What I'm...

…Renting.
Shopgirl- Have you ever seen a movie that’s perfect in every way except one? Has that one flaw been so bad that it ruins the experience for you? This happened to me on Saturday when I watched Shopgirl on DVD. I found the cast to be as good as advertised and I must say in retrospect that Claire Danes got robbed of an Oscar by that prissy southern peach Reese Witherspoon. Danes has always been a favorite of mine since her days chasing Jordan Catalono on My So Called Life, but here she really shines by mixing an innocent beauty with a seductive sexiness. Steve Martin is playing the emotionally detached older man role that Bill Murray has perfected over the last few years, and he does so quite well. The writing is sharp, the cinematography beautiful, and the direction is tight. So what could possibly be wrong with this flick? Answer: the music. The score makes the opening scenes seem more like 5 hours then 5 minutes. It is so overly dramatic that it single handedly ruins the film. Befuddled, I watched the making of documentary to see if they talked about the score and the director literally beams with pride over the composer. He says it really ties everything together. In my humble opinion it ties everything together with a piece of barbed wire that tears at the fabric of the movie. I was literally cringing every time I heard the music rear it’s head on the audio track. Sometimes you’ll rent a DVD that features a music only option for the audio; well this one needs a dialogue only option.

…Watching.
The Henry Rollins Show- If you have the IFC channel then I strongly suggest you fire up the TiVo. Rollins mixes interviews, music performances, and monologues that you’d expect to catch at one of his live spoken word shows, to produce a fine 23 minutes of television. Sure there are some things to nitpick such as the way Rollins and his guest walk out to the couch every week before starting the interview or the fact that something called Heidi May seems to have no discernable value as the “music host”. But all in all Rollins gets good guests (PT Anderson, Patton Oswalt), good bands (Aimee Mann, Death Cab) and brings the funny painful truth every week.

…Playing.
FIFI World Cup 2006 (Gamecube)- After writing my column on the upcoming Cup last week and watching a countdown to the Cup special, I was jonesing for some action. What better way to satisfy that then by picking up a video game that perfectly emulates the Cup experience (short of hooligans, racists, fascists, and soccer fans in general)? I haven’t bought a video game in almost a year and had pretty much decided I’d outgrown them in general. Guess again. While I don’t think this game will make me run out and buy another new game anytime soon, it does remind me that a good sports simulation is second to none.

…Listening To.
Top 5 on My iPod
1. Promiscuous- Nelly Furtado (Try as I might I can’t shake this song, but I can shake my thang.)

2. Leavin’- Jag Star (Okay settle in for a long story. About a month ago MTV debuted a trailer for The Hills, the latest Laguna Beach guilty pleasure. At the end of the trailer there was the catchy girly pop track that caught my ear. On the premiere last Wednesday the song was featured again at the end of the “this season on the Hills preview”. I was determined to find the song. I searched probable song titles based on the 20 seconds heard in the trailer. I did lyric searches on various websites. I even sampled various songs on iTunes by the usual suspects, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, AJ & Aly, etc. With no luck I crossed the line that no 32 year old man should ever admit to. I joined a Laguna Beach message board. My action seemed to reward me when right on the front page of the board was a topic entitled, “Song from the trailer.” After reading through the various threads I was directed to an artist on iTunes and their song Leavin’. Strangely the song was not available for preview so I had to buy it notes unheard. Turns out it was the song from the original Hills preview back in November. Still it’s not a bad track and since I paid for it I’m getting my monies worth. To top it off, no one still seems to know the track from the trailer. I’ve found many a post on the subject and still no answers.)

3. Steady As She Goes- Raconteurs
Jack White’s latest endeavor is deserving of the hype, or at least this song is. Really, what can’t this guy do?

4. Dancing With Myself- The Donnas
While searching for my Hills track I came across this cover off of the Ice Princess soundtrack. Funny place I know, but this is a great cover that’s worth picking up.

5. Crooked Teeth- Death Cab for Cutie
I know this songs been out for awhile, but it’s a perfect summer song and one of the Cabs lighter tracks.