Not sure what to think about this new track as of yet, but seeing as how Wilco has yet to disappoint after a decade or so of releasing awesome albums, I thought I'd share this live clip from the Colbert Report. My initial take? Needs more Nels! Team Tweedy's new rekkid drops June 30, entitled simply Wilco (The Album). I already have my tickets to see them at the Berkeley Greek on 6/27. Do you? See ya there!

I am a huge fan of Green Lantern, and the GL books have been on fire since Hal was Reborn. DC's "Blackest Night" event is likely to be much, much better than the head-scratching crossovers of "Countdown," "52" or the impenetrable nonsense of "Final Crisis," which read like a twelve issue maxi-series with 5 issues cut out. PS: Batman's dead? I digress (again). DC's been cranking out some excellent direct to video animation features, particularly the New Frontier and Superman: Doomsday flicks, and the upcoming Green Lantern feature will most likely rock just as hard. Check out this behind-the-scenes trailer that recently popped up on the Green Lantern: First Flight website.

UPDATED: Moments after I finished my lunchtime trawl of Newsarama, Zartan shot me a link to the new trailer. Check it out as well (no embed on Newsarama, unfortunately)

Ron Asheton, guitarist and one of the founders of The Stooges, has passed. At age 60, he, his brother Scott and Iggy Pop rocked harder live than a lot of bands in their 20s. The Stooges have been an incredible influence on modern rock, with stellar tracks like "No Fun," "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog," and "Search and Destroy" laying a framework in the late Sixties for most of the rockin' alternatives bands of the 80s, 90s and 00s. I was very fortunate to see the reformed Stooges pummel the Stubbs stage at SXSW two years ago, with the also-legendary Mike Watt proividing thunderous sonic broom grooves. I couldn't believe how great these old dudes were on stage and how much fun the whole show was. Iggy has always been and will always be a hell of a showman, but Ron's guitar work was just as important as Jimbo's onstage antics. If you've got some cash rattling around on iTunes, do yourself a favor and grab Raw Power and Fun House.

Part the First: Chuck Klosterman is an amazing writer. If you like music, pop culture and a wicked smart sense of humor, he should be your go-to guy.  All his books are great; I'd suggest starting with the one that appears above, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, or Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. Any writer who can namecheck The Drive-By Truckers, Superchunk and The Replacements in a single book and is not me instantly earns my love. He also hates Coldplay, as all men should (I can't link to his actual quote about the band, 'cause it's all sweary).

Part the Second: If you've been playing Rock Band 2 (if not, the hell is wrong with you?), you've inevitably ripped through the new Guns N Roses song, Shackler's Revenge. You probably thought to yourself, "Really? This is GnR?" Believe it, sucka. Axl has been slowly working towards the weirdest third act in rock 'n roll history, and the oft-mocked record, Chinese Democracy, will finally! be! available! on November the 23, AD 2008, honest and for true. But only at Best Buy?

Part the Third (aka, The Premise of the Post): Over on The Onion's AV Club, Klosterman fires up Chinese Democracy and gives it a thorough listen, then gives us his thoughts. Klosterman, a recovering New York hipster and usually more associated with indie rockness, is, at heart, an unabashed midwestern rawker with much love for ballads inspired by the mid-80s Sunset Strip and all the Aquanet, heroin and fishnets that came along for the ride. Pairing Klosterman with Chinese Democracy is a brilliant tactic, and the review itself is gen-u-wine genius. There's too much good stuff to quote from the review, so I'll just pull the opening line:

Reviewing Chinese Democracy is not like reviewing music. It's more like reviewing a unicorn.

From there, it only gets better. Klosterman never really tells us if the album rocks or fails, but there are lots of interesting thoughts that pour out from his absorption of the bangin' nu chunez. Head on over and read the review here.

I'd like to echo Seth's sentiments with my own Halloween wishes for y'all: get lots of candy. And also, watch some fun movies tonight. Start with THE BEST ROMANTIC ZOMBIE COMEDY OF ALL TIME aka "Shaun of the Dead" and then working your way to some classics like John Carpenter's "The Thing" and "Prince of Darkness," Raimi's awesome "Evil Dead II" and a real Peter Jackson movie, "Dead Alive."

And if you have some time left over, play Dead Space. It's quite good! Much more Doom 3 than Resident Evil 4, with more than a hint of "Event Horizon" thrown in for good measure.

Just looking at that image makes me want to go home right now and watch "Shaun" again. I love that movie!