it's been one week, vol. 3

Five years ago this week, I was deep into Senior Week parties and events...and in a couple weeks I'll be off to reunion! Totally crazy.

- I know that the Daft Punk album release was supposedly the BFD this week, but I only listened to half of it and then went back to The National's Trouble Will Find Me (now only $7.99 to download on Amazon!) I'm still a little resentful that the Mercury Lounge show on release day sold out in ~30 seconds (and that I couldn't go to the other two shows they played in teeny venues that day). I guess I'll just have to wait for the (not so teeny) show at Barclay's.
- Today is the 130th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge! It's still quite a beauty, even though it's getting repaired at the moment. I walked across it with my friends visiting from Chicago two weeks ago, and the repairs feel like they're taking over more and more. The Wall Street Journal has a great slideshow of old photos of the Bridge.

- This week I also belatedly realized that there is a new album out by a perpetual favorite Noah and the Whale: Heart Of Nowhere. It's a great collection of songs, themed around coming of age. They more or less stick to their established sound, which works for me because I don't see the need for everyone to be constantly breaking the mold (a statement which also applies to Trouble Will Find Me).

- Aside from it being Memorial Day weekend, perhaps more importantly it is also the return of Arrested Development via Netflix. There has been quite the onslaught of promos for it, including real life banana stands (sadly not staffed by George Michael). My favorite thing I've seen to prepare for its release is this interactive chart up on NPR's site:

Well, I guess now you know how I'll be closing out the holiday weekend ;-)

it's been one week, vol. 2

Very soon I'm off to Googa Mooga (Yeah Yeah Yeahs play tonight!!!) to stuff my face with food and my ears with music. Before the weekend in the park, though, a wrap on some great things from this week:

- Opening today is the new film directed by Noah Baumbach, Frances Ha, co-written by its star, Greta Gerwig. Clare and I went to the screening earlier this week at BAM, where Baumbach, Gerwig, and co-star Mickey Sumner were there to answer some questions and talk about the film. A lot of it was very funny, particularly in ways that I'm not sure would entirely translate outside of a NYC audience. The chemistry between the actors was great, and though many of them were flailing through life, they were incredibly likeable and warm. I also loved the bits of dance throughout, as Frances tries to make it as a modern dancer. The film also has Adam Driver, who I barely recognized without the facial hair he sports on Girls. I liked him better this way.


- The Office finally ended last night. Despite its troubles and missteps following Steve Carrell's departure, I never entirely gave up on it and have enjoyed most of this past season. The last few weeks leading up to the finale have been great, and the final episode was pretty much perfect. I always get weirdly sentimental about the ends of long TV shows, but the hour-long retrospective that aired right before the episode really got me. The finale was a nice mix of all the characters, plenty of sentimentality, but also lots of solid laughs.

- A much shorter thing I loved was this:

how could you not? A real life astronaut. I mean, what else would you want to do if you were up in the space station, right?

- Lastly, the new album from The National, Trouble Will Find Me, is streaming on iTunes and against all odds, it's just as amazing as I wanted it to be.