January 2011
26 posts
“Lavigne described the album as being about “life”. She stated, “It’s so easy for...”
– the wikipedia article for the upcoming avril lavigne album is like the funniest thing i’ve read all month. (via isabelthespy)
Wikipedia’s articles on pop music are consistently good for amusement. It’s as if all the editors just gave up.
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By showcasing the most witty, joyful,... →
For all I know, this study could be totally flawed — I haven’t checked the methodology or anything, but the copy’s got a couple red flags — but anecdotally, it rings true.
Think about it. Suppose you’re staying in on a Saturday night and feeling pretty crappy about it, maybe about yourself by extension. You log onto Facebook, because it’s Something to Do on the...
Online Notebook: The Music Diary Project →
Reblogged without comment except that this sounds absolutely amazing and that I plan to do it.
bmichael:
Former Stylus Magazine musicophile Nick Southall has proposed an interesting project. From his blog, Sick Mouthy:
I’m going to suggest the first full week of April (Monday 4th to Sunday 10th) for this little social experiment, and I want you to join in. If you’re a music fan, writer,...
Exist Yesterday.: Notes on taking the Ke$ha Spirit... →
emmyblotnick:
…which you can take here.
I appreciate the thoroughness of putting a dollar sign in the word “is.”
No matter my answers, I expect Ke$ha to say my spirit animal is “UGH I WANT HA$H BROWN$!!!!”
One question begins, “My love life is…” (which is not a question but whatever)…
I love a meme. Also, I’m an owl!
“Owls are deep, complex, reasonable animals. Their...
Dear Tumblr
oatmeal:
If you’re going to go down, you might as well blame it on an imaginary animal like Twitter did with their infamous Fail Whale. I’ve taken the liberty of creating this animal for you:
Please use it.
Please oh please.
-The Oatmeal
I’d reblog to endorse more cute server-is-down mascots even if these didn’t look like R.O.U.S.-es.
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let's play fortunately/unfortunately! →
Fortunately, (Financial Times via) Slate’s (re)published a fairly fascinating review of Stanley Fish’s How to Write a Sentence.
Unfortunately, this is the sort of thing that goes right to my writing insecurities. Three paragraphs just died.
lwilldo:
Jesus Christ Superstar, the last of its...
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“It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out till you’re torn apart /...”
– Hashtag rap: older than you think!
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progress report
I’m not dead, I promise, despite 2011’s best attempts. (You know what? Of course my birthday is the memetic Most Depressing Day of the Year, even though it’s really not, and that’s based on the Monday part anyway and not the January 17 part. I don’t care. Even the WORLD agrees with me.) I’m in fact quite alive. And I’m writing things!
The...
“I don’t have a good grasp of the prose book industry or bookstore retail, but...”
– You know, I have a feeling—in response to this quote—that the real situation in small towns is that people are buying at Walmart and/or Target and putting up with the highly reduced selection. With comics, I have a feeling that it’s just a much less-read medium in rural areas than it used to be. As...
How Novels Came To Terms With The Internet →
tomewing:
I enjoyed reading this piece! Whether despite or because I don’t read much contemporary fiction, I don’t know. Most of the “internet books” described in it sound pretty bad and resentful - except the Shteyngart one, which sounds like it might be funny - but plot summaries are a poor way to approach any kind of novel. This bit of analysis, buried near the end, is pertinent though (and...
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personal note
I’m probably going to be a bit scarce during the next few weeks or so. Will try to post at least something but unfortunately can’t guarantee anything. Just a heads up.
At any rate, I’ll at least try to get the 2010 stuff out by the end of the month, as anything later would be ridiculous.
alexmacpherson asked: You like Tori Amos, it says on your site! I didn't know that though I could have guessed. Favourite albums, songs &c? Or just talk about your thoughts on her.
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actively soliciting distractions
North Carolina thinks a couple inches of snow is grounds to shut down EVERYTHING, so I’m looking at about ten hours of uninterrupted time. I’ll end up spending it in one of two ways: Minesweeper, or answering the riveting, fascinating questions you send me.
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Well then.
The cut doesn’t seem to be working. What was supposed to be a nice, contained pebble of text became more like a concrete slab to the face. Anyone know what’s up?
Sounds from 2010: Fight Like Apes - The Body Of...
Every Little Schoolgirl Wants To Be In Rock And Roll
Hoo Ha Henry by rubyworks
It was hard to write this review. Not because of procrastination — OK, not just because of procrastination — but because for months, I didn’t know what to make of it.
I’d anticipated this album, you see. More than Cathy Davey, more than Kristin Hersh, more than anything else that I will...
Did You Hear About The AZ Shooting Through... →
andrewtsks:
youngmanhattanite:
rickwebb:
fimoculous:
Evolving thought: Maybe we need to completely jettison the “where did you first hear about ____” notion of news. Because, seriously, who cares? The question should probably become: “Where did you go next?”
(Update: I’m gathering anecdotes on where people first heard about the AZ shooting. A lot of people are citing Soup. Interesting.)
...
Wikipedia, I still love you →
Fight Like Apes writeup is almost done! And in the research process, and in the interest of not having to renumber even more footnotes (I still need to fix the ones on the Cathy Davey review), I present to you this quote:
“Do You Karate?” is described as the “most urgent” of the four tracks on the EP, drawing comparisons to Karen O and her style of using the word...
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Wikipedia, I love you. →
You’ve probably heard BEP’s craven attempt to cash in on Dirty Dancing nostalgia mutated to Godzilla-size by Dancing With The Stars new single “The Time (Dirty Bit)”. If you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered what that “dirty bit” bit means.
Wikipedia to the rescue! In its Critical Reception string o’ quotes, it quotes Digital Spy as such:
...
Algorithms, Unbirthdays and Rewiring Facebook →
tomewing:
However, Facebook doesn’t like revealing the scoreboard, except when there’s a business case to do so. In the past year, Facebook has evidently done a great job of encouraging certain types of advertisers – “Bands, Businesses, Restaurants, Brands and Celebrities” – to drive people to their Fan pages. Nick Burcher tracks these sorts of things, and he’s got lists from May 2008 to...
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THE SECOND TUMBLRAGNAROK IS UPON US
So does this “maintenance outage” mean I can spend the next two insomnia-hours not writing about Fight Like Apes?
…Aw, c’mon.
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The Petersonian Project: intro
Since everyone else is taking on writing projects, here’s one of my own: the Petersonian Project, or my attempt to explain, defend and speculate upon the closely-bound group of artists produced by Frank Peterson — Sarah Brightman, Sandra Cretu, Euro-dance singer Princessa, among others.
FAQ of sorts after the jump.
WHO’S FRANK PETERSON?
Good question. He’s not really a...
PUT YOUR IPOD ON SHUFFLE AND THE FIRST SONG THAT...
tomewing:
andrewtsks:
jonathanbogart:
fannybaws:
I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
God, don’t I wish.
The Sundays, “My Finest Hour.”
Well goodness me.
The Drive By Truckers - Let There Be Rock.
Fuck yeah, I can TOTALLY live with that.
Buggles - Johnny On The Monorail. Unnecessarily cryptic if you ask me.
Doing this in Winamp because my iPod is basically a well-designed brick at this...
