I can think of one person who committed suicide on Valentines day

Yes Virginia, a woman will humiliate and emmascualte a man in front of hundreds of thousands of people the night before Valentines Day.



The best part about this clip is the ancient anouncers saying what everyone knows she should do if she doesn't want to marry him before it happens. The stadium PA guy instantly starts playing "Love Stinks" over the loudspeaker. The rejectee gets consoled by a large cartoon mouse. Someone smart got him a beer right away. Even Tracy McGrady can't believe it happened and laughs at the PA guys panaché. And then finally, it ends with the announcer saying the NBA motto "The NBA, where amazing happens!"

Russian Rivers

Good news to those who love iTunes and may like to purchase some of the songs from the artists on this list. ( I know no one will, but its my blog and I can endulge illusions of grandeour if I want to) I am going to be copying my "SVC best of 2007" playlist to the iMix function. Encapsulating one song that I like from each album. It will probably set you back 20 bones or so, but if you dig the list or are unsure if you will, then it will be worth it. I have also organized it in stellar S.Vincent fashion which means the playlist will flow perfectly from start to finish. I'll give you more details once the list is complete.
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I hate having to park far away when I go to the gym. That seems wrong cause I am going there to exercise and yet I hate having to get exercise before I get in there, but its true. I'm not sure if it's because I'm usually in a rush due to a late arrival, the coldness of the current season, the narrow sidewalk that makes 2 people walking on the same path very difficult, the fact that i have a large gym bag, or I am just lazy. It could be one of those things more so than the others, but I am pretty sure I am aggravated by all of those factors. That and the fact that all the other cars in the parking lot belong to people who are either in there being douchebags, walking on the treadmill at a snail pace, pedophiles eyeing up underage girls, or soccer players (enough said). Can you tell that I go to the gym with a lot of frustration? No? Well I do.......so here is another Gym Rule to live by.

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GYM RULE: The handle on the front of the treadmill is for emergencies only, Lurch. You are not supposed to turn the treadmill up to full speed, hang onto the handle, and clomp along like an idiot. If you can't run/walk on a treadmill without holding onto something, you probably shouldn't be on it. Go sit down on the floor and wait for Orderly Williams to scoop you up and take you back to the home.

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NUMBER 6: Okkervil River "The Stage Names"- Love the VanGogh schizophrenic style album cover. Okkervil River is another great band from the Austin, Texas area. Although, I am not sure if you can really qualify them as being from Austin given that all the band members are high school friends from Meridan, New Hampshire, seperated by college, then re-united in Austin to form this band. Sure seems like Austin is the happenin' music place to be these days. You can catch a few country guitar sounds in this album so they are a little bit influenced by their surroundings, but this is a indie-rock album through and through.

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The band name comes from a short story by Tatyana Tolstaya about the Okkervil River in St. Petersburg Russia. I have no idea what the story is about, but it would probably be pretty hard to read since Lead vocalist/band leader William Sheff is all over the place with his lyrics. I am actually still trying to decipher the storys of his songs and I have had this album for 4 months now. You'd almost need a degree in English to pull out his message, but thats okay, the musicianship on this album is crisp and the songs are all so diverse from track to track that the lyrics are a bonus if you can get them. There is plenty of catchable phrases that give you some kind of hint and you can just roll with that.
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This band reminds me a little of Arcade Fire. which is probably why I like this album so much. But as much as some sounds and songs sound like Arcade Fire, it really doesn't risk plagerisim. They use some similar musical styles, but Arcade Fire is much more elegent, involved and dense while Okkervil is much more loose and pleasantly simple using more of the classic guitar and percussion format. That doesn't mean Okkervil is simplistic, just that their songs are more comfortable in their shell. No extravagence, just simple theatrical indie-folk rock drama.

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That's probably the signature feel of this album is its wailing dramatics. William Sheff wails and rolls with his band in a method similar to Arcade Fire with a little less shout and a lot more depression. My favorite is "Our Life is not a Movie, or Maybe" which I think is a song about how life can be like making a movie in which there is all these great ideas and a passion for what the movie should look like, but that it never turns out the way you pictured it in your head. The reality of the camera not always catching the image the way you had it in your head at the start.

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I look for more great things from this band, but I am not sure if they can match this album. Their previous album, Black Sheep boy, was quite good as well but there is such a wide range of song diversity between all the tracks, that any song on this album could be a format for an entire album. In that way, this is almost a "Best of" album without intending to do so. But good luck anyway to the boys from Russia/New Hampshire/Texas........

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Song Samples: Our Life is Not a Movie, Or Maybe, Unless its Kicks

My Space Page

Amazon Page

Probably not a good idea anyway.....

Yesterday, the largest beef recall in U.S history was made. Over 143 million pounds of beef from the Westland/Hallmark Beef Co. which supplies beef to a number of public schools, Jack in the Box, and the In-N-Out Burger......

The good news is, hopefully you already ate it..........the recall goes back to February of 2006. So if you have some beef thats been sitting around in your fridge for 2 years, the USDA would highly suggest you don't eat it. But only cause the slaughterhouse was really mean to the cows, not because it might be past its expiration date a little......

It's imported, so its gotta be good

Still plugging away at these album reviews. I still accidentally fill out a lot of dated material with 2007 in the year category, so I think that means I can still get away with my 2007 reviews. It's kind of like getting a handicap for being handicapped. If I could somehow swing a blue tag for my car due to this problem with my brain, then I'd really be on easy street.

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Today is Presidents Day. Do all 43 presidents feel like they are being honored by this holiday? Are we supposed to be honoring all of them? I know that Presidents Day falls between Washington and Lincoln's birthday so the holiday was originallymade with their birthays in mind, but then what about Jefferson and Roosevelt? They are on Mount Rushmore too, don't they get a holiday?

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Here's another thing I don't get. Why is February "Black History Month"? Shouldn't it be in January when Martin Luther King's birthday is? Is there a reason why February is the designated month? Was there some peice of historical civil rights legislation signed in this month? I feel like I should know why given that this month is supposed to be dedicated to the study of Black History. And I do know a lot about black history, except for why this month is the month to emphasize it. I know that April was the month that the Confederate Army surrendered to the Union army and was the start to the abolishment of slavery. I also know that April was the month that Martin Luther King was assasinated. Maybe April would be a better month?

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NUMBER 7: Jens Lekman "Night Falls over Kortedala" - With a name like Jens Lekman, you are probably not surprised to hear he is not from America. He is actually from the area in which the most overated consumer products originate, Sweden. From massagers and cars, to furniture and hand cream, being from Sweden is probably the number one attraction tag on a luxury product. I think France and Germany are very close behind, but only because "From Sweden" is used more because Americans are not really sure where or what Sweden really is and can't distinguish it from Norway or Finland. Apparently, being "From Sweden" is like being from some magical winter wonderland where people have nothing better to do but come up with products that are better than American products. I would like Geraldo to do an investigation as to how many products that claim to be from Sweden are actually A) from sweden and B) worth the cost of importing/brand costs over similar American products.

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Okay, back to Jens, who is not over-rated, but actually more of an undiscovered talent. His music really is a lot of fun and his style makes you believe that he is your friends foreign exchange student messing around with your dads old music. Jens music just feels really accessibile because its foundations are quirky/funny lyrics and simple hooks. His boyish voice and his old crooner sample technique is so easy and yet so creative, you almost think that you could do it. But you can't, there is a real talent to his work, but the amateur style makes you want to give him a pat on the back no matter what he creates. He creates songs about funny jokes, meeting the parents of his lesbian friend, having a crush on his hair stylist, being jealous of your sisters success, first kisses, and being in love. No song has an uncreative look on any topic and his lyrics are a must read cause they are a scream. Mixed with his music, its probably the most fun to listen to album on this list.

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His first major release in 2005, "Oh, You're So Silent Jens" was a release of all his music that he created between 2000-2005 and was a great album. I was unsure of what to expect from 2007's "Night Falls over Kortedala" since it took him 5 years to create 15 songs on " Oh, You're SoSilent..", I was wary that maybe he forced himself to lay down tracks to cash in on his past successes, but in retrospect there is no need to be afraid as this album shines with not only great songs, but a slightly different feel than the first album. The samples are a mix of old vintage big band cuts, but he also messes with some newer chorus sounds, electronic mixing and modern guitar melodies. All of these newer items are subtle and un-noticeable unless you listen to the 2 albums back to back, but I can pretty much guarantee that you will like them both very much. "Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig"is probably the most prevelent direction of where Jens should be heading.

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His performances live would not impress many. Jens is forced to carry a band for music he created as a one man dynamo. Recreating his samples live is next to impossible, so his live performances are really only a treat to those who know the albums so well. However, Jens' stage personality is as charming as he sounds. Either way, you have to be in a good mood to listen to Jens, because his sillyness only works when you are ready to accept it.

There are no good samples on youtube because Jens is pretty unknown around here, so here is the link to his MySpace page that has numerous samples.

Amazon Page

YFYB is massive ass certified

Tuesday night is "Rob and Big" night in the S.Vincent Household and last tuesday's episode was especially fantastic. It really came out with a bang, so I will share the first 5 minutes with you, and hopefully you will want to spend many of your future minutes enjoying the antics of a one Mr. Rob and a one Mr. Big. There were hilarious hippopotamuses, absurdly sized donuts, a guide on pitfalls in designing a house for a 400lb man, and jabs made at Tyra Banks for being over-dramatic about life in general.
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Please enjoy this clip. It's going to send you to the episode on mtv.com then after you watch, you come back we will talk about what else I discovered.

• MTV
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Of course, anyone who knows S.Vincent knows that he lusts after 2 things......oakley products and donuts. When I saw BB go to town on that peice of pastry, I knew that I had to have one for my very own self. I began scouring the internet for my one true love. This actually proved quite difficult because the search terms of "giant, big, huge, etc." and "donut" yeilded 2 types of results. Some were of donuts that were just slightly bigger than normal donuts, not the cartoonishly delicious one that BB had. Or, they yeilded places where there are big donuts structures to draw attraction to a donut shop. Famous in the California area I guess.

But, a small peice of success was found at the website http://voodoodoughnut.com/ . Unfourtunatly they do not airmail their donuts, which would have been my solution to getting one. But check out how awesome that donut shop is! They have donuts with bacon on them. Donuts with cap'n crunch on them.It's open 24 hours. You can get married there. I swear to god if it was in the tri-state area, I would move there. Damn you Oregon!!

I also prefer to spell them as donut rather than doughnut. I am quite sure that doughnut is the proper spelling and donut is a trademark way that Dunkin' Donuts spells it. I am not a huge fan of DD's donuts, but I am also very lazy, so donut is how I am going to spell it. Deal with it.

Anyway, the search continues. I think I should have some kind of luck in NYC, so I will keep you updated, hopefully accompanied by an awesome picture, if I am to succeed.

Oh, and Happy Valentines Day.........suckers.

what does LCD stand for anyway?

I was flipping through the channels last night and managed to catch Kanye West and Daft Punk performing Kanye's "Stronger". ( you can see Daft Punk at the 3 min mark) Now, the grammy's are probably the least reflective of all the awards shows as an indicator of award winners = talent. But.......the live performances are usually quite good, so I watch strictly for that.
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I never had a problem with the fact that Kanye West used Daft Punk's "Harder Better Faster Stronger" as the back beat for his song. I was slightly miffed that he didn't credit somewhere in the main title as being responsible for 50% of the song, but I thought if Daft Punk was miffed they would do something about it. Last night, when Kanye brought out the electronically lit up costume and sunglasses, Daft Punk Signatures, I thought this was the time he was going to give some "big ups!" to the French boys who more or less are the signature sound on this song. But no....he didn't. I know Daft Punk loves the mysterious almost annonymity. But how about a simple "Yo, give it up for Daft Punk" at the end of the song? I don't get it, but its not my song Kanye is taking all the credit for.....so whatever.
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Speaking of Daft Punk. I had a heavy consideration for putting them on the album list for their "Alive 2007" album. However, I felt that a compilation of them remixing their own older songs live was not quite "new material" and therefore had to be disqualified. This is not a statement of the fact that it is not a great album, just that this list was for new material only. Then again, the album of the year was given to Herbie Hancock who re-sang all of Joni Mitchell's songs......So that shows you how much the Grammy's knows about music.

NUMBER 8: LCD Soundsystem "Sound of Silver"- Speaking of Daft Punk again, coming in at number 8 is an artist that you can tell was heavily influenced by the french duo. The first song on his first self titled album was "Daft Punk is playing at My House", which probably came as no surprise to the listener given producer James Murphy's dance punk sound. The first album was a hit in small circles with its fresh smooth electronic hooks without throwing the electric sound out the door. His voice was unmodified and what I call "punch fun". Sometimes he snaps out his lyrics and sometimes he drags it out. It's his voice jumping in and out and up and down that gives his albums such a fresh feel from normal dance electronic. You can take LCD Soundsystem out of the club.
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Especially true with LCD's 2007 release "Sound of Silver". It's an album immediately reflective of someone moving their sound along to a different level and shows real talent. While still "danceable", the lyrics and less complex tunes. It takes a little more of a concerted effort as the beats come togethor over more time, which is why a majority of the songs are over 6:30 mins. They all build and build, adding more and more layers, then switching places. To really get the feel you almost have to close your eyes and bounce along with chugging train type beats. There are not outward highs to these songs, but they all feel really fun, and not quite so disco dance. Walking down the street music, not dancing music. You can almost feel like you are in a music video, because his lyrics almost feel like your own crazy thoughts. I can imagine almost anything being set to these tunes. I would be very surprised if James Murphy didn't field a ton of calls from advertisers begging to use his stuff.
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The lyrics are the most noticeable shift from the first album to this one. The first was about partying, having fun, doing it again, being tired and doing it again. This album covers more mature topics, while still having some fun. "North American Scum" is an anthem in defense of being from this area of the world. "All My Friends" The albums signature track, and on many critics top 5 songs of the year is a song about partying and what happens to all those friends once the party is over and life moves on. There are songs about lost loves, hints of drug addiction, and meeting corporate standards all with a blast of fun.
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This album definitly grows on you and may not be your cup of tea at first if you don't like Daft Punk, hip music, electronic, or if you have never heard LCD's first album. But give it the standard music rule of 5 listiens before you walk away from LCD, James is sure to grow on you.
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And no, I don't know what it stands for, but if you do, feel free to drop the comment.
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Song Samples: All My Friends, North American Scum, Get Innocous
Amazon Link
LCD Soundsystem Webpage

so there is a clue!

No album review today cause I spent most of it either yawning, crying, being disrespectful or trying to alleviate the sore muscles in my back.

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I was up late watching Vertigo, when it occured to me that women with glasses are often portrayed as either psychotic, nerdy, weird, or shy/un-popular. Think about it, how many high powered female celebrities would be caught dead in spectacles of the prescription type? Name me a famous actress who wears glasses or has worn them in a film as a sex object. I guess I never really noticed this before because its not a rule thatall off-kilter women in movies and films wear glasses, but more so that no one portrayed as sexy, endearing, or powerful would be caught dead in them. So therefore, if you are a woman wearing glasses there must be something wrong with your brain more so then its ability to refract images correctly. This is not so for the male actors.

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Weird huh? I guess that explains a lot about my bespectaled mother and sister though......

it is a bitch

Karma and Revenge, that is. (PS, I made that LOL Cats superbowl edition myself, pretty funny no?) It always seems to give you a few hints before it smacks your emotional teeth out. Like a rotten smell coming from the drain on your sink before it back-flows all over your house. You would think that the citizens of that crap-hole of a city would be experts in the field of "hometown sports jinxes and how to avoid them", but no, they are painfully un-aware of it. Putting out 19-0 books, scheduling the parade, downtalking spygate. Even someone who is as stupid as me avoided it by gracefully hoping the Giants would win and refusing to over hype them or under talk the Pats. Those are the sports fans rules to keep positive karma. I don't know why Boston can't get it, probably cause they don't know how to keep their mouth shut, and they don't have anything else to talk about besides seafood.

This feels so good to those in the Empire state. I don't know how to express in words how good it feels to have the burdon of most epic collapse off of our shoulders. Of course we are talking about the epic collapse by the Yankees in 2004. The knock down drag out affair that took an entire week to kill me a little every day. By game 5, I knew it was over for the Yankees. That they could not win despite 2 more games to play. Easily one of the most painful memories I will ever have. But now, a team from this area was the one to hand it back to Boston; where it belongs. That can NOT be underestimated. A team that used to play in Yankee stadium as a matter of fact.

I argue that the Patriots loss was much MUCH worse than that of the 2004 Yankees. Yes, the Giants were underestimated by everyone, but I don't think that anyone was over-estimating the Patriots by calling them the greatest team in history considering they went 18-0. The 2004 yankees didn't have anyone calling them "the greatest team of all time" and the 2004 redsox were actually considered by many to be the stronger team going in and easily got the wild card berth, with only their choking history holding them as underdogs in the series. So for the Red Sox to win was truly shocking at the time, but that was no David vs Goliath story. The 2004 ALCS was more like Blue Goliath vs Red Goliath when Blue Goliath got a head start and then tragically stumbled and fell.

I feel bad for Tom Brady and Junior Seau, and thats about it. They are good people. I almost feel bad for the Patriots team, their fans and the media screwed them, but with all their past success, not really all that bad. Mostly, I am so so happy that Boston fans and Belicheat got knocked down and not only knocked down, but branded with the #1 symbol of sports failure for a long lonnnnngggg time. I feel another one in their midst coming soon, but we will disclose that after it happens. I am sure they will still harp on their past super bowl victories and the 04 and 07 world series wins, and they have earned that right, just as the Yankees get to bring up the 26 world championships from time to time.

Yes Boston, you got a 4 year break from holding the most epic collapse in professional sports history, but now it is back in your hands. Seems fitting in an area with awful people, road systems, food, and weather. I am going to shut my mouth about it from now on because I don't want to come down on that area forever, otherwise I might be leaving myself open to karma coming back to get me. Next year is a new year, and I learned my lesson back in the day. That was enough for this NY'er.

Feather in his Hat

Did you ever notice that there are a lot of people who use some form of the statement; "If/when I ever win the lottery, the first thing I would do is ______" that don't actually purchase lottery tickets?
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NUMBER 9: Andrew Bird "Armchair Apocrypha"- Andrews talents include glockenspiel, violin, mandolin, whistling..........and oh yeah, guitar.

We move to the mid-west in our global tour of artists because Mr. Bird was born in and still resides in Chicago. He originally had his start with the band "The Squirell Nut Zippers" and then formed his own band called "Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire", which contained a number of talented Chicago musicians but went their own seperate ways peacefully in 2003.

Bird released 2 solo albums in which he worked out some kinks in refining what sounds he could create without backup musicians. Both were critically a success but it's not till this album that Bird has found himself a wide audience.
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A tossy turn of loopey guitars, mandolins, glockenspiels, piccato violins, and of course a little bit of that signature whistle all seem to make sense in what is now Bird's signature sound. His vocal ability is the finishing touch on a musical delight. Soft, deep and playful, Bird's vocal abilities match his intrumental ability. Without trying too hard Bird matches his instruments perfectly offsetting their melody and coming in with harmony. What comes across is a person who's trying to blend in rather than stand out apart. It gives the music a great understated feel, you can listen to the vocals intently, or they can blend in. The most amazing thing about Bird is that he is a one man band who performs these songs live, jumping from place to place to record and loop his own songs on stage. A true professional at his craft. (Watch him set all the music on the Fiery Crash video recording, then looping, and for the signature whistling!)

The lyrics are perfectly loopey as well. Fiery Crash is a song about fears of terrorism and Imitosis is a song about the differences in aggression in society. Scythian Empire is a bleak view on the confusion in the middle east and Armchairs is a love song simplistically fighting for love through all its twists and turns. They are confusing and actually most of them are about Bird's own confusion on certain topics. I have to read them to put togethor what he is talking about, but even the songs about politics sound romantic.

Heavy strings with an orchestral sound make this album fluid from start to finish and very enjoyable. Its almost a mix of classical-folk-jazz. I like every single song especially Imitosis, Armchair and Cataracts and I can see much more success coming from Mr. Bird. At least, I'll buy it.

Samples: Imitosis, plasticites, fiery crash
Amazon page
Artist Page