Sebastien Tellier is awesome

so I'm pretty surprised I haven't written about him before: Sebastien Tellier is a hilarious Frenchman who makes awesome 80s style electronic music with great videos. He kind of looks like a caveman or Jesus and dresses like Miami Vice.

Here's "Divine," which, shockingly, was France's entry into the Eurovision contest in 2008. Not shockingly, it didn't win, because it's actually good.

Sebastien Tellier - Divine from Lucky Number Music on Vimeo.

"Kilometer."

Sebastien Tellier - Kilometer from Lucky Number Music on Vimeo.

and "Roche"

Sebastien Tellier - Roche from Lucky Number Music on Vimeo.

Here's his website and Myspace. American Apparel is selling shirts with him on them too.

Marion Barry

so here's me and Marion Barry. He was a nice guy - happy to take a photo with me, asked me where I was from, etc. He went to college in Knoxville, where I'm from.

Soccer

so I'm a pretty big soccer fan. I follow DC United a lot, and I'm a very big fan of the US National Team. I might not be the most knowledgeable soccer fan, but I'm pretty strident. Last World Cup, I skipped out on work about lunchtime to watch the US games at the Billy Goat Tavern near work. It was the only place around that had a TV, and even though it was a sterile knockoff of a burger place in Chicago, it had TV and burgers, plus the added bonus of beer.

Give the US performance, however, they were pretty miserable lunches, but still I liked going. I especially liked at work, my DC Government office building, I'd wear a jersey and random folks going to court or the police department or the tax office would ask "hey, how'd we do today?" Random folks who never cared about soccer or American national teams against the world were asking strangers about both. It was pretty cool.

The US plays Brazil tomorrow in the finals of the Confederations Cup, after beating the top team in the world, Spain, in a shocking and decisive 2-0 win.

It'll be a huge game, but whatever happens, at least our players have last names.

Major Lazer - "Zumbie"

so this is pretty cool - it's the video for "Zumbie" by Major Lazer, starring Andy Milonakis.

Major Lazer is a project by DJs Diplo and Switch, and he's a cartoon character with a funny fictional backstory - he's a Jamaican commando who lost an arm in a secret zombie war in 1984. He was rescued by the U.S. military, who replaced his arm with a laser, and now he flies around on a rocket-powered skateboard fighting monsters and partying a lot. He owns a dance club in Trinidad and makes dancehall and ragga-influenced electronic music sung in Jamaican patois, with help from friends Diplo and Switch. And I interviewed him for DCist!

(Note there are some bad words in the song)

Major Lazer - "Zumbie" ft. Andy Milonakis from Downtown Music on Vimeo.

Here's his Myspace

New Kings of Convenience album coming in September

so Kings of Convenience, a Norwegian band I like a lot, are coming out with a new album in September. To wit, this postcard. Click it for the full version.



Also, Tyskland is Germany. I looked it up.

Conan

so I saw the new Conan O'Brien Tonight Show tonight, and it was pretty funny. Still had the same weird humor and he didn't kill the jokes like Jay Leno did. The audience laughter seemed louder, which was weird at first, and Andy was kind of Ed McMahon-ish earlier with the laughter, but as the show went on it was calmer. I might actually watch a network show fairly regularly again, first time in a long time.

CJ Wilson has hilarious facial hair

so I was setting my fantasy baseball team lineup and clicked on the CJ Wilson's profile to see his stats - he's a pitcher for the Rangers.

And look at this dude, he looks hilarious. Goofy facial hair and a weird smirk, like he's saying "yeah, my facial hair is sweet. Look at it." He also kind of looks like Paul Rudd. Well done, sir.

More Wikipedia funniness

so this is pretty funny - more Wikipedia hilarity. The page for my state senator, Tim Burchett, was edited to add this:

It is believed that Sen. Burchett controls a small band of pirates on The Tennessee River for the purpose of promoting his upcoming mayoral campaign in Knox County. It is believed that Burchett's wife married him for his impeccable sense of style, however it is actually because the couple are avid cryptozoologists. Once retired, the couple plans to divide their time between cryptozoology and ufology, another one of their passions.

It got taken out, however.

Previously, Burchett was best known for sponsoring a bill that made eating road kill legal. No joke.

New Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse album streaming on NPR

so this is pretty cool -- there's a new album by Danger Mouse (half of Gnarls Barkley) and Mark Linklous from Sparklehorse, plus all these guys:

James Mercer of The Shins, The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega, Vic Chesnutt, David Lynch, and Scott Spillane of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Gerbils.

Here's the stream from NPR.

And David Lynch is taking photos for the album.

Win tickets to see an advance screening of Terminator Salvation

so on my Columbia Heights blog, I have a contest to win tickets to see an advance screening of Terminator Salvation, the fourth Terminator movie. Go check it out!