This is not a tag line!
entertainment
Quick anime post
Feb 13th
Naruto and Bleach story lines are finally picking up after a long filler period… hopefully, they’ll pick up the pace where they left off… Nana (excellent mix of humor and drama, nice character design and excellent soundtrack) is getting more intense. I finally finished watching Blood+ (which was probably a little too long for my taste) and Black Lagoon (which was really interesting with its realistic depiction of violence and its unapologetic, complex characters and very well animated to boot). I still haven’t watched any of the GITS: SAC 2 episodes since I had waited to get the full series in DVD before starting watching. Shirow‘s stories are usually complex and watching a couple of episode every month just doesn’t do the story justice. I also need to finish watching Mushishi at some point but in both instances, I just haven’t had time so far… And, no, I still haven’t had time to check out Death Note again… 
I also follow Pumpkin Scissors (pretty good with an intrigue starting to develop) and Capeta (which is a little slow to develop).
Concert time!
Sep 29th
I went to two concerts at the 9:30 club this week: Ladytron [official site] on Tuesday and Massive Attack [official site] last night.
CSS [official site] was opening for Ladytron and I was pretty impressed by the show. The band was full of energy, especially the lead singer stepping down from the scene to mingle with the crowd several times during the show or even bringing people from the audience on the scene. Ladytron was great though I thought they were less impressive than last time I saw them, though I thought that Mira is developing more and more of a scene presence. She looked just as cute as usual but a lot more comfortable! Seventeen was a huge crowd pleaser as usual and I admit that I appreciate the opening of the show with High Rise which also opens their latest album, Witching Hour. DCist has a pretty good account of the show.
Last night was Massive Attack, and they were, well… massive! 
They had a couple of glitches but not enough to derail the show. Horace Andy [more info], Shara Nelson and Elizabeth Fraser were there to provide vocal support as is most of the time the case with Massive Attack concerts. Angel was just sick and so was Mezzanine. They didn’t play Karmacoma to my regret and I thought that their rendition of Inertia Creeps lack some punch (though it was still great to hear it)!
Next up are Cursive on Tuesday, TV on the Radio [official site] (with Grizzly Bear [official site] opening for them) on October 15th and finally, for this concert series at least, Frank Black [more info], which I haven’t seen live in too long, on October 22nd.
Gunnm live action by James Cameron?!?
Jul 13th
Just learned about it (though the news seems to have been out since 2003) but apparently, Gunnm, a world renown manga, will be adapted as a live action movie by James Cameron! Also, if the movie is successful, it would end up as a trilogy (though each movie would stand on its own legs)… Apparently, Gally/Alita will be computer-generated since it would have been very difficult to reproduce Panzer Kunst battles in live action! Can’t wait for 2009!
Ladytron @ 930 Club
Apr 15th
Just came back from the Ladytron concert at the 930 club. It was a lot more aggressive music wise than I was expecting it to be but it was good nonetheless! French kicks opened and they were pretty good as well…
Tired…
Moved again…
Mar 28th
This time virtually, not physically. Codepuccino has moved to a new hosting company (thanks Jerome ^_^).
Been quite busy lately (as you might be able to tell by the posting time of this blog) but I managed to squeeze in a couple of concerts. I missed Belle and Sebastian at the 930 club (though I managed to get the audio from NPR‘s All Songs Considered) and I missed the Arctic Monkeys last night (damn!) but once again, NPR pulled through and recorded the show! Thanks, NPR! (I should really consider a donation). I managed to see Metric (who were, once again, excellent) and will be seeing Ladytron in April. I also saw Korn in Baltimore this past week-end (Mudvayne were opening for them). The show was quite good: nice visuals, energy and excellent balance. I only (somewhat) regret the fact that they chained together excerpts of a bunch of their better known songs into a “mega-mix” of sorts at one point, which was a little disappointing. But hey, I guess after a while you get bored of the crowd pleasers and you want to play some of your other stuff. I can understand that!
Anyway, I should be getting to bed…
Questionable content
Jan 28th
I discovered the online comic Questionable Content a while ago via Chris Hanson but then forgot about it. I was nursing a cold last night and finally caught up on all the episodes (all 544 of them, yeah pretty sad/geeky way to spend a Friday night but I didn’t feel like doing anything else with my head so far up my ass from the cold). The comic is a pretty smart account of the tribulations of young people immersed in indie culture and all the music snobbism and smartass-ness that entails, while managing to be funny and engaging at the same time (even hitting close to home on occasion). Give it a try!
Finally…
Jul 8th
I finished Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle a couple of weeks ago after started reading it over two years ago. It usually doesn’t take me so long to read books but I had trouble with keeping a required attention level with this one. The story is so… well, baroque that it’s quite a difficult book to read on and off when you don’t have that much time to devote to it. Anyway, I’m glad I sticked to it though I have to admit being a little disappointed with the end: I felt that the different, concurrent plots were ended somewhat too rapidly as if Stephenson himself felt that the book had gone on for too long…
Since then, I read the Sigma Protocol, my first Ludlum. It was a welcome change of pace from the Baroque Cycle (I read it in five days) but I have to admit that it didn’t impress me that much. It was entertaining but a little too predictable.
I have just started American Gods by Neil Gaiman. a gift from my last birthday. I’m not deep into it yet so I’m not quite sure what to think of it except that I found myself having a hard time with the fact that it’s a translated edition (in French).
Debaser from the album Live @ Leysin Festival by The Pixies
The Pixies rock!
Jun 14th
I went to see the Pixies last night at the Merriweather Post Pavilion and was VERY impressed by the showmanship they displayed: 1h30 (with barely a pause) of pure energy in 90+ degree weather with probably close to 100% humidity. Very impressive considering that these guys are not getting any younger!
It was a pleasure to finally get to see them live as they are my favorite band but discovered them about the time they split up so never got a chance to see them live before last night. They looked like they enjoyed themselves tremenduously and even got to celebrate Surfer Rosa (their first LP) becoming gold just last night, 17 years after its release! Very, very nice!
Oh, one last thing, this post was posted with the WordPressDash widget to see how well it worked: in short, if this post makes it through, it’s pretty nice for short, quick posts but it won’t replace MarsEdit for me anytime soon!
Philip K. Dick’s correspondence
Jan 6th
A woman named Claudia is auctioning off a collection of 60 letters (186 pages) that surrealist science fiction author Philip K. Dick wrote to her over a span of nearly two decades. The starting bid of the eBay auction is $1,000.
I’m not sure I would pay that much to get my hands on these but I sure would like to read them… Especially the ones concerning Ubik!
Like a stab to the heart…
Dec 11th
I love music. Especially the one you don’t expect, the one that takes you by surprise and brings out emotions you don’t understand, emotions you work hard to keep bottled up. You’re watching a movie, maybe a little weakened by a subject hitting a little too close to home, then all the sudden, a piano. Just a note then another, subdued in the background. The picture, the timing, the sound: a cold hand showing no mercy, slowly tightening around your heart. You’re left eviscerated, breathless on the couch and you don’t fucking understand what just happened.
I love music, especially when it hits me like a stab to the heart. The best one always does.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to pick up my guts off the floor and get ready to attend a party.
