1. There’s a new Modest Mouse music video and it’s very good

The giant, loud-mouthed band called Modest Mouse have unleashed an album just a few days ago, and it’s called “We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.” Their lead single is called, confessionally, “Dashboard.” It’s a very great song to listen to when you want to dance, or even if you don’t want to dance. The Mouse has also released a very special music video to go along with this song. It was created by a studio called Motion Theory, and features a tavern full of sea-faring old men with beards swapping tales about their adventures, and the lead storyteller is none other than lead Mouseketeer Isaac Brock, who wears a very nice beard, and his hands grow into tentacles, and then becomes a microphone. You can watch the new Modest Mouse music video right here. You can also read about the process of making it, right on the filmmaker Motion Theory’s website. To give proper credit, I found out about it thanks to Justin at Motionographer.

2. There’s a popular radio show called “This American Life,” and somebody animated a segment of it recently.

This is a story about kids in elementary school who invented fake movie cameras out of paper towel rolls and boxes. It’s a fascinating story, it’s cute animation, and it’s well-told. “This American Life” is a smart, inventive show, hosted by Ira Glass and broadcasted from Chicago. Unfortunately it costs money to hear, which is why I’ve never heard a full episode, but this (free) segment should give a good glimpse about why so many cool people are into it. I imagine it’s a bit like “The Vinyl Café,” only with nothing to do with Dave and Morley.

3. Simon Rich wrote a funny piece for the New Yorker about children’s impressions of grown-up talk.

The New Yorker recently featured a very enjoyable article by Simon Rich, titled “The Wisdom of Children.” In it, he recounts how as a kid, he imagined what was going on at the grown-up’s table. Example:
GRANDMOTHER: Did you see the politics? It made me angry.
DAD: Me, too. When it was over, I had sex.
UNCLE: I’m having sex right now.
DAD: We all are.

4. A new Wes Anderson film is being released for people who like movies with Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman that are shot in India.

It’s called The Darjeeling Limited, and in addition to starring the above three actors, it also has Natalie Portman in it. I encourage you to read the full article on India Today, because you’ll find out that Bill Murray has been reborn as a talking albino leopard, and that the production team painted entire trains for the set. It sounds amazing. I credit the discovery to Jason Kottke of kottke.org.

5. Timbaland has been stealing music from an unsigned Finnish artist.

It’s true. Hip-hop’s production darling has lifted some cute Nintendo-style grooves from a Finnish artist called GRG, and applied the tunes to Nelly Furtado’s single “Do It,” as well as his own “original” ringtone collection. Thanks to bugmuncher’s post on Metafilter, you can listen to before-and-after snippets, and decide for yourself if you’re mad, happy, interested or just indifferent. Any one is fine.

That’s all the interestingness I can handle for today. If you’re looking for more things to do or think about, don’t forget to come up with some clever taglines for “The Ultimate Tagline Tournament!” that I’m hosting. You could a win a very special postcard from Airdrie, Alberta! I’ve already received a couple smashing entries from Harrison Mooney and Dixon Wixie, and you should make sure you get in on the action. Also, don’t forget: YOU can add artists’ albums and tour stops to the “Upcoming Releases Project,” which is a very very small-scale attempt to provide internet people with an easy way to find out when their favourite music is coming to town (or to their music store.)

MORE POSTS FROM KEVAN GILBERT

• Swedish people have heartbeats, too.
• Please Begin Dancing Now (A YouTube Playlist)
• Things That Should Be Invented But Haven’t Been Yet
• The Next Big Things
• The next-generation media outlet