I’m fairly convinced that the primary reason for the cult of Salinger, with members ranging from hippie English professors to would-be assassins, is not the quality of his work, but rather his self-imposed exile. Salinger stopped publishing in 1965 and rarely granted interviews. The lack of information coming from the man himself led people to fill in their own meanings to his work, attributing depth and meaning where it may or may not be present. In my mind his greatest contribution to culture is nothing he wrote, but simply serving as the model for the character of Terence Mann in Field of Dreams (don’t believe he was the model? In the book Shoeless Joe, on which the movie is based, the reclusive author Ray meets is Salinger, not Terence Mann).

Let’s shift from movies coming out on DVD to movies getting ready to made. If you’re a fan of Chuck Klosterman’s writing you’ll be happy to know that his book Fargo Rock City is getting made into a movie. That, in and of itself, is kind of interesting. But what makes it more interesting is WHO is making the movie: Craig Finn, lead singer of The Hold Steady, and Tom Ruprecht, a writer for Late Night with David Letterman. No word on a release date yet, but you can bet I’ll be there.

Speaking of Chuck Klosterman, I just finished reading his new book Eating the Dinosaur, and it’s really, really good. It’s a collection of essays about topics ranging from the connection between Nirvana’s In Utero and the ATF’s raid of the Branch Davidian complex to the artistic merits of ABBA and the proliferation of the read option in college football. Yeah, it’s all over the map, but each essay is well written and thought-provoking, and comes from Klosterman’s slightly off-kilter perspective. If you’re a fan of his writing, or of any writing that entertains and makes you think, I highly recommend it.

Moving from writing about music to the music itself, uber-hip rock band Spoon has announced that their followup to 2007′s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga will be called Transference and will be out in January. Can’t wait.

Going back to movies, there was a pretty big casting announcement this week for Thor. Anthony Hopkins has signed on to play Odin, Thor’s dad and chief muckety muck of the gods. I have no idea if this movie will end up being good or not, but it certainly has some talent associated with it. Kenneth Branagh is directing it and Natalie Portman is on board to play Thor’s love interest. We’ll have to wait a while to see how it comes together though, since it isn’t set to hit theaters until May 20th, 2011.

In slightly funnier movie news, Christian Bale revealed the influence for his maniacal portrayal of serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho: Tom Cruise. Apparently Bale got the idea from seeing Cruise on Letterman. He said Cruise had “very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes”, which seems like code for “batshit crazy” to me. Congrats to Bale on noticing this long before most people realized just how nutso Tom Cruise is.

Finally, BoingBoing posted a video of what seems like the best possible use of office time: lip-synching “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. There are five co-workers involved. Four of them are really into it, dancing and acting out the song. One is not. She’s what makes this funny. Check it out:

“You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” – It’s become an integral part of Christmas. In addition to being a heartwarming anti-consumerist tale, it’s also a catchy as hell song:

“The Sneetches” – A commentary on racism, classism, and the inevitable unhappiness associated with chasing fads, wrapped in a kids story. The message in The Sneetches is just as relevant today as it was in 1961. It even serves as a warning against opportunistic hucksters waiting to pounce on people’s insecurities. That’s a lot of messages for a rhyming cartoon.

My personal favorite Suess story is Green Eggs and Ham. It’s a remarkable example of what you can make out of limited materials. If you don’t know the story, Seuss’ publisher bet him $50 he couldn’t write a whole story using only 50 unique words. So he did. There are exactly 50 different words in Green Eggs and Ham, and 49 of them are one syllable. The repetition this creates, along with the rhythm of the monosyllabic words gives the story a distinctive tone and sound. That distinctiveness lends itself to re-interpretation.

One example is some guy interpreting Bob Dylan interpreting Green Eggs and Ham

(from the now defunct DylanHearsAWho.com)

But the greatest example of an interpretation of Green Eggs and Ham is Jesse Jackson’s reading on Saturday Night Live, shortly after Seuss’ death:

“Green Egg and Ham”

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes to theaters November 21.

5. American Gangster (review)

Russel Crowe was amazing, Denzel was Denzel, and Ridley Scott put it all together nicely. Overall it’s an excellent, if not perfect, portrait of a gangster and the man determined to bring him down.

4. Knocked Up (review)

I knew this movie was going to kick ass as soon as I saw the red band trailer, and it didn’t disappoint. Its great cast, interesting characters, and underlying charm made it the second funniest movie of the year.

3. Superbad (review)

Whereas Knocked Up showed both sides of male/female relationships, Superbad focused on the male perspective. And it got it right. Very right. With hilarious consequences.

2. Ocean’s Thirteen (review)

Truly a fitting cap to the Ocean’s trilogy, Ocean’s 13 brought all the wit, charm, and intrigue you could ask for. It easily would have been my pick for my favorite movie of the year if not for…

1. The Bourne Ultimatum (review)

Michael Bay, are you paying attention? THIS is how you make an action movie. You know, with a plot and stuff. Crazy.

Best Cover Songs
7. “The World’s Greatest” – Bonnie “Prince” Billy – R. Kelly song

6. “Teardrop” – José González (video) – A Massive Attack song that’s also used as the theme for House.

5. “Conquest” – White Stripes – (video) Originally written by Corky Robbins and popularized by Patti Page.

4. “Sea Lion Woman” – Feist (video) – an adaptation of Nina Simone’s “See-Line Woman”

3. “Young Folks” – Dawn Landes (video) – Originally done by Peter Björn and John.

2. “Buckets of Rain” – Neko Case (video) – a great cover of an oft-overlooked Bob Dylan classic.

1. “The River” – Josh Ritter (video) – I got to hear a mindblowing version of this classic Springsteen song at the 9:30 Club.

Best Songs

20. “Hate it Here” – Wilco (from Sky Blue Sky)

19. “In Our Talons” – Bowerbirds (from Hymns for the Dark Horse)

18. “In Our Nature” – José González (from In Our nature)

17. “The News from Your Bed” – Bishop Allen (from The Broken String)

16. “Down in the Valley” – The Broken West (from I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On)

15. “Paris is Burning” – St. Vincent (from Marry Me)

14. “Kid on My Shoulders” – White Rabbits (from Fort Nightly)

13. “Earth Intruders” – Björk (from Volta)

12. “Icky Thump” – The White Stripes (from Icky Thump)

11. “Boy With a Coin” (video) – Iron & Wine (from The Shepherd’s Dog)

10. “Skyway” – Apples in Stereo (from New Magnetic Wonder)

9. “1 2 3 4″ – Feist (from The Reminder)

8. “Little Bit of You in Everything” – The Rentals (from The Last Little Life EP)

7. “The Underdog” – Spoon (from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)

6. “Flume” – Bon Iver (from For Emma, Forever Ago)

5. “The Chinatown Bus” – Bishop Allen (from The Broken String)

4. “Energy” – Apples in Stereo (from New Magnetic Wonder)

3. “To the Dogs or Whoever” – Josh Ritter (from The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter)

2. “My Rights Versus Yours” – The New Pornographers (from Challengers)

1. “Carousel” – Iron & Wine (from The Shepherd’s Dog)

Best Albums
10. José González – In Our Nature
The rare sort of album that manages to be both chill and intense at the same time. González’s classical guitar and idiosyncratic style make this an album that holds up to repeat listens.

9. White Stripes - Icky Thump
A great return-to-form for The White Stripes. Icky Thump is everything you could want out of a Stripes’ album, meaning it’s all over the map but a fun ride the whole way.

8. Feist – The Reminder
This album still sounds good, despite Feist’s overexposure due to “1 2 3 4″ being used in an iPod commercial.

7. Bowerbirds – Hymns for the Dark Horse
The most pleasant surprise of 2007 (for the full story about why, read their Sunday Music Spotlight entry). The album is genuine, rustic, and sweet.

6. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
Justin Vernon’s falsetto will curl up in your head and linger like a dog in front of a fireplace. Read his Sunday Music Spotlight entry for the details of he made such a wonderfully soft album.

5. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Spoon hit one out of the park with their followup to Gimme Fiction. It’s a solid album from top to bottom, with no weak links, and some startlingly high peaks.

4. Bishop Allen – The Broken String
On the surface Bishop Allen made an amazingly crisp and clear pop album. But listen closely and you’ll hear a lot of density in the production and even more heart in the lyrics.

3. Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter is coming close to living up to his twin billing of “The Next Bob Dylan” and “The Next Bruce Springsteen”. On Historical Conquest he expands on his work in The Animal Years, growing both lyrically and musically.

2. Apples in Stereo – New Magnetic Wonder
New Magnetic Wonder may be pop music’s equivalent to a great oil painting. To the untrained ear the songs just paint pretty pictures. Everything just sounds good. To someone who knows how songs are put together however, the layers and details are revealed, and the true nature of the masterpiece becomes clear. The entire album is impeccably recorded, mixed, arranged, and conceived. In most years it would be a runaway for best album of the year.

1. Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
Sam Beam managed to not only unseat The Apples in Stereo from what seemed like a lock for the top spot on the list, but he managed to outdo himself as well. With The Shepherd’s Dog he managed to make the best Iron & Wine album to date, which is no small feat.

The album expands even more on his collaboration with Calexico, allowing Beam to play with new instruments and effects. And like a master chef he manages to mix together ingredients and flavors that are foreign to him and produce something absolutely breathtaking.

The Shepherd’s Dog is not just the clear Album of the Year, it’s the leader in the clubhouse for Album of the Decade.

Honorable Mention – White Rabbits, St. Vincent, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, The New Pornographers, Modest Mouse, The Broken West, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Blitzen Trapper, Aqueduct, Andrew Bird, Deer Tick, Rilo Kiley

Happy New Year everyone.

The leaked copy that’s floating around is actually a series of photographs. One of each page. Yikes. Can you imagine trying to read that? For Pete’s sake folks, it comes out in four days. Just put on your wizard’s cloak and wait in line with the rest of the freakshow.

Coverage of the link at BoingBoing, Salon, and ComNetSlash

It’s called Recording the Beatles. And it looks like pretty much the most awesome book ever written. Over at BoingBoing it’s hyped as:

Insanely exhaustive documenting of EVERYTHING related to the Beatles recording sessions, including beautiful, almost-pornographic photos of every mixing board, mic, tape deck, etc. ever used in a Beatles session.

This seems to be a must-have for any Beatles fan or gearhead. Or maybe just us music dorks. Either way I ordered mine today.