Today's Jamz - Lifejacket Under Your Seat

Life Jacket Under Your Seat from Instrumenti on Vimeo.

I bet you thought I was never coming back. I think this is the greatest video ever made... by pandas... from Latvia.

Somehow SXSW didn't seem this insane last year... it also may not have been as good. This week has been full of crazy highs and strange lows.

Here's a link to all the words I've been writing over at the SXSW Music blog if'n you're interested.

And here's a link to a piece I did this week for Nerve.com (where they very kindly actually let me tell people what to listen to... which makes me laugh). I also found out after the fact that it's an upscale sex site which just makes the whole thing even more hilarious and awesome. The commenters didn't eviscerate me too badly so that was nice. Yesterday I saw four of the five bands on that list. It was so freaking amazing I'm still getting my head around it all.

I'm off to see Frightened Rabbit yet again this afternoon. I can't wait to come home next week.

Greatness, Thou Art Internet

I don't know if that headline makes sense, and this definitely doesn't make sense but it is possibly the best thing I have ever ever ever seen.



I'm keeping busy these days coming up with fun blog posts at SXSW like this one today with awesome new favorite person (and Kentucky dude) Daniel Martin Moore. Peep it, y'all!!

Today's Jamz - Carry On Wayward Son

I didn't know He-Man was in a band.

Had no idea this song would be so appropriate for the day when my friend Tom (not that Tom... or that Tom) sent it to me last week.

Also, I encourage you all to look at this.

Live Blogging the Oscars - And the Winner Is...

The winner may not be you as the funny is in short supply at the moment due to my brain being pulled in 90 different directions in the last two hours. It's my fault for starting #bandmoviemashups on Twitter. Some hilarious answers, though, like Erasurehead, Vampire Weekend at Bernies and Antwone Fischerspooner.

Oh God, here we go...

Hour I

7.30 The Best Actor and Actress nominees arrive onstage and stand there awkwardly as their names are called. You can't hear the audience applauding so it's a bit odd and hey there, Gabourey Sidibe, she's workin' it. Is there ever a moment where Colin Firth is not dreamy?

7.32 Neil Patrick Harris is singing. And dancing. I love NPH but the Oscars are, you know, known for their horrible musical numbers and this is no exception.

7.34 Sarah Jessica Parker is an orange not found in nature.

7.34 Cue Meryl Streep jokes. And people in Hollywood are stupid jokes.

7.37 Who's that creepy guy sitting behind Helen Mirren?

7.39 "Gabourey and I have something in common. In our first movies we were both born a poor black child." Steve Martin elicits my first laugh of the night.

7.41 George Clooney is not amused. George Clooney is in on the joke. I guess.

7.43 Zac Efron and Taylor Lautner are strangely unformed.

7.44 Monologue is over. Thank God because that was... disappointing and uncomfortable.

7.45 Best Actor in a Supporting Role goes to Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds. No one looks surprised (because he's won every other award known to man). Hard to make jokes about the earnestly sincere so thanks a lot Christoph.

7.50 Oh look, it's Ryan Reynolds trying on gravitas for a minute.

7.52 Anna Kendrick looks bored.

7.53 This Jennifer Aniston movie looks horrible... much like all Jennifer Aniston movies.

7.55 Jimmy Kimmel was funnier when he was f**ing Matt Damon and not Ben Affleck.

7.56 Cameron Diaz just called Steve Carell "Jude Law." I make that mistake all the time. Revenge of the teleprompter.

7.59 Best Animated Feature Film goes to Up. I guess this kills their chances for Best Picture. As if they had a chance, anyway, because you KNOW District 9 is gonna win!

8.00 Why are Martin and Baldwin blowing it?

8.00 Miley Cyrus and Amanda Seyfried... really. I like how Seyfried walked out a good ten feet in front of Cyrus. They present Best Original Song to Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett for "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart. I feel like I'm watching The Golden Globes. Perhaps I should just re-post my blog from that show.

8.12 I am... not going to say anything about Tina Fey's dress because I luv her too much. Like how they had the camera on Robin Williams when she said writers have a "fear of ad libbing." Robert Downey Jr. is going to be Robert Evans in thirty years, isn't he? Or, you know, now. They give Best Original Screenplay to Mark Boal for The Hurt Locker. That should take the sting out of that lawsuit. Wow, he's kinda cute.

8.17 Ohhhh... man. Cue tears and the tribute hasn't even started. Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick introduce a montage of clips and interviews celebrating John Hughes and his films. Well, hello Brat Pack. Oh dear, Judd Nelson. So disturbing, so homeless. Hughes' family is there. They still look traumatized. I read a great article about him recently in Vanity Fair. It's worth checking out.

8.28 Someone please explain Zoe Saldana's dress to me. Is that a purple poodle down there? What the heck is going on?! Oh, it's Best Animated Short. The winner is Logorama. It beat Wallace and Gromit so I don't care.

8.33 Best Documentary Short goes to Music By Prudence. Okay, some crazy lady (Elinor Burkett) just interrupted Roger Ross Williams and said, "Let the woman talk!" She then proceeded to ramble on until someone got the hook. Okay, fine, the music played her off but I was really hoping for the hook because that was bananas. I'm sure she thought she was making some feminist statement... but seriously... She was probably listening to Meredith Brooks' "Bitch" before her category and decided to go full bozo.

8.36 Best Live Action Short goes to The New Tenants. More people getting played off. No one gives a crap about these non-famous people because it's time for...

8.37 Ben Stiller, who comes out dressed as a smurf to present the award for Best Makeup to the team from Star Trek. Okay, he's really dressed as a Na'vi and smurf was Tom's joke.

And that's it for hour one. So far the Oscars have been both unwieldy and unfunny. Kind of like this post. Back at 9.30 or so.

Hour II

8.49 Please let Nick Hornby win... but I bet he won't... and he doesn't as Best Adapted Screenplay goes to Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire. More earnest and sincere dudes...

8.52 Martin manages to come up with some funny patter as he introduces Queen Latifah who gives the rundown on the highlights of The Governors Awards. Honorees included Roger Corman, Gordon Willis, Lauren Bacall and, err, some other peeps.

8.55 Bacall gets a slow moving standing ovation as the audio cuts out. This is seriously the worst Academy Awards I've seen in years.

8.57 Maggie Gyllenhaal looks like she's tearing up at her own clip. Oof. It doesn't matter as there's no way they're not going to give the Oscar for Actress in a Supporting Role to Mo'Nique for Precious. I really hope that she gives another kickass inspiring speech. I'm actually kind of verklempt over seeing her get a standing o.

9.01 Did I mention that Colin Firth is dreamy? I did? Okay.

9.06 Avatar wins its first award of the night... for Production Design. I will kind of laugh if it's the last. Nuh uh! One of the winners just said, "James Cameron - this Oscar sees you." And then he stopped mid-acceptance speech to let some other guy talk. This is full on amateur hour.

9.11 The Young Victoria wins for Best Costume Design... over Coco Before Chanel which I find amusing for some reason.

9.12 Does Charlize Theron want us to look at her boobs? I'm confused. (Google the dress tomorrow and you can see the, ah, highlighted areas, too.) "Cinnaboobs" my friend Yahzello called them.

9.16 Oh joy, it's K-Stew and Taylor Lautner giving horror movies their due. Okay fine, it's true, I never thought I'd be seeing clips of Scream at the Academy Awards.

9.22 Let's keep the teens interested for two more minutes as Zac Efron and his stupid hair, along with Anna Kendrick, present Best Sound Editing to Paul N.J. Ottosson for The Hurt Locker. He also wins Best Sound Mixing with Ray Beckett. I really enjoyed Ottoson when he played Silas in The Da Vinci Code.

9.28 Oooh, I like Elizabeth Banks' dress quite a lot even if it doesn't exactly flatter her hips.

9.36 Avatar wins one more. For Best Cinematography.

Time to publish this thing... back in an hour.

Hour III

9.37 Demi Moore is the same color as her gown... I will give it up, though, because it might be my favorite of the night.

9.38 In Memoriam... with James Taylor. Brittany Murphy gets some tepid applause. Hrmm. it really seemed like more people passed away in the last year.

9.46 Oh man! I love the League of Extraordinary Dancers. Seriously. I don't care how random and out of place this is... they're beyond brilliant as they highlight the different nominees for Best Original Score.

9.53 And Best Original Score goes to Michael Giacchino for Up. Has there been a single deviation from The Golden Globes?

9.55 Avatar wins something else. Oh, Best Visual Effects. Uh oh... The Hurt Locker and Avatar have been cleaning up so far... it's going to be a fight to the finish.

10.02 Best Documentary Feature takes home the Oscar for The Cove. I've just been warned there's some civil disobedience coming. I see Ric O'Barry holding something. Fisher Stevens won an Oscar. Time hath stood still. Geez, all he did was hold up a sign that said, "Text DOLPHIN to 44144" and they cut away superfast.

10.08 Best Film Editing goes to Bob Murawski and Chris Innis from The Hurt Locker. Did you know that many editors are also accomplished knitters? Okay, maybe just one... that I know of.

10.16 Pedro Almodovar (awesome) and Quentin Tarantino (slightly less awesome) give Best Foreign Language Film to The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) from Argentina. The winner makes a cute joke about how he's glad the Academy didn't consider Na'vi a foreign language. No one laughs. Or maybe they do... my audio's been twilight zone all night.

10.19 Kathy Bates is introducing the clip for Avatar but I'm really starting to get the feeling The Hurt Locker's going to take it. I'll actually be surprised if Kathryn Bigelow doesn't win for Best Director.

10.25 A-Listers talking about other A-Listers. Everyone loves Jeff Bridges. Michelle Pfeiffer looks amazing. Of course. Man, get on with it. We all know how fabulous George Clooney is. Is Vera Farmiga weird or is it just me? More dreamy Colin Firth looking thoughtful as Julianne Moore waxes rhapsodic about him. Euw, it's Tim Robbins talking about Morgan Freeman. The euw was for Robbins not Freeman because God rules. Everyone gets these classy tributes, but the best is for Jeremy Renner courtesy of Colin Farrell who talks about spooning with him in Mexico.

10.31 Kate Winslet can stop losing weight now. The Best Actor Oscar goes to Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart. I'm happy for Bridges even though J-Lo can't be bothered to applaud. So thrilled he's saying "our" instead of "my." Classy guy, that JB. Excuse me... classy dude.

10.40 This thing is supposed to be over now but instead it's A-Listers talking about other A-Listers 2.0. Forest Whitaker loves Sandra Bullock (why did she go with old lady pink lipstick?). Michael Sheen has the hots for Helen Mirren (who still has creepy dude sitting behind her). Does Peter Sarsgaard sound like John Malkovich on purpose? He's blathering on about Carey Mulligan. Oprah's making Gabourey Sidibe cry. Oprah's dress is mag. Stanley Tucci and Meryl Streep are BFFs.

10.47 Best Actress goes to... or it will after Sean Penn stops mumbling about something... Sandra Bullock who gets an, I kid you not, standing ovation. Impossible to dislike Bullock who showed up to get her Razzie last night for All About Steve.

10.55 Our first opportunity for a deviation from The GG's... and yes! The first female to win an Oscar for Best Director is Kathryn Bigelow who is probably also the hottest person to win an Oscar for Best Director. This is pretty rad.

10.57 This telecast is now nearly 30 minutes over time.

10.58 Yeah yeah Tom Hanks okay who wins? Ten to choose from!! Well, no preamble... The Hurt Locker takes it all... and Kathryn Bigelow thanks... Hazmat crews!

Can't top that. Now I have to go finish my laundry. Thanks for reading.

Live Blogging the Oscars

Yes, I plan to do the impossible... laundry AND Oscar watching/blogging.

Call me crazy.

Check back here later, taters, for the goods. I've been writing all day for SXSW so the quips might be in short supply but let's hope I can find my wit sometime in the next two hours.

Toodles.

The Perfect Way To End Your Day

The White Mountain from charles on Vimeo.

WATCH THE ABOVE... WHILE LISTENING TO THE BELOW.

Song For A Day - Sister Christian

Because why not... I can really relate to her issues. I'm not sure what my price for flight is, though.

I've been blogging up a storm over at SXSW. You can catch up on that shizzle here. I ask interesting people stuff.

Work beckons once again. I think I've saved myself from being the worst blogger ever, though, by sharing Night Ranger with you on this chilly Friday.

A Letter to Home

Blame that Tom guy for this one... but I'm glad he made it home from the Nashville place in one piece.

Meanwhile... life in Austin continues to continue. Every year we reach the beach but sometimes I'm amazed we make it.

Also, Jim Bunning has gone full on cuckoo for cocopuffs, I see. Oof.