Summer Heights High debuts on HBO (US) and The Movie Channel in Canada around November 9th, though it’s 7 episodes were recommended by a fellow Spikedhumor user showing me a few episodes and making me laugh hysterically.

Chris Tilley plays 3 characters, Mr. G – an overeccentric and somewhat stereotypical drama teacher, Ja’ime a schoolgirl who’s a total bitch (for the lack of a better term) and Jonah a 13-year old illiterate problematic child. Jonah in my opinion is by far the funniest character with excessive foul language.

Here’s a clip (Jonah getting his dick touched):

Here’s a playlist dedicated to Jonah Takalua (it’ll make sense if you watch the season):
Boy From School by Maritime (Hot Chip cover)
Gun Mouth by Laurel Collective
Hate Me Now by Nas ft. Puff Daddy (Jonah loves rap and he is hated)
Angry by The Bug
Suspended in Gaffa by Ra Ra Riot
Dance Dance Dance by Lykke Li
Pictures in an Exhibition by Death Cab For Cutie
Stay Away by Nirvana
Here Should Be My Home by No Age
We Are All Accelerated Readers by Los Campesinos

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First and foremost, I’m a huge fan of Plans, songs like Marching Bands of Manhattan, Soul Meets Body, and I Will Follow You into the Dark, filled me with an unexplainable joy offered in a very surreal, sadist kind of way. These songs were memorable, and really epitomized the quality of music coming from Death Cab at the time. I can’t say that any song from Narrow Stairs remotely matches any of the three mentioned from Plans. Given that Death Cab seemingly chose a darker more musical route than the upbeat inspirational stuff I heard from previous albums, I felt Narrow Stairs was a tad of a letdown in that respect. That’s the problem with follow up albums, bands change, and fans are often left wanting more of the previous, but in this case I didn’t get my fill.

With that out of the way, the album was good, and if this was any other band besides Death Cab, it could have been very good. Bixby Canyon Bridge, the first track off Narrow Stairs was entertaining, but again, not memorable. I didn’t really feel a direction in terms of the mood, but musically everything was on par to classic Death Cab material. It’s a very grungy, laid back tune, with the inspiring vocals of Ben Gibbard, that’s enough to make a decent song, but I didn’t feel awe-inspired or any of that jazz.

Second on the track list, is a song that has been featured and praised across the interweb, I Will Possess Your Heart. I will get a lot of flack for this, but I wasn’t impressed, I found it excessively long. Some people have fallen in love with this track, but it wasn’t as if it was 8 minutes of constantly changing instrumentals. It was the same guitar riff over a span of 5-6 minutes, and a little too tedious for my taste. But then again, for me, the less Ben Gibbard I hear, the less I want to hear the song, let that be a testament of the appreciation I have for Ben.

After the first two tracks, I get to material that I begin to get a feel for. No Sunlight the third song and my favourite track is pleasantly upbeat, yet remaining true to the laid back nature of Death Cab. There’s a little more action as compared to the first 14 minutes of the album (that’s only two tracks!), and some may say it gets a little more mainstream from then on, but I like it. No Sunlight is followed up by Cath… and again, it’s the same faster paced, but only slightly inspiring material. Yet amidst all the pretty good songs on this album, I still wonder, where’s the next Soul Meets Body?

This album had a wealth of decent songs, it was a good listen, and an ok effort. But I may be one of the few out there who just loves the pop side of Death Cab. Plans wasn’t particularly fast paced or more action packed, but it provided that memorable optimistic track that steals my mind for the 3-4 minutes it’s on. I don’t think Death Cab needed to go the dark route, or the more mainstream route, they didn’t need the grungy guitars, or the overly depressed vocals. Translantacism was also an unbelievable album in my eyes, and it’s the soft pop that I crave not the indie melancholy they went for. If you’re a Death Cab fan, check for yourself, you may find a new side that you’ve always wanted, or if you’re like me, you may find an ok album from an unbelievable band.

No Sunlight by Death Cab For Cutie

Talking Bird by Death Cab For Cutie

Buy Narrow Stairs at: Insound, CDUniverse, Amazon and everywhere as this was the #1 CD on Billboard.

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I don’t talk much about sports these days but the Superbowl is always fun to watch. I’m a Patriots hater so this season has been tough to stomach. The Patriots are going after the illustrious 18-0 season, already surpassing everyone’s expectation that they would’ve had one loss this year. They do have a great team all around but my favorite teams are the Chargers, Colts and Bills so you have to understand why I hate the Pats. I really hope the Giants win but the Patriots are on a different level then the Packers (the upset didn’t surprise me).

Without any further rambling and talk they you may or may not care about here’s my playlist dedicated to this fun weekend:
1. The Underdog by Spoon
2. Perfect by The Smashing Pumpkins
3. I Am History by The Bell
4. The Shadow by White Williams (dedicated to Eli Manning who will be out of the shadow of Peyton if he can pull this off)
5. Ready For The Floor by Hot Chip (Lesnar vs Mir will likely be on the ground with a wrestler vs a BJJ guy)
6. Lucky by Radiohead (who will get lucky this weekend?)
7. The Comeback by The Shout Out Louds (can Frank Mir comeback from his motorcycle accident?)
8. Different Names For The Same Thing By Death Cab For Cutie (dedicated to Brock Lesnar’s butchering of Mir’s name, apparently he thinks it’s like Murr instead of Meer)
9. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (all the talk is about who’s better, faster, stronger in Football and in MMA and I just want to enjoy the action and stop all the talk)
10. You Talk Too Much by Run D.M.C. (media kind of annoys me revolving around the super bowl)
11. The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance by Vampire Weekend (I’m going to be having a vampire weekend so I just wanted to include them )

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Anyway to honor a Canadian tradition, here’s are some songs dedicated to tonight’s game from my play list. Enjoy!

1. Champagne From A Paper Cup by Death Cab For Cutie.
2. A Sunday Smile by Beirut
3. Green Gloves by the National
4. Rough Hands by Alexisonfire
5. Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider by Of Montreal(3 songs for the Riders, their colors are green fyi)
6. Bomb Inside the Bomb by We Are Scientists
7. True Blue by the Bright Eyes
8. Gold Mine Gutted by the Bright eyes (for the Blue & Gold – Blue Bombers)
9. Bundle Up by Arrah & The Ferns (though it’s indoors this year, the Grey Cup is always played in the cold!)

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1.Perfect Disguise by Modest Mouse
2.Mistaken For Strangers by The National
3.Is There A Ghost? by Band of Horses
4.The Ghost of You Lingers by Spoon
5.Werewolf by Cat Power
6.What Wolves Would Do by Les Savy Fav
7.They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!!They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhhh! by Sufjan Stevens
8.It’s a Curse by Wolf Parade
9.Crooked Teeth by Death Cab For Cutie
10.The Old Hag Is Sleeping by The Fiery Furnaces
11.Monster Hospital by Metric
12.The Chills by Peter Bjorn and John

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I for one am very excited. I really liked Plans and anything by DCFC I could get my hands on. I am going to mark my calendar for this one when it’s released. It has gotten some lukewarm reviews but I guess it’s due to their softer sounds. Either way every song I have listened to by them, I have liked and I had to jump at the opportunity to blog about them.

Here’s some DCFC music:

All is Full of Love.mp3

A music video for Your Heart Is
An Empty Room (not official but a favorite song):

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