impudent harlot

sex in the kitchen (prelude)

2006-05-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

"I have always pictured the Muse of Gastronomy as a beautiful, sensuous, voluptuous woman who delights in life and all its pleasures. Along with the muses of dance, theater and painting, she is welcome into that realm of each particular art (especially that of painting) and has her own importance and function, which is startlingly prominent."

- James Beard, intro to the California Artists Cookbook

sex in the kitchen (remix)

2006-05-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

The library where I work is currently amassing an excitingly vast number of cookbooks. There are at least 8,000 sitting in the stacks, a large portion of which have come from donors' private collections, with several thousand more due to pour in over the upcoming months. Coinciding with this mass influx of cookbooks has been, on my part, a rekindled interest in the culinary arts. Growing up, I was always fascinated by the Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines cookbooks that my grandmother no doubt blind-bought depending on the appeal of the cover photo. At this point in my life, I was too young to really channel my enthusiasm for poring over these texts into creating an actual, tangible food product, but I was always on hand whenever the occasion that Mom or Gram were preparing to bake a Bundt cake or an apple pie would arise.

It is perhaps a testament to my seemingly perpetual lack of wherewithal that for the better part of my adolescence I never really followed through on these culinary instincts; Mom would always take care of cooking dinner, and baking was something only reserved for special occasions like holiday get-togethers, and besides, I didn't want to take the trouble to have to run to Pathmark myself to get baking supplies (a whole ten-minute walk from my house! imagine!). The impulse never really died out, though; in high school, if I found myself staying up late with nothing to do, I would scan through my mother's own massive archive of recipes and pick and bake whatever appealed to me at 1:30 in the morning (it helped that, for whatever reason, we always had plenty of yellow cake mix around, too). My parents and siblings would then find the next day the raspberry swirl cheesecake I'd made, offer a weak platitude, and then sort of ignore it until it went stale and we ended up throwing it out.

Despite this lack of encouragement of my hobbies, or perhaps because of it, I ventured back into the world of cooking anew this year, thanks to the now-inescapable presence of cookbooks into my life and additionally to the infectious enthusiasm of my bosses and co-workers who also happen to be big food-ites. One of my co-workers and I have taken to even ordering copies of the cookbooks we find especially appealing on Amazon Marketplace (we've found a couple that are going for a penny!). I joked around with her not long ago that "cookbooks are the new pornography." She laughed, and we resumed our endless recipe-trawling, searching for some fig tart or pork roast with pineapple glaze recipe that would doubtlessly be mind-blowing.

But then, aren't cookbooks the new pornography? The way I, and I imagine most people, approach the act of searching through cookbooks, salivating over glossy and gorgeously photographed sandwiches and chocolate mousse, gazing longingly at the objects so carefully and lovingly displayed on the page - is this not the approach of the 13-year-old boy whacking it in the bathroom to his dad's back issues of Playboy? (or, y'know, Playgirl, or any other number of endless gender substitutions...) The same feelings are undoubtedly there - desire, lust, hunger, excitement - and the language of the cookbook texts themselves often overlap with the taboo discourse surrounding pornography, which is what titillates us (and also makes us ashamed) to gaze at naked bodies. We hear talk all the time of "indulgent" desserts, of "forbidden" diet-breakers, the "temptation" to steal a snack or two between meals. It's the idea of food as both nourishment and as sin, the big-P Puritan ethic that too much of what we enjoy will effect our downfall. Hell, go back to the first two paragraphs of this entry and replace all references to food with, say, learning how to masturbate; the erotics are one and the same! If cookbooks can be said to document anything, it's the idea of society resisting its own impulses, surrendering to the almighty Id; our food preferences can, and do, often reveal larger social and ethical trends. In the seventies, there was a particularly large glut of cookbooks that laid the twinned nourishment/indulgence impulse bare - food as aphrodisiac, as sex tool, even as something to serve your orgy guests to get them in the mood! The phrase "food erotics" probably conjures the idea in most people's heads of the (distinctly British, for some reason) practice of "gunging," but that's just one strain of the food/sex connection, where the two are synonymous instead of merely co-habitating in the same social sphere.

Interestingly, it seems to be in the '80s when the practice of providing photographs to accompany recipes started to become a common practice (many cookbooks before this time contained just the recipes and little else). Ostensibly, this is to provide some sort of idealized image for home cooks interested in preparing the dish. Here again, there are connections - where porno shows the idealized, erotically charged body, writhing in stasis in the centerfold, the cookbook photo, with its lush soft-focus photograph and perfect arrangement, stands for the domestic ideal as depicted by food. And there's a great deal more to be said by someone smarter than me about the links between the domestic and the sexual, but I really need to go to bed now.

(now here's the big question: can/should I parlay this mess into a thesis?)

2006-05-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

for future ref, movies i've seen since may 1st:

1) Rock the Bells (Casey Suchan and Denis Henry Hennelly, 2006)
2) The Navigator (Buster Keaton, 1924)
3) The Boat (Buster Keaton, 1921)
4) The Love Nest (Buster Keaton, 1923)
5) Mogambo (John Ford, 1953)
6) Ideas of Order in Cinque Terre (Ken Kobland, 2005)
7) The Highwater Trilogy (Bill Morrison, 2005)
8) Hangmen Also Die (Fritz Lang, 1943)
9) The Night of the Iguana (John Huston, 1964)
10) Bird of Paradise (King Vidor, 1932)
11) Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (Stanley Nelson, 2006)
12) Nada (Claude Chabrol, 1974)
13) Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis (Mary Jordan, 2006)
14) Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1960)
15) Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
16) They Live by Night (Nicholas Ray, 1948)
17) On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray, 1952)
18) The Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)
19) Les Visiteurs du Soir (Marcel Carne', 1942)
20) Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950)
21) The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston, 1950)
22) National Lampoon's Van Wilder (Walt Becker (!!!!!!!!!!!!), 2002)
23) The Paradine Case (Alfred Hitchcock, 1947)
24) Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)*
25) Confidential Report (Orson Welles, 1955)
26) Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, 1980)*
27) Bob le Flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1955)
28) The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939)
29) To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942)
30) All These Women (Ingmar Bergman, 1964)
31) The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976)
32) Pod People (Juan Pequer Simon, 1983)
33) I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (Mervyn LeRoy, 1932)
34) Army of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)
35) One Man Band (Mark Andrews and Andrew Jimenez, 2005)
36) Cars (John Lasseter and Joe Ranft, 2006)
37) Unfaithfully Yours (Preston Sturges, 1948)
38) The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948)
39) Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)
40) Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)
41) Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932)

* = movies I've seen before but am counting regardless

2006-04-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

I just used the word "GWAR-esque" in this paper I'm writing. I'll likely post it on Postcore after I've handed it in.

2006-04-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a good time at Leon's last night! Sorry if we didn't have everything everyone wanted, I spent the past two days getting stuff and there just wasn't enough time to get everything I wished to play, which, coupled with CD deck malfunctions, made things a bit difficult for us (got that, kids who wouldn't shut up until we played "All the Things She Said?" Good.). Nevertheless, thanks for bearing with us, and once again, Jimmy, you are a fucking SAINT. (And Leon, you are, as ever, a total doll!)

If you didn't come, know that you missed: the most gender-fucking slow-dance I've ever witnessed (to Alphaville, no less!), the entire Kalb family of Buffalo, NY bustin' moves on the dancefloor, "I Like 2 Move It," me wearing a scarf the ENTIRE EVENING, Jimmy dancing Stop Making Sense-lampshade-style with a mic stand, and our "encore," consisting of Jimmy and I rockin' out to Vitalic by ourselves while other people took photos of us. No tracklist, unfortunately, but I think that brief summary says more about the evening than our musical choices, anyhow.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have four papers due by next Monday. If I tear your face off in that interim, please understand my reasons for doing so.

in which i decide for the zillionth time that this blog will one day have some kind of larger (if still hopelessly self-indulgent) purpose

2006-04-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

Pursuant to what I wrote two entries ago, I may use this space (starting in May, when I'll be riding the Tribeca Film Fest's jock) (for five screenings or so anyway) as a film log for my summer viewings. Because dammit, I have a large fucking backlog of things I need to watch, and dammitx2, I'll probably have some short, uninformative things to say about them all. (unlike the last time I kept a film list - I still regret it being nothing more than just a list.)

HI DERE - TWO QUESTIONS AND A THING

2006-04-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

TWO QUESTIONS.
1) Boredoms show in Philly, June 30th, Starlight Ballroom. Anyone? Their only East Coast show, y'know. Fifteen bucks for ear-splitting crazy-ass acrobatic japan0ize-explogasming! C'mon!

B) Anyone want a ham sandwich? Because I'll make you one*. F'reals. I bought way too much lunchmeat on my last excursion to Met and I can't shovel this all down my own maw myself. I'll throw some salami and capacola on it too, with a li'l provolone cheese, make it real nice, eh? AND WHY YOU NO HAVE A GIRLFRIEND, YOU 25 YEARS OLD NOW, SHOULD SETTLE DOWN EHHHH?

A THING.
x) My TRIUMPHANT RETURN to DJing takes place next Saturday at Fontana's for Leon Setton's 22nd (?! oldie mcoldster!) birthday party. But don't come on my own accord, no! In the spirit of the occasion, you really should just come so you can see Leon...dance to the music I'm playing! YEAH!

*offer expires whenever the meat does also

forget me nots by patrice rushen is so good

2006-03-08T01:01:00.000-08:00

While writing my Comparative Directors midterm paper, I jotted down an arbitrary list of the films of specific directors that Avery Fisher has a hold of. 24 by Fritz Lang, 14 by Jean Renoir, 6 Murnau, 3 Sjostrom, 5 von Stroheim, 3 Dovzhenko, 6 Abel Gance, 3 Jean Vigo, 6 Carl Th. Dreyer, 8 Lubitsch, 3 Sacha Guitry. And except for Sunrise, I haven't seen a SINGLE ONE. Needless to say, I have a new project for the summer.

Speaking of film, I think I've finally decided that I don't like Dancer in the Dark. Or at the very least there's a good deal about it that bothers me.

And speaking of papers, 1 left to go. T-38 hours or so. Can't fathom all the things I have to do tomorrow. Don't want to anyway. My brain needs all the mindless hedonism it can handle right now, honestly. Bring on the Berlin whores and minimal techno!

2006-03-05T00:43:00.000-08:00

Three papers stand between me and Germany. No sweat.

Coincidentally, it's supposed to be snowing the day we arrive. And it'll be, on average, about 20 degrees warmer in New York than in Berlin. WOOOO SPRING BREAK etc etc

this has "NYU theme party" written all over it

2006-02-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

"It is, of course, difficult to-day to enivsage correctly that engaging group of figures without an intimate knowledge of the social fabric into which they were so inextricably woven. But a few minor and unrelated episodes may help to illustrate the singularly formalized life of the time and to make those men about town a little more credible.

For one thing, no cocktails were ever served in a private house. No smoking was permitted at dinners until the gentlemen had finished their port and Madeira. No women smoked at all. Six wine-glasses were at every plate. The footmen wore corded waistcoats and black silk knee-breeches. Dinner calls were obligatory. To call a lady on the telephone was deemed an act bordering on rudeness.

Hostesses, giving a dance, whether at Delmonico's or in their own houses, were thought niggardly if they failed to serve both terrapin and canvasback duck at supper. The lancers, a quadrille, and a mazurka were features of balls in that period.

Lewis Chanler, a young man of family, position, and parts, afterward Lieutenant-Governor of New York, was severely reprimanded by an older member of his club for so far forgetting himself as to smoke a cigar, in broad daylight, on Fifth Avenue.

There were, then, no divorces among people of breeding.

When one of the great hostesses of the 'Nineties was divorced, many of the smartest women in New York felt called upon to cut, snub, and forsake her...

...At the men's dining clubs - the Roundabout, for example, whose dinners were held at the Knickerbocker Club - tail-coats and white ties were absolutely de rigueur.

...But that life of formality and ceremony ended long ago. As a pageant it has grown misty with the years. The result of its vanishing was that, more and more, the term "man about town" began to connote a creature of negligible social importance, a drone in the social hive - only infesting the restaurants, theatres, night-clubs,and other places of public assembly. Slowly, inexorably, what had once been a figure of some dignity and importance became one of futility and fun.

...Work, indeed, soon became so much the order of the day that the fashionable and sought-after men in New York came to realize that, without a regular vocation, there would be no place for them under the social sun."

(courtesy a Vanity Fair article written by Fr4nk Cr0wnin5hie1d from 1937 which I ransacked from the liberry)

2006-02-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

Postcore is officially up! and! running! with a brand new Zolo-esque color scheme (better than that drab navy blue f'reals). Two entries up so far; witness my slobbering over Ann Magnuson and Mike doing likewise over Neko Case.

(also I'm pretty sure this blog is officially dead now but knowing me I'll renege on that in a week)

2006-01-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm fucked.

i remember hating you for loving shoving me, riding on the metro

2006-01-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

My dentist remarked to me today that a psychologist from Cardiff University in Wales concluded that January 23rd will be the most miserable day of the 2006. Climate changes, leftover debts from the holiday season, the doubt that sets in from unrealized New Year's resolutions, and a decline in work-related motivation all converge on this day to slap people silly with lousiness and despair. How fitting that I had to get two fillings put in today, then, and that the pleasant numbness of Novocaine has given way to sharp, niggling pain.

Even before I had to slough home to get my teeth scraped and polished, something had happened to dampen my spirits. On the morning commute, I stepped onto the Q train at Beverley Road and found, mercifully, one seat left open. It was a two-seater, and the other seat was occupied by an old man, hunched over his newspaper with his cap drawn downwards over his eyes. There was some moisture on the other seat, but I'm usually undaunted by it, and besides, my hefty winter coat probably would've absorbed most of it. As I prepared to sit down, however, the old man decided he would have none of this, and literally SHOVED me off of the seat. My headphones were on so I couldn't hear him, but he emitted a rather guttural "NO!" or "GET OFF" or something along those lines.

I stood there in a weird semi-panic and turned to see if anyone even saw what happened. The passengers in the vicinity gave me placid "Sucks, man, but what can ya do?" looks. I'd been jeered by my fellow commuters before - recently, a man rather pointedly asked me to "keep [your] headphones on [your] head" on the Raritan Valley Line, and admittedly I tend to keep my music going at a fairly high volume, because how else are you supposed to listen to THUMPING HOUSE BEATS - but I didn't do anything in the slightest to provoke this man's very jarring reaction.

At Atlantic Avenue, a woman came down and sat in the seat. The man did nothing initially, though eventually he contorted his wiry frame and gaunt face at her in a wordless manner suggesting "ARGH why the FUCK did you have to sit HERE you FUCKING BITCH?" She must've picked up on it but did nothing, and got off at 14th Street with me.

I didn't say anything the entire trip. Sure, I could've, but what could I say? I definitely wouldn't get any brownie points for yelling at an old man on the subway (note lack of descriptive qualifier "defenseless," for it was a good hearty shove). The "it's public transportation, therefore I'll sit where I want" argument wasn't going to hold any water for him, since he seemed to be disturbed just by my (and apparently, everyone else's) mere presence.

And a number of things struck me. The politics of subway riding: it's not enough to just SIT on the subway and let the train whisk you away, but there's such an infinite amount of unspoken etiquette you must adhere by or EVERY SINGLE PERSON on the train thinks you're an asshole who's wasting too much space and oxygen. (When a seat opened up eventually, I made damn sure my bag was nestled on top of me and not taking up any more room.) On Saturday I saw Lars von Trier's The Kingdom at the IFC Theater and one character gives a condemnatory line to someone else about how "you make an effort to move over when your fellow man sits down next to you on the bus" (gross paraphrase). When exactly did people demand cutting the world off as the only viable way to exist peacefully?* Is that grumpy man the logical endpoint of "subway etiquette" taken to radical extremes? Am I just overreacting because my morning commute was awkward and uncomfortable? WHERE AM I ANYWAY? WHO ARE ALL YOU PEOPLE?? THE WHOLE DAMN SYSTEM etc etc

*yes I'm deeply aware of the irony of me saying this since I wear headphones everydamnwhere but it makes it nonetheless true

the lesson i learned from going out tonight:

2006-01-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

Stay in. Seriously. Read a book, watch a movie. Something.

2005 year-end mix

2005-12-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

Alright, this should probably be up on Postcore, but seeing as we haven't gotten around to actually using the space yet, I'm just gonna post it all here.

As many of my close friends know, every year (well, since 2003), I've taken the trouble to compile a mix of my favorite songs from that year. This year is certainly no exception, as I've taken the further trouble to beef this one up to a two-disc set.

Before I address the question of "Why two discs?", first: why do I even go through all the trouble? Why do I give myself an enormous headache every year after Christmas to compile a collection of songs that mean a lot to me and, odds are, very little to other people who aren't nearly as obsessed as I am?

In one sense, the disc functions as a kiss-off to the bygone year, a plastic tombstone marking how my tastes in music fluctuated in the 365 or so days preceding the disc's existence. They map out my admittedly diverse (perhaps too much?) tastes in a given timespan, and having such a recording reminds me of what really excited me that year (so electro-house dominates this year's disc), what I wish I'd heard more of (if the two pop-country tracks I included here are anything to go by, I probably missed out on a treasure trove of greatness), what stuff I really need to investigate further (i.e. reggaeton's pitiful one-track showing on my disc, and I don't think you'll have to guess which track it was), etc. The disc makes no claims towards being a "best-of", except that is to say in my own universe, these were songs that I enjoyed a great deal, and part of the fun with this disc, along with trying to encapsulate my year of musical consumption into 700MB, is passing them along to other people, with the hopes that they will either agree or disagree with me, or berate me for not including great tracks I might have missed.

So then, why two discs this year? Well, the second disc, in addition to containing songs that wouldn't all fit on one disc, also has a special bonus folder of songs NOT from 2005 that I enjoyed a lot this year. I spent a great deal of this year (particularly the summer months, when I'd started DJing) looking backwards, researching and listening to "older" music, and aiming to provide myself with contexts for music which I'm loving in the here and now. For accuracy's sake, it's only proper that I include such a stock of songs (50, in total), seeing as I spent as much time ransacking the archives as I did plowing ahead. It reflects on that folder that the bulk of the songs are indeed from the 1980's, from which decade Tom and I played most of our songs. Naturally, some of our Seconds favorites are in there in full force. I'm not posting the tracklist of that folder, however; if you really want to know what's in it, you'll have to get the discs from me (or, uh, burn it from someone else).

You might notice a few omissions of songs that were huge this year but that I neglected to include. If a song's not here, it is for one of three reasons, all equally viable: 1) I hadn't heard it, 2) I had heard it and didn't like it, 3) I heard it and liked it well enough but ultimately I only had so much space to work with. Anyone who knows me will probably figure out for which reasons I didn't put something on. (I'll just go ahead and say it right now, though: "The Whisper Song" hides behind door #2.) I stress once again that my choices are ultimately subjective, rather than providing a state-of-the-pop-union overview: if it's emo, freak-folk, or singer-songwriters you're looking for, you're just gonna have to go elsewhere. And ultimately, everyone approaches pop from a different angle - this mix just happens to demonstrate my approach.

So without further ado, here's that tracklist (sure has been awhile since I've done of these!). Write-ups and mp3s will most likely ensue on Postcore.

Ada - 2 Bum Bum
Ada - I Love Asphalt
Akon - Mr. Lonely
Alexis Strum - Nothing Good About This Goodbye
Alyoa - It's Been Too Long
Amerie - 1 Thing
Antony and the Johnsons - Hope There's Someone
Architecture in Helsinki - Do the Whirlwind
Bananarama - Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango)
Basement Jaxx - Oh My Gosh
Baxendale - I Built This City (Michael Mayer Mix)
Benjamin Diamond - Let's Get High (Alan Braxe Mix)
Bertine Zetlitz - Ah Ah
Bjork - Who Is It (Vitalic Mix)
Black Leotard Front - Casual Friday
Blue Lagoon - Break My Stride
Bodies Without Organs - Sixteen Tons of Hardware
Bodies Without Organs - Sunshine in the Rain
Booka Shade - Mandarine Girl
Broadcast - Black Cat
Brooke Valentine - Ghetto Superstarz
Brooke Valentine feat. Lil Jon and Big Boi - Girlfight
Cabin Crew - Waiting for a Star to Fall
Charlotte Church - Crazy Chick
Ciara feat. Ludacris - Oh
Ciara feat. MIA - Goodies (Richard X Remix)
Cowboy Troy - I Play Chicken (With the Train)
Crime Mob - Knuck if You Buck (Pistol Pete Remix)
Daddy Yankee - Gasolina
Daft Punk - Technologic (Vitalic Remix)
Damian Marley - Welcome to Jamrock
Death from Above 1979 - Black History Month (Alan Braxe and Fred Falke Remix)
Digitalism - Zdarlight
DJ Koze - Brutalga Square
DJ T Vs. Freestyle Man - Beat the Street
Elize - Automatic
Ernesto Vs. Bastian - Dark Side of the Moon (Extended Mix)
Fannypack - Nu Nu (Double J Mix Radio Edit)
Fannypack - Seven One Eight
Fannypack - You Gotta Know
Fischerspooner - Just Let Go (Thin White Duke Mix)
Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To
Girls Aloud - Biology
Girls Aloud - Long Hot Summer
Girls Aloud - Wake Me Up
Global Kryner - Y Asi
Goldfrapp - Ooh La La (Tiefschwarz Dub)
Gorillaz - Dare
Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl
Heiko Voss - Call Me Now
Helena Paparizou - You're My Number One
Isolee - Schrapnell
Jo Dee Messina - My Give a Damn's Busted
John Tejada - Sweat (on the Walls)
Juelz Santana - Mic Check
Juliet - Avalon (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
Justus Kohncke - Elan
Kano feat. Demon and Wiley - Mic Fight
Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger
Kate Bush - King of the Mountain
Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
Komatrohn - Was It What It Was
Kray Twinz feat. Twista, Lethal Bizzle and Gappy Ranks - What We Do
Kylie Minogue - Made of Glass
Lady Saw - Five Star Hotel
Lady Sovereign - Random (Menta Original Mix)
Lady Sovereign - The Broom
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Laura Lynn - Je Hebt Me Duizend Maal Belogen
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing at My House
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
Lifelike and Kris Menace - Discopolis
Linda Bengtzing - Diamanter
Lindstrom - I Feel Space
Ludacris - Number One Spot
M83 - Don't Save Us from the Flames (Superpitcher Remix)
M83 - Teen Angst (Luciano Remix)
M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun (DJ Marlboro's Funk Carioca Remix)
M.I.A. - Fire Fire
Madonna - Hung Up
Madonna - Hung Up (SDP's Extended Dub)
Mathew Jonson - Return of the Zombie Bikers
Mike Jones, Slim Thug and Paul Wall - Still Tippin' (Diplo Remix)
Miss Kittin - Happy Violentine (Michael Mayer Remix)
Missy Elliott feat. Ciara - Lose Control (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
Mu - Paris Hilton
Mylene Farmer - Fuck Them All
Mylo - In My Arms
Nina Sky feat. Cham - Turnin' Me On
Nivea feat. Youngbloodz and Lil Jon - Okay
Out Hud - One Life to Leave
Pay TV - Refrain Refrain
Quesh - Candy Girl
R. Kelly - Sex in the Kitchen (Remix)
R. Kelly - Trapped in the Closet (Chapter 1)
Rachel Stevens - Negotiate With Love
Rachel Stevens - So Good (Extended Mix)
Rich Boy feat. Pitbull - Get to Poppin' (Remix)
Rihanna - Pon de Replay
Riton Vs. Howdi - Closer
Robyn - Be Mine!
Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches
Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child
Roisin Murphy - If We're in Love
Roll Deep - Let It Out
Roll Deep - The Avenue
Roman Flugel - Gehts Noch
Royksopp - What Else Is There? (Thin White Duke Mix)
Sadie feat. Kano - So Sure (Target Remix)
Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous (Paper Faces Main Mix)
Silver City - Another Dimension (Spirit Catcher Main Mix)
Sizzla - Spring Break
Skar - Don't Vex With Us
Snoop Dogg feat. Charlie Wilson and Justin Timberlake - Signs
Solid Groove - This Is Sick
Spice - Right There
Sugababes - Red Dress
Suntribe - Let's Get Loud
Sway feat. Pyrelli - Up Your Speed
t.A.T.u. - All About Us
T.O.K. - Hey Ladies
T.O.K. feat. Shaggy - Deja Vu
Telepopmusik - Into Everything (MFA Dub)
The Bravery - An Honest Mistake
The Clientele - Since K Got Over Me
The Game feat. 50 Cent - Hate It or Love It
The Juan Maclean - Give Me Every Little Thing
The Killers - Mr. Brightside (Thin White Duke Mix)
The Knife - Pass This On (Dahlback & Dahlback Mix)
The Twin feat. Avenue D - Fire Desire
Three 6 Mafia feat. Young Buck and Eightball & MJG - Stay Fly
Tiefschwarz - Issst
Tomas Andersson - Washing Up (Tiga's Na Na Na Na Na Mix)
Tori Alamaze - Don't Ya
Trentemoeller - Sunstroke
Trick Daddy feat. Cee-Lo and Ludacris - Sugar (Gimme Some)
Twista feat. Pitbull - Hit the Floor
Two Culture Clash feat. Ce'cile and General Degree - Na Na Na
Uniting Nations - You and Me
Unorthodox - No Help or Handouts
Verbalicious - Don't Play Nice
Vitalic - My Friend Dario
Wig Wam - In My Dreams
Will Young - Switch It On
Young Jeezy feat. Jay-Z and Fat Joe - Go Crazy (Remix)
Zdob si Zdub - Bunica Bate Toba
Z-Ro feat. Devin the Dude and Juvenile - The Mule

(phew.)

2005-12-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope the holiday season finds you in good ahem spirits ahem.

2005-12-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

Just when I think I don't really give a shit about Gawker anymore, they go and publish something like this that makes me shuffle through the archives.

Reading Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film and getting re-acquainted with my old friend Sam (surname Buca). Another Dean's List semester under my belt - I deserve a li'l treat.

2005-12-17T00:11:00.000-08:00

i...made a fool out of myself tonight, didn't i?

fuck.

faygeleh

2005-12-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night: Finale of America's Next Top Model. (BOO NICOLE)
Wednesday night, a little later: Premiere of Project Runway (YAY DIANA)
Friday night: Premiere of Brokeback Mountain. (YAY SODOMY)
Saturday night: Holiday party at my boss' place in South Orange, New Jersey, where he lives with his "partner" and where I shot the shit with a lesbian couple and their baby, and gorged myself on the coldcut platter and orange fig sauce. (YAY CHARLES DICKENS PUNCH)

In short, GAYEST WEEK EVER.

2005-12-06T22:33:00.000-08:00

I'm wearing a different pair of pants now. Justin and Mike are trying them on with me. It's called Postcore, and it's a group music blog. Expect probably even less here.

LION (IN THE SACK) (?!)

2005-11-24T17:51:00.000-08:00

If every NFL player looked like Joey Harrington, well...let's just say I'd be watching lots more football than I do now. GO DETROIT.

Last night I bounced on a trampoline after drinking four or five beers. Today I ate three varieties of potato. Happy Thanksgiving.

2005-11-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

I don't feel like reading film theory just yet. Here's a meme because I secretly despise people who read this.

Put Itunes or Windows Media Player on shuffle and see what you get.

1. What's my mood like right now?
"In the Air (Further's Acid Relapse Mix)" (Richard Davis) - Hmm. I like the idea that moods can be remixed!

2. How's tomorrow going to be for me?
"The Great Commandment" (Camouflage) - My life will be like a perfectly servicable Australian Depeche Mode knockoff with incredibly goth-naff lyrics? Fine by me.

3. What kind of person am I?
"God Is a Gabber" (Rotterdam Terror Corps) - Well, that settles that, then. BOUNCEBOUNCEBOUNCEBOUNCE

4. Am I loved?
"America (What Time Is Love?) (The KLF) - ITunes practicing the Socratic method, I see.

5. How can I acheive my highest potential?
"Phone Tap" (The Firm) - Cheat to win, folks.

6. What should I do with my life?
"No More" (Terror Danjah ft. Amy and Royal) - okay!

7. Is everything really going to be alright in the end?
"Wonderful (remix)" (Klein and MBO) - sweet!

8. What is my best quality?
"Face to Face, Heart to Heart" (Twins) - ITunes, you flatter me!

9. How does my sex life look?
"Torn Mentor" (Josef K) - So...I'm going to penetrate a professor?

10. What's the meaning of life?
"Outrageous" (Britney Spears) - Pretty self-evident, really.

11. What do people think of me?
"Track 04" (My Bloody Valentine) - Oops. So long as this track isn't actually called "Joe Gallucci's a Massive Fucking Wanker and I Hope Everyone Whom He Loves Perishes in a Comical Manner" I'm cool with this.

12. Would I make a good lover?
"It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane" (The Ark) - What I wouldn't give to swap 12 and 13...

13. How crazy am I?
"Collapsing New People (Westbam Remix)" (Fad Gadget) - I break motherfuckers then I REMIX 'em, y'heard.

14. Will I have a good life in general?
"Love Machine" (Girls Aloud) - Well g'damn!

15. Can (insert name here) ever really love me?
"On Fire" (Lloyd Banks) - Depends on the type of burn?

16. Can me and (insert name here) ever be more than friends?
"Baby" (Melody Club) - I take this to mean 'yes.'

17. What's going to happen to me this week?
"Perfume (All on You)" (Paris Angels) - Shit, a replay of what happened to me at Sephora freshman year?

Track 18, for good measure, is "Billie Bambus" by Markese, for which I'm glad there's no question because I can't imagine it being a funny reply to anything.

(um, Postcore will be more enlightening than this, I promise)

random sampling of cds my coworkers have left on the backroom computer desk

2005-11-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

Blonde on Blonde
My Aim Is True
The Village Green Preservation Society
In the Aeroplane over the Sea
Illinois
Mule Variations
Revolver
The Beekeeper

Geez, it's like Justin Sowa works here or something.

Also why in God's name don't I own Blonde on Blonde?

2005-11-12T00:49:00.000-08:00

As much fun as I had dancing at Orchard Bar tonight, I really can't help but feel like the stuff they played will be the soundtrack for hipster weddings twenty years from now. Also this "play one token rap song to appeal to the white kids to let them feel all GANGSTA and TUFF for a second" thing needs to stop, like, now. Otherwise, yeah, fun. I imagine someone will give me guff for that but I can't check my ideology at the dancefloor.

Annnnnd bed.

working-class hero?

2005-11-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

Ended up going to work today. I still do not consider it scabbing; I wasn't brought in as a replacement, I didn't do anyone else's work, and I worked only as late as I agreed to when I started working there. So nyah.

I did manage to take some shitty cameraphone photos of the strike, though:

UAW RAT!!!

Also, do come to the Met Black and White Photo party tomorrow night if you weren't already planning on it. Music is being provided by me (in the form of a mix cd I gave to Marci specially-tailored for the occasion). If nothing else, stay to hear "Les Fleurs" by Minnie Riperton blasting from the Met's loudspeaker in all its glorious unfuckwithability.

dilemma.

2005-11-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

As we all know by now, there is a massive grad student strike planned for this Wednesday if NYU continues to hold out on negotiating with them on their contracts.

I think the strike is a good idea; I don't want to see my TAs and co-workers get fucked over.

For obvious reasons, I cannot join GSOC.

I work in a portion of the library that largely employs grad students.

There is due to be a sizeable picket line in front of the library on Wednesday if this strike happens.

Going to work would thus necessitate me crossing the picket line.

While many of my bosses are supportive of the strike, one in particular is virulently against it. I don't fear he'd fire me, but we've been advised to not even bring up the issue around him, which doesn't exactly bode well.

I already work there, so I don't believe I qualify as scab labor, though I would undoubtedly be thought of as such to some.

Sure, I need money, but not for anything especially crucial at the moment (no rent to pay, for one), and I'm still getting a paycheck this week either way.

I also am working on a project at the library which is supposed to be done by Thanksgiving. Not showing up for work will make this an impossibility and my ever-present sense of duty renders me unable to tolerate falling behind in my work.

...so what the fuck do I do?

2005-10-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

I went to see Innocence at Cinema Village tonight, as I've not seen a movie that came out this year in theaters since Broken Flowers in AUGUST WTF. Anyway, it's a very impressive debut feature from Lucile Hadzihalilovic (wife of French provocateur Gaspar Noe [Irreversible]) about the anxieties and fears of female adolescence, set in an all-girls' boarding school in a secluded forest in France. It's been getting heat by some for pandering to a "dirty-men-in-raincoats" crowd but the child nudity is considerably more tasteful than the negative reviews are implying (nothing at all on a Catherine Breillat level, for sure). Also, inevitable Picnic at Hanging Rock comparisons can be drawn: lots of questions, not many answers, an air of anxiety and unsettling tension underneath everything. But it's really a very haunting film about the terrors of girlhood and rites of passage. I can't give much away as there isn't much of a story, more a series of incidents, but the lengthy opening alone, five minutes of unspeakable tension, is worth shelling out ten bucks for.

Also this weekend was kind of fucked up in a beautiful/awkward way. Inquire in person, I'm not writing this shit out.

halloween: kind of overrated.

2005-10-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

Discuss.

(With, of course, the exception of greeting trick-or-treaters at the door, which is always classic and, unfortunately, a joy I will not know this year. Trying to get into the act oneself, though...you'll have to convince me.)

(This also does not mean I won't be attending any Halloween parties, but don't expect me to treat it as anything but just another excuse for students to drink except people just happen to be dressed up in kooky outfits.)

2005-10-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

Superpitcher/Ada/Metope at the Canal Room last night was every bit as grand as I'd anticipated. Five straight hours of going nuts to minimalist-that's-secretly-maximalist-as-fuck German techno. It really did feel like I was doing some sort of disservice by referring to it as "minimalism" when the experience left me feeling swallowed up whole, my body responding just instinctively and aggressively to the thudding beats and climaxes and visuals. As I haven't gotten much of a chance to experience this music in a club setting, I noticed a few interesting things: the way my body reacts to certain elements of the tracks (I move my hands like I'm bouncing a basketball when the bass is prominent; I flex my wrist and dart it back and forth when I'm struck by the hi-hat, etc), the strange sensation of noticing ONLY the music and nothing about the space around me or who else was dancing or anything; the barely-concealed sexuality of the dancing experience (not like some gross NJGuido wet t-shirt contest way but there was a sexuality tempered by respect and restraint; this could be symptomatic of German culture in general, as Athena pointed out to me that people in Berlin tend towards shyness and won't talk to you unless you initiate conversation with them, in which case they're very open). Maybe this all sounds like some fluff that a raver would've talked about in 1993, but it's the reason why I love dancing: maybe people who are really into hardcore punk or ska feel similar ways at shows, I'm not sure, but the structure of dance music, with its multitutdes of peaks and rushes and the rigidity of the 4/4, accommodates this feeling of just getting "inside" the music and letting it engulf you in a way I love and that makes me feel wholly...I don't know, alive, I guess. I suppose I could flesh these things out further another time, but I honestly do not understand people in this day and age who call dance music "mindless" when it best encapsulates the brain-body connection more than any other music I can think of.

There's also a trick where if you just keep your eyes open while dancing in a club and not focus on anything around you, to let your optical nerves come into contact with everything around you before your brain gets a chance to process exactly what it is you're looking at - the effect is sort of like watching a Stan Brakhage film! (though actually I imagine you can do this anywhere; also, if you squint your eyes and strain them real hard, etc etc)

A TERRIFYING THOUGHT

2005-10-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

There's going to be about a thousand kids dressed up as Napoleon Dynamite for Halloween this year, aren't there? :(

seconds 10/6/05

2005-10-10T01:16:00.000-07:00

Not even the gale-force winds of HURRICANE WHATSHERNAME stopped Seconds from being fabulous as usual, and way more people came than even I'd expected! Thanks etc, here's the tunage:

Tom:

The Bravery - ???
The Killers - ???
James ???

Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You
The Strokes - 12:51
Tom Petty - American Girl
Blur - Girls and Boys
Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y-Control (Fain Remix)
Billy Idol - Cradle of Love
Gary Numan - Cars
Pet Shop Boys - What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Joe:

Camouflage - The Great Commandment
Twins - Face to Face, Heart to Heart
Bis - Shack Up
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Freeform Five - Strangest Things
Human League - Love Action (I Believe in Love)
Loto - Back to Discos
Universal Poplab - We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
MIA - Bucky Done Gun (DJ Marlboro Funk Carioca Mix)
United State of Electronica - La Discoteca
Rex the Dog - I Look into Mid-Air
Klein + MBO - Wonderful
Man 2 Man with Man Parrish - Male Stripper
Lacquer - Behind

Tom:

Moving Units - X and Y
Belle and Sebastian - Step into My Office, Baby
David Bowie - ?
Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love
U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
Madonna - Express Yourself*
Peter Schilling - Major Tom (German vers.)
Depeche Mode - Everything Counts
The Faint - Erection
Wolfsheim - I Don't Love You Anymore
Psychedelic Furs - Here Come Cowboys
Joy Division - Ceremony
Grace Jones - Warm Leatherette

Joe:

Quarks - I Walk (Superpitcher Schaffel Mix)
Fannypack - You Gotta Know
Bertine Zetlitz - Girl Like You
Vitalic - Wooo
Jurgen Paape - So Weit Wie Noch Nie
Autobianchi - All Around (Everybody's Kissing)
Le Dust Sucker - Love Me
Soulwax - NY Excuse
Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches
Annie - Me Plus One
Lio - Amoureux Solitaires
Ryan Paris - Dolce Vita
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
Max Berlin - Elle et Moi

Tom:

The Cars - Drive
The Clash - Lost in the Supermarket
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
The Cure - Love Song
Romeo Void - A Girl in Trouble
The Smiths - Shoplifters of the World Unite
The Human League - Seconds
Magnetic Fields - I Think I Need a New Heart

******

I may do something interesting with this blog soon. Involving music and the discussion thereof. We'll see.

yes, yes, seconds is all well and good; but what are YOU listening to, joe?

2005-10-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

Coati Mundi - Que Pasa/Me No Pop I - Freewheeling Latin-punk-funk-hip-hop from the late '70s with snarling lothario vox and delightful Esquivel-ian instrumental flourishes. One for boogie-ing to, for sure.

Hamilton Bohannon - Cut Loose - It didn't occur to me until after I listened to some Bohannon that Tina Weymouth pays lip service to Stevie Wonder's former drummer in "Genius of Love" ("Bohannon, Bohannon, Bohannon, Bohannon/WHO NEEDS TO THINK etc etc). Some 'Heads songs ride a groove similar to this, I'm thinking of "Born Under Punches" in particular, and now I can't help but think of it as some sort of proto-Remain in Light funk exercise - the hiccuping cowbell, the lengthy percussive breaks, and stiff guitar licks bring to mind the groovier Talking Heads moments but of course work very well dissociated entirely from Byrne and the gang.

MIA - Bucky Done Gun (DJ Marlboro Funk Carioca Remix) - An improvement on the somewhat drab original in a few ways, mostly through the addition of a synth line, but it retains MIA's best vocal bits, specifically the "rrrrrockin on this new bit" part, so there's loads to like.

Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches - Greatest rap record by a 12-year-old-Scandinavian-girl-who-is-actually-26. "This year's Annie" everyone sez but Robyn is more shamelessly glossy Scando-pop and I have a feeling I'll like her album more than Anniemal whenever I get around to listening to it.

PM Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss - Hadn't heard this in over a decade, I'd reckon, and it's held up very nicely, a dreamy slice of Spandau Ballet-jocking early '90s hip-hop with lyrics on just the right side of the awkward/charming axis.

Expect one or more of these to be played at the next Seconds outing which is, as I've reminded most people courtesy of Facebook, is on October 6th. I better see you there since, y'know, I just gave you guys five free mp3s. Jesus.

2005-10-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

Fake lesbian weddings and a room full of homos gyrating to LCD Soundsystem and Unclassics. Why are all my Saturday evenings not like this?

words and phrases i am resolving to not use very much in the future

2005-09-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

random
creepy
awesome
ridiculous
"oh, dear"
apparently
"seriously"
"that's FUCKED up"

vocab overhaul COMMENCE.

seconds 9/26/05

2005-09-27T00:50:00.000-07:00

IMPORTANT BULLETIN:

SECONDS is now on the first Thursday of every month and the third Monday of every month as well. Meaning, our next three sets will be October 6th, October 17th, and November 3rd. This was a mutual decision on Tom, mine, and the management's parts for a variety of many fascinating and highly complex economic reasons including but not limited zzzzzzzzzzzz.... Anyway, so now we get to build up the night, which means no more hassles of the weekly party, and we get a little time off for ourselves, which is good for everyone involved (the music will be fresher, y'see). Plus, there is the ever-exciting possibility of THEME NIGHTS, which again, benefits everybody. Also I promise there'll be a website soon to give my poor blog room to ~~collect cobwebs~~ contain all of my Deep and Important Thoughts.

Oh, and here was tonight's setlist. Also, dear Trash DJ who bestowed us with your presence: you are hysterical to look at. love, Seconds.

Joe:

Squeeze - Up the Junction
David Bowie - Hang onto Yourself
Heaven 17 - Let Me Go
Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
Simple Minds - Changeling
Au Pairs - Set-Up
100 Flowers - All Sexed Up
Thompson Twins - Doctor Doctor
Human League - Empire State Human
Lacquer - Behind
Giorgio Moroder - From Here to Eternity
Utah Saints - Something Good
Propaganda - P:Machinery
Klein + MBO - The MBO Theme

Tom:

Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again
Madonna - Bedtime Story
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
New Order - Morning Night and Day
Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
Pet Shop Boys/Dusty - What Have I Done to Deserve This?
Morrissey - Hairdresser on Fire
Billy Idol - Cradle of Love
The Cure - Friday I'm in Love
Wolfsheim - Blind
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
Peaches - Back It Up
Le Tigre - Les and Ray
B-52's - Song for a Future Generation
Belle and Sebastian - Step into My Office, Baby

Joe:

Associates - Party Fears Two
Pixies - No. 13 Baby
Saint Etienne - Mario's Cafe
Bjork - Crying
Deee-Lite - Good Beat
Flirts - Voulez-Vous (Bobby O Remix)
OMD - Electricity (cheers Jimmy!)
Patrick Cowley - Get a Little
Yaz - Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)
Klymaxx - Wild Girls
Phoenix - Too Young
ABBA - Does Your Mother Know?
Melody Club - Baby

Tom:

Electronic - Getting Away With It
Magnetic Fields - Long-Forgotten Fairytale
Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka
Lightning Seeds - Pure and Simple
David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World
The Book of Love - Boy
The Police - King of Pain
Hall and Oates - I Can't Go for That
The Pretenders - Don't Get Me Wrong
Berlin - The Metro
The Cars - You're All I've Got Tonight
The Cure - Mint Car
Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You
Apoptygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song

Joe:

DAF - Der Mussolini
Jona Lewie - You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties
Jeans Team - Keine Melodien
Goldfrapp - Strict Machine (We Are Glitter Remix)
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
Heiko Voss - Call Me Now
Vive la Fete - Noir Desir
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People
Peaches - Lovertits
Taxi Girl - Chercher le Garcon
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
Le Dust Sucker - Formerly Known as Satisfaction
ESG - UFO
Lene Lovich - Lucky Number
Neon Judgment - TV Treated

Tom:

Stereolab - Lo Boob Oscillator
Radiohead - High and Dry
Cake - Sheep Go to Heaven

Joe's utterly brilliant finishing move:

Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights

---

So yes, October 6th. Do try to come, as we will now be like one of those proper bi-monthly parties that NYC is fond of having, and maybe gaudily dressed hipster androgynes will start attending regularly and we will all be FABULOUS DAHLING.

2005-09-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

Lacking anything substantial to write, I note what I have purchased so far today:

Classic BMT meal from Subway, on Italian herbs and cheese bread, with lettuce, onions, oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, and oregano, with a side of salt and vinegar Lay's and an orange soda
Luomo - Vocalcity CD
Black Leotard Front - "Casual Friday" 12"
Nathan Fake - "Dinamo (Dominik Eulberg Remix)/Coheed (Michael Mayer Remix)" 12"

Next on the agenda: a sammich from this sunny oasis in the midst of the rainy, dirty LES.

You?

seconds 9/19/05

2005-09-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

I don't post much here besides Seconds playlists, do I? So much for that new leaf I'd planned on turning when I started this gig. Oh well.

Tom:

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - American Girl
The Police - Message in a Bottle
Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Lou Reed - Romeo Had Juliet
Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
David Bowie - Watch That Man
John Lennon - Cold Turkey
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Peaches w/ Iggy Pop - Kick It
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
The Who - Who Are You?
U2 - Mysterious Ways
The Pretenders - Don't Get Me Wrong
Blondie - Dreaming
INXS - What You Need

Joe:

Quarks - I Walk (Superpitcher Schaffel Mix)
The Rapture - Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks
Wir Sind Helden - Guten Tag
Cheap Trick - He's a Whore
Freeform Five - Strangest Things
Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb
Death from Above 1979 - Black History Month (Alan Braxe and Fred Falke Remix)
Peter Schilling - Major Tom
Prince - 1999
Adam and the Ants - Goody Two Shoes
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
The Bravery - An Honest Mistake
Kim Wilde - Kids in America
Annie - Chewing Gum
Pulp - Mis-Shapes
Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough

Tom:

Interpol - Slow Hands
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Echo and the Bunnymen - The Cutter
The Cure - Let's Go to Bed
Morrissey - Suedehead
Wolfsheim - Once in a Lifetime
The Faint - Agenda Suicide
Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole
Garbage - When I Grow Up
Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
Modern English - I Melt With You
The Smiths - Sheila Take a Bow
When in Rome - The Promise
David Bowie - Starman
Siouxsie - Arabian Nights
The B-52's - Song for a Future Generation
TRIPLE CURE BLOCK - The Lovecats, Killing an Arab, Wrong Time

Joe:

Kirsty Maccoll - They Don't Know
Sparks - Beat the Clock
Duran Duran - The Reflex
Pet Shop Boys - One More Chance
Dexys Midnight Runners - Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)
Killing Joke - Eighties
A Flock of Seagulls - Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Animotion - Obsession
Altered Images - Happy Birthday
Fine Young Cannibals - Good Thing
Malcolm McLaren - Madame Butterfly
The Cure - Close to Me
Real Life - Send Me an Angel
Les Rita Mitsuoko - C'est Comme Ca
Propaganda - Duel
Erasure - A Little Respect
Alphaville - Big in Japan

In other news, I found out today that I work at maybe the only special collections library in possibly the world that has its own zine. Having a job I don't dread going to every (other) day is fantastic.

seconds 9/12/05

2005-09-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

First off, belated thank-yous to everyone who came out on Saturday for my birthday festivities, and those who couldn't but wished me well anyhow. You rule hard, and I enjoyed looking at your many photos that I barely remember being taken.

That aside, here's last night's choons, which will be typed up as written by us last night. Note the increasing sloppiness and "footnotes":

Joe:

Sparks - The Number One Song in Heaven
ABC - Poison Arrow
Ultravox - Dancing With Tears in My Eyes
AFOS - Modern Love Is Automatic
Mary Jane Girls - All Night Long
Grace Jones - Pull Up to the Bumper
The B-52's - Legal Tender
Paris Angels - Perfume
The KLF - Last Train to Trancentral
Frankie Knuckles - Your Love
Talk Talk - Talk Talk
Pulp - I Spy
Siouxsie - Happy House

(1)

Tom:

Concrete Blonde - Gasoline
Visage - Fade to Grey
Garbage - Push It
The Police - King of Pain
Wolfsheim - I Don't Love You Anymore
A Flock of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song
Bella Morte - Relics
PSB - Opportunities
Depeche Mode - ~~Get Out Tonight~~ ~~Master and Servant~~ Shake the Disease
Goldfrapp - Train
~~Felix da Housecat - Track 4 (?)~~ Tok Tok vs. Soffy O - Missy Queen's Gonna Die
The Smiths - What Diff Does It Make?
Peaches - AA XXX
Miss Kittin & the Hacker - 1982

(2)

Joe:

Black Leotard Front - Casual Friday (edit)
Scissor Sisters - Tits on the Radio
Scritti Politti - Wood Beez
Knife - Heartbeats (RtD Mix)
Human League - Keep Feeling Fascination
Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood
A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray
Bjork - Crying
Kylie Minogue - I Believe in You
Janet Jackson - When I Think of You
Martha & the Muffins - Echo Beach
Futureheads - Hounds of Love
Adam & the Ants - Antmusic
Bow Wow Wow - Jungle Boy

(3)

Tom:

Madonna - Erotica
Ladytron - SUGAR
Gary Numan - Cars
Book of Love - Boy
Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf
AHa - Take on Me
The Buggles - Video Killed...
Hole - Violet
Rolling Stones - Jumping Jack Flash
Jane's Addiction - Stop!
GNR - Sweet Child o' Mine
The Cure - Just Say Yes The Cure
The Cure - In Between Days KILLER
The Cure - Just Like Heaven Block
The Cure - Mint Car

(4)

Bowie - Moonage Daydream

Joe:

Stooges - 1969
Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps
Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless
Yaz - Bring Your Love Down (Didn't I)
Martika - I Feel the Earth Move
Karla Devito - Cool World
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes
Classix Nouveaux - Never Again
Madonna - Like a Virgin*
AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long*
Gwen Stefani - What You Waitin' For?
Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself
Animotion - Obsession
Blondie - One Way or Another
Duran Duran - Girls on Film

(5)

Tom:

Erasure - A Little Respect
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Human League - Dont You Want Me
The Faint - Glass Danse
U2 - Mysterious Ways
SP - Cherub Rock
Smiths - Ask* }Smiths
David - China Girl } Cute
Smiths - Sheila Take a Bow } Hour
Smiths - This Charming Man* }

--------------------

Bowie - Ashes to Ashes* Cuteness*
The Cure - Killing an Arab Cute

(6)

New Order - True Faith
Iggy - The Passenger
Joy Division - Ceremony
Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem pour un Con

(6)

and then I think Tom played "Bonnie and Clyde" and something else I don't remember. Only Tom and I know the secret meaning of the SMITHS CUTE HOUR and we shall take it with us to the GRAVE.

seconds labor day/back-to-school (s)extravaganza

2005-09-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

SECONDS would like to take some time out here to deliver heartfelt thanks to all our friends (and everyone else) who came out last night and who have been coming to all the previous parties. You guys are seriously the best, and I can't thank you enough. Last night was pretty much what I expected it to be, and I'm glad that so many people are enjoying what we do enough to come out every week and have a good time, so thanks once again. Okay, mushiness over, HERE'S THE JAMS:

Tom:

Stereolab - Lo Boob Oscillator
Superdrag - Who Sucked Out the Feeling?
Kings of Convenience - Toxic Girl
No Doubt - Making Out*
Annie - Chewing Gum
Stars - Ageless Beauty
The Stills - Still-in-Love Song
Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now
Missing Persons - What Are Words For?
Book of Love - You Make Me Feel So Good
Flesh for Lulu - I Go Crazy
Kajagoogoo - Too Shy
Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem pour un Con
Radiohead - High and Dry

Joe:

Belle Stars - Iko Iko
Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better
OMD - Enola Gay
Komatrohn - Smalltown Boy
Mylo - In My Arms
Klein & MBO - Dirty Talk
Bobby O - I'm So Hot for You
Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
Camouflage - The Great Commandment
Twins - Face to Face, Heart to Heart
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y-Control (Faint Mix)*
Le Tigre - My My Metrocard
DAF - Der Mussolini
Vitalic - My Friend Dario
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
The Darkness - I Believe in a Thing Called Love

Tom:

Blur - Song 2
The Doors - Hello I Love You
Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
The Strokes - Reptilia
Pulp - Common People
New Order - Age of Consent
Kan Kan - I Beg Your Pardon
The Faint - Erection
Covenant - Bullet
The Human League - The Sound of the Crowd
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
Peter Schilling - Major Tom
Stevie Nicks - Stand Back
Wolfsheim - Once in a Lifetime
Gary Numan - Cars

Joe:

Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance
David Bowie - Hang Onto Yourself
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People
a-ha - The Sun Always Shines on TV
Lene Lovich - New Toy
Real Life - Send Me an Angel
Tears for Fears - Shout
Propaganda - Duel
Eurythmics - There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart)
Pointer Sisters - Automatic
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance
Rock Steady Crew - Hey You (Rock Steady Crew)
Shannon - Give Me Tonight

Tom:

U2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Interpol - Narc*
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper
Iggy Pop - The Passenger
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
B-52's - Roam
The Cure - Pictures of You
The Cars - Drive
The New Pornographers - To Wild Homes
David Bowie - Life on Mars?

*=request

a friendly reminder!

2005-09-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

SECONDS tonight! You know the time and place (174 Orchard St., 10pm), so do stop by! I am expecting nothing less than UTTER INSANITY, which is what I usually expect out of my friends anyway, so don't disappoint!

I am thinking of* playing the following songs, fwiw:

Komatrohn - Smalltown Boy
LCD Soundsystem - Yeah (Crass Version)
Killing Joke - Eighties
Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
t.A.T.u. - Not Gonna Get Us
Liberty X vs. Richard X - Being Nobody
Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better
Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
Camouflage - The Great Commandment
Real Life - Send Me an Angel

*=which of course, implies that i will still play boatloads of Duran Duran and Soft Cell, natch

i just KNOW that something good is gonna happen

2005-09-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

So it has officially been reported that Kate Bush, pictured below, will be releasing a new (double!) album on November 8th (7th in the UK) called Aerial, and the first single is due out in October.

Here are some reasons why this made me cream my pants any number of times:

- Kate has not released an album since 1993's The Red Shoes. A 12-year hiatus implies that at least a quarter of these songs should be magnificent if she took so much damn time to work on them.

- For you indie-heads: the only truly great song by the Futureheads is a Kate Bush cover.

- Kate Bush released a song based on an Emily Bronte book for her DEBUT single (without apparently having read it, which would make it even more grand).

- For her post-Hounds of Love comeback single, she released a song based on ULYSSES, for fuck's sake.

- "Deeper Understanding" almost predicted the path my life would take...IN 1989.

- Her slew of music videos almost makes up for the fact that she's only ever toured once in her life. My favorites are the "Sat in Your Lap" video where she rollerskates with mythical beasts while wearing a dunce-cap that looks eerily KKK-ish ; the "Breathing" video where she's writhing around in a womb-like structure (ie plastic garbage bags) for most of the video; and "The Dreaming", set in the outback (ahem) and with LASERS.

- "This Woman's Work" is pretty much the only song I know that reduces me to a blubbering sack of jelly EVERY SINGLE TIME I listen to it. (ditto the "all you sailors, get out of the waves, get out of the water..." part of "Hello Earth." And the second verse of "Hounds of Love." And "The Man With the Child in His Eyes." And and and...)

- The "concept" second half of Hounds of Love, based on an Alfred Lord Tennyson poem ("The Ninth Wave")

- She brays like a donkey on "Get Out of My House" (after singing "I change into the mule!"). AND IT WORKS.

- Her b-sides are better than most bands' entire creative output. Witness "Under the Ivy" (one of the most romantic songs evah) and "Lord of the Reedy River" (what got them pretty flutes), for starts.

- She does fake accents better than most people I know (cf. "There Goes a Tenner," "The Dreaming")

- Her vocal sample from "Cloudbusting" on Utah Saints' "Something Good", and the way its spirally inflections just MAKE it somehow

- And of course...- "IT'S IN THE TREES! IT'S COMING!"

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY KATE BUSH!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY NEW ALBUM!!!!

seconds 8/29/05

2005-08-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

I swore to myself when I ditched L*v*j**rn*l for Blogspot that I would never use this spcae for self-victimization and blathering about how OMG HARD my life is, and I fully intend to keep that promise. I will, however, type up the setlist from last night's Seconds exactly as Tom and I had written it down (well, I generally typed up the song titles as they should be, but the, uh, footnotes are intact), in the hopes that it will give some indication of how thoroughly lousy the evening was (despite both of us playing capital sets). Also, the last three songs basically attest to the state I was in by the end of the night. Not to worry, though: I am optimistic that next week shall be wonderful, but here's what was on tap this week:

Tom:

The Stills - Still-in-Love Song
The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Belle and Sebastian - Dirty Dream Number Two
The Bravery - Public Service Announcement
The Clash - Lost in the Supermarket
The Strokes - Reptilia
Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance With You
Louis XIV - Finding Out True Love Is Blind
Pulp - Disco 2000
Bauhaus - Ziggy Stardust
Joan Jett - I Hate Myself for Loving You
Pixies - Debaser
Guns n' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
Led Zeppelin - Trampled Under Foot
AC/DC - Back in Black
The Doors - Break on Through
Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
Naked Eyes - Always Something There to Remind Me
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again
Covenant - Bullet
Sisters of Mercy - Lucretia My Reflection
NIN - Head Like a Hole
Smashing Pumpkins - Zero
The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Peter Schilling - Major Tom
The Cure - Why Can't I Be You?
The Human League - Don't You Want Me
Peaches - Fuck the Pain Away
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y-Control (Faint Remix)
Siouxsie - Peek a Boo
The Rapture - Sister Saviour (DFA Vocal)
Daft Punk - Digital Love
^"un" love for the bartender bitch
.
.
Chemical Brothers - Galvanize
Begin Gay music to piss off bartender
Madonna - Holiday

Joe:

Paul Lekakis - Boom Boom (Let's Go Back to My Room)
Loto - Back to Discos
Whigfield - Was a Time
Bjork - I Miss You
Divine - Native Beat
Koto - Visitors
Baltimora - Tarzan Boy
Wham! - Wham! Rap
Duran Duran - Is There Something I Should Know?
Fine Young Cannibals - Good Thing
Lene Lovich - Lucky Number
Kate Bush - The Big Sky
A Flock of Seagulls - Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)
Bauhaus - She's in Parties
Front 242 - Tragedy (For You)
The Neon Judgment - The Fashion Party
Bobby O - German Girl
Public Image Ltd. - This Is Not a Love Song
Fad Gadget - Collapsing New People
Heaven 17 - Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
The Associates - Love Hangover
Franz Ferdinand - 40'
Scissor Sisters - Tits on the Radio
Queen - Bicycle Race
Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
Spandau Ballet - The Freeze
ABC - Poison Arrow
Depeche Mode - Everything Counts
Pet Shop Boys - What Have I Done to Deserve This? (seriously)
David Bowie - Let's Dance
The Human League - Empire State Human
Tubeway Army - Are 'Friends' Electric?
Soft Cell - Bedsitter
The Smiths - Still Ill

I should note here that we are also going to be at SKINnY this Thursday doin' our usual thang. I should doubly note that YOU-KNOW-WHO will probably be there again as well, but any and all are welcome to come out as usual.

seconds 8/22/05

2005-08-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

As per usual, you guys who came out made the evening smashing, though things sort of wrapped up early and the last remaining customers were pretty much indifferent to everything I played. It's tracks you want, isn't it?

Tom:

AC/DC - Back in Black
Led Zeppelin - Custard Pie
Joan Jett - Do You Wanna Touch
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Annie - Always Too Late
MIA - Amazon
Chemical Brothers - The Golden Path
Postal Service - We Will Become Silhouettes
Belle and Sebastian - Electronic Renaissance
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Pulp - Mis-Shapes
Pretenders - Middle of the Road
Prince - Raspberry Beret
When in Rome - The Promise
Duran Duran - Planet Earth
U2 - Desire
Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight
Franz Ferdinand - Michael
Interpol - Say Hello to the Angels
Blondie - Rip Her to Shreds
Magnetic Fields - Long-Forgotten Fairytale
New Order - Temptation
The Human League - All I Ever Wanted
Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours
Wolfsheim - I Don't Love You Anymore
Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole
The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary
Kan Kan - I Beg Your Pardon (I Didn't Promise You a Rose Garden)
The Smiths - This Charming Man
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Grace Jones - My Jamaican Guy
Elastica - Connection
Simple Minds - Alive and Kicking
Madonna - Into the Groove
George Michael - Freedom '90
David Bowie/Queen - Under Pressure

Joe:
English Beat - Save It for Later
Roxy Music - Virginia Plain
Squeeze - Pulling Mussels (From a Shell)
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing at My House
The Go! Team - The Power Is On
Le Tigre - My My Metrocard
Melody Club - Tiger Love
Duran Duran - Rio
Andrew WK - She Is Beautiful
Stooges - Search and Destroy*
The Strokes - Hard to Explain
Spandau Ballet - Chant no. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)
Prince - Controversy (Purple Mix)*
Janet Jackson - When I Think of You
Twins - Face to Face, Heart to Heart
Mr. Flagio - Take a Chance
Kano - I Need Love
Fun Fun - Happy Station
Animotion - Obsession
Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf
Lio - Banana Split
Mylo - In My Arms
The Clash - This Is Radio Clash
Liquid Liquid - Cavern
The Slits - I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Loose Joints - Is It All Over My Face?
Connie Case - Get Down
Barbara Mason - Another Man
Klymaxx - Wild Girls
Imagination - Just an Illusion
Jamie Principle - Baby Wants to Ride
Ten City - Devotion (Bam Bam's House Mix)
Kano - Can't Hold Back (Your Loving)
Grace Jones - Pull Up to the Bumper (Larry Levan Mix)
Geraldine Hunt - Can't Fake the Feeling

come on feel me up, sufjan the illinoise

2005-08-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'm also posting a picture of Sufjan Stevens, but mostly because he's terribly cute, isn't he?

(as far as his music is concerned....it's okay. Based on a cursory listen of Illinois: I can only take so much of "Come on Feel the Illinoise," the John Wayne Gacy song has some icky lyrics, and the album as a whole is kind of overwhelming the way most prog albums are (and this is DEFINITELY a prog album, right down to the long-winded song titles). The fatalist Christianity of some of the lyrics is pretty interesting: it's not necessarily the focal point that I think many (probably agnostic) rock critics make it out to be, but it works as a (failed?) coping mechanism on a song like "Casimir Pulaski Day" (which I'm still miffed isn't a Big Black cover) - it's cognizant of God's failings yet still finds Him a necessary rock to cling to in the face of tragedy. I'm not sure if this crisis of faith is a successful lyrical strategy all the time (cf. the John Wayne Gacy track, again), but it at least comes across as more convincing than, say, Neutral Milk Hotel's awkward stabs at spirituality.)

But yeah. Definitely a looker.

seconds 8/15/05

2005-08-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

The hits just keep on comin'. PS I HATE THE Q TRAIN.

Tom:

B-52's - Summer of Love
The Book of Love - You Make Me Feel So Good
Le Tigre - My My Metrocard
Gravy Train!!! - Titties Bounce
The Strokes - The Modern Age
Hedwig - Angry Inch
Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Woman
Led Zeppelin - Rock n Roll
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
Elefant - Bokkie
Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
Wolfsheim - Once in a Lifetime
Echo and the Bunnymen - The Cutter
Apoptygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song
The Rapture - Sister Savior (DFA Vocal)
Fischerspooner - Just Let Go
The Faint - Paranoiattack
Ladytron - Flicking Your Switch
Siouxsie - Kiss Them for Me
New Order - True Faith
Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
Joy Division - Ceremony
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
The Cure - Just Like Heaven
David Bowie - Modern Love
Morrissey - Everyday Is Like Sunday
Erasure - A Little Respect
Chemical Brothers - Galvanize
Annie - Chewing Gum
Peaches - Operate
Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
Billy Idol - White Wedding
Pulp - Disco 2000
Prince - Raspberry Beret
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - American Girl
Felix da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene

Joe:

Vitalic - My Friend Dario
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Basement Jaxx - Living Room
Adult. - Skinlike
LCD Soundsystem - Movement
Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps
Au Pairs - It's Obvious
Visage - Tar
Propaganda - P-Machinery
Bjork - Crying
Deee-Lite - Good Beat
La Bionda - I Wanna Be Your Lover
Giorgio Moroder - From Here to Eternity
Heaven 17 - (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
Clio - Faces
Wendy & Lisa - Waterfall
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
Human League - Love Action (I Believe in Love)
ABBA - Lay All Your Love on Me
a-ha - The Sun Always Shines on TV
Hall & Oates - Everything Your Heart Desires
Adam and the Ants - Antmusic
Stooges - No Fun
New York Dolls - Personality Crisis
Queen - Fat Bottomed Girls
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
Sparks - Here in Heaven
Squeeze - Up the Junction
Sisters of Mercy - Lucretia My Reflection
Front 242 - Tragedy (For You)
Bauhaus - She's in Parties
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
The Cramps - Human Fly
Fad Gadget - Collapsing New People
Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue
Public Image Ltd. - Memories
Tones on Tail - Go!
Lydia Lunch - Atomic Bongos
Wipers - Up Front
Fire Engines - Discord (Version)
Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
Pixies - No. 13 Baby
Buzzcocks - Why Can't I Touch It?
The Fall - In the Park
Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot
Slits - Typical Girls
Liliput - I Had a Dream
The Bangles - Going Down to Liverpool
Shocking Blue - Send Me a Postcard
Junior Senior - Rhythm Bandits*
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
DAF - Der Mussolini
XTC - Making Plans for Nigel

*=request

in which i set forth two events that did please me verily these two days hence

2005-08-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

1. No thanks to the Q train, Nick, Sarah and I were finally able to see Broken Flowers on Monday. I'm sort of ashamed to say that it was the first Jim Jarmusch film I've seen so I can't stack it up against his other works but I nevertheless highly recommend you go see it. Bill Murray plays a man whose girlfriend dumps him and then sets on a quest across the country (with the help of his aspiring gumshoe neighbor) to revisit five of his old flames when he receives an anonymous letter from someone, penned in red ink on pink stationery, telling him that he sired a son with her 20 years ago. It could've been a mess of "remember the good ol' times?" treacly sentimentality and naff "soul-searching" but Jarmusch wisely plays up the awkwardness and frustration that surfaces with each of Murray's successive visits to his old paramours. Everyone turns in stunning performances; Murray is even more subtle than usual, refusing to go in for big laughs but maintaining an earnestness and wounded stoicism throughout, and the four actresses cast for each of the women he's loved are similarly stellar (Frances Conroy as the ex-flower-child-turned-emotionally-numb-real-estate-agent was my favorite of the bunch). Instead of becoming increasingly absorbed in and obsessed by his quest, Murray seems to brace himself for the worst at every occasion and grows more bold in his interrogations, as though he's lost all of his patience for the task at hand (which he is more or less thrown into thanks to his neighbor's well-meaning efforts), and seems to come out of the experience knowing as much as he did before. I won't say much more than that, but again, it comes highly recommended if you enjoy pared-down and powerful films about the despair of confronting one's past head-on and the opening of wounds you'd rather have kept sewn shut.

2. In the Union Square subway today during rush hour after work, The Cagle Family performed for the work-weary trudging home on the subways. This band consisted of a husband and wife, Melody and Monte Cagle and four of their young children, Richie, Pocahontas, Francis, and teenaged Janina, who all pretty much swapped instrument duties between songs (save Monte who played guitar throughout). They are, to date, the only street performers I have given money to because something about their almost defiantly cheery songs (sample song titles: "H-A-P-P-Y", "Everybody Can Be Happy", and "Dump the Dirty Language") pierced through my defenses and plunged straight to my heart (and wallet). Little Pocahontas' high-pitched nasal honk straddled the precious/grating divide fairly often (mercifully she didn't sing on every song but even when she did it was sweetly winning), the percussion was not finely honed but pleasingly amateurish in a way that reminded me of a lot of fledgling post-punk bands, the ones on the Hyped2Death Messthetics compilations (and not in that Shaggs "gee I can't play drums but I'll do it anyway!" style, these kids clearly were taking lessons), and at one point, Francis took a break from playing the timbales to enjoy the last few sips of a Wendy's Frostie. When I finally plunked down some singles before departing to catch my train, I wondered if it was not an entirely unconscious move on my part that I ended up going the wrong way and walk past them again. Either way, when I returned, I stayed to watch them for two more songs and nearly bought one of their CDs.

The approach to music-making here is not unlike what I love in a lot of music, and the reason why I love pop: there's no self-consciousness here, there's no putting on of airs or affectations, it's a tenderly naive channeling of music seemingly untouched by any worldly influence. Not that all music made in such a manner is very good (to bring up the Shaggs again), and not that all music needs to be nearly obliviously and relentlessly happy, and if I'd bought a CD of theirs I doubt I would listen to it very much after a couple of spins, but I really have very little time for cynicism or irony or CONFRONTATION in music anymore (this extends to a great many bands in various incarnations and I could probably say more on this but I really must go to bed soon) and it was refreshing to see the total opposite in such an incredibly unexpected place.

However, as I was leaving to board my train, I saw a man wearing a shirt that said "COMO ESTAN BITCHES?" and thought sadly to myself that the Cagle Family still have a long way to go.

seconds 8/8/05

2005-08-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Anyone who didn't come to this Seconds was a chump, is all I have to say. Here are several reasons why:

Tom:

Wolfsheim - Blind
Belle and Sebastian - Me and the Major
Tbe Clash - Lost in the Supermarket
Pulp - This Is Hardcore
Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
Led Zeppelin - Custard Pie
The Doors - Break on Through
Smashing Pumpkins - Siva
David Bowie - The Jean Genie
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek-a-Boo
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y-Control (Faint Remix)
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Permanent Version)
The Cure - Fascination Street
Hall and Oates - I Can't Go for That
The Book of Love - Boy
The Human League - Don't You Want Me?
New Order - Age of Consent*
U2 - Desire
Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
Guns n' Roses - Paradise City
Prince - Raspberry Beret
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Gary Numan - Cars
Peter Schilling - Major Tom
Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself
Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star
Blur - Girls & Boys
Joan Jett - Do You Wanna Dance
Queen/David Bowie - Under Pressure*

Joe:
The Go Station - ?
The Go! Team - Bottle Rocket
Dizzee Rascal - Stand Up Tall
M - Pop Muzik
a-ha - Take on Me
Junior Senior - Move Your Feet
Junior Senior - Rhythm Bandits**
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Kim Wilde - Kids in America
Madonna - Into the Groove
Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf
Annie - Heartbeat
Sweet - Ballroom Blitz
Melody Club - Baby
Alan Braxe and Fred Falke - Rubicon
English Beat - Save It for Later
Gwen Stefani - What Ya Waitin' For (JLC Remix)
Animotion - Obsession
Yaz - Don't Go
The Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination
Nena - 99 Luftballons
XTC - When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty*
Vanity 6 - Nasty Girl
Giorgio Moroder/Phil Oakey - Together in Electric Dreams
Mylo - In My Arms
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Cut Copy - Saturdays
Basement Jaxx - Jus 1 Kiss
Daft Punk - Digital Love
United State of Electronica - Emerald City
Rex the Dog - Frequency
Scissor Sisters - Laura (Simone)
Scissor Sisters - Take Yr Mama Out**
Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous*/**
New Order - Blue Monday
Shannon - Let the Music Play
LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations
Pixies - Here Comes Your Man
The Smiths - The Boy With the Thorn in His Side
Bronski Beat - Why?
Paul Lekakis - Boom Boom (Let's Go Back to My Room)
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love?
Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
Gun Club - She's Like Heroin to Me
Queen - Bicycle Race
Roxy Music - Love Is the Drug
Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless
Lene Lovich - New Toy
Associates - Party Fears Two

*request
**multiple artists in a row indicates CD deck failure...both times when I wanted to play New Order as well. I guess the set-up was allergic to Bernard Sumner's vocals that night or something.

More reasons why can be found at Sarah Lim's photoblog, roughly located here. To celebrate the fact that I've finally got off my lazy duff and linked Rebecca back like an upstanding Blogger citizen, I've especially included here Sarah's wonderful photo of her from that night:

(Also, did you know that she had "Take on Me" as her ringtone for THREE YEARS? My kind of gal!)

snapshot

2005-08-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

It is 6:30 in the morning at Coney Island. I am sitting on the beach next to Justin, and we are taking leisurely drags off of his Camel Turkish Golds. I'm gazing meditatively at the horizon. A lone red-and-white sailboat is creeping along the edge of the world. The cigarette was poorly lit due to prevailing beach winds, but it's working just well enough. Momentarily, there's conversation, and we're bitching about New York: the cost of living, the stagnant scenes, the long-winded, tiresome irony of its denizens (cue the LA restaurant conversation from Annie Hall. We begin concocting grand schemes of what we plan on doing with our lives and drum up boho dreams of fucking this college shit and just going places and meeting people. They're dreams lined thick with pipe, sure, but the will to independence is undeniably there. I'm digging my toes in the sand and offering a smoke to the pigeons, who are clearly not interested. The sun is unobtrusive, the sand is freshly dozed, the waves are just doing their thing, and there is hardly anyone on the beach, save for some straggling senior citizens out for an early swim. I had awoken at noon the day before after sleeping in and missing nearly four hours of work. By the time we arrived home from this spur-of-the-moment seaside visit, it was 8:30 am the next day. Lying here in my bed typing this before I wake up at around, oh, let's say six o'clock tonight, I can still taste the Nathan's hot dog I had not just an hour ago.

It is utterly, entirely...perfect.

brooklyn splendor

2005-08-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention here the fact that for the month, I have taken up residency with Messrs. Sowa, Dougherty and Snow in beeeeee-yootiful Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, NYC, NY, USA, North America, Western Hemisphere, Earth, Milky Way, The Vast Reaches of Blackest Uninhabitable Space, Satan's Toenail. Basically, the house (!) looks like this:

...but with about twenty more butlers inside than you'd think.

In all seriousness, it's almost ridiculously spacious, considering we're just four college schmoes who really don't need this much space but Goddammit if we're not going to use it all! Four bedrooms (one being of the "master" persuasion), three floors (not counting the basement that isn't really ours), two bathrooms (one with shower, one with tub), living room, dining room (table furnished by the Blaire Nichols "Let's See What I Have in My Basement" Collection), kitchen, and porch. The neighborhood itself was apparently described by Newsweek as being "the most diverse neighborhood in America", and it's a fairly adequate description; Walt Whitman would've been happy as a clam living here (and no doubt would've wrote some incredibly long, taxing poetry about it all as well). We are directly in the midst of a sort of misplaced suburban splendor: there's hardly a dearth of trees, which would give one a skewed sense of Brooklyn if it was the only neighborhood one was exposed to. Walk up Beverley Rd. some blocks and you find yourself in Flatbush; walk down the other cross-street and you'll find yourself on Cortelyou Rd. The transition between neighborhoods is almost jarring, but it's as good a reminder as anything to not feel so out of touch with my surroundings, particularly if these surroundings contain a massive Stop-n-Shop. On this particularly steamy, muggy day, I bought curtain rods from a little mom-and-pop (or, just pop?) hardware store on Cortelyou and did nothing else particularly worthwhile, save re-discovering the Internet after an ENTIRE FOUR DAYS WITHOUT IT and enjoyed the fine fare of Nickelodeon GAS through the time-bending powers of TiVo (some observational asides: a) Kurt Fogg was almost embarrassingly awkward around children b) Mike O'Malley hosting a kids' sports show seems a bit odd in light of, oh, his entire post-GUTS career, no? c) Finders Keepers is entirely unsalvageable). If I ever reclaim my camera from the evil clutches of Sean Brandt, I am going to plug you all so full of pictures that you'll be..begging for more when I...unplug you? eh?

Also I am finally cracking down and reading this David Sedaris character. Two stories into Barrel Fever and he has yet to prove to me that he's the funnier Sedaris sibling, as many would seem to have me believe, but time will tell.

PS - Even if you have no interest in the music being discussed, there is a spectacular new group blog called House Is a Feeling full of very sharp and concise writing by people who know far more about house/jungle/drum'n'bass/etc than I do. Go check.

EXCITING DEVELOPMENT HEREIN

2005-08-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that not only will Seconds be doing its usual thing every Monday night, but we also now have the first Thursday of every month starting tomorrow! So, if you're in the neighborhood, drop by, won't you? Tom and I will be kickin' out the jams, and expect things along the lines of what's below (save the audio snafu which, God willing, will never happen again because it will just drive us to drink)(oh, who are we kidding, that'll happen anyway):

SECONDS PLAYLIST, 8/1/05

Joe:

Black Leotard Front - Casual Friday (edit)
-- TRAINWRECK -- (we had audio difficulties here for about half an hour, resulting in a twisted mass of Bangkok Impact and Barbara Mason among other things, but we were saved by Jimmy Lynch and his technical know-how. By the way, congratulate Jimmy on landing that internship and thus STAYING IN NYC FOR ANOTHER YEAR YAY when/if you see him!)
Klein + MBO - Dirty Talk
The Go Station - Another Day**
LCD Soundsystem - Movement
Futureheads - Hounds of Love
The Gun Club - Sex Beat
Au Pairs - We're So Cool
Tones on Tail - Go!
100 Flowers - All Sexed Up
Sparks - Talent Is an Asset
Adam Ant - Goody Two Shoes
Les Rita Mitsouko - C'est Comme Ca

Tom:

Led Zeppelin - Rock 'n Roll
The Go Station - C'mon**
Talking Heads - Road to Nowhere
Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
Marilyn Manson - Rock Is Dead
Gary Numan - Pure
Depeche Mode - World in My Eyes
KMFDM - Juke Joint Jezebel
The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
The Cure - Just Say Yes
Simple Minds - Alive and Kicking
Human League - Being Boiled (Fast Version)
Joy Division - Ceremony
Stevie Nicks - Stand Back
Queen - Radio Ga Ga
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Pet Shop Boys - What Have I Done to Deserve This?
David Bowie - Let's Dance
The Clash - Train in Vain (Stand by Me)
Pixies - Debaser*
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Pretenders - Message of Love
Blondie - Dreaming
Louis XIV - Finding Out True Love Is Blind
Stars - Ageless Beauty
The Chameleons - I Love You, You Bastard
Altered Images - Small Without Me

Joe:
Peter Schilling - Major Tom
Paso Doble - Herz an Herz
Plastic Bertrand - Hula Hoop
Alan Braxe + Fred Falke - Rubicon
Bertine Zetlitz - Fake Your Beauty
Annie - Me Plus One
Grace Jones - Pull Up to the Bumper
La Bionda - I Wanna Be Your Lover
Lio - Amoureux Solitaires
Metal Urbain - Paris Maquis
The Slits - I Heard It Through the Grapevine
DAF - Der Mussolini
The Knife - Heartbeats (Rex the Dog Mix)
Heiko Voss - Call Me Now
Out Hud - One Life to Leave
Jurgen Paape - So Weit Wie Noch Nie
Patrick Cowley/Sylvester - Do You Wanna Funk?
Bobby Orlando - I'm So Hot for You
D-Train - You're the One for Me
Patrice Rushen - Forget Me Nots
Ten City - Devotion (Bam Bam's House Mix)
Advance - Take Me to the Top
Waterfront Home - Take a Chance on Me
Alison Limerick - Where Love Lives
Erasure - A Little Respect
New Order - Temptation
Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless
David Bowie - Sound and Vision
Bangles - Going Down to Liverpool
Passions - I'm in Love With a German Film Star
Soft Cell - Bedsitter
**encore**
The Smiths - The Boy With the Thorn in His Side
Queen - Killer Queen
Hall and Oates - I Can't Go for That
Tears for Fears - Pale Shelter
Wham! - Everything She Wants

*=request
**=The Go Station's website can be found here and one of their band members has alerted me to a benefit concert for the Kia Nowotne Cancer Fund taking place on August 4th, 8pm-4am. More details here.

seconds 7/25/05

2005-07-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

Last night was the best Seconds yet! So much so that I stayed until a little bit after 4! Thanks again everyone for coming out, double-thanks to Jimmy and Soozy for hooking a brotha up with a place to crash, and keep coming out because there might be an exciting development for us in the future (ooh ahh) if we keep getting great turnouts!

And heeeeere's that setlist:

Tom:

Cut Copy - Saturdays
MIA - Sunshowers
Altered Images - Happy Birthday
Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy - Kiss Me
Electronic - Getting Away With It
Flesh for Lulu - I Go Crazy
Magnetic Fields - Long-Forgotten Fairytale
The Cars - You're All I've Got Tonight
U2 - Mysterious Ways
Iggy Pop - The Passenger

Joe:

Adam and the Ants - Antmusic
Spandau Ballet - To Cut a Long Story Short
The Associates - Club Country
Lene Lovich - Lucky Number
Lio - Banana Split
Wir Sind Helden - Guten Tag
Kim Wilde - Kids in America
Roxy Music - Virginia Plain
Shocking Blue - Send Me a Postcard
M - Pop Muzik
Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi
Buzzcocks - Everybody's Happy Nowadays
Human League - Open Your Heart

Tom:

Wolfsheim - Blind
Madonna - Bedtime Story
Depeche Mode - World in My Eyes
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Arabian Nights
Interpol - PDA
Peaches - Operate
The Faint - Erection
Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Y-Control (Faint Mix)
Miss Kittin and the Hacker - 1982
Joy Division - Isolation
B-52's - 52 Girls
Cake - Satan Is My Motor
David Bowie - Let's Spend the Night Together
The Cure - Let's Go to Bed
New Order - Age of Consent
Pet Shop Boys - Domino Dancing
INXS - The One Thing
The Smiths - What Difference Does It Make?
a-ha - The Sun Always Shines on TV

Joe:

Prince - Little Red Corvette
Telex - Moskow Diskow
Visage - Tar
Solvent - My Radio
Melody Club - Baby
Koto - Visitors
Mylo - In My Arms
Universal Poplab - We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
FPU - Ocean Drive (Tiga's White Linen Vox)
Trans-X - Living on Video
Giorgio Moroder - From Here to Eternity
Yarbrough & Peoples - Don't Stop the Music
Grace Jones - I've Seen That Face Before (DJ Hell Remix)
Little Computer People - Eyes
Charlie - Spacer Woman
Jamie Principle - Baby Wants to Ride
Pebbles - Girlfriend
Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame
Roni Griffith - Desire
Yazoo - Situation
Animotion - Obsession
Richard X feat. Tiga - You (Better Let Me Love You x4) Tonight
Chicks on Speed - Wordy Rappinghood (Playgroup Remix)
Loose Joints - Is It All Over My Face?
Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Something
Joyce Sims - All and All
Paul Lekakis - Boom Boom (Let's Go Back to My Room)
New Order - Perfect Kiss
The Cure - A Forest
Bauhaus - She's in Parties
Echo and the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
XTC - Making Plans for Nigel
Aztec Camera - Pillar to Post
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Christine
Depeche Mode - A Question of Time
Sisters of Mercy - Lucretia My Reflection
Chris & Cosey - Heartbeat
Tubeway Army - Me! I Disconnect from You

"you went swimming? in new york?"

2005-07-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

Why, yes I did, Mom/anonymous reader!

In Astoria Pool, to be precise. Host to the 1936 and 1960 Olympic swimming competitions (and very nearly almost-host of the 2012 ones as well) and largest outdoor pool in all of New York City, the Astoria Pool is actually comprised of three; one is not so much a pool as just a fountain that sprays mist, in addition to the diving area (which was mysteriously closed off - is there a more disquieting sight in the midst of freewheeling summer fun than a completely empty pool? Some of you must remember that Drug-Free America PSA from about a decade ago where a pale, curly-haired woman, apparently "on" something, dives head-first into an empty pool in grainy slow motion? Also, anyone who's ever read the last of Salinger's Nine Stories must know the feeling I'm talking about too) and the pool proper, which is never deeper than 3 ft. 7 in. all the way around. The line to get into Astoria Pool wends its way well into Astoria Park on a beautiful day such as today, so there was about a 20-minute wait to enter. Also, the men's locker room smells like Satan's jockstrap and they charge you six dollars for a lock (well, five for me, the guy gave me a discount "because I gave one to that guy!"). But when you come home reeking of chlorine and ever so slightly sore from getting the first real bit of exercise you've attempted all summer, you realize it was ultimately worth it. And there's still something of the joyful peals of laughing youth that really brings you back to your own pool days...and at the same time makes you wish you went to a smaller pool with less screaming brats. Plus, I am now the proud owner of a shiny new lock!

We (Matt and I) have plans to visit other pools in NYC - there's one in Chelsea that I imagine will be interesting. I'm already saving up to buy a saucy, ultra-revealing Speedo and the obligatory chest wax.

On a side note: Newark Penn Station, you really are a special guy and I'm glad we've developed such an intimate bond over the years. Too bad your brother in New York is a horrible asshole who ~~probably~~ deserves to have his house set on fire and his car assaulted with a Louisville Slugger.

(PS COME TO SECONDS TOMORROW NIGHT. THIS MEANS YOU, YOU, AND ESPECIALLY YOU, WOMAN IN THE BACK WITH THE HAIR. 174 Orchard St. b-w Houston and Stanton, 2-for-1 drinkydrinks 10pm-12am, and all the rock/new wave/synthpop/digitized '80s soul/Sisters of Mercy you can handle!)

seconds 7/18/05

2005-07-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

And here's the triumphant playlist from the second-ever SECONDS party. Tom's set was pretty solid, mine was a bit all over the place, I'm afraid (the curse of the dilletante, surely). I did, however, get a drunk chick to dance to the "Wham! Rap" so that cancels out basically all the negative bits. We promise the back-to-back Smiths songs won't become a regular staple of our sets though, honestly! We also promise MORE SISTERS OF MERCY (well, I do)

Tom's set (10-12:45-ish):
George Michael - Freedom '90
B-52's - Summer of Love
Belle and Sebastian - Sleep the Clock Around
Icehouse - Electric Blue
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Morrissey - Hairdresser on Fire
New Order - Regret
Madonna - Material Girl*
The Cure - Just Like Heaven*
INXS - What You Need
Pretenders - Middle of the Road
The Cars - Let's Go
Flesh for Lulu - I Go Crazy
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World*
Peter Schilling - Major Tom
David Bowie - Heroes
The Sun and the Moon - Love You (?)
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill*
The Smiths - Sheila Take a Bow
The Smiths - Girlfriend in a Coma
Duran Duran - Girls on Film
Prince - Raspberry Beret
Blondie - Atomic
Interpol - Evil
Smashing Pumpkins - Zero
Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf*
Gary Numan - Pure
NIN - Head Like a Hole
Jane's Addiction - Stop!
Led Zeppelin - Trampled Under Foot
Sisters of Mercy - Lucretia My Reflection
Camouflage - The Great Commandment
Echo and the Bunnymen - The Cutter (?)
Wolfsheim - Now I Fall
Apoptygma Berzerk - Kathy's Song
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Real Life - Send Me an Angel

Joe's Set (12:45-3:30-ish)
Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey - Together in Electric Dreams
Eurythmics - There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart)
Klymaxx - Wild Girls
Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance
Divine - Native Beat (Step by Step)
Trans-X - Living on Video
The Rapture - I Need Your Love
Sonic Youth - Kotton Kross
Pixies - Alec Eiffel
Magazine - Shot by Both Sides
Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People
Wham! - Wham! Rap
The Clash - This Is Radio Clash
David Bowie - Sound & Vision
T. Rex - Metal Guru
Fire Engines - We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang
Pigbag - Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag
Connie Case - Get Down
Shannon - Give Me Tonight
Lidell Townsell - Nu Nu (Remix)
Deee-Lite - Good Beat
Bohannon - The Groove Machine
Lectric Workers - Robot Is Systematic
Imagination - Just an Illusion
Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait
Clio - Faces
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
ABBA - The Visitors
Bobby O - German Girl
The Go-Gos - Tonite
The Cure - Close to Me
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cannons
Pulp - Babies
Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Lands End*

*by request

Also, I slept in the library last night. It wasn't great, but at least I know what it's like now.

seconds 7/11/05

2005-07-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is officially the full playlist from last night's Seconds party. Thanks again to everyone who came, and be sure to spread the word so we can keep on bringing the jams! (italics = my stuff)

...

The Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue
The Doors - Love Her Madly
David Bowie - Stay
Feelies - Fa-Ce-La
Scritti Politti - Wood Beez (version)
Hall and Oates - Everything Your Heart Desires
Altered Images - Small Without Me
INXS - Suicide Blonde
Elefant - Bokkie
Associates - Party Fears Two
Joy Division - She's Lost Control
Krisma - Many Kisses
Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps
New Order - Age of Consent
Pet Shop Boys - Opportunities
Depeche Mode - Shake the Disease
Duran Duran - Planet Earth
Loto - Back to Discos
Jamie Principle - Baby Wants to Ride
Pulp - Party Hard
Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
The Smiths - Ask
McCarthy - Get a Knife Between Your Teeth
The Embarrassment - Celebrity Art Party
Fire Engines - Candyskin
Au Pairs - Set-Up
Interpol - Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
Chemical Brothers - Galvanize
Fischerspooner - Just Let Go
Bronski Beat - Why?
Animotion - Obsession
Richard X - Rock Jacket
The Knife - Heartbeats (Rex the Dog Remix)
M.I.A. - Amazon
The Cure - Just Say Yes
Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
The Human League - Seconds
Mr. Flagio - Take a Chance
Ris feat. Celeste - Love-n-Music
The Go! Team - Huddle Formation*
Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - American Girl
Belle and Sebastian - Dirty Dream #2
---exeunt Tom, I took over---
Maximum Joy - Do It Again
Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Fad Gadget - Collapsing New People
Grace Jones - Pull Up to the Bumper
Kano - Can't Hold Back (Your Loving)
Geraldine Hunt - Can't Fake the Feeling
Prince - Controversy
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead*
The Smiths - Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before*
Japan - Visions of China
Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring
Frankie Knuckles - Your Love
Michael Jackson - PYT
Jocelyn Brown - Somebody Else's Guy
Klein & MBO - Dirty Talk
The Flirts - Helpless
Capricorn - I Need Love
Lyn Collins - Think (About It)
The Bar-Kays - Holy Ghost

*=by request

2005-07-07T19:46:00.000-07:00

My laptop despises the fact that I want to post about my favorite songs of the year so far so until I feel like re-writing that whole spiel again, I would like you to concentrate on the following image:

Now, tell me if you feel anything. Like, say, the urge to tell all your friends about it, or to go out for cheap drinks and hot tunes and dance maybe?

Now, may I highly recommend you give into those urges? It's purely healthy, you know.

(seriously guys, come! dance! be merry!)

I left my heart in Boston...

2005-07-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

...and unfortunately, I left my camera there, too. So the much-planned photoblog of this trip will have to wait (which must be about the 485349854th time I've promised such a thing anyway so you pretty much know what (not) to expect).

I will say this, though: if every weekend there were as spectacular as this one was, I'd seriously move to Boston in a heartbeat. I don't really want to use the word "quaint" (reeks of condescension under the best of intentions; also, can a city even be quaint?) but there was a great deal less self-consciousness than you'd find in New York City which I found totally refreshing, and some of the architecture is just beeeeeeautiful. Also, Sugar Heaven on Newbury St. plays some ridiculously great music and would've been 9-year-old me's favorite place on Earth.

ADDENDUM:
I asked my parents what their 4th of July plans entailed and they informed me that they went to my cousin's for a barbeque. My father then went on to gush about how "beautiful" their 60-inch widescreen television was. Thus lies the fundamental disconnect between my parents and I: the greenery and serenity of Princeton Commons is unjustly ignored in favor of their big pool and nice TV. Suffice it to say, we have vastly differing definitions of the essence of beauty, and it scares me not a little bit that over time, my own such definition may become horribly warped into "Wow, this 120-inch hi-def screen REALLY captures the wrinkles on Vanna White's brow BEAUTIFULLY!" Suburban complacency - yikes.

((happy one year, you))

here and now...

2005-07-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

RIP, luther. :(

the cat's out of the (ro)bag (wruhme)

2005-06-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

(in keeping with the kitty-luv of late)

This site is somewhat old news, but I rediscover it every now and again, and there are definitely times when I think C+N(upbeat)+5+8 is the greatest minimal bump'n'grind sweat-on-the-walls dance jawn EVAH.

ATTN ALL NEW YORK DENIZENS:

2005-06-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know I've already tested the limits of the generosity of some of you (yikes, that looks awkwardly constructed, YET NO LESS TRUE I must add), but in case a certain, erm, job offer whose specifics I don't wish to disclose at this time lest it falls through, comes through for me, would anyone be willing to put up someone (ie me) every Monday night for the rest of the summer, starting sometime in July (after the 4th, for sure)? Caveat: the nature of this "job" would entail me coming home at a fairly late hour, which makes this offer necessary in the first place (I'd likely miss the train each night). Also, I am prepared to pay a small stipend (ie a week's rent or yknow, whatever you deem necessary, within reason) to anyone who would be kick-ass enough to do this for me. (and yeah I know for a couple of you I should have paid you a month's rent by this point but I do plan on compensating you nicely by summer's end, scout's honor).

(Alternately I could just putz around until really late in the evening and then maybe catch the very first train home. Or crash at Bobst. Right now I am running on fumes after a wine- and tequila- and steak-fueled sleepless weekend (which I shall write more about in a bit) and I think this is a good idea. Time and several hours of sleep may prove me wrong in the morning.) But still, if you or someone you know would have space for me and wouldn't mind hosting a quiet and unobtrusive once-weekly tenant who is willing to compensate you for your extreme helpfulness, I would be much obliged. Of course, this "job" is still fairly up in the air for now, but I'm just gonna throw this one out there and see if anything sticks.

2005-06-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this blog and it is June 20th between 9-11 pm EST, then I strongly advise you to get the HELL off your computer and watch CYBER SEDUCTION on the Lifetime Channel - starring him from the live action Peter Pan as a teenager who gets addicted to Internet porn and Kelly Lynch as his ~~MILF~~ loving mother - which promises to be the movie event of the...moment, until i get Robocop and Eraserhead from Netflix this week, at least.

(yeah, week and a half without posting and this is what you get. sorry, will provide content soon, maybeperhaps)

UPDATE: "Hey guys, whaddaya think - Switchfoot or Green Day?"
"Switchfoot's for altar boys...gotta go with Green."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wo ist musik? :(

2005-06-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

So I haven't had much of an urge to actually update wasistmusik? for awhile and I think this stems from a number of things. Musically this year started off pretty tightly, having, WITH NO THANKS AT ALL NONE WHATSOEVER to p2p technology, heard Run the Road and the LCD Soundsystem, MIA, Justus Kohncke, and Mu releases well in advance of their actual releases. At this point in the year I hardly listen to three of those albums (the middle three, if you care, though I am seeing LCD tomorrow at Webster Hall and am rather hotly anticipating it) and the upcoming release schedule is experience this mid-year lull, disrupted mainly by the stateside release of Anniemal, which makes me glad I won't have to pay $25 for it. With the thrill of Eurovision gone and the charts as unremittingly shrugworthy as they've been for the past couple of weeks, there's not been much good pop to catch up on, and I kind of just feel worn out in pursuing all the thousands of other microgenres that interested me greatly only about four months ago (I think I'm even starting to get a little tired, or at least generally apathetic towards, the electro-house craze, Vitalic's beautiful album notwithstanding).

So what HAVE I been listening to, then? Well, in addition to the songs that make up the bulk of the last two entries, I've been enjoying:

- Plenty of obscuro new wave, mostly courtesy of s!sk. A folder filled with "Quirkwave" songs has been making the rounds a lot on the WMP, as well as this wonderful compilation called Transmission: French Cold Wave (1981-1989). I've no idea if these are legitimate albums as such but the latter compilation leads me to believe that most French postpunk bands could do Joy Division better than Joy Division could (sometimes). It's all fairly bleak but it's very crisp and punchy, very electric, and nearly always fascinating, like the fragile skeleton of synthpop laid bare. The former is pretty self-explanatory, disjointed post-punk which exists at the outer fringes of melody and occasionally sanity. I'm especially enjoying the Los Microwaves tracks a fair deal.

Elsewhere, there's the New Wave Complex series of albums, of which I know there are at least nine and which I know for a fact are Internet-only compilations. They're similar in spirit to those This Is Flexi Pop compilations you see floating all about s!sk also, and are probably compiled by the same person(s), who's devoted lots of time to seeking out this bizarre and often wonderful claptrap. A lot of it sort of borders on the verge of listenability itself, but among the various treasures and traps I've found this absolute GEM of a song, 1ere Classe's "Poupee Flash," a sexy, taut French track with about a thousand little hummable hooks, heavy use of the vocoder, lumbering synth-toms, and blase' francovox. A friend of mine described this as "everything music should sound like," and while I may not 100% agree (even *I* need a rockin' palate-cleanser every once in awhile), I can't think of a more ringing endorsement than that. And yes, I'm being a good sport so you can download it HERE (also check out the awesome single cover!):

1ere Classe - Poupee Flash

- Fannypack's See You Next Tuesday, which I'm liking more than So Stylistic - the cutesy stuff on the first album worked great but they seem to have - urgh here's that word - matured a bit on this one, or at least the rapping is a LOT better this time around, and the beats are just so consistently on, from marching band bangers to hopscotch'n'handclap beats. I'm a bit annoyed that Jessibel, Belinda and Cat spend so much of this record talking about how they love touring when I've also heard that they don't plan on touring for this album, since their NYU show was one of my favorite things about freshman year, dismal opening acts notwithstanding. Still, it brings the heat: "You Gotta Know" is a Hot Summer Jam if I ever did hear one and "Seven One Eight" should be the Brooklyn National Anthem.

- Various stuff that I've raided from the archives of Bubblegum Machine, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest mp3blogs EVER

- The Go! Team's Thunder Lightning Strike, a record I adored last year and still adore now. This re-listening was prompted by Mike's recent affection for "Huddle Formation," which sounds like the most fun you've ever had at a high school football game times ten thousand, but my favorite remains "Bottle Rocket" with its energetic, barely intellgible female MC smothered underneath a fog of snazzy '70s game show theme flutes, blaring spy movie soundtrack horns, and drums hauled in from a long-lost jam session that was lying around in someone's dad's basement. It feels like something that's been done before hundreds of times yet it simultaneously makes the proposition of Big Beat Part Two!! seem a little less unsavory.

So yeah, 2005's on hold for a bit while I struggle in my quest to become dillettante extraordinaire. Also, I'm not watching nearly as many movies as I did last summer, though I am soon to be inundated with quite a few thanks to Netflix (joining this again will be a terrible idea, I can already tell) and some Blockbuster rentals I have lying around for another week. I've watched less than 10 this summer: compare to last summer when I'd probably watched about 30 by this point. I am, of course, eagerly awaiting Howl's Moving Castle with bated breath and may even break my usual no-English-dubs-in-my-anime-plz-kthxbye rule and put up with Billy Crystal's voice for two hours.

Also, I will have the photos from the first of what I really hope will be many many many parkgoing ventures in NYC - #1: Prospect Park! - up soon.

omgwtflol

2005-06-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

i have never ROFFLED at anything so hard in my life. neither will you...have. roffled. likewise.

the perry bible fellowship

talk about...pop muzik? and assorted other topics of little interest

2005-05-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

So, the rest of that mix, then:

11) M - Pop Muzik - My kind of rallying cry - "New York, London, Paris, Munich/Everybody talk about - Pop Muzik!" A bizarre, whimsical record by British musician Robin Scott that went gold in the US so at least some people were, not coincidentally, talking about "Pop Muzik." Meta-pop was nothing new to the British public by the time this record had come out - "Virginia Plain," f'rinstance - but "Pop Muzik" laid bare the entire history of pop in commenting about it, embracing its ridiculousness by being totally ridiculous in itself. It's all there: nonsense lyrics, dancing in the streets, the "new! futuristic!" sounds. Even today it sounds like something pop music is striving towards rather than what it is, a glorious amalgamation of pop's history/legacy, present technology and future possibilities.

12) Bloodhound Gang - Mope - Meanwhile, the Bloodhound Gang are very much a band of their time; I can't imagine a band like them being able to exist in any decade other than the '90s, the decade that was surely the pinnacle of slacker culture and fart jokes. "Mope" is a '90s pop culture blitzkrieg, a barbed confection of just about everything that smartass college flunkies who were chronically picked on in eighth grade can be, well, a big ol' smartass about. In doing so, they turn Frankie Goes to Hollywood into a walking gay joke (while humorously sampling "Relax" for the song itself), give a gangsta shout-out to the then-recently deceased Falco, and in the song's "breakdown," transform Pac-Man into a raving coke fiend. They're most self-effacing about themselves, of course: you're basically made to mock their patheticness when they brag about watching COPS with no pants on or staring at girls while pretending to speed-read. As I don't believe they've recorded anything of late, their prediction that their career would end up like "Luciano Pavarotti on a treadmill" turned out to be stunningly accurate, but for the space of this song, they embraced the juvenile brat/frat-rap espoused by the pre-social conscience Beasties and released a number of albums that strove to such a high-minded level of absurdity and jackassitude that I'm sort of amazed that I love it as much I do. When Homer Simpson joins in on the fun at the end, I'm pretty much won over to its icky charms. ("Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny" is still a terrible, terrible song, though.)

13) Ini Kamoze - Here Comes the Hotstepper - There's that '90s nostalgia rearing its ugly head again. Of course, this track is blindingly classic, pop-reggae riding a Taana Gardner sample to its logical funky conclusion, Ini's thin'n'wobbly though militantly steadfast vocals hitting every possible hook ("exCUSE me, mr. officer!"). Though having a long career of reggae behind him before this song became a hit thanks to the Ready to Wear (!!) soundtrack, he apparently has not released an album since.

14) Sylvi Foster - Hookey - I already wrote about this once, but its skeezy slurred-ESL vox and sly synthesizer hooks remain total class.

15) Kay Franzes - Take Me and You'll Win - In the last post I wrote about distinctive Italo records being more prone to repeat listens on my behalf. To my knowledge, this is the only Italo record to contain the word "boobies," so this wins some sort of prize based on that alone. Luckily, the rest of the record is great, too. Kay's raspy vocals are alternately beseeching you to come home with him and undressing you with his eyes, and he pulls off neat stunts with it as well (check the way he savors the "sugarLIPS to effect!" lyric almost like a fine wine, a wonderful turn of phrase that probably could not have been penned by anyone who speaks English as their first language). And of course, the "wunderbars" that dot the song are like topping your ice cream off with the best kind of sprinkles money can buy.

16) Paul Lekakis - Boom Boom (Let's Go Back to My Room) - When released in 1986, this record must have seemed like the dying vestiges of a fading civilization; namely, pre-AIDS gay culture. It's not explicitly about gay sex and can very easily be addressed to a woman, yet Lekakis' husky come-ons ("Hey babe, I'd like to talk to you/How'sabout comin' back to my room for a little BOOM-BOOM?"), coupled with his just-visible chiseled, naked torso on the record sleeve and the glittery hi-NRG beat contained therein easily lend the song to a queer historical reading. There's more than a tinge of desperation in Lekakis' delivery. "You're driving me crazy, crazy for you" is exclaimed almost breathlessly, and every bodily action is coded, each gesture loaded with significance: "You keep coming to me/I can feel your dynamite." The single went to #1 in Japan and Australia but in Reagan's America didn't stand much of a chance. The time had not been out of the public mind, after all, when AIDS was referred to as "gay cancer" by alarmist establishment figures, which in turn led to the policing of NYC bathhouses and other queer hangouts for illicit activity. "Boom Boom" reflects, to an extent, the disillusionment that the hedonistic lifestyle espoused by the song's lyrics led to a path of destruction for many, and the realization that things had to change soon, and fast. Though the next decade would see a buttoning-up somewhat of gay culture, wherein gays could become marketed as "safe" to be around, good shopping buddies, what have you, those sexual impulses never went away, and were instead channeled by the likes of underground gay figures like Bruce LaBruce and Dennis Cooper, in an attempt to make gay sex "transgressive" again.

And so this crisis of image has played a crucial role in gay identity confusion - is it better to stay "true" to your roots and enjoy the hedonistic lifestyle to piss off the squares, or should we opt for coveting mainstream acceptance to grant us upward mobility and all the privileges to which heterosexuals are entitled? It's a tricky issue I can't begin to resolve, and Paul Lekakis seems just as unsure of it himself in this song. I can't help but think of all of this when the key change hits about 30 seconds before the song's fade-out. Key changes in pop have long signified an added surge of confidence for the singer, but this particular one sounds morose and disappointed (my lack of music theory expertise renders me unable to discuss this in more explicit terms, as I can't tell what changes the key makes exactly), and put through a queer reading, the lack of vocals in this part speaks to me in different ways: stripped of its identity, the song can't find its own voice.

Oh, and this weekend, I bought a kick-ASS Donna Summer poster, the Make Way for Dionne Warwick LP, and Macho's "I'm a Man" 12" for a whopping $2.00. Park Slope is beautiful.

talk about...pop muzik?

2005-05-30T23:55:00.000-07:00

The tracklist of a mix CD I made before spending my weekend more or less entirely in beautiful Park Slope, Brooklyn under Justin and Mike's welcoming roof:

1) Bardo - One Step Further - the UK's 1983 Eurovision entry and a damn fine one it is - catchy like syphilis and hopelessly indebted to ABBA (like most of the great Eurovision entries are, i suspect), two things i'm all 'bout. I should force Justin to listen to this one day and maybe it'll drive him insane like that Melody Club song did.

2) Krisma - Many Kisses - vaguely creepy Italian synthpunk number that was estimably big in Europe in 1980. Krisma gained a degree of notoriety from incidents involving razorblades and their fingers on stage, but the Sex Pistols' (whose look they copped somewhat) gob'n'snarl is hardly apparent on this record, and if it is, perhaps it's mostly in the three kisses blown after each mention of the song title, which sound more like kissoffs, really.

3) Paris Angels - Perfume - great indie-dance record from the height of BAGGY. There is apparently a remix of this which is much better (and which I also haven't heard) but I rather like this version too: the wordless ethereal female vox on the chorus elevate an otherwise unremarkable song to a greater stature and sound all the lovelier contrasted with the gruff male singer's manchester mumble. The rest of the song is swoony hazy guitars and drum machine skiffle, striking a precarious balance that happily works.

4) Paso Doble - Herz an Herz - adorable German New Wave record that was later transformed in the '90s by an act called Blumchen into a gigantic throbbing Eurodance stomper. Their single "Computerliebe" is great too but a bit torn between whether it wants to be cold hard Kraftwerk or sweet ol' a-ha, but this song makes up its mind squarely on the latter (it even threatens to turn into "Take on Me" after the second chorus!) and is all the better for it. Sung im Deutsche but the chorus is rudimentary German so I don't feel like a doofus singing along to it.

5) Wish Key - Last Summer - I make no bones about my fondness for Italo Disco but let's face it, a lot of it is really crap, isn't it? All samey synth-doodles and ESL vox which is great at first but exhausting and inane after overexosure (which is nobody's fault but my own obviously, but still). So occasionally, it takes a deviation from the formula to pique my interest, and the reason I think "Last Summer" works is because it operates from an angle of nostalgia (a recurring theme with some of the songs on this CD, as we'll see). The premise of most Italo, to me, and the great fun of it, too, is that this is Music Made by Robots to Pretend to Be a Robot To, and the injection of "I remember last summer" into a song, coupled with the general wistfulness of the melody, seems particularly striking amidst a sea of mass-produced I-robotnicks.

6) Cathy Dennis - All Night Long (Touch Me) - I'm tempted to just say that this is one of the greatest records ever made and be done with it, but if I had to say something about it, well, I remember this playing on Z100 a lot back in tha day (see? told ya) and just becoming a really happy camper whenever this happened. Records like this basically informed my pre-teen musical aesthetic, I think: you could keep your damn grunge rock, I'm more than happy to cohabitate in this brilliant and sexy pop dreamworld with Cathy and hey it turns out I don't even like to touch girls but I wouldn't dream of changing those words for a second, they just sound so right. If I never liked this record, Girls Aloud would mean nothing to me today, I think.

7) Markus Guentner with Acid Maria - So Well - Acid Maria rhapsodizes like an academic robot-with-a-sore-throat about physical attraction, trying to lecture, it seems, but able only to describe these sensations in snippets and fragments, ultimately reducing it to the more-complex-than-it-seems statement: "because I'm a girl." Markus Guentner provides the grooves, a stiff microhouse beat that builds slowly but steadily throughout the song like a passing fancy, with a warm synth-line gently humming its way throughout.

8) DHS - House of God - more nostalgia (or JOE-stalgia if you will, hem hem) for my "techno" years ('97-'98, roughly). I saw the video for this on MTV's AMP, their only show devoted to electronic music which emerged at roughly the same time I started to develop an interest in it, but unfortunately was usually broadcast at an hour when I had trouble staying awake for it (and if it were on these days, it would be broadcast at an hour when I'd probably be out of the house anyhow). This is still a fantastic song, and it does so much with seemingly so little: that relentless 4/4 beat, the evangelist samples, the funky doo doo doo-doo-doo-doo bassline, the syncopated synth-line, and not much else. Did they have other singles and were any of them as good as this, if so?

9) Low Fidelity All-Stars - Battleflag - the "dirty" version, it should be noted. I'm thinking I may have liked the radio edit a bit more - I like the length of the album cut but the "get down on your motherfucking knees!" sounds a bit much. Even so, this wouldn't really erase many of the other lyrical misfires in this song ("got a revolution behind my eyes/we got to get up and organize" - in 1999 or whatever were you really that progressive? I mean, the wordless part before any of the other music sets in at the beginning sounds like Dead Cities-era FSOL!) but it still sounds funky as hell to me and I still get this weird thrill of bad-assitude when I listen to it.

10) Lyn Collins - Think (About It) - The song which birthed one of the most perfect singles ever created, that is, Rob Base and DJ EZ-Rock's "It Takes Two." The original is hardly anything to sneeze at, either: Lyn Collins is in perfect sassy form throughout, wielding her sexuality like a weapon over one helluva funky organs & horns break.

...it's fucking late, so I'll continue this tomorrow, maybe with an mp3 or two and a general description of my wonderful, low-key weekend. also MIKE DOUGHERTY PLEASE GET THAT PHOTO YOU TOOK OF ME YESTERDAY ONLINE ASAP THX.

nice pubes.

2005-05-25T00:15:00.000-07:00

there are many things in this world that i desire right now.

1) a lucrative (emotionally if not financially) DJ career
2) records that will better help me realize 1)
3) a place to live in nyc as commuting rather sux
4) a paycheck dear god a paycheck
5) a second part-time job
6) a certain person's intimate advances (yknow the kissing and groping and touching of dangly bits and whathaveyou)
7) the ability to tear myself away from this infernal contraption for five seconds

as these desires remain unfulfilled for the time being, i remain ever eager to impart gifts on anyone who bothers themselves with soaking up my pabulum. so here is an mp3. it is by the wonderful gender-bending disco chanteuse grace jones, and is called "pull up to the bumper" and it prominently features car horns, cowbell, and a neat guitar/synth hook, all deployed in the service of a deliciously sexy disco/funk choon wherein the titular line is employed as a metaphor for picking up a hooker (or so i like to think). it is also remixed by larry levan of paradise garage fame and is therefore unquestionably Very Very Good. this will hopefully make up for (read: distract you from) the fact that, in the universe that is my bedroom, i have done very little except bed-rave a little (oh i'm not fooling you am i A LOT) and stare at my laptop and therefore have nothing of great importance to discuss.

(well, that's not entirely true. i finally watched harold and kumar go to white castle tonight, which only qualified as a matter of "great importance" because it is set in new jersey and i'm always curious to watch cinematic depictions of my home state. i did enjoy it, even though not all the jokes really work and the geography is a bit amiss. i have this working theory that as a treatise on life in new jersey it is far more relevant to my experiences growing up here than garden state is but i really should be going to bed. but first, that mp3.)

grace jones - pull up to the bumper (larry levan garage remix)

2005-05-21T00:10:00.000-07:00

updated blogroll. expect a big WIM2K5 update soon, i've been workin' the p2p mojo lots lately.

MEANWHILE:

silverdollarcircle to killers, franz, et al.: "J00 HAVE BEEN PWNED"

there. are. many. imitators. but. we. are. the. true. creators. we. are. back.

2005-05-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

i've gotten myself a webshots account! first up: my weekend in delaware, which is explained in the captions more or less so i won't say too much about it, save to say that i had a lot of fun and that it was an ENTIRELY different universe from what i'm used to (which isn't a bad thing at all, of course). (also, douchebags who throw eggs at people from cars should get aborted.) (also also, no burrito can remove chipotle's icy cold grip on my heart, but it was a valiant try, santa fe mexican grill!) much thanks to the udel kids for showing me a grand ol' time, and i hope to visit again soon!

meanwhile, i started work yesterday, which is to say, i shelved books for three hours. this isn't a terrible thing - do it long enough and it becomes oddly meditative - but it was awfully hard to shelve all those books when all i wanted to do was rifle through all the 18th-century (and older) books in the stacks. the wide range of conditions some of these books are in is incredible - many have held up, many nearly crumble when you touch them. there's over a HUNDRED different editions of don quixote, including one edition dating from 1605! another great finds: a copy of this book, which i've decided is the greatest name for a book ever (even though i'll probably never read it).

i forgot to mention...

2005-05-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

would anyone care to accompany on some sort of nyc parkhopping venture? one that would attempt to hit up all five boroughs, ideally? this wouldn't all be done over the course of one weekend, naturally, but i feel that the greenery of our fair city is overlooked and underappreciated, so let us do our part to bask in it!

oh fine here, let me post some pictures to pique your interest:

flushing meadows-corona park!

prospect park!

pelham bay park!

sunset park/green-wood cemetery!

astoria park!

ft. greene park!

but enough of all that. let's snap some photos of our own, shall we?

summer breeze, makes me feel fine

2005-05-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

and so, i have completed the most final of my finals for the 2004-2005 academic year and am now moved out of cliff street and back in the comfy suburban nestles of cranford.

so being back in new jersey, perhaps for the whole summer (my mother asked me why i never considered subletting with you folks - needless to say i didn't have an answer, and still don't), is indicative of a number of things. most importantly, i am now forced to spend evenings in a bed that is, paradoxically, smaller than my dorm bed, and yet somehow much emptier as well. no longer will the sun glare meanly into my eyes through my window overlooking the brooklyn bridge at around 8:30 in the morning, effectively robbing me of a full night's sleep. i will have to reacquaint myself with barking dogs, empty stretches of spooky suburban streets at night, and food served in diners that close at 2 in the morning. and, of course, a decrease in alcohol intake.

tonight my family went to olive garden on rt. 22 to celebrate a belated mother's day night out (which probably goes to show the amount of respect the males in my family have for this tradition). on the drive back, past the theme restaurants that adorn rt. 22 and the now-closed skeet range on the cusp of cranford/kenilworth, i was amazed that i felt a weird contentment with the current state of things. yes, most of my friends will be away this summer, living in manhattan, brooklyn, delaware, and vacationing to florida, europe, and god knows where else while i remain the sessile being that i am, commuting at least three days a week into the city and not doing much else with my time. and yes, my boyfriend is several hundred miles away, a fact that frankly makes me/him/us feel lousier the more i/he/we think(s) about it. yet i can't help but retain more than a shred of optimism: i will be working in the city, i will make the effort to train up to boston to see le ricecore, i will be able to see the myriad of cool folks that i've met over the past two years AND my hometown folx, and i will sleep on many many friends' couches to cop that vagabond vibe.

in a way i'm excited to be back: i love city grime as much as the next nyc transplant raised in new jersey but let's face it, i grew none-too-attached to the financial district and its miserable cast of characters in their stifling business casual eating overpriced bagels at corbet and conley's. it's been a long time since i've enjoyed the feel of grass underneath my (sneakered) feet, the smell of summer nights unobscured by air pollution and dense traffic, the taste and texture of a diner-prepared vanilla milkshake as it soul-kisses my taste buds and eases its way down my throat like a stealthy leopard on the prowl. misgivings about money and distant boyfriend besides, i expect a summer as carefree and laidback as the seals & crofts song which gives this entry its name.

so i think i'm gonna make the most of a not-terrible situation and enjoy this time i'll be spending in cranford. if i rid myself of the perception that the next three-and-a-half months will be akin to sitting in a stalled car at the world's longest red light, then everything should turn out reasonably well, i gather. plus, if i ever get sick of this town and have $7.25 to my name, i'll know what to do.

(actually, it just so happens that this weekend i am spending considerably more than that (take that amount and multiply it by about coughcoughmumblemutter18coughcoughmuttergrumble) to spend a weekend at the university of delaware, studiously observing what it is like to attend an ACTUAL college instead of the weird fragmented OMG POMO IRONY RULZ!!!1!11! experience that is NYU, and getting fuckin' sloshed while doing so. huzzah!)

(ps get one healthier, richard cicchelli!)

a steady diet of brautigan

2005-05-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

pictured above: the fales library, new york university.

aka my place of summer employment.

BOOYAKASHA!

piano magic - i am the sub-librarian

...but do you ruff ME?

2005-05-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

kristin frogner - stars above my head (link takes you to video, courtesy of mtveurope)

i am trying to finish my last paper of the semester and this song isn't helping me in the least.

on the surface, it isn't a distracting song. it's very lightweight, enough that it won't seriously deter me from doing work. what aggravates me about it though is that after about twenty listens i still have no idea whether i LIKE it or not.

basically, kristin frogner, who hails from norway and is, if i'm not mistaken, also an actress in her homeland, has a voice reminiscent of kylie minogue, minus the seductive breathiness (which is the only interesting trait about kylie's voice in the first place) and wayyyy amped on the 'cute-as-a-button' factor. so really, she sounds like she's thirteen, and singing mostly to herself. the song itself is inoffensive to the point of just being barely noticeable - too languid to be "breezy," too listless to be entirely affecting, i imagine if you played this for a room full of people it would elicit no effect whatsoever. there is nothing at ALL outstanding about this song and its cloyingly adorable singer should make me dismiss it entirely.

yet at the same time i feel totally compelled, for one reason or another, to adore it. i don't think i DO adore it, for reasons aforementioned. but i get the feeling listening to this song that she's practically begging me to love her and her song, to put up with this fiddlefaddle. and i do. it fucking works every time. (it doesn't help that the video is actually kinda cool - some great gothy nonsense plus a hot scandinavian dude). "don't forget i'm human or i'll start to cry" - c'mon kristin!!! this song is basically the aural equivalent of being given a valentine's day card with a picture of a timid cartoon puppy on it holding out a lace heart for you that says I RUFF YOU or something on it! its drippiness in and of itself wouldn't impress me but if someone ever sent me something like that i think i'd just fall hopelessly in love with them forever.

what i'm basically trying to say is - i would love this song if i didn't know what she was singing. let's hope someone records a japanese version of this to put my mind at ease.

HOO-KAH HOO-KAH

2005-05-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

hookah tobacco is a pretty wonderful thing, i think. it calms you down a great deal without giving you any of the less tasteful side effects of marijuana (ie the smell), yet you don't get high either, just...sort of bubbly and peaceful.

watching the family guy tonight, i smoked a pretty decent amount of hookah and combined with my general weekend insomnia, i'm just about ready to pass out. yet since i promised myself this paper will get done, coupled with my confidence that i can poop out another four pages, this post brings great tidings of an italo mp3!

sylvi foster was one of the many aliases of domenico ricchini, who also recorded tracks as bob salton, delanua, and joe yellow. (why italo artists invented so many monikers for themselves, i do not, and MAY NEVER, know.) "hookey" is a great slice of early electro-italo from 1982, the era of italo of which i'm particularly fond (those fuzzy buzzy synths just kinda...get to me, y'know?). one notable thing about it is that i'm almost positive that it's sung in english and yet after many repeated listens, i don't understand a DAMN word he's saying. "hookey" sounds more like HO-KEH! HO-KEH!, so those who aren't into thick accents should maybe beware. as joe yellow, he would later go onto record with mauro farina and giuliano crivellente, who also produced brand image's excellent "love in a summer night."

sylvi foster - hookey

(ps cheers to discogs.com for the pic/info which i rather unceremoniously stole from them. how neat is that cover art though? though what exactly IS it? a woman giving a dog an enema? leave your best guesses in my comments box!)

a 15-point critique of last night's MOSES MADNESS party

2005-04-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

1. they did not play "sandstorm."
2. they did not play "sandstorm."
3. they did not play "sandstorm."
4. they did not play "sandstorm."
5. they did not play "sandstorm."
6. they did not play "sandstorm."
7. they did not play "sandstorm."
8. they did not play "sandstorm."
9. they did not play "sandstorm."
10. they did not play "sandstorm."
11. they did not play "sandstorm."
12. they did not play "sandstorm."
13. they did not play "sandstorm."
14. I LEFT ABOUT TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE DUDEFIGHT
15. they did not play "sandstorm."

but to balance all that unpleasantness out, five good things that DID happen:
1. feeling mike dougherty's heartbeat, trembling to the beat, like a symphony
2. hearing "digital love" for the first time at a party ever, even if only me and two other people danced to it
3. speaking of, the reason i lacked a massive hangover this morning was due to me sweating out all the alcohol through bustin' moves
4. the mattress in 602's guest room is really goddamn comfy
5. waking up to find a care package sent to one william h. walter filled with stuff his vegan ass can't eat anyhow

dizzee rascal, irving plaza, 4/23/05

2005-04-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

i went to see dizzee rascal with DJ wonder opening at irving plaza last night and dude brought the FIRE. he's undoubtedly the best rapper going today (note lack of regional qualifiers such as "british") - he's got all the traits that my favorite rappers possess (energy + humor + fierceness + tight flow + (most importantly!) not trying to actively impress you through any of the above) and a shitload of stamina to spare, which is doubly impressive given the ubiquitous acrid pot stink* that infiltrated irving. the crowd was feeling it for the most part (the "fix up look sharp/stand up tall" encore sent the place into hysterics), though i couldn't help but think of a recent post at the original soundtrack about the differences between clubs that play german minimalist house in the US and those in germany. the mainstream reaction to grime in the US has been more or less, well, nonexistent, despite the fact that much of the crowd was comprised of kids** not much older than me, so i couldn't help but think about the fact that club kids in cologne go positively BATSHIT over m mayer whereas here all the hip places (tribeca grand, APT) devote a lot of floorspace to seating areas with couches. a gaggle of people in the front apparently were straight out of london and were just FIERCE throughout the whole show, dancing up a fucking storm and going wild, so i suspect that the cultural rift was readily apparent to dizzee himself, who was doing his damnedest to get the americans moving. and i gotta say he outdid himself in that regard - he got everyone in the crowd to shout "OIIIIIIII!" and it was miraculous.

*everyone i've talked/complained to about this fact thinks i'm nuts for even caring about it. i guess it is picking at a minor scab to ruminate about it so much but it bugs me in general when i'm trying to enjoy a show with a minimum of distractions and the dude next to me starts lighting up a J. (/show-fascist)(it occurred to me last night my ideal concert setting would only consist of the stage, the band, and me and my friends only as the audience. and it would conveniently be located down the block from me.) (i removed the fallacy-of-pot-at-rap-shows rant bit once i remembered the existence of method man and redman, among many many others)

**one of my concert-going peers standing behind me yelled "dude! it's like the fucking revival of drum and bass!" to his friend. i was completely dumbstruck but then whatever i could've said was ruined by wonder slipping in some d'n'b cuts at the end of his set. (and seeing a room full of kids go crazy to "forward riddim" made me deliriously happy too)

2005-04-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

just updated was ist musik? for the first time in over a month and a half. added three albums i like quite a bit (mu's queasily brilliant out of breach (manchester's revenge)), vitalic's amazing-hah-as-if-i-could-have-any-other-opinion-on-it ok cowboy, and bodies without organs' very very nice if somewhat same-y debut album prototype (well, anything with "sixteen tons of hardware" and "conquering america" on it is worthy in my book)), plus a whole bevy of songs of which i am terribly fond.

and, to fill up more useless space, my ten favorite songs of 2005 so far (in order):

1) vitalic - my friend dario
2) amerie - 1 thing
3) kelly clarkson - since u been gone
4) brooke valentine - girlfight
5) verbalicious - don't play nice
6) rachel stevens - negotiate with love
7) kylie minogue - made of glass
8) justus kohncke - elan
9) spice - right there (bad gal riddim)
10) sizzla - spring break

five just outside the top ten:
ciara feat. ludacris - oh
snoop/justin/charlie wilson - signs
ernesto and bastian - the darkside of the moon
blue lagoon - break my stride
dextro - do you need help (mfa mix)

not even CLOSE:
the new daft punk album, save like two or three songs
bright eyes - "does the president talk to god?"

"the world is full of fictional characters looking for their story." - diane arbus

2005-04-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

one of the strangest experiences i've had so far as a college student: standing in the metropolitan museum of art, holding a champagne glass full of ginger ale, while strobe lights flooded the lobby in a sea of red, purple, and green and "candyskin" by the fire engines blasted over the P.A.

one of the best experiences i've had so far as a college student: getting to see the beautiful diane arbus exhibit at the met after-hours, nearly getting arrested for drinking 40s in central park, walking a brisk 40 blocks just to take the grand central subway, mocking the gawdy midtown storefronts, climbing those weird pastel elephants at 59th st., attempting to break into st. patrick's cathedral at 1:45 am, pissing in the hyatt hotel's exquisite bathrooms, and discussing the finer points of woody allen films and the boxcar children, all with ms. casey hedstrom and mr. rollie j. huggington.

last night reaffirmed my unreserved adoration for this city and all its crazy, beautiful, wonderful denizens. diane arbus helped in no small part; her portraits of some of nyc's more colorful characters in the '60s and '70s gave me a sort of hope, a hope that not everything in this city is paved over and gentrified to fuck, but that somewhere, there exists those colorful people who transform mundane existences into a circus of freaks, trash, and weirdos. it's an image of the city to which i'm particularly attracted, and i believe that out there, somewhere, the russian midgets and gnarled-faced patriots are waiting for me, maybe not to take their photograph, but to at least bask in their wonder, if just for a little bit.

2005-04-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

this is a neat little gem from the poppier side of the early '80s neue deutsche welle (german new wave) scene. while i have lots of love for the more "out-there" NDW acts, palais schaumburg et al, easy accessibility tends to win out over oddball post-punk-inspired experimentation with me most of the time. yet one of the great draws of NDW was that even the poppier stuff, informed by the particular idiosyncrasies of the german language as it was, managed to be just as weird as the einsturzende neubatens and der plans of the time. "fred vom jupiter" is a charming synthpop ditty (made for kids!) about a fun-loving alien named fred from jupiter who draws the attention of all the earth lay-deez, much to the consternation of the men, who force him to leave, even though it makes the women sad (this is a rough translation - it's sung entirely in german). all the while, it's sung by a woman who sounds very uncomfortable singing and is filled with all manner of bouncy two-note synth patterns and handclaps. in short, it's one of the most german things ever.

(caveat: this song will not leave your head for days.)

andreas dorau and die marinas - fred vom jupiter

annie, tribeca grand, 4/15/05

2005-04-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

that i even got into this was a wonder in itself. thanks to the indomitable nicholas rizzo, we cleverly disguised ourselves as "knowing dan selzer" and were promptly let in without getting carded or anything.

that it felt a bit like motherfucker redux was...no big surprise. after all, whatshisname with the camera was there (and might i add using nick like a human tripod...or humping post), and the crowd would've fit in at the roxy surely. of course, both those venues lie within veritable dead zones of new york city and i'm glad that i don't regularly attend either one of them. by the way, whenever whatshisname with the camera updates his website (i'll post a link tomorrow perhaps when i'm less drunk/tired), look for a very compromising photo of nick rizzo.

that annie is jaw-droppingly beautiful in person should come as a shock to no one. she totally made my list of Girls That Could Turn Me Straight With the Proper Amount of Intoxicated Provocation. (also on this list - monica bellucci, alizee, monica vitti (especially if alain delon's in on the three-way), and isabelle huppert (because i wanna know what fucking God would feel like).) when we locked eyes during "chewing gum" i think i sprung like five boners.

that annie wasn't miked loud enough was certainly a pity. she has such a sweet, shy voice that carries the songs so well on the record, and she even had a very timid demeanor offstage as we went up to her to thank her. (this was some time after we had swiped one of the fancy GLASS water bottles that the whole band was drinking on stage after the show.)

that this was her first proper nyc show was surprising, as i thought she had done something or other there on tuesday (probably DJing, i'd gather). a short but sweet set that included "chewing gum," "always too late," "come together," and a new (really funky!) song called "the wedding" that isn't on the album (potential b-side?). and of course, an encore of "heartbeat" that made all the hipster boys' (and girls') hearts melt into a big puddle of goo (mine included). she pointed at nick while singing "dancing with youuuu" and i can reasonably only feel nothing but CRIPPLING JEALOUSY at this fact.

that tonight was awesome goes without saying. ANNIE (FROM NORWAY), PLEASE WHISK ME AWAY TO YOUR UTOPIAN SCANDINAVIAN PARADISE LAND WHERE WE WILL FEAST ON ELK MEAT AND MEAD OR WHATEVER YOU PEOPLE EAT AND DRINK THERE AND BE HAPPY TOGETHER FOREVER PLEASE THANKS.

2005-04-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

well after several weeks of DESOLATE LONELINESS i have my computer back and am thus firmly re-established in the cyberworld yaaaaaay!

this is a hectic week but everything so far seems to be going my way. so to express my gratitude for the fates being awesome to me, i'm posting my very first mp3!!

...which just so happens to be an italo disco version of the theme song to the never ending story!

enjoy!

obsession - never ending story

brooke valentine ft. big boi and lil jon - "girlfight"

2005-04-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

STUDY BREAK!

researching competing theories of musical development in children for my developmental class has got me in a rather argumentative mood, so this song is totally complementing my mood right now. if you haven't heard this song yet, then for god's sake, get yrself to an mp3 search engine (or your nearest record store - her album is good, or so i hear from trusted sources) - and enjoy one of the nastiest and most FUN singles of 2005 so far. if you need some reasons why, allow me to enumerate:

- it's about bitchy catfighting. really, i should just end this list here, but i'll continue
- "there's about to be a WHAT?! GIRLFIIIIGHT!" is undoubtedly one of lil jon's catchiest vocal hooks
- big boi's hysterical (if brief) guest verse adds on an additional layer of campy greatness: "they takin' out their scrunchies and they pullin' off their press-ons"
- THE VIDEO DEAR GOD THE VIDEO
- brooke totally doesn't care if you're watching to get your jollies - her desire for comeuppance is so single-minded that all of big boi's goofy catcalls are totally irrelevant to the track (ie she shows she can do crunk aggressiveness like the guys as opposed to the other more demure bubblecrunk vixens (ciara, nivea, et al))

and now, to get back to my..WHAT?! PAPERRRR!

jus 1 kiss will make it better

2005-04-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST I'M UPDATING!

well, yeah. it's been sort of hard to keep this going when you still don't have a computer. it's been a blessing and a curse in some ways - as AIM has been my primary means of communication with people for the past however-many years, being left without has probably led my friends to the conclusion that i've either died or changed my screen name to spite them. no, my absence is purely excusable on account of the sloth of IBM/the NYU computer store, but should anyone from cranford happen to read this, you probably know how to get in touch with me if you're dying to speak to me for whatever reason. most regrettable though is that i've basically been out of the pop culture loop for the past three weeks, hence no updating of was ist musik? in a long time, either.

in other ways, though, i've been less distracted and able to focus on work somewhat. and that statement's mostly true even! also, being computer-less has forced me to set up camp in the library more or less, and it pretty much hit me the other day while helping my boyfriend search for books that i am in love with libraries. it's something to do i think with the fact that everyone around you is drinking from this almost limitless fount of knowledge and resources, and the rush i get from that, coupled with the thrill of the hunt and the capture when you finally track down that ONE BOOK you need. is it wrong for me to be excited that my potential career path may lead me to a library? i really don't think so.

aside from working and seeing ridiculously awesome sesame street-inspired speed-metal parody bands play on the lower east side, i've mostly been anticipating things. the return of my computer, a call for a job interview, the location of where i'm living this fall, the location of where i'm living this SUMMER (god willing), acceptance into the cinema studies program at NYU. like everyone else in the world right now, i've got material concerns and long-term plans up the wazoo, but i'm still not letting that interfere in a fairly active nightlife marked by drinks n' dancin' and OH DID I MENTION THE COOKIE MONSTER SPEED METAL BAND CUZ THEY TOTALLY OWNED. we are young, restless and never being boring, which, for now, suffices.

and now, with my trusty copy of rooty pumpin' through my headphones, i will research articles on the moral development of youngsters for a psychology paper before my next class. life, she is beautiful.

a quick one...

2005-03-15T11:38:00.000-08:00

computer's still virus-ridden. this will be fixed soon, NO THANKS TO THE NYU COMPUTER STORE WHO ARE "CLOSED FOR INVENTORY" OVER THE BREAK WHY I OUGHTA...

i will, however, sum up some items of note from my spring break.

squash on pizza = mankind will never invent or devise anything that will surpass such unmatched conceptual brilliance. ever. again.

a family finds entertainment = anyone who didn't see this on saturday is a fucking CHUMP. easily the greatest anti-art art film masterpiece/performance of the millennium. (we own the dvd now, though, so it's cool.)

what is it? = less said, the better.

seven cans of free pabst blue ribbon in two days = see comments for what is it?.

insane dictatorial chinese mothers = BOO.

no mp3s = wahhhhh(mbulance)

philadelphia and magic grill await tomorrow. yum yum gimme some.

2005-03-07T21:58:00.000-08:00

sorry that there's been such a delay in getting my big italo disco post up, but unfortunately, my computer basically up and died, and i'm fearing that i may have lost ALL MY MP3s (insert a zillion sad emoticons roughly HERE) but until everything's sorted out again, updates will be few and far between i'm afraid.

in the meantime, i urge everyone reading this (all...four of you, two of whom will be out of the state anyway) to attend the 12th annual New York Underground Film Festival, which runs from march 9th-15th at the anthology film archives (2nd st. @ 2nd ave.). the opening night film is asia argento's the heart is deceitful above all things (based on the JT leroy book) and the closing night film on sunday is the new york premiere of crispin glover's what is it?. in-between, i highly recommend the potentially life-altering saturday night feature, a family finds entertainment (it's like paper rad but even MORE tripped-out and nutzoid). also, FREE PBR! and i'll be there a lot, either as a volunteer or a patron, so c'mon!! it'll be awesome!

SPECIAL FEATURE ALERT: 'AY DISCO, DISCO ITALIANO

2005-03-02T21:44:00.000-08:00

so now that i've gotten confirmation that i can do the mp3 thing, expect me to rub this fact in your face through the inauguration of the 'harlot's first big feature: IMPUDENT HARLOT CHOOSES HIS TOP TEN FAVORITE ITALO DISCO TRACKS OF ALL TIME EVAHHH!

why am i doing this to you? because my re-baptism as an M:TG geek hasn't alienated enough of you, quite clearly, so i'm takin' out the rest with this here grand gesture. so for the next ten days (or rather, ten posts - let's not get optimistic) get ready for all the broken english, outdated robo-synth noises and dodgy mustachio-ed eurorapping you can handle! LA VITA E BELLA!

DESTROY TARGET ARTIFACT

2005-03-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

last year at marienbad
(1961, dir: alain resnais)

today i had lunch with an old acquaintance of mine whom i'd not seen in many, many moons.

i first him met in the fourth grade, when he was friends with most of my close friends and even my older brother. i wasn't too keen on him at first; the fact that many of my friends would play with him and basically ignore me while i was there drove attention-starved little ten-year-old me batty. however, when i did meet him, i warmed up to him and eventually grew to love the guy.

for several years we were close as close can be. my friends and i would play with him constantly at recess, much to the chagrin of the cooler kids who sneered at how close we were. but we didn’t care; he was so much fun and spending time with him made us learn things that we were confident those popular jerks would never, ever know because they were far too gauche to ever be caught basking in his glory. he was really a good guy and it amazed and confounded us that there were some people somewhere who not only didn’t like him but had a problem with his very existence. we ignored these people and their uncouth remarks – to hell with them all for not recognizing the brilliance and greatness of our friend!

however, around 8th grade, things changed. we started to drift apart, as people tend to do. he began associating with people that i by and large grew to despise, and my friends and i began to run with a cooler ilk.

in hindsight this was a terrible mistake. the problem lay largely with me, not him. i was too concerned with looking cool to realize what a wonderful thing we'd had and several years down the line, i really began to feel terrible for leaving him behind in the dust – selling him out, as it were.

so now that the self-consciousness of my adolescent years is (largely) behind me, i begged a friend of mine who also happened to know him (he was very, very popular, and still is, actually) to bring him back around my way, for old times’ sake. and when we saw each other again today, for the first time in nearly seven years, even though we’d both changed a lot, it felt like we’d never even separated.

…and yes, i'm talking about a card game, not a person:

go ahead. laugh. "nerd!" i hear you bellow. "geek!" i hear you shout. "fag!" i hear you...telling me something i've already figured out. but seriously, M:TG basically WAS my life from the ages of 10-14 or so, the way other kids define their schoolhood years through the sports they played or the music they listened to (well, i do the latter, too). like the sports kids, we were convinced that what we were doing would only prove beneficial to us in the long run; sure, we may SEEM like dweebs, but because we've got mad strategic skillz we're the ones you're going to be working for eventually one day, jerkass! however, we really didn't need any justification, as it turns out: my 20-year-old ass enjoyed this game thoroughly when he played it today for the first time in about seven years.

so what does ANY of this have to do with the most confusing film ever made? well, there's the thematic device of games. the unnamed man (M, in the critical terminology i've read of the film) who may be the husband of delphine seyrig's character (A) plays a game wherein him and another player take turns removing matches from a 16-match pyramid grid until there is one match left. M wins this game every time it's played in the film.

as far as i can remember, i never won a single game of magic even when i did play like a fiend. (my amateur ass left prematurely to go to my cognition lecture, whereas will, playing it pro-style, skipped class like a champ.) i attribute this not to a large deficit in my logistical abilities but rather to having a shitty deck assembled for me by the dude who used to run the now-long-out-of-business first place card shop in cranford.

other people, of course, would have their own interpretations of why that was so. this is something else that strikes about this movie: its ambiguity to interpretation means that the film itself IS a game. the only thing everyone can agree on is the basic gist of the plot: a man (X) tries to convince a woman (A) that they had an affair...LAST YEAR. AT MARIENBAD, EVEN. beyond that, alain resnais and screenwriter/other french guy alain robbe-grillet basically leave it up to you. in debating about what the fuck it actually means, people who discuss last year at marienbad become one and the same with the characters, lobbing explanations and conclusions back and forth at each other like fyndorr elves and white knights duking it out on the battlefield. unlike M:TG and the match game, though, there's no clear winners in this one. robbe-grillet said as much of his screenplay, in that any explanation people offer of it (and there have been many - A is dead; A is dreaming; A is insane; the three main characters represent the id, ego, and superego, etc. etc.) will account for, at best, 75-80% of the film as a whole. in a way, it feels like robbe-grillet has pulled a fast one on us: by purposely retreading over his own narrative in the course of the film, the viewer never gets a satisfying explanation but is instead led down a labyrinthine corridor of false explanations, misleading characters, and astonishingly pretty classical scenery. and a really irritating discordant organ motif that had me in agony after about an hour into the damn thing. though my general body-sickness and lack of proper sleep had me noddin' a few times here and there, it's a conceptually brilliant film and one that i would like to, as per prof. sinha's suggestion, make my friends watch after downing a bottle of wine. each.

also, delphine seyrig was, and always will be, a total hottie.

(see? some geekboy tendencies never die.)

baby, can you hear me? i can't reach your mind

2005-02-28T17:59:00.000-08:00

melody club - "baby"

my absurdly long work day saw me delivering videotapes (for some reason) to various locations in new york city. and by various, i mean chelsea, midtown, and ASTORIA, QUEENS. though good little intern i am, i let slip nary a single complaint and bravely and heroically sloshed through the impending nor'easter to ensure that people i don't even know received their three or four videotapes. yes, my saintly patience won out even over the queens-bound N/W delays and the subway passengers who have no idea what GET YOUR SHIT OUT OF THE WAY OF THE CLOSING DOORS OR THE TRAIN CANNOT MOVE means. god bless 'em. (and the fellow who picked up the tapes from me in astoria was quite a charmer and shares a first name with an avant-garde composer of note!)

one pizza bagel, two loads of laundry, and one awful realization that i forgot to pick up an ink cartridge for my printer later, i'm feeling considerably better, and much of it is thanks to Melody Club. ver Club are some incredibly pale and snappily dressed swedish guys (and girl? even after looking at pictures i can't tell) who betray their Hives-esque couture trappings and make some rather top-notch Big Shiny Europop. "baby" is pure synthsparkle: the wonderfully crisp drums, a dazzlingly catchy chorus, those post-chorus "ah-ahs" and the brief spike of energy when dude sings "girl, you gotta stand up and tell me what i'm doing wrong" all combine to create pop fluff par excellence, the sort of breezy eurodisco that somehow always sounds great (to me, anyway, though i'd have a hard time seeing how this song could grate on anyone (he writes as he hits "play" for the 10th time this evening)) after a tiring workday. has sweden produced anything bad ever?

postscript: it just hit me - if the bravery actually gave a damn about making good pop music and didn't resort to rote machinations of duran duran's best moves (twice removed), they'd sound like these guys.

maybe.

lovefood

2005-02-27T18:33:00.000-08:00

michael mayer/jake fairley, live @ the canal room, 2/23/05

there's always a certain amount of trepidation involved in going to shows alone. there's the pressure to socialize with people whom you don't know (and not seem creepy), the pressure to dance and not look like a fool (it's more excusable when you're in the company of other dancing fools), the struggle to remain conscious of where you're standing at all times so as to not block people at bars or near the exit. the prospects of me maintaining any of the above postures seemed dim; the friend with whom i was going to go bailed on me for school-related reasons (i had a midterm the next day myself), i was sick, and i lacked money for alcohol (that i wouldn't have bought anyway for the previous reason). were it not for a friend convincing me at the last minute that i deserved a study break of some sort, i probably wouldn't even have gone, and the chain of ultra-chic clothing boutiques that comprise the bulk of west broadway shoved some more coal into the neurosis train.

good news is, i did a fairly good job of not caving in to any of the above pressures and managed to have myself a fairly good time anyhow at the canal room on wednesday. i'd no idea what to make of the night beforehand, not having been to any kompakt-affiliated evening before. the whole night i only recognized one song that was played - mayer dropped superpitcher's rave-in-a-glacial-cavern remix of "the difference it makes" by the MFA shortly before i left - but it didn't really matter to me (side tangent - kids who only dance to songs they know = K-LAME). with the aid of an overzealous (read: quite drunk) 39-year-old gay asian doctor from elizabeth, nj and a can of red bull, i shook off the shackles and fuckin' DANCED like it didn't matter that i could barely remember what laminal specificity meant! fairley and mayer both played really tight, solid sets and the crowd was definitely very receptive to it, which was awesome. in addition to my drunken gay doctor friend, i talked to a woman straight outta germany briefly; she encouraged my decision to one day visit berlin, which i certainly hope to follow through on.

-----------------

"free burritos" are the two best words in the english language, and one of them isn't even english. "TWO free burritos"...well, you know. YOU MY BOY CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL

we can take it outside or we can do it live on the mic (an intro)

2005-02-26T11:12:00.000-08:00

yes yes y'all i'm back in the blogging game.

last night i'd written a rather lengthy and needlessly detailed explanation regarding why i'd quit livejournal, including some highfalutin derridean notion of "archive = DEATH," a brief spiel on my desire to not live in/fixate on the past (i'd tinkered briefly with the idea of publishing entries only to delete them 24 hours later so that they'd be abandoned to the internet-ether for all eternity), and an impassioned diatribe against those stupid memes (MY FIST IN YOUR FUCKING FACE is love, eh!).

but since it magically disappeared, this mercifully clipped explanation will have to suffice. it's probably better this way.

so what's so damned great/why should you care about JOE'S ONLINE JOURNAL AND SNACK BAR v3.0? well, as opposed to my past livejournals, i plan on actually putting, y'know, content on here. music/film/show reviews, Big Deep Thoughts and then the usual day-in-the-life-of-a-20-year-old-attending-an-overrated-university-of-some-acclaim-in-the-best-city-if-not-on-earth-then-the-best-that-i've-been-to-at-least shenanigans. (also maybe mp3s! my free NYU webspace is collecting cobwebs.) i don't fancy myself much of a good/insightful writer but the only way i can fix that is through practice and, importantly, dialogue. this is why i like the blogosphere so much more than the global network created by livejournal - there's an active exchange of ideas going on, or at least there is among some of my favorite blogs (which are posted over yonder to the right)(also let's see for how long this naivete on my part holds up). basically, i'm in the blogging game for my own damn self at this point.

oh, and for anyone wondering, the 2005 music thing is now here. i'm still updating it every chance i get.

that being said, i've already got a show review and a cd review in the pipeline. i hope you enjoy reading this blog as much as i enjoy making sure i sound like i know what i'm talking about.

xo