin to describe it. Only about fifty people were allowed into the small venue, with a good chunk of folks being turned away at the door. You could tell Meloy was comfortable in this sort of environment, casually joking with the audience and telling background information to each song as if it were an episode of VH1 Storytellers.

He started with a trio of songs from the self-published 5 Songs EP, playing “Shiny,” “My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist,” and “Apology Song” in a straight run. The latter two garnered giggles and laughs from the audience. The arrangement for “Chinese Trapeze Artist” is so maudlin it’s easy to forget it’s completely ridiculous with its references to acrobats and spies and whorehouses and South Carolinian punk rockers. “Apology Song” is more obviously comedic, and was the first of many joyous singalongs of the evening.

Meloy’s also played a pair of songs from his tour only EP of Morrissey covers, the cleverly titled Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey EP. Before he started, he asked if Stephen Patrick Morrissey was in the audience, and requested the audience not to mention the EP to Mr. Morrissey if we ever ran into him at the supermarket. Why? “I don’t want to get sued,” Meloy deadpanned. “Sister, I’m a Poet” was punchy and cute and his version of “Jack The Ripper” sounded amazing on the twelve string.

He also played a fair share of songs from Picaresque, which he reminded us “comes out on March 22nd, FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DON’T ALREADY HAVE IT.” He jokingly chided one guy who cheered a bit too much for the opening chords of “The Sporting Life,” snapping “Who was that? You owe me $10! You can pay me after the show.” He also rolled off the haunting “Eli the Barrow Boy,” and the whimsical B-side “Bandit Queen,” a song that didn’t make it on to Picaresque because “every take was ruined by a ridiculous tap dance solo.”

The singalongs continued with the more familiar tracks, including the audience romping through “Cautionary Song,” and navigating the tongue twisting feniculas and unique New Yorks of “Myla Goldberg.” The biggest response, of course, came from the biting “Los Angeles, I’m Yours.” The audience was elated not only to sing along, but to supply a perfect replication of Jenny Conlee’s keyboard and melodica solos. At least, as perfect as 50 off key motherfuckers trying to sing a melodica part can be. Meloy admitted “I’m always afraid of playing that here and catching a can to the head.” “It’s OK, we feel the same way. We hate it here,” was the only response from the crowd. OH HOW AMUSING SELF LOATHING CAN BE.

The main set concluded with a startling rendition of “California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade,” a song I never imagined could be performed solo. Meloy went at it full speed, playing every note of the ten minute marathon, including an instrumental bridge where he once again dropped the open note runs of R.E.M.’s “7 Chinese Brothers” and a few notes of the Replacement’s “Can’t Hardly Wait” as well. The encore came with traditional performances of “Grace Cathedral Hill” and “Red Right Ankle” before finally closing with a slowed down performance of Cheap Trick’s “Southern Girls.”

The performance was a real revelation to me, as good as any Decemberist show I’ve seen. I never felt like the songs were ever missing anything, as if these arrangements intended all along. The audience was as spellbound as any I’ve been in, a bookish and nerdy version of those zombified Dashboard crowds, hanging on each each awkward over-enunciated word and each couplet of purple poetry. It was absolutely magic, and as much as I love Crutchy McGee and the rest of the Decemberists, it’s pretty clear that Meloy is the Franchise. I don’t know how common these shows will be for the rest of Meloy’s career, but whore yourself or murder if necessary if he ever tours like this again.

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When I first heard they were remaking The Office for American television. I was aghast, as these things never go well. News about it had died down, and I just assumed it had died an appropriate death. OH NO. The show will begin airing on March 22nd and a poor quality WMV of the pilot was posted on Metafilter.

And boy howdy, it is no good.

The pilot is a straight up remake of the first episode of the original, except not particularly funny. Steve Carell takes over for Ricky Gervais and is OK, but can’t quite walk the line between annoying and hilarious like Gervais did. The supporting cast is worse… the Tim replacement is generically bland rather than sympathetically everyman, and Gareth (now named Dwight) doesn’t have the pathetic ineffectiveness to him. It’s kind of hard to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong. The whole thing feels like a show fed through Babelfish: The words seem right but nothing makes any sense at all.

Soul-crushing office life isn’t intrinsically English, but there is something horribly, horribly wrong here. To end on a positive note: The stapler in jello gag never gets old.

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Wong Kar Wai’s sequel to In the Mood for Love is pretty, but kind of disappointing. The main crux of 2046 is Mr. Chow’s quest to leave his memories of Su Lizhen behind, by moving onto other women. Unfortunately, I felt a lot like Mr. Chow… no matter how much I watched of 2046, all it did was remind me of how perfect In the Mood for Love was.

Still. Very pretty.

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So Singles was on HBO last night and I watched it for the first time in years. I remember it being kind of mediocre and funny in parts but it was better than I remember. Campbell Scott is still too boring and there’s still long stretches of dull, but it’s a fun little nostalgia tour through grungyland. yay grunge.

Anyhow! The cameo list is tremendous. Xavier McDaniel, Paul Giamatti, Tim Burton, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Chris Cornell, Eric Stoltz, Jeremy Piven and that dude from Thirtysomething all pop in for really no reason other than to distract you. It’s fantastic. The weirdest moment came late in the film, when Victor Garber pops in for like 5 seconds with the most ridiculous moustache ever. I mean, just look at that thing! (Non-Alias fans may recognize him as the man who designed the Titanic)

Oh, and the soundtrack is still pretty mindblowing, unless you hate flannel and the music it brings… er, brought.

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In addition to the Colin Meloy/Arcade Fire shows I mentioned, I noticed that Will Oldham (Bonny “Prince” Billy) and Matt Sweeney (Chavez) will be doing their Superwolf side project over at McCabe’s Guitar Shop on Sunday (1/16). I’m not too up on the Superwolf project but McCabe’s is superintimate and a great guitar shop to boot. It is, of course, SOLD OUT!

Also visiting town is the Portland pop punk of The Thermals, knocking it out at the Knitting Factory, Hollywood on Sunday (1/16). They’re also playing a pizza parlor in Visalia tomorrow (1/15) and 51 Buckingham in Pomona (1/18) for those of you on the outskirts.

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This weekend’s hot ticket are clearly the *3* Arcade Fire shows at the Troubadour. There’s one show on Saturday (1/15) and two shows on Sunday (1/16) and all three are sold out, so be prepared to beg outside for spares or hit up EBay where a pair of tix is going for just under a hundred bucks. Opening acts all weekend are Tycho B and Final Fantasy.

Come Monday, the cool kids can drift over to the Hotel Cafe on Cahuenga and see traveling minstrel Colin Meloy without his merry band of rogues, AKA The Decemberists. He’ll be solo, playing assorted Decemberists songs and covers as well as selling his tour only EP of Morrissey tunes. Think of it as a preqel to the upcoming Advance of the Picaroons tour. He’ll be playing on Tuesday too! The Hotel Cafe doesn’t sell advance tickets, so pack your sleeping bags and start camping out like it was Star Wars. Preliminary musical services provided by Corinna Repp.

And yes, I will be at a few of these. No eye contact! It creeps me out.

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Bad:

Work Drama

Homie Drama

Bad back (does that count as Physical Drama?)

Completely hosed Fraction‘s website while trying to fix it

Got an awesome gift for Dan that promptly got LOST IN THE MAIL

Rain causes the bottom of my pants to be constantly wet

Friend’s grandpa had open heart surgery!

Good:

I LOVE ICY HOT

Finally got Fraction‘s site working once the lightbulb went off

Uh… UCLA Basketball picked up a few nice wins?

Oh yeah… friend’s grandpa was OK. In fact, he wanted to go to Roscoe’s.

So this week I’m -3. I’ve found that I’m generally +/- 0, which is just one of those weird karmic oddities. Yes. This is the kind of weak ass filler you will be seeing as I try and fill my once a week quota.

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