Just this week on Pitchfork TV, director Rian Johnson’s (Brick, Brothers Bloom) documentary about The Mountain Goats, The Life Of The World To Come, is streaming. We highly recommend checking it out – it’s not available anywhere else. The doc features a performance of every song from their recent record (of the same name), every song of which was based on a different Bible verse. Here’s the clip of John Darnielle playing the one for Romans 10:9. You can read the lyrics here. They’re great.
Low Anthropology According to John Darnielle
One of my favorite bands, The Mountain Goats, has gotten a lot of love from Mockingbird in the past; John Darnielle has a way of expressing low anthropology like few other songwriters that I listen to. His songs about dysfunctional couples are particularly good, in my opinion, and while “No Children” is a fan favorite (and for good reason), I personally really love the less celebrated “Fault Lines” off of 2002′s All Hail West Texas (as an unrelated sidenote, the disc itself is blank except for the irreverant/amusing: “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess: West Texas! West…
Favorite Movies, Music and TV of 2009 (Plus)
Okay, here goes. I would break the pop culture of 2009 down this way: a pretty good year for music, an alright year for film and a downright incredible year for television.
Five Favorite Films Of 2009*
1. Fantastic Mr Fox
2. District 9
3. In The Loop [warning for profuse-albeit-very-inventive foul language]
4. Coraline
5. Up
Most Underrated: Duplicity
Most Overrated: Inglourious Basterds
*Bear in mind that I haven’t seen The Hurt Locker, An Education, A Serious Man, The Road, Dr Parnassus, Big Fan or 2012 yet. So this is definitely more of a favorites list than a “best of”. And I am as surprised by the predominance…
The Cross According to Colbert (Plus Mountain Goats)
Pretty darn funny/clever/amusing. Be sure to stick with it til the end:
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word – Symbol-Minded | ||||
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| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Mountain Goats – Psalms 40:2 | ||||
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John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats on Psalm 40:2
Not sure how I missed it, but a couple weeks ago, Pitchfork posted an interview with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, where he spoke about their upcoming, highly biblical new record The Life Of The World To Come. Well, add Darnielle to the list of churchgoing indie-rock royalty (top of that list being Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian). The interview is really fascinating and doesn’t pull any punches, so I’d recommend you read the entire thing. Probably the most-Mbird moment comes when Darnielle talks about his new song “Psalm 40:2″. Wowza:
Pitchfork: “Psalms 40:2″ quotes the Bible verse in…
Another Week (Almost) Ends: How We Decide, Islamic Search Engines, MJ, 9, Mountain Goats and Lions
1. A fascinating review of How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer over at Boing Boing (ht Jeff Dean). The book appears to be ar neuroscience-for-dummies study of the decision-making process, aka another volley in the post-free-will debate, this time claiming that decision-making is neither wholly rational or wholly emotional, but a mix of both. What sounds especially interesting to the Mockingbird in me is the role that dopamine plays in our brains as a “predictor” of future events, prompting all sorts of “decisions” based on anticipated reward. Or on the flipside, the discussion of the power of “loss-aversion”, esp as…
The Twilight Phenomenon
Slate ran a fascinating article on Thursday, provocatively titled “Mother Suckers”:
Vampires are having their moment in, well, if not the sun, then certainly the Twilight. Author Stephenie Meyer’s series of books about the romantic yearnings of an undead teen are the, uh, lifeblood of the book business these days. According to USA Today, one in every seven books sold in the United States in the first quarter of an otherwise dismal 2009 was one of the four Twilight stories. On Amazon.com, half of the top 10 is made up of Twilight. (Each of the four books holds a spot, and…
Deep Thoughts by Sean Norris
Last night I went to a climbing gym, and I was surprised by how genuinely accepting and nice everyone was. I was clearly the worst climber there, but I didn’t feel an ounce of judgment from anyone. I guess it’s because there’s enough pressure on you when you’re hanging from a cliff.
That’s me in the picture . . . just kidding.
Rebecca Todd: Well, I am sure both of you would win a debate so I'm not going there....
Jim McNeely: Rebecca, I agree, great comment! Yummy. Here are my thoughts.I thi...
Sam: Isn't the empty tomb proof? I remember a debate that involved Christo...
Zach: Wonderful jewel of honesty amidst the dregs of mealy pap spewed from l...
Rutger-Jan Heijmen: *Conan's...