BLUR BLUR BLUR BLUR BLUR

PERFORMING TOGETHER AHHHHH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT.

INTERVIEW


OH, AND PETE AND CARL.

MGMT sue Nicolas Sarkozy, get creative while answering boring questions

Sarkozy's party, UMP, failed to give proper compensation for the use of "Kids" in online videos.

UMP has admitted using it, but said it was a mistake and has offered a symbolic gesture of one euro (£0.89).

LOL WHAT. There is something wrong with that. That is a straight-up insult if I've ever seen one.

On winning NME Award for Best New Band:


On winning NME award for Best Track:

"Credit crunch anthem," are you kidding me? I think I'm going to revive my 15-year-old self's dream of being an NME journalist, because apparently you can get away with asking incredibly moronic questions and being a terrible interviewer in general. Ordinarily, I'd say that Andrew must just be really high to come up with something like that praying mantis business, but I'm sure that after over a year, having to talk about the same stuff over and over again gets really boring. I think I've found my calling in life.

Picture.

NME Awards '09

Winners are bolded.

Best British Band
Bloc Party
The Last Shadow Puppets
Muse
Oasis
Radiohead
(Not surprising, although I don't know why you'd choose Oasis over Radiohead.)

Best International Band
Crystal Castles
The Killers
Kings Of Leon
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
(Seriously? Day & Age sucked.)

Best Solo Artist
Ladyhawke
Laura Marling
Lightspeed Champion
Jay-Z
Pete Doherty
(Pete Doherty, I will always love you.)

Best New Band
Glasvegas
Late Of The Pier
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
White Lies
(I can't remember if I voted for MGMT or Vampire Weekend. Still, good for them, they've come a long way in the past year. Also, I found it quite fitting that people out of the Skins cast presented the award to them, considering that "Time To Pretend" was such a huge part of the series 2 finale.)

Best Live Band
The Killers
Kings Of Leon
Muse
Oasis
Radiohead
(No surprises here.)

Best Album
Bloc Party – 'Intimacy'
Glasvegas – 'Glasvegas'
The Killers – 'Day & Age'
Kings Of Leon – 'Only By The Night'
Oasis – 'Dig Out Your Soul'
(But people in the UK are supposed to be familiar with their older and vastly superior work!)

Best Track
Kings Of Leon – 'Sex On Fire'
The Last Shadow Puppets – 'The Age Of The Understatement'
MGMT – 'Time To Pretend'
The Ting Tings – 'That's Not My Name'
Vampire Weekend – 'A-Punk'
(A good choice. And hey, it wasn't "Sex On Fire.")

Best Video
The Last Shadow Puppets – 'My Mistakes Were Made For You'
Late Of The Pier – 'Heartbreak'
Oasis – 'The Shock Of The Lightning'
Radiohead – 'House Of Cards'
Vampire Weekend – 'A-Punk'

Best Live Event
Glastonbury
Isle Of Wight
Reading and Leeds
T In The Park
V Festival

Best TV Show
Gavin & Stacey
The IT Crowd
The Mighty Boosh
Never Mind The Buzzcocks
Skins
(I really need to watch more Boosh.)

Best Dancefloor Filler
Bloc Party – 'Mercury'
Crystal Castles – 'Courtship Dating'
Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris – 'Dance Wiv Me'
Friendly Fires – 'Paris'
Late Of The Pier – 'Bathroom Gurgle'

Best DVD
Arctic Monkeys – 'At The Apollo'
Foo Fighters – 'Live At Wembley Stadium'
Kaiser Chiefs – 'Live At Elland Road'
Muse – 'HAARP'
The Rolling Stones – 'Shine A Light'

Hero Of The Year
Alex Turner
Barack Obama
Brandon Flowers
Noel Fielding
Noel Gallagher

Villain Of The Year
Amy Winehouse
George Bush
Gordon Brown
John McCain
Pete Doherty

Best Dressed
Alex Turner
Alexa Chung
Brandon Flowers
Noel Fielding
Noel Gallagher
(Alexa is so pretty!)

Worst Dressed
Amy Winehouse
Brandon Flowers
Johnny Borrell
Katy Perry
Pete Doherty
(Has she given up on those terrible slippers yet?)

Worst Album
Britney Spears – 'Circus'
Coldplay – 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends'
Jonas Brothers – 'A Little Bit Longer'
Razorlight – 'Slipway Fires'
Scouting For Girls – 'Scouting For Girls'
(hahaha. I must say, if I compare their to the bad emo poetry I was writing when I was 15, they're acceptable.)

Worst Band
Fall Out Boy
Jonas Brothers
Oasis
Scouting for Girls
Tokio Hotel
(I personally voted for Tokio Hotel. However, Jonas Brothers have that nasty thing where they're significantly more pervasive in culture than Tokio Hotel, thus upping their ability to be annoying.)

Sexiest Male
Carl Barat
Keith Murray
Matt Bellamy
Miles Kane
Pete Doherty
(This is a travesty. Keith Murray is much, much, much sexier.)

Sexiest Female
Alison Mosshart
Hayley Williams
Kate Jackson
Lykke Li
Stephanie Dosen
(Are people blind? How could you possibly compare Hayley Williams to Alison Mosshart?)

Best Website
Bebo
Facebook
Last FM
MySpace
YouTube

Best Venue
Brixton Academy
Manchester Apollo
London Astoria
Glasgow Barrowlands
London O2 Arena

Best Album Artwork
The Cure – '4:13 Dream'
Guillemots – 'Red'
The Killers – 'Day & Age'
Muse – 'HAARP'
We Are Scientists – 'Brain Thrust Mastery'

Best Band Blog
Foals
Lightspeed Champion
Little Boots
Noel Gallagher/Oasis
Radiohead

As far as red carpet style went, Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson from Franz Ferdinand looked like they went shopping in Ozymandias' closet, but they can do no wrong in my eyes. Noel Fielding wore some sort of burgundy velvet tunic thing that David Tennant would probably love and some totally awesome silver boots that I want to make mine. I also really want his bag. (Years ago, I accepted the fact that I dress like a British man.) The Geldof spawn continue to be disgusting, and Patrick Wolf continues to be fierce and crazy. Despite some sort of lace shirt with asymmetrical buttons being involved, MGMT's Andrew VanWyngarden was wearing the most normal outfit I have ever seen him in, though he probably had an emergency head scarf in his pocket. Despite some sort of lace shirt with asymmetrical buttons being involved and looking more busted than ever, I still find him weirdly attractive.

Scattered thoughts on Oscars '09

Oh my God. This was, um, this was not an easy film to make. First off, I have to thank Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg and all the real-life people who shared their stories with me. And, um, Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco and our entire cast, my producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, everyone at Groundswell and Focus for taking on the challenge of telling this life-saving story.

When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California, and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life. It gave me the hope one day I could live my life openly as who I am and then maybe even I could even fall in love and one day get married.

I wanna thank my mom, who has always loved me for who I am even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he'd want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, God, for giving us Harvey Milk.
--Dustin Lance Black

Thank you. Thank you. You commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns. I did not expect this, but I, and I want it to be very clear, that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me often. But I am touched by the appreciation and I hoped for it enough that I did want to scribble down, so I had the names in case you were commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns, and so I want to thank my best friend, Sata Matsuzawa. My circle of long-time support, Mara, Brian, Barry and Bob. The great Cleve Jones. Our wonderful writer, Lance Black. Producers Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks.

And particularly, as all, as actors know, our director either has the patience, talent and restraint to grant us a voice or they don't, and it goes from the beginning of the meeting, through the cutting room. And there is no finer hands to be in than Gus Van Sant. And finally, for those, two last finallies, for those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support.

We've got to have equal rights for everyone. And there are, and there are, these last two things. I'm very, very proud to live in a country that is willing to elect an elegant man president and a country who, for all its toughness, creates courageous artists. And this is in great due respect to all the nominees, but courageous artists, who despite a sensitivity that sometimes has brought enormous challenge, Mickey Rourke rises again and he is my brother. Thank you all very much.
--Sean Penn

Do a Holocaust movie, get an Oscar. Words of wisdom, Ricky Gervais.

Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix was amazing. I couldn't even tell who it was under that giant beard until he turned to the side and I recognised his profile.

I almost cried during Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn's speeches, ngl. I'd say I was surprised that Westboro Baptist Church protested, but they've gone so far that they can't be shocking anymore.

As much as I love Paul Newman, etc., the In Memoriam thing took so long that I thought M.I.A. was going to recover enough to show up.

The dance routine to Jai Ho was so epic until John Legend came along. No surprises with Slumdog Millionaire--the little kids were way too adorable, and everyone involved obviously took great pride in their work. Dev Patel, let's get married.

THIS IS THE SKIN OF A KILLER. Our friend RPattz was clearly getting a headstart on looking like a tortured stalker.

Not that Hugh Jackman was bad, but it would have been nice if someone like Tina Fey had hosted. I think that these sorts of things generally go over better if a comedian hosts.

Dominic Cooper was lookin' fly (as were many other people), too bad Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens had to be involved in that musical extravaganza. I am so excited for An Education. The previews made me even more pumped for 500 Days Of Summer, too--Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are way too cute.

Brit awards results

Bolded are the winners, underlined are my picks.

British Album:
Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Duffy - Rockferry
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Radiohead - In Rainbows
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
While I try to not rate everything from a scale of 1 to Radiohead, In Rainbows is just so wonderful.

British Group:
Coldplay
Elbow
Girls Aloud
Radiohead
Take That

British Single:
Adele - Chasing Pavements
Alexandra Burke - Hallelujah
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome - Dance Wiv Me
Duffy - Mercy
Estelle ft Kanye West - American Boy
Girls Aloud - The Promise
Leona Lewis - Better in Time
Scouting for Girls - Heartbeat
The X Factor Finalists - Hero
I genuinely do like Mercy, and American Boy really grew on me after hearing it so often during the summer.

British Male Solo Artist:
Ian Brown
James Morrison
Paul Weller
The Streets
Will Young

British Female Solo Artist:
Adele
Beth Rowley
Duffy
Estelle
M.I.A.
Seriously, M.I.A. is too fierce for words.

British Breakthrough Act:
Adele
Duffy
The Last Shadow Puppets
Scouting For Girls
The Ting Tings
Oh, Alex Turner, you've grown up so much.

British Live Act:
Coldplay
Iron Maiden
Scouting For Girls
The Verve
Elbow

International Album:
AC / DC - Black Ice
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
The Killers - Day & Age
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Day & Age was such a letdown. Meanwhile, there's not a song I don't love on Oracular Spectacular.

International Group:
AC / DC
Fleet Foxes
The Killers
Kings of Leon
MGMT
I kind of feel like the Killers and Kings of Leon have already gotten their dues in the UK, but I don't know what their records are like award-wise, at least not with Kings of Leon. But no seriously, I think I might have thought that Kings of Leon were British at one point because all I saw was people from the UK raving about them.

International Male Solo Artist:
Beck
Neil Diamond
Jay-Z
Kanye West
Seasick Steve

International Female Solo Artist:
Beyonce
Gabriella Cilmi
Katy Perry
Pink
Santogold
I don't know much about Gabriella Cilmi except that she was rather irritating on Buzzcocks.

Critics' Choice Award winner:
Florence & The Machine

Producer of the Year:
Bernard Butler

Apparently along with Katy Perry puking backstage, Jared Followill's ladyfriend got into a fight after spotting her boyfrand flirting with someone else. I'm not sure why you would try to pursue a serious relationship with a member of Kings of Leon--I think I knew that all of them were banging a different groupie every night before I actually heard any of their music. In other news, Matthew Followill has announced that KOL's next album will be "a little grungier," which can only be a good thing.

Photo by riotonsunset.

New Maccabees Video: "No Kind Words"

The video features Matt Horne and Matthew Baynton from Gavin & Stacey.



I'm digging their new sound--it seems sharper, darker, and I have half a chance of understanding the words. I also quite like Matt Horne; he was hilarious on Buzzcocks, especially when he and Martin Freeman were exchanging sighs and wistful glances, haha. I really need to get around to watching more of Gavin & Stacey, I've only seen the first few episodes. I still have my dedication to the original cast of The History Boys, though I wasn't quite dedicated enough to see Valkyrie.

Death At A Funeral to be remade

Touch and go! Touch and go!

Wow, time for a re-make already? This seems totally unnecessary, the original was brilliant. I don't recall there being very many culturally obscure references--plus, Love Actually has proven that Americans are capable of sucking it up and Googling if they don't understand something.

Death At A Funeral is one of those films that just works. There's nothing particularly out of the ordinary about the style or the setting, and there aren't any fantastic special effects, but the talent of the actors and the way the plot slowly builds up really make it something special. It's one of the funniest movies I've seen, and Americanising it would just cheapen it.

The Arcadian dream

Carl Barat refuses to reunite the Libertines

Once again, not unsurprising, yet still sad. I wish dear Carlos all the best in his future endeavours.

No, you can't stand me now

Carl Barat turns down Libertines reunion for Reading and Leeds

Oh, Carl. Yes, we know that you're getting into acting (and apparently New Age as well), but would it hurt to just play one festival and have your old band be paid £2 million for it? Blur are doing it!*



*Carl obviously has reason to still not trust Pete completely, but oh man it would be amazing if they could briefly reform.

I wish I could dance like Thom Yorke

If I was in the USC marching band, I'd probably be thinking, "Well, I guess I can die happy now, because my life can never be more epic than it was during the four minutes I spent performing with Radiohead at the 51st Grammy Awards."

Little Obsessions: The Lonely Island - Incredibad

The Lonely Island's album Incredibad leaked, and it is so amazing that I'm not even going to try to start talking about how much I love it.

I'M ON A BOAT

Little Obsessions: Andrew the Taco Psychic

I've been listening to little else besides MGMT for the better part of a week, and procrastination has led me to trawl Flickr for photos of them. I discovered a rather lovely set of pictures of Andrew VanWyngarden hanging out at the beach that I keep looking at over and over. I'm not usually into pastels, but the faded colors are really beautiful and give the photographs a dreamy, vintage feel. (And he's so beautiful he could be a part-time model.) This picture of Andrew having his palm read is particularly striking--I love the composition, with the palm trees in the background.

Check out the whole set here.

The Keene Act & You

The New Frontiersman has posted a new viral clip for Watchmen. This time it's an overview of the Keene Act, the law that banned costumed heroes.



I'm digging this one, I love that it genuinely looks like it's from the 70s. I wish I was more knowledgeable about propaganda in general, it's so fascinating.

What a fun, sexy time for you

Thank you, Michael Cera. Thank you.

New Kills Video: "Black Balloon"

New music video from Indie Rock's Queen Of Chain-Smoking Ferocity and The Guy That Kate Moss Dated After Pete Doherty. While this wasn't my favorite song off of Midnight Boom, I still can't believe how good that album is. I like the soft, faded colours, they really match the minimalist sound of the song. However, this will now extend the period of time in which we will have to deal with magazine articles about how vampires are so hot right now.

Leaked Bonnaroo line-up; Little Obsessions: MGMT

picture by joostvanderdeelen

Electric Feel - MGMT

The Bonnaroo line-up has leaked.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (2 Shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello (Solo)
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov’t Mule
Andrew Bird
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
Band of Horses
The Del McCoury Band
of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross

I tried watching some videos of MGMT live and didn't think they sounded particularly good; however, I think if I was personally thrashing around in a field with strangers offering me free drugs left and right, seeing them would be an amazing experience. I've been on a huge MGMT kick for the past few days. I have so much new music to be listening to, but I keep coming back to Oracular Spectacular, especially "Electric Feel," the song that properly got me into Pitchfork's favorite slutty hippies. Like many other people, "Time To Pretend" was my first exposure to MGMT, back in that phase last spring when everyone and their dog was lost in vacant-eyed fantasies about running away to Paris. I thought it was a good song, but I wasn't immediately obsessed. When I heard "Electric Feel," the appeal finally clicked. Maybe it doesn't evoke any romantic visions of the stereotypical rockstar lifestyle, but it's catchy, it's sexy, and I like it so much that I actually got excited when I heard it on an episode of Gossip Girl.

Belated bits of news, name change

• Flight of the Conchords are playing Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium and it will be amazing
• Empire has some new promo photos for The Boat That Rocked, one of my most anticipated 2009 films. The Boat That Rocked, a comedy about a pirate radio station in the 60s, features Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Rhys Darby (Gingerballs ♥), Tom Sturridge, Talulah Riley, Gemma Arterton, and January Jones. With a cast like that, how could you not be ridiculously excited for this film?
• The new Lily Allen album leaked
  
• A nearly-naked photo of Morrissey may be viewed here if you wish to permanently change the way you think about Morrissey
• Franz Ferdinand recently visited Zane Lowe and played a great set at Maida Vale, and Alex Kapranos had a backstage chat with NME.com
  

I've also changed the name to Rushmore Academics, as Are You At The Pictures? was a bit too long for my liking.