Give This Woman an Oscar

So says GQ this month. I wholeheartedly concur.



Marisa Tomei is up for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in The Wrestler.

Is American Apparel going under or is the NY Post full of it?

Personally, I think the New York Post is full of a lot of sensationalist crap. Nevertheless, it is the first thing I read in the morning when I get to work. Admittedly, it is addicting. And if anything, it's amusing to see the absurdity of their articles sometimes.

A little article I read in today's issue might be another example of New York Post BS, but it alludes to the possibility American Apparel almost bankrupt and might still. On Christmas Eve a number of emails were hacked and stolen from American Apparel CEO Dov Charney. Those emails went public and caught the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who is currently considering investigation into the emails.

The subject of the emails that has caught their attention regard Charney writing to democrat-supporting and known NY Post hating billionaire Ron Burkle asking for funding to help prop up AA through these difficult financial times. However, as the article goes on to explain, there are still a number of unanswered questions that make the entire thing sound like more NY Post BS:

It couldn't immediately be determined whether Burkle has agreed to help Charney.

Also unclear is whether the SEC probe has reached the status of a formal investigation.

An SEC spokesman declined to comment.

The American Apparel look has seeped into pop culture everywhere and is a defining aspect of hipsters and indie-kids. Whether you like their clothing or not, the style they promote is a major characteristic of so-called Generation Y. In addition, American Apparel is a bit of an anamoly in this highly interconnected globalized world. Where almost all blue collar manufacturing jobs have gone overseas because of cheap labor and less restrictions, American Apparel appeared as a chain with relatively affordable clothing that was all made in the US.

Not to get over-dramatic, but if American Apparel closed its doors, I kind of feel like it would mark the end of an era. Not to mention that it would probably promote an entire shift in casual-fix-gear riding-dive bar attending-attire. What would be the change? Over-sized shirts and cargo pockets? God help us (even though we totally don't believe in god...duh).

1000 Novels Everyone Should Read (Supposedly)

The Guardian UK has taken on the gigantically ambitious task of listing 1000 novels that everyone must read.

However, as the introduction explains, the list is neither a list of the 1000 best novels nor a list of the 1000 most popular novels but rather an attempt at a more, well-rounded list that falls somewhere in between. The list is divided up into seven categories: Love, Crime, Comedy, Family and Self, State of the Nation, Science Fiction and Fantasy, War and Travel. However, as the Guardian warns,

"None of the these are "hard" categories — which is to say that we couldn't resist sticking a few likely books in unlikely places."

The idea of the list seemed to emulate from the possibility that a person could read a thousand books in a lifetime if they read 13 books a year from age 8 to age 85. Needless to say, the list is seemingly flawed in many aspects (Four by Margaret Atwood?? None by Bataille???)and weighs heavily on English writers (Two David Lodge novels?? Seemingly everything written by Evenlyn Waugh?). However, realizing that such a debate would occur, the Guardian has encouraged you to write to them in a 150 words or less, defending a novel that they omitted which, if you convince them, will be included on a list of books omitted to be published later.

Out of the 1000 books, I have read a measly 35. I seem to read all the right authors and all the wrong selections. Oh well, I usually can read more than 13 a year so I guess I still have time to catch up.

Telfon Tel Aviv - "Immolate Yourself"

Judging from their German-techno label Bpitch Control, it can almost readily be assumed that Telefon Tel Aviv is full of raw, driving electronica like such label mates as Modeselektor, Moderat, Ellen Allien or Sache Funke. However, Telfon Tel Aviv's new record Immolate Yourself is surprisingly far from such acts. Not to mention the duo isn’t from Europe (New Orleans!). Instead, Immolate Yourself perfectly blends the electronic roots of their label with a heavily textured, almost organic sounding pop. (Think a more melancholy Manitoba's "Up in Flames" or early M83) This isn't to say this is a pop record—far from it. Opening track "The Birds" is nearly a 7-minute affair that slowly builds off a driving beat and a glitchy rhythm atop shallow vocals to an overwhelming crescendo on the brink of blissful chaos. While "Mostly Translucent" wallows in an ambient stillness through fractured, fuzzed-out drums under an echo-y synthesizer. However, amongst such tracks, Telefon Tel Aviv showcases an ability to effectively marry their electronic roots with a strong pop music sensibility. Such tracks as "Helen of Troy" contain the same romanticism of Soft Cell and showcase such knack. This combination makes Immolate Yourself a beautiful ride that often results in a surprising emotionalism not usually found in the sterile sounds of electronica. If the latest Animal Collective--in all its droopy reverb and layered sounds—is everyone's favorite new record, then Immolate Yourself could very well be its electronic counterpart. Replace the folk roots with some synthesizers and a hint of German techno and you have a very similar and equally rewarding sound.

If Abortion becomes illegal...

Then what is the punishment for women who have an abortion?

This question was asked to a number of pro-life demonstrators a few years back in this video and it is revealing how difficult it is for them to come up with answer. In addition, I feel this video shows how people are so quick to support something without thinking through all the possible outcomes and consequences.

If there was law that made abortion illegal then women who had illegal abortions would have to be punished under that law. After all, there is no law that goes completely unpunished. This video is really interesting and a great way to peacefully stump some pro-choice protesters and actually make them think things through.

(Note: The objectivity of politically-charged videos posted to YouTube videos is a joke. However, I felt confident that this one, while it does have an agenda, is noteworthy and hardly propaganda.)



Picked this up via Pushback

Make It White

Physicist Hashem Akbari from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has an interesting idea on how to stifle global warming and cool the planet: make everything white.

Its already known that a white roof can cool your dwelling while saving energy and reducing carbon emissions. Now, Akbari believes that the sunlight reflected back into space by white rooftops, sidewalks, parking lots and roads, could have a major positive impact against our warming planet.

An October article in the Christian Science Monitor explains the process:

As sunlight pours down into Earth’s atmosphere, some of the energy is filtered out or bounces off clouds. About half the energy shines through as visible light and some of that hits the tops of houses. If a roof is white, most sunlight reflects back into space and doesn’t heat the earth. But if a roof is a dark color, the sunlight converts to heat rather than bouncing off as light. That thermal energy then radiates off the roof back toward space, where it is trapped by CO2 in the atmosphere, and then absorbed by this greenhouse gas. As a result, the world’s thermometer reads just a little higher than it did before.

The article goes onto explain that this isn't an entirely new idea. Apparently, geo-engineers have toyed with the idea of covering the Sahara in plastic or refitting the Black Hills of Dakota to become white.

Akbari and his colleagues estimate that equipping the 30 billion commercial roof space in the United States would be like taking an estimated 75 million cars off the road. Why not?

Of course, my second thought is how creepy everything would be if it was completely white. However, it could also create this really infectious Zen-like effect on the population. Either way, I guess profits for manufacturers of sunglasses would skyrocket with everything being reflective.

Antony on Sean Penn as Harvey Milk

Antony Hegarty (from Antony and the Johnsons) on Sean Penn as Harvey Milk:

"It's like blackface to me…it’s a continuing Hollywood minstrel show, co-opting queer stories and perversely building up their careers of these heterosexual bastards with the plumage of effeminacies, [and] that they can wear this plumage of effeminacies without have to really be accountable."

I haven't read many (if at all) thoughts from the LGBTQ crowd on Gus Van Sant's recent film Milk. My queer friends seemed to have all liked it enough. However, I enjoyed Antony's somewhat radical thoughts on the film. He touches upon an interesting aspect that being anything but straight in Hollywood is somewhat taboo. This seems to especially be the case for male actors. Sure, there are exceptions (Sir Ian McKellen) but it seems almost unheard of for an openly gay male actor to play a straight lead role in a major motion picture. Especially when it is a role that demands a romantic relationship with a female. In regards to Milk it seems to only add more to the conversation that its director Gus Van Sant is openly gay. Frankly, I think Milk will grant more awareness than controversy but an interesting take nevertheless.

Read the rest of Antony's interview in the latest New York Magazine.

Dark Was the Night

"Dark Was the Night" is a new compilation that actually might be worth your money in more ways that one. Released on February 17th, the 32-track compilation features new material from Sufjan, Antony and the Johnsons, The National, The Arcade Fire and David Byrne to name a few. Proceeds for the compilation also go to benefit the international charity Red Hot Organization that is dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS. As their mission states: "Red Hot was founded on the premise that even without a cure, AIDS remains a preventable disease."

For the next couple of weeks, the "Dark Was the Night" Myspace will be streaming some of the tracks. Up right NOW is a lovely, solemn Grizzly Bear track that is definitely worth checking out.

Listen Here and enjoy.

Music Friday

What Charlie Murphy didn't tell you about...




Is that Eddie Murphy being serious?

Plane Crashes into Hudson

About an hour ago, a US Airways plane crashed into the Hudson River near the upper 50's after a failed take off. The pilot tried to return to LaGuardia but didn't quit make it. So far, it seems everyone is alive. The FAA is reporting bird are the reason for the failure. Those damn, pesky NY pigeons.

Mehserle to be Prosecuted

Johannes Mehserle, the officer who shot and killed twenty-two year old Oscar Grant has been arrested and will be charged with murder by Alameda County. The SF Chronicle reports:

The unarmed man killed by former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle on an Oakland train platform early New Year's Day put up a brief struggle with officers but had been restrained and had both arms behind him when he was shot in the back, police investigators said.

The conclusion by Oakland police, contained in a legal filing made public Wednesday, contributed to Alameda County prosecutors' decision to charge Mehserle, 27, with murdering 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward.

It was an extraordinary decision. Several legal experts said they could recall no instance of a police officer in California being charged with murder for an on-duty incident, and Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff said he had never brought such a case in his 14 years on the job.

The DA of Alameda County undoubtedly made the right decision to prosecute Mehserle under the law. However, since it involves an officer and not a civilian, the verdict will not be a quick and easy decision. The SF Chronicle reminds us of Rodney King and the difficulty faced when prosecuting those who we give the power to enforce the law.

Here We Go Magic

Luke Temple is the main creative force behind a new band called Here We Go Magic. There first LP is due out sometime in Spring. This first track is rather promising. Hope you enjoy:

Tunnelvision - Here We Go Magic

Where's the riot? (part 2)

SF Chronicle reports that a new series of protests in response to the New Year's Eve killing of 22-year old Oscar Grant by a BART police officer are set to take place today in downtown Oakland. The last protest turned into a small riot as mentioned in my previous post. I am curious to see how these play out. Let's hope no one gets hurt but that BART and the Oakland Police Department realize the delicacy of the situation and make the decision to press charges against the officer in question, Johannes Mehserle.

And a comment from my friend Nora (hope you don't mind!) questions where the uproar is in everyday gang/street violence:

... where is the media circus every time gang violence occurs, or every time an 8 year old is indoctrinated into a gang and witnesses gang violence? We turn our heads to this and cast blind eyes because, really, what can a collective community or politik do in the moment, without having to leap through legislative and legal loopholes? But a cop! Even a BART cop can be stripped of his badge, berated and shamed; he can act as a vehicle for collective guilt without necessarily addressing violence in communities struggling, getting little assistance... Where is the discussion addressing gang violence, in any major city and it's outlaying suburbs?

A cop kills a man and we are outraged. A gang member kills another gang member and we order a latte. The case of Oscar Grant is tragic and I hope that it is not dealt with lightly by those investigating. However, what can be learned from this incident? How does this reveal a greater community problem in Oakland (or any metropolitan area)? Once this case has run its course it will undoubtedly be back to business as usual while what exactly has changed? Perhaps, all that is different from 1992 and 2008 is that people have grown increasingly disillusioned--even with the election of a African-American president--which seems to hover in the foreground of this whole incident.

Where's the riot?

(from my recent Pushback post)

You’ve probably heard by now, but in Oakland, 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward, California was shot and killed by a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police officer on New Year’s Eve after a fight broke out. The killing, captured on camera phones by witnesses, is both shocking and tragic. Grant was laying face down on the ground while being subdued and held down by one police officer. A second white officer (Johannes Mehserle) approached to assist, and after what looked to be a bit of resistance by Grant–very little–Mehserle pulled his gun out and shot Grant in the back.

The video was quickly posted to the Internet, was then picked up by various local media, and eventually filtered out into the national news cycle. Following the aftermath, Mehserle resigned from the force and Grant’s family has sued BART for $25 million. So far, no charges have been pressed against the officer in question but investigations by both BART authorities and the Oakland Police Department are currently being conducted.

I can’t help but compare this situation to the Rodney King beating that led to the Los Angeles riots of 1992. However, the footage of Grant’s death is seemingly more disturbing–and of clearer, higher quality–than the King tape. Perhaps it is rather uncouth of me to compare the two but I can’t help but find the relative lack of violence in reaction to the incident surprising. Thus far, 300 Oakland businesses have suffered damaged and over 100 people have been arrested in a one-night protest-turned-riot held on January 7th, according the San Francisco Chronicle. That is small beans compared to the L.A. riots which left more than 50 dead, 4,000 injured, and $1 billion in damage.

What is different between the beating of Rodney King in 1992 and the murder of Oscar Grant in 2008 that has led to such radically different reactions in the surrounding communities? While the King beating was the spark that set the L.A. riots off, there were a number of different underlying, preexisting issues that contributed to the six days of violence, including perceived racial profiling conducting by the Los Angeles Police Department, rising unemployment due to a worsening recession, and inter-communal tension between the black and Korean communities brought to a head over the lean sentence given to a Korean shop-owner for the murder of Latasha Harlins, an African-American.

Its hard to see much difference between then and now. It could be argued that racial tensions have lessened and evolved since the early 1990s. However, as the Chronicle reported, many of the same factors that led to the King riots still exist.

This is a tragic and unfortunate situation that led to the unnecessary death of a young man, and it’s an incident with serious racial undertones. For now, things are relatively peaceful in East Bay and perhaps they will stay that way. Or perhaps the worst is yet to come. We will have to wait for the conclusion of the investigation to see how things play out. For now, I am keeping my fingers crossed that this situation will be resolved peacefully and that a police officer won’t get away with murder simply because he had a badge on his chest.

The Kitchen Walls

"In the kitchen the housemother
Pours soup for her thousand children
As her man eats his silence
And the dog swallows its poem.

In all. the kitchens of Europe
The radio shouts good news:
'Millions have had no accident today
All wars have come to an end
An honest politician
In another country
Wants to become a plumber
All men will be equal, next year
Volcano vomits ice-cream
A silent poem has been invented.'"




To save space in a small NY apartment one often takes to the walls for both the practical and the decorative.

(poem excerpt from Kitchen Poem: An Elegy for Tristan Tzara by Francis Scarfe)

XXX advertising

Diesel's recent amusing commercials are quite creative (and highly suggestive). In a slowing economy what better way to sell something than to use sex? But wait, what are they selling again? Oh, right...jeans.

Warning: Slightly inappropriate for a younger crowd.



Here is another one:



BTW, make sure to click on the link above to go to Diesel's website. The home page right now is currently just as strange and amusing.

Thanks to Lost at E Minor for this.

These Are Powers -"All Aboard Future"

Got a promo copy of the new These Are Powers LP "All Aboard Future" the other day. As expected, it is a strange and beautiful noisy kaleidoscope of music that successfully avoids all genres. A well-meshed combination of jagged-jerky, post-punk meets industrial post-punk with a flair for world music only begins to offer an idea of how this trio sounds. Those familiar with the trajectory of Pat Noecker's bands over the past eight years or so starting with the first Liars LP, to short-lived No Things and now These are Powers will discover "All Aboard Future" as a predictable but satisfying evolution.

At moments, "All Aboard Future" can admittedly be somewhat isolating for the listener--something These are Powers, despite their rough and noisy sound, has successfully avoided thus far with their first couple of EPs. There is definitely nothing here than can remotely be considered a single (thank, god) and despite its somewhat close relation to post-punk, any possibility of dancing to this is minimal. Rather, this Brooklyn via Chicago-based band seems more interested in creating balanced, highly-layered tracks rather than the intense, noisy chaos of their earlier works. That doesn't mean they've gone soft. Frankly, tracks such as the "Light and Sound" are just plain scary sometimes. Rather, this new maturity shows the band at its most focused which allows them to find a new, paced intensity. Its just not as fun.

Nevertheless, "All Aboard Future" is an exciting offer for listeners who didn't chose Fleet Foxes or Vampire Weekend on their top ten list for 2008. Both accessible and progressive--These are Powers are one of those bands that challenge what we means when talking about "indie music". If such a thing as the "underground" music still even exists today then this is it.

Here is a track from the new album. Warning...its noisy.

Life Of Birds - These Are Powers

What's up with your borough, son??

One more reason why Queens is the place to be in the NYC.



I can't wait for the weather to warm so I can see these kids in full-effect.



Thanks to Aesthetic Poetic for this info. He posted this last summer.