June 2012
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V*CE/Grass Widow
1) A once-buzzy music/youth culture magazine, now much better known for their TV/video/documentary products, publishes abhorrent, brutally sexist review. (No one has had a meaningful conversation about a review in this magazine in at least a decade.)
2) A pop culture writer screengrabs it, puts it on her Tumblr, and writes a scathing parody.
3) A niche group of Internet people read the review...
May 2012
Another Fiona Apple interview →
In SPIN, with a handful of the same anecdotes as the NYT reported; for biographical revelations, that piece is more informative. But if you’re going to muse on celebrity, Apple’s as good as subject as any.
It sounds like Apple probably did a New York press day after all, which means there may be more interviews.
1 tag
Softies highlights
Rose asking me, “Do you want to see the set list?” before they went on
The entire set, but especially “The Best Days”
Dancing with my fiancee during “Holiday in Rhode Island”
Rose and Jen making adorable jokes about the sexual orientation of the protagonist of “I Love You More” (“It was the ’90s.”)
Meeting Jen, who had no idea...
The Top 10 Inadvertantly (?) Snobbiest Lines in...
Not actually going to do this, but there are a lot! And I’m a Franco fan.
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The New York Times gets a rare interview with... →
As someone who’s often wondered, “What does she do all day,” this article mostly answers that. Also: she was dating Jonathan Ames?! There are a number of interrobang-worthy details here, but that one stuck out.
I had it on good authority Apple wasn’t doing any interviews for this record. It’ll be interesting to see if any more show up.
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Portland, cont'd.
Went thrifting today, bought a perfect-fitting one-button Pendleton blazer. I was confused by the kind of wool and the loose construction choices until getting back to the hotel room, when I realized it was a woman’s jacket. Going to wear it anyway but now I have to figure out how to get a tailor to extend the sleeves with minimal awkwardness.
Wrote about the new Sun Kil Moon for the A.V. Club →
I think the fact that it’s being positioned as Koz’s “funny” record is an intentional distraction from the really crushing, serious songs that he snuck in between the goofy-titled ones. The crushing ones are great.
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Portlandia
Today, we had lunch at Tasty N Sons (DELICIOUS) and drove around NE and SE Portland (GORGEOUS/AFFORDABLE) and ate Voodoo Donuts and played ironic bingo and drank delicious local beers and basically decided to move here in a year when my future wife runs out her job contract.
(And hung out with [my friend?!] a former indie rock singer who was great and generous and drove us near Malkmus’...
#menswear in Portland
As of this morning, there’s a fascinating cross-section of straight-up #menswear dudes in jackets, raw denim and loafers; tattooed, glasses-wearing hipster guys who’re close enough; and men (dads?) in ill-fitting khakis and sneakers that look like they’ve been webbed up by Spider-Man.
Then there are the joggers. I didn’t see any at the deli.
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I'm on vacation
Vacation is so wonderful.
I'm the first reference on the Carly Rae Jepsen... →
I have no idea how proud of myself I should be about this. Probably less than I am.
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If you purchase one album this year by my...
dalatu replied to your post: Apparently 10,000+ people bought a Beach House CD last week
Occasional Indie Rock CD buyer here. Don’t have a record player, have multiple CD players. So, it makes sense, if I really want to hold music.
Huh. There’s a lot of you out there.
I haven’t bought a CD since maybe 2007. Probably even earlier. I don’t personally know anyone who still buys...
The funny thing about Warped Tour
I wonder if fests like that and Bamboozle essentially helped ghettoize punk and emo. With occasional exceptions, those bands are rarely in the mix at major, indie (Pitchfork)-centric summer festivals like Coachella and so on. Why isn’t there more crossover? Is it from fans’ archaic but still very much alive ideas about cred? From pop-punk’s affiliation with MTV and mainstream...
The Pusha/Weezy beef
YMCMB and G.O.O.D. are basically rival major-market NBA teams right now, stacking their lineups and giggling at the music industry’s alleged financial troubles.
Except Pusha is Wilt Chamberlain, he already had his 100-point game, now he wants a ring. I hope he gets it. I’ve never liked Wayne, honestly.
I just read a bunch of Lefsetz posts and this feels like a Lefsetz post. Sorry.
fourbeatsoff replied to your post: fourbeatsoff replied to…
Well I collect both. I tend to get the vinyl for records I love, while my CD collection is more of an archive of everything. I’m not really a fan of downloads, that’s always a last resort for me. I just like the physical product.
Interesting. It appears you’re not alone.
fourbeatsoff replied to your post: fourbeatsoff replied to your post: Apparently…
I still collect CDs like it’s 1998. I make it a point to get pretty much anything on the big indies: Sub Pop, Matador, Merge, along with the smaller Mexican Summers and Captured Tracks of the world.
But why CDs? Better sound than MP3s/less bother than vinyl?
fourbeatsoff replied to your post: Apparently 10,000+ people bought a Beach House CD last week
*sheepishly raises hand*
Explain yrself!
Apparently 10,000+ people bought a Beach House CD...
Not a download. Not a record. Who are you, 2012 indie CD buyers?!
Would honestly salivate over a demographic breakdown. This is fascinating to me.
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"Love On Top"
Songs really don’t get better than this.
Every new bar in L.A. has tiled walls, a...
Which is to say: I had a $16 soup tonight and a Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout. Both were delicious.
Gourmet food and a great drink list in a sorta-casual bar environment is a trend I can get behind but I’m really bored of every bar looking like a Gatsby deleted scene.
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Suddenlee
Uniqlo fans: this company will go to the store, buy you what you want and ship it to you. They’ll do it for other stores, too, but Uniqlo has no e-commerce or West Coast outpost so that’s what I was after. Just got my first order today. They do a quick turnaround and charged me a mere $12 for the service itself before shipping. Highly recommended.
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Just wrote most of a song
The melody is intact; I don’t know enough chords to figure out what to do under it.
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Riff Raff II
People, all people, not just outlandish famous ones, are Venn diagrams of what we are and what we pretend/aspire to be. Analyzing the percentages in search of an outdated idea of authenticity seems increasingly pointless; journalism would be better served aiming toward discovering the origins of or reasons for particular public images and what they in turn say about us. (Not a Shapiro diss.)
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What writing "What Your Favorite Wes Anderson...
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I interviewed the Walkmen for Billboard →
In the decade since debut album “Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone,” the Walkmen have made some new friends. For “Heaven,” their fifth album, the New York group accepted a call from producer Phil Ek and decamped to Seattle. The 13-track set, due May 29 on Fat Possum, includes guest vocals from Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold and a surprisingly bright outlook...
"Girls" S01E05
College Charlie and I own the same cardigan. My Terrible Post-College Break-Up was very different but he’s too hard to watch sometimes.
This old Sufjan Stevens Tape-Op interview →
He talks about recording Michigan, one of the most beautiful-sounding records ever to my ears, on pretty much the cheapest gear at 32 kHz. Aspirational.
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This month's GQ
Read the whole thing in one sitting. It’s terrific, a good reminder of why magazine journalism remains a worthwhile — perhaps the most worthwhile — arts editorial endeavor. Come for the D’Angelo and Fassbender pieces, but stay for the masterful Sartorialist profile. The Kanye parts alone are remarkable. It’s the kind of piece I want to write, and then write again, for...
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"Gossip Girl" season finale
Pleased that Blair ends up alone, sorta, but I have to say that Dan definitely wouldn’t have hooked up with Serena. That’s low, even for him. And can Ivy please leave the show already? Why are these opportunistic 20-something women so incapable of taking other people’s money, leaving town and enjoying themselves?
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"Battleship"
Charmingly awful! Better than 2012, not as good as G.I. Joe. The aliens were startlingly incompetent. Also, Rihanna for some reason!
Adventures in Lamestreaming II
Drunk Bro: You're getting married?
Dave: Yeah.
Drunk Bro: I'm sorry.
Dave: Oh, is single life so incredible that you don't want to give it up?
Drunk Bro: Well, I live in L.A.
(also)
Fiancee: I'm getting another drink, do you want one?
Dave: I'll take a lemonade.
Drunk Bro: Oh, are you driving tonight?
Dave: Yeah.
Drunk Bro: I'm sorry.
Dave: It's cool, dude. I don't mind.
Drunk Bro: That's really awesome.
Dave: ...
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" S05E25
An alien probe bearing the memories of a dead race transmits its experiences into the mind of Captain Picard, who experiences a lifetime of marriage and fatherhood only to wake up with only a few moments having passed aboard the Enterprise.
It’s pretty crushing and beautiful, especially the last shot. Easily the best “TNG” episode I’ve seen (and I’ve seen many of...
6 tags
Adventures at this lamestream hipster party
In some ways, it feels like we’re living in an alternate universe, when a generation of people who should be really into Drake and Ke$ha and partying at Hollywood clubs discovered MGMT when they were 19 years old and wound up listening to the Black Keys and playing beer pong and wearing those black sneakers everybody has. And interrogating me about my pending marriage, because apparently...
First homemade cocktail of the summer
1) I am a lightweight.
2) I am terrible at making cocktails. To my credit, I didn’t try very hard.
3) I made a list of “fun” goals/activities I’d like to get to at some point. If more than one includes “write an e-book about _____,” do I need to get out more? (Sshhh.)
"Friday the 13th 2"
Imitates the first one in a lot of awesome ways but also is much sloppier. Credit for the dude in the wheelchair, though.
Adding my top 100 albums of the 2000s to a... →
Full disclosure: the links are Amazon referrals and if you buy something, I get a dollar. But it’s a handsome board anyway.
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Food is the new indie rock II →
Food is now apparently just plain “rock.” Team Gawker on this one: going to a restaurant will never be punk.
