Tuesday, March 24, 2009

That Hulu That You Do

The great motivating factor of economics is the same motivating factor of all of the great pursuits: how things move, and why. And by things, I mean people. Why? Where? Why there? All of the matrices you can draw with your mechanical (is it, though?) pencil won't draw for you where the school of fish will swim. If you follow.

The miner laments that they're just not buying coal the way they used to, my father worked this life, and his father before him, but the system is dying, and people just don't buy coal the way they used to...but what happens as a result of where people, thereby the market, wander and settle is where I choose to lay my hat and my own wandering mind. To settle. Because mining coal is risky and dangerous and a hellish life, and miners still, as recently as, you know, now, run the risk of being trapped underground in mines. Whereas the exploration, study, and analysis of solar panels runs little to no human lives risked and less, certainly less, damage to people and our environment. So in the end, if the rudder of the market is set swiftly into the sea of economics, the ship will sail with ease and more efficiency.

So newspapers are folding (intentional pun) and there is a reason for that. But for every door that shuts, the market opens a window. The White House Press Corps becomes a snotty in-group and occludes true transparency to what is purportedly a democracy. They begin by wanting to tell the 'truth' and end up dining at the Animal Farm table. Just to name an example. I don't have those illusions either, I know it's a corporate oligarchy and it got bought into when the capital kept growing on the belief that the united states of US were the strongest Olympians in the world. But democracy is and still will be what in the end it ends up being, because, again: the people. Will move the way they do, for a reason, understand it or not. It's the flow of the river, man. Ride it.

I hate television. No. I don't. I actually, kind of? Love it. But truthfully don't mind not having in my life either, and I'm no luddite. But the frying pan over the head and the over and over with it. Oy. The constant supplication and lowest common denominator. I hate the talking heads the "information," the "experts" on Fox "news" the filling of time, the constant filling of time. The lack of what the Japanese have so deftly and acutely and wisely witnessed to be the saving grace of silence and contemplation. That in silence, we might learn just as much, if not more, than when talking.

But dear heavenly Hera, I love me some stories.

I live for Sopranos. I live for so many great shows. In there, in that little box of the opiate of the people, lives as many voices and stories and lives as we see everywhere, you just gotta know where to look. Contrary to how it may seem, I like the stuff.

And here we get to the crux of what I'm trying to say. That you know, it used to be you raced home to watch Knight Rider (yessss, and I loved it) but now we have the dvds, and the youtube, and you can watch on the network website. So what will happen to the commercials that we all mute and walk out of the room to reload the noms and pour another glass of wine? Who the fuck cares! Fuck them! We have Hulu now. For all those Madison Ave shark skinned behemoths, now they are learning to adapt or die. (I vote die. But the money has to come from somewhere, Virginia. Santa doesn't come for free.)

Monday, March 23, 2009

because I love her, because she is mine

My proudest moment.

Photo by the one and only Tom Child.



Article here.

Friday, March 20, 2009

SXSW

Wow I am so glad I'm not at sxsw this year. I'll leave the coverage to those more masochistic and maniacally insane than I am. I mean look at just this Friday's lineup, and this is just according to the brilliant and brave peeps @ Stereogum.

Those Stereogum guys are crazy!

No but seriously I was going to post something kind of sxsw appropriate and then I realized I don't really care, especially this year, and is it just me or is music really boring right now? Like, really boring. There's maybe 3, 4 bands I would want to check out there, out of the bazilliogillionquatrillion bands that somehow will make it to TX (mess with it! see what happens! remember the alamo! bill on your rental van!) even though their van broke down 3x on the way there.

So instead of posting a writeup on one of the bands going to sxsw that I have covered, I'm just posting this old Tyde review. Cus, again. Don't care.

Am I the only one that doesn't like the Dirty Projectors?



Oh wait, you do care?

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Lesson Learned

See, this is what authority figures make the mistake of doing.

Lil Juwahallal is getting in trouble and hanging out with the wrong crowd and you think you're just going to ground him, take away his Sony PS3, and tell him to pull up his grades and stop hanging out with that bad boy Daresh. Well you know what he's gonna do? Exactly the opposite, and Juwahallal is going to hate you.

What you do instead, is you make him do something charitable, teach others, act for the greater good, so that he sees he's a part of a much bigger thing.

What you do is make him wear this:



Look at the guy 2nd R. He's like "I am such a miserable dumbass. Fucking dress up like a condom day." I actually titled this photo "Indian Condom Kids."

Monday, March 9, 2009

Battles

Fuck I'm in love with John Stanier. And his drum kit. I want to be his fucking drum kit. I want to play his drum kit. I want to play him. I want him, to play me, on his - ok, you get it.

This show was amazing. The band was so good, so tight, so into it. There was a crowd stage right that were clearly so into it. We, unfortunately - my trusty show companion and I - were on the other side near the stage where the crew in front of us were so drunk and obnoxious I blogged about it here. I think they thought they were at Lolapalooza circa 2001 instead of inside. The Henry Fonda theater. Watching Battles. Who are like, the best band to come out in fucking years. Stupid drunk people. I have no problem (obvi) with being drunk and having a good time but shut the fuck up during the show ok? SRSLY. You will get laid. I promise. Not. You'll be passed out in your own vom. Have fun! K now shut up.

Article here, courtesy of LA Record.

In case you don't believe me. (You should always, always believe me.)

Contempt Mandala

I actually woke up thinking about this one. Woke up kind of giggling. Inside. Waking up actually giggling = creepy.

This guy, this artist, sat around and was all, you know what I'm gonna make?

I'm gonna make THIS.

The more I researched it the more I was all WTF?? and laughing and thinking this man is an insane genius person that wholly believes that this completely off-the-hook vision might be shared with other people in the world. Right on. ?

100 words was not nearly enough to even touch the surface. Of the concept. Of the thing. I think I submitted about 450 words that had to be cut down. What would (insert hero here) do?



Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Shining, it's funny

Or not. Actually the first time I saw this it was a date movie. I was 16.

I should have seen it as a sign.




Or here.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Grand Elegance & Crystal Antlers @ Que Sera

Crystal Antlers are getting hyped everywhere, from Pitchfork to Stereogum and all the bloggers in NYC that got their minds blown first at sxsw and then at CMJ in 2008 and it couldn't have happened to a better band from the poverty torn, nearly ancient (for So Cal) "ocean"side (read: cesspool) town of Long Beach.

Proof of my love of them was captured by the great kids over at Videothing at this show for LA Record at Charlie O's in downtown LA. I come in at about min 1:16 with my longtime loving feelings for Damian, aka Sexual Chocolate, with Jonny Bell looking on. If you have seen Crystal Antlers play, you know how funny it is that I commented on them "taking their top off" as they never, ever play with their shirts on.



But this night in particular @ Que Sera, one of my all time favorite venue/bars ever in the history of the world, it was Grand Elegance making waves, as usual, "keepin it weird," (tm War Tom). Warren was so trashed he literally could not stand straight up. And the band still sounded amazing. I guess playing with your best friends for 11 years can do that. I was there dutifully covering the show for LA Record. You know, what can I do. It's a party.



Full article here.

Monday, March 2, 2009

One of the Best

"I believe in the rule of opposites.
that the two sides of a coin
are loss and greater loss, that grief dribbles
out of the bottle as effortlessly as joy.
And if you scoop up everything sad,
your hands
will discover the texture of hope."

-Jane Bailey