Lists, Lists, Lists II

And this one is of the Golden Globe Awards nominees. Looking over the noms for the movies makes me feel ancient: only Burn After Reading, WALL-E, and In Bruges, of all these, ever struck me as movies I gotta, gotta to see. Everything else looked like an obligation.

BEST DRAMA
Slumdog Millionaire
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST COMEDY
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Mamma Mia
Vicky Christina Barcelona


BEST ACTRESS- DRAMA

Kate Winslet – Revolutionary Road
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas – I've Loved You So Long
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA

Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Sean Penn – Milk
Leonardo DiCaprio – Revolutionary Road
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon

BEST ACTRESS - COMEDY

Rebecca Hall – Vicky Christina Barcelona
Meryl Streep – Mamma Mia!
Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky
Emma Thompson – Last Chance Harvey
Frances McDormand – Burn After Reading

BEST ACTOR - COMEDY

Javier Bardem – Vicky Christina Barcelona
Colin Farrell – In Bruges
Brendan Gleeson – In Bruges
Dustin Hoffman – Last Chance Harvey
James Franco – The Pineapple Express

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kate Winslet – The Reader
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Christine Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Amy Adams – Doubt

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Phillip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Tom Cruise – Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes – The Duchess

BEST DIRECTOR

Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Stephen Daldrey – The Reader
Sam Mendes – Revolutionary Road

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

WALL-E
KUNG FU PANDA
BOLT

TELEVISION

BEST DRAMA

Mad Men
In Treatment
House
True Blood
Dexter

BEST COMEDY
The Office
30 Rock
Entourage
Californication
Weeds


...blah blah blah.

Lists, Lists, Lists I

I think I just fell in love with blogger Perez Hilton for calling top albums lists "wankery." Rolling Stone just published theirs for 2008.

1. TV on the Radio: Dear Science
2. Bob Dylan: Tell Tale Signs — The Bootleg Series Vol. 8
3. Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III
4. My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges
5. John Mellencamp: Life, Death, Love and Freedom
6. Santogold: Santogold
7. Coldplay: Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
8. Beck: Modern Guilt
9. Metallica: Death Magnetic
10. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend

I mentioned the list on the air this morning and added that what looked like my favorite album this year didn't make it on there. Forgot to say what it was:

Self Returning?

Like most pop geniuses, Matt Mahaffey's a busy guy. In addition to his Wired All Wrong work (with Jeff Turzo from God Lives Underwater), and playing in Beck's band, MySpace and SeLf-Centered watchers have lately been treated to two new Self tunes. One of them, "Monogamy" is pure cane-sugary pop bliss. This is fantastic news, since Mahaffey and his fans got shafted a few years ago when Dreamworks shelved Ornament and Crime. Hints on the Self Centered message board indicate there's more news coming. In the meantime, enjoy:

Heads Up - The Golden Sounds

"Todd Evans and whoever is available at the time" in his dream-pop collective make a rare live appearance this Saturday night at the Family Wash in East Nashville. If I could stay up past 9pm, I'd be there. Why can't a few good bands play at a brunch or something, sometime?

Sound: Elizabeth mp3

... And As Far As Grammys Go

Do you notice?

RECORD OF THE YEAR

Adele -- "Chasing Pavements"
Coldplay -- "Viva la Vida"
Leona Lewis -- "Bleeding Love"
M.I.A. -- "Paper Planes"
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss -- "Please Read the Letter"

Out of the five noms, there's only one (US) American in the bunch. What I think is up with that? The US music and radio scene has become so over-niched into identity groups that any kind of good new idea gets strangled out of the gate. I also think it's interesting that the Plant/Krauss collaboration is the only one of these that doesn't owe anything to a long past era (although I admit to admiring what M.I.A. did with that Clash sample very, very much and wouldn't mind in the least if it won).

Coldplay Accused of Plagiarism: Joe Satriani

Looks like they won't be getting that Record of the Year Grammy.

MSNBC reports today:

Satriani's copyright infringement suit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, claims the Coldplay song "Viva La Vida" incorporates "substantial original portions" of his 2004 instrumental "If I Could Fly."

Interesting to note the video was posted some eight or nine weeks ago, specifically to point out the similarity between Joe's riff and the "Viva" chorus. I think it's a pretty minor and will be hard to prove.

Sidenote: YouTube's new screen ratio is annoying for anything that's not a movie trailer, you know?

The Skinny On Nashville Ballet's New Nutcracker

I just spoke with Nashville Ballet's artistic director Paul Vasterling about the all-new version of The Nutcracker being unveiled next Dec. 12. It sounds like it's going to have a strong emphasis on the visual aspects, beyond pirouettes, and it's also going to be very Nash-centric. The interview will air next week, starting on Wednesday, and there will probably be two versions: the on-air edit, and the uncut web version.