Out there
• She and Him was on Conan last night, with Yo La Tengo as backing band. Zooey Deschanel's voice is really pleasant. Kind of old fashioned and almost Judy Garland-sounding.
• The Walrus Magazine has a list of the 30 Saddest Songs, and boy, is it sad. They include Joni Mitchell's "River, " which I agree is the most depressing Christmas song ever.
• Idolator has a list of the most popular ringtones downloaded in Spain. I was pleased to see Estopa on there. I studied abroad in Seville for a year, and Estopa was a band I really got to like, and I'm glad to see they're still around.
• Stereogum has a new video by REM. It's a cool take off, it seems, of all those videos people post where they just write out the lyrics of the song using MS Paint.
The 'Gum also has an interview with Elvis Costello.
Number One, on Page One of daft interview questions is, "Why is it called Momofuku?
Well, obviously the title is a tribute to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the Cup Noodle. Like so many things in this world of wonders, all we had to do to make this record was add water.
Now, I understand that there is also a fancy eatery in New York City that has made the same connection with Ando-San. So, just in case anybody is inclined to mistake our record for something edible, we've added a disclaimer to the record jacket. I like saying, "record jacket" again.
Thanks for the clarification.
• Scarlett Johansson has posted a few of her Tom Waits covers. They're ... interesting.
• New York Mag has Madonna's four worst videos. They're ... bad.
• Merry Swankster has an interview with Nick Thorburn of Islands. It's one of my favorite groups, but I've gotten the impression over the years that Nick may be a little difficult to work with (as evidenced by the departure of several band members). This interview does little to dispell that. To wit:
Jeff Klingman: How's your Pitchfork.tv VJ gig going?
Nick Thorburn: Um, didn't work out so well. It turns out Fred Armisen is a total asshole. I got fired.
• And finally, Les Savy Fav and Zach Galifianakis are the main attraction at NY Mag's forthcoming indie trivia night. Sounds fun.
eh.www.amNY.com
