activities of daily living

The Believer, my current favorite monthly periodical of all time [even though I'm having trouble keeping up; the DVD issue still sits mostly unread and unwatched on my coffee table and a new issue awaits on newsstands], has significantly improved its website to include more of the actual content instead of just a table of contents section for each of the issues.

This is undoubtedly good news for the people out there who were unwilling to lay down their hard earned eight dollars on a monthly basis for a magazine. I mean, the people who are dropping that kind of cash for wallpaper* can probably afford those prices, what with their aspirational lifestyles and all. And if that introduction wasn't enough, here's an excerpt from some of their exclusive online content, an essay about the Arcade Fire and a review/retelling of a couple of their shows, including one opened by Final Fantasy:

At the earlier show, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Richard Parry had donned a motorcycle helmet in order to play the percussion part for “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)” on his forehead, on the wall, on an orphaned floor tom, and on some sort of electronic device I couldn’t see because of the man in the porkpie hat standing directly in front of me. At one point, Parry struck himself in the face, and for the rest of the set he performed with a thin rivulet of blood running down his cheek. Meaning that the motorcycle helmet was not enough protection from the song. [believer]

It's a really nice piece about a band on the rise and the experience of going to shows and negotiating the hairstyles and crowds to see live music in progress.

And even though I think it's great that The Believer is more online, I will probably still keep buying the issues off the newsstand because I really like the idea of having them all on my bookshelf, collecting dust and looking handsome.