Better late than never, here's my take on the "Bored to Death" season finale. I'd guess I have all the time in the world, because HBO rarely sticks to any sort of schedule (unless it's an aggressive one with a true hit like "Entourage" early on), so I wouldn't expect new episodes of BTD for at least 12-18 months.Either way, things ended with a bang, or rather, a punch, as the boxing match among...
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Bored to Death week 8: Closure?
Bored to Death week 7: Stability
With the penultimate episode of "Bored to Death"'s debut season, the show seems to have reached a nice equilibrium, with the characters and premise established. That makes it easier to watch, but it means challenges for next season (HBO picked it up for a second year weeks ago). How to keep it fresh, particularly as Jonathan and his ex grow further apart and the foibles that caused trouble this...
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Dylan bests Sting in Christmas album battle
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Two giants took the unusual step of releasing Christmas albums this fall, and the surprise is who did it better. Was it the sentimental fool with a sweet pop croon who knows his way around traditional music, or the craggy voiced Jew whose music seems to eschew sentiment?Surprise! In the battle of superstar Christmas albums, it's no contest: Bob Dylan bests Sting.The intent of these two discs is...
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Bored to Death week 6: Backstory
Week 6 of "Bored to Death" felt like it should have come much earlier in the season thanks to the significant backstory dropped into the plot. it was funny, again focusing most of its attention on George and Ray, allowing the two to interact for the first time as they were brought together on one of Jonathan's cases.It begins promising, with Ray pulling up outside a diner in his Subaru Outback,...
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Mark Strand reads, discusses poetry
One of the benefits of living in Iowa City is that you get to hear a lot of your favorite authors read and discuss their work. Such was the case last night and today as I heard my favorite poet, Mark Strand, read from his work and then sit for an intimate Q&A about writing.Strand is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop, so he visits from time to time. It has been several years...
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Bored to Death week 5: Back on track
This is more like it. After a disappointing fourth episode, "Bored to Death" is back on track with a funny episode that offers the fullest exploration to date of the possibilities of Jonathan as an amateur sleuth.Things are more promising right from the fade in as the story begins with some cloak-and-dagger intrigue as Jonathan meets a mysterious Russian by "The Prison Ship Martyr's Monument," ...
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'Bored to Death' week 4: Or should I say, 'weak'
Last night's "Bored to Death" was the weakest of the bunch so far, really nothing more than an extended joke about skateboard punks and an excuse to get a couple of costars on the screen. While things returned to the struggling-writer-as-PI theme, I would have willingly traded that for a story that didn't feel like it ran out rather than ended.Jonathan's case is to find a missing skateboard. It...
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Mojo Nixon makes catalog available for free
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I'm listening to Mojo Nixon for the first time in probably 20 years, and I have come to one conclusion: A little Mojo can be an amusing, exhilirating listen, and a little Mojo goes a long, long way.The reason for this blast from the past? Nixon is making eight of his albums available for free download on Amazon.com. On offer are six studio albums, one rarities collection, one live show, one bes...
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'Bored to Death' week 3: Bringing the funny
"Bored to Death" seems to be hitting its stride, and it does so with an episode that makes only glancing mention of Jonathan's private eye work. Instead, this is a showcase for Ray (Zach Galifianakis) and George (Ted Danson).Though the show is billed as a "noir-otic comedy," I had hoped for more noir than comedy. Sunday, it was all comedy and no noir. While the premise of the show has heart-bro...
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Another month of music listening
It was another eclectic month of music listening here in September, with a wider selection and a greater number of discs spun. Starting in August, I decided to keep track of every album I listened to in its entirety. The rules: Only an album heard in its entirety, even if it is spread over several days, will count. Repeat spins, partial listens, EPs, singles and background music don't count. Th...
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Neill's Night Science blends dubstep, jazz
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I came to Ben Neill's Night Science disc with half the knowledge I probably needed to fully understand and appreciate it. I know plenty about jazz and the melding of that sound with electronica (mainly thanks to the groundbreaking work of others through Thirsty Ear's Blue Series), but knew nothing about dubstep. Night Science, however, blends these elements to create something the label describ...
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Monday Interview: Richard Davies
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It seemed for several years as if Richard Davies was going to be another casualty of the music business: A wildly talented performer with a rabid cult of fans but little commercial success, forced to take a day job to make ends meet. No one can fault a guy for wanting to be able to make a living, but the loss to the creative world is a blow.He left behind as strong a back catalog as any artist...
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'Bored to Death' week two: character development
If the first week of "Bored to Death" was about setting the premise, week two was about better developing the three character's at the show's core. To recap from last week, writer Jonathan Ames battles the loss of his girlfriend and trouble following up his debut novel by posting an ad on Craigslist offering his services as a private detective. Improbably, he gets calls and takes cases.Last wee...
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Westerberg releases new digital EP
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Album:The Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Box
After a flurry of quick digital releases in 2008, Paul Westerberg has been quiet this year. Until now. Tuesday brought the release of another digital offering, an EP titled P.W. + the Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys The EP title derives from one word from the titles of each of the six tracks. As with last year's releases, there is no supporting information. It sounds like another one-man-band af...
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Win a copy of Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records
The folks at Algonquin Books generously provided me with three copies of Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records to give away to TIRBD readers. To enter, leave a comment on this post sharing your favorite Merge release and why you like it. Do so by midnight, Friday, Sept. 25 to be eligible. Three commenters selected at random will receive a copy of the book.I finished my copy of Our Noise: The St...
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'Bored to Death' week one: a promising start
The new HBO series "Bored to Death" wants to be a lot of things. Only time will tell if it pulls all of this off, but the first episode is certainly promising, and much of that promise comes in the form of the three leads.Here's the setup: Writer Jonathan Ames is trying to follow up his debut novel, but can't seem to get going. His girlfriend leaves him in the opening moments of the first episo...
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Baseball (as in Project) and Bob (as in Dylan)
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I have been remiss about getting this interview with Steve Wynn posted because I've been doing things like... traveling to see Steve Wynn. So, I'll wrap a review of Wynn's recent Baseball Project show in Chicago in with this short Q&A about his new self-released CD, Steve Sings Bob.First up, the Baseball Project. The show was a triple bill, with the BP, the Steve Wynn IV and the Minus 5. Howeve...
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A month of music listening
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Album:Days of Wine and Roses
I suppose it was sparked by a desire to establish a defensive position; when yet another CD arrived in the mailbox to be added to the thousands already crowding the office-turned-music room, I felt compelled to justify the acquisition. Do I really listen to all of this stuff, or, as I feared, do I limit myself to a spin or two of a new disc before filing it (alphabetically, of course) on the sh...
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Monday Interview: Mikael Jorgensen
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Though it didn't start out as such, Wilco has sort of backed its way into being a supergroup. The lone holdout thus far had been keyboardist/programmer Mikael Jorgensen. Before him there was John Stirratt and Pat Sansone's Autumn Defense, the Nels Cline Singers and Glenn Kotche's solo work (as well as his work with Jeff Tweedy in Loose Fur).Jorgensen has now joined them with Pronto, his own sid...
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Crime Express series offers short crime fiction
Another great new venue for crime fiction writers has debuted in the UK, and the results are well worth figuring out how to convert pounds to dollars so you can import them to your mailbox.Crime Express, a new series from Five Leaves Publishing, offers a series of short crime stories each published as a short pocket book. They retail for 4.99 pounds (about $8), and are short enough to devour in...
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