Being a big “Weird Al” fan, I just have to show off his new video clip, “White and Nerdy”…

On Al’s MySpace page, you’ll also find a downloadable version of his song “Don’t Download This Song”, which deserves to be heard!

I know what I like and I like what I know, says I.

Well, every week I shall now discuss the music that’s currently in the public consciousness. That’s right, The Music Snob will henceforth “keep it real” and “tell it like it is” when it comes to the stuff hitting the ARIA and Austalian last.fm charts. Here are the five songs I’ve chosen this week:

1. “Starlight” — Muse: (#2 last.fm) Muse are one of the more prominent bands leading the prog rock revival, and this song, while not as interesting as some of the other tracks on their Black Holes and Revelations LP, gives me hope that intelligent music is still out there and being listened to.
2. “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” — Panic! At the Disco: (#1 last.fm) This track features a strong hook with a good use of vocals. I quite like it, actually.
3. “SexyBack” — Justin Timberlake: (#2 ARIA) A crime against humanity, this song has convinced me that there truly is no God.
4. “London Bridge” — Fergie: (#4 ARIA) Thoughtfully, the air-raid sirens at the start of this track warn the listener of the impending aural bomb approaching.
5. “Such Great Heights” — The Postal Service: (#4 last.fm) Put simply, this is an 80’s track with a modern production (and any conclusions to be drawn from that are left as an exercise for the reader).

Once again, the ARIA chart seems to be a wasteland when it comes to good taste.

Meanwhile, here are the five tracks I’ve picked to represent my top five artists for last week:

1. “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” — The Police: one of the best songs from one of my favourite bands
2. “Stay” — David Bowie: a 70’s dance track for the insane
3. “Blackest Eyes” — Porcupine Tree: in a just world, this band would be a household name
4. “Animals” — Talking Heads: David Byrne’s paranoid rant about furry critters
5. “The Dream of the Blue Turtles” — Sting: this is Sting at his most overtly jazzy

Apologies for another video post, but this is too cool not to pass on. It’s an animated short called It’s All Around You, and I discovered it through animator Nick Cross’ Plog.

Yet another clip featuring Chevy Chase…

Some Canadian guy with the Grand Theft Auto logo tattooed across his back has been busted for (surprise!) auto theft.

Here’s the best bit:

Police said during the stakeout they also watched Kujawski thwart his own attempt to drive away in another stolen vehicle by accidentally disabling the car with the owner’s steering wheel lock.

I guess playing Vice City didn’t prepare him for that little detail…

When it comes to things I like, I’m a bit of a fanboy. Hanging on my walls at the moment are framed or mounted posters of Star Wars, Tron, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush; I have a Futurama monthly calender and Simpsons daily calender and an autographed photo of George Lucas. I’m just not someone who does anything by half.

Being a big fan of the band The Police, when I heard that drummer Stewart Copeland had crafted a documentary this year out of hours of footage he’d shot while in the band, I couldn’t believe my luck. That it was being released on DVD with a commentary track by Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers was even better.

What this film is not is a dramatic narrative with an exhaustive look at the life of the band from beginning to end. There’s no footage of the first couple of years (which is instead told through a series of stills), nor is there anything from the Synchronicity tour or the failed sessions that produced Don’t Stand So Close to Me ‘86. Much to the dismay of some critics, there aren’t even any “talking head” moments where band members and critics are interviewed today to fill in the blanks.

Instead, what we are treated to is an insider’s meditation on what rock stardom does to a person. Touring becomes a way of life, with brief periods of attempts at normality sandwiched in-between. Fans clamour for just a glimpse as you try to make your way to the car to depart the scene… if you can actually see the car as it’s obscured by the crowd. If your last album was a massive hit, the next one better exceed expectations, and that means the pressure keeps increasing, with failure looming like a black cloud on the horizon.

And yet the film is often light and funny. Whether it’s the wrangling of sheep for a promo video (subtitled “Can’t Stand Losing Ewe”) or Copeland addressing the camera (mounted on a tripod) while he drums during a Police set, there’s a fairly upbeat tone to the piece. Copeland has a dry wit that is echoed in his narration, such as the observation that the defining feature of the New Wave is the haircuts, and his take on the band’s history isn’t mired in bitterness or cheap shots.

I’d recommend this film to any Police fans or fans of rockumentaries in general. This is not Some Kind of Monster — a dramatic look at a band facing a crisis — but rather a retrospective assembling of the video diaries of a member of one of New Wave’s most influential groups.

Does everyone stare the way I do?

(One other note: the soundtrack, featuring remixed Police tracks, is just fantastic, and adds to the atmosphere of the piece immeasurably.)

More progressive rock and New Wave goodness, and I encourage you to seek out at least one track from the following to hear it for yourself.

1. “San Jacinto” — Peter Gabriel: possibly my favourite Gabriel track, particularly after seeing his amazing performance of it on Secret World Live
2. “Blood on the Rooftops” — Genesis: one of the last great Genesis songs from the four-piece lineup of Collins/Banks/Hackett/Rutherford
3. “On Any Other Day” — The Police: Stewart Copeland’s sense of humour shines through on this track
4. “Fantastic Place” — Marillion: another beautiful track from their Marbles LP
5. “Cloudbusting” — Kate Bush: an ornate masterpiece and possibly the best track in her entire career

And now, for your listening pleasure, a sample of “San Jacinto” by Peter Gabriel:

So last night I watched the new DVD of the original 1977 version of Star Wars.

Despite being a huge Star Wars fan, I’m not one to watch the films every week. In fact, the last time I watched the original Star Wars would have been about 18 months ago. This made the experience last night just that little bit better, since, overall, the movie is still fresh to me.

Do not be under any illusions when it comes to this DVD set: while the first disc features a pristine transfer of the 2004 edition of the film, the second disc (containing the 1977 version) features a straight letterbox transfer that is often incredibly grainy, with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. I imagine it’ll look pretty crap projected onto a 120″ screen in that dedicated home theatre that you just had built.

That said, it’s still 100 times better than any VHS copy, especially since this (to my knowledge) is the first time that the original crawl has appeared on any home format. When I saw the film in rerelease in 1982, it had already had the “Episode IV: A New Hope” subtitle added to it — the first major change of many over the years.

This, to me, is a compromise on the part of George Lucas. He’s trying to meet the fans half-way, and I appreciate the effort. If I were going to screen the film in a dedicated home theatre, the 2004 edition would be the choice I’d make, but as a nostalgia trip, this release of the 1977 edition fits the bill nicely.

I don’t even necessarily subscribe to this outlook, but it sounds cool when crapping on about nonsense:

The man stood tall
Fire in his eyes and in his belly
Everything that existed was for his benefit
And for his alone

The race has only just begun
Racing towards the finish line
The machine’s gonna stop soon
And then where will you be?

A god with a new toy
Having a ball of a time
When you break your neck on the field
It’ll all come as a shock

So just keep on living
Like there’s no tomorrow
Time’s an illusion
And illusions are all we have left

Chevy Chase at the height of his popularity…

It was three years ago today that I experienced a rather life-changing event. I won’t go into the details (because they’re fairly boring), but since then, I’ve learnt a lot of tough lessons:

1. sleep is good
2. if someone gives you a bad feeling, there’s probably a good reason for it
3. promises are rarely kept
4. people will talk about changing a lot more than they mean it
5. sometimes you need to put yourself first
6. big goals are good, but a series of smaller goals is better
7. music is the true spice of life
8. nasty people can hurt you, but nice people will hurt you more
9. friendship involves shared experience, and when that’s removed, the friendship is over
10. blogging can be exhausting, but it’s always rewarding

There’s a new Chick tract out, and it looks like what a fundamentalist Christian might see while reading Peanuts and tripping on acid.

Nonetheless, it made me consider how appropriate the running gag in Peanuts of Lucy holding the football is as a metaphor for religious faith. Here’s Charlie Brown putting his trust in Lucy again and again, despite what experience may tell him, and where does it get him? More pain, more suffering, more disappointment.

No matter how many times people tell me that God/the universe/fate etc. ensures that everything will work out in the end, I don’t believe it. Why bother even trying to make the world a better place if it’ll all work out for the best anyway? I may as well just sit at home all day watching Jerry Springer instead.

Don’t trust Lucy — she’ll yank that football away just as you’re about to kick it.

(I’m really not as cynical as this post makes me sound…)