The World is Quiet Here

I love Gwenyth

2010-07-25T13:17:00.006-06:00

A bit too much. A Jezebel blogger recently "defended" her and I agree on all counts. I've read GOOP, her impeccable lifestyle blog for the past year or so, and it's like taking a train to a place where you have hours to cook organic, gluten-free meals with wildly obscure, expensive ingredients, stay in amazing hotels, and where a "shopping spree" is picking up a $1200 Dries Von Notes frock. Yes, it's a lovely world I like to venture to sometimes, but Gwenyth has always seemed so classy and approachable, blog notwithstanding, that I cannot help but love her. She was great in Iron Man, albeit waaaay too bony, but she's apparently writing a cookbook now, which is also exciting. I detest Coldplay more than most household pests, but somehow I still like the idea of her and Chris Martin and Apple and Moses. But don't we all. Here's a link to her Vogue interview this month.

The ArchAndroid

2010-07-24T18:29:00.007-06:00

I've flirted with Janelle Monáe for awhile, but haven't really made any true commitment to her until now. The bewitching, 4 foot ? inch tuxedo-wearing wonder has me hooked for the long haul. I enjoyed Metropolis: The Chase Suite, especially the catchy creativity of "Many Moons" and the schizophrenic funk, vocal acrobatics, and cinematic backdrop of "Violet Stars Happy Hunting!" But with her new album, The ArchAndroid, she seems to have had everything she needed at her disposal to create the two-suite masterpiece. It's certainly a very ambitious undertaking, especially in the current clime of music ADD from which young listeners seem to collectively suffer. But her high concept album, soundtracking her own sci-fi story of time travel, bodysnatching, forbidden droid love, and secret societies, stands up on its own without knowledge of the dystopian, afrofuturist world she's created. There is a genius progression from track to track in terms of style and mood. Here in 2010, Monáe has the history of music at her feet, collecting bits of influence from Rachmoninoff to André 3000 to throw into her blender.

The album begins with Suite II, which seems a bit schizophrenic, consisting mostly of up-tempo R&B tracks punctuated by the Broadway-worthy serenade "Sir Greendown," the downright weird psych-electronic "Mushrooms & Roses," the mash-up of themes from Metropolis: The Chase Suite, "Neon Gumbo," and the melodic "Oh, Maker" in which she really pulls out those pipes. And "Cold War" is an immensely enjoyable track that sounds like it was lifted from gospel choir and granted some killer beats.

Suite III seems to have been heavily influenced by the nauseating choral music that seemed to rear its ugly head in the credits of any Disney movie made before 1980. If anyone could turn this on its head, it's certainly Monáe, and here it makes her toned-down love songs more epic, and theatrical, as though she's the lead in a musical with a cast of nodding supporters. Because of the context of this type of arrangement, I cannot help but picture Alice parting mushrooms in Wonderland to glimpse solemn-faced delphiniums, narrating her journey through song. That's something. And speaking of Wonderland, what seems to be the answer to "Mushrooms & Roses" from the first suite, "Wondaland," is one of my favorites from the album. On first listen it's deceptively cutesy, but the cacophony of extraneous noises, hallelujahs (yeah), and wistful R&B vocals coming in and out give the song multiple layers to be explored. "Make the Bus" really does nothing for me, which probably has something to do with my Of Montreal fatigue. Kevin Barnes has exhausted any modicum of surprise, shock, or, hell, interest that his music might evoke. He's become ridiculously predictable. But I digress. "Dance Or Die" picks up where "Many Moons" left off, in which Monáe memorably recited poetry through the three-quarter mark. Here, with the help of Saul Williams, she raps, speak-sings, and lays her ever-crisp vocals underneath it all like an elegant carpet.

I threw around the term "afrofuturism" earlier, a term that's been thrown around by others to describe Janelle Monáe's sci-fi obsession and subtexts. I'm not an expert on afrofuturism, but from what I gather it seems to represent African-American art and literature in the wake of modernity and technology. In the scope of The ArchAndroid, which I'm still piecing together, that makes her subtext deeper than Leonardo's dreams in Inception. There are some obvious analogies waiting to be drawn in her sci-fi story, from bodysnatching, to "genoraping," or stealing someone's genetics, to forbidden love between android and human and racial issues, past and present. Monáe, however, is so utterly devoted to keeping the fourth wall solid that any conclusions about a racial subtext are merely guesses. She doesn't stray for a second from the original conception of her sci-fi album-world, but my point is that her work can be read clearly both ways, something that makes it quizzical and wonderful at the same time. In light of all this, I've made a long-term commitment to Janelle Monáe and her music, as both will not only entertain on a surface level, but continue to puzzle.

Salty

2010-07-24T13:38:00.000-06:00

I watched SALT tonight. I'm afraid every movie is going to be a letdown after Inception, kind of how once you go off heroin nothing is as good. Yeah. It was quite enjoyable, and mostly what I expected. A shorter, more steadily filmed Bourne movie featuring Angelina Jolie. Some of the action was completely ridiculous. Like, jumping from semi trick to semi truck. Or jumping down back and forth across an elevator shaft. Or concocting explosives that impair 15 SWAT guys with household chemicals. Or climbing Jason-Bourne style around the side of an apartment building barefoot with a backpack on. But it's still gratifying, even if it is sensationalized. I think it's kind of funny how much movies seem to assume of governments, spy programs, and security personnel. In the wake of the recent capture of twenty or so Russian sleeper agents in the U.S. who apparently didn't so much as find out the Secretary of State's favorite sandwich, such premises seem a bit ridiculous. Also ridiculous is the implication that it is so terribly difficult to assassinate dignitaries. That you have to go to insane lengths to do so. Personally, I don't assume that much of the secret service. Or any other security personnel. I don't see how they could do much about a sniper.

Inception (No Spoilers)

2010-07-23T19:30:00.004-06:00

I saw Inception twice last weekend. This means that I saw it Friday night, and then went back for more on Saturday. That's pretty good track record. In short, the film was a-mazing. If you like smart, interesting, well-conceived, creative films with excellent acting, you will probably enjoy Christopher Nolan's latest film. Of course if you don't enjoy such films, there's really nothing anyone can do for you. This is has been pegged, so to speak as A Christopher Nolan Film and I will say that I am not necessarily predisposed to like Christopher Nolan Films--I liked this movie in and of itself. I really didn't like The Prestige. I didn't think it was very clever. I hate Scarlett Johansson and I wouldn't be the least bit sad if Christian Bale never made another movie. In fact, I think he would make an excellent insurance salesman.

But as for Inception, it's difficult to talk about the movie without spoiling it. The premise is quite ambitious, and one that walks a fine line, expecting constant audience attention and plenty of suspension of disbelief. But, thankfully, unlike the train wreck that was the LOST finale, Inception has masterful internal logic that may take multiple viewings to fully grasp. I didn't completely understand everything the first time, but the point is that I really wanted to. With LOST, I couldn't have cared less if Jack was in purgatory, or hell, or a video game. I had no energy left to care.

Aside from all this, it could have been an enjoyable, yet emotionless action film of pure eye candy. And it certainly was eye candy, but in all of its sugar-coated glory the characters were still reasonably, noticeably motivated by torturous pasts (Leonardo DiCaprio) or at least mild neuroses (Ellen Page). There was also not a single weak link among the ensemble of actors, several of whom I literally love, especially Cillian Murphy and Marion Cotillard. Marion can't seem to mask her French accent, which is honestly ridiculously sexy at this point, but she essentially functions as the shape-shifter, shape-shifting from sexy to creepy, but mostly staying sexy the whole time. Cillian Murphy is rarely assigned to play The Relatively Normal Guy, he's usually cast instead as the unbridled psycho, the cross-dresser, or some combination of the two (Batman Begins, Red Eye, Peacock, um, Breakfast on Pluto anyone?). But here he plays a rich heir who has got nothing more than some daddy issues, yet his is one of the standout performances of the film.

As for the film as a whole, Inception is going to be to action-dramas what The Matrix was to action films for the next ten years following its release. The ambitious nature of the premise, raw creativity and originality without sacrificing anything else in the film has set the bar high for the rest of the summer. Hollywood had better take note. Oh, and the soundtrack? I mean, all I really need to say is "Zimmer," but seriously. Incredible. I think I am going to give my Soundtrack Friend (a quirky friend of mine who ONLY listens to film soundtracks. Nothing else) a call about this.

When movies aren't supposed to be funny, but they are

2010-07-22T23:53:00.000-06:00

I was browsing Jezebel the other day and came across their blow-by-blow (no pun intended) of the newest Lifetime original movie featuring none of than the great Jennifer Love-Hewitt. Of course, I was intrigued. Texas beauty-queen turned sweet mother of three turned crackwhore in these tough economic times? I had never sat through a Lifetime movie before, but boy am I glad I did. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Seriously. I think it is supposed to be a moving emotional drama, but I haven't laughed this much at a movie that was supposed to be a comedy in years.

As a movie that purports to take sex work seriously, I was expecting a Fantine-esque descent into poverty. Nope. Prostitution was actually REALLY high on the List of Desperate Measures. For me, there are a lot of things above prostitution on that List. Welfare, unemployment, asking relatives for help, declaring bankruptcy. The Really Desperate Section includes: Selling eggs, stealing, dealing drugs, cyber crime, affiliate marketing. I would probably go to a homeless shelter before prostitution. And this is what makes real movies about prostitution so sad. How desperate you have to be to go there. Fantine sold her hair and her teeth before she went there.

But this isn't a real movie about prostitution. It's a story about a woman with very little tolerance for bumpy times in life who, in a desperate attempt to maintain her family's lifestyle, one, in the typical American fashion, that they cannot afford, starts turning tricks. Seriously, if I followed her logic, I'd be Patti the Daytime Hooker by now. Honestly.

Anyway, aside from how unnecessary her whoring is, the movie is full of amazing characters who apparently represent Texas in all it's cowboy hatted, big-haired glory, and one-liners to match. I can see why JLove wanted to do this movie after reading the script. Samples:

"I'm gonna call you Brandy because you look like you go down real smooth."
"I hope they have makeup in jail."
"Sometimes small things come in big packages." (She is talking about a client here, but what she means is no clearer when you've seen the film)

Also, after the whores are busted (SURPRISE!) they compile a list of high profile johns to use as collateral to shorten their jail sentences. Guess how many names are on the list. Just guess.
69.
And, because we can't figure out how funny that is, EVERY character has to comment on it. Thank, guys.

Also, Jennifer Love-Hewitt wears a TON of makeup in the film. A ton. She doesn't even look human. She wears fake eyelashes to bed. I could say more about this incredible movie, but you really have to experience it for yourself. You can watch it here.

MGMT on SNL

2010-07-19T12:47:00.003-06:00

This is from awhile ago. MGMT performed "Brian Eno" on SNL and this performance made me love them all over again. I was...confused by their new album, which was quite a departure from their debut, and the addition of new members (I always seem to hate that). But alas, they've proved themselves as loveable as ever.

I am not going to pretend to care about sports

2010-06-17T16:11:00.005-06:00

All kinds of people, on facebook and in real life, are raving about this soccer game or that Lakers v. Celtics game. Even my own husband sheepishly asked me last night if he could watch the Lakers game (okay, this makes me sound really controlling) out of nostalgia and I was a bit stunned, seeing as he doesn't watch sports EVER (unless you count skateboarding, which he watches hours of daily). Would-be hipsters are suddenly rooting for various European countries, depending on each of their vague experiences with varying cuisines. This comes across to me as a disingenious effort to dispel Glenn Beck's claims (and nytimes writers' claims) that Americans Hate Soccer. I have my own ideas on that, much less esoteric than those at the New York Times and hopefully more sophisticated than that of Glenn Beck, who, I'm sure, sees the World Cup as a progressive, populist move toward communism. Who knows.

But these hipsters are not only trying to dissociate themselves from the right-wing pro-baseball camp, but give off an air of worldly European sophistication in which "football" heals all religious, racial, and political tensions. That's all very well and good, but let me contribute my view of so-called European soccer sophistication. I was in Nice, France for the Euro Cup two years ago, and all I remember were a bevy of inebriated Germans trying to peer onto my balcony to see me better in my swimsuit and drunkenly growling various things at the television as they sat, mired in their own filth, six of them sharing a 40 euro a night motel. There was no red wine nor Noam Chomsky involved, as far as I know.

Now, I'm not putting down Europeans, nor their love of soccer, nor anyone's love of soccer. But if you don't love soccer for the three years previous to the World Cup, let's not pretend. It's fine to like sports. I can't comprehend it. I would rather watch a Chia pet grow than pretend to enjoy watching players with awkward haircuts not score goals for two hours. I have my own odd hobbies: I'm sure people don't understand why I take the time to memorize the stats of editorials from major fashion magazines or bothered to watch all six seasons of LOST. And that's fine. You don't pretend, and I won't either. Isn't this nice?

A brief tribute to LOST

2010-04-15T12:00:00.000-06:00

(sweet LOST cake)

LOST is coming to a close very soon. This will be somewhat emotional (?) for me since I've watched the show from the beginning and consider myself a very loyal fan. I was listening to Damon & Carlton's podcast back in 07. Take that. I have many memories of watching the show with my sister, Shannon (particularly the first season) and gathering up snacks and holding each other's hands when something scary was about to happen. During the second season, I was a senior in high school and working at the public library: Fridays were my day off and I would get out of school at 12:30pm, go home, heat up some tamales or Banana Nut Crunch (cold lol), watch that week's Tivo'd episode (possibly followed by West Wing, which was in its last season at the time) and then fall asleep. It was one of the best parts of my week. As a freshman in college I wore headphones late at night so as not to disturb my roommate and watched episodes on abc.com. I remember watching the third season finale with my sister (that was a BIG deal) and the string of phone calls I had to make to various people I traded theories with. The fifth season I tried to watch in its entirety before my wedding, but didn't quite finish. Last summer, David started watching and got through all five seasons in less than month. Now it's something we watch together, and I wish there were more episodes on the way to prolong it.

Because I've literally been watching this show for years, and had to wait between seasons, unlike those (ahem, David) who binged on the DVDs as fast as they could, I feel so invested in the show. I've spent years emotionally and mentally invested in this show. Which sounds silly, but after years of rooting for Desmond and Penny, you can't help but tear up a bit when they're finally reunited. Okay, maybe sob. Like Gilmore Girls, LOST has effectively entered the colloquy of my everyday analogies, "pulling a Kate" and sometimes I'll Sawyer it up with a "hey there, freckles" or a "it's about bunnies." (?: What are you reading? How is it? (Are you there God? It's me, Margaret) Sawyer: Predictable. Not nearly enough sex.) I promise I've said "See you in another life, brother" to people I probably won't ever see again. Oh, and Charlie: "If you guys are finished verbally copulating, we should get a move on"

I could wax rhapsodic for a bit longer, but at the risk of being long-winded, let me just say that this is going to be more traumatic than the end of the Harry Potter series, which, let's be frank, was getting incredibly long-winded and precious by the end. I'm going to be in a dark place come May.

Reality Check: An Education

2010-04-14T17:49:00.005-06:00

An Education has been reviewed and reviewed until there's little left to review, but I just saw it a few weeks ago, so I will throw my hat into the ring at the risk of repeating what others have said. The acting was quite suberb; Rosamund Pike was pitch-perfect as the see-no-evil airhead, Alfred Molina outdid himself as the protective, unsure, yet loving father while Carey Mulligan played the naive, sarcastic schoolgirl with perfect finesse. I can't reveal too much without spoiling, but I must say that the costumes were to die for and I think I'll be wearing liquid eyeliner indefinitely as a result. I felt that the "redemptive" ending was a bit rushed, because I simply wasn't ready for the transition. The end (okay stop here if you haven't seen it) reminded me of "The Age of Innocence" (the book) in a way, when Archer Newland waits in the street while his son goes up to see the woman he loved for so long, saying, "She's more real to me down here." Carey Mulligan's character assures a boy in college that she'd love to go Paris with him, and says it as though she'd never been there before. I'm not sure exactly how those two thoughts are connected (Tiffany can probably decipher for me), but they both reflect how we modify our realities to protect ourselves. There it is.

Apparently I like Brit-Pop

2010-04-09T13:00:00.001-06:00

Late one night I receive a Facebook message from BFF Harper, asking me if I've listened to the album "Lights" by Ellie Goulding. The name is familiar--I listened to the two songs she released over the summer and was unaware she'd released an album. I hadn't posted anything about her because I was kind of embarrassed for some reason? But, I thought, who am I kidding? I like La Roux, Little Boots and Florence + the Machine (not quite as "poppy," but still British). I might as well just come out now--apparently I like pop music. But it's British pop! That's okay, right? Plus, Little Boots and La Roux are walking the line between electronica and legit pop, a line which is pretty hip right now. And let's be real, Ellie Goulding is something like a British-accented Joanna Newsom singing over Imogen Heap-y dance beats. So I guess it makes sense.

Oasis in a Wasteland

2010-04-08T17:40:00.005-06:00

Do yourself a favor and watch this music video. Janelle Monae has officially captured my heart with her sweet dance moves, awesome hair, and amalgamation of musical styles. She's already got a member of OutKast on her side (in the video) and has opened for Of Montreal. And unlike um, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga et al., she has actual real talent and isn't stripping or borrowing props from Tarantino in a vain attempt to make her videos interesting. I mean really, compare "Single Ladies" to this. Some points just prove themselves.

Cheers

2010-04-05T14:31:00.005-06:00

(vector of myself I made for fun with my new Illustrator "skills")

Hello blogging friends. I'm working on a makeover of sorts for this blog which should hopefully revitalize everything. This being the first blog I ever started, I find I have quite an attachment to it and can't simply abandon it or start over. When I first started this blog, I was working at Giumarra Vineyards and doing shifts as the receptionist every now and then which basically consisted of watching Ugly Betty and waiting for people so call so I could say, "No Habla Espagnol." Everyone was always talking about how useless my French was. One day, out of blue, I was sitting there (what else would I be doing?) and the phone rang. I answered, readying my "no-spanish" line, but to my surprise, the person on the other end was speaking French. I was stunned, and sputtered, forming some nonsensical answer in French. It was as though they were rescuing me in some way, from this temporary existence where nothing I liked or thought mattered. It was a wrong number.

I had always thought this blog would be a forum for me to air my views on various topics in an articulate way, but this is quite a time-consuming endeavor which is somewhat unsustainable for me. So I'm going to scale down this blog and have shorter, more frequent posts, à la tumblr, but quite so life-streamy. I'm not quite sure what it will be yet, but I'm excited. I've been working on the design and so far it's quite promising. Here's to free fonts!

Vermeer is not dead

2010-03-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of PDN's recent release of the Top 30, I thought I would plug a favorite of my own. I've been scouring the internet as of late, finding tons of new photographers to idolize, one of whom is Sarah Maingot, who shows her books from reps in Paris and London thus I cannot figure out in which city she resides. Her work is absolutely incredible. She shoots fashion editorial and some commercial as well, from what I can tell. I'm obsessed with the ethereal, painterly quality of her images that is perhaps the closest to "painterly" I've seen from photographers (this is, of course, excluding cheesy Photoshop techniques which to me are the antithesis of painterly). Really though, some of her images could have been created by Vermeer himself. Speaking of Vermeer, the subject matter of much of her work is indeed of reminiscent of Dutch Baroque paintings. I could hardly be expected to pick a favorite.

Thirsty for Spring

2010-03-11T16:30:00.005-07:00

Back from another hiatus, but this time it actually was a hiatus. I went to Miami for a week for serious photo business--visiting studios (or hey, one-bedroom apartments) of local photographers and picking their brains apart about the industry. It was a great trip, very enlightening, but I must say that South Beach Miami is really one of the trashier places I've had the chance to visit. Even the mannequins in the windows were far too saucy. For once I'm glad to be back in zipped-up Provo, where there is some semblance of propriety.

Caitlin Shearer, who's blog I follow (among FAR too many) recently collaborated with young fashion designer Karla Spetic for her Spring 2010 line. The first three Caitlin helped (obviously) and the last two are some other favorites from the line.

And, since everyone on facebook is selling Broken Bells so hard, I thought I would share this drawing Caitlin did of James Mercer of the Shins and now, Broken Bells. Btw, to everyone on facebook who's been telling me to listen to them, I am now. Also I listened to the same song twice without realizing it, if you're wondering how they've impressed me thus far.

Update: I am liking them better now.

Things I've done instead of blogging

2010-02-20T22:28:00.003-07:00

I've been pulling an Apathist lately and being too busy to blog. Of course, Meg's blog is way cooler than mine so her presence is probably missed more. Anyway, whatever the excuse, I figured I might as well use mine for a post! I have been shooting my butt off. Literally. It's insane how much I've been shooting. If you follow my photo blog then you know this, but if you don't, here's a smattering of images that I've shot in the past month or so!

Engagements: I don't usually do this sort of thing, but my sister-in-law wanted me to do her engagements and how could I refuse? I shot a lot on film, which turned out to be my favorite, and I feel like maybe Jonathan Canlas would be kind of proud. I bought a Mamiya RZ 67 on ebay in November from a Lithuanian fashion photographer living in Brooklyn that is actually in awesome condition. We're kind of in love.

Some Personal Fashion-y Work: The first shoot was intense--friend Pamela Yukish did the makeup and Tracey Lane was kind enough not only to model but use various connections to procure all the necessary clothing. I was channeling an Edie Sedgwick look. The second shoot I assisted Alyssa Vincent on and took a few shots when I didn't need to be moving stuff so she didn't have to (she was very pregnant). All the clothes were provided by Shabby Apple and it was an all day affair.

This is a series of photos I've done in the past month for work. I work for the Independent Study program at the University and for our campaign/catalog this year we're trying to feature people to do cool things instead of going to classes all the time. The kid in the snow is a high school students who has not only climbed Mount Everest and all the highest peaks of the world, but does extreme skiing. Yeah.

Some Personal Work:
I shot some stuff around my neighborhood last summer to finish off a roll of film and really liked the results. Afterwards I started going around where I live--there are tons of old, cool-looking houses, some of which are 100 years old. I also became interested in the stuff people leave in their yards--why they do and what it says about them. So, Mamiya in hand, I started stalking about people's houses in midday, snapping pictures of their kids toys, or, in this case, 8-foot high Christus statue.

If only we still dressed with this

2010-02-07T11:55:00.002-07:00

Zoe Saldana of Avatar (still haven't seen it) and Star Trek (loved it-- combine my Trekkie tendencies with anything J.J. Abrams touches and we're in business) channels the Harlem Renaissance in a new photo shoot in Vanity Fair. Her gowns are beautiful of course, but can I saw how much I wish men still dressed like this? And didn't "ironically" combine it with a dirty beard and a can of PBR?

(via Debonaire)

Entertaining Gays Can Do No Wrong And May One Day Help You Too

2010-02-04T12:05:00.011-07:00

I've noticed a trend recently in television: as society becomes more accepting of gays, we are seeing a lot more gay characters. In films, homosexual characters have been standing in as the Supportive Wise Ethic/Gay Friend whenever Alicia Keys can't be reached, but since Will & Grace, a host of new shows have picked up token gay characters, including Mad Men, Modern Family, and Glee, with shows like 30 Rock and The Office featuring less dominant gay characters. Yanic Truesdale played the ultimate character: a gay, black Frenchmen on Gilmore Girls. Of course, the fact the more characters on television happen to be gay is less than spectacular. What I've noticed, more than their presence, is the roles they happen to assume, which seems to reflect a desire to demystify homosexuals, and portray them as Fun People Who Help Heteros, rather than deviants of some sort. The overcompensation is, well, painful.

In most of these shows, the hetero characters are much more developed than the homosexual characters, with the story lines conducive to their development, often walking the line between a good/bad character status through a complex set of morals or a misplaced sense of integrity (Don Draper). The gay characters tend to serve as comic relief from the travails of the straights. Take The Birdcage (1996). Old homophobic white guys like this movie. It's really funny. More importantly, it upholds heterosexual families as the norm. Nathan Lane and Robin Williams, the gay couple, pose as a traditional couple with Nathan Lane as the woman, so as not to upset the parents of their son's fiancée. Not only do they apologize for their homosexuality by rearranging themselves, they make the movie funny by being their hilarious homosexual selves, because, um, all gay people are funny (?). Essentially, they serve to ensure the comfort and entertainment of straight people, within the film and beyond the fourth wall.

Susan Sontag said, “Jews and homosexuals are the outstanding creative minorities in contemporary urban culture. Creative, that is, in the truest sense: they are creators of sensibilities. The two pioneering forces of modern sensibility are Jewish moral seriousness and homosexual aestheticism and irony.” In film and television, gays are characterized by their creativity, aestheticism, and irony which acts as a barrier to keep heteros safe and entertained long enough to be deterred from thinking about what being a homosexual actually means beyond the now-expected camp and fanfare. Television reinforces the idea that the state of being homosexual is a much more...exhaustive state than being heterosexual. Straight people are allowed to be comfortable with just being themselves, since being straight isn't exactly considered an alternative lifestyle choice. If someone introduced himself to you, describing himself as straight as he listed his interests, it would seem needless and uninteresting. But because most homosexuals have acted in certain ways, and been portrayed in certain ways in the media, the state of being gay bring along a whole caboose of implications. If you're gay, you must be entertaining and campy! And, if you're a gay in television, a sacrificial lamb.

Sal of Mad Men is the most obvious example of the gay sacrificial lamb. Unfulfilled in his marriage to a woman, he nonetheless turns down the advances of a high-paying male client, citing his marriage as the reason. Yet he is the one who gets fired when the client demands it, even though his boss knows what happened. How can you not feel sorry for this guy? He tries to deny his gayness to save face in his personal life and career, but it ultimately leads to his undoing. But if he isn't fired, the company will lose the client. So, once again, the homosexual character takes it for the straight people, to ensure their continued comfort and success.

Kurt of Glee is another perfect example. How heart-rending, when he gives up the part he wanted to protect his incredibly understanding father from hearing people make fun of his gay son for singing a song from Wicked! I can practically see the crown of thorns on his head. What if he just made his dad deal with it? What if he just 'stayed true to himself', which, I believe, is the overwhelming theme of the High School Musical-esque show? Why does the gay character always have to give up his needs and dreams for the comfort of the straight character? Just like in The Birdcage, Kurt apologizes for his homosexuality and denies himself the 'chance to shine.' I don't think Rosa Parks would be proud. Aside from all that, Kurt is the most accessible, typical gay stereotype imaginable. It's easier to have a gay character who walked right off the set of The Producers than it is to have a gay character who considers his gayness one of the least interesting things about him.

Essentially, whenever things are going a bit awry for the straight people, we cut to a shot of the gays, who give us a healthy dose of comic relief! Take Modern Family, which has essentially treated the gay couple, Cameron and Mitchell, as a humorous backdrop to the antics of the two straight families. While Phil and Claire are having a heartfelt parenting moment, Mitchell is whining about Cameron trying to comfort their baby all the time instead of letting her cry. Or Cameron is recanting some awful Christmas present Mitchell's mother gave him. Don't get me wrong, they are totally hilarious, but I'm afraid that might be all they are. Mitchell is obviously the less-funny one, but he still serves as a sounding board to give (funny) Cameron or the the straight people opportunities to be funny with his incessant whining.

My problem with all of this is that the Entertaining Gays Can Do No Wrong And May One Day Help You Too message that networks are trying to cram down our throats is completely counterintuitive to what the intended outcome is. You want society to accept gays as they are and not alienate them? Then don't pigeonhole them. Don't try to pass off gays as harmless, campy entertainers as though they have something to apologize or compensate for. Here's an idea: create gay characters who are not completely consumed by their gayness, characters whose sexuality is as unassuming as that of the straight characters.

A documentary that will make you mad

2010-02-04T11:27:00.004-07:00

If you haven't seen Food, Inc. yet, I highly recommend. (Watch the trailer) I am a little late jumping on the outrageous-food-industry-documentary boat, having only seen Super Size Me a few years ago. King Corn is another one I need to see. But Food, Inc. is a very powerful documentary that will probably make you want to stop eating meat. All these documentaries seem to reach the same conclusion: Wal-Mart is evil, our government doesn't care about our health, and most of the stuff we eat is made in a cup by a scientist, aka, not real. I think we can pretty much all agree that partially hydrogenated soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, and aspartame are bad for you. They're artificial, manufactured substances put in our food because it's cheap. The government subsidizes the corn industry, who decides what we eat. Added sugar, real, fake, or fructose in food is generally a bad idea.

Some doctors have argued that the causes of modern obesity and exhaustion include eating foods that our bodies were never meant to eat. They argue that we have certain patterns embedded into our DNA--it's better to go to sleep when the sun sets, because, pre-electricity, that's kind of what humans had to do. Pre-cheetos, humans had to go forage for some tasty berries instead of digging through the pantry in the middle of the night. I would be hard-pressed to find a doctor who would tell me that high fructose corn syrup is totally awesome, but thankfully, we have this cheerful black lady to do so for us, courtesy of the corn industries. Thanks to Margaret for tipping me off to this abomination of a commercial:

"Cigarettes are made from real tobacco, have no artificial ingredients, and are fine in moderation!"

Looks like rain.

2010-01-26T17:20:00.005-07:00

I've come across a few songs recently that have caught my attention (mostly thanks to Tiffany, as usual) that I thought I would share here.

"First Love" by Emmy the Great
I don't know much about who or what this person/band is, but I do love that she starts singing out Leonard Cohen and then segues into a Hallelujah-esque crescendo. Melodic, dreamy, and acoustic.

"I've Been Thinking" by Handsome Boy Modeling School featuring Cat Power
I do quite like Handsome Boy Modeling School, who has a pretty good track record with guest musicians/vocalists, such as "World's Gone Mad" featuring Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand. But them plus Cat Power is pretty much magic. So her and so them.

"This is Real" by Best Coast
I am totally not into lo-fi, generally. But I guess the Raveonettes were a kind of gateway drug, and Tiffany, as usual, was my dealer.

Gone Forever by the Raveonettes
Speaking of which.

"I'm Good, I'm Gone (Lykke Li Cover)" by The Friendly Fires
They won me over with the intense "Paris," (which I actually liked better with Au Revoir Simone, but never mind that) and this is a decidedly lower-key cover from them.

No, they did not cast an unknown woman in Equus...

2010-01-21T14:03:00.002-07:00

My latest music obsession is most certainly none other than My Brightest Diamond, whom I totally mistook for St. Vincent upon first listen. Her voice is really quite similar to Annie's on her more upbeat songs, but with the melodic, heartbreaking "Gone Away," I realized the individual, delicate quality her professionally trained voice carries. Shara Worden, the Emily Haines to My Brightest Diamond's Soft Skeleton, studied Vocal Performance in college and puts Zooey Deschanel's tepid attempts at songstressing to shame. But if I had to characterize her music through other artists, which I am prone to do, I would give her the vocal/songwriting sensibility of St. Vincent with the instrumentals of Bat for Lashes and just a dash of Radiohead. I can see her writing the soundtrack to a film based on a Brontë novel--her music has a dark, Gothic mood created by eerily omnipresent percussion contrasted with her high, sometimes meandering vocals. "Something of an End" (my interpretation) basically recounts the aftermath of an exorcism, but I can totally see Tim Burton doing a Victorian version of Wuthering Heights with this song playing for the part when (spoiler) Heathcliff digs up dead Catherine and cries, "I'll have her in my arms once more!" It's really quite beautiful though.

Listen:
"Something of an End" by My Brightest Diamond

Be My Husband (Nina Simone Cover) by My Brightest Diamond

A slew of links to performing covers recorded live.

Vital Vivetta

2010-01-19T16:55:00.007-07:00

Remember Vivetta? The awesome Milan-based fashion line with cat faces on everything? Right up my alley. While they're working on a Fall 2010 line, we can bask in the glory of Spring/Summer 2010, which features less cats, but no less class. Their overall style seems reminiscent of two of my favorite designers: Luella Bartley and Karen Walker. What I really love about their line is how the pieces manage to embody playful femininity while embracing a clean structure characteristic of great garments while referencing everything and anything from garden parties and pillbox hat-worthy frocks to gear for the open seas. They can even get away with putting little hearts over the nether-bustier area and make it look cute rather than trashy, or a trashy version of cute.

Humble Pie

2010-01-18T19:27:00.004-07:00

I've recently discovered the work of Caitlin Shearer and love her nostalgic, painterly, ultra-feminine style of ink and watercolor (I think?) She has a super cool blog which often features a rendering of what outfit she wore on a particular day with subsequent musings. She sells prints and T-shirts in her etsy shop too.

Lola's Room is my latest Etsy obsession (have I had a lot of those?). Cassia Beck of England shares her dreamy, ethereal photographs from a nostalgic, lovely place I would certainly like to visit. Her muted colors and overall softness contribute to the otherworldly mood of her images.

Also, on a random note, Swiss Miss just blogged about HumblePied, a site where creatives share career advice via iChat. Jessica Hische, a well-known, talented type designer, gives some really great advice. And her blog is a must-add to your Google Reader.

Roid Rage

2010-01-15T16:49:00.006-07:00

On my photo blog, I lamented the death of Polaroid film. A bunch of old , nostalgic loaded guys called The Impossible Project are trying to resurrect Polaroid film. They bought the factory, now abandoned, located in Hungary, and are trying to figure out how to manufacture Polaroid film without violating the patent, which extends until 2016. Yeah. You can buy a variety of pricey new versions of Polaroid film and cameras at PolaPremium, including this cool "Fade To Black" film which does just that within the space of a day. In honor of the Polaroid transfers I want to do and have been researching, here are some images I've found the other day.

by Abbey Wuthrich

CoNo!

2010-01-12T18:00:00.004-07:00

source via Brian

You know who I love? Besides La Roux, but with similar hair? Conan. You know who I don't like, besides Lady Gaga, but with similar appeal? Leno. Leno is not funny. I don't know who or how or what can watch Leno and not feel the same effects of bear tranquilizer. He is boring. Conan, on the other hand, who I can actually say that I watch fairly regularly, is very funny. All by himself. He doesn't need smirfs or TV screens or dancing costumed people to be funny. He can stand up in front of an audience without mommy holding his hand and truly be funny. Which I kind of thought was the point of things like The Tonight Show. But alas, how silly of me. But even if you think Leno is funny (?), NBC is being ridiculous. Conan was promised this slot, and now they want Leno to take over his slot because, um Leno's ratings are down?

Here is Conan ruminating about his options:

Update: Join this facebook group to show your support for Conan. I don't know if it will do any good, but what the heck, right?

Now if all women in period pieces would be this ballsy

2010-01-08T17:35:00.002-07:00

I had very mixed feelings about Holmes before I saw it, partially because I hated the advertising, and after two days of driving around LA seeing billboards bearing the same desaturated, oversharpened images, I was fearing the worst. I was expecting the filmmakers to slut everything up in order to appeal to a modern audience, which, thankfully, they didn't do. Robert Downey, Jr. was a quite intriguing interpretation of Holmes and Jude Law was a refreshing version of Watson without being too annoying, repetitive, or cliché (which I also expected). Rachel McAdams was pretty awesome as the shape-shifter, (how's that for a Joseph Campbell reference?!) and her relationship to Holmes was not entirely unlike the relationship between Pepper and Iron Man (okay, not a perfect analogy, I know).

The plot was riveting, suggesting the mystical while Holmes managed to pull out a solution through logic. WRI demonstrator that I am, I couldn't help notice the demeanor of the female characters. Period pieces, old and new, usually portray women as needy, useless prizes--even "action" women (Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest 1959) still ultimately need to be saved. But both of main female characters in Holmes break beyond this stereotype. Rachel McAdams's character was the unbeatable, brilliant femme fatale, who never really needed to be "saved"--Holmes followed her because he fears/loves her rather than because he fears for her. Even Watson's housecat fiancé has the balls to slap Holmes when he steps out of line and has no qualms about speaking her mind. Usually a character like her would serve as a comfort for the hero, but she steps off the sidelines long enough to make her views known. My point is that I'm not sure most women during that time were really encouraged to behave as the female characters did, but I'll take this over historical accuracy any day.

I have a time capsule from 2000 that I can't bear to open....

2010-01-07T16:40:00.007-07:00

Apologies for the long absence, whoever reads my blog (that's me pretending I don't know who does--cough, google analytics. I see you over there in Zambia). I aim to do better in the new year, which I'm sure sounds like a resolution to become a raw foodist or run for 6 hours a day (both of which I plan to do as well). But seriously, I am thinking of redesigning this blog, which should certainly reinvigorate my blogging. I've been spending a lot of time on Tumblr lately, so if you're on tumblr, let's be friends. I post snobby stuff about typography as if I understand what it's about, and screenshots from emo movies. Yeah.

I've been pretty uncomfortable with all the Best-Of, Worst-Of stuff that's been going around, even though I planned on contributing. I kind of hate that I am old enough to remember an entire decade, weird as that sounds. It doesn't make me excited to think, gee, I remember the Accutane craze of '04! Or the Lip Smackers rush of '98! Remember "Stacy's Mom?" Or when "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" first came out? Your first Myspace layout? Your first iPod? See, I'm getting depressed already.

So, in the interest of not joining legions of pill-poppers, I will focus on happy things. Like the future. How is the future happy, you ask? Because it hasn't happened yet. The future can be anything you want it to be. The older you get, the number of fantasies available to you dimishes. What fantasies and dreams are available to a 60-year old? You're not going to become a rock star all of the sudden, win a Pulitzer, or design a newer, creepier social networking site. Just sayin'.

So far this year I am already adding more artistic endeavors to my lengthy list, which I don't necessarily consider a good thing because I am starting to feel like I am okay at a lot of things but not very good at one thing. But whatever. I'll worry about that in 40 years when I'm sipping prune juice on the front porch, waiting for Al-Qaida to suicide bomb the Wal-Mart around the corner. The first is figure drawing. I cannot draw realistically. I like using pen and ink to make little illustrations of avocados or Burberry models, but staring at a disrobed human, trying to render their muscles and shadows? No thanks. But I must take this class to graduate, so last night I drew at an easel for three hours, only taking comfort when I found two other students whose work might be just as bad as mine. The professor is super enthusiastic about figure drawing, showing us all kinds of artists who apparently still do it, but all I could think was, if painting is dead, figure drawing is sure as hell dead.

Speaking of dead things, the other artistic endeavor of mine involves my alternative processes class, where we learn all sorts of archaic ways to make pictures that either involve precious metals and/or cancer. I've always wanted to do Polaroid emulsion transfers and lifts, but that's kind of impossible now seeing as Polaroid film has been discontinued and goes for exorbitant prices on ebay. Also, the fuji alternative doesn't quite cut it, so they say. But I do want to try gum bichromate prints. I won't bore you with the process, but instead show you some examples: (Mine will be cooler)

2009: Best Live Performances

2009-12-21T16:06:00.005-07:00

(The Dead Weather)

(Sonic Youth)

(The Duke Spirit)

I've decided to make a slew of totally random, totally biased good/bad lists over the next few days. I don't exactly feel qualified to rate things in the scope of the decade, since I was, um, 11 at the beginning of said decade and didn't have the means or know-how to control my own media consumption. I also don't feel qualified to come up with the best albums of 2009 because I really don't listen to the wide swath of music that I used to. Maybe it's the influence of David, who's from a "different generation," aka not the myspace generation, of which I am a proud, card-carrying member. At the same ages, he was digging through the recesses of Amoeba looking for physical music and I was streaming three times as much music from myspace and purevolume. Also, I've found that this year I've gotten a lot more picky than I used to be about music. I've started to part ways with people I used to generally "share" taste with (not friend-wise, but music-wise). Also (and this is another symptom of the myspace generation) who really listens to entire albums anymore? I mean, I would say that St. Vincent is one of my top 20 favorite artists, but I still have not actually listened to her entire new album. So, in light of all of this, I will list my favorite live performances of the year, where I was personally in attendance.

3. Sonic Youth- If I can still rock that hard when I'm that old, I will consider my life well-lived. They played for a good two hours, and it was utterly mesmerizing. I was fearful that I would be seeing a tepid Eagles-like consortium of baby boomers shuffling onstage, but they were so energetic that the bass player blew out his amp after the first song. Pretty awesome.

2. The Dead Weather- Utterly brilliant. The acoustics were incredible. The bass made your organs shake. Alison Mosshart was her usual sexy, mysterious self, and Jack White was, well, there are never any real words for Jack White. The live version of "Will there be enough water" was so so much better than the album version, which I hardly thought possible. (P.S., if you're as obsessed with Alison Mosshart as I am, I know just the place for you)

1. The Duke Spirit- This was a tiny, 30-minute show in July outside of Graywhale Music in Salt Lake City. There were literally ten people there. The band was so so nice and stayed afterwards to sign paraphenalia. But what made the performance so great was the professionalism of the Duke Spirit--despite the low attendance, they were still top-notch musically and incredibly nice. The intimacy of the show is something I miss and crave in today's world of electronic music where the quality of the live performance has become less and less important. It's nice to know that there are still really wonderful bands from Britain who play excellent music, recorded and live.

If you haven't seen or heard any of these bands, you must. It should probably also be known that two of these shows were free. One of the cool things about SLC.

Conan 2.0

2009-12-16T19:05:00.004-07:00

If anyone was on Tumblr this afternoon, they probably know by now that I am kind of recently obsessed with La Roux, especially after my torrent of posts from We Dance to La Roux. Now I'm on board with the crazed British kids getting her name tattooed on their name (in HER font, no less) and crafting towering pompadours like hers. I didn't actually start listening to her seriously until "Smile Like You're Bulletproof", a mash-up of "Smile Like You Mean It" from The Killers and "Bulletproof" ended up on my hypem. (It's better than it sounds.) When I first listened to "In For the Kill," I found it repetitive and shrill. But her 80s-influenced techno beats and well, shrill, voice is infectious, but not in a guilty pleasure way, like real 80s music is.

As for this video, for "Bulletproof," I love her hair, androgynous style, and theatrical, unfeminine makeup, but she seems kind of awkward. I feel like she should be dancing. The walking, standing, and skulking doesn't seem to fit the song. I mean, if you have even spunk/balls to pull of Conan 2.0 you should be able to get down to your own music. I usually like it when artists are awkward, but it works better for bespectacled indie-folk hermits.

La Roux - Bullet Proof from serkan söğüt on Vimeo.

Love this outfit. I've noticed that she wears this necklace a lot. In my perusal of her pictures, um, today.

Run Run Run Away

2009-12-14T12:46:00.003-07:00

I've become totally obsessed with the 50s-inspired, dreamy electronic rock duo The Raveonettes as of late. Their poppy melodies, contrasted with lyrics awash with mockery, humor and cynicism create a perfectly unexpected indie pop-rock confection. "Suicide" mocks teenagers who think their lives are so, so terrible while "Last Dance" eerily makes light of drug use and relationships. "Suicide," in my humble opinion really encapsulates the narcissism of our myspace generation--look at my emo pictures, look how f--ed up I am, read my livejournal/xanga/tumblr/myspace, see into my tortured soul, etc. It's an ongoing contest to try and be more sad and damaged than the next person. Or have black bangs obscuring your eyes cut at a steeper angle than the next person. Being sad or depressed is normal for teenagers and, I know from friends I had, quite dangerous if untreated, but the overwhelming narcissism that somehow you're different or special if you're sad or at the very least more sad, is worth lampooning.

Listen to Suicide

Not Having a TV

2009-12-03T13:08:00.002-07:00

No, this is not a recap of Stuff White People Like. It's incredulity and wonderment. Why is everyone SO bothered that we don't have a television? David's dad offered us a TV. His grandmother offered us a TV. Heck, the weird people downstairs who get it on to Disney music offered us a TV. (By "Disney music" I mean every song produced before 1999 with a techno beat underneath it compiled into one long track. And if that runs out, there's always the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack) I digress. Why don't I have a TV? Am I some crazy faux-hipster desperately trying to prove how anti-? I am? Well, I eat meat sometimes, so no. Aside from this statistic, I find that a room that holds a TV is often consumed by it. If the TV is not on, something feels out of place. Growing up, I always felt weird being in "the TV room" when the TV was off. It was this giant blank screen that did not exist to be blank. When I lived with roommates, we always had a television and it was a constant distraction. Someone was always playing Wii or Karaoke Stars or watching Dirty Dancing in a continuous, repetitive loop (true story). Someone always had the TV on when there was a Gilmore Girls marathon or Men in Black I AND II on TBS. It seems to me that having a TV in a room creates the attitude that watching whatever programming happens to be on is the default thing to do.

It's not that I don't like television either. I spend my fair share of time of Hulu (and, um, other sites) watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Office, 30 Rock, Glee, Community, LOST, and Mad Men. But if I want to watch one of these shows, I have to consciously pull out my laptop and watch the show. There's no aimless wandering between the Food Network and TLC looking for something interesting. I find aimless TV watching a waste of time, and having a TV plunked in the middle of your living room more than invites such viewing behavior. But no one seems to be able to wrap their minds around this. When someone found out I didn't have a TV the other day he said, "Oh yeah, you guys are kind of artsy, huh?" As if that were the only possible explanation.

Weird Crap from American Apparel

2009-11-09T17:45:00.004-07:00

So there I was, innocently surfing facebook, when I chanced upon this giant American Apparel ad in my sidebar. The Lace Catsuit. And I clicked on it, because I did not understand the garment. It is a one-piece lace catsuit. What is the functionality of this garment? It's not like you can wear it out in public--it's completely see-through. You'd either get raped or arrested for indecent exposure. It's much to cumbersome to function as lingerie, and if it is, I wish buyers luck with that... But really, I have no clue how/when/why you are supposed to wear this. Throw a skirt on and a blazer? Why not just buy the tights instead of opting for this awkward (and probably itchy) full-body number? I mean, I can see Lady Gaga or Adam Lambert throwing a glittery bra over this one and heading to the VMAs, but what about normal people? Do you walk around your house in heels and practice your Cat Woman stare? Seriously?!

It took me this long to figure out how to make my images big on blogspot.

2009-11-05T18:37:00.003-07:00

This year I finally entered the PDN Student Photo Contest. The contest is judged by 3 or 4 professionals in various facets of photography, but there is also a People's Choice section with a separate winner. If you have a minute/actually like my images, it would be sweet if you could throw me a vote (here!). All you need is an e-mail address. These are the photos I entered:

The last two were entered as a series before I found out that a series has to be three images. They are still up, but I need to find a third image that goes with these two since I already paid the entry fee for a series...yeah. Also, I am terrible at titling my work. I find that most titles come out super cheesy and if they don't, it means that you decided on a title when you were creating the work. I usually title images after the model's name, since it's easy and no one can read too much into it. Some of the photos that were uploaded next to mine on the contest were titled "Delicate Thesis." Really? Ugh. That's exactly the kind of disaster I'd like to avoid.

Twilight: Cruel and Unusual Abstinence Porn

2009-11-02T14:19:00.004-07:00

I was forced to watch the film "Twilight" last night. Yes, I know, it sounds like something the eighth amendment would take issue with, but it happened, and that's it. I have actually wanted to blog about Twilight for quite some time, but thought my refusal to read the books or watch the movie disqualified me as a legitimate critic (although that didn't stop me from tearing 500 Days of Summer to shreds). The film was awful. The first half hour was pretty funny, but after that I couldn't wait for it to end. It was kind of like when my sister and I watched "Titanic" for the first time and she said, "When is the boat going to start sinking?" and then once the boat started sinking, she said, "When is the boat going to sink?" The script was so badly-written Kate Winslet couldn't have saved it, from "The lion fell in love with the lamb," to "Come on, spider-monkey!" to "Clair de Lune is great."

What is the appeal of this series? As Christine Seifert posits in her excellent essay, "Bite Me (Or Dont)" Bella is in no way in control of her own body in the series. She is completely dependent on Edward's ability to resist sucking her blood and taking her virginity. I don't know about you, but this seems like a pretty shady message to be sending to 13-year old girls. Find a guy who wears Burberry coats, likes Debussy, and just wants to talk! He'll keep your virtue safe! Of course, Stephen Marche in Esquire has suggested that this series is a manifestation of the fact that many straight women want to sleep with gay men by pointing out that Bella is attracted to Edward "because he is strange, beautiful, and seemingly repulsed by her." I find this assertion fairly sexist, but I was really annoyed during the scene when they're kissing, and he jumps back and then they talk all night, fully clothed. I mean, it's sweet and all, but not exactly realistic long-term unless your Edward is really just not interested in sleeping with you. If preteens expect to find said virtuous contemporary-French-composer-loving stud themselves who will take charge of their virginity, a gay guy might be their best bet.

This brings me to my favorite part of Seifert's essay, in which she defines the great new genre Mrs. Meyer has created:

"The Twilight series has created a surprising new sub-genre of teen romance: It’s abstinence porn, sensational, erotic, and titillating. And in light of all the recent real-world attention on abstinence-only education, it’s surprising how successful this new genre is. Twilight actually convinces us that self-denial is hot. Fan reaction suggests that in the beginning, Edward and Bella’s chaste but sexually charged relationship was steamy precisely because it was unconsummated—kind of like Cheers, but with fangs. Despite all the hot “virtue,” however, we feminist readers have to ask ourselves if abstinence porn is as uplifting as some of its proponents seem to believe."

I think of the Rilo Kiley song "Portions for Foxes" in which Jenny Lewis warns us: "The talkin' leads to touchin' and the touchin' leads to sex/And then there is no mystery left." So the Twilight movie (and the New Moon sequel promises) contains lots and lots of not doing it. I mean think about it, in romance novels, do they get it on right away? Of course not! Why read the rest of the book, right? So you can see why I am annoyed with people who wax rhapsodic about the great values this book/movie promotes when it's selling sex Jonas-Brothers-style ("virginity" rings) and crowning young women powerless. As Jessica Valenti posits in "The Purity Myth," our society already puts a disproportionate amount of pressure and value upon young women based on the status of their V-Card, (as opposed to the pressure/lack thereof put on young men) but now Twilight is further suggesting that young women give the key to said young men! Makes a lot of sense.

I hate bands with animal names

2009-10-24T14:43:00.003-06:00

I don't know what it is, but bands with animal names seem to be the kiss of the death to any interest I might have had in them. Animal Collective. Sea Wolf. Wolf Parade. Deerhunter. Deerhoof. Grizzly Bear. Minus the Bear. Plants and Animals. Frightened Rabbit. I didn't like Fleet Foxes either, but their most popular song has kind of grown on me but that's about it. Oddly enough I don't hate Pheonix, probably because I don't automatically think of a bird when I hear the word Phoenix. I think of the color red. But anyway, I find this to be a very strange phenomenon, within myself and the world of indie music.

Several years ago, I felt like I pretty much liked most of the same bands my friends/counterparts liked. I don't feel that way anymore. The same people who also liked Stars and Emily Haines in 2007 now like Bon Iver, whom I completely detest. He's a glorified Jack Johnson, and a more boring, hairy one-man Magnetic Fields (And I do like Magnetic Fields). I don't like Animal Collective. Listening to them is like the feeling of apprehension you get right before you hit those ridges on the side of the freeway that are supposed to keep you awake. Ugh. Of course, I am willing to admit that part of reason I don't like these bands is because, for some other reason, I apparently don't like bands with animal names. Which is very strange. I need a psychoanalyst to explain this to me.

Muse-ick

2009-10-20T22:04:00.005-06:00

Apologies for my dearth of posts. My new job is really cramping my blogging time, which I consider a good thing, since my job is awesome. I get a Wacom tablet. Anyway, I was a whore for hypem today and found a ton of new music (including, but not limited to, a Lady Gaga song I subjected myself to because I really could not believe what I was hearing. Read: "Alejandro.") Here are a few songs regarding unrequited love/awkward romantic advances:

"Mrs. Cold" by Kings of Convenience- I'd heard this song before but it really grew on me after I listened to it more. Kings of Convenience have a strange ability to sound delicate and masculine at the same time.

"Manhattan" by Cinerama- My only complaint about this song are that there might be a little too much of it, in length and like, yeah, we get the point. Other than that, as my sister would say, it's perfectly satisfactory. The spoken part involving British accents reminded me of Harper.

"Pretend I Don't Exist" by Melody Gardot- Kind of a Madeleine Peyroux-y song. Not my usual cup of tea, but enjoyable all the same. Just waiting to occupy the three-quarter-break-up-rain-scene of a romantic comedy.

Also, since several people I follow have blogged about Laura Veirs, I must say she has grown on me as well. I first listened to "Wide-Eyed, Legless," which drew obvious comparisons to Sufjan Stevens and maybe Eisley? but not in a good way. But I'm happy to say that her other tracks from "July Flame" are much stronger and individual, shall we say, her finger-picking, ballads, and fanciful imagery refreshing.

If anyone else is on tumblr, so am I! I have a new layout (which I think Tiffany had last year) based on the graphic design from the movie poster for the Hitchcock film "Vertigo."

Welcome to Hell

2009-10-16T09:39:00.002-06:00

I thought this was quite funny. I love the British. "Welcome to Hell" by Rowan Atkinson

Shameless Piggy-Back Post

2009-10-13T23:48:00.005-06:00

I do not know what it is, but our last Masculin/Feminin post took me forever to finish and I barely did anything--I batch edited the photos in RAW for heaven's sake! Anyway, since I haven't posted today, I'm going to post a bit about this last post, which is much more theatrical and therefore time-consuming than our previous posts. I've been obsessed with the film À bout de souffle for years now. David and I always say that we want to dress like Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo, but we haven't really gotten there yet. Belmondo wears baggy, ill-fitting suits in the film which is nothing short of a cardinal sin to David, and Jean Seberg's wardrobe involves something called vintage (I mean real vintage) which I usually don't fit into (ironic, because I'm wearing a dress from the girl's section in the photo above but can't wear vintage that was once meant for adults). But we're giving it a stab nonetheless. It's such a romantic film, not just because of the plot and subject matter, but the styling and costumes really contribute as well. Jean Seberg's androgynous, cropped-off hair and dark, liquid liner illuminates her as the perfect femme fatale.

yes, yes, yes!

2009-10-12T11:51:00.003-06:00

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs new album is nothing short of amazing. While I've enjoyed their previous albums, Fever to Tell and Show Your Bones were relegated to dance playlists or times when I was already in a "Yeah Yeah Yeahs mood." It's Blitz! is quite a surprise, and something of a departure from their old sound, but not such a circuitous detour as to turn away old fans, like myself. I am glad that Karen O. & Co. didn't decide to make the same album again, but branched out a bit. Songs like "Runaway" and "Hysterics" (definitely worth a listen) are melodically-driven with piano (!), a far cry from "Phenomena" or "Date with the Night." (Also stoked about the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack, by none other than Karen O)

Listen to "Runaway" here

Tribute: Irving Penn

2009-10-08T15:51:00.003-06:00

I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel sadder than I probably should about the death of Irving Penn yesterday. Sadder than I was about Avedon, but then, I was 16 when Avedon died and had only been taking pictures for a short time. I knew enough of his work to keep clippings of his pictures and obituaries in my notebooks. First Yves St. Laurent last year, now Irving Penn. At 92, Irving Penn had been taking pictures for about 70 years. His death came up today because I turned in a picture of a Clinique moisturizer in my class today and my professor warned me how hard it was to measure up to Clinique ads because Irving Penn has done them all exclusively for decades. A google text revealed that a rumor regarding his death was indeed true. I really don't know what's wrong with me--maybe I just enjoyed seeing the still lifes he would slip into the back pages of Vogue every now and then, wondering if I too would be shooting in my 90s. Vogue paid homage to him several years ago as "the greatest photographer in America."

I'm not going to attempt to write some sort of elegy because it wouldn't do him justice, but I will write a bit about his work. Before Annie Leibovitz was shooting fold-out tableaux for Vanity Fair, he was concocting large, intricately-lit portrait sessions. Were he just another fashion photographer, I don't think I would be quite as upset--I viewed Irving Penn as so much more than that. He had completely mastered his craft and created beautiful, unparalleled work in its composition and quality. He was also literally good at everything, from fashion to portraiture to still life to food. In a world where most photographs I see make me cringe, there is something so honest and beautiful about his images. I feel this quality is being quashed in modern photography with fad color editing, the ubiquity of oversaturated pictures of bicycles, and the fetishization of the Polaroid, among many other things. He was, to me, one of the great people who created and represented what great photography means. I hope this is not lost.

Pablo Picasso

Kate Moss, beautiful lit à la Edward Weston

Knew New News

2009-10-07T12:31:00.003-06:00

As it so happens, I have a bit of good news. I recently interviewed for a job with BYU Independent Study as their in-house photographer and was offered the position! I'll be shooting for all their advertising: booklets, web, billboards (!), in addition to designing splash pages for all the online courses. I'm so so excited, the marketing & art director seem like the coolest people ever and the girl who had the position before me, who's graduating, Alyssa Vincent, has shot some great work--my favorite being the stellar, Annie Leibovitz-esque Cinderella tableau. I've worked in Digital Imaging for over two years now, and have learned SO much, from use of every type of 5-figure plus scanner/imaging software to metadata to color-correction skills perfected by nothing else but endless repetition of fixing badly exposed color film in Photoshop. But this new job is much closer to what I actually want to do--work creatively, rather than just technically. I've posted a few images here of Harper--the first was in my portfolio that I took to the interview.

Halfway there

2009-10-06T18:18:00.004-06:00

Vampire Weekend does not disappoint (so far)! Just came across "Horchata." When I saw them live in March 2008, they performed/dressed like Ivy League prep boys (which they are) who wanted to dress like hipsters, but couldn't quite take it to the finish line. They were a little too clean-cut, only half the band sported facial hair, and only the drummer, whom you couldn't really see, was wearing tight pants. Judging by this picture, little has changed. But their preppiness is so charming, n'est pas?

Listen to Horchata here.

A bit of a dilemma

2009-10-06T13:00:00.003-06:00

I wasn't planning on posting about Roman Polanski, but a few things have come into question that I think involve art/the things I usually post about on this blog. If you want to know how I feel about his recent arrest and all the surrounding hoopla, I don't think I could say it any better than Kate Harding at Salon.com in her much-lauded evisceration of his defenders. I think he needs to come here, and see justice served from a crime he plead guilty to. Which seems like common sense, but the Hollywood glitterati don't seem to agree. The so-called "liberals" of Hollywood (aren't they supposed to be feminists? Like, pro-women's rights and protecting, idk, children from rape?) are up in arms over the arrest.

This list has been posted by several reliable sources, so I'm assuming it's real (aha! that's the official version). It's a list of names attached to a petition, bemoaning Polanski's September 26th arrest in Switzerland. Now I know that the petition essentially says that the unsigned are upset at how he was arrested in Switzerland, (?) but I'm forced to assume that if they have a problem with him being arrested in Switzerland, they have a problem with him being arrested at all since, apparently, child rape doesn't call for any special consideration. The reason he was never arrested before was because he has never returned to the United States, has been careful about his travel, (and been less so in recent years) and never planned far enough ahead to allow officials to plan an arrest. This time he was more careless, so the Swiss nabbed him in the Zurich airport. The arguments one could make against him being arrested are the same arguments made against him being extradited at all. Therefore, I am forced to believe that these people who have put their names on the list are perfectly okay with a fugitive from the law who pled guilty to one of the most heinous crimes imaginable getting off scot-free (oops) because "he's such a great artist."

When I became infuriated about this case, and what message letting him go would send to other pervy, old, rich men, I thought about boycotting Polanski's films, since other's have brought it up. I've never watched any of his films, though someone gave us "The Pianist," which features one of my favorite actors, Adrien Brody. Should I be supporting or lending credence to this man? I hadn't really come up with an answer until I saw this list.

Et tu, Wes Anderson? Woody Allen was certainly no surprise, but Diane von Furstenburg? Sam Mendes? Emma Thompson? Julian Schnabel, Scorsese, Paolo Roversi, Harrison Ford, Jeremy Irons, Natalie Portman, Steven Soderbergh, and Guillermo del Toro.

As someone on livejournal posted, "There's too many people to boycott them all." Indeed. Though I am extremely disappointed to learn that some of my favorite filmmakers share these views, why boycott them? Haven't people in my camp (anti-Polanksi) been the champions of "separating the art from the man" in order to properly enact justice in an unbiased way? If we really mean that, then I don't see the justification for boycotting.

Someone decided to boycott Whole Foods because the CEO spoke out against the public option. Yet Whole Foods has a comprehensive healthcare plan for all of its employees, which would have been the point of the public option, so this boycotter was technically hurting something they believed in. Yes, the CEO of American Apparel is a philandering sleazebag, but he pays his "sweatshop" employees twice the minimum wage and gives them free lunches. Is he worse than the straight-laced CEO who pays his employees barely enough to live on and takes no consideration for the environment? What about Urban Outfitters? Suppose someone of a conservative bent is offended by a T-Shirt or book they see in Urban Outfitters and decides not to support the company. Do they know that the owner of Urban is a right-wing conservative* who donates thousands of dollars that he makes from Urban to conservative causes every year? What if I just really want to see "The Fantastic Mr. Fox?"

It would be exhausting to judge every artist and every businessperson by everything you can find on Google in order to assess whether or not they should be supported. Certain things are more important than others, but I would rather not try and make a stand than ending up falling over hypocritical.

Update: Can I get a props here? Salon.com just blogged the very same issue.

*"While the typical Urban Outfitters shopper is likely to be liberal-minded--as is the province and privilege of youth--the fiftysomething Hayne is mom-and-apple-pie conservative. He and his wife Margaret have contributed $13,150 to the campaign coffers of Paleolithic right-wing Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and his Political Action Committee over the years." (via linked source)

Mad Men is the best show on television.

2009-10-05T12:00:00.000-06:00

What? I thought LOST was the best show on television! Well, yeah, but I wrote that before I'd seen Mad Men. Mad Men, a show set in the early 1960s, chronicling the lives of the "mad men" in Manhattan who ran advertising agencies and their families/cohorts, comes off as an hour installment of an end of the year, Oscar-winning period piece/biopic. Creator Matthew Weiner carried the script for the pilot with him for three years, talking to anyone who would listen, including fellow passengers on planes. No prime-time network would air the show. Not NBC, not ABC, not even HBO. Finally, AMC of all people, elected to air the show, which has met incredible success and inspired a number of reflective (insert disenfranchised group here)-rights indictments from the likes of Salon.com as well as a pencil skirted, red-lipped fashion revival.

Mad Men is really quite an incredible feat in television, mainly because its main character is so unlikable. Don Draper, the creative advertising exec, bearing loads of expectations, a secret past, cold demeanor, a boring blonde housewife who looks like a case study from The Feminine Mystique, exhibits an odd, often misplaced sense of integrity that keeps viewers rooting for him, simply because there are other characters who happen to be a bit sleazier than he is. The show can be ridiculously depressing--every male character is an adulterer, and the lack of civil, women's, or any other rights is staggering, but it's engrossing all the same. The writers spare no expense reminding us of this with ceaseless misogynistic and racial slurs. Of course, as the great Vanity Fair article posits, it's a bit too self-aware to be a period piece, with the pregnant women openly smoking and drinking, and the long shot of litter the Drapers leave in the park post-picnic. It's like watching a more bearable version of Revolutionary Road with the pain spread among a TV-sized cast.

It's more than an acted documentary, of course. The characters are compelling, and the writing, of course, is utterly superb. From office manager Joan's quips ("Don't make the same mistakes I did--" male coworker walks by-- "like that one," or her rebuttal to said coworker's accusations of jealousy, "Yes, because you were the one that got away") to closeted (we think) art department guru Sal's chide--"You don't need money to dress better than you do," every line is spot-on, from the biting to the sentimental. Joan, the brash, Marilyn-figured, redheaded ultra-femme who sidles around the office cattily has become the poster girl for "real beauty" (although her body type was the exact ideal during the show's time period). I'm rooting for Sal, probably because he's one of the most likable characters, the tortured, happily-married-but-probably-gay Italian art department guru who rejects an advance from a male client, leaving us all guessing. And it's easiest to simplify Betty Draper, but her character grows more complex with every episode as she gains the footing to stand up to Don.

From my narrow-headed feminist perspective, the female characters are fascinating because they could all be described as feminists in some way. Joan exerts her power through her feminine sexuality (though she does have brains to match), while Peggy thinks she can get ahead by becoming one of the men. Where I am in the show, Betty's feminism is only starting to come through--she did briefly work as a model in the first season before rejection burned her out. It seems that the female characters have two choices: Be a woman, in the era's sense of a woman, or be a man. Those who choose the former in the show, so far, are more successful (Bobbi Barrett) because they are able to get what they want better, it seems, through use of feminine wiles. Even characters who don't necessarily try to use these wiles (Ms. Menken) end up "winning" as a result of these wiles nonetheless.

Why is the show so popular? Beyond the script and character appeal, and the utterly engrossing plotlines, it's epitome of political incorrectness. It forces us to look at something that we might not like.

Pheonix and the Death of Live Performance.

2009-09-29T17:21:00.005-06:00

Red Alert! Lauren has officially misunderestimated a musical group! I breezed over Pheonix as just another European-transplanted fluffy pop group (albeit an enjoyable one) with a lead singer who's become Sofia Coppola's new Marc Jacobs (okay, not exactly, they are dating) producing perfectly harmless, opiate-y music. Of course, because of this, I didn't really bother to listen to their lyrics...and there lay my surprise. I'd always assumed "Lisztomania" was spelled such to...invent a sense of novelty/attract classical music fans/Austrians? An unexpected search led to an unexpected discovery: Lisztomania was a film made in 1975, the same year Tommy (The Who's rock opera which my brother is OBSESSED with) came out. In fact, Roger Daltrey of The Who starred as Franz Liszt in the film, with an appearance from, Ringo Starr, and a synthesized Liszt soundtrack created by Rick Wakeman, the brains behind the band Yes. The term "Lisztomania!" was coined by Heinrich Heine to describe the public response and obsession with Liszt's live performances.

Of course, even if the members of Pheonix knew all this, it's not especially impressive, which is perhaps why I was only taken aback after watching the music video for "Lisztomania," which played to me as a self-reflexive indictment of modern distribution of music.

The video is about as subtle as a blunt axe in its tribute to Liszt with numerous shots of his portrait, and museum in Germany. But the lyrics start to make more sense as not only a grab at the composer or the 70s rock film, but a critical musing on the distribution and democratization of music. Sitting in the old concert hall, the artists are all alone, surrounded by beautiful decor, sans audience. Once they enter the seedy dark music hall full of fans, they experience their very own Lisztomania. This could be a commentary on the waning interest in classical music, or a kind of torch Pheonix vainly hopes to carry on, first created when women screamed during Franz's virtuosic piano performances. The lyrics move from "gentlemen only" to "wealthiest gentlemen only," poking at the unavailability of music during Liszt's height of popularity. Now, of course, all you need is an internet connection to hear any song you want. Music lessons are available in public schools, and with iTunes dishing out tracks for 99 cents apiece, there's no reason not to experience Lisztomania. But wait--wasn't Lisztomania about his live performance? Pheonix is optimistic enough in their video--the stage is thronged with screaming fans, but, juxtaposed with the shots in the empty concert hall, this looks more like an elegy to the death of the live performance. How many of Pheonix's fans will see them play live? Are we so inundated with music that we could ever be moved by an artist to scream?

Am I giving them a lot of credit? Yeah, but they did name their album Wolfgang Amadeus Pheonix which, if anything, shows their awareness of a certain disconnect to those considered the greatest musicians of all time. Their name, Pheonix, implies a hope that they are they can be the bird arising from the dust of what's come before--that they can revive the same passion about music that our drag-and-drop mass media culture has perpetuated. It's more than a tribute. It's a plea.

There's a Shield Around Us

2009-09-25T15:07:00.005-06:00

A friend introduced me to Casiotone for the Painfully Alone some time ago, but I haven't taken advantage of the acquaintance until recently. The moody vocals and barely-there acoustic picking mixed with a bit of electronic punctuation somehow transcends the glazing ubiquity of said genre with almost too-honest, sad, and sometimes funny lyrics made funnier with fake melodrama.

"Young Shields": "Wrote a letter to Mom and Dad/Mom and Dad the money's running out/Got a letter from Mom and Dad/They didn't send me anything" (cue dramatic chord)

"Killers": "Til you're dead/That's how long you're a parent/Til you're dead"

And then, of course, there's the mind numbingly repetitive Missy Elliot cover of "Hot Boyz" which serves as a pathetic exposure of the shallowness of such songs which we might not see as clearly from the original artist. Listen to "Hot Boyz" here

Why Obama Can't Sell Healthcare

2009-09-24T15:34:00.002-06:00

Answer: Because no one wants it.

What is "it?" The bizarre, illogical Baucus plan, strangely amalgamated to please both parties, while somehow drawing spitwads from both, walks an awkward middle ground between permitting entitlements and privatization. It's so convoluted and far from what the President originally envisioned (though most of us are confused as to what that really is--healthcare like the U.S. Postal Service?) that it's almost sad to see him fielding numerous talk-show hosts, in a failed attempt to resuscitate "buzz," trying to redefine the word "tax."

The problem is, what Obama really wants is a bit too progressive for the average, practical, middle-class American. To claim that a public option could compete with private industry is a flat denial of basic math/economics. There are two ways to control services of a business--to ration services or raise prices. Those are the only options. Insurance companies currently do both. But since Obama wants to keep costs down, eventually services would have to be rationed. Or the middle class would be taxed out their ears. The point is, Obama's idealistic future of cheap, good healthcare for everyone could only exist, theoretically, if we became a welfare state, which many, though not enough, people want. I, personally, from examples in other countries, and my personal experience with government bureaucracy, have no faith whatsoever that a completely public insurance system would be cheaper/better than a private one. Many people are convinced, however, that this would work.

Because our country is so deeply divided, between the laissez-faire capitalist libertarians (though I believe they've diminished in number post-bailout) and huffpost-loving progressive liberals, we've got this crappy, expensive, middle-of-the-road bill that screws over: young people, the middle-class, rich people, drug companies, medical suppliers, and insurers with Medicare Advantage, among others. Why do I care about the evil drug companies and medical suppliers? Well, because their innovations keep us alive. Once they're taxed as Baucus has dictated, they will, naturally, pass the tax on to the consumer. As for young people, a large number of the uninsured are young people starting out, poor and healthy, taking their chances. All those people will be forced to pay premiums just as expensive as seniors. Yet again, my beef with the baby boomers. They've done nothing to stop needless entitlement programs that screw over my generation. I'm already paying for their Social Security and Medicare, and now I get to pay for their medical care. Fantastic. Taxing the young to feed the old. I would favor a program for young people that promotes healthy living, low premiums, and emergency coverage. But no, the AARP is the most powerful interest group in Washington and they get whatever the hell they want, at my expense. Where are all the young people who voted for Obama? Hmm? Getting high and listening to Of Montreal. It's really cute.

But I digress. The point I wanted to make was that Obama is simply too liberal for modern-day America. He makes Clinton look like a Libertarian. I ask, what happened to the Left? What happened to the Left that was anti-government in the 60s and 70s, staging coups and bucking the establishment? I find it hilarious that right-wing talk show hosts have begun quoting Bob Dylan and The Beatles to make their points about whatever conspiracy theories currently on the bill.

Some want laissez-faire economic practices for health reform, and some want socialized medicine. This middle-of-the-road bill pleases neither, despite any pleas Obama might make.

In the interest of praising a film: Away we go!

2009-09-22T17:29:00.006-06:00

Since I just eviscerated several films in my last post, I thought it would be...fair of me to mention at least one independent film I enjoyed in the recent past. I was already optimistic about Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes with a script by Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida, but this also meant high expectations. I was really, completely blown away. If you want to talk about realism in a film, from the awkward, very adult opening scene to Burt's (John Krasinski of The Office) plaid-on-plaid ensembles, to the crazy-as-hell yuppie parents, to Verona's moody episodes, (500) Days of Summer is a bit like Battlestar Galactica. Away We Go details a pregnant couple's journey through the towns and lives of their various friends and family as they try to choose a place to raise their offspring. There is nothing spectacular about Verona or Burt--they can't dress themselves, they have unspectacular jobs, (Verona is a medical artist and Burt sells insurance over the phone) a cardboard window, and a vehicle as unglamorous as their wardrobes. (Verona also has a tilted uterus, but that's really more of a side note) But they are funny, smart people who love each other and want the best for their child. They don't realize that such attributes are hard to come by in the crazy universe Sam Mendes has created for them. So, at the beginning of the film, Verona is prompted to ask, "Are we f---ups?" Allison Janney and Maggie Gyllenhaal prove them very, very wrong.

In a tableau reminiscent of Little Miss Sunshine, every family they visit is a comical sideshow of dysfunctionality, from Allison Janney's demeaning comments about her children within their earsight, to Maggie Gyllenhaal's bizarre, hippieish anti-stroller mantras. These visits are, of course, hilarious and disturbing, but the heart of the film is the couple's own now-obvious functionality by comparison. You can usually tell when a film such as this is about to veer toward tying things together--toward the cheesy "inspirational" section. I held my ears but there was no siren. There was no groan-worthy admonitions, no wincing realizations. I don't know how Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida did it, but somehow they managed to construct a script that rejects every tenet of of the three-quarter time inspirational section but made the film much more meaningful in doing so. He slips a note under your door without your notice, he chloroforms you from behind, like a Nancy Drew novel. (I should probably give credit to the rest of the actors & crew instead of just the writers, but I've watched too many actors I like spit out unfortunate lines, so in light of this I'm praising the writers)

Away we go is really just perfectly done. That's all I can say about it. In light of my recent post regarding independent films, I have come up with a new mantra: Indie films cannot be indie if their characters are indie. The whole point of independent films is that they are made outside the mainstream for a smaller audience, and made so on purpose, because those involved have a vision that extends beyond the manipulative film tenets of popular cinema (in Away We Go: no corny orchestral music during the "inspirational" sections, which blended so well with the rest of the movie I almost missed them). If a film feature characters who look like they walked out of Vice Magazine, the film is trying to court the populace just as much as any Transformers movie. I can't think of a single good indie film where the main characters are hipsters. (I'm thinking of Lars and the Real Girl, Eternal Sunshine, Lost in Translation, Pieces of April, Little Miss Sunshine, Juno...)

But I digress. Sam Mendes has certainly been a bit bipolar within the last year. If Revolutionary Road made you want to bury your head in the sludge-filled concrete of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, tie up your tubes, and burn any mailbox within your sight (hear!), Away we go is a compelling counterplea to throw away your birth control, move to the bayou, and get busy.

Pleasing Apparel

2009-09-18T12:24:00.003-06:00

A few NY Fashion Week Favorites:

Nanette Lepore

Anna Sui

Garden State: The Chernobyl of Independent Cinema

2009-09-17T15:54:00.010-06:00

In the wake of Brian's succinct evisceration of a poorly-written article in my college newspaper regarding the "indie" film, "(500) Days of Summer", I have elected to a tackle a broader topic brought on by the inanity of this article: the bastardizing of supposedly "indie" films and themes. Who's fault is it? Everyone knows. Thank you, Zach Braff. But Zach Braff really didn't do anything wrong. All he did was make an independent film, directing, writing, soundtracking, and starring in it. The movie did pretty well--everyone was talking about it my senior year of high school. The Shins, who'd been around for a very long time with a fairly small fan base, were suddenly quite popular. Everyone wanted the "Garden State" soundtrack. Everyone was writing "there's beauty in the breakdown" on their myspace because it's in a Frou Frou song on the soundtrack. I think "Garden State" was a perfectly okay movie. It was entertaining enough, but not worth buying. For it faults, some parts did seem a bit contrived, and Natalie Portman's character was so damn annoying--I was astounded that anyone could try that hard.

A few years after "Garden State" came out, the buzz had not yet died. Whenever you were talking about Star Wars, people defended Natalie Portman by bringing up how great she was in "Garden State." People prided themselves on knowing the Iron & Wine version of "Such Great Heights" rather than the more ubiquitous version by The Postal Snoozervice. After some time, it became the Underground Railroad codeword to find out if someone else was "indie" or cool. "Have you seen "Garden State"? It's my favorite film!" Zach Braff became Harriet Tubman, shuttling everyone to the safe, luxurious land of white male moodiness, serenaded by some predecessor to Bon Iver. Post-Garden State, instead of making films that were, well, independent in plot, thought, characters, philosophy, music, and styling, directors began churning out formulaic, pre-packaged films that, while technically indie in their making, were anything but independent and heavily influenced by Zach Braff's creation. The monstrosity called "Elizabethtown" is, of course, the more direct thief of everything in Garden State. (Juno was another catalyst for this movement, although I think the film stands on its own as a quality piece.)

Let's take two recent movies into account: "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" and "(500) Days of Summer." Both movies rely on their audience having a certain pretension for certain bands/styles of music. (Juno: Sonic Youth, Garden State: The Shins, Nick & Norah: The National, (500): The Smiths) They feature carefully dressed actors whose wardrobes could easily be picked up between Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and maybe Forever 21. They feature a more attractive, sexually aggressive girl whose quirks, neuroses, or abnormalities constitute her entirely--read: "Elizabethtown"!. They both use hand-drawn fonts. They both tried vigorously to sell their KILLER soundtracks. (While I think Kat Dennings is a much better actress than Zooey or Natalie, Nick & Norah was kind of a sad choice for her. She was better appreciated in "Charlie Bartlett," for example.) This leaked into the mainstream as well--in the film "Yes Man!" with Jim Carrey, the director simply exported Zooey Deschanel's immortal "quirky, indie" love interest persona into the film. In an exhausting, Vice Magazine-inspired checklist, she rode a motorbike, dressed like Peaches Geldof, sang in a band, took pictures, and occasionally threw out 8th grade level pop philosophical musings to seduce poor Jim.

I shall digress a bit from the revolting knock-offs of Garden State to describe something else I don't think many people have put their finger on. The effect of these movies, all indie, lending the viewer some level of self-satisfaction, and therefore guidance, have put the late teen, early 20-something set of girls into an identity crisis. These are progressive, liberal, faux or real feminist girls who listen to Stars, play on tumblr, and often suffer from vain moodiness. Basically, me. These girls are tired of being objectified, tiring of the "media" and Cosmo and misogynistic men telling them how they should look and be. Unfortunately, that leaves them with "indie" films and Sylvia Plath.

I was friends with a girl who I spent a great deal of time with. Her favorite films were "Amélie," "Garden State," and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Now, I myself love "Amélie" and "Eternal Sunshine" but to have all three of these films idealized in your mind is perhaps a bit psychologically dangerous. She was a chameleon. She changed her hair color all the time (Eternal Sunshine). She did random things around members of the opposite sex (Garden State). She would over-dramatize stories from her youth and childhood (Amélie). She compared herself to Clementine from "Eternal Sunshine" several times, in an offhand way. It was as though she was trying to invent an attractive personality for herself based on these characters. Basically, all these movies present an idealized woman who is unstable, scattered, street smart, sexy, aggressive (though not Amélie), and fascinating to men because of untoward, quirky things she does rather than who she is. (This actually goes back to "Breakfast at Tiffany's," which every self-professed indie girl loves as well) In essence, a moody girl recovering from the emo period of high school, clutching Salinger, watches these films and thinks, "I identify with this movie. It's outside the mainstream. The girl in the movie has a relationship. Why am I not dating anyone? Is it because I'm not like her? Is it because I'm not like Clementine?"

No. Only Kate Winslet can pull of Clementine. I've seen wannabe Clementines and it's not a pretty sight.

first stop, Lily Cole

2009-09-16T13:00:00.004-06:00

Guy Aroch is definitely a huge inspiration for me. He shot the cover of NYLON in March 2008 with Chloe Sevigny and company. His filmy, natural yet glamourous composition exhibits an effortless beauty, through his models and color or tone.

Sometimes planes they smash up in the sky

2009-09-15T17:35:00.003-06:00

I have absolutely no inspiration for a blog post today. I didn't sleep well last night and my eyes hurt. I still have 24 more minutes left before I can go home. In the spirit of an unconventional post, here are some things I learned today:

1. Something about specular gradation, diffused edges, and shadow edges.
2. Lightroom 2 cannot be accessed by multiple users across a multi-computer network. This is a problem because I am trying to establish a workflow for Lightroom 2 with multiple users across a multi-computer network.
3. David landed the sweet French Studies blogging job.
4. My supervisor told me that when she thinks of Southern France, she thinks of a Cher video.
5. Apparently flash photography has little to no effect overall in damaging of a piece of art.

Yesterday, I decided I wanted to make soup, probably because it was raining. All the ingredients in my Vegetarian Cookbook were expensive/I didn't have them so I made a recipe up. Zucchini, tomato, tomato paste, onion in a blender with chicken broth, butter, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, a lot of cumin, and basil. Then I thickened it with flour à la the vegan Sage's, my favorite restaurant, whose "creamy" broccoli soup is better than "real" creamy broccoli soup. (Actually, everything there tastes better than the dairy, meaty version. I don't know how they do it.) I'm proud to say that my soup was a success.

Font walks a fine line

2009-09-12T12:00:00.000-06:00

I don't really know much about typography (hopefully this sweet history of graphic design book I had to buy yesterday will remedy that) but I've been ripping quite a few free fonts off the interwebs these days. I came across a bank of very cool fonts yesterday, on a site called SMeltery. Which is your favorite?

Vicky Recount Leibovitz

2009-09-11T16:03:00.005-06:00

With the new library card to the awesome Orem Public Library, I've been watching a few more movies than usual. Here are my thoughts on the last few:

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I wasn't too sure what to expect--I'm not a fan of anything that involves Scarlett Johansson after about 2004. I also have varied thoughts on Woody Allen. But this film was a pleasant surprise. While it begins a bit predictably, the film quickly veers into a character-weakness-showcasing off-kilter dramedy that walks a tightrope between a romantic comedy and a morality play. Two friends, Vicky and Cristina, head to Barcelona for a summer. Vicky, engaged, is convinced she knows what she wants out of life- a stable marriage. Cristina, played by ScarJo, is a bit more flighty and uncertain, and likes to live in the moment. They meet a dashing (although this is a matter of opinion) Spaniard who makes no secret of his desire for them both. When his volatile ex-wife enters the picture, in another amazing performance by Penelope Cruz, who had me at Volver, hilarity and chaos ensues. A fairly compelling argument to "don't and say you did."

Recount

Though I experienced the real Florida recount during the Presidential election of 2000, this movie featured Kevin Spacey and Tom Wilkinson and promised to be at least funny. It was quite good. I don't remember most of the things that happened in the movie, probably because I was thirteen and only remember pictures from the newspaper of people glaring at hanging chads. Kevin Spacey is great in this movie as Ron Klain, the dejected, begrudging manager for Al Gore. "I'm not even sure I like Al Gore," he says in a bar, mid-film, and it's probably the most ironic statement in the film. Tom Wilkinson is hilarious as Bush's go-to man, ruthless as ever, playing "that powerful Texan" with perfect finesse. The film's liberal bias is quite apparent, as the film aired on HBO, with the portrayal of Katherine Harris as utterly idiotic, Gore's team as young, bright and insightful, and Bush's team as old, power hungry hicks. Joe Lieberman manages to make a fool of himself yet again in this film through a TV clip in which he suggests they recount military ballots without postmarks, something Gore's team had discouraged since many of the votes would have gone to Bush. A cross between a John Grisham film and West Wing, this film made me long for the latter.

Annie Leibovitz: Life through a Lens

Yes, she's been in the news a great deal lately due to her financial issues, for which, it seems, she's been given an extension. I watched this great documentary made by her sister, Barbara, chock-full of interviews with people like Anna Wintour, Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Graydon Carter, and Gloria Steinem. It's quite a fascinating portrait, with plenty of footage, photographs, ten-year old footage, and interviews to support the tale of this great photographer. She's frank about her relationship with Susan Sontag, the late intellectual and writer, and gets emotional over her and the subsequent death of her father. It was refreshing to watch interviews of her talking about her work--she comes off as incredibly honest about what she does and unpretentious as ever. "The cover, that's just advertising. My real work is in the magazine." "I feel like it's between having a celebrity face and art. The famous people are winning!" The film showed footage of her shooting, among many other things--the September 2006 issue of Vogue featuring Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman in Paris and Versailles, as well as the Wizard of Oz shoot with Keira Knightley for Vogue. She does run a tight ship. But perhaps the most refreshing part of the film is to see where she came from- shooting honest, black and white photo-music journalism on film, hanging out with Hunter S. Thompson for Rolling Stone. Before the studio lit insanity, before the myriad of assistants, before the circus animals and marching bands--she was just a young woman in San Francisco with a bad haircut and a 35 mm camera. Now that's accessible.

An irate Chia Pet

2009-09-10T12:16:00.004-06:00

I find that many of my favorite artists who I fell in love with in high school have disappointed me of late. The Killers, Eisley, Metric, and now Imogen Heap, much to my chagrin, have produced albums that have been, to say the least, let-downs. I've listened to most of Imogen Heap's album ("Not now but soon") and I find that the pitch-perfect ambient waves of tempered electronica mixed with her own voice-as-an-instrument for which I first fell in love with her music are largely missing. What made "Speak for Yourself" so incredible was that she had no leash, no constraint. Wild voice-driven power "chords" in the largely abstract "Hide and Seek?" 3 minutes of silence at the end of the violent and mildly disturbing "The Moment I Said It"? No problem. Voice as percussion? Bring it. I feel as though her new album has taken a step back to invite more listeners into the circle-people who want to hear a Lily Allen-esque commentary on body image ("Bad Body Double") or are looking for an "Imogen for Dummies" in "First Train Home," which conveniently contains just about all her trademarks, slightly watered down or very repetitive, in under 4 minutes.

Having said this, I do find "Half Life" to be a promising track in sensitivity, temperament, build-up, and musicality. Unfortunately, this track, like the rest of the album, suffers from the plague of cringe-inducing lyrics, the culprit being, "It's my half-life/with you as my quarterback." Perhaps the album will grow on me. But so far it's like an irate Chia Pet.

The New McCarthy Era

2009-09-06T11:44:00.004-06:00

Last night, after dinner, David opened up his computer to the Wall Street Journal front page and found "Breaking News:" White House Green Jobs Advisor, or "czar," as Glenn Beck likes to call him, Van Jones, had just barely resigned. It was 10:30pm on a Saturday night on a holiday weekend. The White House must really have wanted to slip this under the table. By this morning, however, all major media outlets had released some sort of analysis or article, rather than the short statements released last night. This is a huge victory for the far-right wing (link to an online right-wing source taking credit), who brought this smear campaign several weeks ago on Glenn Beck's Fox News show, which I watched in its entirety. Few news sources noted that, after Glenn Beck called Obama a "racist" on national television, ColorofChange.org, an organization founded by Van Jones, was responsible for coaxing 57+ of Beck's advertisers off the air. Glenn Beck referred to all the advisors in the White House as "czars," a term that, much to my wonder, most news outlets have stopped putting in quotes. Almost every new outlet I've read referred to Van Jones as the Green Jobs Czar (the more liberal news outlets with quotes).

Van Jones was under fire because he was a self-proclaimed communist and Marxist in the 1990s. This seems to have been confirmed by everyone, including a huffingtonpost writer who apparently knew him long before the White House and defends him as having changed his ways, and is simply focusing on creating green jobs. He also helped found STORM, a radical communist revolutionary group. I feel like I'm just throwing words around here. In addition, he has made quite a few inflammatory statements in the past: he claimed that only white suburban kids shoot up schools, said that white environmentalists were poisoning the black community, etc. But the final two nails in his coffin were these: FoxNews showed a video of him calling Republicans a**holes, and his name was found on a petition that questioned our government's involvement in 9/11 (911truth.org). If you watch the whole video in its context, a questioner asks why Republicans were able to get bills through the house so quickly but now the Democrats can't do the same. Hence his answer. Then he calls himself an a**hole, his point being that sometimes you have to be an a**hole to get things done. As for the "Truthers" regarding 9/11, Jones claims he does not agree with the statements made by the petition, a pretty weak comeback. Some other purported signers of this same document, however, say they were misled as well, and that other statements were added to the petition after they signed it.

The resignation of Van Jones heralds the beginning of a new political climate--one that definitely points towards global warming. The right-wing conspiracy theorists will now consider this their first victory against Obama's "czars" and institute a feeding frenzy. They have demonstrated their own power and seen the results. With the internet, video, and sheer accessibility of information, there is no escaping today's McCarthy. Except that right-wing media outlets have much more power than McCarthy ever did. He held mildly televised congressional hearings--viral internet video gets people kicked out MUCH faster. This media storm was not ignited by his comments about Republicans or 9/11 conspiracy theories, but a giant, vague red cloud drawn around him for weeks and weeks. In almost every case, the truth about him was distorted in some way. The fact that most media outlet take the word "czar" for granted in reference to those who work for our President is a little unsettling and only the beginning. In a video of a town hall meeting I watched, a woman asked if the Apollo Alliance, a supposed terrorist organization, was responsible for writing bills, as Glenn Beck claimed. The Congressman had never heard of the Apollo Alliance, and everyone was happy to yell out, "Ask Van Jones, the Green Jobs Czar!"

On the other hand, is WorldNetDaily really more informed than the White House, who has top intelligence at its disposal? Wouldn't they have done some sort of pimped-out background check on Van Jones before appointing him to a high-level position? I suppose that, even if they knew about his radical past, they assumed that he'd slip under the radar, and that no one would find his inflammatory clips. Obama himself admits to having studied Marxist theories when he was in college, but nobody thinks he's a communist--jinx! In my opinion, I think it was a good thing that he resigned, simply because of the inflammatory statements that he made, which kept arising. It became harder and harder for poor Robert Gibbs to keep inventing statements to defend him. Regardless of his past actions, the statements he made that were circling the internet made the Presidency look bad and undermined Obama's ability to work with both parties. Without public support, Obama is a lame duck, and with the address to Congress coming up, he can't afford to have any distracting Red Scares going around.

A major new outlet sells t-shirts bearing Obama's face with the text, "Yes, we did." I'm waiting for FoxNews to start marketing t-shirts bearing Van Jones's face crossed out with the text, "Yes, we did."

I'll take two!

2009-09-02T10:50:00.005-06:00

I guess I wasn't expecting Control to be a particularly cheerful film, but Anton Corbijn's biopic of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis was more depressing than House of Flying Daggers. Shot in black and white, the film details, in snippets, some events given less attention than others (his marriage is depicted by a five-second scene in the car in which both are clad in wedding attire, silent), Ian Curtis's young marriage, epilepsy, rise to fame, travels with the other members of Joy Division, affair, and suicide. The only that really bothered me was that Annik's attire throughout the movie was waaaay too modern. I could go buy exactly what she was wearing in every shot at Urban Outfitters.

It's quite a painful movie to watch, simply because you already know what's going to happen. Even if you don't know the story of Joy Division, (the remaining members formed New Order) it's one of "those tragic rock films" that carries an ominous air of impending doom. Even more searing is the fact that the film was co-authored and co-produced by Ian Curtis's widow, who penned a book about his life and their troubled marriage. She's certainly the most sympathetic character in the film--the abandoned, forgotten wife, left at home with the baby whilst her husband is on tour, cavorting with other women. She's also the one to find him at the end of the film and is left crying in the street with her daughter. I don't feel like I'm "spoiling" the film, per se, because a variation of the same things happen in basically every rock/music film, from Ray to Walk the Line. This is another one of those films, but more raw, told with more sensitivity and less attention to glitz. I will leave you with a quote from one of my dear friends: "I hate Joy Division. They're so imposing." -Jack Snyder.

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Honeyroot (Cover)

This is a Dark Time for Radiohead Fans

2009-08-31T09:33:00.007-06:00

It's rare when I like a band, but am annoyed by the majority of their fans. David and I spend a lot of time talking/complaining about Radiohead fans. As far as I can tell, there are two types of serious Radiohead fans: pretentious, long-time fans, and recent converts hopping on the hipster bandwagon looking for a flag to wave. As for Radiohead themselves, I really have no problem with them. I was only a casual listener before In Rainbows was released, and even now they only show up on a few of my playlists. I think they're a good indie band, but that's really it. I don't think they've brought us anything absolutely incredible. I don't think Thom Yorke is the most brilliant lyricist ever. I actually like him a lot because he's not pretentious, from what I can tell. He hates his voice and knows he's not the most attractive frontman. But all these girls think he's so hot and love his voice! Seriously, pay attention to your local Thom Yorke and I'll believe you. Honestly.

As for the fans, the first group are really annoying people to talk to. They are always talking about how a Radiohead concert changed their life or waxing rhapsodic about how amazing 2+2=5 is. I can see being über pretentious and speaking esoterically about a real indie band, like Guided by Voices, Dinosaur Jr., New Order, or at least Joy Division, but Radiohead? How can you be that pretentious about a band that is so popular? People are pretentious about bands--usually unpopular indie bands--because they feel like they "understand" them enough to like them while most others don't, hence their unpopularity. Radiohead's popularity leaves fans in the Number One category in an uncomfortable position; since their popularity suggests that they are indeed somewhat accessible, they are forced to imply that, instead of being superior to other music listeners in general, they are superior to other Radiohead fans because of their superior taste and intelligence. This might also be because there are simply less people who don't like Radiohead for them to spit on. Fan group number two is growing at a rapid rate, widening the pool of people from group number one to look down on.

Which brings me to the new Twilight movie, New Moon. Fans all over the internet are outraged: Radiohead and Bon Iver (ick.) are both producing tracks for the soundtrack! What sell-outs! Imagine all those Edward-loving, fanged prepubescent/30-something housewives getting all hot and bothered to the geniuses who gave us Ok Computer! How could they? Why do we think that Radiohead is above money? Yes, they marketed their album on the honor system, but the economist behind the book "Freakonomics" suggests they made just as much money, in fact, probably more, since they eliminated the record label. They could afford to do an experiment like that. As for the song they recently released commemorating the valiance of the last surviving World War One veteran in Britain with all the proceeds going to British veterans, that's their version of a charity gala. Many celebrities and musicians are involved in charity work--and so are they. As for New Moon, they're being paid by a studio to produce a song, with complete creative freedom, for a major motion picture that will definitely lead to more album sales and royalties. Supposedly many of the actors in New Moon are Radiohead and Bon Iver (ick.) fans and clamored for their inclusion on the soundtrack.

The release of the soundtrack will introduce Radiohead to an entirely new demographic of listeners, and one eager to jump on the bandwagon with the rest of group number two. It's going to be infinitely harder for group number one to pretend Radiohead isn't accessible, so my bet is that they'll become even more defensive and pretentious or leave in droves, reconstituting Radiohead's fan base. Even some people in group number two will try and say things like, "Well, I liked them waaay before New Moon." This is a dark time for Thom Yorke lovers.

Because I didn't really have enough blogs already....

2009-08-27T22:00:00.003-06:00

On a whim this morning, David and I decided to start a fashion blog called Masculin/Feminin. Because I'm not blogging enough as it is. The blog is going to feature outfits of ours that coordinate, and we'll "play" imaginary couples or pay tribute to our favorite icons in film and music (such as John Cale & Nico, or Jean-Paul Belmondo & Jean Seberg in Breathless or Andy Warhol & Basquiat--the jury's still out on who's who). Look for guest stars in our future tableaux. In our first post we a pair of nouveau riche, first-time art buyers.

That hair better not be from a bottle

2009-08-26T12:41:00.006-06:00

When I first read about Florence & the Machine in NYLON, I thought, oh, another drunk, exhibitionist indie version of Lindsay Lohan. Right down to the hair. Ouch. But, I kept seeing her on music blogs, and decided to give her a chance. Much to my chagrin, or something, I really like her now. Like Regina Spektor, she doesn't limit herself to a genre or a style, unless you call squaring the intensity of every unabashedly bipolar song a "style." She yells over pounding percussion (Drumming Song), she employs choruses to back her up on her mantras (Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)), but also takes things down a notch (Falling), exhibiting very accessible vulnerability. Unlike many artists today, she really uses her voice as an instrument. I mean, she's not exactly Imogen Heap, pounding out her own percussion tracks a cappella, but, like Emily Haines, can use wordless singing to express emotion in a way that's gratifying, not gratuitous. Having said all this, it's clear she's not a faceless voice behind a microphone, but most certainly a performer to the point of said exhibitionism. Apparently, in art school, when hung over in class, she would hide under her desk with a blanket draped over and tell her teachers she was an installation.

Having said all this, she is signed to Island Records instead of Matador or Arts & Crafts or some legitimately indie label. Sharing a classroom with the Killers these days isn't exactly a stamp of indie cred. As such, her sound is very, very clean, though thankfully not overproduced. I hope that her next album isn't produced by Gavin Brown (He produced the new Metric album, Fantasies, which I think, suffers from the Coldplay-production treatment (though peace-out to any label and subsequent self-release is sweet). I also read on someone's blog that he produced the Coldplay album but I can't seem to find evidence of this now. Consider this a faulty quip) because her vocal power deserves transparency. In terms of fashion, she's bold and daring with her outfits and as a fellow redhead, I can certainly relate to her penchant for black, which makes fiery hair pop. Anyway, her new album is Lungs, and below is the very produced, clean, calculated music video for my favorite, "Drumming Song." (Apologies for the abundance of parenthetical comments)

Too-Long, Inflammatory Political Post

2009-08-24T17:47:00.014-06:00

I don't believe I've ever blogged about politics, but today's feeding frenzy has left me unable to keep quiet about it. Maybe this is so long because I've been bottled up for awhile about it. I simply am not in the mood for fashion or music today--Obama it is! If you're not "interested in politics," or idk, the future of the United States, I'll probably post something about Florence & the Machine tomorrow (love her!).

Let me start out by saying that I don't identify with any political party. I find the actions of both irresponsible (perhaps the Republicans more in the past 4 years, because it's been more visible) and hell-bent on self-survival rather than real policy change. Both parties focus on superficial, popular causes and/or funneling millions of dollars of pork barrel to their constituents (I have benefited from: an airport in Bakersfield, CA courtesy of Bill Thomas, chairman of the Ways and Means committee and a brand new $150 million for public transportation in Utah, both of which I disagree with) rather than fixing real problems: Social Security, term limits, (I think, one of the biggest problems in government today) the mounting budget deficit, and weighty, expensive government programs.

I also didn't vote for Barack Obama. There was no other candidate I particularly liked, but he happened to be the candidate I disliked the most, for these reasons: 1) I felt he had insufficient experience to assume the Presidency and 2) I had no idea what he was going to do as President. Hilary and McCain had actual history in office. Which made them more difficult to elect since they had a history to draw from that was inevitably laden with things somebody disagreed with. But Obama got off scot-free. He had nothing! Nothing except sweet, compassionate service for the poor of Chicago, and a beautiful little family that is the American dream. How could you not love him? He's young, handsome, smart, eloquent, and black. He's the Will Smith of politics. Everyone loves Will Smith. My mom adores Will Smith. She watches I, Robot and Independence Day religiously. Everybody, young, old, white, black, loves Will Smith. How can you not?

So the hipsters and the young, progressive college-age students, lured in by Obama's FONT and otherwise great graphic design came out in droves. Suddenly, after 40 years of inactivity, young people were interested in politics! I'll be damned! All those charts and graphs I saw in PoliSci will have to be revised! My guess is that most of them (I'm not discrediting every Obama voter) jumped on the bandwagon/were excited at the prospect of having a black President (which is exciting, but beside the point of electing someone). I doubt most of them could tell me who Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid are. I say this because all these pro-Obama people have disappeared, and therefore clearly proved themselves not truly concerned with politics. Obama was a Livestrong bracelet to them. I don't see any of them in these videos of town hall meetings, refuting claims of Swastika-brandishing right-wingers. No, they're contented hanging out in their dorm rooms, smoking weed and waiting for the next Spike Jonze movie (yeah, I'm excited too).

On to my rant: At the beginning of Obama's presidency I tried to have some sort of faith that he would make America better, since he kept saying things like that, and I like to try and have faith in the Presidency, though, based on history, I'm not sure why. Eight months in, I look around see the government taking over the private sector, readying itself to mandate how and if we buy health insurance, spending trillions, further indebting us to China whom we will never be able to pay, and enacting anti-American Robin Hood policies. I was mad at the Republicans for spending us into the ground, and surprise! now the Democrats are doing the same thing.

Everything I read (the newspaper I read the most the is New York Times, though I occasionally peruse WSJ, daily examiner, huffington, & the guardian) is eerily beginning to look like something Eddie Willers is fretting about in Atlas Shrugged. I started reading the book and thought it was almost funny--no, the United States could never become this! Thanks, Ayn Rand, for your extreme defense of extreme capitalism! But really. In the book, bureaucrats regulate business or take them over. They limit production, innovation, and sales to make room for other, weaker companies and less efficient government entities. (This is what the health care plan will do) Companies eventually survive on government subsidies instead of actual profit. I'm not championing laissez-faire capitalism. Some regulations are good, since not all industrialists are as benevolent as Henry Rearden.

Nearly everything Obama has said about the health-care plan in untrue. There are direct contradictions in the actual bill. American doesn't have enough trust in government to believe Obama when he starts a sentence, "I promise..." He also promised he wouldn't raise the national debt through the healthcare policy. Well, the national debt is rising an astonishing 2 trillion this year despite Obama's previous claims. I don't believe ANY one man can control/change/fix the economy. Obama's not above that. He can't fix the economy with government spending. We're in trouble because of shady financial practices and our credit-card culture, which Ben Bernake, the inept Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has worked to continue, saying that "our economic system is critically dependent on the free flow of credit."

Back to health care: why in the name of Dagny Taggart would I support a health-care bill that is essentially an immense, all-encompassing version of Medicare, a nearly bankrupt, wildly inefficient government program, the cost for which Congress underestimated by 10 in 1967? Show me something efficient that's run by the government. How about the United States Postal Service, which is only alive on government subsidies. Obama has said that the health care plan will be like the USPS, with Fed Ex playing the private insurance company. 1) Well, we all know how efficient USPS is 2) It's illegal to directly compete with USPS. They raise the cost of stamps and we can't do anything about it because there are no more competitors. Also, if you have to pay taxes for the healthcare plan already, why would you pay in addition to obtain private insurance?

Should everyone have health care? Yes. Is the current system bad? Yes. My little brother was diagnosed with an incredibly rare blood disease 5 years ago, and was unconscious in the ICU at UCLA for 3 weeks. Had we not had health insurance, or the ability to find the best doctors, at a medical research hospital two hours away, he would have died. Under a health-care program run like the DMV or USPS, he would have died. My parents had to make a decision to take him to a children's blood specialist and there was no time. The cost would also have been about $300,000. My parents would have had to mortgage their house and sell their cars. But for health insurance which they chose and paid for with money they made.

Why should someone who works hard for their money be paying for other Americans to buy new cars? Is this fair? The rich and the super-rich pay the majority of taxes in this country, and Pelosi has suggested 5 % surtax just for the healthcare plan to anyone making more than $500,000, which isn't that much money anymore. Plus, the super-rich have suffered, percentage-wise more than any other income group in the wake of the recession. McAfee, inventor of the anti-virus software, saw his fortune dwindle from 100 million to 4 million in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Criminalize the rich all you want, (that link leads to a follow-up in the New York Times in which he defends attacks on him and his wealth) but they hold up this country, though not just through taxes. Entrepreneurs have made this country what it is, and when you take away any incentive to achieve, you take away innovation and technology. People are motivated by money. The people criminalizing the rich are motivated by money too, since they want it from the rich without the work and guts the rich had (excepting heirs). Why is this not painfully obvious?

Anyway, under this new plan, there is little to no incentive for anyone to actually become a doctor (or wealthy, for that matter). A guy my husband works with dropped out of school a semester before graduating after interning at a hospital and decided to become a cook. When our health-care professionals are bureaucrats, we're screwed. Bureaucrats exist to justify their existence, aka, prolong wait times, paperwork, unnecessary crap. The bill already accounts for the rationing of care, so if the government can't afford, it, you don't get it. It's already in the bill. Furthermore, I don't understand why people think they shouldn't have to pay for health care. Doctors spend years and $$ in school, don't they deserve to make money? They're providing a service. That's their living. Most doctors would prefer to spend time with patients than insurance companies, but under this plan they'd be spending more time with the government than their patients. That's better.

But now, the American dream is to capitalize on your talents, become rich, and give your money to everyone else who wasn't as industrious as you so you can be just as poor as them. Obama is effectively destroying the very American dream he and his wife have so benefited from. At least he's safe in his ivory tower/house.

The Dead Weather

2009-08-05T16:52:00.007-06:00

Alison Mosshart, a member of The Kills is now a member of Jack White's new band, The Dead Weather, who we have tickets to see August 18th. As one half of the Kills with Jamie Hince, pictured above, she's the liberated, no-holds barred, inky-haired femme fatale à la Jean Seberg in Breathless, sweet as Alice, cooler than Leigh Lezark, and somehow more charming than the untouchable, sometimes freakish Karen O. Accessible, catchy tracks like "Sour Cherry" and "M.E.X.I.C.O." were tempered with almost ballad-like, slower-paced "Black Balloon" and "Tape Song" on their album Midnight Boom. She comes off as more genuine, somehow, than the million other black-fingernailed aspiring indie rocker chicks, probably because she's actually good and seemingly oblivious, maybe indifferent, to how ridiculously pretty she is and how iconic she's becoming (supposedly Vince's girlfriend, Kate Moss, copied her bangs).

As the main singer of The Dead Weather, in which she proves herself just as dangerous as any of the boys, she's belting out warnings, bangs and hair over her eyes, evil and sexy at the same time. Considering the evolution of The Dead Weather, in which the four, Jack White, Dean Fertita, Jack Lawrence, and Alison Mosshart jammed randomly and recorded what came out, she's chock-full of mildly disturbing pleas and threats, from, "I build a house for your bones" to "I want to grab you by the hair/and sell you off to the devil" to "Treat me like your mother." She's one of the more attractive chanteuses of her genre.

Whatever Mosshart is to her genre, Jack White is most certainly the Jay-Z of his. He believes in an old-school pre-internet style of music distribution and of artist discovery, yet still manages to succeed as an artist and a tycoon in the new school. His contributions to the album, Horehound, are unmistakable: "Will There Be Enough Water?" has Jack White written all over it with its long running time, bluesy riffs, and soulful repetition. The rest of the tracks feature him on drums, a strange sight for many a White Stripes fan, but certainly a welcome one, with the unbridled percussive timbre on "60 Feet Tall" and "No Hassle Night." Jack White also offers more prominent vocals on "I Cut Like a Buffalo" and "Treat Me Like Your Mother," his voice, not surprisingly, combining perfectly with Alison's under their broken radio-like distortion. "Bone House" is a standout on the album, featuring cleaner, sleeker guitar and Alison's voice put to its best use, ranging from near whispering to half-screams.

There's something addictive about the Dead Weather, considering the origins of the members and what a different, much harder, albeit addictive sound this is for everyone involved. They successfully accomplish what every artist, from Wes Anderson to Damien Hirst hopes to: they create their own world and handcuff the key to their wrists.

The above black & white images (I believe) are from Interview Magazine. Below are The Kills.

"Treat me like your Mother" by the Dead Weather

A really hilarious "interview" with The Dead Weather. Not to be missed. I think I've seen this several times and it proved to me that I would most definitely be friends with every one of them. Maybe not the guy playing the organ, though. He seems like one of those kids in elementary school who would have been nicknamed by a food, like BolognaBoy.

Feathers of a Bird

2009-08-03T16:43:00.006-06:00

This week I'm going to blog about my favourite female artists, simply because it seemed overdue and the accompanying photo/fashion associated with female singer-songwriter/members of bands generally seems to be more elaborate and interesting than of an entire band, especially with the current Architecture in Helsinki/Margot & the Nuclear So & So's/Polyphonic Spree trend of creating a band that is really more like a small militia. It makes for awkward posing. Speaking of Polyphonic Spree, first up is St. Vincent! If you actually know me, you are probably tired of my warbling on and on about how talented and fascinating she (Annie Clark) is. Hopefully this post will provide enough praise.

Why St. Vincent? She has a new album, Actor, out, and she was on the cover of the music mag, Death & Taxes (I would link to their site, but it appears to be down), from which these photos are taken. I fell in love with St. Vincent with "Marry Me" from her first album, also titled Marry Me, a nod to Arrested Development. The ironic desperation of her lyrics and vocals and unmasked musical talent, vocally and instrumentally effectively seduced me--I've already conceived my own cover of this song, albeit a rudimentary one. (seduced, conceived...I need a new analogy) She displayed such an unabashed variety of styles on her first album, à la Regina Spektor's third album, from classical piano ballads to vocally percussive chants to dramatic minimalism to mostly instrumental tracks in such a seamless manner that she managed to define a vision all her own more than other artists who pound out like track after like track in hopes of garnering easy recognition. (Also try "Jesus Saves, I Spend" and "Paris is Burning")

Her new album, Actor, is similarly diverse and perfectly conceived (oh dear). "The Strangers" is my favourite track so far--it's wonderfully cryptic and compelling. You can tell she's got a bit more support with the marvelous array of instruments she's assembled for this album--for Marry Me she would coerce her former fellow members of Polyphonic Spree to play French horn or what you have in exchange for a tuna sandwich. "The Party" is sure not to disappoint with her emotionally on-pitch voice inflections and gift for subtle storytelling. She incorporates distorted, heavy electronic beats under her crisp, thin vocals on genre-bending tracks like "Marrow" and "Actor Out Of Work." Annie Clark is able to exhibit an emotional honesty in her work, yet somehow remains an elusive siren who can't quite be pinned down.

photos from Death & Taxes magazine

Blogothèque video of "Paris is Burning"

So this is my future

2009-07-31T15:09:00.000-06:00

Ever since I entered college, I felt this sense of loss, as if when I moved into my dorm room I left something behind I should have brought with me. I'm not talking about nostaglia or homesickness (which I never felt), but mournfulness for the quickly deteriorating renaissance woman/girl/teenager I once was. I very act of picking a major was an invitation to a funeral for all my hobbies and interests not related to whatever I chose. In high school I focused on being the best at everything because that's what colleges want to see and, well, I liked doing everything. "Everything" included: piano and violin lessons with recitals, membership in several orchestras, usually 3 at a time, organ at church, photography, which meant shooting, hand-developing, and printing: actual darkroom work, French, writing (I won a contest and a $15 b&n gift card for a very bad emo story I wrote at age 15), poetry (a friend "published" me in her zine), composing (I wrote 7 or 8 songs during that time I've not shared with many), a "band" with my friend Bree, a myspace obsession (embarassing, I know), a LOST obsession, and a part-time job at the library which nurtured a voracious love for fashion via magazines, and old films, which I was watching several times a week.

I wanted to be everything--all of those things I had devoted my time to. I picked photography because I loved it, the contest I won seemed like a sign, and I figured it was the most viable (after my schism with Ms. Juilliard I was done with intense classical piano) career-wise. It's weird; I always prided myself on being good at everything; now I feel like half of what I did is 6 feet under. How do you have time to pursue all the things you love? I wrote a short story my freshman year which my professor told me I should try and publish. What did I do? Nothing, really. No time. I bought a 6 dollar copy of the 2006 Writer's Market at the bookstore and never opened it.

Photography is future now, it's going to be my career, my hobby, my love, my hate. It's weird, gathering up your eggs as such. Playing in the band has been good; it's helped me reconnect with my music, but I can feel my fingers forgetting Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto. I remember seeing a documentary about the Van Cliben International Piano Competition and this Romanian girl said that Rachmaninov came to her in a dream and told her to play his piece without pedal. She later watched a video of him performing and he played without pedal! I was so jealous. I wanted to be important enough that Rachmaninov himself would come to me in a dream and give me direction.

I also feel disillusioned because I don't feel very different from anyone else, which is pretty uncomfortable for me. I mean, where I go to school I'm pretty different--a redheaded married feminist anti-hipster who is really more of a nerd than anything else (How many hipsters can talk Star Trek? I've been watching Next Generation since the late 90s), but in the scope of the world and who I'll be "competing" against? I like fashion, photography, Jack Kerouac and Stars. I wear glasses, am generally shy except around close friends, grew up reading lots of books, like Eternal Sunshine, read Nylon and Good magazine, etc. etc. etc. That describes like, 8 million other girls. It just kind of depresses me.

For a diamond ring, I do these kinds of things

2009-07-28T12:20:00.006-06:00

I thought it was about time to post some pictures of our cute little abode. We painted and painted and painted--the seafoam green, yellow, and persimmon are of our choosing, while the baby blue from my old room was already there. Above is our bedroom--can you tell someone likes the Velvet Underground? I think there are five Warhol bananas in this photo.

Here is the strawberryluna poster I mentioned purchasing earlier--love it! Crammed it into a cheap frame from DI and voila! Most of our furniture is from thrift stores like DI or Saver's, or craigslist, like our bed. That adorable elephant lamp is from DI.

Our giant living room with my yoga mat in the middle. Both couches are from DI, as is the bookshelf. The one on the right is so long Yao Ming could sleep on it and quite literally weighs a ton. The couch on the left features a hideous Thanksgiving design, but is very comfy. You can see snippets of my drawings/photographs on the walls.

Yes, we have a fireplace. The owl bookends are from the best thrift store in the world, "Your Wildest Dreams Vintage" (I'm not kidding) located in Bakersfield, California, my hometown. Somehow I didn't discover until after I left home. Yeah. It is literally worth driving ANY distance to shop there. They have four floors of vintage furniture, clothing, jewelry, accessories (men & women), old collectible stuff, dishware, opera glasses, you name it.

My old room which is now the music/art/guest room. The top photo is of David by Michael Costa from back in the day, under by Erik Almas, right a Kate Spade ad from the September 2007 Issue of Vogue (yeah, the one from the movie).

I always meant to blog this but never did. It's one drawing I've done that I'm quite proud of.

Curtains my mother made, an assortment of stickers, a letter from Harper which I blotted my lipstick on, pictures of David I had in my room when--heaven forbid--we were apart, and a vintage red snakeskin purse from that same awesome vintage place. I am all about long-strapped vintage mini shoulder purses. I have tons of them. I can't not buy one if I see one. Fortunately they're usually pretty cheap. That was a little more pricey because of the snakeskin. Ironically, I don't wear it much because it's kind of fragile.

A highlight from our kitchen. When I was in junior high, I found this at Marshall's.

That oven doesn't work--but it shows you how old the house is. The French trivets were wedding gifts from my dear friend Emma, the goose from David's grandmother, the photo of David again, from back in the day by Michael Costa, who now is a successful wedding photographer.

A clock from two apartments ago and an extra blueprint from a Catholic church we scanned/printed did at my work.

Another Breathy Electronica band? Not quite.

2009-07-27T14:12:00.002-06:00

Since my and Tiffany's music blog isn't up and running yet (yes, we're starting one. It was an accident waiting to happen), here's to a new band I found and immediately took a liking to: Warpaint. I assumed the song name was the band name as I was cruising down hypem.com, and listened to them, trying to recall a Stars song called "Warpaint" without avail. Sometimes I feel bad that I only know how to describe music within the context of other music, as in, "oh, they're like this band--" shouldn't I be able to define a sound more eloquently than searching through my mental iTunes and highlighting a few similar groups? Isn't that a bit cheap? But, how else can we describe something but within its context, right? What am I even talking about?

Warpaint released one EP in February, a collection of 6-8 minutes compositions à la Imogen Heap (new album in August!) meets Interpol with the lyrical and vocal sensibilities of Bat for Lashes, Azure Ray and Au Revoir Simone--their new album specifically ("Knight of Wands" - repetition) and a dash of Ladytron-ic electronica. I suppose they're really more like Explosions in the Sky than any of these bands I've cited, but the upside is that they're not too much like any particular band, which is one of their strong points. Warpaint walks a rickety bridge--their songs are long à la Explosions, but not purely instrumental. Usually when an shoegazey electronica band has a longer than 3.5 minute song (again, Knight of Wands, "Oh joy, I can see, Oh joy, I can see you. It's all I want. It's all I want" although they wisely cut that off before minute 4) going into the 6-8 minute territory, they either get repetitive lyrically or give way to instrumentals. Warpaint forges on, developing their intricate compositions held up by lyrics just as strong, something I didn't expect.

Listen: Stars by Warpaint

अप्प्लेस तो Apples

2009-07-21T12:01:00.003-06:00

(I have no idea why my title is in like Arabic or something. Weird.)

I made this sandwich last night and, obviously, liked it enough to photograph it. Green apples, cinnamon, goat cheese, mustard, and some mango curry sauce I found in the fridge. Yum.

fstop

2009-07-15T13:53:00.003-06:00

Currently reading "On Photography" by Susan Sontag

"Like guns and cars, cameras are fantasy-machines whose use is addictive. However, despite the extravagances of ordinary language and advertising, they are not lethal. In the hyperbole that markets cars like guns, there is at least this much truth: except in wartime, cars kill more people than guns do. The camera/gun does not kill, so the ominous metaphor seems to be all bluff - like a man's fantasy of having a gun, knife, or tool between his legs." (from On Photography, 1977)

There is no such thing as traditional marriage

2009-07-13T15:33:00.007-06:00

Thanks to everyone for the book recommendations! I have my work cut out for me. Speaking of books, I finally finished Stephanie Coontz's "Marriage, A History," an extremely readable, interesting account of marriage and claim that our institution of family life is undergoing a renaissance not unlike the Industrial Revolution from which there is no return. I bought her book because every time Newsweek wrote an variation of the "We we wrong!" article in reference to their (1986?) declaration that a woman over forty had a better chance of being killed by a terrorist than getting married, she was their go-to girl.

Fascinating and insightful, "Marriage, A History" made me rethink all my previous conceptions and, mostly, thank my lucky stars that a) I was born a woman in this era and b) I married someone whose views on what a marriage should be are identical to mine. Coontz begins by belaboring her mantra that resonates throughout the book: There is no such thing as "traditional" (malebreadwinner/housewife) marriage. What? Yeah. Back in caveman times, what we would call marriage was created to organize children under a male head for inheritance purposes. In terms of labor, the entire caveman unit worked as a whole. Without the woman or man, all would die. The cavewoman wasn't hanging out knitting or gabbing about volunteer work--she was smashing berries and making clothing. As time went on and man became more civilized, marriage became an institution that existed for economic and political meanderings. Most people couldn't choose who they married--love and marriage were not said in the same sentence although it was presumed that "affection" would eventually develop. Then the wife worked too, out of necessity, although some wealthy wives in Greece hung out at home. In Europe for much of the Middle Ages, a purported spoken promise of marriage could constitute a marriage. No authority needed be present. If the man decided to marry someone else, the woman could force him to marry her, whether or not her claim of a promise was true.

As for the relatively modern-day, that is, the United States from 1900 on, most middle-class and poor women and their children worked in addition to the husband. We all know that women basically had no rights back then and birth control sucked, etc. Between the 30s and the 50s, courtship was a dance between dating for fun and oops, I got pregnant, time to get married because of the unreliability of any birth control. The malebreadwinner/housewife model arose, says Coontz, for two reasons: 1) If a man made enough money to support his wife and her 2) wealth of appliances 1) it was a status symbol of sorts. 2) The acquisition of said appliances rose along with more advertising and consumerism post WWII. Great. So, just not to be too female-sided here, men were valued or devalued (and still are) for their success appeal, or ability to breadwin. Classy.

I don't want this to be too long, but Coontz identifies the changes that broke down the high importance society placed on marriage for so long. 1) The idea that women had no sexual desire and had to be forced into marriage. 2) The unreliability of birth control forced people (mostly) to organize their sexuality within a marriage and made marriage=childbearing 3) The power governments and institutions lost in controlling or regulating people's personal behavior. 4) The increased ease of divorce. With sexuality and parenthood finally dissociated (thank goodness!) and personal privacy instated, people recognized that one could find happiness and fulfillment in other ways, besides getting married, so ended "traditional marriage," which lasted only 15 years anyway.

In short, it's a fascinating book with tons of quotes from journal entries and newspaper and self-help books and laws from across the centuries that debunk whatever you might have thought before. She also has compelling arguments for gay marriage, arguing that it really is the logical social conclusion with the changes that have happened. I highly recommend this, if not only to brandish at your parents, but, since it's completely factual and empirical, who knows if it will win you any arguments.

I need a booklist!

2009-07-09T17:15:00.005-06:00

For the past 2 summers, I have had a booklist, from 25-40 books long depending on the length of book and length of summer. Since I rarely have time for leisure reading during the year (it's pathetic, really) I would like to read as many as I can before the end of the summer. And I need suggestions!

I know I will read "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace during my week-long beach sojourn in August (ambitious, I know), and I know I want to read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, whatever Kurt Vonnegut I can get my hands on, "Nine Stories" by J.D. Salinger, "Catch-22," and "On Photography" by Susan Sontag.

Favorite Books:
"The Catcher in the Rye" and "Franny & Zooey" by J.D. Salinger
"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
"The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac
"The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Freidan
anything Dorothy Parker, Amy Hempel, or Joyce Carol Oates,

A few books I have enjoyed from previous summers/life:
"The Feminine Mistake" by Leslie Bennetts
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde
"Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" by Chuck Klosterman
"The House of Mirth" & "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton
"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides
"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand
"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe

I'd like a good history of or indictment of modern music book because I haven't read one in awhile.
I don't like Chuck Palaniuk, "The Great Gatsby" or chick lit.

Recommend something to me!

They're Baroque

2009-07-08T13:53:00.004-06:00

Despite his pretentious homepage ("Mr. Toledano Will See You Now"? Seriously, you're not Anna Wintour, who we'll learn more about in "The September Issue.") the British photographer, Phillip Toledano has a compelling and diverse body of work, from a personal piece on his father to fancily lit shots of phone sex operators with corresponding quotes. But my favorite piece has to be "Bankrupt," the remains of businesses who went under, best and most poignantly illustrated by the vacancy of their offices and what was left behind. I think the organization of still life within a frame is very interesting--depending on how you do it they can be animate, something I've already blogged about. On his site, Mr. Toledano says, "When I started shooting bankrupt offices, I found it to be more archeology than photography. Everywhere I went I found signs of life, interrupted." There is something kind of sinister and eerie in going over the remains of an office of all places, as though it were a graveyard, looking at the walls and ceiling and clock with indifference, not knowing that the previous inhabitants formed thoughts staring at those same walls and encouraged the clock on, eager to leave. Seeing objects without knowing their significance or insignificance, or who touched them either physically or through their consciousness....

Piece without a Period

2009-07-06T17:00:00.000-06:00

"The Brothers Bloom" is not exactly a typical heist movie. It's very stylized, almost in a Wes Anderson sort of way, but not blatantly so. It looks like a period piece without a period. Everyone's dressed up old-school, but Bang-Bang, the silent, stylish Asian pyrotechnic has a cell phone so it can't be too old world despite the fact that everyone takes a "steamer" of all things to Europe and wears bowler hats. Rachel Weisz plays a 33-year old trapped in childhood, "collecting hobbies" alone in her mansion which range from juggling chainsaws to origami. Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo are the Brothers Bloom, the latter planning elaborate heists like stage plays which he coerces his brother to participate in. The film plays the typical cat-and-mouse with the viewer--you're not really sure which parts are heist and which aren't right away, and employs the subtle awkward character mishaps which steer perfectly away from becoming slapstick. The humor of the script and subtlety in the performances make for an immensely enjoyable film driven by the characters, not bells and whistles, although the showmanship of the film complements everything perfectly.

Style Side Note: "Bang-Bang's" outfits and snazzy little hats rock. If you're in want of wardrobe inspiration, buy a ticket just for her.

Roman Candles

2009-07-03T21:54:00.001-06:00

I had the most surreal experience yesterday. We traveled to Rock Springs, Wyoming of all places to see a wonderful play, "Lend Me A Tenor," directed by our friend, Brian Owen. There is absolutely nothing there besides a fairly nice community college, a few trailer parks, and the now notorious "Kum & Go" (spelling & existence real. It's a gas station). We had to drive to the next town over, Green River, to get something to eat after 11:30 pm. Yeah. Penny's Diner was, well, everything you would expect it to be. We were paying by the door when I saw him, the stuff of films, someone my grandmother would have run into were she to venture westward circa '55. Jack Kerouac would have been friends with him, and James Dean would have played him. He was sitting by himself eating a piece of apple pie à la mode. I was too shy to ask him for a picture, but Brian, flamboyant as he is, asked him for me. "I always wanted someone to ask me for a picture, but now I don't know what to do." He told me he did grafitti and built the dorms up the hill. He was so mysterious and weird, as though he had come from a different era--I would not be surprised to walk into the same diner in 20 years and see him still sitting there, just the same. If ever there was something I was missing about photography, it was this. Capturing someone odd and indescribable.

See you at LAX.

2009-07-01T11:41:00.005-06:00

(Everyone's favourite quirky scientist, Daniel Faraday)
I finished watching the last episode of the 5th season of LOST yesterday. I started watching lost about 4 years ago while still in high school. I rented the 1st season from the library and stayed up all night during Christmas vacation catching up with my sister and cowering under blankets--it was creepy and very suspenseful. After that it became part of my ritual--I would come home from school on Friday at 12:30pm, the only day I didn't have work at the library until 5 or 6 pm and watch tivo'd LOST episodes. I was hooked. It was science fiction, something I'd been forced to watch through most of my childhood, but still liked if done well, human drama, and a touch of sardonic humor--the whole thing loaded with sensationalism begging suspension of disbelief. Well, it's been years, hundreds of episodes, dozens of casualties, a Mission Impossible Sequel and Star Trek movie, both directed by J.J. Abrams, one of the masterminds of LOST whom I revere along with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and I'm still here! I'm still watching these insane episodes! And I'm happy about it! So many of my peeps have dropped out of the race or are far behind, but I am still here! Yes, it's still outrageous and frustrating as ever, but isn't that what we love about LOST? I read an interview with the aforementioned writers and they said that their goal was for the fans to feel that it was all worth it. So far, I feel like it's worth it. This show isn't about just reaching the destination, but all the frustration and suspense and plot twists along the way. Just like any story. I might be a little too emotionally invested in this show for my own good, but I will watch LOST until it is gone. Although with this recent conclusion, who knows what's here or gone.

Dream About Me

2009-06-30T17:47:00.000-06:00

I've been listening to Stars and Amy Millan's solo album, "Honey From the Tombs" recently. Maybe it's because I now have their ambient advertising in our bedroom via the pretty strawberryluna poster, which I put in a $4 frame from DI that had some sort of Renaissance still-life mounted on cardboard in it. Yeah. Sad Robots is quite lovely and sad. Stars' music is the compilation of sometimes-real but tragic truth about the things everyone thinks they want.

Jumping the Broom

2009-06-24T12:16:00.005-06:00

I can now finally access my eagerly awaited wedding pictures! I'm pleased to say that I'm very pleased with them and that after all the frustration trying to find the right match, Bethany was perfect! I spent a LOT of time looking at wedding photography. Like, a lot of time. Probably more time than sleeping or eating for a week. If you want your wedding shot totally on film, Jonathan Canlas, who I can never escape since I live in Utah, where he's developed a cult following of wannabes trying their hands at wielding a Contax, or his assistant, Leo Patrone, are your best bet. Also they just have a lot of sweet images to browse through. I was a fan of Amy + Stuart from California and Zenia, but half of my amour was for her website. Michael Tyler won me over with his photojournalistic approach and another Michael, Michael Costa from Santa Barbara, who photographed my husband a few times 5 years ago when he was attending Brooks Institute of Photography. There were a lot of vendors with whom I became obsessed as I scoured the web for the perfect everything. Sadly, the word "budget" exists so I didn't get Anne Benjamin of Mok Duk or Float Paperie or Mr. Boddington's invitations. And, whether you're getting engaged or eat up cute wedded style like candy, Style Me Pretty is, hands down, the best blog. Anyway, here are some of my favourites!

A croquembouche, or French wedding cake made of a tower of profiteroles. My dear friend Skye Stewart, who graduated from Culinary School a week prior to the wedding, made it for me.

See all the images here

Nerds: Not Pictured Below

2009-06-22T11:54:00.003-06:00

So this exhibit, which takes place at the Gorker Gallery in Melbourne, Australia, featuring New Zealand artist/photographer Kelly Thompson plays off the idea that's been circling for the past few years--nerds are hot. And have the last laugh. They get made fun of through elementary school when their thick glasses fall down their nose, through junior high when they already know more than the teacher does about chemistry, and through high school when they struggle behind piles of books bearing names like Kant and Henry James. But! As a NYLON article from June 2008 which I can't seem to locate so succinctly stated: Nerds are hot now! I'm not sure when or how the transformation happens, but as Chuck Klosterman wrote in "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" (summary): "The qualities and tastes for which one was vilified through adolescence are suddenly interesting and sexy in the 20s and 30s." Um, pretty annoying. Why would you want to be friends/lovers with people who would have made fun of you 5 years ago but now are facebook stalking you and buying your booklist because they watched "Annie Hall?"

I like the style of Thompson's images--the graphic, fashion illustrative look, but the premise is a little annoying. "Nerds" are not just sexy, well-dressed models with now-hip clear lensed Ray-Bans. Not all nerds are physically sexy just because they're into Cocteau or Star Trek and getting more dates. Also, if we're talking about extreme nerds who were teased for their tastes, most probably aren't that socially competent. It's not like you turn 19 and, after years of abuse come out of your shell and strike up a conversation with that guy/girl next to you on the train. I suppose this works if we're assuming the nerds evolved into hot alt kids. Am I analyzing this too much? Probably. Thoughts on nerds? Whatever your definition?

My hair's not THAT red

2009-06-19T15:54:00.004-06:00

I never blog about men's fashion, and I'm not really sure if this post is about music or clothing, but it is definitely about Patrick Wolf's hair. I've been listening to his third album, "The Magic Position" all day and have taken quite a fancy to it. During this phase he was a fake redhead, a look I hadn't seen on him since in "Hard Times" he's platinum blonde. Not too fond of that. His style, musically and fashion-wise, reminds me of Mika, but I hate Mika. So does Patrick Wolf apparently. Glad we're on the same page. Mika is like Blues Clues meets Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat meets Rent and a lot of sequins while Patrick Wolf is showy, but not too showy with more heart. But I do think his outfits merit a post. He looks like a lion with that hair colour and, I think, is a much more interesting-looking performer than with blonde hair. Somehow the red hair makes posing creepily in front of children's toys a lot less creepy and a lot more cool. Maybe I'm partial to redheads because I am a redhead? I probably shouldn't be put on a jury with a ginger defendant.

Aslan or those Eagles from Lord of the Rings

The sequins are pretty over-the-top, but cool coloured pants.

Okay, the giant eyes are super creepy.

Maybe I like this because I would wear it?

I like this cut too.

Analog is Really Hot Right Now

2009-06-18T15:04:00.007-06:00

I've finally scanned some 120 positive Fujifilm I took on a beautiful Mamiya RZ 67 I don't own, but borrowed. Making these images was such a different experience from the fast-paced everyday of digital to which I've become so accustomed. I more carefully composed and cherished every shot. If it wasn't worth one of my 10 exposures for a roll, I didn't snap the picture because I couldn't look down one second later and delete it or retake it with a different exposure. The quality of color, detail, and grain is so charming I can't help but lust after RZ67s on ebay.

Margaret. She doesn't like photographs of her, but I think I've liked almost every picture I've taken of her. I love the background color, the simplicity, the quiet mood

Margaret and her husband John in their apartment. John is quite photogenic as well in that he doesn't seem to notice or care if there's a camera. That is, the presence of a lens does little to alter his behavior. Too bad these two are in France for the summer. :-(

David jumping in front of the house where Margaret & John live. Quite the perfect moment, n'est pas? I feel like it's from a different era.

My absolute favourite--guaranteed a prominent spot in my new portfolio. Having just met Jonathan Canlas, I decided to just overexpose like no tomorrow, and perhaps I went a little overboard. But I adore this image.

David took these of me! I love how the sky is blown out and swallows up even the trees. I bought him a Holga for a wedding present so we'll see what other 120 adventures he embarks on.

Another one by David. Charming old house in the background, n'est pas?

Look good in that red dress

2009-06-17T12:20:00.004-06:00

I have a pretty strict no-NYLON blogging policy; I mention NYLON, but I try not to post about someone or something because I saw it in NYLON. Which is why the amazing poster designer strawberryluna has remained unblogged since I became obsessed with her last August (though strawberryluna doesn't name him/herself on their site, I read somewhere else that a certain Allison is the brains behind the outfit). Anyway, I am justifying this post with the fact that I purchased the above Stars poster today. I've never seen Stars, they seem to skip over my state and/or only frequent festivals and/or Canada, but someday that will change. Strawberryluna exhibits such versatility in her work, but still maintains a thoroughly distinct, charming style. Here are some posters of hers from concerts I wish I had attended.

Okay, I did attend this concert. The one in November in Salt Lake City, though. Wonderful show. Met Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal and MGMT.

I've seen Rilo Kiley, but not with Bird & Bee and Grand Ole Party! What a great show that would have been.

Blonde Redhead & Beach House!

Loney, Dear

The New Pornographers. One of my favourite bands.

Iron & Wine. Thanks to the Salt Lake Arts Council, I get to see not only Iron & Wine, but M. Ward, Jenny Lewis, Bon Iver, Okkervil River, The Black Keys, and Sonic Youth for free! And you can too if you're anywhere near Utah this summer.

We all perform for cameras.

2009-06-15T16:06:00.009-06:00

Whatever your opinion of Lily Allen's newest album, "It's Not Me, It's You," (C+ with "Chinese" and "I Could Say" the best of the lot but still wildly overproduced, overshadowing her pretty voice) you have to admit she has made quite a splash since "Smile" hit airwaves with its corresponding vinyl-crunching video. And I know that unsavory characters such as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have made splashes too, cannonballs even, but the displaced water reveals nothing worth sifting through.

The National Portrait Gallery in London has made her the face of a new campaign aimed at drawing in more visitors. They'll have to compete with the controversial new Banksy exhibit that just opened in Bristol, but the photograph by Nadav Kander is quite compelling. I love the soft blue light--it lends her a probably undeserved aura of mystery (all those TMI myspace blogs?) and glamour. The styling and posing makes the image--I don't think the photographer attempted or succeeded at capturing much more than surface beauty. I don't feel like he caught anything, like the "essence" of Lily Allen, other than perhaps the "essence" of her public persona.

Yes, I know I'm supposed to "take another look," but I've followed Lily Allen around for years and read that crazy myspace post in which she warbled on about getting gastric bypass surgery. In the past year or so she's gone through a few relationships, lost a pregnancy, dealt with serious body issues, and made some really embarrassing but telling confessions about her "dating" tactics in NYLON, and released an album of songs that, while opinionated, seem depressive and unfocused. This is a glossy, put-together Lily Allen making do despite the myspace posts. Not the real one.

Here's another portrait of Lily Allen, also by Nadav Kander, which seems a little more truthful, à la Marilyn by Avedon. At any rate, Nadav Kander, a London-based photographer, also has a portrait of Patrick Stewart hanging in Room 39, where Lily Allen is now housed. His portraits, with a full frame, exposé style reminiscent of Avedon with color qualities of Alec Soth, a more modern American photographer whose work I saw at Jeu de Paume in Paris, exhibit an honesty and mystique. Like Avedon, he photographs the homeless and Hollywood with the same ardor, the same care, the same attention to personality and detail. I couldn't narrow down my favorites.

Chris Martin of Coldplay. Love the styling and deer-in-the-headlights look. We all perform for cameras.

Michael Pitt

Benicio Del Toro

Zoe. Very pretty. Love the color and simplicity.

Ian McKellen

Ben Whinshaw. Wonderful pose, dramatic black & white.

Patrick Wolf. We can't escape him, can we?

Foxes and Bunnies, Fire and Snow

2009-06-12T10:50:00.005-06:00

St. Vincent by Collin David
I blogged about St. Vincent a few months ago, but my obsession with Annie Clark has only grown, especially with the recent release of her new album, "Actor." I think of her as a would-be-bird-feeding Miranda July lookalike (seriously! I find the most look-alikes! I just had to post a pic of her) but she's really like an artistic gymnast--I don't know how to label to her music because she's such a chameleon--capable of being dark and funny and cheerful and beautiful and interchanging between the four with a mild turn of her voice. I'm planning to do a list/review of my favourite female artists, so we'll be seeing her again soon. But I'm posting about her because of her collaboration with The National: Sleep All Summer a Crooked Fingers cover. Here she must deviate from her trademark witty wordplay punctuated by subtle voice inflection but performs convincingly as a stellar calm, wistful character atypical of her own work.

(Miranda July)

Regina Spektor's new album comes out June 23rd and I think I know where my iTunes giftcard I just found in my wallet from Christmas is going. After listening to the alarming number of tracks from the album that are posted on the internet, I'm convinced that our favourite Russian-American songstress is still herself despite relative commercial success--to my knowledge she at least made a Grey's Anatomy episode and the soundtrack of the film 27 Dresses. "Laughing With," her first single, is a sobering exploration of godly sorrow and forced humility in the wake of hard times (yeah, really) with a simplicity and clarity best executed by her often childlike voice. "Folding Chair" is the "That Time" side of Regina, confusing, hilarious lyrics that explore the limits of what you can imagine to do. Oh, and she makes dolphin noises.

(when I saw her with Only Son in Salt Lake City, 2007)

Heartsrevolution. NYLON's darlings. Electronica duo. Crystal Castles copycats? They sound a lot like Crystal Castles. Like a lot. And I know Crystal Castles hark back to The Knife and other electronic bands, but I feel like Heartsrevolution is a little too similar for comfort, hoping to comfortably ride the caboose of the CC train. So far this hasn't stopped me from listening to them; I particularly enjoy the popular C.Y.O.A. (Flosstradamus Remix) I would describe it, but it would honestly be easier to pick a Crystal Castles song to compare it to. "Alice Practice," I think is best.

One Great Piece

2009-06-09T10:01:00.012-06:00

The Biker Jacket
I always get so excited when I discover that several cool things/people/genres I enjoy have come together in collaboration. Current/Elliott, a clothing line of structured and slouchy styles alike that epitomizes that sexy relaxed look pulled together by one great piece, hired a photographic idol of mine and frequent contributor to NYLON, Hilary Walsh, to photograph their Fall Line (not yet pictured on their website!). Hilary perfectly captures the laid-back mood inspired by the simplicity creators Emily Current and Meritt Elliott lend to dressing. The model is preoccupied with tasks from feeding a lamb and milking a cow to ironing the dress she's wearing! Though she looks like a doll, her activities suggest a disconnect from complicated ensembles. Walsh's ethereal, old-world style punctuated by film-y colour and droopy poses suggest a world blissful lethargy I'm sure we'd all love to escape to from our current abodes.

As for Current/Elliott, they ceremoniously title their pieces with names like "The Painter Smock" or "The Suspender Boyfriend Short," from the Summer 2009 collection, both shown below. I tend to get caught up in assembling outfits like costuming a theatrical production of Le Roi Soleil. It's refreshing to see this collection, a variety of one-man-show pieces that steal the show. The designers have branched out from their original mantra, accounted for in the almost exclusive use of denim in every single piece. For their fall line, which is only shown on Hilary's website, present is a glam circus theme, from ruffly collars to tight-rope-worthy striped ensembles. If her images don't incite you to paint red circles on your cheeks and act out the mime short from "Paris, Je t'aime," I don't know what will.

Are Birthdays Happy?

2009-06-06T12:00:00.007-06:00

Today is my birthday.
I'm 21.
I suppose this would be the time to look back and reflect on what an insane year this has been, how many things have changed, and other things that thankfully haven't.
Sap & vomit are not my thing, as I have said many a time.

I don't know if birthdays are really happy (nor does Jens Lekman). It's a day when you have fun, everyone is nice to you and does your bidding, there's cake or a confection of some sort, but I always sort of screech to a halt between looking back and looking forward, both of which are scary things to do. I'm married, (wtf? as everyone says. "The Feminist?!" still a feminist, people...) graduating a year late, still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with photography, trying somehow to scrounge together two or three dimes every now and then. But, while birthdays in general may not be happy, I would say that I am.

(A year ago, my 20th birthday in Paris. Little did I know...)

A Series of Fortunate Events

2009-06-04T15:42:00.006-06:00

I find things on the internet in the most backward, circuitous ways. I never find what I'm looking for directly--it's always something I stumble upon inexplicably. It's one of the things, I think, that makes the web so cool--the possibilities of finding anything and everything is endless. Here's an example of a journey I took yesterday.

I saw on NYLON that Patrick Wolf's new video is out. But I couldn't watch it because youtube is blocked where I work.

I decided to check up on my website--I've been worrying about the color lately. I was on a computer with a really crappy screen in the library and I started panicking.

So I went to one of my favorite photographer's sites, Brigitte Sireto see if her color was as bad as mine. It was! So the screen was just not calibrated. Thank goodness. But then I was flipping through her portraits as saw a guy who looked just like either Joshua James or Johnny Depp. Which was it? Neither. Some Ace Norton character.

This is Joshua James if you don't know of him.

I had to find out who this Joshua James lookalike was. I googled Ace Norton and found an odd, disorganized HTML site advertising himself as a director of music videos.

Ace Norton directed the Patrick Wolf video, "Hard Times" for which I had been searching. And am now obsessed with.

Patrick Wolf "Hard Times" Video from biz3 publicity on Vimeo.

Married. Totally married.

2009-06-03T16:06:00.006-06:00

Quite a leave of absence I've taken. I suppose that's fairly normal when something like a wedding happens to you. Over the past month or so I've kept thinking of things I wanted to blog about, but it just didn't happen. Before I start up again with my regular posts, I thought I would incorporate this event into my coming-back post. Fashion is always a part of my blog and I wondered: how could you be married to someone who doesn't love dressing as much as you do? I'm so glad David has a good sense of style whether that means simply a Marc Jacobs polo and jeans or a mélange of vintage and thrift store finds that usually adds up to something very Tom Waits. I always wanted to be half of an incredibly well-dressed couple, a symptom of looking at urban outfitters ads and/or Teen Vogue editorials shot by Nick Haymes. Also I think I saw a paparazzi snap of Keira Knightley & Rupert Friend that made me swoon. While we have no paparazzi following us, (should I speak so soon?) we do have friends (gasp!) who take pictures of you without your permission, just the same, but usually catch more...friendly expressions. So here's the best dressed I found on fbook, somewhat chronologically.

September 2008
Provo, Ut
Him: jacket from France
Her: Mom-made toile skirt

September 2008
Provo, Ut
Him: pretty blue
Her: forever 21 pink bustier dress

October 2008
Rexburg, Id
Him: Paul Frank jacket & vintage Mickey Mouse shirt
Her: Vera Wang sweater & vintage purse

January 2009
San Francisco, Ca
Him: vintage vest found the day before
Her: scarf from Bath, UK

April 2009
Provo, Ut
Him: same vest
Her: Delias dress

April 2009
Provo, Ut
Him: custom-made shirt
Her: dress, Target, tights, forever 21

May 2009
Thousand Oaks, Ca
Him: H&M suit
Her: Odd Molly dress

May 15, 2009
Los Angeles, Ca
Him: vintage brown velvet three-piece suit
Her: custom-made silk taffeta inspired by Vera Wang

cheap & chic

2009-05-04T12:27:00.005-06:00

Went on a little sojourn to Melrose this week to gawk at things I/we can't buy, especially with the wedding in what, 11 days?! Came across a cute store called Timeless and loved practically everything in there, even the semi-gothic dresses. There I fell in love with a series of t-shirts featuring designs by artist Kristin Ferrell. Her style is sketchy, grotesque, playful, and supposedly feminist, and reminds me of Tara McPherson, who mostly plays within clean lines of turquoise and big eyes. Ferrell's t-shirts feature rejected-looking oddball creatures with whimsical names in an old-school Victorian frame. She sells her prints and clothing for remarkably cheap and also, oddly enough, makes cupcake sculptures out of dentures.

And Tara McPherson just for good measure: (I am not crazy about her--she is trying to be an intense, expensive gallery artist with a similar style as Kristin Ferrell who, to me, appears entirely unpretentious about her work)