The Shins

Look, I know a lot of people don't think they're that big a deal, but I never understood it. I guess they're not exactly groundbreaking or anything, but they have produced three nearly perfect albums of damn good music. Everything is just so good, the lyrics and the bass and the catchy melodies and it's all so controlled but fun and sad and nostalgic and you can sing along really loud. Yet while the goodness remains constant, their sound completely changes with each album, which is amazing! I mean you can barely even recognize the vocals as being from the same guy. OK, I guess you can, but you get my point. I guess people never really forgave them for the Garden State thing, and I agree that listening to someone as important as Natalie Portman talk about the shins like she's one of us pathetic souls-- who need independent music, the idea of independent music, like we need coffee, mothers, human touch-- is like nails on a chalk board. But if any band deserved such a blatant name drop, it was the shins. They're so ridiculously accessible, that I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. Besides, if Zack Braff had known he was going to take the indie right out of his favorite indie band, i.e. if he had known his film was going to be such a hit, I like to think he might not have done it. Anyway, the point of this absurd post is simply to say that I am finally going to go see them tomorrow, after at least six years of fandom, and I am stoked.

In other news, non-fat cream cheese is grossgrossgrossgrossgross. It has this really terrible chalky texture that literally made me gag a few minutes ago. Thanks Summit for helping me start the day off right.