Happy Birthday to Me

It's my birthday tomorrow, and as I've been poor for the last couple of years, there have been some treats I've wanted to get myself but haven't. You can if you want!

For curlin' up on the couch time... Some of my favorite movies. Guaranteed to make you swill your gimlet while tossing out phrases like "the twist shouldn't a been in this joint" or "baby, you're like leaves blowin' from gutter to gutter." (For more noir speak, check this page out.)

Shadows, Lies, and Private Eyes - The Film Noir Collection, Vol. 1 (The Asphalt Jungle / Gun Crazy / Murder My Sweet / Out of the Past / The Set-Up)

The Big Clock (1948)

Double Indemnity (1944)

The Bogart Collection (Casablanca/The Maltese Falcon/To Have and Have Not/The Big Sleep/The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)

In a Lonely Place (1950)

Then for some light summer reading:

Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991
Michael Azerrad

The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, Neil Strauss, Vince Neil

Straight Whisky: A Living History of Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll on the Sunset Strip Erik Quisling, Austin Williams, Lemmy Kilmister (Afterword), Foreword by Henry Rollins

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Legs McNeil, With Gillian McCain

Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic
Jim Derogatis

Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader
Lester Bangs, John Morthland (Editor)

And of course, music to get me through...

Mark Lanegan – Here Comes That Weird Chill
Mazzy Star – She Hangs Brightly
Sun Kil Moon – Ghosts of the Great Highway
Stills – Logic Will Break Your Heart
Camera Obscura – Underachievers Please Try Harder
PJ Harvey – Uh Huh Her
Lyrics Born – Later That Day…
Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose
The Shazam – Godspeed the Shazam

And thanks to my rad boss for giving me Nick Hornby's Songbook.

Cancers rule!