March 2008
51 posts
“…here’s the question that no one seems to be asking regarding both...”
– Jezebel’s Anna concerning Star Editor-at-Large-That-Must-Not-Be-Named and her ilk. I’ve always been entertained by SATC, but would never treat it as gospel or even informative in any way. It’s difficult for me to fathom that woman actually emulate CB: a woman who’s clearly...
It's 9 in the Afternoon...and the World is Ending
Note to Panic at the Disco!: Pastiche is not equivalent to artistry. A poor pantomime of psychedelic pop, a tasteless homage to the Beatles, and bad, bad haircuts do not amount to something credible or even listenable. In fact, your new video “Nine in the Afternoon” just shows that it’s not even your emo pap that I find so intolerable about you, but rather your shameless,...
"Don't Go Mistaking Paradise for a Pair of Long...
AfterJezebel’s commenter discussion about the best of John Hughe’s oeuvre and the serious lack of love for Some Kind of Wonderful, I waxed nostalgic for the underrated teen flick. Suddenly I found myself at the official website of the film, one of the most all-encompassing sites I’ve ever seen for a movie. Whoever made this site did so with uncompromising love and devotion....
“Yeah. In rehearsals yesterday, Thom, Ed and I were running through a Siouxie and...”
– - Colin Greenwood in Pitchfork interview. I am not sure why “Siouxsie” is misspelled here, but I do know that I’ve lost some of my respect for Jonny Greenwood. In my fantasy realm, Jonny and I like all the same music and probably the same ice cream, as well.
For me, it’s hard to discuss Ladytron...
WatchIf I ever had a band, I would want it to be like the B-52s: a poptastic party group without pretensions that recognizes that there is soul in the quotidian. I’d sing about the pleasures of consumerism and the void that it fills with a voice like Kate Pierson: both plaintive and exuberant. I’d sing about a rendezvous at the Taco Tiki Hut as if it were one of life’s most...
Netflix Chronicles - Exotica
I saw this movie for the first time more than ten years ago when it was first released. I recall being captivated by Mia Kirshner writhing to Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” in a schoolgirl uniform in an upscale strip club while the amazing Elias Koteas plays narrator/ultimate spectator as the rather loquacious and tormented DJ at the mic. Basically, this same image is what...
No Longer on Top: ANTM's Aimee
My love for Claire has dried up just like her breast milk. This episode she shows her down-n-dirty side by getting confrontational with uber-bitch Dominique. Although Dominique deserves her wrath, Claire resorts to some juvenile tactics including pulling a “Regina George” and talking about Dominique to Lauren and Whitney in front of an ill, bedridden Dominique who rests in the same...
Pretending
For the past few days, my levels of self-esteem and self-worth have plummeted, crashing somewhere on my couch and finding refuge (re: a warm, fuzzy feeling of schadenfreude) in the spoiled, terrible lives of the Real Housewives of New York City. I recognize that my current inability to function as a well-rounded individual satisfied with her own ideas and thoughts enough to leave the couch and...
“He has the satisfaction of being a truly original, truly influential American...”
– New York magazine profile on Waters. Cry-Baby is my favorite movie ever. Ever. And I now have to witness it become Grease 3, a Disneyed suckfest on Broadway. Basically NY Mag is saying that Waters would become irrelevant if he didn’t eventually sell-out. It’s no surprise that the...
Things I Learned While Watching The Hills
Spencer’s sister is currently the only interesting part of this new season. She also resembles Heidi, which adds the element of incest. Ewww, but at least it’s not boring. I am quite envious of Whitney’s fantastic collection of puff-sleeved tops. Parts of this season premiere episode were less compelling than me sitting in my living room watching it while eating Baja Beef...
Best News of the Day!
George Michael is touring again and it’s his first North American trek in nearly twenty years! I could just die with anticipation, but hopefully I’ll live long enough to hear him perform “Father Figure” at MSG. Now I just have to find someone willing to join me on my journey to the center of nostalgic bliss. To get me in the mood, the underrated, Euro-fabulous...
Sometimes I try to imagine my life without Rock of Love 2 and it’s almost like imagining the world before the Universe existed. It’s just that scary. So, Daisy De La Hoya isn’t even your real name? You live with your ex-boyfriend? And there’s more you’re hiding? Daisy (or whatever your name is), I hate to love you and love to hate you. video.vh1.com Last...
The Anti-Hills
Speaking of devastatingly vapid, Julia Allison and her upwardly-mobile cronies might get their own reality show: “Oh noes! If you read Page Six magazine in Sunday’s Post, you would have found it impossible to ignore the item warning us about the possible upcoming reality show… starring Star magazine talking head Julia Allison, her bestfriend, handbag designer Mary Rambin, plus...
The Hills: Made for Smart People that Want to Be...
“Ignorance is Bliss” - One quote that can’t be attributed to JustinBobby Today’s NY Times review of The Hill’s third season relieved me of my Monday morning drugery with its pseudo-intellectual slant on a “pseudo-improvised reality series” that most of us willingly embrace sincerely as a pseudo-ironic depiction of life as we wish we knew it. Either writer...
For Your "Pleasure Cunt"
Anything that involves more creative output from Kevin Barnes can only be a good thing. Of Montreal covering Peaches a while back:
Vince Chase: Hot and Hairy Feminist?
“I’m a feminist, so if there was anything that was untrue I would be on it. But you should see some of the girls out in LA. Entourage is remarkably honest. I don’t think it pulls its punches, let’s say. There are a wide range of different types of women characters. It’s not just the superficial bimbo, although we do have a coupleof them: that’s part of what the...
“Essentially, it’s a pumped-up version of the group’s signature vocal...”
– Fluxblog on a new B-52’s track. I feel the same way about Kate Pierson; the woman is a high priestess of song. She can sing inane lyrics like “orange popsicles and lemonade” and it still sounds like a hymn.
For My Pleasure - Lemon
“And these are the days when we look for something other…” I’ve always had a strong attachment to “Lemon” and wished to write about it in the memoir/music criticism section of this blog for quite some time. I struggled, though, with how to start talking about my memories, associations, and darkest hours spent with Bono’s falsetto without prefacing this...
Why?!, Episode 1
Is there some sort of rule that homely, bald, pudgy men with Mephisto chin hair must take up a career in the culinary arts? It’s like the Devil himself appears to all hairless hefties and says “Either become a chef or work behind the camera on porno flicks.” Maybe that explains why they pervade the gastronomic field. Seriously, this trend disturbs me. Iron Chef: Mike Symons ...
No Longer on Top: ANTM's Marvita
Tonight’s episode of ANTM marked the return of Voguer Extraordinaire Benny Ninja and the unearthing of supermodel Vendela. I had wondered where that buxom, blonde supermodel had been. Getting old, I guess. The models learned the distinction between couture and catalog poses and also the distinction between a bitch and a racist although Whitney (“My best friend is black”)...
Jaymay (and others) on Conan
I’ve been trying to find this performance on YouTube for awhile now, but Brooklyn Vegan has done me a great service by posting it today. It feels awkward to mention this, but I am proud of my friends so I will say that I know some of the people performing in this clip. They did an excellent job! It’s the first time I’ve ever seen any of my friends in technicolor and they look...
Deep Thoughts with Daisy
I love Daisy from Rock of Love 2. I can’t help it; I am simply bewitched by her ability to be simultaneously a coquette and an ingenue while not having a clue what either of those words mean. Astonishing. Here, Daisy explains her perfect date and why dolphins would make great midwives: video.vh1.com
Laughs on Adderal
While watching (fairly) new comedy shows The Whitest Kids U’ Know, Robot Chicken, and Kenny vs. Spenny (yes, I just got cable), I wondered when comedic programming became so spastic, so hyper, so obnoxious. It’s not that I didn’t find these shows funny —I certainly did although Kenny vs. Spenny was a wee bit too choad-rific gross-out for my liking—but before I could...
Netflix Chronicles - April Fool's Day
Because I had recently rekindled my infatuation with Deborah Foreman and was pining for the days of Up All Night, I rented a quasi-cult horror film, April Fool’s Day this weekend. I wasn’t disappointed. I can’t believe I missed out on this smart, sly parody of slasher flicks and rich kids for nearly 20 years. Where had I been? Asleep. That’s where. Inevitably, there are a...
I’ve been enamored with Texas’s...
Sexual Eruption...er, I mean Sensual Seduction
I am still at a loss as to why the phrase “Sexual Eruption” is too profane for public consumption but “lovely, lady lumps” is beloved by general audiences everywhere. Regardless, Snoop’s single is the perfect antidote to this Spitzer mess: the D-O-Double G feels no shame about being a freak. “Sensual Seduction” is a celebration of infidelity and the...
No Longer on Top: ANTM's Amis
Last week Midwestern bigot Allison performed a racist scenario with her Barbie dolls involving Fatima preferring the backdoor in the boudoir, and this week the sanctimonious Fatima teams up with Dominique to call out Whitney as “white trash.” In addition to the mostly innocuous stereotyping of female beauty implicit in this show, we now have to deal with this overt racial stereotyping...
Tube for Thought
If we are experiencing economic turmoil, then what accounts for the prodigal budgets of American Idol and America’s Next Top Model with their new stages, monitors, and fancy set-ups?
Watch“Thou Shall Not Kill…”: Corey Feldman was one of my first childhood crushes that I cultivated over time along with John Taylor and Boy George. Unlike the immortal vampiric brethren depicted in the Lost Boys series, these feelings died around the time Corey accepted Michael Jackson as his personal savior. The Lost Boys sequel (???) trailer is just an extra nail in the Tiger Beat...
Detroit Rock City
Get a load of this triumvirate, eh? Last night the Stooges covered “Burning Up” and “Ray of Light” at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in honor of the Material Girl’s induction. I loved, loved both renditions, especially the use of horns in “Ray of Light”. It isn’t clear whether Madge is really a Stooges’ fan or just likes to exercise her rights...
“I was brainwashed into believing that “Middle America” was a pejorative term...”
– It doesn’t change the fact that I still loathe Mellencamp, but if you replace the South with the Midwest and the Cougar with Petty and long winters with endless summers, this is the way I feel about Florida. And A.V Club’s Steve Hyden makes a good case for the merits of...
“In reality, Asheton says, Madonna asked the Stooges to perform as an act of...”
– OK, I can now sleep easy. And Madonna is officially still cool.
Bret Loves Kristy Joe 4-Ever
Just finished watching Sunday’s episode of Rock of Love. Bret is totally in love with the still married, possibly bipolar, possibly manipulative, but always crazy/beautiful Kristy Joe. As much as I love watching the trashy drama unfold each week, I almost wanted Bret to hang up his bandana and say “Show Over” and send the other girls home. I am attached to many of...
Like Sands through the Hourglass...
I was home ill today and spent my day like any convalescing dirtbag would: in front of the tube with my dirty, snarled hair and skin-flecked, purpled lips, oily and unkempt catching up on the Bo and Hope saga that is Days of Our Lives. (Note: This was before the Spitzer Scandal officially broke, then I couldn’t help but be involved with that for the next 4 hours…and still going)....
"He was an old man in a young girl's world. "
To offset my earlier mildly snarky posting about reality show modeling, I am now giving my focus to a film that presents an entirely different view of female empowerment. Just now, I had the privilege of watching cult classic, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains via YouTube. Shortly before this, I had been reminiscing about USA’s Up All Night program and their wondrous B movie...
No Longer on Top: ANTM's Allison
So, this is a little late. But on Wednesday, we said goodbye to the quiet, humble and truly grateful angelface, Allison. The seasoned pro just couldn’t quite win over the judges with her irrepressible charm. Sadly, her poses were those of a dead-eyed fish with limbs. Poor, poor bigoted Allison had to say her goodbyes. Chin up, dear Allison. If Leighton Meester ever croaks, you’d make...
I Heart Sam Rockwell...
and you should too!
Truth and Consequences
Ethics. I have a vague recollection of what those are. Before the outing of swindlers J.T. Leroy/Laura Albert, James Frey and Misha Defonseca, those who undertook writing a memoir recounted the facts for their readers, conveying what really happened to them. What’s more, the publishers who printed these personal tales of tragedy and triumph validated the facts to make sure they were...
The Hall of Lame
I love Madonna. She’s fabulous, but shouldn’t this be the other way around? Induct the Stooges already! Madonna’s greatest contribution to music is the Like a Prayer album. Her greatest contribution to Rock? Hailing from Detroit?! The Stooges greatest contribution to Rock: The Stooges, Fun House, Raw Power. No contest. It’s somewhat mortifying that the lady responsible...
For My Pleasure - Cathy Dennis
This weekend I was putting together dance mixes for a friend’s birthday party. I giddily downloaded track after track imbued with the romanticism of the past, rapaciously seeking the next forgotten song that had at one point changed my life (or at least made it better). At any party, people love to dance to the familiar; there’s something about a song that is so ingrained in the past...
Cineplex Reflections - Penelope
The premise of Penelope is that our porcine heroine is so horrific-looking that her potential suitors throw themselves out of windows leaving our she-beast forever alone and isolated from a world that shuns her grave deformities. Hah! Upon seeing our heroine, it’s hard to sympathize with her plight let alone be frightened by her prosthetic schnoz. The doll-faced Christina Ricci plays...
