Quite a Saturday, I must say. Found myself headed for home around 7:30pm after having dinner at this Japanese fast food place near home. It was a good meal, but a restrained one at that. Who’s the stupid fart whose idea was to go on diet anyways? (Answer: Me.)

So, got home and decided to watch The Host, the critically lauded South Korean monster flick.

It was generally good, albeit short of spectacular. It was a combination of me not being a huge fan of the monster movie genre, and the overexpectation brought about by the 92% on Rotten Tomatoes that did it. Just underwhelming given the immense hype that surrounded this film.

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Two weeks into the new year, I find myself having discovered tons of new (and old) music. The Martial Arts, Bille the Vision and the Dancers, Patrick Watson and Andy Stochansky, to name a few (The previous links bring you to pages where you can legally download their albums for free). But my favorite discovery for the year, would have to be a small NYC band called +/- (Plus/Minus).

Oh, lookie, they made a quarky little video for their song, Steal the Blueprints.

Listening to their 2006 record, Let’s Build a Fire, is a pleasant experience. A tad formulaic with its harmonies (I hate to liken it to Death Cab, but the similarities are quite obvious), but lyrically, the words are accessible, wise and mature. Overall, this is a great album, one that I’m sure will be on my current rotation for a long time.