First: Maya and Diplo before they split up. Adorable.
Next: The official video, complete with gunshots.
"Running when we hit 'em
Lethal poison for the system."
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Second Favorite Review Site
My all time favorite of review sites is, of course, Reviews of New Food from McSweeneys. The thing on Cherry Nyquil and the other thing on Brain Burrito, I assure you, are worth the price of admission (still free!).
My second favorite review site is Amazon.co.uk's sales page for Bic Crystal ballpoint pen, medium point, black, EACH.
Keep reading and you will find such gems as:
"DO NOT BUY!...
3. The first time I tried it, complete gibberish came out. Legible gibberish, sure, but the worst kind of trite, meandering waffle."
and
"Be Careful What You Click On...
I was attempting to order a Bic Crystal ballpoint *penis*, medium point, black.
Imagine my surprise when the mailman delivered this pen instead!"
Enjoy!
My second favorite review site is Amazon.co.uk's sales page for Bic Crystal ballpoint pen, medium point, black, EACH.
Keep reading and you will find such gems as:
"DO NOT BUY!...
3. The first time I tried it, complete gibberish came out. Legible gibberish, sure, but the worst kind of trite, meandering waffle."
and
"Be Careful What You Click On...
I was attempting to order a Bic Crystal ballpoint *penis*, medium point, black.
Imagine my surprise when the mailman delivered this pen instead!"
Enjoy!
Band Crush Part Two
Hold On Now, Youngster will be the best album of 2008.
Los Campesinos! - Death To Los Campesinos!
I absolutely believe that this is a documentary about how confetti and rainbows and kittens explode from the speakers when these kids play. If any band deserves to have an exclamation point after their name its them.
Los Campesinos! - Death To Los Campesinos!
I absolutely believe that this is a documentary about how confetti and rainbows and kittens explode from the speakers when these kids play. If any band deserves to have an exclamation point after their name its them.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Daft Punk - Alive 2007
Wow. Just wow. I wasn't exactly sold on the concept of an album of "live" electronic music. But. This is effing Daft Punk. I mean who can argue with human robots who DJ in an electronic pyramid?
I could listen to this album on repeat every day for the next year. The best versions of their hits ever? Possibly. The mashup of "Around the World" with "Harder Better Faster Stronger" (you know, the Kanye song that they covered? Ha) is nonstop perfection.
I feel compelled to obey the robotic commands of "Touch it/Technologic"
"Touch it Bring it Pay it Watch it Stop Format it
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, melt - upgrade it,
Charge it, pawn it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick - erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick - rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag and drop it, zip - unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, curl it, find it,
View it, coat it, jam - unlock it,
Surf it, scroll it, pose it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, twitch - update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax - rename it,
Touch it, bring it, obey it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, stop - format it."
Sounds like: The Cybermen from Dr. Who conquering our weak flesh bodies with dance.
Can't. Stop. Dancing.
Listen to the whole thing at AOL Spinner here.
Watch This: "This Film is Not Yet Rated"
Great documentary about the MPAA's ratings board is apparently up now on google video. If you haven't seen it, do watch. It drags a bit when the director tries to find out the identity of the board members. It doesn't when he's interviewing indie directors who's movies were rated NC-17 for gay scenes less explicit than straight scenes in an R-rated flick. Especially interesting is the Orgazmo vs. South Park Movie experience.
Watch it in its entirety here:
Watch it in its entirety here:
Aristocrunk
Saturday 12/8/07, Sticky Fingerz.
A man painted gold and another man wearing an aristocratic white wig and blue ring will attempt to save the rap game from conspicuous consumption by taking it back to revolutionary France.
Paint yourself gold and get in free.
In their own words:
"Genetically engineered over generations of obscure royalty, Maurice Eloise XIII, Lord Treadwell, and Myster E are of "sang real rap" or translated to the current tongue - rap's royal blood. They have emerged from the past to save the present, waiting for the right moment to spread their gospel of the good life. At a time when rap hooks have degenerated to, excuse my pun, lyrical "laffy taffy" and verbose veneration of "rims, bitches, and benjamins," it is time to usher in a new era of consumption. As you dine on these rich melodies, be very careful that you drink your water; you may develop a case of gout. It is a common affliction amongst fans of these great Lords - Lord T & Eloise and the always elusive, Myster E.
A bientot,
Lord T & Eloise"
myspace.com/lordtandeloise
www.lordtandeloise.com
A man painted gold and another man wearing an aristocratic white wig and blue ring will attempt to save the rap game from conspicuous consumption by taking it back to revolutionary France.
Paint yourself gold and get in free.
In their own words:
"Genetically engineered over generations of obscure royalty, Maurice Eloise XIII, Lord Treadwell, and Myster E are of "sang real rap" or translated to the current tongue - rap's royal blood. They have emerged from the past to save the present, waiting for the right moment to spread their gospel of the good life. At a time when rap hooks have degenerated to, excuse my pun, lyrical "laffy taffy" and verbose veneration of "rims, bitches, and benjamins," it is time to usher in a new era of consumption. As you dine on these rich melodies, be very careful that you drink your water; you may develop a case of gout. It is a common affliction amongst fans of these great Lords - Lord T & Eloise and the always elusive, Myster E.
A bientot,
Lord T & Eloise"
myspace.com/lordtandeloise
www.lordtandeloise.com
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Scott Pilgrim is the best comic book ever?
Scott Pilgrim is about a lovable Canadian loser who plays video games and plays bass in rock band "Sex-Bob-Omb." He starts off dating a high schooler (Knives Chau, age 17), but then falls hard for the American Amazon.ca delivery girl who can take shortcuts through dreams. Scott has to fight her 7 evil ex boyfriends before she can give her heart to him.
Still with me?
Scott Pilgrim is charming in all the kinds of ways that books should be charming. The bit characters are really fleshed out. Video game logic prevails (complete with save points, 1-ups, and items that Scott can use like coins and Skateboards). Look for a Bollywood style fight-off in Episode 2 followed by a Boss Bass Battle in Episode 3!
Look here for some previews.
Scott Pilgrim Previews
Scott Pilgrim at Amazon.com
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Weekend Reading #3
Last of the lot, I promise.
The Wire hits its final season on Jan 6. This is bittersweet news because this is The Best Television Show In The History Of Television.
What is this The Wire, you might ask? Apparently you are not one of the 11 viewers (10 of who are critics) who keeps up with this show. The New Yorker has a great 12 page article about the series and a biography of David Simon, genius behind Homicide: Life on the Streets and The Corner. This is a man who is not afraid to chase Big Ideas. Required reading.
Stealing Life (from The New Yorker)
A favorite phrase of David Simon’s is “You can’t make this shit up.” In the opening sequence of the very first episode of “The Wire,” Jimmy McNulty—the half mensch, half jerk of a Baltimore cop, played by the British actor Dominic West—is sitting on a stoop across from a crime scene. McNulty is talking to the compatriot of a dead guy called Snot Boogie, and can’t resist a little philosophizing on the subject of his name: “This kid, whose mama went to the trouble to christen him Omar Isaiah Betts—you know, he forgets his jacket, so his nose starts runnin’ and some asshole, instead of giving him a Kleenex, he calls him Snot. So he’s Snot forever. It doesn’t seem fair.” Snot Boogie liked to shoot craps with his pals in the neighborhood, it seems, but, every time he did, he’d steal the pot before the end of the game. So why, McNulty wants to know, did they still let him play? “Got to,” his interlocutor answers. “This is America, man.” It was a perfectly crafted setup for Simon’s themes: how inner-city life could be replete with both casual cruelty and unexpected comedy; how the police and the policed could, at moments, share the same jaundiced view of the world; how some dollar-store, off-brand version of American capitalism could trickle down, with melancholy effect, into the most forsaken corners of American society. But, as it happened, the Snot Boogie story was real—Simon had heard it, down to the line about America, from a police detective, and it appears in “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.” Simon’s gift is in recognizing an anecdote like that for the found parable that it is—“stealing life,” as he once described it to me—and knowing which parts to steal.
The Wire hits its final season on Jan 6. This is bittersweet news because this is The Best Television Show In The History Of Television.
What is this The Wire, you might ask? Apparently you are not one of the 11 viewers (10 of who are critics) who keeps up with this show. The New Yorker has a great 12 page article about the series and a biography of David Simon, genius behind Homicide: Life on the Streets and The Corner. This is a man who is not afraid to chase Big Ideas. Required reading.
Stealing Life (from The New Yorker)
A favorite phrase of David Simon’s is “You can’t make this shit up.” In the opening sequence of the very first episode of “The Wire,” Jimmy McNulty—the half mensch, half jerk of a Baltimore cop, played by the British actor Dominic West—is sitting on a stoop across from a crime scene. McNulty is talking to the compatriot of a dead guy called Snot Boogie, and can’t resist a little philosophizing on the subject of his name: “This kid, whose mama went to the trouble to christen him Omar Isaiah Betts—you know, he forgets his jacket, so his nose starts runnin’ and some asshole, instead of giving him a Kleenex, he calls him Snot. So he’s Snot forever. It doesn’t seem fair.” Snot Boogie liked to shoot craps with his pals in the neighborhood, it seems, but, every time he did, he’d steal the pot before the end of the game. So why, McNulty wants to know, did they still let him play? “Got to,” his interlocutor answers. “This is America, man.” It was a perfectly crafted setup for Simon’s themes: how inner-city life could be replete with both casual cruelty and unexpected comedy; how the police and the policed could, at moments, share the same jaundiced view of the world; how some dollar-store, off-brand version of American capitalism could trickle down, with melancholy effect, into the most forsaken corners of American society. But, as it happened, the Snot Boogie story was real—Simon had heard it, down to the line about America, from a police detective, and it appears in “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.” Simon’s gift is in recognizing an anecdote like that for the found parable that it is—“stealing life,” as he once described it to me—and knowing which parts to steal.
Weekend Reading #2
Sleater-Kinney = Awesome Rock Band
Rock Band = Apparently Awesome Rock Band Game
You may wonder what Carrie Brownstien from S-K thinks about this silly Rock Band game.
You are in luck.
Rock Band vs. Real Band (from Slate.com)
Rock Band = Apparently Awesome Rock Band Game
You may wonder what Carrie Brownstien from S-K thinks about this silly Rock Band game.
You are in luck.
Rock Band vs. Real Band (from Slate.com)
Weekend Reading #1
Slate magazine pointed me to this pretty comprehensive story of how the U.S. Government bungled the war on drugs. Journalism like this and "The Get Your War On" strips in the letter column make R.S. worth the cover price.
How America Lost the War On Drugs
All told, the United States has spent an estimated $500 billion to fight drugs - with very little to show for it. Cocaine is now as cheap as it was when Escobar died and more heavily used. Methamphetamine, barely a presence in 1993, is now used by 1.5 million Americans and may be more addictive than crack. We have nearly 500,000 people behind bars for drug crimes - a twelvefold increase since 1980 - with no discernible effect on the drug traffic. Virtually the only success the government can claim is the decline in the number of Americans who smoke marijuana - and even on that count, it is not clear that federal prevention programs are responsible. In the course of fighting this war, we have allowed our military to become pawns in a civil war in Colombia and our drug agents to be used by the cartels for their own ends. Those we are paying to wage the drug war have been accused of human-rights abuses in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. In Mexico, we are now repeating many of the same mistakes we have made in the Andes.
How America Lost the War On Drugs
All told, the United States has spent an estimated $500 billion to fight drugs - with very little to show for it. Cocaine is now as cheap as it was when Escobar died and more heavily used. Methamphetamine, barely a presence in 1993, is now used by 1.5 million Americans and may be more addictive than crack. We have nearly 500,000 people behind bars for drug crimes - a twelvefold increase since 1980 - with no discernible effect on the drug traffic. Virtually the only success the government can claim is the decline in the number of Americans who smoke marijuana - and even on that count, it is not clear that federal prevention programs are responsible. In the course of fighting this war, we have allowed our military to become pawns in a civil war in Colombia and our drug agents to be used by the cartels for their own ends. Those we are paying to wage the drug war have been accused of human-rights abuses in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. In Mexico, we are now repeating many of the same mistakes we have made in the Andes.
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