Lindsayism.com

The Mountain Goats Are Coming To The Colbert Report

Remember when we learned that Stephen Colbert is a Neutral Milk Hotel fan? More evidence of his impeccable taste in music:

"The Mountain Goats are slated to make their late night television debut on "The Colbert Report" on Tuesday, October 6 at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT. In concurrence with their performance, colbertnation.com will stream their upcoming album "The Life of the World to Come."

- The CC Insider

This is amazing news. I still have friends who have never heard the Mountain Goats. And everyone should hear the Mountain Goats! It's pretty awesome that SC is using his show to share them with the world. (The Flaming Lips are coming to the show on another night, and they're great too, but already hugely famous, so not as surprising.)

Highly Recommended: "Mergers and Acquisitions"

I've had it on my to-do list for weeks to write a thing about how there's going to be all this hype about Dana Vachon's "Mergers and Acquisitions" and that a lot of it is going to probably make him sound like this rich preppy fuck and you're going to be like "fuck that dude!" but that you should read the book anyway because it is INDISPUTABLY hilarious (okay, nothing is indisputably hilarious, but if you don't laugh out loud at least 20 times I think there might be something wrong with you) and actually kind of really down on greedy rich people (it is satire, after all), but the hype has already begun, so despite the fact that, for instance, this "A Night Out With" Styles piece makes me nauseous (then again, they all do), M&A is NOT just a book for people who, like, think watches are important and don't read books. In fact, it's not really for those people at all because those people won't catch most of the sly subtle wit on every page (though someone is clearly marketing it to them, probably wisely.)
I happen to read books, and one of my big faults that I need to work on is my lack of sympathy for people who grew up wealthy (the "born on third base but think they hit a triple" set, and whatever, fuck that, I'm never going to work on it) and I curled up with M&A on one bleak February Saturday, and didn't put it down all day, and laughed, and wished that I could write as well as Dana, and I think you will too, whether you share my reverse-classist world view or not.
What I'm trying to say is: because it's the easiest angle for media people to go with, Dana may come across in the media as a rich preppy fuck*, but he's a rich preppy fuck who can write, and I don't think anyone could credibly argue otherwise. I am truly impressed with this book and I think it's deserving of the praise and the promise and the hype. It is a much better book than it needed to be, if that makes sense.

Mergers and Acquisitions: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

* I've met Dana several times and he's an instantly likeable, affable guy and not a fuck of any kind. 

Drop Everything and See The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Really.

I don't really do 'reviews' of things this good. Things this good do not need reviews. Just take a moment right now and put The Devil and Daniel Johnston at the top of your Netflix queue. Or take out your little book and write "rent TDaDJ asap" in it. Or go to a store and buy it. If you're any kind of curious or interesting person this movie (and Daniel himself) will fascinate and obsess you. And I know that's an obnoxious thing to say - that's just how amazing this story is! (Read about Daniel and the movie here.)

ONE CAVEAT: You must watch the extras...but do not look at the extras menu until you're done watching the entire movie. I cannot stress this enough - when you get to the main menu just hit "play movie". When you're done, watch the extras.

Brilliant.

UPDATE: SEEEEE???

John Darnielle is God

Here are some things about Saturday night's Mountain Goats show at Bowery Ballroom that made it one of the best shows I've ever seen (and I've seen him at least ten times):

1. It was The Mountain Goats! My favorite band. The "best...lyricist in America." - Sasha Frere Jones, The New Yorker. (The ... stands for "non-hip-hop" but I'm leaving that out out of protest.)

2. Despite the sold-out crowd, you could hear a pin drop during the quiet songs. No cell phones rang.

not-moby stole my 'get psyched!' mix!

(Josh Radnor in a rare moment of introspection, from the Kenyon alumni mag '04)

Today's guest-post on the Jane Magazine blog:  Suit Up, Dorks! How I Met Your Mother Season 2 premieres tonight!

Also, trivia: my friend John Green totally went to college with Josh Radnor.