Bonobo at the Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, May 4, 2013. My review for LA Weekly. Warning: Contains gratuitous Anchorman and STS9 references.
Bonobo at the Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, May 4, 2013. My review for LA Weekly. Warning: Contains gratuitous Anchorman and STS9 references.
Räuberhöhle on Weirdest Band in the World. Makers of the catchiest dance-pop song about anuses ever.
So yeah, this is happening tonight.

Winny Puhh on Weirdest Band in the World. The single most popular post I’ve ever done. Watch the video and you’ll see why.
The 20 Worst Albums of the ’90s. While I was listening to Barenaked Ladies, some serious shit was going down. Emphasis on “shit.”
Barenaked Ladies were one of the coolest, cleverest bands of the ’90s. Yes, even when they were rapping.
Chap-hop on Weirdest Band in the World: Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer vs. Professor Elemental. This could be a bit of a sticky wicket.
Shibusashirazu Orchestra on Weirdest Band in the World. Everything’s just a little bit weirder in Japan. Sometimes, a lot weirder.
Kevin Spacey on David Fincher’s reputation for many takes:
Part of what I feel when he’s doing that — and I like working this way — is that, you know, he’s pushing you in a certain direction. He’s having you go in a different direction this way; he’s having you try a new meaning, a new approach to a line of dialogue in this way; and, frankly, the other truth is actors bring a lot of complicated accessories to the set. And some of those accessories are gestures, and some of those accessories are, ‘Oh, I found a kind of cute way of saying a line,’ or ‘I like the way my voice does this,’ or ‘I’m going to use this Coke can to do this.’ And I think sometimes, with David, it feels like [what] he’s looking for is the cleanest, streamlined version of the idea that the character’s trying to express. … And he’s just simply, at a certain point, beating the acting out of you. And I’m quite grateful for that.
(Above, the opening scene from Fincher’s ‘The Social Network,’ which reportedly took 99 takes. Image via Dell Smith)

So after succumbing to curiosity, I finally took that “Influential Albums” quiz and apparently, according to someone, I have a terrible record collection. I only own 12 of the 100 albums on their list. Guess I should turn in my Music Journalist badge and go back to playwriting.
Of course, these types of lists are always somewhat arbitrary (influential on whom? according to whom?). So as an intellectual exercise (and also, let’s face it, to make myself feel better), I went through my iTunes and listed out the 100 albums I consider to be the most influential and that I also happen to own.
I highly recommend this exercise to anyone with a large record collection. It’s much more satisfying than trying to measure your taste against someone else’s. Especially when that someone else is trying to pass off their list as some kind of objective uber-summary of the last 50-odd years of popular music.