listening to . . .
LCD Soundsystem'slimited release live album, before we see him in the flesh next week.
Not Squares' debut album Yeah OK!The Belfast outfit bring an irresistible freshness to the pounding beats.
watching . . .
David Attenborough's First Life: beautiful, edifying, accessible natural history and science from one of television's genuine greats.
reading . . .
Anto Howard's Slow Dublin, which is reminding us of the things we should love about the capital. It came out earlier in the year, but we were slow to get around to it. Ker-tish.
. . . downloading
A podcast of Vincent Woods's interview with Griel Marcus about Listening to Van Morrison for RTÉ Radio 1's Arts Tonight show.
. . . glad we went back to
The Modernsat Imma. Such a huge amount to see that it takes at least two visits to take it all in. A third is planned.
. . . saying
"There's the Santa Claus factor, with tickets for those mega-gigs likely to feature as presents under many Christmas trees in six weeks' time. There's nothing accidental about the timing of these announcements (which always also seem to coincide with pay day).
Jim Carroll, in Thursday's Life & Culture, on why big gigs are still selling out
. . . playing
Or, more accurately, wandering aimlessly through post-apocalyptic landscapes in the game Fallout New Vegas: sometimes it's profoundly thrilling; sometimes it's as much fun as losing your car keys
. . . happy we went to.
The Independents' Day fair for DIY zines, comics and records at Dublin Food Co-op on Sunday. We left with an armful of reading, including zines lovingly crafted by the young ( Missionby the Shanganagh Youth Project, €1) and the young at heart (The Fossil, €2 or free to pensioners).
This comic by the talented Patrick Lynch was a great find, as was Pepper Morrison's delightful eighth zine, full of charming stories and illustrations dedicated to her mother and her grannies. And Tinderbox made our day with its limited-edition zine of illustrations
inspired by songs, tucked into a 45 vinyl of our choice (Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now - don't judge). See independentsdaydublin.blogspot.com.
. . . offering to mediate between
Calgary band Women, following a mid-show brotherly punch-up. They've cancelled their European tour, but their sophomore album Public Strain (released late August) is one of this year's best.
. . . arguing about
The Walking Dead
, AMC's zombie drama. The slow-burning, terrifying first episode reminded us that zombies were people too. The second episode was more conventional comic gore, with stock characters and shambling undead. It was fun, but with only four episodes to go in the first series it will need to show it still has depth. (FX, Fridays, but repeated all week.)
