"I always wanted to be a Tenenbaum"

I absolutely love Wes Anderson. Unlike most Anderson fans I know, The Royal Tenenbaums is not my favorite film of his. Mine's Rushmore. However, that's neither here nor there.

I visited the Tenenbaum house today, which is located at 339 Convent Ave., right off of W. 144th. It was wonderful and probably as close as I will ever get to Wes Anderson or any star of the film for that matter. 

From the outside, the house was gorgeous, and so were the surrounding brownstones. I did not get to see what the inside of the house looked like, as it was locked and vacant because it had a building permit on one of the outside doors with a description of the work that is to be done on the house. From one of the windows I was able to make out some living room furniture, but it didn't look like any from the film. I was slightly disappointed that I had no access to the roof, as all I really wanted to do was shout "Go Mordecai!", but perhaps it was for the best, as not to publicly embarrass myself. 

Instead, I spent my time milling about the outside and sitting on the glorious stoop.

This Dance Will Last Us Forever

Cut Copy is one of my favorite bands. In Ghost Colours is a fantastic album and is without a doubt one of my Favorite Albums of 2008. In fact, it's still in heavy rotation on my iPod and iTunes. Anyway, Cut Copy played 2 shows here in NYC, on Sunday and Monday night, but both of them sold out before I could get a ticket which was slightly disappointing, but I got over it since I've seen them twice before. I will say that Cut Copy puts on a great show and a respectful, yet fun dance party.

Yesterday afternoon, members from Cut Copy and The Presets did a DJ set at the Apple store on W 14th. It was fun, but strange since not many people showed up for the set. No one was up for dancing and it was a bit awkward just standing around the Apple store trying to not get in the way of the employees assisting customers. The DJ set only lasted for an hour and while some people were in and out, I stayed for the entire time. My choosing to do so resulted in getting put on the guest list for their after party  and getting a bunch of other free stuff as well. All in all, I think that turned out to be a pretty good tradeoff for not being able to go to the shows at Webster Hall.

(@ SXSW 2008)

Oh Modular, I love you so.

The Squid and the Whale

Say what you will about that film and Noah Baumbach in general. I don't care. I absolutely love The Squid and the Whale. It may be pretentious, but it's earnest, troubling, uncomfortable and completely hilarious all at the same time.

Anyway, the real point of this post is to mention that I saw Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Walt Berkman in the film, on 5th Ave. the other day. 

In order to spare myself the humiliation, I didn't approach him. I wouldn't have had anything of substance to say; instead I would have been my awkward self, mentioned that I loved the film, and then make things more painful by mentioning Kafka.

Sigur Ros at United Palace Theater

I love all things Icelandic and Sigur Ros is no exception. Their show earlier tonight at the United Palace Theater is now on my list of the best shows I've seen, along with Bjork, Broken Social Scene, and The Arcade Fire respectively.

Despite arriving 15 minutes late (this was my fault, as it took longer than I had expected to get from my class to the 175th stop), the show was everything I anticipated and more. I have a few friends who have seen Sigur Ros in the past and they told me that it was nothing less than amazing.

The sound was absolutely incredible and along with the multimedia projection and the light show, the show was mesmerizing and I was in awe for most of it. As expected, the majority of the songs they played were off of Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, but the highlights for me were Sæglópur and Viðrar vel til loftárása.

My only regret is that I waited to get tickets and ended up in the balcony section. Oh if only I was one of the lucky ones to have gotten orchestra seating.

Obligatory Introductory Post

For one of my classes, Understanding Media Studies, I am required to create a website of some sort, to be used mainly as a "professional" website showcasing my media related work but also as a place to showcase my interests.

I had always wanted to create a blog (though who doesn't blog these days?) and have the opportunity to share my thoughts and opinions about certain things, though I doubt anyone else cares. ANYWAY, this blog is going to be less professional and focused more on my interests, which are mainly music and film, but mostly music. And ultimately, I would like to work in the music industry, so I guess that makes this semi-professional.

So for the time being, I'm going to write about the things that I find interesting as well as general happenings around New York City.

That is all.