February 2011
1 post
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January 2011
1 post
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November 2010
1 post
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So The Room is getting old, what the new thing?
I’m leaning towards Body of Evidence. Though no one can live up to Tommy Wiseau, the acting’s about as bad, and the sex scenes - though between far more attractive people - are EVEN MORE AWKWARD. Madonna dripping hot candle wax onto Willem Dafoe’s chest, anyone? Plus, awesome defenestration twist ending.
One of the best scenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duBFQkZYGbM Play
...
October 2010
2 posts
3 tags
“And I don’t use the word fierce very often, only when it needs to be used, like...”
– Lourdes Leon on Nicki Minaj - too much concentrated amazing in one place.
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September 2010
1 post
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Non-existent outrage - Sesame Street cancels Katy... →
Well, Katy Perry fans, you will not be seeing her duet with Elmo on Sesame Street.
Perry recorded a parody version of her song “Hot N Cold” and made a video with Elmo, but Sesame Workshop decided not to air the video on the show after its presence on YouTube sparked complaints from commenters who thought it was too risque — apparently, based on the visible YouTube comments, because...
August 2010
6 posts
1 tag
'90s critical revisionism, and my take via Tori... →
barthel:
richaod:
But speaking of revisionism: ’90s Tori Amos. I think you once labelled her lyrics “obviously embarrassing” in passing, and I didn’t respond then - but I consider her a truly visionary artist, as many people evidently did, or still do. Emblematically of her apparent whitewashing from history, Pitchfork originally ranked Little Earthquakes as the eighth-best album of the 1990s,...
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'90s critical revisionism, and my take via Tori... →
The “top videos of the 90s” list that’s up at Pitchfork right now is interesting in that it’s not the usual decade-retrospective staff list voted on by all the writers - which implies an expression of critical consensus - but the singular creation of Scott Plagenhoef, and he uses the opportunity to advance a particular critical argument of the 90s as a precursor to the new sincerity of today’s...
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Why are people shocked that producers have... →
maura:
Today a video that sets out to “prove” that Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” and Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” and Miley Cyrus’ “Permanent December” are “the same song” made the rounds, and as you can imagine, it got a lot of pickup from people who like getting all OMG [INSERT LOATHED ARTIST HERE] IS SUCH A RIPOFF SUCK ARTIST. What I don’t get is why the rhetoric surrounding the video has turned into...
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...and Ann Powers, also on Teenage Dream. →
“Whatever person exists beneath Perry’s wigs and costumes is irrelevant to her music. Her process of self-creation is the purpose and sum of her art.
It’s enough to millions of listeners — especially young women — because this kind of constructed self has been a feminine reality since long before Peggy Olson started hawking Pond’s cold cream. “Put your hands on me in my skintight jeans,”...
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Greg Kot on Katy Perry, 'Teenage Dream' →
“But there’s nothing subversive about “Teenage Dream.” Perry’s notion of how teenage girls behave – or what they want from their pop music – is pretty depressing. It shares a lot in common with the major-label executive who once said he signed Britney Spears so he could market her not just to the overdriven libidos of adolescents but to the dirty imaginations of older men.”
...
July 2010
2 posts
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Guess which song will celebrate its 10th birthday... →
maura:
Am I the only person who feels like this actually came out more recently than 2001??
What’s worse is that Nickelback, specifically that album, were one of the bands that actually got me into music. I can at least reconcile Linkin Park as a decent pop band instead of a bad metal band, but as you can imagine, I’ve spent every bit of the last eight years atoning for Silver Side...
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Lady Gaga - You and I
Appropriately first played live at Elton John’s White Tie and Tiara Ball back in June, You and I is the sole track Lady Gaga’s debuted from her upcoming album, to be released in early 2011. For those solely familiar with her singles-as-events, hearing Gaga recreate ’70s AOR may be alternately baffling or, to the rockist holdouts, her most impressive work yet - but more than...
May 2010
6 posts
2 tags
Lady Gaga: the article you either already have or... →
Fantastic article, of course, but I have to disagree somewhat with the assessment of Madonna. Maybe early on, her sexualised image was as titillating for guys as it was empowering for the wannabes - but while Gaga does it for the fans, Madonna was always driven by herself. Even though Vogue was a rallying cry for the gay community, it was just as much her daring the audience to think any less of...
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REIGN IN BLONDE: YA GOTTA GET A 'GIMMICK' →
Gimmicks. It’s so weird that you would bash pop and tweens for being a “gimmick” when you are reading a blog devoted to the most gimmick-y of all genres. So Lady Gaga and Ke$ha dress in funny outfits, that’s their gimmick. Well, what do you call all of these?:
Corpse paint / black metal in general
Pagan armor
Pirate metal…
Why metal bands can be every bit as gimmicky as supposedly...
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Is Auto-Tune Killing Pop Music? →
Is Terrible Music Journalism Killing Music Journalism?
My entirely necessary comment:
Between the wild, link-baiting proclamation of the title and the fact that the rest is nearly a full year behind the most recent event mentioned, this article is horrendously simplistic.
“But wait, this is pop music. Isn’t it supposed to sound manufactured? And who cares? As it turns out, many...
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literally everything that needs to be said about... →
about gaga: i am sensing some jealousy. when i try to compare you two, i just cannot. lady gaga does not equal joanna newsom, vice versa. you two are completely different planes of music, and i don’t see a cross-section. at all.
… tl;dr — i love joanna newsom, i love lady gaga, and i love madonna. and i’m frustrated that joanna had a petty moment in the spotlight because i know she’s...
April 2010
5 posts
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writingandrunning:
What should I write about on the topic of being a feminist headbanger? What would you like to have me discuss about metal from a feminist perspective?
I can’t answer in 140 characters, so this’ll have to do!
As much as I admire feminist statements like this on the rather demeaning “Hottest Chick in Metal” role of women in Revolver’s Golden God...
Pomplamoose, or Why I Hate Everything They Stand... →
silverstrand-:
THIS ANGERS ME SO MUCH. I WOULD LIKE TO PUNCH SOMEONE IN THE TRACHEA. SO HARD THE BACK OF THEIR HEAD TOUCHES THEIR BUTT.
Just checking - you mean Pomplamoose angers you, not my hatred, right?!
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Pomplamoose, or Why I Hate Everything They Stand... →
I have never seen anyone sing with such a complete and utter lack of emotion. Take the passion out of pop music, replace it with stupid blank facial expressions and arrangements that’re self-consciously “interesting”, piling on the wank in a way that adds to the YouTube view count but brings absolutely nothing of relevance to the music, and you have… this pile of...
March 2010
6 posts
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“Q: Have you ever heard Madonna’s ‘Like It Or Not’ from ‘Confessions on A...”
– From http://allaboutmadonna.com/2010/03/alison-goldfrapp-on-madonna-again.php - translated from the Belgian magazine HUMO
Look, I love Goldfrapp, but Alison’s taking the bait resulted in hilarity on many levels.
And though Head First is not necessarily on the wrong side of homage vs....
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camp: my mortal enemy
If I were a superhero, Camp would be my nemesis… but I’d be the one showing off my muscular steel-mill-worker figure in incredibly tight, form-fitting spandex, constantly hanging around my submissive twink of a sidekick and wearing my underpants on the outside. I fail to see how this is a winning situation.
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a grammar: why we fight #1 →
Much-appreciated readers and Tumblr-followers! Some of you will have already noticed this, but: today begins an adventure in which I write a monthly column for Pitchfork. It’s called “Why We Fight,” and the first installment — about Joanna Newsom, Lady Gaga, and how indie might eat itself — is…
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Lady Gaga - Why It's Time To Give The Fame Monster... →
I would bet physical money that anyone agreeing with this either/both: a. Constantly makes broad generalisations about the perceived vacuity of ALL pop music or b. Has not listened to the Fame Monster, and enjoys passing off uninformed “commentary” as authoritative.
However, I do think Gaga really needs to speed up her promotional - that is, SINGLES - cycle - as good as it is, riding...
February 2010
2 posts
2 tags
American Apologies: #90: Creed →
Of all the bad products from 90s American culture, post-grunge is ranked amongst some of the worst. At the forefront of this movement was Creed, a faintly religious middle of the road rock group with an Eddie Vedder apeing frontman named Scott Stapp. After three unfortunately popular yet…
I like how that isn’t even a picture of Creed.
Also, Alter Bridge are actually kind of...
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January 2010
15 posts
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You've Never Heard U2's 'The Joshua Tree'? →
Great article, but I think the author’s wrong to call it melodramatic - because the scale of the passion in those songs is appropriate for their subject matter, and the emotions they convey. Sure, U2 have done overblown (Rattle and Hum, etc.) but on the Joshua Tree, songs like I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For are actually impressively restrained - though Bono is...
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Upcoming (and recently past) shows.
cica-triz:
14/3 - Devin Townsend Project @ Billboard
18/3 - Converge with Genghis Tron @ Corner Hotel
26/3 - Between The Buried & Me @ Corner Hotel
I’ll be at those, and Imogen Heap in March… potentially the most metal month ever.
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formspring.me
If you’d be an artist and you could either have an album that gets great reviews from critics but doesn’t do to well commercially, or one major (Umbrella/Poker Face proportions) ‘hit of the year’, which one would you pick?
Great question - and I do plan on being an artist! :P
Funny thing is, up until this time last year, I’d have gone for the...
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formspring.me
What is the easiest way to piss you off?
Be prejudiced. Make wildly unfounded generalisations, or perpetuate stereotypes. That applies to supposedly trivial things like the appreciation of art and music too - personal preference is one thing, but to dismiss entire aesthetics with only a passing familiarity is, I think, potentially indicative of a wider lack of empathy.
Not...
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formspring.me
Who are you jealous of, and why?
Tenors. The world is full of dudes with undeservingly high voices in incredibly mediocre bands!
Actually, make that absurdly talented people in general (not that I’m UNtalented, but)…
Ask me anything!
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formspring.me
Thoughts on Miley Cyrus?
I bear her no ill will. The Hannah Montana marketing juggernaut’s a little scary, but I’m happy she’s broken away from it - and her recent singles haven’t been too bad at all. Doubt I’ll ever actively listen to her, but there’s potential… and to the haters, she’s only 17. What do you expect, Radiohead?...
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formspring.me
If you could ever had the pleasure of listening to one album as if it were for the first time again, which one would you pick and why?
Probably Nightwish - Once… the few albums I consider near-perfect are rarely ever mind-blowing on first listen, but there was nothing more inspiring than hearing proper orchestral metal for the first time. Would love to recapture that sense...
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formspring.me
If Ke$ha had released I Kissed A Girl & Katie Perry did Tik Tok, who would have been the most successful?
The thing is, I HATE Tik Tok - it sends me into fits of rage, but mostly because of Ke$ha’s absurdly smug vocals. And I don’t find Katy Perry nearly as grating as some…
So that’d be, in my opinion, making a terrible song better, and an okay song...
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formspring.me
Forgotten popclassic everyone should be reminded of?
Silverchair’s Diorama album is almost completely unknown outside Australia, but widely acknowledged as a masterpiece… that kind of swooning, epic orchestral pop is just amazing. The sound of Rufus Wainwright crying himself to sleep at night.
Check out Across the Night, for starters:...
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formspring.me
Who would you turn gay for?
Daniel Gildenlöw, of Pain of Salvation. Or Bruce Springsteen circa 1984. Damn good answer, if I do say so myself.
Ask me anything!
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Become a fan.
cica-triz:
Becoming a fan of a page or joining a group on Facebook serves the following purposes:
You are trying to be controversial without drawing too much attention to yourself.
You have an STI-like burn to tell the world how you do and notice certain things about the world (i.e when my crotch itches in public i scratch it without anyone noticing :D).
You want to let everyone on your...
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Watcheush:
A short clip of what is by far my favorite thing at Boston’s Museum of Fine Art (besides the ‘Lake of Fire of the Knife-Wielder’, but that’s a different story):
The installation, created by South African video artist Candice Breitz, is part of the exhibit “Contemporary Outlook: Seeing Songs,’’ which runs through Feb. 21 at the MFA. Called “Queen (A Portrait of Madonna),’’ the piece...
December 2009
10 posts
“Smith’s casting choices included either Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Jackson,...”
– On Kevin Smith’s Superman Lives project (Superman (film series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
And they wonder why it never made it off the ground. (via clembastow)
After hearing Smith’s relating of Jon Peters asking him “Who the fuck is Kal-El?”, perhaps it’s just as well! (via 9freak9)
...
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formspring.me
Pirates vs Ninjas
Guybrush Threepwood »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» every ninja in existence.
But generally, the other way around.
Ask me anything!