It's the Weekend!

So, wow, it's the weekend and a quick look at the calendar we dug up shows that there's really nothing to do Saturday. By now I assume you drank your Friday evening away due to the snow storm. I know I should have.

Sunday has some promise with Wilco and Geoff Mullen in New Haven. One (Mullen) is free, so that is an easy choice. So what to do Saturday? All the major movies that opened this weekend (Be Kind Rewind, Charlie Bartlett and Vantage Point) got less than stellar reviews (68, 54 and 34% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively). The Spiderwick Chronicles seems to be the only movie in theaters that doesn't look awful.

So I say, find a bar, maybe one that features karaoke, or roll the dice on one of these movies. I'm going to provide the trailers for and suggest either Be Kind Rewind or The Spiderwick Chronicles. It's probably quite obviously what you're going to be getting out of either of those. A Jack Black comedy that I personally thought looked great a couple months ago when I first saw the trailer featuring Mos Def, who was awesome in 16 Blocks. Or a PG, fantasy-film similar to The Golden Compass where the main character was actually one of the main voices from The Golden Compass. You'll know what you'd lean towards, but either way here's the trailers.

Be Kind Rewind


The Spiderwick Chronicles

Son Correcto

The Glasgow band that is one part Franz Ferdinand's Paul Thompson, one part Danny Saunders, one part The Royal We's Patrick Doyle and one part Richard Wright, a.k.a. Correcto, just released a bunch of tracks off their self-titled debut album.

Tracks:
1. Inuit
2. Do It Better
3. Joni
4. Save Your Sorrows
5. Walking to Town
6. No One Under 30
7. Here It Comes
8. Downs
9. Even Though
10. New Capitals
11. Something Or Nothing
12. When You Get Away From Me


The band has posted videos of the singles "Joni," and "Do It Better" on their MySpace and you can hear "Inuit" and "Save Your Sorrows."

I'm fairly excited, seeing as this Franz Ferdinand side-project is getting a lot of attention, however they're not passing through the States any time soon. The release date of the debut album is set for Feb. 25 in the UK.

Record Label: Domino

New Headlights Out Yesterday, Show Tuesday

This week is quietly becoming a great week for music. Another release that I forget to mention yesterday was Headlights' Some Racing, Some Stopping.

The only thing better than a new album that you love, is a new album followed by a show. It's always a shame when you find out the band you've been digging all week came through a couple weeks ago. Fear not, however! As Headlights will be in Hamden on the 26th!

They will be playing at The Space at 295 Treadwell St. with openers Evangelicals, Bottle Up & Go, and De Luxe. I don't know how I feel about Evangelicals and Bottle Up & Go, but De Luxe is great so be sure to show up on time.

Those outside of Connecticut will be happy to know Headlights will be playing at the Middleast Club the following day in Cambridge and then in Brooklyn on the 29th. Check their MySpace, which is as always linked above, for more details.

Download thanks to Polyvinyl Records.

Headlights - "Cherry Tulips"

Atlas Sound Coming Your Way

Atlas Sound, aka lead singer of Deerhunter Bradford Cox's side project, released their debut full-length yesterday to much good press. It even got the Best New Music tag over at Pitchfork.

The whole album is currently streaming on their MySpace and so far, so good. I'm only through the first few tracks, but Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel seems like a great album for those into the experimental/psychedelic rock genre.

So there's a few things you can do. Listen to the stream, perhaps purchase the record and go see them live this week.

Feb. 23 @ The Mercury Lounge - New York City
Feb. 24 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn
Feb. 26 @ Middle East Upstairs - Cambridge, Mass.

New Shows!

I added a ton of new shows to our calendar so be sure to check those out if you're looking for something to do this week! The next week or so is shaping up to be a lot more exciting than last weekend.

As always, if we missed something feel free to let us know.

See All the Academy Award Nominated Short Animations in Hartford!

I mentioned this briefly in a comment in the below post, but this deserves it's own spot with the Academy Awards coming up. Plus, you only have two more days (today included) to check these out.

Real Art Ways on Arbor Street in Hartford is showing all of the nominations for best short animation at 5:40 p.m. today and Thursday. Those nominations are:

I Met the Walrus

In 1969, fourteen-year-old Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's hotel room with his tape recorder and persuaded him to do an interview.

Madame Tutli Putli

A timid woman boards a mysterious night train and has a series of frightening experiences.

Meme Les Pigeons Vont Au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
Note: The video below seems to be the full 9-minute short and not the trailer.

A priest tries to sell an old man a machine that he promises will transport him to heaven.

Moya Lyubov (My Love)
A link to the trailer. Sorry, no YouTube.
In nineteenth-century Russia, a teenage boy in search of love is drawn to two very different women.

Pete and the Wolf
Just seems to be a short clip and not a trailer.

A young boy and his animal friends face a hungry wolf in Prokofiev's classic musical piece.

Starting the 29th, Real Art Ways will begin showing the Academy Award nominated live action short films. You can expect a similar post as that date approaches.

The Little Golden Men

The 2008 Academy Awards are closing in and unless you're my grandma who's been diligently following the nominations and celebrity news build-up of the season, it's possible that you've missed a few things along the way.

This year Jon Stewart, best known for his work on the The Daily Show, will be making his second appearance as the host of the awards show and he's looking forward to number 80.

“I’m thrilled to be asked to host the Academy Awards for the second time because, as they say, the third time’s a charm,” said Stewart in an interview with the Oscars people.

The list of people to present the little gold men includes Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Superbad), Steve Carell (The Office, Dan in Real Life) and Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There, Elizabeth: The Golden Age). Most of the actors scheduled to present are on the "A-List," except for maybe Amy Adams, who is someone I've never heard of until I googled her just now.

While browsing through the Academy Awards Web site, I was kind of disappointed to see the list of performers at the show. It's like they went out of their way to pick performances from movies that will never win awards. For example, songs from Enchanted and August Rush are on the bill. However, Kristin Chenoweth, or Olive Snook from Pushing Daisies will sing and we at More Like A Six-Foot Turkey are okay with Pushing Daisies. Actually we’re still recovering from the shock over no more episodes ‘til next fall.

And finally, the nominees are:

Names like George Clooney, Johnny Depp and Daniel Day-Lewis are nominated for their work as leading roles in Michael Clayton, Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and There Will Be Blood respectively. It was pleasant too see Hal Holbrook's name in the list for the nominees for best supporting actor for Into the Wild, which is still probably playing at Real Art Ways in Hartford.

Best actress in a leading role nominations include Cate Blanchett, Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard. Even though everyone I know ho saw Juno said it wasn't the greatest thing ever and earned way too much hype, it's getting somewhere with these Academy Awards people.

For the best motion picture of the year:

Juno - Ellen Page, Michael Cera and Jason Bateman
Atonement - Saoirse Ronan and James McAvoy, Kiera Knightly
Michael Clayton - Tim Wilkinson, George Clooney,
No Country for Old Men - Tommy Lee Jones ans Javier Bardem
There Will Be Blood - Daniel Day-Lewis

Miscellaneous: Mark will be happy to know that the armed polar bears in The Golden Compass have the potential to earn the award for achievement in art direction.

Web:
Oscar.com
Oscars.org