Hair.

Got haircut. Look like retard. Ego shaken. My head smells like chemicals.

Happy New Year.

Winter Plans.

Things to do before winter break is over:

(1) pay my fucking tuition on jan. 3
(2) see Tropicalia exhibit
(3) go to Guggenheim to see Spanish art exhibit
(4) Pan's Labyrinth
(5) read
(6) there's a Buñuel marathon happening at the NYPL (Donnell Center) in January that I really want to go to
(7) fix the fucking tabs on my fucking music--just when you think you're done, you go on a downloading binge and find you have 200 new tags to fix
(8) get a haircut

Tell me if you want to come along for (2), (3), (4), or (6).

Life is Unfair.

Okay, so the grandpa on Everybody Loves Raymond, and the dude who made the Flintstones and now James Brown? WHAT? Fidel Castro still alive?! WHAT?!?!

Bummer.

Merry Christmas, I guess? Hope you're all doing well.


Aw, look at Bowie and Bing Crosby. How cute.

One Dolla, One Dolla.

School's out... for winter!

The second-best thing that happened to me today was going to the Lincoln Center Tower Records on its last day and buying like 11 for $13. I got Test-Icicles and a So Solid Crew album, and also the solo album of Hector Buitrago and one of the dudes from Café Tacuba, which is weird because I don't own any Aterciopelados or Tacuba album, but what the hey right?? They were both a dollar, so whatevs.

Oh shit, so Maria bought me a Sandman book, The Kindly Ones, which is the really really crazy book that sometimes makes me want to stab myself in the uterus so that I'll never have a baby. I'm so excited to read it, it's got a fucking amazing story arc.

The best thing that happened to me today was finding out that the Charlie Rose Show has a YouTube account. All the clips are short but I don't care!! I love him!

A couple more things!

Los Prisioneros are a cool band!!! Look at this goofy-ass video!!



And damn, they ain't bad lookin', neither.

But Soda Stereo were ever cooler!!! Check out that crazy terrible hair!!! GUSTAVO CERATI SIRE MY CHILDREN POR FAVOR KTHXBY.

Sick!

Oh jesus, my TA for this class I had added me on facebook. My stomach really hurts just thinking about it. I don't care if you're a student too, that's not punk rock. Especially if you spent most of the semester macking on all the long island hoochies wearing Ugggggs and Juicy sweat pants. Oh, and he's greasy. He's just... you know, that kind of greasy guy who goes to real people's clubs and buys really expensive bottles to impress girls who are still in their teens and then drop roofies in their drinks. I mean I'm not saying he has, but he sure looks like that kind of guy. IHU TA dude! You're disgusting and stop looking at my f-book profile!

On another note, I really really want to sleep with Gustavo Cerati! Just thought I'd let you know!!

+/-

+ On Saturday I went to Boogie-Down Nicole's house... in the Bronx. It was very nice. Man, her guitar is so pretty. We looked at old NMEs. Favorite front cover headline: "STROKES WRITE 14TH SONG". Holy crap, remember when they only had 13 songs? I do. "Ze Newie" 4EVA! We watched a lot of Top Chef. It was really fun! I wish I had cable at home.

- OH MY FUKCING GOD WHO THE FUCK SOLD MY EMAIL ADDRESS TIO THIS GHETTO ASS LAEBL HOLY SHIT I WANT OUT. FUCK THAT Ugh I hate fucking publicists putting me on every fucking mailing list on earth. I don't care if Snow Patrol has been played on Grey's Anatomy, okay? I don't care who the fuck Earl Greyhound are. I don't care if you're sponsoring some "hot party" with free Sparks. I DON'T GIVE A SHIT.

Okay, sorry. Off to finish my work. Two more papers to go.

Favorites Songs 2006.

I'm not gonna post these songs because they're probably all over Hype Machine anyway. Unless someone asks, I'd be more than happy to.

"Back to the 101" by Albert Hammond, Jr.
"Danca da ventuinha" by Bonde do Role.
"You Are Not My Boyfriend" by Britta Persson.
"Alala" by CSS.
"Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above (Spank Rock Remix)" by CSS.
"Sex-O-Matic" by Edu K ft. Deize Tigrona.
"Rock Stepper" by Excepter. (ZOMGWTF THIS SOUNDS LIKE A REAL SONG WITH LIKE STRUCTURE AND SHIT? SELLOUTZ! LOL AM I RITE)
"The Champ" by Ghostface Killah.
"Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.
"Knife" by Grizzly Bear.
"Boy From School" by Hot Chip.
"Cuando hablamos" by Javiera Mena.
"Micael" by Juana Molina.
That Justice vs Simian song.
"My Love" by Justin Timberlake -> PROBABLY MY #1.
"Bossy" by Kelis.
"Una línea de luz" by Kinky.
"Ven aquí" by Los Bunkers.
"Kick, Push" by Lupe Fiasco.
"Friend of the Night" by Mogwai.
"No Hay Igual" by Nelly Furtado.
"Achete-moi" by Omnikrom.
"SOS" by Rihanna.
"Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio.
"This is Love" by Utada Hikaru.

Favorite Albums 2006.

Fine, here's my list, usual suspects, no one cares about it really, already regret the order, etc, etc, etc.

15. Los Bunkers - Vida de Perros (US release 2006)

The sticker said "For Fans of The Strokes, Oasis, and Franz Ferdinand." Accurate as hell. See? Why can't American bands do that? All they write is that they were influenced by fucking Radiohead. YEAH YOU TWAT. YOU AND THREE MILLION OTHER SHITTY BANDS WERE INFLUENCED BY FUCKING RADIOHEAD.



14. Jeffrey & Jack Lewis - City & Eastern Songs (US release 2006)

This album is totally worth it just for this crazy song about Will Oldham. The punchline is amazing. I bow down to Jeffrey and his brother.



13. Various artists - Big Apple Rappin'

THROW YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR
PARTY HARD LIKE YOU JUST DON'T CARE



12. Cat Power - The Greatest

For those of you who like sad Chan, fuck you. Those who like happy Chan chilling with old Memphis musicians, ILU. Still waiting for her hip-hop debut though.



11. Juana Molina - Son

You know, I didn't really like her when I met her, but this album is hypnotic with all those loops, and songs like "Micael" sound like creepy lullabies.



10. The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes

Okay, this is a backhanded compliment, but The Black Parade? Totally should have sounded like Young muthafuckin' Machetes. High-pitched, over-the-top vocals, abrasive guitars, amazingly fun.



09. Javiera Mena - Esquemas Juveniles

At first I wasn't sure what to make of her, I heard another soft-voiced, cute singer-songwriter this year I liked, and I wasn't sure if I was going through a phase. BTW, the other singer is Britta Persson, who was just reviewed on Stylus with an A-, which is ridic because I would really give it a solid B. Javiera Mena's debut is so much stronger and has this quirky electropop thing going for her. It's definitely grown on me the more I listen to it, too, which is always a good thing.



08. Marisa Monte - Infinito Particular (US release
2006)

I think Marisa Monte has one of the most distinctly beautiful voices I've heard in pop music. Apparently, she studied opera when she was younger. In the US, Infinito Particular was released simultaneously with Monte's Universo ao meu Redor, which I didn't care for as much as I did for this album. But still, she's a stunning singer and her compositions in this album really play up her voice.



07. Asobi Seksu - Citrus

You guys probably aren't aware of this, because Asobi Seksu had really shit distribution with their first album so no one heard it, but the band used to have a different rhythm section, and when I found out about this I was like, "Well, that's it, Asobi Seksu are over." Except this album happened and I was impressed by how pop-y and lovely it was.



06. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House

I don't know what to say that hasn't been said. This album is beautiful, that's all.



05. The Knife - Silent Shout

Sometimes I find singer girl's voice really annoying, but when you take the music into account, it totally works. I love how moody and dark the songs sound, and there's some real standouts, like that song with that video that was marginally based on Black Hole. Good shit!



04. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Last year, I remember listening to Buck 65's "Blood of a Young Wolf," in which my one true love Rich Terfry namechecks several awesome ladies within the same line: "I'm talking Amelia Earhart, Neko Case, Frida Kahlo..." I was like, "How the hell do you put a pop singer in the same fucking sentence as Earhart and Kahlo?" In 2006 I got to know Case's work better, and now I know that Mr. 65 was right. Neko Case is brilliant.



03. Various artists - Tropicália

I guess it's sorta like when people think of New York City in '75 or even the late '60s and they think everyone was so damn cool and talented and loved each other and were BFFs. That's how it feels when I listen to this shit.



02. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain

Wow! A Brooklyn band that doesn't fucking piss me off!!



01. Liars - Drum's Not Dead

!!!

If You're Bored...

Here are my favorite vids of 2006. I feel like DoCopenhagen left a lot to be desired on their list. Most I've already posted. But here they are, all together in their full YouTube glory. Enjoy, or not.

Favorite Videos 2006

(25) OK Go - That treadmill video.


(24) The Rapture - WAYUH


(23) Supersystem - White Light/White Light


(22) The Gossip - Listen Up!



(21) Albert Hammond, Jr. - 101



(20) TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me



(19) Julieta Venegas - Limón y Sal



(18) Arctic Monkeys - Leave Before the Lights Come On



(17) Cobra Starship - Snakes on a Plane



(16) Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill



(15) Calle 13 - La Jirafa



(14) CSS - Alala (the bitch fight version)



(13) The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt



(12) Utada Hikaru - Keep Tryin'



(11) Justice vs Simian - We Are Your Friends or Never Be Alone or Whatever The Fuck It's Called ;)



(10) Arctic Monkeys - When the Sun Goes Down



(9) Gnarls Barkley - Crazy



(8) Mostro - Moha Moha



(7) Vaquero - Sunshine



(6) The Knife - Silent Shout



(5) Minus the Bear - Pachuca Sunrise



(4) Hot Chip - Boy From School



(3) Zoé - No Me Destruyas Más



(2) Mogwai - Friend of the Night



(1) The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New

Damn, I Hate Shakira.

How come she gets to be biffles with Gustavo Cerati AND Gabriel García Márquez? Fucking lucky bitch. That's even cooler than the Strokes chillin' with Kurt Vonnegut. I can't believe it. Do they know how fortunate these people are?!?! Grrr.

ANOTHER UNRELATED NOTE: I think Barbara Walters is gonna pick Stephen Colbert for most fascinating person of 2006 or whatever. Y/N?

Past My Bedtime.

Well. That's fucking embarrassing. This entire time, I had no idea that Gustavo Cerati played in Shakira's last albums. Which makes sense why there was a video on YouTube of her singing "De música ligera" back when she was still a brunette. I wish YouTube was working so I could show you what the fuck I'm talking about. Not that you'd care, but still. Also, I keep thinking I have a crush on Gustavo Cerati (old as he may be, lol), but then I see pictures of him and I'm like, "Uhhh nasty hair". I know, I know, I'm shallow. His voice is so hot though.

It doesn't matter anyway, it feels like I get a crush on every guy I see. I watched Saved twice in the last few days, and I have decided that Patrick Fugit as a Jesus-Lovin' Sk8r Boy is sort of what I'm looking for in a significant other. Le sigh.

Changes.

Holy shit y'all. Augusto Pinochet died. Perfect day to die, too. End of an era. Goodby you fucker. But thanks for helping Chile become one of the most economically sound countries in Latin America. It just blows that you killed so many people to accomplish what you wanted.

On a related note, I HATE THE MORNING NEWS. STOP IT. STOP TALKING ABOUT WHAT PET GROOMING PRODUCTS CAN DOUBLE AS HOUSEHOLD CLEANING PRODUCTS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH MENOPAUSE AND HOW TO TALK TO YOUR BOSS ABOUT GETTING A FUCKING PROMOTION. I DON'T CARE. IT'S NOT NEWS. It's absolutely pathetic that I only found out about Pinochet's death until I got to work and went online to read BLOGS (while I worked, of course!).

Okay, discuss!

Here's Los Bunkers:



This is a cover of an Inti-Illimani song, "La exiliada del sur," which is based by a poem by Violeta Parra, who's like the godmother of protest folk music in Chile.



This is the best song Los Bunkers have ever written, and it's a protest song of their own. I've probably posted this video already, but if I did, I didn't know the story behind it. It's called "Miño" after a man who lost a relative to asbestos poisoning; the company Miño's relative worked for profited a lot during Pinochet's dictatorship. Well, to protest the preferential treatment that this big company got, and how little shit they gave over his relative, Miño burned himself. To death.

Thanks.

Dear Boogie-Down Nicole, Gabs, Maria, Notorious Angela, and Rrrachel,

Thanks for the party, and thank you very very much for the gifts. I appreciate it. Damn, that food was good, right?

Love,
Elizabeth U.

Why I Like Calle 13, and Other Matters.

(1) I tend to have a rockist (or at worst, a popist) attitude about music, which leaves out a lot of musical genres that are worth hearing. Looking at the list I made this year, I felt disappointed that it was so monochromatic. I feel bad that I didn't give a chance to albums by Ghostface Killah or Clipse or Lupe Fiasco, all of them hip-hop artists who released albums many people enjoyed. I didn't even listen to the J Dilla, or the Plan B (the British dude, not the reggaetonero), or the Kelis, or the Calle 13. Part of the problem is that I never was a big hip-hop fan and I feel like I should know more about it before I starty saying "this is good, this is bad." But I'm just mad at myself that I didn't even try. How am I gonna learn if I don't even try?

(2) I don't really like hip-hop artists who sound like hip-hop artists. ("Say what?") Like that's one reason I listen to The Streets or Buck 65 more than anything, it's like they're talking to me more than they're spitting out rhymes. I haven't heard his entire album, but this is the reason I like Calle 13. He's called a reggaetón artist, but he doesn't sound anything like it to me. Like the two singles I've heard by him use interesting "instrumentation" for hip-hop music (I quote that word because I'm sure the sound was created by some man-made process in the studio...). If the rest of his album sounds like every other damn reggaetón album out right now (aggro delivery + dirty lyrics + THAT REALLY ANNOYING BEAT), then I give him many props for choosing such unusual singles. And he's one of those talkin'-not-rappin' kinds of dudes. I mean obvs he does rhyme, but what the hell, rhyming "Coldplay" with "Green Day" doesn't call for Puerto Rican Poet Laureate of the Year, or even this month, y'know. Do I make any sense? I'm not sure.

At the same time, his singles, especially "Atrevete-te-te" are fucking catchy. And the rappero seems really charming but not in an arrogant sort of way ('sup Daddy Yankee). Of course, Calle 13 has been around for like a year, and there's a lot that could go wrong, either musically or in terms of public persona ('sup Kanye). But let's not dwell on how everything might go wrong, and let's enjoy what Calle 13 is doing well right now.

I dunno, maybe I have a warped sense of this artist because I'm not in PR having to hear his songs all the time. I wonder what Julissa has to say about this? I remember she was like, "Bitch, please!" when I said I liked "Gasolina".

"La Jirafa"


(3) On an unrelated note, I'm incredibly mad that Buju fucking Banton got nominated for a Grammy. I haven't heard this album so I dunno if it's good. Ugh. I understand that saying something in a song and meaning it is two separate things. I mean, sometimes you just have to love the music even though you hate the artist ('sup M.I.A.). The problem is, THIS IS THE FUCKING GRAMMYS. They have no concept of "art" or whatever, so it doesn't matter whether his album was good or not. I mean, the Black-Eyed Peas got nominated for "My Humps", so that really cancels out any other nomination for an artist I might actually like ('sup Thom Yorke). Why the fuck did Buju Banton get a nomination???

Loose.

a - I admit I gave two whole stars to the Gwen Stefani album.
b - I got an A- on my Les Savy Fav paper (!).
c - There's this book I like called We Owe You Nothing, which is an anthology of interviews from Punk Planet. This is how I learned about, erm, Porcell. I really picked it up because the cover picture is of Bikini Kill. Anyway, I was finally ready to buy this book about a month ago when I realized I couldn't find it anywhere. I went online and found it was out of print. I was so fucking pissed at myself! BUUUUUT. Today I found out that they're publishing a new edition in April with new interviews!!! I'm very excited. I will definitely buy it this time around.
d - I submitted my Year-End List to TMT. I think it'll be published Dec. 20? So you can find out then what my #1 is. Some really great guesses, though, especially Christina Fairy's. ;) Even if no one guesses correctly, I'll probably buy a gift to whoever gets closest to the top of my list, haha. Good luck, y'all.

Here's a Hint.

WHAT THE FUCK MAN! WHY DID I DECIDE TO REVIEW THE NEW GWEN STEFANI? WHY DID I ACTUALLY GIVE IT A FAIR LISTEN? OMAGOSH Y'ALL I'M ABOUT TO DIE.

DEMENTORS > GWEN STEFANI.

No seriously, guess.

Contest, sort of.

Oh yeah, I went back to the school paper again for the first time in months, which is hilarious because it was the last meeting of the semester. We got cookies, though, that was exciting. Editor asked us our favorite albums this year, Kareem said Fiery Furnaces, which made me lol cos I had no idea they'd even released anything. I said _____, which made my editor raise his eyebrows in approval. I don't know why, to me it's a very easy choice. Anyway, guess what my #1 album of 2006 was, and I'll buy you a nice gift. Or something.

:)

mi mamá y mi papá me compraron una guitarra. fender squier, azul. ¡¡lo compraron en costco!! jajajaja. pues me lo compraron pa' mi cumpleaños. lo irónico, claro, es que no es mi cumple.

aquí está un video por vaquero que se llama "sunshine" que descubrí hoy. es muy divertido y me da risa:

Damn Hair.

Gabs told me to think about my head shape if I get my hair cut, which was a valid point, so I was thinking about people who have my head shape, and I couldn't think of anyone except Kirsten Dunst. Well, after googling "haircuts round face" I remembered Christina Ricci's head is pretty round, too, but I've never really liked any of her hairstyles I don't think. I did like that hairstyle that Kirsten Dunst got and later Maggie Gyllenhaal got because Kirsten got it and they're all like BFFs and shit. I'm only writing about this because I told my parents I want my hair like Kirsten Dunst just now, and I feel very goofy and like a sucker for pop culture/celebrity. Plus, not a celebrity I adore or anything, though I agree she has her moments. Man, if I get that haircut I'm gonna look terrible. I can feel it.

Set Fire to the Car on Fire.

In class today I tried to explain that the theme song to Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is used in a shitload of movie trailers. And people stared at me blankly. HELLO? Okay, yeah, I was hardly coherent in the morning, but c'mon. Don't tell me you don't recognize this song (the most used bit starts at around 1 min):



Sorry for using someone's tribute video or whatever you call them. It was either that or a video of Elvis Stojko skating to this song at the Olympics.

Whatever, most of those bitches hadn't even heard of the movie. Dudes! That shit is classic! Like Teen Witch. Y'know.

Esquemas Juveniles.

How was my long weekend? Let us see the scoreboard.
- SEE VOLVER!!!
- Go to MoMA
- Go and see that exhibit on tropicália at the Bronx Museum of the Arts
- Go to the Palms Out Sounds store
- See Evil Dead: The Musical
- Go to Paul's and paint CDs
- Do my homework and catch up on school (fat chance with that one)

2/7 accomplished. Meh, it was still worth it.

Last Tuesday I did watch the Tony Bennett show which was really wonderful except for the part where I didn't really care for the sound of his voice. I'm just sayin', y'all. I mean I listened to a lot of Gianni Morandi this weekend, and his voice is so wonderful compared to Bennett. Like what the fuck was that song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"? Weakest signature song ever. Listen man, congratulations on hitting 80 years, but c'mon. When you were singing with Stevie Wonder? Yeah, the fool was kicking your musical ass. It was your show man! ON THE OTHER HAND: his song with Diana Krall was great, it really suited his voice! Oh, and Christina Aguilera was really good, except for when she got a little too loose with the melismas. Yeah, you can sing--we get it, aight? Pop and R&B stars gotta cut out that melisma shit. But still, the show was much more fun and classy and the sets were so much prettier than the American Music Awards.

The awards show was pretty drab. I'll fess up, I watched it cos I was waiting for the Fall Out Boy performance. It was terrible. Just... just terrible. Well, Trohman doing his jumps was cool. Everything else was horrific. Oh, Fatrick. The sad thing is, it wasn't nearly as bad as the new Gwen Stefani. I felt my soul die a little.

Nicole Richie was looking so cute though. Aww. Gotta eat a little more though.

The next day Gabs and I made plans to have lunch, except we ended up having early dinner and then we went to Strand's where I think she bought multiple Dave Eggers books, and she said she has a love/hate thing for him which totally made it okay that she was gonna buy two of his books. Whatevs, at least the girl reads, right? I told her I've never read anything of his but later I realized that was a lie, because I remember reading his column in Spin back when Spin was going downhill but was still marginally readable, and I remember hating his column and wishing he would just die in the ass.

Anyway, we parted ways and I was all ready to go to Volver but I didn't know it was only showing in like, three theaters in Manhattan so I went to two theaters before I was like "Jesus, fuck that..." It was all rainy and shit, too. I ended up in... Shakespear & Co. At first I wasn't sure if it was open but I figured it was just dead because everyone was busy going like, home and shit. So I looked around and I picked up The Motorcycle Diaries, only to drop it and pick up the new Marc Spitz book, instead.

I know. I know. Somehow, I own all of his books. I understand how ridiculous that is. Especially choosing it over The Motorcycle Diaries. I just... needed something lowbrow to read, okay? Don't judge, bitches. And bee tee dubs, the book's just fine. I just got to the part where a cute Jewish blogger grrrl who has "a thing for posting photos of baby animals" discovers the never-was band the intrepid protagonist was in during the 90s. Sounds like Sarah Lewitinn, huh? Haha. That's very sweet of him. The books all right, so far. I say so far cos that Smiths book was pretty fun to read, too, until the part where the main character is an adult and pathetic. But I think this is easier to read because the Smiths book was like the most thinly disguised roman-a-clef ever, so every time something pathetic showed up I would be like, "OMG Marc Spitz, you loser". I guess it's good that the second book is better than the first book, wouldn't it be embarrasing if it was the other way around?

Ugh I can't believe I typed all those words about fucking Marc Spitz. Yeah, well, less words than he spends in the book on Winona Ryder. God bless her, what's she been up to?

Thanksgiving, as I said, was weird.

Friday I went out. Or did I? I can't remember. Fuck. Honestly, I spent most of the (entire) weekend thinking it was Sunday, so I kept going to the Palms Out Sounds blog (they put up some hottt remixes every Sunday) and to check if my Audioscrobbler charts had updated. I know... I'm such a slave to the internets.

Saturday I went out and just walked around a lot. I went to the library and paid off my fine. I listened to Soda Stereo as I walked near the Junky Park and I decided they ROOOOOCK. I ended up at the movie theater to watch Volver. When I went into the theater I was surprised by the small space. 137 capacity--and most of those people were old. Damn. I loved the movie, of course. There were a few twists here and there, but they weren't revealed in an outrageous way. The acting was excellent. When I got out of the theater it was dark. I called my parents and told them I was gonna have dinner with my friends; I don't know why I lied. I do that all the time, too.

When I got home I was hungry, so I had ramen.

Yesterday my mom and I went out and there were all these fuckers like, shopping and shit, and it was so crowded in the streets. Terrible. After that I went to Paul's house, and I had a feeling I was gonna be exactly on time, and it's like, who the fuck gets there on time? There was some racket going on on the street and this old lady with a dog starts talking shit about the noise to me. I'm like, "I'm sorry, who the fuck are you and who gave you permission to address me?" I know, I'm an asshole. Anyway, Paul let me in and I painted some of his CD-Rs and I hope they turn out well. It was fun, but I've still got traces of paint on me. It looks like I was bleeding, a bit. We listened to hip-hop Christmas tunes, compiled by Paul's roommate. Then we had pizza. Then I left. I met some nice people there.

Today I had a mediocre day. I read Fametracker at work. It pretty much explained every feeling I have for Steve Buscemi. The end.

Gobble Gobble.

WTF? Volver is only playing in 5 theaters in the city? I don't get it. Who the fuck doesn't wanna see a really busty Penelope (Penélope?) Cruz? Oh, and don't you love how people sound sooooo surprised she can act? "OMG no rly, u guyz! She's assum! It's not like in her English movies!" Yeah, it would help if her English roles had actually been good. Just sayin'. I mean, Captain Corelli's Mandolin wasn't exactly her most exciting role...

Yeah, Thanksgiving was okay. It was as good as it could be with all these suburbanite Korean people. The food was right out of a Normal Rockwell painting (y'know), complete with mac & cheese made out of a box. No kimchi, but we had rice cake stuff. Haha.

After eating we just watched Elf, which was all right, pretty funny at points. There was this one part were there was a little person and Will Ferrell kept calling him an elf, and I found that much funnier than it was on the screen, because I kept thinking about that bit in The (British) Office where the boss and his employee keep talking about the difference between midgets and dwarves and it's uncomfortable enough but the gag runs for a really long time and it just makes you squirm. Don't you love how I'm describing this entire thing to y'all? By this point you must have realized I have nothing to do (read: don't wanna face the facts that I have a shitload of homework). Haha.

I have to go out to the library cos my book is totes overdue.

On the car ride to my parents' friends' house:
Suburban Dude: I feel bad for Jewish people, they don't have any happy holidays...
Me: They have Purim.
Suburban Dude: (doesn't hear me) ...It's like they're always fasting or something...
Me: They have hamantaschen.
My Brother: (doesn't hear me either) What about Muslims? They have it worse.
Suburband Dude: Oh, that's right. They have Ramadan.

Yeah, it was a weird night. My brother kept bitching at me about how he wishes he could go back in time and kill Derrida.

Altman.

Oh no!! I jsut heard Robert Altman died!! What a fucking pity. At least he had a good career before he up and died, right? RIP!

Sigh.

Y'know, I wasn't that bummed about Thanksgiving and having to have dinner with people who are only tangentially a part of my life, but then I remembered I'm gonna miss Ugly Betty. AGAIN. Grr.

Which means I'm gonna miss the high brow brilliance of moments like these:

Guess Who's Not Writing Her Paper on Les Savy Fav Right Now.

Yes, you heard right. I'm so full of shit I'm writing a 5-6 page paper on Les Savy Fav right now. Think what you will. I only hope that no one from the band finds this and demands that I send them a copy of my paper.

Cough. So tomorrow on TV, there's gonna be a special on NBC. Tony Bennett (sp?) and friends. Watch it. I know I will. Honestly, I don't know why I'm geeking out over it, especially since I can't name any of his signature songs. I just think it'll be nice. Don't you think so?

I'd like to accomplish any of the following during this long weekend:
- SEE VOLVER!!!
- Go to MoMA
- Go and see that exhibit on tropicália at the Bronx Museum of the Arts
- Go to the Palms Out Sounds store
- See Evil Dead: The Musical
- Go to Paul's and paint CDs
- Do my homework and catch up on school (fat chance with that one)

If anyone would like to accompany me to any of these, please holla back.

Oh, bee tee dubs, the Times totally wrote an article about little kids in Park Slope being in rock bands and how the mastermind behind all of this is Steve Buscemi's kid. The namechecking on this article was astounding.

Um...

Doing nothing to quell the Waycest slash-fest.

Why is he touching him there??

Cornetto.

HIII!

So last night I went to see Andrew W.K. do a "lecture on anything he wanted" which meant he didn't prepare anything and it was really chaotic and sure it was funny on occasion and he was super nice, and his fans were really nice, but it's like, why you gotta ask him about influences and shit? Why don't you read interviews with him? I preferred the sillier questions, like somebody asked him to tell a crazy on-the-road story. There was a singalong bit that was really cute, too, but for the most part, it didn't seem worth $4 and wasting a hot Friday night. Believe me, I was really bummed. I can't believe how boring this was, for the most part.

Like when Ian MacKaye came last year, he was amazing. Mind you, he's told some stories a million times so he really knows how to pace them and how to hit the punchline and shit, but seriously, I feel like Ian has so much to say, and I really have a love/hate (mostly hate LOL) thing for him but the respeck is definitely there for MacKaye cos he knows how to talk to a crowd. Must be daddy's preacher genes.

Anyway, I watched Amores Perros last night when I got home. It was incredibly good. I watched it late at night so I had a bit of a hard time keeping track of all the storylines and how they were connected. Also, there were a lot of bloody dogs, but I liked that they didn't really hurt the animals. Oh, and I really wanted to punch the Gael García Bernal character in the face. Except I probably would have settled for kicking his ass cos his face is so pretty. But damn, that movie. I loved it, it was just depressing enough--like don't you hate movies that make you lose hope for the world? This one, I felt like maybe the characters could move on from their adversities. Well, eventually, anyway. Also, the DVD had the video for Café Tacuba's "Aviéntame" which has got to be incredibly emo and sorta disturbing.

I also watched Shaun of the Dead and all the extras on the DVD. Well, most of them. I watched the movie with these subtitles that gave away all the references to previous zombie movies as well as the songs soundtracked. Shit, I didn't know they used so many Ash songs on there. Also, I totally saw a copy of White Blood Cells like around in Shaun's house, but it's so brief I was like, "Whoa was that what I thought it was?" and rewinded (er, rewound?) and paused it. Oh, and there was a whole bit about the 2nd albums the cast members bought in their lives.

BTW, I just finished reading Girl Trouble, which is about Gloria Trevi and her uhhh I can't explain. Like she got into deep shit, ended up in Rio, etc. The book was really good! Very well-written. At the same time I feel like Gloria should have stayed a little longer in jail. I don't know why, because it seems like she suffered a lot a lot a lot, too. I'm just an asshole. I know she's got her comeback and all, but she looks awful lately. Almost like a Latina Paula Abdul. ::shudders::

*

Okay, help me out with these lists (they're not ranked or anything):

[EDITED]

People who are allowed to be crazy
Mariah Carey
Prince
Missy Elliott (is she actually insane or just quirky?)
Cat Power

People who are NOT allowed to be crazy
Gwen Stefani
Michael Jackson
R. Kelly
Beyoncé
Devendra Banhart
Billy Corgan
Courtney Love
Kanye West
Jack White

I'm on the fence on where to put OutKast.

Here are a video of Gloria Trevi and another of SODA STEREO <3.

Does That Make Me Crazy?

ahhh se me pierde la cordura, y'all... me duelen los ojos ya no los puedo enfocar pero tengo que terminar mi ensayo... :( no quiero ir a la escuela mañana.

Forgot to Ask:

VERY IMPORTANT! I HAVE AN EXTRA TICKET TO THE ANDREW WK LECTURE ON FRIDAY.

Anyone wanna go? Open to the public with gov't issued ID. $4 worth.

Agitate! Educate! Organize!

There's this blog I read, Palms Out Sounds, which I actually used to read once a week, solely for their "Remix Sunday" posts (the latest one is here) and which I never mentioned to y'all cos I'm a greedy asshole who didn't wanna reveal her source for the awesome remixes she's been hearing recently. I know, I suck. Anyway, I've been reading this blog a bit more closely lately specifically because of a recent post they made. Go read it. Rly. We don't get enough people talking about this stuff.

Well, this post has another purpose, Palms Out Sounds has been nominated by Roc-A-Fella Recs for best hip-hop blog, and they need votes and I think it would be really cool if y'all could vote. You can only vote once a day but I figure if we all vote they'll get to do all the exclusive shiznit on the new Jay-Z album release frenzy.

VOTE HERE PLZ.

Weird, cos just today we were discussing this stuff in my Theory of Drama class. It was about performing gender (particularly drag acts) and performing race (particularly blackface). I was pleasantly surprised by the discussion, it was really interesting and I don't think anyone said anything too offensive, except for one kid who said that culture is a construct but race isn't, or some shit like that. I was like, "WHAT? WHAT? RACE IS A CONSTRUCT." Naw, I didn't say that, but I was shouting inside my head. Which makes it sound like I hear voices. Well shit, I do. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ohhh lord. Anyhoo.

Here, this is one of the first music videos I ever remember watching.



Watching it now, I'm like, "Go figure he likes the blonde. Tch." I can get a bit bitter at times. Which is hilarious because when I was six, I thought the most beautiful people in the world were Ludwika Paleta, Xuxa, and Marisol. Sorta sad, yeah? I mean I still think they're beautiful ladies. But y'know. Now I make room for people like Julieta Venegas or Beth Ditto or JD Samson or Kelis or whoever. Shit, my philosophy is that I'm too ugly to be picky and be all uppity about who's beautiful or not.



The other music video I remember watching when I was little, of course, was this obscure, low-budget production called "Thriller," which scared the shit out of me.

Up to Date.

Shit I'm so disappointed. Last night I met the sibs from The Knife without their masks on and I felt so special to know what they really looked like, but I just realized that it was a dream, which makes a lot more sense since in my dream it wasn't a guy and a girl but two guys. Gawd.

So I've got a lot of ground to retread. I'm just gonna post YouTube vids in between to balance out all the text. Like this:



Nov. 2

I saw Frida Hyvönen, the Wrens and the Walkmen.

I was surprised by how good the sound was at Skirball. It was wild how loud it got, even with my earplugs.

I didn't care for Frida Hyvönen, I thought her lyrics were laughable and she was pretty unremarkable for a "girl with piano" act. Except I'm aware that it's also the kind of music a lot of people dig, plus she was cute, but I couldn't believe she was eating grapes in between songs. Maybe they help her with the singing? ::shrug::

The Wrens may have been almost sorta just a little bit amazing. It was my very first time hearing the Wrens. Well what really shocks me is that they were so old (read: probably in their late 30s). They sounded a little British to me on certain occasions, so I couldn't believe they were from Jersery. Er, JERSEY. They weren't being very showy at first but all of a sudden, bassist dude went wiiiiild and we was all like WTF GRANDPA CALM DOWN but he didn't and all the kids left their seats and rushed the stage and they looked SO HAPPY to be there. Funny about the bass, it looked real shitty and taped up all over and I wondered why, but then the dude started throwing the bass into the air and trying to catch it and I was like, "Oh... that's why..." At the end they were like, "Fifteen years ago we thought we were rock stars" and how they used to volunteer at CMJ too, and

The Walkmen were pretty good though they didn't take over the stage the way the Wrens did. Boogie-Down Nicole said it was the worst Walkmen show she'd witnessed. I liked it, except for the encore Ham came out with this electric saw and uh cut part of this guitar off. We were all confuzzled and the smell and the dust was weird. Oh yeah, biggest applause: "The Rat". I do love that song, but still.

Nov. 3

Went to see Junot Díaz who was hilarious. A must-see, seriously. He didn't want to read that much, so he just wasted time by talking to everyone about Rutgers (where he attended) and stuff. These students from BMCC were there, and all the rich NYU kids were a li'l scared, you could feel it, lol. Except for the most part I want to cry because he's such a good writer and I'm afraid I'm never gonna get to. I mean I don't want to be an author, I just wanna have a basic grasp on the English language goddamnit!



Nov. 4

I went to a CMJ panel on how to make it as a VJ. I went because Kim from Top Model was a panelist. And yeah, she looked beautiful. Also, Steven from Fuse was there. I really liked the panel. Since these people are on camera all the time, they were all very talkative and kept the panel going. Steven hogged things a bit though, revealing too much about himself: he used to be a middle school teacher and he thinks Micky Avalon is gonna be huge. I was like, Micky who?

After that I stayed for a panel on The Next Big Thing. It was basically people plugging their own projects. Like Jim Diamond (y'know, "the dude who sued the White Stripes") was plugging for a band he'd recorded recently and it pretty much sounded like one of those Detroit New Garage Rock bands, 3rd-rate White Stripes, etc. Or like Sarah Lewitinn (yeah, I KNOW) was plugging for The Oohlas. I mean she's cute but she was looking rough and her hair looks terrible. And someone from XL picked an artist from her label. I thought the panel was gonna discuss how buzz is created, I didn't think it would be so narrow as to literally pick 5 artists to expose to the crowd. We also had to listen to one full song by each of the artists, which ate up most of the one-hour panel without leaving much room for chitchat. It's not to say that the songs were bad, but there could have been a really interesting dialogue that just didn't happen, y'know?

The sad thing is, the panel moderator (who was from the Shortlist Music Prize) was the only one who picked someone totally unrelated to him, and he actually seemed really embarrassed about his pick, because rationally he understood what a dumb choice it was, but at the same time he sincerely liked it. Well guess who the fuck he chose: Micky Avalon.

Now the song was hilarious, because when I saw his picture I thought he was some white version of the kids out of Wassup Rockers, but uhhh apparently he's a crazy Jewish hip-hopper kid. But don't mind all of this, the fact is that this dude is on MySpace Records. Brace yourselves, y'all, this guy's probably gonna become really popular. Somebody get me a barf bag plz.

The third panel I went to was one on the influence of bloggers. I met my classmate Monica there. It was nice to see someone I knew. Well as the panel went on (which included Fluxblog dude and a Pitchfucker) my eyes started wandering and all of a sudden I made eye contact with... um, Kareem. Haha. It made me feel better about being at a panel on bloggers. At the Les Savy Fav show a couple of days ago he said Ryan Schreiber was sitting a couple of rows behind me. That also made me feel better; I may know what Kelefa Sanneh looks like but it's cos he's cute. Kareem has no excuse for knowing what Ryan Schreiber looks like. LOL.

After the panels I recovered by having dinner at Rachel's house. Maria was there too! Dinner was really good! Damn.



Nov. 5

Hung out for like an hour with my presentation partner. Remember? We're doing schtuff on Touch and Go? It was pretty awesome, and there was a weird moment, too: his suitemate walks in and we say hi and he says, "I think I know you from somewhere, WSN?" YEAH! He's the kid who seemed like he got into music because he got injured in his junior year of high school and lost his football scholarship and ended up with a guitar in his hands while he recovered. You know the type. And then we both fessed up about not having gone to meetings for a while. Haha, aw.

Nov. 7

There was a career fair for the noobs at NYU Law. Cute "kids". In quotes because they're all older, sometimes much more so. But still. Whatever, I got to smile at high-maintenance lawyers (some nice ones, too), and the snacks were pretty sweet. Even the Pepsi I pilfered tasted pretty good.

Nov. 9

LES SAVY FAAAAAV!!! GREAT!!! ENERGETIC!! SHORT SET (AND THANK GOD COS I WAS ABOUT TO DROP DEAD).

Missed the two openers. Boogie-Down Nicole and I spent the time bonding and talking shit about people. Y'know. And then inside we met Kareem who was happy (read: a bit on the drunk side) and was all like, "You just missed me DJ" and I felt a bit sore about it because I do love the kind of shit he DJs, but it was all good. I also found out my classmate, Monica is a mutual friend, so I was asking her about it and one of the first things he pointed out is that she meows.

She literally meows. It's just a habit, and if she wasn't cute she'd probably get a lot of shit for it, but I think it's endearing. Kareem said it freaks him out a bit cos he used to have a girlfriend who did that. WEIRD! What is this, some trend I wasn't aware of? Tch, better than hipsters wearing those palestinian scarves. Don't deny, you know what I'm talking about.

We also couldn't figure out whether Steve Buscemi dies in Reservoir Dogs. I've never watched the movie, so I dunno. I only figured he did because he dies in most of his movies...

Anyway, the show was great, it was a bit scary when Tim came our way but it wasn't too bad, didn't get no spit from him and he wasn't hassling people that much. Maybe he got a little talk from the NYU folks. Whatever, I'm just glad he didn't make me cry.

But next Thursday I wanna watch Ugly Betty on the TV because it's a pain having it stream on my computer.



Nov. 10

Work was a pain, but then when Boogie-Down Nicole and I walked to the train so I could go home, there were a shitload of police cars and fire trucks at Houston & Broadway. Fuck. So then Nicole and I walked to 2nd Ave, and the train wasn't working but I didn't realize so I walked into the station and at the bottom of the stairs was... UHHH ALBERT HAMMOND JR. And I was like, "OMG LOOK AT THIS GHETTO ASS STROKE GETTING ON THE SUBWAY" not that he was looking bad, oh no, he looked quite nice, but I'm just sayin'. I mean, this might be the most mundane thing I've seen someone do since I witnessed Frodo "Jordan Catalano is Mad Jealous of Me" Baggins getting on the line for coat check.

Well anyways, I was really stressed out and I was like, "How cute, a stroke on the subway" so I didn't say anything to him, though Al got out of the train station and I followed suit because I saw Boogie-Down Nicole had come back and was like, "Yeah biznatch, trains ain't runnin'". Nicole did see Albert come out of the train and she told me I should have told him I liked his album okay, and I was like, "Goddamn missed opportunity arghh". Well, anyway, we went to her dorm to see what happened and the Gothamist Map said that someone had reported a "suspicious package". Ohhh boy.

This Weekend was Gael García Bernal Weekend.

I watched Mala educación and El crimen del Padre Amaro. I liked the former much better than the latter, though I have to say the acting was fantastic in El crimen. But I love Almodóvar and the movie was too fucking meta to be true. And it was so colorful! Aw and the kid in it was so cute with his ears sticking out!

Also, I'm a bit pissed about the version of Mala educación I got, supposedly it's the "NC-17" cut, but honestly, some bits of El crimen freaked me out a lot more than Mala educación--I really feel like they both should have been R movies.

The amount of homework I finished: zip.

Get It Right, Bitches!

COLOMBIA IS A COUNTRY. COLUMBIA IS A UNIVERSITY.

ALUMNUS IS SINGULAR MALE. ALUMNA IS SINGULAR FEMALE. ALUMNI (A-LUM-NEE) IS PLURAL MALE OR PLURAL MIXED. ALUMNAE (A-LUM-NYE, the way everyone pronounces 'alumni') IS PLURAL FEMALE ONLY.

John is an alumnus. John and Michael are alumni (rhymes with knee). John and Mary are alumni. Mary is an alumna. Mary and Jane are alumnae (rhymes with eye).

Colombia is the home country of Shakira. Utada Hikaru attended Columbia for like a year before she dropped out.

OKAY? And don't get me started about 'nauseous' and 'nauseated'. Tch.

EDIT: PLZ READ COMMENTS, I'M CONFUSED, NO SRSLY DON'T MAKE ME SAY IT AGAIN BECAUSE NOW I DON'T KNOW THO I STAND BY MY WORDS. This is where I also note I didn't learn latin in school, but used to know a teacher who did and he was anal about us pronouncing alumni rhymes with knee. The end.

Random (Elizabeth U. Rmx)

(1) Shit I really need to fix the tags for all my music. It's so inconsistent it drives me mad.
(2) No, srsly, I want an explanation: Lady Sov #1 on TRL?! What?! WHAT?! TRL STILL EXISTS?!?! If that's not proof of payola, I dunno what is. I don't even know why Jay-Z is pushing her music so much. And I can't believe what a sucka Sov is, she's all like, talking about how Ms. Dynamite was ruined by getting signed too quickly, blah blah, yeah well Sov ain't doing too hot either, and Ms. Dynamite at least had one hot album, what does Sov have? A couple of good singles? Also, she needs to stop appropriating the "midget" title, it's offensive to little people that she'd count herself among them. And to the general population: stop encouraging her, y'all!
(3) Britney, best of luck! We know you're a shit singer, and have the mentality of a teenager, but anything is better than being married to K-Fed, so when you make your comeback I'll be more than happy to talk shit about you for your crappy music instead of your crappy husband!

(4) ZOMG I'M MISSING UGLY BETTY AGAIN I'm gonna diiiiie.

Icky Feelings.

Hmm. The calm before the storm. Trying not to think about it too much, but I can feel a breakdown comin'.

When I came home last night my dad asked me if my classmates had liked what I wrote. I just started crying telling him it didn't matter because it's shit anyway. My mom was like well you can rewrite it right. Woman has a point there. Actually, and I know this is a bit weird, but I sort of like feeling inadequate. I feel like it keeps my ego in check.

In class, the Mean Girl really went off on this other girl who wrote a story that included a graphic rape scene. It was statutory rape, no less, and it was in the POV of the rapist. The Mean Girl was offended and thought it was disgusting, blah blah. Yeah well suck it up bitch. I mean I didn't like the rape scene either but you're not exactly the best writer so you really shouldn't be all like "I didn't like it" when you should really be like "Here's why this didn't work for me." I talked to the girl who wrote the story afterwards and I think she got a bit weepy. She told me she didn't know people would be so offended. I told her I think the Mean Girl is a bitch, but what I really should have told her is that getting a reaction is REALLY GOOD and she shouldn't sacrifice whatever sense of art she has just because someone couldn't stomach what she wrote. The scene didn't quite work, but whatever, I admire that she took a risk.

Anyway, tomorrow I get my turn to workshop my story.

Say what? Andrew (not Andy!) WK is gonna lecture on Nov. 17? Woot! That's cool.

OH HEY AND I"M SEEIN LES SAVY FAV FOR THE FIRST TIME TOMORRA HOPE TIM DOESN'T KILL ME WITH HIS BELLY.

Brief Recap.

Incredible. My mother is currently on the phone explaining the concept of Thanksgiving to my uncle (his family moved to the US only a few months ago).

No srsly, I'll make a really long post soon. A lot has happened, none of it important. I finally hit the jackpot and I'm finding more indie pop in Spanish. I can verify that it's just as mediocre as the American kind, but the novelty of it all is wonderfully interesting and I'm at a very happy point in my life.

Here's the vid for "Karma Police", just cos it's amazing:


Things I bought at the WFMU Record Fair yesterday:

- The OK Computer book from the 33 1/3 series = $4
- A Carter Family record with a cover of "These Boots are Made for Walking" (!) = $7
- A Pete Seeger album = $6
- A Lovin' Spoonful album = $2
- An album full of Chilean songs I just bought because there was a Violeta Parra song in it = $4

- Buying cheap used records on the last day of the fair = priceless

Things I didn't able to get:

- The second volume of a record full of WHALE SOUNDS
- Linda Ronstadt singles of her covering "That'll Be the Day" and "Alison"
- THE SOUNDTRACK FOR THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY goddamn why the fuck did I hesitate! Somebody else fucking took it! And it looked in good condition, too. :(
- An extended dance mix 12" of Bowie's "Underground" (yeah, from Labyrinth...) The dude was willing to give it to me for $10 instead of $15 but I passed. Maybe next year! LOL

Yuck!

Fuck man! My dad's fucking around with the computer and for some goddamn reason which I fail to understand, he fucking started playing the "NARC" remix and I was very surprised and was like "Haha, haven't heard that horrible piece of shit in a while," but then 2 minutes of "NARC" became like 7 minutes of "NARC" which brought the mortifying realization that IT WAS ON REPEAT! At least the Audioscrobbler thingy doesn't work anymore, but seiruosly, I ran over to him and was whined, "Turn it off!"

UGH.

Life is About Choices.

Last night I missed Ugly Betty for The Wrens and the Walkmen. I'll post about that in the future, once I have more time and once everyone forgets about it.

Tonight I missed the Kill Rock Stars showcase for Junot Díaz. And I have to say, I can't believe I even wanted to go to the KRS concert, because Junot Díaz really moved me, it was incredible and I'm so glad I made the right choice. I mean, I could go see Excepter and Mary Timony and Erase Errata and Deerhoof some other time, y'know?

Tomorrow: Major CMJ panel-ing.

Boo!

Happy Halloween, you pagan fuckers.



That was the scariest thing I could find. God bless Einstürzende Neubauten.

SO! I got a badge for CMJ! With my full name on it! And some Insound people got their badges at the same time as me, lol. I said hi. BUT even more exciting, I bumped into Rrrachel! Literally! Well, more accurately, I saw her and I charged at her. She took it well. And... let's see. I got a bag of free stuff. TOTES WORTH $295. I really have no idea how badges work. I'm gonna try to go to a few panels.

I'm in such deep shit, I have to present a summary on a critical essay but it has words like "chthonic" in it. UCK!

Oh, and by the way, today in class, a mouse came into the room. I was really freaked out. I'd never seen a mouse so small, it was only like two or three inches long! SO unsanitary. That's NYU for you. Great location, shitty pest control. Though I'd sorta like to stick up for the school and say that there's pest problems everywhere in the city.

To Do.

(1) Junot Diaz reading at school. Hope it's good.
(2) WFMU Record Fair next weekend!! Anyone wanna be my date for that? Should be ASSUMEXCORE.

Here's a vid, since I'm making a post and all.


OH YEAHHH!! AND THE BEST THING I SAW ALL WEEK ON TV:

Jared Leto Plz Die in the Ass.

GAWD! JARED LETO! YOU FUCKING DOUCHEBAG! GO PICK ON SOMEONE YR OWN SIZE.

KTHXDIE.

Oh, and he sorta hurt Stereogum's blogging finger, too? I don't mean to sound like an ass, I don't like getting hurt after all, but a finger... meh. Just call me jealous because I'm not cashing in from being a blogger. But Stereogum has a day job, doesn't he? Okay, yeah, I feel bad. You have my solidarity dude!

Tiny Moments.

At lunch today, Boogie-Down Nicole and I revealed to each other that when we were kids, we always got the mcnuggets when we would go to Mickey D's. We bonded over it until she said she ate 'em with ketchup. I was more of a sweet & sour gal myself, y'see. Tragic really. For a moment there, I really felt like we had something special.

This guy came to the office because he had an appointment, and I asked him if his name was "João" except I pronounced it the way you're supposed to, and he seemed very grateful that I said it correctly. So that felt very nice.

Erratic My Chemical Romance Post Ahead.

Okay, guys, new My Chemical Romance album, very hit or miss. Actually, mostly misses, but some of the songs are so bad that they're beyond good--they're CLASSIC. Like that song that's supposed to have Liza Minelli on it? Hilarious. Changed my life. Wept tears of joy. The clouds parted and I saw God. Etc, etc. There was another song that sounded like post-Elephant White Stripes, but it sounded much better because when Gerard wants to sound all snarly and "intense" or whatever he can nail it, whereas Jack sounds like he's got something up his ass, which is quite funny to think about because it's probably TRUE.

The really really really bad part, the part that made me wanna barf, was "The End" which IRONICALLY enough is actually the first track of the album (omagosh! orly?! no wai!!) and I'm pretty sure it takes the melody from "Five Years" and it's like, NO. No, no no nonono. I groaned so hard and wished it wasn't so. I think my heart broke a little when I heard this track. And by "a little" I mean COMPLETELY. Also, Gerard Way: crooning, really not your forte, huh? Even Julian Casablancas is better at it than you. On the other hand, I'll look forward to the day when you and Jules do a lounge act double-header. Ahhh.

Long story long, I'm so happy that My Chemical Romance entered my life! They're hilarious! And they could have picked worse a worse hero than like, David Bowie! I mean, Panic! at the Disco are so young that their heroes are like, Third Eye Blind!

School of Rock.

AHHH!! First the gays, now musicians?!?! Why don't they make themselves useful and like, fight terrorists or some shit like that?!?!?!?!?!?! Or while we're at it, why don't they do what the Girl Scouts are doing and just try to examine why the fuck they're so irrelevant in this day and age. Tch!

So, let me talk about school a little bit. My last punk class was last Thursday, quite sad, but we watch music videos. Most of them were uninteresting, and the ones I really wanted to watch we had them on MUTE! GAh! I'm sorry, but I'm not down with that. I mean, a skinny, half-naked Birthday Party-era Nick Cave deserves to be heard! Actually, they did put up the volume for that one, at least for half a minute, but people were like, "WTF" and creeped out and I was like "STFU NICK CAVE IS MY MOST FAVORITE DILF EVER!"



Okay, and then last Wednesday, too, we started doing presentations in my other music class. We work in pairs, we pick a music label and talk about it. So uhhh the first group was presenting on Fueled By Ramen! And they didn't even talk about Less Than Jake, it was all like WentzXcore, but not the interesting stuff, so it sort of sucked. Also, I felt pretty ridiculous listening to "Snakes on a Plane" IN CLASS. Oy!

I have to present on Touch and Go, but I'm not sure what to say about it other than "ASSUM!" My mid-term is due and I don't know what the hell I'm doing.

Poster Children for Abstinence, Cont'd.

Sooo... let's forget what I said about Lindsay Lohan. Word on the street is that Kate Moss may or may not be pregnant. And that Pete the Sorry Sod is her baby daddy. Now, if these couple of sentences don't make you quake in fear, I don't know what will (though "Steve Coogan did Courtney Love" comes real fucking close). As Gawker points out: "Frankly, we are mildly surprised that anyone with as much drugs in his system as Doherty can procreate, let alone, you know, do the deed." All I can say is WORD! Even Iggy Pop couldn't get it up during his worst drug period. And we all know Iggy's like, almost invincible, so I have a hard time believing that Pete could achieve anything like this.

I mean, what's the justice of the thousands of people who are infertile and want children, whereas there's a chance that Pete might be having ANOTHER one on the way? I told my boss about the chance of a Kate-Pete baby and he was like, "You know, people are all up in arms about gay couples adopting children, but when people like this have children, people think it's so cute and funny." SIGH.

I have to admit, I almost titled this post "Poster Children for Abortion", but I know that's too wrong on too many levels, and I feel bad for even thinking about it. But yeah, unfit people procreating... that's NOT punk rock.

Another thing I feel should be mentioned: their kid's probably gonna have a really wide face!

This is Worth an 'OMG.'

Nick Cave doesn't know who Busted were?? He missed the greatest musical creation out of the late 20th century!

Recently Consumed.

Edit: Aterciopelados going on tour! Releasing a new album Tuesday! HURRAH!

If you don't care to read the rest of this post, please, just WATCH THIS VIDEO! NO SRSLY! WATCH THE ENTIRE THING! IT'S SCANDALOUSLY GOOOOOD.



So, on to things I've watched or heard or read or whatever recently:

The Office Series 1. Amazing. I can't believe my brother didn't like it. This show was beyond hilarious. Ricky Gervais must be one of the most annoying people I've ever witnessed. Well, not really. Lots of annoying people here in NYC. But yeah, the "crazy" character in the British version (Gareth) is so much more awesome than the American version (Dwight). I mean, I love Dwight, but his antics pale in comparison. In general, the American version is so much more... obvious. I don't know how to explain it, it's like their facial expressions have to be wider, more prominent, so that the dumber people can RLY RLY GET IT. Well, does anyone think so? I think so.

But I still think Pam is cuter than Dawn. I mean Dawn is cute too, but in a more realistic sort of way.

Also been watching Ugly Betty every week. I can't explain how funny this show is. And it's not even like "look at us immigrant folk" jokes, it's "omg the fashion industry is FABULOUS" jokes. And the cast, even the ones who are just in supporting roles, are absolutely ASSUM. I mean, even my dad likes it!

Vida de Perros by Los Bunkers. I'm shocked by how some parts really sound like Franz Ferdinand (first album)! I also don't understand why they're not such a great band but I still love ALL their songs to pieces! Best Chilean band I've heard? YES. FUCK YOU TO LA LEY.

Sandman: Endless Nights. Pretty good, not as amazing as the original Sandman series, but this book will stay with me and I love how it reveals a lot of things about the Endless.

The Big Lebowski. No words. I need to stop watching Steve Buscemi movies. I just feel myself blushing when I see him on screen. Sigh!


Sizzle sizzle!

I know The Big Lebowski is not a "Steve Buscemi" movie but a "Coen Bros." movie, but w/e.

Help Plz.

THINGS I NEED/WANT:

(1) Pictures of Nikolai Fraiture with his fucking mohawk!
(2) That Blood Brothers song from their new album that apparently has the same bassline as "I Turn My Camera On."
(3) A hug.

I Have a Way of Making People Uncomfortable at Times.

Look! It's Håkan Hellström!!


So... Simon Reynolds, who wrote Rip it Up and Start Again, came to speak to our class. He was very nice, very cute and cuddly and knowledgeable, too. Then a fire alarm went off. I was so fucking pissed off! I did not wait for 7 weeks for this dude to show up just so the fucking fire alarm could fucking go off on a fucking rainy day! Tch! Anyway, we only stayed out in the rain a few minutes and we made it back in, and we found out we got locked out of our classroom. Haha. Ohhh god. So I happened to be standing right next to el señor Reynolds, so I go, "Hey, you should do another episode of New York Noise" to which he made this face, in recognition, and replied in his proper British accent, "Oh god, you saw that, did you," and then he sounded sort of apologetic trying to explain that the producers had stuck him in a hair salon and how he didn't know what the fuck he was doing there so he had to improvise. Aw! I didn't mean to bring back bad memories, so I tried to assuage the emotional damage and was like, "Yeah, but I really liked your choice of videos, like I'd never seen Josef K video before," and he seemed to appreciate that okay. And then we parted ways with an awkward goodby, since class was over.

Oh yeah, totally forgot that CBGB's finally closed. What's next? Chinese Democracy finally to be released???

Oh Really, Your Folks Are Away Now?

I guess Paul told his roommate (Poingly) that I LOVED his set at the Obsolete Units party, cos he added me on MySpace. That made me LOL more than a little. Of course I added him back.

So on Friday I spent most of the day with Boogie-Down Nicole. After work we went grocery shopping and we also bought a gift for Rrrachel. Oh yeah and I bought Rip it Up and Start Again. Assum! I watched a bit of MTVU at Boogie-Down Nicole's and "Wolf Like Me" came on. It was awesome. I love that TV on the Radio look mad serious but they're pretty goofy when they wanna be.

We went to get Pommes Frites and we met Notorious Angela and I dunno. Oh that's right, we went to Disshapes @ Militant Vegan Emo Boy Adam's. It was pretty lame while I was there, but it was still sorta fun. Like I got so annoyed that we hardly listened to any song all the way through, but at least they let "Deceptacon" play to the end. Shiiit, that was seriously so annoying. Also, it was way too estrogen-heavy. Where were all the duuudes. As my dad was driving me away I saw Kareem (avec his posse) and I was like, "Damn, well there goes the REAL party". Indeed, I hear the party was awesome once Kareem (and his minions) got there.

Whatevs, the best thing that happened all night was that Boogie-Down Nicole burned me these Håkan Hellström albums into one CD and they're fucking awesome. Actually, I can't get through the first album because I like it so much. But eventually, I'll get to the second one.



On Saturday I met with Doris and we made fun of white people and looked at comic books and I bought an Anita Carter album and a Los Bunkers album from Tower. The LPs I wanted were GONE, cos I'm too much of an obvious idiot who waits around too long and doesn't take advantage, but at least I got those 2 CDs.

Then afterwards I went to Rrrachel's house for her birthday and I wasn't looking forward to it but then Rrrachel gave me some ibuprofen and the rest of them fine folks drank wine and we all had grilled cheese sandwiches courtesy of Boogie-Down Nicole and we listened to Room on Fire and everyone tried to clap but no one could get it right and it was hiiiii-larious. Best party ever! Except for the lack of hot guys. All we had was Panic! at the Disco on the cover of Spin. LMAOXCORE.



I'm so exhausted. At least my musicsecret showed up. Guess the number. Hint: reference to the Illiad, LOL! No seriously. Like the epic poem. What what.

Today I went to Staples and there was one of those hot Latino scene kids. I mean, totes in black, from head to toe. Damn. Anyway, he was there picking up some bubble envelopes. Go figure--he probably had some demo tapes to send out. Sexy.

Do You Like Me Vulnerable?

Have I ever made it clear that I'm pretty paranoid? Do you think the North Koreans will bomb the US or South Korea because of the new head of the UN? Do you think the North Koreans will wage a war? Do you think they would win the war? They have an entire nation of soldiers. The US has a nation of fatties and South Korea has a nation of cell phone addicts.

I think if North Korea started a war and they won, the worst part would be that we'd all be forced to stage those campy productions hailing Papa Kim. Ew, can you imagine? The film industry would be even worse than it is now. Awful, just awful.

Come Out and Play.

Yesterday was national Coming Out Day!

Here's a video of Klaus Nomi. He was one of the early victims of AIDS, when it was still seen as a gay epidemic. In his dying days, he was actually quarantined because of misconceptions that even being near someone with AIDS was dangerous.



And here's a video of the Germs. Darby Crash never came out of the closet, which I personally feel contributed to his depression and recklessness and ultimately his death. I'm really just including this because I love the Germs, and although I hardly agree with Darby on anything really, you have to admit it's impressive how many suckers fell for his fascistic tendencies.



Here's something more recent, a video of Grizzly Bear. I love this video, they've got such wonderful songs.



Another recent one, just for the LOLz.



This last video may be really obvious, but whatever: Madonna has been a queer icon for decades now, and this MTV performance is scandalously good.



Sorry this seems to have a bias towards gay men! Really, all these songs are excellent and I love them! I know there's lots of other artists who represent the queer spectrum even more widely, but maybe that's for another post.

Can You Believe It?

(1) Snow Patrol are now on rotation on Z100. What a fucking joke.

(2) That girl from Whale Rider is 16 and totally knocked up. However, I still think that Haley Joel Osment wins the 2006 award for Most Pathetic Thing a Former Child Star Has Done. Y'know, for crashing his car while he was high/drunk? EDIT: Crap, never mind, I just realized that Keisha Castle-Hughes was born in 1990, I mean, isn't it totally creepy that people born in 1990 are already having sex and getting pregnant?!?!?!

Listen Up!

I got a lot to say:

First, Tower Records is FINALLY doing a clearance sale to FINALLY close their fucking 4th Street store, which means a whopping 10% on supercheap $18.99 CDs. YEah, you read correctly. I'm sorry, are they morons? If they keep this up their inventory won't sell out until, like, 2010. I get the feeling the Tower Records closing is gonna drag on longer than the fucking CBGB's "last shows" bullshit. HOWEVER, I still want to buy some vinyl from there.

I finally said something smart in my punk class today. Pat me on the head. Well I got so fucking pissed and I felt so embarrassed that this photographer lady came to talk to us about "punk fashion" and she didn't really know that much about punk at all. But my comment had nothing to do with punk per se, I was talking about how Mexican-American kids used the zoot suit as a "fuck you" to los gringos during WWII, long story, and a complicated one at that. Honestly, there's no point to this, other than to brag that I'm not entirely incompetent, though it may seem that way from reading this blog.

I should mention that the Bronx Museum of the Arts is hosting this exhibit on tropicália. What does this mean? Well, it means awesome music, artwork inspired by the movement, a lot of political talk, learning about Brazilian culture...

From the press release:
Grand Opening Celebration, Open House: Sunday, October 29, 2006, 2 to 6 p.m.
There's also a shitload of events (music, films, panels) to complement the exhibit, some of which are located downtown so y'all don't have to schlep yo' asses all the way up here. Actually, the museum's real easy to find, it's on 1040 Grand Concourse @ 165th Street, here's some directions for y'all. You guys totally need to go!

Another important thing is that Paul posted up videos of the Obsolete Units release party, and I'm feeling really sore that I missed Poingly's set. It looks amazing. I can't believe I missed it. Click the fucking link! I highly recommend it.

So... YouTube has been acquired by Google. Now what? I feel a bit strange knowing that such a big chunk of my (online) life is dominated by Google.

At least YouTube has shown me that New Kids on the Block were sort of awesome:


Or if you need something with a li'l more cred, YOU CAN BOW DOWN TO BETH DITTO!

Forgive Me, For I Have Sinned.

Dear Chairs Missing,

Please forgive me. I take it back. I love you, I really really love you.

Regretful,

Elizabeth U.

_____

Bee tee dubs, how did y'all celebrate Native Peoples' Day? Was it good times? I went to work and this girl who works there and I gushed about the awesome that is Michel Gondry. She kept telling me to check out the Chris Cunningham DVD as well, and I was like, "Isn't it scary?" and she's like, "No no, it's not scary," but then she thought a bit more about the videos in the DVD and she's like, "YEah, okay, they're scary." And then my supervisor shows up and he's like, "Gael García Bernal" and we all gushed about how he's not just pretty, but talented as well. LE SIGH.


¡Él es un Adonis!

Even I Have My Limits.

Brand New in NYC! YEAH!

Opening for Dashboard! BOO HELL NO!

At MSG! OMG SO WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS!

Conclusion: Brand New opening for Dashboard Confessional is more heartbreaking than finding out that Barbra Streisand is opening for Il Divo.

Tch!

I Wanna Sell Out, Too.

Watched Tristram Shandy, Steve Coogan playing Steve Coogan playing Tristram Shandy as well as Tristram's father was not as charming Steve Coogan playing Tony Wilson, but I still believe he's awesome and the movie was so funny in that sort of pomo way.

I think it was Korean Thanksgiving? Either way we went to my grandma's house and I really didn't feel like going but by the time we got there the party was already over. I can't explain how fucking happy I was that everyone was gone and no one was bothering me and I didn't have to hear these suburban, normal kids talk about cars and church and top 40 music and shit.

I was watching the TV at my grandma's and this commercial came on and the song in it had a really familiar bassline and I was like, "Why do I like it so much?" It was THE OCCASION. THE OCCASION HAVE A SONG IN A COMMERCIAL. CAN I GET A WTF? KTHXBY.