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Four days! Yeesh. And there I was trying to be so good. Ah, well. A bit of catch up (or catsup, for you old timers):

Item! Rented Layer Cake off the new arrivals wall at Blockbuster, a British gangster movie in the tradition of recent flicks like Sexy Beast (which, by the way, you should see for Ben Kingsley's supremely creepy and Oscar-nominated role as the Anti-Gandhi, the toughest meanest thug since Cagney in White Heat) where the guys are just regular, middle class-type blokes who happen to run millions in drugs or whatever. This is a terrific, fun, twisty movie; I love flicks where you honestly dont know the truth about what's going on till the very end. Some very clever acting from everyone involved.

Especially of note is the lead actor, Daniel Craig, (the guy in the middle there) who has just been chosen to be the new 007. He's a quiet, steely type (at least in this), not a prettyboy and very good. I will be interested to see his Bond...but then I was interested to see Pierce Brosnan's Bond and we just got more Roger Moore. This could (please God cross your fingers) be a bit more Sean Connery...but we've been horribly lied to and cheated by the Broccoli heirs before.

Also excellent in this is Michael Gambon, playing the Anti-Dumbledore, in a very underplayed, scary, thoughtful mob boss role that is great fun to watch. Also some very interesting music choices throughout which shows the director was actually interested in that sort of thing.

Item! The new guy at work is a music fiend (thank the powers!) and is already pushing his personal religion on me, which is something called Guided by Voices. Apparently, GBV is (or rather was) the brainchild of a guy named Bob Pollard who has now gone solo, and which has engendered some kind of cultlike following over the past decade. I was allowed to listen to the first record, Bee Thousand, and enjoyed it -- every track will remind you of at least 2 or 3 other bands or artists, but not in a derivative way. Be warned (as I was) that many of these songs dont last longer than about a minute. If you are interested in GBV (and I am feeling the interest grow, I have now been allowed a second album and have been asked about getting a snake tattoo and wearing a special fez), you can also check out the website (see to your right over there) where a couple dozen free tracks are available for download.

I have a feeling that for those of us who like to do mixtapes for friends and family, GBV could be very important when you want to fill up those last 42 seconds at the end of your 80-minute allotted slot on the CD-R. Some of these songs are literally shorter than that (there were 17 songs on the first CD I was loaned, and another 28 on the one I am listening to now.) Enjoy. It's weird, but in a cool way.

Item! In conclusion, the new Rolling Stone has Bono on the cover and a very extensive interview. I have to say, he comes off pretty well and mitigates some of my recent distaste with his political ubiquitousness. His best quote is this: "I'm sick of Bono. And I am Bono. It's like, oh, man, shut up. But there it is. You just don't want to be dull. We might be annoying. But we're not dull."

Spoken like a true egoist, and I can get down with that. Stay dry and watch for cooties. More soon.