Today, I'd like to have a beer with...

We're going to start a new, regularly re-visited topic for our website, here at Mike Nagel's blog.

(By "we," I mean the royal we. We like to refer to ourself like that from time to time. Apparently, since we've started living in our own apartment, we have developed multiple personalities out of boredom. You know, just like in solitary confinement.)

Anyways, the new bit we'll be shoving down your throats for Internet consumption (Yes, we know the previous statement sets off the NSFW filters on your workplace's firewall.), is telling you who'd we'd like to meet and share a beer with.

This is not, by the way the man-crush segment or the crush-crush segment. Those are coming and will give us ample opportunity to post pictures of Natalie Portman and Sawyer from Lost.
We'll leave it to you to decide which is which.

(I'm also stopping all multiple-personality typing and parantheticals...just... about...n...now.)

Okay, so down to the drinking business... I would very much like to have a beer with Kate Nash.

For those of your unfamiliar, Kate is the latest female singer-songwriter to start making waves here in the States after hitting the tops of the British charts. And, as the Brits say, she's brilliant.

Parsing out perfect pop with a signature heavy London accent, Nash's debut album Made of Bricks is the best thing I've heard this year. So far, anyway.

Everything she writes is catchy, but not in the annoying song-that-never-ends way. She coats her lyrics with enough sugar to sweeten but not sicken. A distinctly Casio-sounding piano provides the base while Nash's vocals (simple at first listen, but continually surprising) dance and flutter through the songs' melodies.

The first single, "Foundations," has already hit my top-15 Breakup Songs playlist. Or it would, assuming I had one. I would like to start making some playlists, so maybe I'll do that one and post it here. But you can bet "Foundations" would be on it... its a perfect song that sounds happy and reminiscent, but underneath lies the decay and emptiness that brings all once-good relationships to an end. It captures the feeling of knowing something is over but feeling trapped and unable to escape. "Oh God, I hope I'm not stuck with this one," Nash tags in at the end - c'mon, ladies, you've all been there. I should know; I've caught you sneaking out at 6 a.m. many, many times.

Seriously, though, Kate's written some great stuff. So, that alone would make me want to have a pint with her. The topper, though, is that thick accent. It's captivating (in a non-sexual sort of way). I could listen to her read the newspaper in a pub for 30 minutes and be fine with it. Plus, if anyone is to judge from her MySpace pictures (which, of course, is what MySpace is all about), she looks like a girl that knows how to have a good time.

So, Kate, cheers to you. Let's grab a Carling sometime...

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Since I'm so good to you, I'm giving you a free remix to one of Kate's tunes - "Caroline's a Victim." If you like it, visit her site and sign up for the mailing list, which is what I had to do to get it. Ha.

You'll need Pando to download it. Enjoy!

I'm not dead yet...

No, my friends, I haven't kicked the bucket yet. Nor have I been eaten by a moose in the nether regions of New Hampshire.

I was suffering from an absolutely horrible case of writer's block. You see, I'm working on my thesis (I think I've mentioned it here, but it's the culmination of three years' work, 60 grand and the capstone on a completely non-marketable MFA). It's due to my reader and adviser in about five weeks. Ten days ago, I completely conked out - I was sick of the project, didn't know where to go with it next, out of ideas and couldn't string together two coherent paragraphs.

For my subscribing faithful, you'll probably ask, "How is that any different than your writing here, Mike?"

In which case, I'm smack you in the face. But point duly noted.

Anyways, I felt like if I wasn't working on the thing that I've left my job to actually work on, then the last thing I should be doing is writing about the miscellany in my life that appears here. It's not that I don't love you readers (yes, all 2 and a half of you), it's just that I am a man of principles. Sometimes. And my principles said that I had to churn out another chapter of thesifizing before I posted another blog to destroy your workplace productivity.

But good news. I sat myself town and told myself, "Mike - now I don't like you and you don't like me - but we're going to lock ourselves in this room and not come out until you have 10 or more pages written that don't look like used Charmin." And it worked. I'm on a roll now (which is like unused Charmin).

Alas, this is not the long-awaited, genius post that you've come to expect, nay demand, from my thoroughly unprofitable site. Those are coming. For now, I've got a meeting that I have to get to, so you're just getting this update, a LOTD and two YouTube videos I've become obsessed with. See, I can make sure your productivity plummets even without writing.

You're welcome.

---Link of the Day---
Check out Pando.com. My brother alerted me to this site. It's a way to send large files (up to 1 gig) for free. So, basically, we're using it to illegally share music. Can I get an "Amen!"?

Also, it has a handy function that will allow me to post files here. Once I figure out how that works, I'll probably post some sample tracks that you can try for free and then go buy the album so I don't get sued.

---Videos of the Day---
Okay, so over 15 million people have already seen these on YouTube, but in case you haven't, I enjoyed them. You will, too. Both are from Jimmy Kimmel's late night show on ABC, which I don't watch, but do enjoy every time I happen to flick through it.
"Sarah Silverman - 'I'm doing Matt Damon'"








...and the response...



Talk soon!