Mini-reviews

Much as with the last heatwave, the current weather seems to be zapping my slaw-related inspiration. This is highly embarrassing in light of Flop's flurry of activity, but I've overcome worse humiliation. Despite being groggy and hot, I'm still trying to make the most out of life. A few recent interests:

The White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan. I thought Elephant and White Blood Cells were fine, but neither one kept me up all night. Get Behind Me Satan is pretty fantastic. "My Doorbell" and "Take, Take, Take" sound like they could be on Led Zeppelin IV. Dig the steel drums on "The Nurse" and the other songs' twangy feel. I'm not sure why this album comes together so well, but it does.

Sleater-Kinney, The Woods. Hello, ladies. I love you. I'm sure that one night soon, while drunk, I will shout, "Land, ho!" in a high pitched, immaculate warble.

Matt Taibbi, Spanking the Donkey. Only halfway through this book, but already it's my favorite election book since Richard Ben Cramer's What It Takes. Taibbi is a hard-left liberal who hates the Republicans but is bitterly disappointed by the Democrats. During the 2004 election, he picked up where Hunter Thompson left off, shrooming before covering the Democratic primary debate at Pace University, fuming against John Kerry, and swooning for Dennis Kucinich. He also eviscerates the personalities and lifestyles of the major reporters who cover elections -- if you have an opinion about Jodi Wilogren and cried yourself to sleep the night that Kerry won the Iowa caucuses, this book confirms all of your worst nihilist fears.

The Andy Milonakis Show. I randomly caught this on MTV last night. It's like Tom Green's old show, minus the raunchy sensibilities and public humiliation. A chunky Manhattan adolescent runs roughshod through the streets, acting like an ass in front of old people, frightening deliverymen, rapping, and showering in mustard. It's completely adolescent and over-the-top, yet I love it.

New Pornographers. I made a 90 minute trek on Saturday from Yankee Stadium to Prospect Park to catch The New Pornographers play Celebrate Brooklyn. Like their new album, the performance by Stars made me sleepy (not in a bad way) but the Pornographers sounded pretty good, Neko Case's absence notwithstanding. I didn't get a good handle on their new stuff, except the title track for the upcoming album Twin Cinema, which rocks.

The HBO comedies. There's some kind of tragic, meta humor going on in The Comeback, where Lisa Kudrow plays an actress on a lousy show who's humiliated by her surroundings. It's sad that she willingly plays a character who gets dogshit in her hair. Entourage -- even worse. I hope this series ends with Eric as a bond trader, Johnny Drama a gym teacher, Turtle a cabdriver, and Vince with a fatal case of crabs. So much overwriting, so much bad acting, such little payoff. It plays like an inside joke, only there's nothing inside and the jokes have no punchline. Cracks about Star Jones being fat and Lara Flynn Boyle being skinny? A cameo by Paulie Shore? It's worse than a Jay Leno monologue acted out before your eyes.