Friday (*Cough* *Hack*) Music

I’ll keep this quick — apparently I’ve got some kind of Summer respiratory crud: sore throat, hacking cough, etc.

First up — one of those songs that used to be a favorite, but that I had entirely forgotten until I heard it again earlier this week. It’s the final single from Talking Heads, back in 1988. It also featured Kristy MacColl on backing vocals and Johnny Marr (of The Smiths) on guitar, so it was doubly nifty. I love the lyrics on this one… my favorite: “This used to be Real Estate, now it’s only fields and trees.” Talking Heads – “Nothing But Flowers.”

Two songs set the mood for Scorcese’s The Departed: “Gimme Shelter” from the Rolling Stones (which, infuriatingly, they didn’t put on the soundtrack album — a situation I remedied in my copy on iTunes), and this one: Dropkick Murphys – “I’m Shipping Up To Boston.”

I promised back in January that I’d post this as soon as I found a copy. Well, they’ve finally released it as a digital single. Here is 12 minutes of perfect pastiche of classic kaiju themes, from Cloverfield‘s end credits: Michael Giacchino – “Roar! (Theme from Cloverfield)”

The new hotness. Girl-kissing is acceptable to the US, of course. Makes me wonder how a song reversing the gender, sung by a handsome young man rather than a girl who looks like this, would go over. Something tells me it wouldn’t be nearly as popular. Katy Perry – “I Kissed A Girl.”

A UK-based outfit named after a secret society in Twin Peaks, whose music combines Indie rock, alternative, mariachi horns and surf guitar. Nifty. The Bookhouse Boys – “Dead.”

A request from my brother, who asked for some Lady Sovereign. Here’s one of her remixes: Lady Sovereign – “Random (Remix).”

Lastly, another song from the same year as our first. My introduction to Ms. Natalie Merchant: 10,000 Maniacs – “Like The Weather.” (Note: this is an m4a file — most newer players will have no problems with this, but older ones might.)

Now, back to being sick. Ugh.

Fourth Edition

Official release date isn’t until June 6th, but apparently Buy.com and other sites are already shipping it … and direct-from-layout-file PDF copies (hmmm. Interesting….) have been pirated and are now apparently available via torrent sites — so I guess it’s safe to say that 4th Edition D&D is now out there.

I suppose, then, that it’s OK for me to go ahead and admit that I’ve had the rulebooks for about three weeks now.

I’ve read the rules — and, at first blush, I like them. I haven’t had an opportunity to try them out in play yet, though.

For what it’s worth, Adamant Entertainment will be doing 4th Edition fantasy products.

Happy 100th Birthday, Ian Fleming

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of my all-time favorite author, Ian Lancaster Fleming. The man’s novels were responsible for my hobby and my career (as my first RPG was Top Secret, given to me as a birthday present since I was such a Bond fan) — I still prefer the novels to the films, and I even named my son after him.

To mark the Centenary, the newest James Bond novel, Devil May Care, by Sebastian Faulks, is coming out today. I’ll be heading down to Borders this evening to pick one up.