I saw in the end of 2011 watching TV with my mother in our front room. A tin of chocolate sweets sat open in a no man's zone on the floor between us (a slightly out of reach spot that allowed us to maintain a feeble delusion about not being chocolate crazed Christmas pigs). Before midnight, my mother, engaging in one of her weirder habits, went into the kitchen to microwave her cold mug of tea. I gulped a mouthful of Tesco diet cola, farted softly while there was a sly getting away with it, and un-muted The Vaccines ...

About.com : More books were sent to me for review this year than any other in the site’s existence. There were some excellent metal and hard rock books released in 2011. The choice for number one was easy. The massive Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries was both entertaining and historically important. There were a ton of other good books published in 2011, making narrowing it down to the five best a difficult task… Read and comment. From thedailyswarm.com.

This week we have Derek Nicoletto getting interviewed. Hailing from NYC, Derek gives us his brand of shimmering full-bodied electropop flavor with a hint of vocal soul. Can you give my readers a brief introduction to the band, for those who are unfamiliar with you. How did you form? I formed in my mother's womb in Valparaiso, Indiana, home of Orville Redenbacher and thus, the popcorn capital of the world. After spending time with a few bands and then a good run with Telling on Trixie, I've now gone solo. Telling on Trixie was a great rock band ...

I had the chance to catch Lights Resolve ’s cryptic performance last week at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY in honor of the release of their debut album Feel You’re Different . The band, dressed in all black, drew the crowd in from the very first haunting guitar ring guitarist Matt Reich let out. It’s obvious these guys are digging deep. With slates of mirror behind the instruments that the entire crowd could see themselves in during their set, it seems like the band is asking their audiences to do the same. Lights Resolve is: Matt Reich ...

The Rum Diary Dir. Bruce Robinson [Film District; 2011] by Alex Peterson Rating: “Do you smell that?” asks Johnny Depp’s tribute to Hunter S. Thompson, lowly journalist Paul Kemp, at the very end of this film version of The Rum Diary . “It smells like bastards. And truth.” Depp is standing in the bowels of a gutted Puerto Rican newspaper office, among the wreckage of printing presses that have been looted by the corrupt Americans (the bastards to whom he’s referring) who came to the island to rape it for all it’s worth. The truth to which he ...

If you're in with Darren Aronofsky, you're certainly in our good books. The writer-director has a keen eye for talent, shining a light on names like Sean Gullette, Clint Mansell, Matthew Libatique and Robert D. Siegel. And let's not forget the revitalization of Mickey Rourke. A recent addition to the Aronofsky stable has been screenwriter Mark Heyman ("Swan">Black Swan"), who's now teaming with Lionsgate for his latest script, "XOXO," a Facebook-relationship thriller surely hoping to emulate the success of "The Social Network" and "Catfish." The story is described as the digital age's "Fatal Attraction ...

Nada Surf wrote the song ‘Popular’, and this has forever put them in my good books. Now, after a four year break, the band are coming back with a new album called ‘The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy’, which as titles go I really like. It’s put January 23rd, and to kick start promotion they’re releasing a free download of track ‘When I was Young’. It’s a slow burning, big building slab of excellence, and makes us very excited for the album.   Nada Surf - When I Was Young by cityslang Story originally posted on SupaJam .

Found this at the Che Cafe a while back. There are a lot of good books there.

Our disappointment with Vince Vaughn has been well documented. For the past decade or so he’s been phoning it in with films like “The Break Up,” “Fred Claus,” “Couples Retreat” and this year’s “The Dilemma,” but it looks like he's finally headed back into our good books. Earlier this year he lined up a part in Stephen Frears' "Lay The Favorite," he's got Jason Bateman joining him for "Insane Laws" and now he's finally pairing up with an old friend he hasn't worked with in seven years. THR reveals that Vaughn will join old ...

Interview Friday is back! Today I'm speaking with the band CROSSING YELLOW LINES . All questions were answered by singer/guitarist Andrew Wilburn unless otherwise noted. Hometown: Greensboro, NC Genres: Rock / Alternative Label: Filament Records, Filament Records™ Members: Andrew Wilburn - Vocals/Guitar, Ken Shufelt - Bass, Tony Natalizio - Lead Guitar, Brian Gallimore - Drums Can you give my readers a brief introduction to the band, for those who are unfamiliar with you. How did you form? The band was originally formed by brothers Doc (lead guitar) and Andrew (vocals/rhythm) Wilburn. After a few recordings with studio musicians, we picked up a ...

Alex Krüger aka Tigerskin, is definitely in our good books and have been for a long time. He has been releasing only the best quality house music since 2004, his newest EP just came out on Dirt Crew Recordings. The whole EP So Much Love & Magic is simply amazing. Everything fits and blends perfectly. [...]

Just yesterday we called for an intervention for Jeremy Renner, following the announcement he joined the voice cast of "Ice Age 4." The Oscar nominated actor has been worrying us of late, as he has a string of roles in big shiny tentpoles--"Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol," "The Bourne Legacy," "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters"--that aren't necessarily the best showcase for his tremendous talent. Well, Renner has bounced back into our good books as not only has he set up his own production shingle--something almost every actor of note has in Hollywood--but the first project sounds great. THR reveals that ...

Young Knives - 'Ornaments From The Silver Arcade' (UK Release: 4 April '11) // Words: Emily Solan I must admit that after 'Voices Of Animals and Men' , I fell out of love with the Young Knives . Not because 'Superabundance' was bad (remember how good 'Terra Firma' and 'Turn Tail' were?) just I’d had enough of the whole art-rock, post-punk revival sound. Moving on to 'Ornaments From The Silver Arcade' , and the band are well and truly back in my good books. Recent single 'Love My Name' starts the album, admittedly with the typical jaunty guitar expected from the band, but even ...

I met with my professor for the class the research paper is for, and after hashing out some of my ideas and examining our mutual fascination with violence and governance, it looks like I’m going to be focusing my paper on rape as a weapon of war. (We started talking about violence in DRC, and we eventually focused in on that.) In my research process, I might need to narrow this down, but specifically I’ll be looking at the Democratic Republic of Congo and things such as the ineffectiveness of the international community and  the drive behind gender ...

This weeks interview is with Modena, hailing from North Carolina. I'll let them tell you all about the band: Can you give my readers a brief introduction to the band, for those who are unfamiliar with you. How did you form? Derek and I actually met on a classifieds website for musicians back in '05. We started writing music together right away. We'd hack at ideas for hours on end until we could get it right. Sometime in January 2006, Derek told me about a guy named 'Stewy' who played bass guitar. We called him up and had ...