One of the highlights at my job is that I get to sit around and do a whole lot of nothing on Saturday nights. Which means that left to my own devices, I'll either find a movie to watch, or watch Saturday Night Live--since for some reason there's not much else to watch past 10 PM on Saturdays.

It's actually kind of fun, because it reminds me of the time I grew up watching SNLs during the Will Ferrell years (which is why I'm probably more forgiving than most people are towards his movies), taping all of them then rewatching the good parts whenever I had the chance. I miss my old VCR.

Most of the time it's not nearly as great as I remember it being during the late 90's-early 00's (although that's just because I obviously have fond memories for those years). But every once in a while something's legitimately funny, and then I find it on the internet and rewatch it that way. Not as charming as the old VCR, but still.

None of last night's sketches were that great.

But The Shins were on, and they played this song.



And... wouldn't you know it, I find myself excited for a Shins album.

My opinion on the band has been varied during the years. I remember really loving "So Says I" back in the day, then always meant to explore them more fully but never got around to them. Then I realized that the film Garden State existed, and they became quite overrated through the sheer willpower of Zach Braff. Then they settled into "OK" territory for a long while.

But NOW--well, maybe I was wrong about them all along? Or something. I mean, I don't think I'll ever consider the band important or brilliant or anything like that, but they have a couple good songs. And those songs are nice. So basically, they're still in "OK" territory... except in a more respected "OK" territory.

But I don't know about this song--it's just pushing my buttons right now. I can appreciate well crafted pop songs, especially when it has a lurking weirdness underneath. And I've played it about 20 times since hearing it yesterday... not that it's that good to warrant that many plays, but it's stuck in my head every other moment otherwise. And its appeal has yet to wear off, so that's encouraging.

And the upcoming album--well, I don't expect to enjoy it as much as I do this. But--I mean, the single did its trick, and got me interested in the full length released, so I feel it's my duty to be somewhat excited and eventually seek it out. And maybe it'll be great and the band will suddenly morph into one of my favorites.

Which won't happen, of course. And more likely, I'll forget about all of this tomorrow and move on to some other song that catches my ear. But RIGHT NOW, I'm all about this damnit.