Filed under: design of a decade, lists, music | Tags: 2002, design of a decade, shakira, weezer
[My fourth-favorite songs of 2002, part of my slow, slow look back at the past ten years of music.]
4. Weezer, Keep Fishin’, and Shakira, Objection (Tango)
Is there anyone so annoying as a Weezer fan?
When the band of nerdy rockers first hit in 1994, everyone immediately loved them. Then Pinkerton came out and everyone hated them, so much so that Rivers Cuomo gave up on music for a few years. When the group returned, the cuffed jeans and black glasses army was outraged, saying that Pinkerton was a masterpiece and the Green Album was no Pinkerton. Then Maladroit came out, and nobody at all liked it. The Green Album was bad, they said, but this was worse. (And let’s not even get into what old fans think about their post-Maladroit material.) So how could a group with such catchy singles be the source of so much negativity?
Filed under: music, tv | Tags: eurovision, georgia, polls, time wasting
I just spent waaaaaaaay too long deciding what my favorite Eurovision song of the decade is. ESCtoday has a poll up and, like the Eurovision Song Contest itself, it’s broken up into semi-finals, the first of which runs through tomorrow. I like eight of the 23 songs chosen for the first semi-final, though I think it’s hilarious that now-Sugababe Jade Ewen was chosen to represent the UK over, say, the far slightly less terrible (and far better-dressed) Scooch [above], and that Maria-who-was-basically-the-poor-man’s-Annie was chosen for Norway over current champ Alexander Rybak.
But I voted for Georgia in the end. It was close, as both Portugal’s Vânia Fernandes and Hungary’s NOX put up valiant efforts. And I don’t mean to disparage Croatia, who I’d rank a solid fourth. Albania and Bulgaria both did well, too, despite the complete lack of catchiness in their songs. And nothing against France, who have no interest in the Eurovision idiom, or Germany, who proved surprisingly adept at making jokey country music.
Performances after the jump, starting with Visionary Dream. It was one of only two Georgian Eurovision entries, and it’s really awesome. Their 2008 song was a total drag, and they were disqualified in 2009 after their If You Seek Amy-ish song “We Don’t Wanna Put In” was interpreted by the Russians as a slur against Putin.
Filed under: books, music | Tags: autumn, fall, francine prose, joni mitchell, stone roses
Three things that remind me of fall:
1) Primitive People, Francine Prose’s wonderfully acidic novel about the haute bourgeoisie of the Hudson Valley as viewed through the eyes of their Haitian au pair. Like some of Prose’s other novels–Hunters and Gatherers and Household Saints, especially–its depictions of life in New York State make you love the characters (some of them, anyway) while at the same time filling you with intense dread. It is a wonderful, wonderful novel, one which I first read one October during high school. (My introduction to Prose was through Household Saints, which I read because I knew about the movie adaptation starring two of my favorite people in the world, Lili Taylor and Tracey Ullman.)
Specifically, I remember the sensation of reading Primitive People in the car, as my dad drove us to a flea market in Raynham, Massachusetts. The leaves were changing, the book was great, and it’s one of the few moments of my teenage years that I actually have vivid, happy memories of.
Sorry for the lack of posting this week. I was super busy and then I super crashed. More soon!
Today:
celebrities wear glasses
“manifest glory ministry”
calvin harris topless
naked flaccid hunk
porn dancingbear
Yesterday:
burly mexican
leg hair
catholic porn
schlong filterui:imagesize-large
what is a “bitch burger”?
australian #1 dance songs of the nineties
(more…)
Filed under: people from rhode island | Tags: fundraisers, providence, rachel carns
I don’t know how many of you nice readers are actually in the Providence area, but if you are and you’re looking for something to do tonight, you should head down to the Dark Lady (on Snow Street) for TITLESS. It’s a benefit for Rachel Carns, who was in the Need and Twin and King Cobra (not in that order). She had a double mastectomy recently and now had shitloads of medical bills to pay. Arcing will be playing; that’s a brand-new band made up of one-third of Sweetthieves and both halves of Tiny Hawks; also Nicky Click will be playing and DJ Shomi Noise will be DJ-ing.
As I told a friend, the queers will be out in full force tonight which is kind of really exciting because the queers of Providence are never out in full force, ever.
There’s also raffles, for (including many, many other things) an Njoy Purewand and gift certificates to all the coolest restaurants in town.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: carnal nation, douchebags, india, out of print books, poker, sex objects, sex ratios, sex trafficking
The Pop Chart starts in about five minutes.
A shorter news section today. Too much of my week was spent reading reactions to Kanye West jumping up on stage and interrupting Taylor Swift to say that Beyonce was better. (Though not a single thing I read mentioned that Kanye West just happens to have a new appearance on a remix of a Beyonce song about big egos. Because yeah, that’s not commercial synergy or anything.)
Anyway…
The Nation on the Crusade against sex trafficking.
The Guardian on young girls as sex objects.
A 65-year old man won a ladies’ poker tournament.
Kathryn Joyce on the grim reality of Christian adoption agencies.
Bookfinder’s list of the year’s most searched out of print books.
Finally, if you’re up for a real downer, check out my post about India’s skewed sex ratio over at Carnal Nation.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: aweseomeness, colors and materials, michelle obama
I probably won’t be posting anything (else) today, so why don’t you just take a minute to reflect upon the insane awesomeness of Michelle Obama’s belt before moving on to a more productive blog? Nobody should be able to pull this off, but I think she does.
[This image just showed up in my Twitter stream. photo: Brooks Kraft/Corbis.]
Filed under: art, magazines, music, people from rhode island, personal, tv | Tags: ann powers, beyonce, democracy now, fluff, health care, insanity, lily allen, luke stephenson, malaysia, march on washington, music videos, naomi klein, strippers, taylor swift
In case you were wondering what I’ve been reading online for the last three days:
Lily Allen’s thoughts about file sharing.
Ann Powers’ insight into Beyonce and Taylor Swift hugging.
How not to piss off a stripper.
Naomi Klein talks to Amy Goodman about Minority Death Match, her new article in Harper’s.
“The Spectacle of Illiteracy and the Crisis of Democracy.”
Uninsured Americans more common than you’d think.
Luke Stephenson’s photographs of birds and beards are wonderful, but I only just came across his “Spectacle Wearing Folk” series. (I want Mr. Jugg very, very badly. Hear that, people with money and an urge to buy me presents?!)
Incidentally, I was reminded of Stephenson not because I have one of his canaries in my hall, but because some of his birds are used on the website for the UK Music Video Awards.
Remember that scene in Amelie when she took her dad’s garden gnome and photographed it traveling around the world? Well, consider this the non-French, non-cutesy version of that. This lady is currently vacationing with a cardboard cutout of her boyfriend while he’s serving in Iraq. The photo in this article is amazing.
I missed this Design Observer article on the environmental impact of canvas bags until the Utne Reader just reprinted it.
I have exactly zero interest in watching Jay Leno’s new program. Also, this article is awful.
The ten best (scariest) signs from the march on Washington.
This 107-year old woman in Malaysia is looking for a 23rd husband, because she thinks #22 will lose interest when he gets back from rehab.
Finally, those of you from New England may appreicate this interesting, though visually difficult to read, Gastronimica article about Fluff.
[photo: Luke Stephenson, Mr. Vietch]
Filed under: people from rhode island | Tags: donna hughes, pawtucket, prostitution, rhode island, sex
Donna Hughes, the URI professor who is crazily orchestrating the whole anti-prostitution push here in Rhode Island, sent an e-mail yesterday to all the City Council members in Pawtucket (or at least all the ones with e-mail addresses listed on the city’s website). The issue? The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health, a non-profit resource center which is supposed to open in the city later this month (and which I’ve already been to, and which looks very lovely.)
The e-mail, in its entirety, after the jump: (more…)
Filed under: design of a decade, lists, music | Tags: 2002, design of a decade, vines, white stripes
[And my slow, slow trip through the decade continues with my fifth-favorite pair of songs from 2002.]
5. The White Stripes, Fell In Love With A Girl, and The Vines, Get Free
I saw the White Stripes live in 2002. They were playing a “cheap date” show sponsored by a local radio station, right around the time Fell In Love With A Girl hit the airwaves. One of my friends had raved about seeing the duo open up for Sleater-Kinney, so I figured I’d check it out. I really liked the show, and Meg was particularly charming to watch, but the couple’s stage presence was totally overwhelmed by the presence of some angst-ridden teenyboppers who were only there to look cool and complain as vocally as possible about whatever boring things angsty teenyboppers complain about.
Nevertheless, Fell In Love With A Girl was, and still is, a great song. At just 1:50, it buzzes like nothing heard on the radio in years, and the song is so brief, so catchy, and so much fun to listen to that it completely blew away all the other sludgy crap that was killing rock radio that year. Combining old-timey Detroit garage music and fancy conceptual French music videos, the pair elevated to superstardom, earning the adoration of critics and radio alike, despite Jack White’s rapid Depp-ification and Meg’s fairly abrupt, mildly annoying disappearance into the background. (more…)
