Music Minims 02 - Keane

The new video for Keane's single "Spiralling" is now available on YouTube. It's definitely not one of my favorite Keane videos (although, according to their site, the band "love[s] it. [They] think Andras Ketzer has perfectly represented the difference between the idealised dream and the dystopian reality of human existence, which is a theme that runs through the whole of [their] new album. Okey doke.) but at least there's a little bit of Tom in there.

The first "full" single, "The Lovers Are Losing," comes out October 20th. The complete album (Perfect Symmetry) drops October 14th.

TV Tidbits 27, Movie Morsels 29 & Music Minims 01

Man!! I have a gossip drought for weeks and weeks and then when things start pouring in, I'm busy at work. My life is a burden, I tell you! :o) I am busy so I'm going to have to smoosh a bunch of stuff into this post... I hope it makes sense.

(Oh, and in case you're wondering about the 'Music Minims' - I had to look up a synonym for tidbit that started with M that wasn't 'morsel.' It was hard! The best I could find was minim: the smallest unit of liquid measure (noun); Music. a note, formerly the shortest in use, but now equivalent in time value to one half of a semibreve; half note (noun); the least quantity of anything (noun); something very small or insignificant(noun). That works, right?)




First up: TV Tidbits. Scoops from TVGuide.com and EW.com's Ausiello.

• Q:...anything mentioned about NCIS and the paper the new director took out of a file (I thought it was his own?) and destroyed. Can you scoop the significance of it?
• Matt: As for your query, you impressed the heck out of NCIS executive producer Shane Brennan: "Yes, the paper is significant — very significant — and yes, it did come out of the director's personal file," he tells the Buzz. "Will we find out what it really means? Yes! This season? Maybe. Will it shed new light on Director Vance? You betcha!"

• Question: As for the first two Chuck episodes that you were soo lucky to watch, are there any good Chuck and Sarah moments in the second episode?
• Ausiello: Actually, two of my favorite Chuck-Sarah moments ever take place in episode 2. One involves Sarah making a grand, Huey Lewis-rockin' entrance into Buy More and then planting a kiss on Chuck (think Phoebe Cates' famous scene in Fast Times, only with fewer bare breasts), and the other finds John Larroquette's washed-up James Bond assessing Chuck's 007 potential by having him perform an impromptu seduction of Sarah. Yvonne Strahovski's reaction to Chuck's lame moves is pure romantic-comedy gold.

• Question: Am I correct in assuming that the death in the first Chuck episode is a character that probably won't be missed all that much by most fans?
• Ausiello: Yikes, that's harsh. Kinda-sorta true, but harsh nonetheless.You kiss your mother with that mouth?

• (Side note on Chuck: Ausiello reported yesterday that "Gary Cole has been cast as the charming con-man father of Yvonne Strahovski's Sarah. Daddy Grifter is slated to pay a visit during November sweeps.")

• Question: So, you are one of the lucky privileged people who got to see the premiere of CSI early. What is the deal with Grissom-Sara? All of these interviews and articles make it sound like their relationship is in huge amounts of trouble.
• Ausiello: I didn't see any signs of trouble in the first episode, but the hour isn't really about them; it's about Warrick. If anything, the one significant scene they do share in the Oct. 9 opener is rather moving and, dare I say, hopeful.

• Question: The Office? Pretty please with cherries on top.
• Ausiello: Either Dunder Mifflin's getting some fancy, state-of-the-art new Xerox machines or Michael's going to be taking his staff out on more field trips this season. According to an NBC insider, the show has been blessed with "a bigger budget" and "better production values" this season. Whispers my spy: "This year is all about being bigger and better."

• Question: Got any scoop on Jim and Pam’s relationship on The Office?
  
  • Ausiello: With a bigger budget comes...fake rain? Rumor has it that something momentous (and long overdue) takes place between the star-crossed lovers during a torrential downpour.

My dad e-mailed me a homemade premiere schedule last night (probably in response to my Fringe post!) that he guesstimates is at least 90% accurate. For your perusal (click to make readable):

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Movie Morsels

• You probably saw this on Yahoo! yesterday but just in case you missed it, a new Quantum of Solace trailer has come out. You can check it out here.

• I just discovered yesterday that they're going to start filming a big screen version of Nicholas Sparks' book Dear Johnlater this year. (Is it a law somewhere that all of Sparks' novels must be made into tearjerkers or what? Yeesh.) So far, Amanda Seyfried (from Mamma Mia!) is set to play the lead, a young woman who falls in love with a soldier, to be played by Channing Tatum, while he's on leave. Does Channing Tatum only play soldiers now or what? He was a soldier in Stop Loss, he's in G.I. Joe... I realize the dude's acting is less than spectacular and thus probably lends itself to more stoic roles but c'mon! Does the word 'typecasting' mean anything to you, Tatum? But I digress. I will admit that I have read Dear John and several other Sparks books; embarrassing but true. They are what I imagine Twilight will be - way to saccharine and syrupy and shmoopy but for some reason you read them anyway. Now, I love a good shmoopy story but good grief - Sparks' books almost made me diabetic! But I kept on reading them, I don't know why. Some are definitely better than others and I'd put Dear John on the 'meh' shelf. It just didn't do anything for me and it seemed just a wee bit more flowery and less plausible than his other books (and that's saying something). I think I'll be sitting this movie out.

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Last but not least - Music Minims.

• As I mentioned in an earlier post, Keane's new album Perfect Symmetry will be coming out October 14th. They released the cover art last Friday and it looks a little something like this:

The basic pattern is a combination of ideas - namely the decidedly imperfect symmetry that's one of the main themes of the album, and the design concepts of the Bauhaus movement that we fell in love with while we were recording in Berlin. Looking through the gaps in the pattern you can see glimpses of sculptures of us specially made by the brilliant Korean artist Osang Gwan.

You can pre-order the deluxe CD+ making-of DVD (for the low, low price of $43(!!) - it's an import, after all) here.

• I heard Snow Patrol's new single on XM yesterday and, sure enough, they're new album is coming out soon, too. A Hundred Million Suns will be released October 28th - per their Web site, here is the track listing:
  

1. "If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It"
2. "Crack the Shutters Open"
3. "Take Back the City"
4. "Lifeboats"
5. "The Golden Floor"
6. "Please Just Take These Photos from My Hands"
7. "Set Down Your Glass"
8. "The Planets Bend Between Us"
9. "Engines"
10. "Disaster Button"
11. "The Lightning Strike"*

1. "What If This Storm Ends?"
2. "Sunlight Through the Flags"
3. "Daybreak"

*The last song is sixteen minutes long and by far the longest we’ve ever done. Don’t be frightened though, it’s great. Although for now you’ll have to take my word for that and I’m pretty biased I have to say.

You can listen to the first single, Take Back the City, at their site.

Random Round-Up 13

Yay! Keane's new album, Perfect Symmetry, is coming out October 13th. Wheeee!

(Unnecessary side note: it looks like Tom totally cut his hair. Boo.)

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HOW long has it been since a Hot Men post, hmm? I'll tell you - too long! (Actually, about 3 full weeks... if you don't count the Christian Bale argument-with-him-mom-blown-exceedingly-out-of-proportion story updates. Which I don't.) So, without further ado, please enjoy these photos of sexy beast Daniel Craig at the Pineapple Express premiere. I have absolutely no idea why he'd attend this particular movie's premiere but who cares? He looks HOT in that suit!! Yum.

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Maria turned me on to passiveaggressivenotes.com and I have to say - it is an excellent way to kill some time at work! It's basically a site that posts real notes left by and for real people like this:

As I said - it's an amusing way to kill time at work! :o) Anyway, I found the following comic at the site (the comic is actually originally from the New Yorker) and it struck a chord:


I HATE it when people do this! I mean, on the one hand, I'm happy that someone is actually bothering to hold the door open at all. It's definitely not a "sure" thing, as I'm sure many of you know. On the other hand, I absolutely feel like I have to scurry to make it to the door in time or else risk being rude and ungrateful. Conversely, if I'm walking toward a door and I can tell someone is behind me but they're at that just-a-wee-bit-too-far distance, I'll almost run to the door so I reach it just that much sooner. That way I don't feel like I have to hold it open for them and they don't feel like they have to rush. (If they're at a decent distance, however, I'll hold the door open; I'm no hypocrite, people!!) I know - my life is so complicated. It's no wonder I'm so tired.

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I always love the shorts that play before any Pixar movie in the theater - as I'm sure most people do. The most recent one, Presto (which debuted before Wall*E) is now viewable online at gamaniak. If you haven't yet seen it, you definitely should!!! Right now. Go.