Pretty awesome new song from Sleigh Bells, although I’m not sure I can condone the use of firearms in a music video. (Obviously I’m kidding.) Their new album Reign of Terror is out on Feb. 21st. Here’s another new song from it: “Born to Lose”.

Ever since Lost ended a couple of years ago, it left a void in my TV viewing schedule that has yet to be replaced. Oh sure, there are plenty of TV shows that technically do fill that one hour gap every week, but I really miss the magnetic pull of a genuinely absorbing mystery, one that offers unpredictable twists and turns and a sense of discovery. Plenty have tried to replicate it (Heroes, Jericho, The Event, FlashForward) but they all fell short somewhere along the line. Now, for the first time in a while, Alcatraz has me feeling at least a small twinge of what Lost once offered.

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I have to admit, my first reaction to most online petitions and campaigns is to be somewhat annoyed by the self-righteous nerds who are pushing them on other people. It just seems so easy to fight for a cause by being loud and obnoxious on the internet without actually doing anything. Add to this the fact that most self-respecting tech geeks will automatically jump on board with anything that even remotely challenges government and/or corporate entities, and you’ve got a lot of sheep shooting off their mouths without thinking for themselves. On the other hand, I also can’t stand the people who are so oblivious and apathetic that they think nothing in the world will ever affect them directly.

Putting all of those feelings aside, this SOPA thing is kind of a big deal. As much I’d like to think that a U.S. bill should have no influence on someone living in Canada, the truth is, the U.S. controls the internet whether we like it or not. This bill could change the face of the internet, and as someone who runs a handful of blogs I am particularly concerned because it could even land me in jail through no fault of my own.

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Clearly I have already been slacking on my self-imposed challenge to post on this blog every day. It’s turning out to be a little harder than I thought, but I’m not about to throw in the towel just yet. Most of my free time over the past week was spent watching the first season of The Wire (I think I can officially say I’m loving it) and trying to cram for Game Junk’s Best of 2011 episode, not to mention a little Visual Basic and Python programming on the side to help out a relative. You know, the usual. I have a couple of longer posts in the works, but they’re going to take a bit more time to finish up. So in in the meantime, enjoy some good ol’ web miscellany. (I always was a fan of these icons.)

Word on the street is that Jay-Z has decided to officially stop using the word “bitch” in honour of the birth of his new baby daughter. I want to say this is an admirable vow for him to make, but somehow it seems to imply that if he had had a son instead, the thought never would have crossed his mind. The good news is there are plenty of other demeaning and derogatory terms for women out there that are still fair game for rappers.

The CW has apparently ordered 10 episodes of a new reality show called Oh Sit!. The premise? Contestants play a game of musical chairs through “five physically demanding, obstacle course-style eliminations” with a live band providing the background music. I don’t know about you but I will definitely tune in for the first five minutes and then never think about it again.

A strange job posting on the TIFF website recently revealed that they are building an augmented reality game in collaboration with David Cronenberg. I have no idea what that means but I’m hoping it involves game controllers that merge organically with your body.

With James Franco continuing to pursue a million other careers aside from acting, it seems that writing is something he might actually be able to fall back on. I can’t say I had much interest in his first book of short stories, but now he has a new book in the works called Actors Anonymous, that is said to be a “a fictionalized version of Mr. Franco’s experiences as an actor.” Sold.

Now that I have a kid, I have a socially acceptable excuse to be interested in toys again. So when I say that I’m excited to hear that Lego landed the license for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, it’s only because I know my son will want to play with these one day. Two month old babies love Lego, right?

Last but not least, there are some earth-shattering accusations going around the web that the hit reality show Pawn Stars is actually fake. You mean some parts of a reality show might actually be scripted and pre-arranged? Stop the presses! In all seriousness, the article is kind of an interesting read, if only to learn about all the little things potentially being manipulated that you never would have guessed. I’m pretty sure Hardcore Pawn, Storage Wars, Auction Hunters, What The Sell and American Pickers are all 100% real though.

The most revered bands in history are usually the ones who just happened to quit while they were at the peak of their career… by choice or otherwise. We remember them for their best work instead of the slow descent into watered down obsolescence that most other bands eventually take. We see them as being incapable of compromise or misstep simply because they never had a chance to make either. We may or may not hold an idealized version of them in our minds, and although we lament their early demise, it is the very thing that makes them seem so dear to us.

At The Drive-In are arguably one of those bands. They self-destructed just after the release of their biggest album of their careers, Relationship of Command, resulting in a clean split down the middle and two new bands that were somehow less than the sum of their parts: The Mars Volta and Sparta. I was actually a big fan of The Mars Volta’s first album Deloused in the Comatorium but over time I lost interest in their prog rock wankery. Sparta represented the more commercial, hard rock side of the band; their first album was listenable, but at times it bordered on generic nu-metal.

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It seems like 2012 is going to be a big year for musical comebacks, and Chuck Klosterman is pretty convinced that these guys in particular are far from washed up. I’m not too sure about this video though… it feels like someone was just playing around with random settings in iMovie. As for the song, was this a thinly-veiled attempt at getting on the soundtrack for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

There appears to be a minor controversy brewing in the podcast world right now, so I thought I would throw in my two cents on the matter and clear up our own current status with regards to it. I first heard about Stitcher Radio sometime last year when Kevin Smith started using it for his Smodcast network. It’s a free online streaming service that collects and serves up podcasts through their website and a variety of mobile apps, and it appears to be catching on largely because it provides instant access to podcasts without the need to download them first. In the U.S., where many people have unlimited 3G bandwidth for their smartphones, it makes podcast listening incredibly convenient and also facilitates 24 hour internet radio broadcasts.

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I was excited to hear that French electronic duo AIR had a new release planned for 2012, but I became even more intrigued when I learned that it was a soundtrack for a newly restored version of Georges Méliès’ short film Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip To The Moon) (featured prominently in the recent film Hugo). This sounds like a pretty inspired choice of audio to go with the imagery if you ask me. Stream two more tracks from the upcoming album after the jump.

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