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This year the film portion of the South by Southwest Conference had thirteen entrees that premiered at Sundance and a number of studio-funded projects destined for wide release, meant primarily to bolster the star power attending the daily and nightly Paramount theater premieres. This is not a bad thing—rather, it’s a testament to how vital the SXSW Film Conference has become to the film scene in general, a diverse conflagration of anything and everything within the strata of a theatrical experience. However, it doesn’t make breaking new, below-the-radar films any easier, especially with a bigger schedule—the much-anticipated premiere of the The East comes on the final night of the conference, after this will be published—and more theaters scattered around town.

Alright, the photo has nothing to do with what I'm about to say, but I couldn't resist. Guys...it’s time to impress. You know you’re getting nothin’ Valentine’s Day night if you don’t put together a satisfying romantic night.  And while homemade dinners are quaint, these six NYC restaurants guarantee 100 percent excellence and no dishes to clean afterward. You’re in, you eat the best food, you hold hands across the table, and then you skip back to your apt ASAP for some good lovin.’

Decidedly not groovy. 

In news that 100% cannot be real in this or any other universe, it transpires that Sir Paul McCartney will be filling in for the late Kurt Cobain when “Nirvana” plays a reunion set at the 12.12.12 Concert for Sandy Relief tonight in New York. Earplugs are recommended.

How many times have you heard some old person complain about what the kids are listening to these days? (Oh, yesterday, from me?) It's a certainty, like death and taxes, that popular music will only cause the furrowed brows of the cool kids of yesteryear to become more creased, their now wrinkled hands forming into limp fists raised slightly in the air as the loose skin on those arms shake with a ferocity only matched by the senility so depressingly spouting from their typing fingers. Do not dare hush them! They have opinions, and they are always correct! Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Musto has something to say about the current state of pop music! 

Fans of sludgy, lo-fi, aggressive rock have only had one name on their lips this year: Ty Segall. The 25-year-old Californian, whose shaggy blond hair and baby face make him look like a young Thurston Moore, has already put out two albums in 2012. One, Slaughterhouse, has a spaced-out wall of guitar sound, while the other, Hair, is a lo-fi, feedback-filled, shambolic psychedelic trip. These records are the best kind of genre exercises: wildly fun and playful, but still operating within conventions that make them easy to listen to. Both records were deemed “Best New Music” on Pitchfork (average score: 8.45), and praised up and down the blogosphere. Stereogum spoke for many fans and critics when they called
 Slaughterhouse “a confident attempt at
making the ‘evil, evil space rock’ Segall
has repeatedly cited as his ideal sound.”

Zoe Sarnak is doing pretty well for a recent college graduate. Just three years after graduating with a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Harvard, she's about to bring her first musical, A Lasting Impression, to the New York stage. Relax—she also minored in music. Following a staged reading of the show at Pace University, A Lasting Impression brings a tale of artistic pursuit and struggle to a place that has seen its fair share of creative undertakings: the New York Theater Workshop's 4th Street Theater, where it runs through August 26. I sat down with Sarnak to talk about the process of bringing her musical to the stage, the influences who inspired her to compose music, and how her passion and craft have been a constant in her post-graduate life. 

● Mary J. Blige bemoaned yesterday that her pulled "crispy chicken, fresh lettuce" Burger King commercial was not the "fun and creative campaign" she had signed up for. Burger King meanwhile apologized to Blige and her fans for airing the ad "prematurely," adding that they hope to have the final spot on air soon. [Rap-Up]

Paul McCartney is about to enter his seventh decade, but there's still a lot more life ahead: He continues to release solo albums, and is currently raising an eight-year old daughter from his previous marriage. That, the former Beatle tells Rolling Stone in a new interview, is enough to make him stop smoking marijuana for good, or at least until his daughter is old enough to want to get high with her old man. For McCartney, who has been arrested just so many times for pot possession, it's a big step. "I smoked my share. When you’re bringing up a youngster, your sense of responsibility does kick in, if you’re lucky, at some point," he explained. "Enough’s enough – you just don’t seem to think it’s necessary."

Okay, so Cover Tuesday is made up; it could be Cover Wednesday or Friday or whenever. But there wasn't a better way to stick these two songs together, so forgive me. First off: the Flaming Lips doing a scuzzed-out, staticky take on The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus," one of the Fab Four's somewhat subtly pro-drug songs. That makes it perfect for the Lips, who are all about being pro-drug. It's fuzzy and buzzy and out there, delightfully wacked out and befitting of their general sound. The cover's in anticipation of thir New Year's Freakout #5 in Oklahoma City, where they'll do Beatles songs alongside Sean Lennon and Plastic Ono Band. That's surely a winning formula, if you happen to find yourself down South this NYE.