Looking forward to: A Single Man.

Click here to watch the trailer.

Click here to watch the new trailer released by the Weinstein Company that is just a tad misleading and homophobic (similar to the poster above).

Release date: December 11, 2009 (Limited)

Directed by: Tom Ford

Written by: Christopher Isherwood (Novel), Tom Ford and David Scearce (Screenplay)

Starring: Colin Firth (won Coppa Volpi for Best Actor at Venice Film Festival), Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult

Distributed by: The Weinstein Company

Amy Taubin on A Single Man in the November/December issue of Film Comment: "The flashback sequence where George receives the telephone call informing him of Jim's death, and, by the way, that George isn't welcome at the funeral which is for family only, is almost entirely composed of a single unbroken take. We see George's face freeze in shock and then dissolve into grief as the realization that he has lost the love of his life overcomes him. It is an amazing piece of acting, and, also, a display of trust on the part of Tom Ford, who has the courage not to cut away or gussy it up."

Expect an analysis upon my viewing of this film; it looks like it could break into my top ten of the year.

Bob (le flambeur) as the Anti-Meursault.

Recently I re-watched Jean-Pierre Melville's Bob le flambeur (1956), a loving ode to American gangster pictures and one of the first solid French New Wave films. In the beginning, there is a sequence where an acquaintance of the titular character asks him for money to be bailed out of beating his girlfriend a little too hard. This acquaintance is a pimp, which Bob does not like. All of this really reminded me of Albert Camus' The Stranger, when Meursault's neighbor Raymond, also a pimp, asks him to help take revenge on his girlfriend, whom Raymond believes is cheating on him. Meursault does this with just about no persuading, as he sees no reason not to. When Bob is asked for the money by his acquaintance, he tells him no and to get out. In this sense, Bob comes off as an anti-Meursault.

Yeasayer.

Brooklyn based experimental band Yeasayer have released a new song, "Ambling Alp", available for download on their official site from their follow-up to 2007's All Hour Cymbals. It's much more "Tightrope", off the Dark Was the Night compilation, than anything off All Hour Cymbals. That being said, it's one of the catchiest songs I've heard all year and I'm extremely disappointed that I'm missing them tonight at the Guggenheim, where they'll be previewing all of Odd Blood. Oh well, I can't win them all. Odd Blood will be released by Secretly Canadian on February 9, 2010. Cover and track listing below; you can follow the album's release on its twitter and blog:

01. The Children

02. Ambling Alp

03. Madder Red

04. I Remember

05. ONE

06. Love Me Girl

07. Rome

08. Strange Reunions

09. Mondegreen

10. Grizelda

Vampire Weekend.

2008 was a big year for Vampire Weekend, releasing their debut, self-titled album on January 29th and then touring most of the world. I caught them in December at the Wellmont in Montclair, NJ. It was a very enjoyable night of indie rock and world music; after running through all the songs off their debut and a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Everywhere", the gentlemen clad in cardigans even presented a new song to the crowd, "White Sky". It put on display Ezra Koenig's vocals, reaching heights unseen on their debut. I was impressed, and anxiously awaited to hear more about their follow up. They headlined the soggy All Points West during this past summer alongside Jay-Z and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Multi-instrumental Rostam Batmanglij teamed up with Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot and they released an electo-pop-R&B album, titled LP, on July 7th. Finally, Vampire Weekend released information on their follow-up about a month and a half ago. They even put up an MP3 of "Horchata", a new song off the album, a few weeks later. Contra, the second album by Vampire Weekend, will be released January 12, 2010. Cover art, track listing, an MP3 (thanks to Pitchfork), a video, and an interview with Ezra on the new album below:

01. Horchata

02. White Sky

03. Holiday

04. California English

05. Taxi Cab

06. Run

07. Cousins

08. Giving Up the Gun

09. Diplomat's Son

10. I Think Ur a Contra

Click here to download an MP3 of "Horchata".

Click here to watch "White Sky" performed acoustic.

Click here to read a Pitchfork-curated interview with Ezra about the new album.

Girls.

Beware, this is NSFW (not safe for work).

Girls' debut album, Album, was released September 22nd on True Panther Sounds. Cover art and track listing below.

1. Lust for Life

2. Laura

3. Ghost Mouth

4. God Damned

5. Big Bad Mean Motherfucker

6. Hellhole Ratrace

7. Headache

8. Summertime

9. Lauren Marie

10. Morning Light

11. Curls

12. Darling

Click here to go to the Pitchfork article where you can view the new, XXX version.

Click here to watch the original, edited version of the "Lust for Life" video.

Click here to download an MP3 of "Lust for Life".

Click here to watch the official video for "Laura".

I shared a Woodpecker cider with a local fratricider.

I gave Blueberry Boat a listen today; it was sprawling and epic. The lyrical complexity has been compared to Joyce's wordplay and rightfully so. The Fiery Furnaces have created a whimsical concept album that I cannot wait to listen to again and again. I don't believe it will suit all my moods, though.

The Signature Theater Company is reviving Angels in America next year, according to NY Times: click here for the article. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. Ever since I saw the mini-series in December of 2003 when it aired on HBO I've desperately wanted to see it in the theater. HBO has recently starting running the series again, and also has put them OnDemand. I own the DVD, so it's not that big of a deal for me but my interest was renewed after I caught a segment of it a few days ago. Tickets are only $20, and it's set to premiere late fall or early winter; looking forward to it.

Rub out the word.

Kerouac (editing Naked Lunch): Bill, what is all this stuff about young naked boys being hanged in limestone caves?

Burroughs: No idea. I know I'm some kind of interplanetary agent but I don't think my signals are decoding properly.