WOOWOO!

HOT PENS!

Dear cinecycle,

It's great to have you back, please stay for awhile!

bizzz-eeeee

To the faithful departed.

WHOA busy these days. real busy. bussy, even.

SO...I was in Minnesota for the last few days, visiting the 'fam, and it was a really good time down there, as always. NO pictures, unfortunately, as I'm a bit of an idiot, I guess.

we caught wolfmother on saturday at the Fine Line, and they were, you guessed it-rather bitchin', though honestly, a little tough to take completely seriously what with the 8-minute EVERY songs and all. But the crowd was sauced, and into it in their always too-polite (famously mocked by Julian from the Strokes) applautive nature. I make up words here because I can!

I've spent more time in Minneapolis than any other US city, pretty much solely because of my brother's move there 8(!) years ago now. The city has always had pretty intensive growth compared to my home town, so that impressed, and even now it's roaring up downtown residential development on a level approaching Toronto's.

This development helped blow out beloved Let It Be Records, eulogized in the city's weekly City Pages as "an oasis of crazed music enthusiasm in an increasingly sterile downtown". Every city needs a Let It Be, and I have to say I think a lot less of ones that boot them out. We once ran into Noel Gallagher there, maybe because it was one of the only cooler places to hang out in the expansive shopping district. Now what? I highly doubt we'll see him quaffing Sam Adams at the Applebee's.

bitchin' things

these.

Language

I've always heard about the importance of body language, but never really looked into or thought about it beyond the obvious. I mean, I'm a guy, so usually it can take like, tears or yelling for me to really figure out what's going on with people sometimes.

So I've been reading up on it, and it's such a mind fuck!

There are of course no hard and fast rules of body language, as everyone is different, but some traits are universal in terms of cues we send out. Last night at a social event I spent some time chatting with people and also observed certain forms of body language going on in the room. In one case someone who seemed to have a pretty uncomforatable 'closed' situation sure enough got up and left the table within a couple of minutes of me noticing it. I guess that was pretty obvious, but I'm not sure if I would have picked up on that as easily before.

Of course I'm no expert, and am closely taking the advice I've read that overtly 'projecting' certain types of language can come off as fake to people right away. But is interesting to be able to maybe better articulate what's going on, even if people aren't saying anything. I'm sure I'll post more observations later...

lounge

It was tough on sunday, lounging on the patio in the sun taking in Wyrd Visions (above) and Woodhands, among others, (reviews here and here).

chatted a bit with Laura Barrett while on the patio, interesting things to come from her for sure, including more shows in more cities in more countries. whoop!

Dear The Verve,

I miss you.

sukie

She didn't enrol, but she wiped the floor with all the arseholes
She took a bijou flat with the fraternity cat
She hid inside the attic of the sculpture building
She had a slut slave and his name was Dave
She said Be my photo bitch and I'll make you rich'
He didn't believe her but the boy revered her

She had an A1 body and a face to match
She didn't have money, she didn't have cash
With the winter coming on, and the attic cold
She had to press her nose on the refectory wall
They served steamed puddings she went without
She had to pose for life for all the scholars of art
She didn't feel funny, she didn't feel bad
Peeling away everything she had
She had the grace of an eel, sleek and stark
As the shadows played tricks on the girl in the dark

Sukie was the kid, she liked to hangout in the graveyard

ill shit

Plastic Little? Ill. Stolen from thecjm, who doesn't have as good a lawyer as me.

On a scale of 1 to ill, the show this past friday at the Boat was very ill. It was intensely varied, from Garbage! Violence! Enthusiam!'s sub-psychotic (and literal) destruction, to Varge's metallic intensity, to the Doers' flippant acoustic basslines and Ninja High School's sweaty hysterics, it really was an amazing show.

But just prior to NHS, two dudes grabbed mics and started rhyming, acapella, with a track that followed quickly in. This was Philly's Plastic Little, who went on to basically burn the house down. If and when they come back, let's hope it will be with Spank Rock. 2006 is now the year of filthy hip hop.