While browsing KCRW, I found Sounds Eclectic. This is an excellent site featuring hours of a wonderful mix of music, including artists like Ryan Adams, Badly Drawn Boy, Aimee Mann, Doves, Damien Rice, Hem, Coldplay, The Flaming Lips, Zero 7, Gary Jules, Beth Orton, Ron Sexsmith, Eels, Spiritualized, Neil Finn, Norah Jones, Morcheeba, Jack Johnston, Craug Armstrong, Mercury Rev, Starsailor, Ed Harcourt, Elbow, Air, The Avalanches, Sparklehorse, Beck, Travis, Tom McRae, Ani DiFranco, Ivy, Turin Brakes, Rufus Wainwright, JJ72 and Stereophnics. Many of the above are featured in exclusive live sets. For example, there's almost half an hour of sultry sounds from Norah Jones available here. Aaah! It's too much. I can't take it! Almost every singer/group I've evr liked is featured here! I must now change my homepage to Sounds Eclectic.

Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan (her beautiful voice can be heard on several tracks on his cd) will appear on KCRW tomorrow (Friday, November 1st). The performances will be webcast in RealAudio and RealVideo, beginning 11:15am. Don't miss it!

Recently finished 'Everything in This Country Must' - a novella and two stories by Colum McCann. It was very well written, thought provoking, and perhaps educational for those interested in the troubles of Northern Ireland.

Watched Igby Goes Down this week - very good, with an amazing cast and a great script. It deserved a wider release than it got. Recommended!

A list of my favorite scary movies (they may not all be considered horror movies but they scared me!):

The Blair Witch Project
Session 9
The Ring
The Addiction
The Exorcist
The Omen
The Birds
The Wicker Man
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Bad Taste
Childs Play
Se7en
Scream
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Halloween
Nightmare on Elm Street
The Shining
Carrie
The Matrix

This weeks distractions:


Music

You must find and hear songs by the following:
Damien Rice
The Frames
Gemma Hayes
David Kitt
JJ72

They're all Irish, all great, in some cases amazingly so. I brought my minidisc player to work today for the first time in ages (usually I listen to audiobooks) and listened to Damien Rice and Gemma Hayes. Rice's cd is just so damn good. His words, his voice, his backing singer's voice, the operatic and symphonic music... it's just incredible. And he's from the same county as me!

Anyway, I've also been feeding my latest obsession - Jazz - and listening to Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and some compilations on loan from the library. And I ordered some cds from Columbia House's outlet store - Louis & Ella, Miles Davis, Count Basie, and John Coltrane.

Movies

Haven't seen anything since Abandon, which was really bad.

TV

The only show I consider unmissable is The Sopranos.

Books

L.A. Confidential, which I recommend. There's so much more substance to the book than there was to the movie, and I liked the movie! I'm impressed, I rarely get pulled into books like I have with this, and with the other Ellroy book I've read so far - The Black Dahlia.

Internet

Nothing new. I spend most of my online time at blogger, shopping sites or our library site.

Life

Vic and I are good. And we had some free food this weekend, thanks to her family. Otherwise it's been a quiet week - the film festival is this weekend. Also, I'm considering applying for a different job. My problem is that most of the jobs available would mean I have to speak to stupid/angry people, and that's the thing I hate most about my current job.

Thanks to Sasha for recommending The Frames. I'd heard a few of their songs on a mix tape a friend made me a few years ago, but hadn't really listened to them before now. Their site is amazing - you can hear full tracks in streaming audio. Check it out. Damn, the Irish music scene is so cool. I wanna go home!