Just one more thing…
Also, I forgot to point out that though this review is generally decent, phrases like "dense, multi-layered soundscapes" are just mush.

Mould-y!
The vocals have a real Sugar feel to them, which I find scrumptious. I've been a casual listener of these guys for a few years, and I'm happy to see them explore their peppier side. I can't wait to go pick this up.

The Japanese show was a bit pat, but I think if you have a opportunity to write a misbehavin' monkey into a show, you have to take it.
Perhaps the solution would be to get this chimp into his own show.

I think you meant "Matchbox 2o (on the SHIT stage)."

Don't you mean "Weiss" up?

Crust Bros.
Steve Malkmus and Silkworm playing Bob Dylan and Velvet Underground songs, New Year's Eve, Seattle, 2000. (I think). It was quite the hoedown.

You're thinking of the other one, Rosanna. Pat's got a respectable set of choppers.

Clearly
This movie should have starred Samuel L. Jackson and been called "Akelah and the Secret Life of Bees."

On any given Sunday, dude.

Outback! Sad people trade it for sex!
Sounds like good pr to me.
Also, second on the Ron Paul. Watch network TV or cling to your high horse, but you can't have it both ways.
Not like you can have the Bloomin' Onion AND a huge, juicy steak!
NO RULES BITCH!

Corporate whoring is a bit strong. I think there's a subtle mockery there as well—it's clearly been painted as a tawdry refuge for desperate people. If they can play it like that and get some money for it as well, good for them.

I'll give any talk show that gives significant airtime to America's Funnyman, Neil Hamburger, a pass. And that includes Kimmel.

Good Lord!
That guitar break is straight out of shitty U2 Drama 101!

Saying Hannibal was much better than the book is like saying HPV is much better than syphilis.

Old/New
The whole thing with recorded music is that it erases the old/new distinction. Something may have been made a long time ago, but you're always listening to it NOW. Once something is set to tape, it's essentially outside time—that's one of the reasons music is so weirdly moving.
Yes, this sounds a little…

Tru Calling was laaaaame. Was it better than Ghost Whisperer? Yes. Does that mean it deserved to live? No.
The Winner was like Get a Life without the balls.

Remember the commercials, didn't see it.

Werewolfin'
I was more struck by Jay's costume as a reflection of what we're all really afraid of in America (but presumably not in France,): Rastafarians.
That thing basically looked like the exhumed corpse of Peter Tosh on steroids, am I right?
When did dreadlocks and huge shoulders become shitty shorthand for…

Whatever ridiculously named actress on that show plays Blair, her version of acting is to look at everyone she interacts with as if she were about to passionately make out (or, alternatively, hate-fuck them). So it's more pansexual than homo. And it's kind of great.

The Times has it as "oddly muscled."