December 2010
24 posts
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Farewell to all that.
I’ve observed a disturbing pattern in my life for the last few years: At the end of every year, I find myself saying “Well, this was the worst year of my life.”
The pattern hasn’t broken yet. 2010 was, to put it mildly, a disaster for me, an entire year of wasted time, broken promises, missed opportunities, and personal failures. Some of these things were the result of...
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It's your call.
Maybe you want to watch the leaked, unfinished, slightly distorted, soon-to-be-taken-down version of the Kanye / Rick Ross / Jay-Z / Nicki “Monster” video, maybe you don’t. But I sure did!
Two things I cannot help but point out: (1) The vampires ate Bieber. (2) Kanye et al. are clearly the Manson family that bought the mansion from “Paparazzi” after Gaga moved out....
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I should've known...
…that my Cracker Barrel breakfast was going to turn me into a walking vomit timebomb when I asked for maple syrup to accompany my cinnamon French toast and the waitress said “I’ll bring you some, but I think you’ll find it’ll be a bit… much.”
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I'm taking suggestions...
…on things to spend my Christmas iTunes credits on. One-off awesome tracks, important bits of musical education (I know nothing about classical or jazz), stuff I probably love but have been too proud to buy, shit like that. (Examples so far: I’ve bought the Sam Cooke and James Brown best-ofs, Vampire Weekend’s cover of Springsteen’s “I’m Goin’ Down,”...
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My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-12-19) →
Prince (29)
Janet Jackson (18)
Ciara (13)
Kanye West (8)
Alicia Keys (3)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
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“One of the year’s great quotes, from the Blow’s Khaela Maricich:...”
– Rob Sheffield’s Top Ten Albums of the Year | Rolling Stone Culture | Pop Life | Rob Sheffield on TV and Pop Culture
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People Who Danced Onstage at Madison Square Garden... →
It’s all true. Here’s Matthew’s writeup of the show, with setlist. So glad I finally saw Prince.
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Madonna searching for 'maddest', 'sickest' album... →
Putting aside the remarkable number of deeply uncool words in that sentence: Just call me, Madge, I’ve already A&Red your entire next album in my head and I assure you it is better than whatever you’re going to put out.
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Address Unknown
For many, many years, I have used the e-mail address associated with my old website to sign up for virtually everything I registered for online. I then redirected that e-mail to my Gmail account, on the rationale that if said e-mail address ever got overwhelmed with spam, I could just turn it off and save myself the hassle.
Well, the time has come, especially with the recent Gawker breach. The...
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“The show first kicks into higher gear with the Time’s goofy...”
– Live: Prince Does The Hits (Well, Some Of Them) At The Izod Center - New York Music - Sound of the City
Seeing him on Saturday. He’s #1 on my list of artists to see before I die. Cannot wait.
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Today's Free Million-Dollar Idea
After viewing the Nicki Minaj bio special on MTV2, my roommate and I are going to record a holiday song called “Cranberries and Almonds,” about being treated with RESPECT at Christmas.
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The big question for the night:
Is it intellectually dishonest to make a playlist that represents 2010 that doesn’t have “Whip My Hair” on it?
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Watchbarthel:
The video for the Scissor Sisters’ “Invisible Light” is not the video I would have made for it; there’s a late 60s/early 70s British art film vibe to it (The Shining, The Wicker Man) that seems slightly disassociated from the song itself. But then I realized that they’ve made an original version of the kind of cut-up footage that would be projected onto the wall at your more fun clubs,...
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Ellen Ripley Saved My Life | The Awl →
Epically great. Seriously, epically great. The must-read of the day.
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ABC Will Bench Cougar Town, Create Three-Hour... →
The verdict seems to be that Cougar Town is totally safe and ABC just wants to temporarily use its most powerful lead-in (Modern Family) to help launch another show. But the important thing is: nine weeks without Cougar Town nooooooooo.
I can’t lose this show too, I can’t, I can’t. Also, seriously, if you’re within reach of this Tumblr and you’ve been sleeping on...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2010-12-5) →
Robyn (16)
Ne-Yo (11)
Bruce Springsteen (10)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (10)
Four Tet (8)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
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Party Down: Katy Perry on America’s Glorious Past,... →
barthel:
Nitsuh on Katy Perry and Ke$ha:
I’m guessing that for a lot of teenagers, deciding which of these two singers to relate to is pretty simple: Perry’s the popular girl, and Ke$ha’s the ratty upstart, and what teenager doesn’t already have feelings about that dynamic? I can’t help thinking of them in terms of something larger, though, something about our national mood. The great ...
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Is It Finally Time to Reform the Filibuster? |... →
I am extremely interested in this specific reform, proposed by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon. The basic upshot is: The filibuster is eliminated for motions to proceed and for amendments, and can only be invoked by ten senators (rather than one) at the time of a bill’s passage, and those senators must actually hold the floor. In return, the minority party gets a guarantee of the ability to...