dsng.net - the daryl sng blog

I strongly recommend listening to the NPR recording of the Urban Verbs reunion . If only for the part in the middle where, 30 years later, Roddy Frantz (at least, I think it's Frantz) still clearly is bitter about Tom Carson's savage review of their album in Rolling Stone , and how that destroyed their career. It's hard to believe any one media outlet would have such an impact these days in music. Even Pitchfork... Also - I'm always intrigued by random connections to people in disparate fields. So: Roddy Frantz's brother Chris drummed for the Talking Heads, fronted of course by David Byrne. Who's cousin to John Byrne , editor of Business Week , which is as non-rock a publication as you can get this side of Golf Digest . I suppose I like finding out things like the fact that Gloria Steinem is Christian Bale's stepmother, and Eve Ensler is Dylan McDermott's (apparently Dylan, nee Mark, chose his name based on a name that Ensler would have given a child tha...

One of the nicest things about the International Herald Tribune in print, in Singapore, is that it represents not just a way to get the New York Times news - I read nyt.com too often to really need that - but that I get the New York Times crossword, so I get to do them on newsprint. Somehow always seem much more appealing than the computer version, and this coming from someone who generally prefers to do everything online... Anyway, I just wanted to say that I finished the Friday crossword in double-quick time. A point of pride! Always like to be able to finish it without help from Rex or Google, essentially because I got JUMPIN JACK FLASH (7d: Rolling Stones hit just before "Honky Tonk Women") crossing with SOJOURNERS (30a: Visitors) straight out the bat...

Scored a Death Cab For Cutie ticket. Woohoo! Caught my ear recently: Nada Surf , "See These Bones"; Amber Rubarth , "You Will Love This Song", and oddly, the Met Opera's production of The Barber of Seville . Big love for Girl Talk's Feed the Animals album, especially "In Step".

Less a real review of Away From Her , more a rave: Julie Christie is brilliant in the film. Not just brilliant in her acting - which she is - but brilliant as in luminiscent. Full of the vitality and life that makes you understand why her husband (played by Gordon Pinsent) never wants to be away from her, and that makes her decline from Alzheimer's all the more sad - and all the more puzzling. Sarah Polley directs with a spare touch that seems perfectly Canadian, and imperfectly wise beyond her years. Come to think of it, between Dr Zhivago , McCabe and Mrs Miller, Shampoo , Afterglow , and this, I've seen over 4 decades of Christie's work, and it is a fantastic, devastating combination of acting chops, beauty, and, well, brilliance.

Trying out New Facebook . I like the look, although one suspects the lack of ad space might not last too long.