Friday, January 21, 2011

Unyielding Commissioning Believes in Comebacks

We haven't had an update from UC since may of 2009, and that one was titled "Unyielding Commissioning Apologizes for Being Away So Long." Living in Argentina, it is pretty hard to stay on top of some of the goings on like I used to. Bands rarely come here, and the movie releases keep getting pushed back later and later. Far more impactful has been a heavy amount of work from both my job and planning my upcoming wedding. Those and other factors have seriously cut down on my connections to life on the internet, which means I don't have links for you like I used to. That said, EdWord passed me along some info that requires comment, and is just the kind of thing this type of posting was designed for. And come to think of it, there's a lot more worth discovering, so UC has plenty of good stuff to share with you today.

Please, please, please, please - I once briefly debated my buddy Erik about whether reunion shows are worthwhile. The band in question was Archers of Loaf. Erik's take was that he'd already seen them and no thrown together reunion tour would be the same. Mine was that I'd never seen them, and I'd take a half-assed reunion tour over nothing. And I'm not saying it would even be half-assed, just that I'd be ecstatic with half an ass anyway. That conversation inspired pleading on this blog some three and a half years ago.

Well, perhaps the band did indeed read my comments. More likely they simply realized that it was high time to kiss and make up because Pitchfork is reporting that Archers of Loaf has reunited for at least one show. I have long claimed that I would travel back to the US just to see these guys perform. They sure as hell aren't coming to Buneos Aires. We can only hope that they had as good a time as the audience seemed to and will give us the pleasure of some more shows. And I bet that Erik goes, too, even if it may not live up to his fond memories of earlier performances. Fingers crossed for hope!



There's no secrets this year - after 2009 was a general disappointment in both film and music, 2010 came back with a lot of high-quality, innovative stuff for our listening and viewing pleasure. I had been planning to provide a comprehensive summary of all those year-end lists, but, well you've probably read the ones you want. Just in case, here are Roger Ebert's Top Feature Films, Top Foreign Films, Top Documentaries, and Top Animated Films.

Meanwhile, over at Via Chicago, Jon has been putting together his year-end lists and is doing a smashing job of it. Starting with an Intro and then continuing into his EPs and Reissues, he is merely getting warmed up. Part III has his Favorite Songs of the Year, and is highly recommended. He not only lists 100 tracks worth checking out, he links virtually all of them to youtube videos where you can quickly make your own estimation. We can assume the album list is on its way, but given how comprehensive his work has been thus far, let's cut Jon some slack and be patient. Besides, you have a lot of new music to listen to!

There's just one Hitch - Erik Lundegaard has been posting some comprehensive and insightful reviews of Alfred Hitchcock films. Probably not worth reading if you haven't seen the movies in question because of the spoilers. But surely you've seen some of these masterpieces, right? The list thus far:


No, not that AFI - Trey Hock of Scene Stealers has been counting down the AFI's top 100 movies of all time. He's about halfway done having recently delivered a top notch review of A Streetcar Named Desire. Trey has kept up a pretty amazing pace. I can't even seem to get through 50 albums yet he keeps churning through these movies (many of which he doesn't end up liking). From Streetcar you can access the previous 53 reviews and look for your favorites.

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