December 2010
64 posts
HaikuLeaks →
loscheiner:
Some smarty-pants wrote a code that searches for haiku patterns in Wikileaks cables. Several of the accidental poems are quite lovely. Here are some that I enjoyed:
As is typical, the Pope stayed above the fray and did not comment.
Instead, he gulped three cans of Coca-Cola while inhaling his food.
Parts of the country are often cut off by snow and...
Online Notebook: 'He called the essay “a naughty,... →
andrewtsks:
tomewing:
Seriously, a return to the things they seek would be regression, and it would get boring really fucking fast. How many times can someone review a record with a snarky one-line quip? Yeah, I know: “Ryan Adams, Gold: pyrite.” HAW HAW HAW, that’s genius, right? But no—in reality, that kind of shit is good for one worthwhile review a year, MAYBE.
If I was an editor -...
The Pretty Reckless - Goin’ Down
DAMN YOU...
LEX IS MORE: Yeah, the other thing about the... →
no-trivia:
alexmacpherson:
Yeah, the other thing about the Kanye/Diddy comparison is that with the latter, you get snotty “pass. thanks for offering, though” replies that dismiss Last Train To Paris unheard. Because it’s so obvious that Diddy’s a joke - or a mere businessman, if you’re being generous - rather than an auteur, like Kanye, right? And if you’re the kind of person to whom this...
“Does “memorable” equal “good,” the way “skinny” came to mean “pretty,” or...”
– Cr4Bdbgs, I asked Twitter people to send me their…
I don’t have any stake in the “Buffy” debate that prompted this quote, but I thought it was worth, well, quoting. Might not there be some truth to this, the first part anyway? Not that being memorable isn’t often a good thing, but I think we can...
“I asked Twitter people to send me their recommendations for the best episodes...”
– kfan committing heresy so that I don’t have to.
Guys, I have done my time in the musical theater trenches, and I’ve never understood the “Once More with Feeling” worship. Maybe it’s cuz I just don’t think Joss (much as I adore him) writes good songs? (I couldn’t stomach more than the first few...
“Look, life is unfair. Nietzsche died alone and forgotten in an insane asylum....”
– Rob Sheffield on Kanye West in his Top Ten Albums of the Year Rob makes other good points about other good albums, including a funny observation about Taylor Swift being similar to Morrissey, but I think this bit is the most sharp and true. (via perpetua)
Someone needs to tell Rob that he could...
Post-script
“Hash-tag rap” should be called “yogurt-cap rap.” These aren’t hashtags, they’re Q/A-style riddles that you find on children’s foods.
Soup: The Lonely Island Proves They are Smarter... →
kellysutton:
The Lonely Island (you know, Andy Samberg and crew) have a new album coming out soon. Know how I know? They released a new music video on Saturday. The track is titled “I Just Had Sex”. It doesn’t have the sneaky naughtiness of “Jizz in My Pants” and doesn’t quite match the…
Love the chorus, though Akon has done equally (overly) literal choruses before — see...
“You know what shocked the shit out of me? The Chris Brown renaissance that...”
– Rich Juzwiak, “Death To Chris Brown” (via andrewtsks)
I think this is a major overstatement of how well Chris Brown was able to “come back” — he was pretty much the template for male R&B, both at the top of the game and clearly influencing what kinds of people were getting on...
Just submitted my P&J ballot
ALBUMS
1. Kelis - Flesh Tone
2. Ke$ha - Animal + Cannibal (Deluxe Edition)
3. Marina and the Diamonds - The Family Jewels
4. Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song
5. Rick Ross - Teflon Don
6. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
7. Goldfrapp - Head First
8. Mose Allison - The Way of the World
9. Diddy Dirty Money - Last Train to Paris
10. Trey Songz - Passion, Pain, and Pleasure
SINGLES
1. Alicia Keys...
Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever?, The Final... →
foreignspell:
Tumblr friends, please go and read this whole thing. And not just because Maura describes someone as sounding like “a beaten baby seal.”
maura:
I got to close out the Sound of the City year-end roundtable. And I compared Katy Perry to Fred Durst. But you should read the whole thing, because Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, and Rich Juzwiak are all amazing.
...
Fluxtumblr: Two Things I Dislike In Music Writing →
perpetua:
I’m not calling out anyone in specific here, but I do not like when a critic feels compelled to change their voice/writing style to discuss a genre of music. Most commonly, this applies to when critics write about rap, but you get it with more academic-leaning genres like art music, modern…
I think we should use more goofy nicknames to describe indie artists. “The new...
There definitely needs to be a male version of...
“I agree with all of your points, but I insist on writing more than you did.”
Salem - Trapdoor (sped up)
I laughed harder at...
Just awarded my first Jukebox "10" of the year, I...
But I won’t say for what.
I will say that I’m gunning for a repeat of “MOST CONTROVERSIAL TRACK OF THE YEAR” status. Last year it was “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.”
Was your Gawker password hacked? →
Anyone who participated in the Jackin’ Pop Idolator polls a few years ago — even if you never knowingly registered for a Gawker site — are likely affected by the recent Gawker hack. Be sure to check to see if your email and password (whichever you used to register) were released.
I Think UR a Contrarian →
Wrote a real no-foolin’ Bedbugs post on some of my more challenging opinions of this year. Some of these aren’t that challenging. But I do argue that Diddy Dirty Money’s album Last Train to Paris is just as good as similarly-constructed (but not similarly-received) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Lex made the same point on ILM recently). That I liked a Dream imitator more than...
“I’mma try to make my street cred stack up — I mean I’m rappin’ over Grizzly Bear, what the fuck?”
Top 20 is movin' and shakin'
Damn, I’ve added three albums to my Top 20 in two days — Trey Songz, Far East Movement (exactly what you’d expect it to be if you like “Like a G6,” and pleasantly short — check it out!), Maximum Balloon (Dave Sitek plus a bunch of his regular collaborators and other guests — like UNKLE and Massive Attack, an unexpected sleeper album with an impressive...
Name All of the Fictional Seinfeld Movies →
Every one of these movie titles is hilarious. I did poorly on the quiz because I couldn’t remember the exact titles. “THAT HAD TO HURT!” was especially difficult to remember.
“You’ve selected….[redacted]…if that’s correct, press one. …Why don’t you just tell me the name of the movie you’ve selected?”
