Filed under: books, hookers, music, people from rhode island | Tags: blackwater, butts, censorship, horse's asses, hot pants, judo, lucksmiths, prostitution, providence, rhode island, yale
One of my favorite groups, The Lucksmiths, played their final-ever show this week in their native Australia. Clever for clever’s sake, but actually quite clever, they’ve made some of my favorite indie-pop of the last fifteen years (ie. Under The Rotunda, The Golden Age of Aviation, and the song above, There Is A Boy That Never Goes Out.)
Here’s a really good post on RI prostitution. [via Almost Diamonds]
And a really terrible editorial at the Providence Journal. I still think it’s moronic and self-aggrandizing to say that “people across America are laughing at us,” as though people across America don’t have their own problems to think about.
Blackwater accused of using Iraqi children as prostitutes. (This story’s almost three weeks old, but I only just learned about it.) Why this should be any surprise I don’t even know, but if you’re interested in Blackwater at all I suggest following the Twitter of expert/Dreamiest Man Ever Jeremy Scahill.
Yale University Press self-censors book for fear of Muslim reaction, despite the book passing Yale’s vetting system. Interesting read, though I’m not totally up on the subject.
Rusty Kanokogi took gold at the 1959 New York State YMCA judo championship, but was stripped of her medal when folks realized she was a woman. This year, the Y gave her a lifetime achievement award.
Finally, this is probably not news that you care about, but my favorite place to go for lunch got evicted recently and will be shutting down next month. Annoyingly, the landlord that evicted them is a major arts non-profit, and while the issue is probably one involving a couple of people there’s a ridiculous amount of hostility directed towards both parties now.
Filed under: design of a decade, lists, music, people from rhode island | Tags: 2002, delphine, design of a decade, emily sparks
[My top 10 pairs of songs from 2002 continues with a pair of artists from Rhode Island, neither of whose album covers exist on the internet in a size large enough to fit my formatting style.]
7. Emily Sparks, Down In Virginia, and Delphine, Moderate Acoustic Rock Song
The release party for Emily Sparks’ What Could Not Be Buried album took place at the restaurant I always went to for lunch between classes. Enthusiastically I attended, sat about ten feet away from the singer (real name Bridget Mullen), and couldn’t hear a thing. She is quiet. So, so quiet. And a terrible, terribly shy live performer.
I bought her album anyway, though, and loved it. I still do. Much like this year’s album by Joker’s Daughter, unassuming folk songs are elevated to near-perfection by subtle, intricate production, with bloops and strange noises and guitars that are sometimes mixed louder than the vocals. It was produced by Dave Auchenbach from Wheat, another quietish band from the area.
Filed under: lists, movies, Uncategorized | Tags: excellent movies, lists, movies
So, as you know I plan on spending the fall catching up on movies from this decade that I somehow missed the first time around. In the meantime, here’s a preliminary rundown of my top 40 movies of the decade (at least, the ones I’ve actually seen.) Obviously I have certain preferences–depressing and British is the easiest key to my heart if you’re a movie, though I also love most everything to come out of the House of Soderbergh. (Other genres I like, particularly the Movie Where A Bunch Of Women Gather For A Period Of Time And Each Talk About Their Dramatic Life Issues One By One, were underrepresented this decade.) But the gays, the musicals, and movies starring hunky George Clooney/Clive Owen types are also very well-represented here.
1. Morvern Callar (dir. Lynne Ramsay, 2002)
2. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (dir. John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
3. The Royal Tenenbaums (dir. Wes Anderson, 2001)
4. The Filth and the Fury (dir. Julien Temple, 2000)
5. Persepolis (dir. Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi, 2007)
6. Laurel Canyon (dir. Lisa Cholodenko, 2001)
7. Kill Bill (both of them) (dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2004/2005)
8. Mean Girls (dir. Mark Waters, 2004)
9. The Queen (dir. Stephen Frears, 2006)
10. There Will Be Blood (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
(more…)
Tropical Storm Danny is on his way, and it’s supposed to rain all day and all night. Boring. Although due to whatever crazy meteorological turbulence has ruined most of this summer, it’s actually cold, and only supposed to go up to 71 today. I’m wearing a sweater right now. A sweater, for a tropical storm. Jesus.
[nb: despite the fact that the lyrics are basically indecipherable and the ballad-y production is incredibly dated, Danny is still by far my favorite Tiffany single. It was her first, before I Think We're Alone Now, and for whatever reason a video was never shot for it.]
I’m usually a sucker for slickly-produced spy-pop, so this new single from Jordanian-British singer Ayah Marar totally tickles my fancy:
It sounds sort of like if Edwyn Collins produced one of those white British soul lady types, right? (Also, how great is the lyric “He’s the creep to my TLC?”) I guess Marar’s pretty hotly tipped in the UK, hanging out with Calvin Harris and singing on a Jack Penate single. I had never heard of her before a few minutes ago, though.
You can download the on the newest Mondo Salvo mix. Contrary to earlier reports, whoever makes those hasn’t stopped posting new ones, he (or she) just took a two-month hiatus.
So, it looks like I may actually be able to write for a living. Or, if not for a living, then at least for part of a living. I just started writing for Carnal Nation this week, and there’s a chance I might be getting some freelance jobs in the near future.
But I was also thinking of going back to school, at least for one class. They start Monday at the college down the street, and late registration opened today. It’s a lot cheaper than, say, RISD, and it’s walking distance from my house. Plus there’s a bunch of cool-sounding that are still open: Anthropology of Human Sexuality, History of Photography*, Gender and Communication*, Gender and Language, Feminist Theory… Or should I take Soviet Cinema, Intro to Arabic, Intermediate Spanish, Adolescent Literature or the Modern British Novel? I have too many interests.
I miss college, really, so I’m excited to look at course offerings again, though I fear going through the rigamarole and paperwork signing up for something only to find out that the professor’s a total tool or the class is full of dopey girls from the suburbs who complain that there’s too much homework. I think I figured out the way to avoid the second fate (take hard classes that aren’t requirements for anyone), but I worry about this tool professor issue. I graduated five years ago, so I don’t even recognize a lot of these names.
[*These have prerequisites that I'd have to talk my way out of. But I'm okay at that, I think.]
Filed under: music | Tags: ellie greenwich, ike turner, obituaries, religion, tina turner
In eulogizing the late, great songwriter Ellie Greenwich last night, I came upon this completely insane video for Ike and Tina Turner’s River Deep, Mountain High. It is AMAZING. Kind of the most amazing thing ever, and I’m not really exaggerating. It is SO SO SO SO AMAZING.
The dancing! The shadows! The way everyone was filmed from about four inches away despite the dancing and the shadows! Ike! Tina! PP Arnold, the Ikette in the middle (who incidentally was also the first person to record The First Cut Is The Deepest)!
This clip reminded me a lot of Peter Adair’s The Holy Ghost People, a kind of beautiful 1967 documentary about snake-handling Pentecostals in rural West Virginia. It’s on Youtube, though I suggest watching on a larger screen if you can find it. (more…)
Filed under: Uncategorized
Today:
naked gay birthday
where hookers fucking outside at night
craigslist sex party
biggest dick in the would
gay comic covers
u2 – with or without you
Yesterday:
that guy with the glasses
where to find prostitutes in wildwood nj
nina hartley download
gabe saporta shirtless
babe ruth – the mexican (jelly bean remix)
(more…)
Filed under: Uncategorized
My radio show is back after four weeks and, arguably, better than ever.
Listen here. Follow along here.
Filed under: personal
I think today’s gonna be another beach day. Though we didn’t get really get any effects of the hurricane, there was a lifeguard interviewed on NPR yesterday who said that his main job this weekend would be to make sure swimmers watched out for the surfers.
