January 2012
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December 2011
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"This is especially true for Clarkson, whose story... →
I wrote about why Kelly Clarkson’s endorsement of Ron Paul makes total sense in the context of pop music.
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There is nothing in the last decade of music that...
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“Long stem roses are the way to your heart
But he needs to start with your head...”
– Sometimes I think the lyrics to “Express Yourself” explain everything I’ve read on the Internet in the last year or two about dysfunctional relationships: valuing intellectual compatibility more highly than kindness, paranoia about fidelity and a general lack of trust,...
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in sickness and in health
karion:
Two weeks and one day after I married her son, I puked all over my mother-in-law.
Christmas night, we were driving back from my folks’ place. We were headed back to Seattle to meet up with a friend for a late night dinner. I was feeling wonky, but thought it was due to ridiculous holiday eating.
About half way home, I realized the situation was more dire, and most likely some...
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Just North of Something Important: A thing about... →
sydneygrace2012:
barthel: a question for you. what happens when you think you’re creative, but your perception is that others don’t care or won’t receive you because you aren’t a graphic designer, writer or photographer by profession. then do you really have the right to artistic expression? and the right to think anyone really gives a s&*t?
I mean, I have never in my life been employed...
A thing about all this stuff
As critics, I think you get very used to hearing Creative People come up with all sorts of justifications for things they’ve done ex post facto, and you get to a point where you just have to ignore this; call your shot ahead of time if you want, but once it’s come out and you’ve seen the reaction, it’s inevitably going to be moving the goalposts. There is a problem with...
pterodactyls asked: What trend did you notice in 2011 that you hope picks up more in 2012? What trend do you hope is curtailed immediately in the new year? (trends in anything at all, don't feel limited to clothes or music or whatever)
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Casey Dienel - “Better in Manhattan”...
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Boys and girls in America have something something
“In the character of Madeleine, you got the intrinsic melodrama of college girls just right,” goes a throwaway lead-in to a question asked of Eugenides in an interview on Slate . So … perpetuating a condescending stereotype like that is okay, because these girls are assumedly white and/or privileged? Or because it’s being perpetuated by the educated? Or what? (BRB, I g2g flail away...
“To be sure, Gingrich displayed many political skills during his congressional...”
– Gingrich and the Governance Factor - CNN
Remember when we got mad about the Republicans cutting off the C-SPAN feed? Yeah.
I've got 3 more write-ups in Popdust's big singles... →
Kelly Rowland, The Weeknd, and Underwood/Paisley.
2011
The year in which “you’re just doing it for the pageviews” became the new “you’re just pretending you like it.”
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The extra chortle of recognition
When someone used to make a joke that referred to some pop-cultural ephemera - Joe Isuzu, or “Where’s the Beef?” or Zsa Zsa Gabor hitting a cop or whatever - we laughed because it acknowledged something we all knew about. When someone now makes a joke that references all but the most widely-known elements of web culture - business cat, “my parents are deaaaaad,”...
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Moving to New York City
aaronleaf:
“I’m moving to New York in the new year.” I told the pharmacist this morning as he quizzed me about the abnormally large order of pills.
“You got a job there?!” he demanded in his Chinese grandpa way.
“No, not yet. But my girlfriend’s there.”
“Aaaah, you left your heart in New York!” he proclaimed to the three stooped grandmothers chatting in Cantonese by the register.
I...
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Take Care
It was Drake’s misfortune that Take Care came out in the digital era. It’s an album clearly structured into an A-side and an extended B-side, with the first six tracks - “Over My Dead Body” through “Marvin’s Room” - making up a 28-minute R&B suite before the rap side starts with “Under Ground Kings.” That first side isn’t just...
I have some writeups in Popdust's best songs of... →
In this edition: Rick Ross, Drake. (I may have more substantial thoughts on Drake, later.)
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alanapost replied to your video: Miley Cyrus - Smells Like Teen Spirit [Nirvana…
Miley could do a lot with some Fleetwood/Stevie.
She has!
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Some notes on 'Young Adult'
Hey look, it’s “Everyone I Know: The Movie”
Also, “Fuck You, Sweet Home Alabama: The Movie”
I really liked the ending
Rachel and I disagreed on the meaning of the ending; I thought the conclusion we were supposed to take away was that Mavis ultimately realized that everyone is either miserable or boring and so she was better off trying to do her current life right...
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Visiting a friend who has a basset hound
Friend: We're going out to smoke. Do you guys need anything?
Me: Do you have a large bow and/or ribbon?
Friend: Why do you want that?
Rachel: He wants to put a bow around the dog's neck.
Friend: Is that true?
Me: ...yes.
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The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, by Randall...
From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
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The numbers on the numbers
Eric Harvey has heroically compiled sales numbers for Pitchfork’s top 50 albums for 2011 and 2010. Being a quant guy, I wanted to run some stats on them. Here goes:
Average album sales
2011: 111,339
2010: 161,400
Average sales, top 20 albums
2011: 122,620
2010: 170,138
Average sales, top 10 albums
2011: 170,153
2010: 197,472
Correlation between rank on list and number of albums...