Since we’re all post happy about Vamps this past week, has anyone seen HBO’s True Blood?

Cause I have, all 12, one hour episodes within in 3 days! Yeah it was pretty intense. What else is there to do in the suburbs of Detroit, MI during Thanksgiving weekend besides HBO On-Demand? I’ve been known for obsessively watching TV shows on DVD or On-Demand, such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Californication, Dexter, and so on, and currently am obsessively netflixing Six Feet Under. There’s nothing more satisfying then having the next episode at your finger tips.

I had never seen True Blood until this past week, after hearing great reviews from one of my roommates and various viral marketing throughout NYC sparked my interest.

TB turned out to be entertaining, but pretty much the most annoying show I’ve seen in a while. Short of telling you about the plot (go read on the website), this season was based on a who-dun-it murder caper infused with blood thirsty vamps and back-woods yokels, set in the outskirts of Louisiana. If it weren’t for the sex scenes & some vampire fantasy stories, I don’t think this show would have much substance. There are a few good gore scenes and all the vampire scenes are really campy. Then there’s a love story between an innocent (read: virgin) southern girl and an ex confederate soldier turned Vampire, which was also quite irritating. It was kind of disappointing all in all. And since this was made by Alan Ball, the creator of Six Feet Under and writer of American Beauty I had high expectations. So, yet another vamp let down. This show sucks.

I don’t know who you are. I know you may have had a rough day at work. Maybe, even you got that call from your boyfriend saying that he is boning your cousin. I have rough days. We all do. You don’t think I want to bust open a buffet of Chinese food being bummed the Knicks got embarrassed at MSG? I exercise a bit of restraint whenever possible. Especially, if it involves me dealing with personal issues.

But crying while eating a sandwich on a subway is just stupid. I don’t mind crying. I am not one to judge when is the right time for an outpour of emotion. But please put the sandwich away! I don’t want to sit next to you while you nosh on what seems to smell like an onion, feta and sweatsock sandwich.  The incessant crumbling of the sandwich paper, coupled with your constant moving in your seat are unnecassary.  The seats on the subway will never comfortable! It’s bad enough I got Joey Wall Street Journal keep stepping on my feet.

*Note – I don’t know who the girl in the picture is, it just fits the story.

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30) Titus Andronicus – The Airing of Grievances (Troubleman Unlimited)

As much as I’ve wanted to, I just can’t get into the Pogues. The whole Irish Punk-Folk sound just never resonated with me.  Titus Andronicus, on the other hand, wield Irish folk like a dagger rather than a broadsword, and bring it into a context I can enjoy. Mixing Irish elements into grandiose self-loathing, post-hardcore laments about suburban dissolution just makes perfects sense to me, the cover for this album however does not. This is New Jersey’s answer to Bright Eyes (And I don’t mean that in a bad way!).

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29) Marnie Stern – This Is It… (Kill Rock Stars)

This album is straight out of the good ol’ days of Helium & Sleater Kinney, with some serious guitar heroics for good measure. If you’ve ever seen the term “angular” used to describe a band or an album and wondered what that meant, then listen to This Is it…. It’s like being caught in a geometry daydream. The full title, This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That alone will give you those geomotry quiz jitters.

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28) Blood on the Wall – Liferz (The Social Registry)

It saddens me to think that this is probably the last BOTW album we’ll ever get. This band and every album they’ve ever put out reminds me exactly why I fell in love with indie rock. Liferz plays like that old battered T-shirt in your closet that is always a perfect fit, no matter your mood or the occasion.

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27) The Virgins – The Virgins (Atlantic)

This album was a real departure from the Strokes-esque, stripped-back EP and the band’s earlier demos. I think the super glossy production really suits the band well, proving the songs were more suited for AM radio rock than DIY indie–kind of like an American version of Phoenix. These guys and this album were supposed to be H-U-G-E by now, and I’m not really certain why they aren’t, but this album has all the tools to make it happen.

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26) Ellen Allien – Sool (BPitch Control)

While IDM, electronica, and minimal techno have never been personal favorites of mine, I’ve always been a fan of Ellen Allien. Everything she does is so lush and deceptively intricate. Unlike with most electronic music, I never get bored of her albums only two songs in. Her songs just build and pace themselves so well. Sool is no exception, except that it’s darker & more subdued than her previous work. Sool sounds like the soundtrack to Ray Bradbury’s “Kaleidoscope”.

You know the drill, be here tomorrow for parts 25-21!

• For albums 35-31 on the list click here!

• For albums 40-36 on the list click here!

How are ya’ll feeling today?! Because I feel fucking great! This morning I banged a chick and beat up a dude! At the same time! How is that possible?! Nothing is impossible when you drink Diet Pepsi Max with Panax Ginseng Extract, dummies! I’ve been hooked on this soda for about two weeks and when I say hooked, I mean I wake up with shakes and curious shivers! I used to just steal hubcaps and scrap metal for fun, but now I shopping cart it down to the junkman, then it’s straight to the corner boys for a fix of DPM! A regular can of diet cola has 36mg of caffeine! That’s it?! Cowboy the fuck up kids and grab a DPM with 69mg! Like the Pisces symbol! That means DPM is sent from the Gods! Right?! RIGHT?! I need to go lay dow! DPM!

I loved this interview in the latest issue of Vice, and can’t seem to get over it, so hopefully sharing it here will purge my obsession. It’s a feature on the work of Belgian-born UK resident Christophe Szpajdel, who has apparently dubbed himself “The Dark Lord of Logos.” Having done 7000 logos in the last 20 years, mostly for death- and black-metal bands, you can’t deny that his level of output alone is impressive. That’s like, one a day, forever. On top of that, I’m totally fascinated with his lettering. Someone get this man a Wikipedia page.

The Swedish vampire film “Let The Right One In” by Tomas Alfredson & John Ajvide Lindqvist lives up to all the recent hype it’s been getting. It’s a beautifully shot & directed adolescent love story in the guise of a vampire tale.

Those of you put off by the fact that this is a love story should note that this film also has some great gore and does an amazing job at setting a cold & creepy atmosphere. This is just one fantastic film that was so good I actually feel guilty I didn’t pay anything to see it.

The choice was mine: I could go out and be part of the problem, or I could stay in and do something constructive with my time. What’d I do? I decided to watch some movies. But which ones?

It’d be nice to sink into something that could keep me busy all day. OK, so I need some sequels. I didn’t want to have to carry it over to the next day, however, so something epic like Lord of the Rings (despite it’s holiday charm) was out. That pretty much left Blade or The Matrix, and—sadly—I watched the Matrix downward spiral a few months ago. Still too soon.

Blade. Blade II. Blade Trinity.

I guess there’s two types of people: people who would never watch these movies because they’ve convinced themselves that they are shit, and people (like me) who can love these movies…warts and all. Stephen Dorf and all.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve all seen them and you either love or hate them. This is just me reminding us all: they are awesome. For those that don’t know:

Blade. Blade is a half-human, half-vampire ‘daywalker’ that has all the strengths of vampires and very few of their weaknesses. He makes it his mission to hunt vampires and they’re human ‘familiars’ until the human race is safe from the vampiric threat.

Whistler. Whistler is Blade’s old-dude dad-guy who also lays it down heavy in the shop. He invents all sorts of cool doodads (light grenades, stake-shooting shotguns, um, super-knives, and a bad-ass 72 Challenger, among other things) for Blade to go out and hack vampires up with.

The movies.

Blade. You meet Blade. He’s got beef with Stephen Dorf who is a dick-vampire that wants to rob Blade’s blood of it’s magic and use it to take over the vampire-nation.

Blade II. Blade goes to Russia to rescue Whistler (who was kidnapped at the end of Blade) and encounters a new breed of parasite that feeds on both humans and vampires. The gore-dial gets turned up, and Ron Perlman and Norman Reedus make memorable appearances.

Blade Trinity. Blade gets outed to the humans and they arrest him. He’s rescued by the, ahem, Nightstalkers which are a bunch of kids who try to do what Blade does. Ryan Reynolds (can’t help but like this dude, sorry), Jessica Biel, and Patton Oswalt…um…stalk the night. Parker Posey heads up the main-bads and has a plan to bring back Dracula (played by the big dude from Prison Break) who ends up respect-hating Blade right up until the climax of the movie.

Not like it’s hard to guess, but—hands down—the best thing about these movies is Wesley Snipes. He is amazing in that he clearly works hard at hamming up the blaxploitation aspects of his dialogue…he knows it’s funny, so he laughs along with you. He’s also totally convincing at the stunts and martial arts stuff, and well, he makes you care about Blade.

Anyway. If you have a spare six hours, watch the Blades. They are awesome.

Vinyan is the second film from Director Fabrice Du Welz (Calvaire). A couple loses their son during the Tsunami in Thailand however, while watching a video presentation on empoverished areas in Burma they think that they spot him on tape. This sighting leads them on a search through the Thai underworld and throughout the Burmese jungle looking for what may or may not be their son.

Stunning cinematography by Benoit Debie (Irreversible) and incredible sound design by Fred Meert (also of Irreversible) make this film an intriguing watch. Definitely go see it if it comes to a theatre near you. If you can only get a DVD copy then turn up the volume.

For fans of Du Welz, there is definitely a scene in this that rivals the dancing scene in Calvaire. Watch the intro here. (and turn up the volume on your monitor)

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35) Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead the Blind (Kranky)

Bradford Cox really had a nice little grip on shaping the soundscape of 2008, first with this solo release and later with a new Deerhunter album (more on that later). While more intimate and personal than Deerhunter, the sound of this album isn’t that huge of a departure. Flowing somewhere between shoegaze and modern psychedelia, the album is full of warm tape hiss, distortion, and distant loops. This may be a reach, but when Cox does sing or exhibit his pop sensibilities, I can’t help but equate them to some of Bjork’s more cold and poignant moments. This is an album for the brokenhearted.

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34) White Denim – Workout Holiday (Full Time Hobby)

With studio & home recording becoming so cheap and accessible these days, it seems that most of the indie rock scene has migrated towards a lush, more overproduced sound. Whatever happened to the DIY Lo-Fi aesthetic that was so synonymous with the scene in the 80′s and 90′s? Where are the Guided by Voices and Sebadohs of tomorrow? White Denim manages to pick up the very lofty mantle left free by those bands. A no frills, Lo-fi garage rock record mixing everything you ever loved about The Gories and those old GBV Scat releases.

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33) Magnetic Fields – Distortion (Nonesuch)

After a long hiatus, it’s nice to see that Stephin Merritt hasn’t lost any of the tools that made him one of indie rock’s preeminent songwriters. Distortion is a welcome abandoning of the acoustic balladry of 69 Love Songs and more of a return to their 60s’s-tinged electro-pop, caked in so much distortion that it would make the Jesus & Mary Chain envious.

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32) Santogold – Santogold (Downtown/Universal)

You have to marvel at an album that can seamlessly hop from one genre to another, from song to song to song, mixing and matching, and do it this well. But that’s what makes a great pop record, right? There’s a little bit of everything in the pot here (electro, punk, new wave, dub, etc, etc) and the finished product is a pretty tasty album where every track could be a single or, er, in a Beer commercial.

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31) Crystal Antlers – Crystal Antlers EP (Touch & Go)

While this is just an EP, it’s too good to snub from the list. Think of Crystal Antlers as a psychedelic excursion channeled through the post-punk filter of Black Heart Procession. Rather than expound endlessly on the virtues of this EP, I’ll just tell you to go out and get it. I hope that this is but a taste of the eventual album to come.

Be here tomorrow for parts 30-26!

• For albums 40-36 on the list Click Here!

I’ve never been a huge fan of Grant Morrison’s work. I feel he gets way too much credit for too few great books. He has a habit of very sloppy and confusing story telling which he compounds by wrapping his story arcs too soon. I can’t knock that he can definitely come up with some great premises, but delivering on them he rarely does.

Morrison’s run on Batman just concluded and from the outset my feelings towards it was that this was another Morrison hack job. That was UNTIL Batman R.I.P. began. Finally! I thought I could see where all the confusing, poorly written and rushed issues were leading up to. And what a great build up it was… it seemed like Morrison wasdestroying the very fundamental that made Bruce Wayne become Batman. How wrong I was.

I love when comic book writers really go back into a characters vast back-story looking for any yarn that can be untangled and sewn into some new story.  Morrison was doing just that with this run on Batman, and actually doing a decent job of it up until the very end of R.I.P.

With what has been his M.O. for a while now Morrison fumbles the ball at the 10 yard line. He doesn’t give the readers the payoff we deserve by never revealing who the Dr. Simon Hurt truly is and by hastily tying up his loose ends with too few pages remaining. At the very least he could have gone the predictable route and had Dr. Hurt end up being Thomas Wayne (Bruce’s dead father) or or even Alfred. While at that point an obvious culprit, the ramifications it would have created for Batman as a character would have been unbelievable!

So at the end we’re left with a very sloppily written story and no pay off. Oh wait… Morrison did leave his us with the totally unbelievably written revelation that Batman has a bastard 10 year old son named Damian! Who just so happens to be a pointless character that I bet the next long term Batman scribe is already frothing at the mouth to kill off. Bravo! What a waste of some two dozen issues!

I can only hope that the next two issues of “Whatever happened to the caped crusader?”penned by the usually fantastic Neil Gaiman  do truly mark a bold new direction in the Batman mythos and clean and tie up all of Morrison’s loose ends.