I bought 2 x Exotica albums (Exotica and Taboo) the evening I read that Gateway, and really like them both. Quiet Village is a really good and interesting track.

Also found for me by eMusdic before it changed, The Apples In Stereo.

Ouch! Neither an attempted stealth firstie, secondsie, thirdsie or whatever. I just found each of those bands this year and I really like them.

One of You Say Party! We Say Die! or The Dismemberment Plan
Neither released in Australia (although Triple J should love them) but brought to you by the former randomness of emusic.

the early season episode where Butters is assumed to have been killed (but is just carelessly misplaced) and his parents make up the story of the serial killer is classic South Park.

said barnacle bill the sailor

Can the reboot please be gritty? That would be awesome.

In Australia, the free-to-air network has a core team of rugby league callers who cover at least 2 of the free to air games each week (the main Friday match and the Sunday match).

Mars Attacks!
Was a deeply flawed but very stylish film with some memorable performances (or at least memorable bits), and is able to be watched without becoming cross.

Without having seen any of this series, Biggest Loser seems to be the par excellence show about taking time with with 5 minutes of vox pops sayiong "yeah, it's really important, cause the next thing is X is going to happen and that's extra important because it could mean Y", 2 minutes of X happenning and Y resulting…

If showing that the movie biz is not only about entertainment will suffice, can I suggest Bob Fosse's All That Jazz. It won an Oscar, y'know.

Tarantino
Probably very obviousm, but for curated rather than written soundtracks (and leaving aside musicals), Tarantino showed a keen ear for quirky songs that fit a mood.

ENDUT!!

Romeo Void
The ipod shuffle came up with the excellent "Never say never" by Romeo Void on the train this morning, so it's the last thing I heard before seeing that Justin Bieber's copyrightholders are trading on its reputation.

*down

Reading further diown suggests:

OK, how about Bora Horza Gubuchul, the shapeshifter from Consider Phlebas, the first Culture novel by Iain M Banks?

Was it Jebediah? Go on, it was, it was Jebediah, wasn't it.

Really can't wait for the "level up", when you get access to new characters Pigsy and Sandy, whose special powers are …

Even if you are on holiday by mistake, don't assume that cake and fine wines will be readily available.