• I'd like to start out with two, like, editorial notes. First of all, even though it is Christmas Eve and I seem to be posting to this blog with increasing irregularity, I'm not necessarily implying that this will in fact be the last post of 2007. (Like you care.) Secondly, I kind of can't stand year-end lists. But fucking everybody seems to make one, or at least every magazine. And I think I'd like to work for one of them one day. So. I figure I might as well just start producing year-ending list-type text.
• While I consider The Darjeeling Limited to be, on the strength of its visuals alone, the Best Movie of the Year, and while I thought at the time that watching that last Pirates movie on super-packed opening night with my former neighbor while she drank sneaked-in beers and seriously talked through the whole thing was unusually awkward, it was, in retrospect, the best experience I had watching a movie in 2007. (That last sentence, though, might qualify for Longest Sentence I Wrote This Year.)
• Best Blog Based Entirely On Another Blog of 2007: Wear Palettes, which takes the photos from The Sartorialist and reduces them to color palettes. In order to, I don't know, better track, like, color trends. Or something.
• As far as the Best Album of the Year is concerned, I think it's only fair to call it what it is: the Best Record I Heard All Year. Because there were a lot of records I just didn't listen to this year - even ones that it seems like I would have listened to. I think that this is the case because (a) there's no place to buy new CD's anymore, (b) the Good Shit Catalog died, and (c) the last time I was hip was in October of 2002.
So. All that said, for me it comes down to Da Drought 3 and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. I'm not just trying to exercise some, like, one-rap-record-one-rock-record white guy blogger diplomacy here. Or maybe, on some level, I am. But I think I'm just really into extremely hardworking musicians who manage to sound completely effortless and cool all the time.
UPDATE: You know, the more I think about it, the more I think that Rock Band might be the Album of the Year.
• Fuck this. End-of-year lists are exhausting. And they only ever talk about general crap. Like the Best Book. I don't even remember reading any books this year. But I'm sure I must have. I'm just saying: I've never read a magazine where some guy lists, like, his Proudest Personal Achievement.
• Proudest Personal Acehievement of 2007: (fucking finally) graduating from college.
• Hardest-Won Photograph I Took This Year:
this one.
• I feel that the Year's Biggest Disappointment For Me, Personally was and continues to be the Raichile's unceasing negligence of what really ought to be the greatest blog ever.
• I just looked at the clock. It is now 4:31 in the a.m. I guess I could keep typing until January, but at some point enough's enough.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
The Reign of Blank-Blank has Begun
• Let's begin at the beginning, then, hey? Okay. So. American Gangster came out, and I was and remain embonered about the whole thing. The only thing that I thought was disappointing about it, really, was Lil Wayne's verse on "Hello Brooklyn 2.0." You know. Because it's not all east coast -sounding and super lyrical. But then I listened to it a bunch of times, and I decided that it's one of the best parts of the album. Wayne's part on it sounds like a Delta Blues singer performing with the New Power Generation. Or, you know, like Prince with a drawl. Also, the track so reinvigorated my love for "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" that I made this little thing. (What do you call these things? "Mashups?" What a dumb term.)
• Can't find anything to buy for Thee Famous Person - who doesn't "believe in" Christmas but still wants presents? If I was you, I'd try here.
• I converted pounds to dollars and, at press time, it'll cost me $39.62 apiece. But still. Don't think I'm not going to make the next Devil Himself mixtape (tentatively titled "Protected Everywhere") available on these bitches.
• Tadanori Yokoo? More like Radanori Yokoo.
• So. I've had this one post going for a couple of days now, because I saved it, and decided I would finish it at some point down the road. I decided today that today was the day, though, just so I could finish it with the new shit. (What? Yes.)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Two-Fer Tuesday
• I figured it'd be a good idea if I broke this up into two posts, for the sake of. I don't know. Continuity? Something? I just personally never like reading long-ass text-heavy blogs. I tend to tune out. I suspect that you might as well.
• The other day I put a Mogwai song up here. Mogwai's one of those bands, man. Where, like, I've never really considered myself a capital-f Fan, but, like. I really like them. (I'm the same way about Busta Rhymes.) I guess somebody synced up one of their songs with an Iggy Pop interview and put the shit on YouTube. I say to that person: Thanks, buddy!
• The new Vanity Fair - I know - has an article concerning the suicides of East Village/LA artists Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan. I certainly don't mean any disrespect, but the first thing that occurred to me was the late Mr. Blake's series of really great haircuts. Here's an embed of Blake's "Sodium Fox." (Because, you know, apparently at least seven of you watch these things. (There's also a video of Duncan's "The History of Glamour" on the Vanity Fair site, but it's like forty minutes long so, of course, I haven't watched it yet.))
• Ike Turner died. But you knew that already, probably. (Just trying to stick with the dead celebrity theme for this installment of CFY,K. I guess.)
For Personal Use
• As for the delay , I am easily distracted. So.
• I spent the better part of last week in New York City, staying and working with Old Raver, trying to get my country-boy-makes-good on. I think that if I had tried to post before now, you all would have had to wade through a bunch of environmentalist rhetoric and links to helpful tips for green living.
• I will say that Raven Simone, for her part, has exceeded all reasonable expectations in terms of "Good Looking Out." I think that I might formally discontinue my own personal usage of the term "Ravenize" in honor of this. Maybe.
• Also: I managed to get to the big city just in time to give the kid Shamanzo a proper Sarchichan send-off. I think he's in China now. Or somewhere. (A hallmark of Sarchichans, I think, is their innate ability to to arrange their lives in such a way as to be able to just drop everything and go at a moment's notice.) Safe travels, Monsieur Rabbitt.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Sleep Till Four Or Whatever
• First things first:
Dear Viva Voce,
I don't want to sound like a dick. Because I'm flattered. Really. But, um. The next time you make a song about me, you could go a little easier on the jangle-pop and go for more of a "brooding menace" kind of vibe.
Cheers,
TDH
• Okay. And that said, I think that the wintertime is the time to chill the fuck out 'cause it's boring.
That's "I Do Have Weapons" by Mogwai, by the way.
• So. Um. About that. I got this poll here. There's a whole, long-winded thought process behind its inclusion, but I'll spare you the particulars.
• It's a little funny when a band with the kind of cultural cachet that The White Stripes commands makes a video for a cover song. What's weird to me is how often they, in particular, do that. But whatever. Their new video, for "Conquest," originally written by Corky Robbins and performed by Patti Page, is hilarious and awesome.
• Now. Again. YouTube embeds. I'm not sure if they're worth it. The kid needs feedback.
• You know what's funny? Married to the Sea.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Jush Is Radocasting As I Write This
• When you're stuck, kind of, at your parents house, you end up watching the most bizarre movies ever because they have a gigantic TV and you can't just take Jacuzzi baths all day.
• Speaking of television, If I had my own channel, it would look a great deal like this Grupthink poll. I know I mentioned it there, too, but in the interest of being thorough, I can't figure out how to embed that old-ass Flipmode Squad video for "Cha Cha Cha." It would totally also be in heavy rotation on my fantasy TV station.
• From the Not Sayin'; Just Sayin' File: We here at at Curtains For You, Kid are at our parents' house, as you may well know, where there is always an insane glut of celebrity gossip magazines. And maybe we're connecting dots that shouldn't be, but in light of recent events, the Breaking News out of Hiebradond just got a little weird.
• Two books I want: 111 (nsfw), and the new Walton Ford joint.
• Every once in a while you get the impression that maybe Nick Catchdubs is a little too awesome, and gets more intrawebs love than anyone else ever, and you wonder how in hell he ever got to that position, but then he drops a Justice remix with Wale on it and it all makes sense again.
• The thing about this article - apart from its inclusion here officially making this CFY,K entry a little heavy on the celebrity news - is that at first you're like "Man. Sucks for the old Hulkster." And then you think about how it's all you're going to hear the Bobo Howard Sterns talk about for a while. But then you do a double take, read the shit again, and say "New American Gladiators?! YES!"
Saturday, November 17, 2007
• P.S. I don't actually own a gun.
• I think that my life changed for the better since I changed my ringtone to the opening lick from Gimme Shelter. Now every time I get a phone call it's like Martin Scorsese is directing a little moment of my day.
• This is the best still frame from a cartoon show. Ever. For so many reasons. But really just the one.
• I've been thinking that I should, by all accounts, address the passing of Norman Mailer. Since he actually wrote novels, whereas I sometimes write about writing novels. I came across this story that, I think, deals with Mailer's passing - as well with as the "death" of contemporary authors' striving for The Great American Novel - pretty well.
• It's getting cold outside, and that means it's the time of year for introspective gangsta rap songs that prominently feature pianos. This is "Kill My Dog" off of Cam'ron's new mixtape.
• Thank you, Drawn!, for providing me with a couple of other places to screw around on the internet for no reason.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Good Mornian
• It's not really my place to be specific on this, so I won't. But I will say that there are interesting new developments going on over in Hiebradond. I guess you'd have to know old Anvil Shamanzer, like, personally. His new song, however, is for all to enjoy.
• When's Blogger gon' let me do those embeddable little expanding flash players for em pee threes? Oh wait. (I'ma get on it.) {Update: fixed!}
• I just wrote a résumé, which, I think, looks pretty impressive. I'd hire me. I mean. If I could stand me. (What are you supposed to do with a résumé again?)
• You know how when you go to a comic book store and they have those hundred boxes full of back issues of Rom, Spaceknight that you can buy for ninety-nine cents apiece? No? You don't? Because - what? - you're not completely nerdified? Whatever. These boxes: they got 'em. Marvel Comics, though, is digitizing their archives. So that way, I guess comic shop owners can free up more space for grown-ass people to play Magic and Pokémon. (No links to these things. One must draw the line somewhere.)
• On my personal wishlist: 58 Rodeo. I mean. If me and El Amar are ever going to make rock posters. (Me: "It's just hot chicks and skulls, right?" E: "Yeah. And fonts!")
• My Dad brought home season one of Weeds on the same day that my sister came over with a DVD collection of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which are like the two things on TV that I watch that don't come on the Mojo network. (Especially since Adult Swim straight ganked my snake-for-an-arm idea. (Possibly NSFW)) So. They're talking about alternating pilot episodes. I'm gonna go.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
• I was sitting around the house the other day, you know - 'cause that's most of what I do - and Caddyshack came on. And you know. It had been a while since I heard that one dude on some "Ahoy, polloi," and somehow FP had never seen Caddyshack, which I thought was bizarre. Just because, like, so many old dudes are constantly quoting it. So I guess now she'll know what they're talking about.
I started thinking, though, what the hell happened to Lacey Underall, that singular paragon of 80's hotness? It turns out she's not up to much. But that's okay, because I can relate to that. This website retroCrush interviewed her. I need a job like that, where I get sent out and paid to holler at Mia Sara.
• I remember I put something up about this before, maybe years ago at this point. So I figured I'd follow up on it, even though I know that no one cares. That Ghostface doll is finally coming out. My thing, though, is like, the shit costs $500. How big a market can that possibly reach?
• Jush is gonna be rich.
• But the real story of the week in my own personal life is that the new Jay-Z record came out and that the shit is good. I suspect, however, that you guys aren't all that interested in where I think it rates among Jay's other albums, and how I feel about particular tracks. So I figured I'd just embed the Roc Boys video because it looks like the most awesome party ever that you would never, under any circumstances, be invited to.
• I have long maintained that Shannon Sharpe could only have ever played for the Denver Broncos - never mind that he played two seasons for the Ravens - because he is, in fact, a bronco. He looks more like a bronco than even John Elway, who is at least half bronco. But now there is a new contender for the title of Athlete Who Most Resembles His or Her Respective Team Name: Chris Bosh. If he ever gets traded, I hope it's to some future expansion team called like Les Pterodactyls de Montréal.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
An Orchestra of Penguins
• The winner for this year's CFY,K Halloween Costume Contest goes to Old Raver and her roommate, who went all the fuck out for a sick Statler and Waldorf getup. I, of course, did not dress up, because I am a perennial hater, but I did carve a sick demon-in-a-hellpit pumpkin.
• I must be honest, though. Because I don't really care one way or the other about Halloween. I'm making this post pretty much solely because Saul Williams has released a new album on his own, that you can get for free - free is harder to come by these days - or pay five bucks for. It's a sweet deal either way. Trent Reznor did a bunch of production on it, which is weird. But whatever. I love Saul Williams. Go get it!
• I mean. I guess there's other stuff going on in the world of the intrabutts. Killa's finally got a new song out. Dog the Bounty Hunter is a total racist. Lil Wayne is properly releasing all those leaked Carter III tracks, and may be going to jail still. Wired Magazine having an article about VBS.tv (nsfw) is like Wired having an article about Wired from ten years ago. But seriously. Saul Williams has a new record out.
