This past Sunday, we did something we rarely do: we made a TV date. That is to say, we actually made firm plans to gather around the telly at a specific time to watch a specific program. It was the season premiere of Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO and nothing was going to stand in the way of us witnessing more of Larry David's irrepressible, dunderheaded exploits. Even though this is season five of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and even though David's schtick is transparent and familiar, Episode 41 had us in stitches. Or as the critics like to say, it was "laugh-out-loud funny." We argue that it was one of the better installments of Curb, which restores our faith in the show's continuing comedic promise and its longevity. Without giving too much away, part of the story revolves around an unappetizing deli sandwich newly named after Larry David. Of course, while flattered, David finds something with the sandwich that needs fixing, and from there the usual Davidian neurotic tendencies take over and everything spirals out of control. It's only matter of time before (if it hasn't happened already) before a real deli comes out with a real Larry David sandwich.

We're really looking forward to seeing "Just For Kicks, a new documentary movie about sneaker culture. The film explores the evolution of sneaker design and styles in recent decades, the connections to hip hop culture and global beands and fashion, and the hardcore collectors who will go to extreme lengths to get their mitts on that rare, exclusive new pair of kicks from Bape, Nike or Adidas. The movie recently premiered at the annual RESFest, but will soon air in the USA on SpikeTV, before landing on DVD later this year. Just For Kicks is director by Lisa Leone and Thibaut de Longeville, and the flick is a joint production of Canal Plus France and SpikeTV. Now, if we could only figure out which pair of Puma sneakers we should wear to the screening ...

Essential Linkage

Just For Kicks Movie Web Site

Astonvilla is a French pop-rock oufit that caught our attention on our recent trip to France. We were stuck in our brother-in-law's home one rainy night and watching music videos on a local French TV channel when we caught Astonvilla's video. While we were entertained by the band's music and the clip, what struck most about the group was its name: Astonvilla.

In fact, the name was more interesting to us -- at first -- than their music or even the intrigueing music videowith its inexplicable tale about a girl who sees her imaginary doppelganger as she walks around an anonymous city.

Astonvilla is French, but named after a popular English professional soccer team called Aston Villa (except that the team is named after an actual place and spells its name as two words, whereas as the Gallic band writes the name as a single word.) Apparently, the band's members are fans of English football.

We imagine that if you're French (or American, like us), the name Aston Villa sounds kind of cool, which, actually, we think it does. We also imagine that it probably does not sound as cool to Brits, unless said Brits are fans of Aston Villa the soccer team, or the French band. At least, for the British, the name conjures a different image.

This is not the first time a band's name has been inspired by a foreign soccer club -- the British band St. Etienne named itself after the French foootie team of the same name. So call it a draw in terms of Anglo-Franco cross-national pop-culture referencing.

Oh, but what about Astonvilla's music, you ask? It's solid, serviceable pop rock, played with an indie 90's flavor and sung in French. It's not quite our cup of tea, musically speaking, but we'd listen to their album on our next cruise down the highway from Paris to Dijon. Check out the band's Web site official site. If you'll be in Paris in a couple of months, you can catch Astonvilla at Elysee-Montmartre on Nov. 29.

Essential Linkage

Le site officiel du groupe Astonvilla