We get hooked to directors, teams, bands, people, places, etc. We give something a try and it connects and every few years the same names pop up and we invest time to hear them out. Eventually these people we admire either die, or stop producing things we like; the latter more often being the case. I bet it is rare that someone creates amazing results that you never have any quibbles with years and years and years, living and working into old age still being the apple of your eye. It does happen, but is so rare I mostly lie in wait anticipating when my heros will fall.

So it’s surprising when they make it through the fire of my skepticism for another round.

I fell in love with Radiohead when I first listened to OK Computer, sitting in the Chair Of Love for the first time, in Charlie Allen’s dorm room freshman year – the fall of 1997. When Kid A came out, I didn’t like it for about 36 hours, then came around and now say it’s the best album I’ve ever heard.

So now we have In Rainbows. I refrained from saying anything on the first couple of listens for fear of regretting what I said and having to reverse it later. As Heather and I were brushing our teeth sometime last week before going to bed, I told her it definitely wasn’t as good as Hail to the Thief, and that part of me felt it may be their worst record, barring Pablo Honey of course.

By the time Saturday rolled around that part of me was dead and I was again regularly attending the church of Radiohead. It’s one of those records where all it takes is enough listens to sing along and know which track is coming next, and you’re hooked all over again.

By the time ‘Videotape’ and its strange off-beat clunking (reminding me of what an actual videotape sliding through tape heads might sound like at 1/1000th speed) ends and there are no more tracks to go to, it’s time to go back to the beginning and hear ‘15 step’.

My normal nature is to be lazy. I don’t want to experience something, I just want to watch and listen. Most of the time it’s hard enough to even play video games, I’d rather just watch some TV. I can’t even be bothered to put in a movie. And if I do partake in a movie, I’ll usually settle for crap because actually investing in something that will make me think – even though that’s what I want and need – just seems like eating my vegetables or doing my homework (which I also probably need too).

The other night Ryan mentioned how in ‘Munich’, one of the older guys tells Eric Bana’s character “I used to know guys like you in the army – you could do anything you were told to do as long as you were running…” implying that once they stopped running and started thinking about what they were actually doing, they would be given pause. I fall in step as well, routinely going through the motions with everything. Why even listen to music if not to enjoy it for what it is?

In Rainbows is light on the rockers. It doesn’t have a ‘Paranoid Android’ or a ‘2+2=5′ or an ‘Optimistic’. The only fast tracks are the second and the second to last. So before all ten tracks crept into my heart upon multiple visits, I was disappointed. But once I gave myself time to chew and to actually listen, I was rewarded with another amazingly solid Radiohead record. When I first announced my displeasure to Jeff Bennett after hearing Kid A the first time, he told me “It’s there, but it’s more subtle.”

Going into each new album, I’m weighed down by expectation – I want the WHOLE radiohead experience, all at once, immediately – and the fact that it takes more than the first 44 minutes to let that grab hold makes me initially underwhelmed.

“More subtle” benefits ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ greatly. Tenenbaums skewed more ridiculous than ‘Bottle Rocket’ and ‘Rushmore’, and I loved it for it. Then ‘The Life Aquatic’ came out and left me cold by being even more ridiculous. Wes Anderson, it seemed, was starting to parody himself almost, and I was tiring of the formula. Initially. However, repeat viewings have revealed that Aquatic is just as strong as Tenenbaums, really. I think Bowie helps.

I was worried about Darjeeling, from seeing mixed reviews basically bringing up the same qualms I had about Aquatic. And when I saw Adrien Brody run by in slow motion set to a cool oldskool british invasion rock song, I thought, “Yep.” Then going through the train I thought it was just going to be a rehash of the Tenenbaums’ house or Team Zissou’s ship. But it wasn’t.

The way the brothers play off each other shows a slice of humanity that has been the focus of every Wes Anderson movie, but here it’s more poignant and real than it has been since ‘Rushmore’. It may go down as his best movie yet, honestly, and has trumped ‘Knocked Up’ as my favorite film of the year so far. I could go on and on, but I want to see it again a few more times.

The whole film, the brothers are trying to find something in themselves and in each other. When they don’t see it immediately, they want to quit, but they keep trying because they love each other. It’s there, but it’s more subtle.