The First and I Assume Last Muslim Christian Rock Record

Currently listening to a (legit advance) copy of mewithoutYou's It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright. So far it kind of sounds like a magic scarecrow made of fruit, vegetables, and healthy whole grains. If I had to sum up the arc of the band's career up in one awkward vague phrase, it would be: "anxious suburban post-punk gradually uncurls into peripatetically pastoral inclusive post-folk."

Or whatever. I'm on "Bullet to Binary (Pt 2)" and it is like a scarier, durgier "Idioteque" by Radiohead.

Dissed in the Malibu

Check Good Letters: apparently Say Anything actually has some bearing on my life. In fact, I'm thinking about reviving my annual Say Anything party. Do you think the themes work in the Chinese context? Perhaps not.

By the way, the best line in the movie is the tiny, quiet "how you doing" from Lloyd to Jim Court as they awkwardly wait for Diane.

New Hedgehog Record

And currently touring China. In Hangzhou on Easter Sunday!

天天音乐！

Um, so I (and anyone else in China with an internet connection) can now pretty much DOWNLOAD any music ever released by a major label for free, legally, on my computer whenever I want. Thanks, Google China!

EDIT: Yes, you can actually download everything for free.

I guess I know what I'll be doing for the next few months.

Here is a story on this thing from Pitchfork. It's basically a way to make money (through ads) off of what everyone in China already does, which is downloading music for free. But now it's legal! This is a move by Google (partnering with Top100.cn) to challenge Baidu, a searrh engine which provides a lot of shady links to illegal downloads (which are suspected by some to be covertly hosted by Baidu itself). I have used Top100 to download Chinese music before, but this vastly expands the amount of legally/freely downloadable music.

Get Ready For Greatness, Lloyd

What song is John Cusack playing in the guitar shop scene (57:38) of Say Anything? (Actually, it's just 3 chords - but is it supposed to be a particular song?) Theories are welcome.