This morning on Facebook Washed Up Emo Blog posted a link to one of the greatest things I've ever seen: a new donut shop whose donuts are based on band names. But not just any band names, '90s emo band names. Donut Friend is the project of record producer and musician, Mark Trombino. Trombino has been making records since 1991; he produced so many albums I listened in high school by bands like Jimmy Eat World, No Knife, Knapsack/The Jealous Sound, Blink-182, Mineral, and Mock Orange. Check out the awesome menu here. I'll take a Promise Ring and a Fudgegazi, please.

As someones who love '90s emo -- not your little brother's emo, your older brother's emo -- and great food, Mark Trombino is living my dream.

Check out the Washed Up Emo Blog here, and be sure to follow on Facebook and Twitter.

Donut friend can be found on Twitter and Facebook as well.

I’ve had a crush on the Joy Formidable since April 2011 I saw them in Phoenix. But it wasn’t frontwoman Ritzy Bryan’s adorable Welsh accent that did for me. You see, I have a thing for three-piece bands. Well, I have a thing for good three-piece bands. In a three-piece there’s no room for a weak link. Every player has to be on and every player has to be an expert at what they do. There’s no fourth instrument -- be it a rhythm guitar, keyboards, or something else -- to cover your mistakes.
And they have to compensate for not having that fourth band member whose presence can sometimes have an exponential effect on the band. It had been a while since I’ve seen a band rock as hard as the Joy Formidable does -- something I sorely miss in so much of today’s music -- and I can’t say I’ve ever seen another three-piece as loud and brash and intense as these three.
TJF released their second full-length last month, Wolf’s Law. Remember in the ‘90s when you would buy a new CD, pop it in your CD player, and after listening to what you thought was the entire album, you find that the band included a bonus, hidden track at the very end of the album? That’s what they did with this album’s title track. It’s a bit of a weird move for the album’s title track but it works because I don’t think the song fits that well with the rest of the album (which is great; check it out).
So here it is, the track I’ve been spinning all week, “Wolf’s Law” by the Joy Formidable:

Was anyone else disappointed with the ending? The video is so intense, emotional, and cathartic, bears are fighting, babies are birthing, and then it ends with the earth spinning and fading inside a human eye. Oh well.

Posted by Myke

Whenever people ask me what my favorite movies are I've always had a hard time responding. Which is weird because I love movies and I see a fair amount of them. I just don’t process and collect them as favorites -- I’m not talking about a physical or digital collection here -- the same way I do music. Usually I when I see a movie, I see it once and that’s it. Sure, there are plenty of movies I see multiple times, but even the ones I really like, I might not take time to watch again. An album or song, on the other hand, I will listen to time and again. Music is far more consumable that way. Because I don’t get as familiar with movies, beyond The Empire Strikes Back, which I’ve seen a thousand times, I've had a hard time telling people what my favorites are.

I noticed this and during 2012 I tried to make a more concerted effort to recognize what I like and appreciate (and don't like) in the movies I see. So here is a list of my favorite movies of 2012. I’m not saying these are the best movies of the year. Just my favorites. Here they are:

10. The Intouchables
What can I say, I love French films. Based on a true story, a rich quadriplegic finds friendship and a new new lease on life in unconventional ways when he hires a petty criminal as his caretaker. It was also the first movie I went to with my girlfriend so there’s some sentimental attachment to it as well. (Technically, this movie came out in 2011 in France. It wasn’t released in the US until 2012 so I’m counting it here.)

9. Moonrise Kingdom
So I didn’t love this movie as much as everyone else did. But it cracked my top ten list so I obviously did like it quite a bit (even my mom really liked it). That said, I love Wes Anderson’s attention to visual detail. I would love to live in the Bishops’ house or go camping in Scout Master Ward’s tent.

8. Robot and Frank
Frank (Frank Langella) is a retired, aging burglar who is given a robot by his son (James Mardsden) to help care for him as dementia sets in. Frank is initially opposed to the robot aide, but once he trains the robot to be an accomplice in robbery, Frank’s attitude changes. My only complaint with this movie is Liv Tyler. She's done a fine job in every other movie I've seen her in, but in Robot and Frank, even the robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) manages to seem more human.

7. Poulet aux prunes
Set in Terhan, Iran, Poulet aux prunes (Chicken With Plumes) is a French film based on a graphic novel of the same name (which I would love to get my hands on). It’s the story -- a pretty sad one, at that -- of a renowned violinist, Nasser Ali (Mathieu Almaric) and his search for inspiration after his wife destroys the special violin a mentor gave him.

6. Hitchcock
To my knowledge, I’ve seen two Hitchcock movies in my life (remember, I’ve never claimed to be any sort of movie buff), so I didn’t have any hopes or expectations going into this one. I really enjoyed it. Hitchcock tells the story of the filming of Psycho. Excellent performances by a portly Anthony Hopkins (as the man himself), Helen Mirren, and Scarlett Johansson.

5. Argo
Hollywood always embellishes true stories and Argo is no exception. That said, many of the events in this film did happen. The second film on this list set in Terhan, Argo is a fantastic tale of the cooperation between the Canadian government and CIA operatives posing as a film crew set on extracting six US diplomats involved in the Iran hostage crisis in Terhan that took place from November 1979 to January 1981. In spite of (because of?) the Hollywood embellishment, Argo is a great movie. And who doesn’t love Alan Arkin, John Goodman, and Bryan Cranston (is anyone else going through Breaking Bad withdrawals? I don’t know what I’ll do when that show ends)?

4. Bernie
Yet another true story, Bernie Tiede (Jack Black) is an assistant mortician in a small Texas town. He is loved by the people and the only friend to the rich, unfriendly widow, Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine). Until the day he murders her. Jack Black’s best role ever? Maybe.

3. My number two movies are tied so I’m skipping number three altogether.

2. Lincoln (tie)
Daniel Day-Lewis. As Abraham Lincoln. I could stop right there. But in doing so, I would fail to acknowledge the awesome performances given by Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, although my favorite non-DDL performance would have to go to James Spader as W.N. Bilbo. I wonder if some people disliked this movie because there were only a couple Civil War action scenes. To me, the lack thereof was what made this movie good. The drama involved in passing the 16th amendment was so interesting. Daniel Day-Lewis should be up for an Oscar here (though I hope it goes to Hugh Jackman; DDL already has a couple).

2. Les Misérables (tie)
This movie received maybe a little too much hype. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t love it. My first experience with Les Mis was a Broadway production in New York City in 2007. My favorite scene then, and in this movie, is at the very beginning when the gendarmes bring Jean Valjean back to the bishop for stealing the bishop’s silver after he had fed and housed Valjean for the night. The bishop corroborates Valjean’s story and convinces the gendarmes that he did in fact give Valjean the silver, and goes a step farther and gives him the silver candlesticks that Valjean did not steal. That act of forgiveness and grace made me teary-eyed both times. How foreign that act must have been for Valjean, who had known only accusing unfairness his whole life. No wonder he changed and became such an example of grace.

That the singing in this movie was filmed live and not overdubbed later is part of what makes this movie great.

I’ve always loved Hugh Jackman. I was happy to see him score the role of Jean Valjean and then straight-up nail it. And finally, people can stop hating Anne Hathaway for no reason.

1. Safety Not Guaranteed
This wasn’t the best movie I saw this year. Many of the films listed above are better. This one was just my favorite. This movie was inspired by an ad that appeared in a local Washington newspaper in 1997:

Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.

Jeff, Darius, and Arnau (played by Jake Johnson, Aubrey Plaza, and Karan Soni, respectively) are magazine employees who set off to investigate the ad and the man who wrote it. Predictably, yet pleasantly, Darius falls for Kenneth (Mark Duplass), the ad’s author. It’s Aubrey Plaza (who I love on Parks and Rec) and Mark Duplass that make this movie shine.

My only real complaint is how quickly and conveniently the ending wraps up. But the movie’s great heart and a couple well-placed Star Wars jokes make the somewhat weak climax forgivable.

Here are several honorable mentions, in no order:

The Hobbit
This was one of the best books I read all year. How I made it 30 years without reading it is a true shame. Oh yeah, the movie was pretty good too.

Katy Perry: Part of Me
I dig Katy Perry. Get off my back.

Skyfall
My dad and my siblings have a standing tradition to see any new James Bond movie the weekend it opens. Not as good as Casino Royale, my favorite Bond film, but still a solid addition to the franchise. Did the ending remind anyone else of Home Alone?

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Hushpuppy was one of the best characters in any movie all year.

The Dark Knight Rises
I think people were expecting more from this movie. It’s Batman and Christopher Nolan, what more do you want? Batman is another series that I love watching with my siblings.

The Hunger Games
The movie was better than the book. So much that I don’t have a desire to read the book ever again. Jennifer Lawrence was awesome. Also, I love Woody Harrelson.

The Avengers
Most likely the best Marvel movie ever made. Joss Whedon nailed it.

Movies I’m looking forward to in 2013:

The Young and Prodigious Spivet
I read the book on which this movie is based because I heard Jean-Pierre Jeunet (my favorite French director; he did Amélie and so many other great movies) was directing the book adaption. The book was also one of the best I read all year.

The Wolverine
Again, I love Hugh Jackman, and I’ve always been a huge X-Men/Wolverine fan. Here’s hoping this ends up better than with the first Wolverine movie.

The Great Gatsby
I love American classics. I’m anxious to see how this adaptation turns out.

Star Trek: Into Darkness
I feel like you either love or hate J.J. Abrams. I’m in the former camp.

Ender’s Game
One of the best science fiction novels ever, this movie will either be incredible or terrible.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Just kidding.

Anyone who even sort of knows me knows that I share a special kinship with Rivers Cuomo. Do I consider him a brother? A friend? An older, much more talented doppelgänger? I really don't know how to explain the relationship* I have with him.

Most of us were introduced to Rivers as the singer of Weezer. That's where I first met him, back in 1995. One day my older brother brought home Weezer's self-titled first album, more often known as the Blue Album, and I have loved Weezer -- for better or worse (and some longtime Weezer fans will argue that there has been more worse than better) -- ever since.

Many fans met the release of Weezer's third album in 2001, the Green Album, with much disappointment, a disappointment that has only increased with each subsequent release. While there are songs on every Weezer album I love, even an unconditional Weezer lover like myself will admit that Weezer has failed to recapture the complete magic of their first two albums, Blue (1994) and Pinkerton (1996).

Fans like me have sought redemption from Weezer over the years. I don't think Weezer can redeem themselves. I do think, however, that Rivers Cuomo can redeem Weezer.

== == == == ==

In December 2007, Rivers released a solo album called Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo. (Aside: Since it was released so close to Christmas, my brother Matt and I bought copies for ourselves, listened to the record a few times, and then wrapped them and stuck them under the tree as Christmas gifts for each other.) This is a pretty unconventional solo album, however, since, as the album title indicates, it's comprised of home recordings, some of which were demoed in hopes of becoming new Weezer songs.

While it's always fun to hear demos of beloved songs, it was the tracks that didn't end up as Weezer songs that I my often cheated-by-Weezer heart ached to hear. One of these tracks is called "Lover in the Snow."

I'll admit that I didn't like this song at first: I found the lyrics a bit weird -- Rivers used lines like "out on the eve, deep in the shady glen" to give the song a fantastical element -- and some of the dissonant chords made me uneasy. And to be honest, the premise of the song -- spying on your girlfriend while she makes love to your friend on a snowy day -- well, that is a bit creepy.

And yet, it's that creepiness that recalls a Rivers that old school Weezer fans know and love. This is the Rivers of "El Scorcho," the Rivers that would sneak into a girl's room and read her diary. Sure, it's unhealthy behavior, but it's also somewhat relatable. I'd be lying if I said I have never creeped a girl's Facebook profile, Twitter feed, or Instagram photos. Sometimes you like what you find there -- in the case of "El Scorcho," Rivers discovers his soul mate -- and sometimes you find your soul mate rolling around in the snow with one of your best buds.

Initially, I found the instrumentation of "Lover in the Snow" a bit odd. It features a dirty electric guitar with no drums or bass, which is not an arrangement I'm used to hearing. The bare rhythm section -- consisting only of hand claps and a simple tambourine -- gives the song a certain innocence, while the crunchy guitar offers a contrasting, Pinkerton-esque grit. It's an unconventional arrangement that absolutely works, as the minimalist accompaniment allows the nuanced pain in Rivers' voice to shine through and leaves just enough room for the overdubbed "Come on, come on" harmonies.

It's easy to see why this song didn't end up on any Weezer records. There's really nothing else like it in the Weezer catalog. (Although, if someone broke into Rivers' home in the middle of the night (heaven forbid) and put a gun to his head (which I would not condone) and made him include this song on a Weezer record, I like to think he'd choose Pinkerton.)

== == == == ==

While one song or one record won't have the power to redeem the string of disappointing albums that Weezer have released since the start of the new millennium, I can't help but remain hopeful that Rivers has something up his sleeve that, in the end, will make everything OK. In 2008, Rivers released Alone II, and in late 2010, the band issued a deluxe edition of Pinkerton, which included two unreleased Pinkerton-era tracks that I had not heard, "Getting Up and Leaving" and "Tragic Girl." Just before Christmas 2011, Rivers released The Pinkerton Diaries, a 237 page book detailing Rivers' Pinkerton years, 1994-1997. With the The Pinkerton Diaries, Rivers released the third installment of the Alone series, a 26 track disc featuring demos from the Blue and Pinkerton eras and beyond.

I'm beyond hoping that Weezer will release anything comparable to the greatness of their first two records. However, if Rivers continues to let us glimpse into his veritable trove of unreleased demos and scrapped songs, I can be OK with that.

* No, I don't personally know Rivers. I'm speaking figuratively here. (Although sometimes I do feel I know him, or that he knows me.)

P.S. For those of you who aren't on Spotify, you can find a YouTube video of "Lover in the Snow" here.