Mexican Standoff

The rest of the Elbow album is very good, but I don't think it lived up to the awesomeness of the first 4 tracks. Regardless, it's still one of the best CDs of the year, with standout songs like "Station Approach," "Forget Myself," and "Mexican Standoff." Elbow is great at rocking you and sounding lovely while doing it.

That new My Morning Jacket album didn't do it for me.

As for movies, I pulled a double-feature of "Wallace & Gromit" and "Corpse Bride," which are ironically both stop-motion (aka claymation) animated films. "Wallace & Gromit" was quite fun, and very sweet... and damn, Gromit is the coolest dog ever to grace the movie screen. I want him. Go see the movie.

"Corpse Bride," on the other hand, was a letdown... missing was the magic of "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and part of the reason may be that Danny Elfman cannot write catchy songs anymore. Visually, the film looks like its budget was stripped... it lacked the vibrant art direction of "Nightmare." And it just seemed like nothing was at stake. I could guess what each line of dialogue would be, and got tired of hearing so many death-related puns. I'm afraid to say that the Tim Burton of my childhood is gone.

Angels won Game 2 and Game 3, and I'm pumped. Watching these games has been a roller-coaster ride. And the Red Sox got swept...ouch. I'm happy for the White Sox.

Go Angels! Defeat those damn Yankees!