None More Scene.

Well, I just listened to the radio, which I seem to be doing increasingly. There was a point when I seriously couldn't listen to the radio, but now I've come to the conclusion that people really do have a mediocre taste in music and that I can't listen to the radio and consider these recordings as music but as noise. Just thinking of it as noise, it helped me just block it out a bit except for the parts that I liked. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. There was this one song that was quite naughty but in Spanish, so obviously the censors didn't care. It was like, "Shake it, you got a big ass", or something. Poetry, I know. Please don't argue with me that it's no different from other songs on the radio by its appreciation of the human posterior. I don't care; I think most of those other songs are just as tactless.

There was also this piano number with a girl with a very cutesy voice singing, and it reminds me of an English-version Belanova song whenever I hear it. At least in the voices of the singers. The thing is, I already don't think much of Belanova. They're okay, more like for party occasions. Here's their video for "Por ti".

They also played the new Paris Hilton, which is not as bad as you'd think but still totally disposable, and the new Beyoncé. I think this last one was the most disappointing. It was like she was warming up her voice for the real thing and like Jay-Z was just checkin' the mics to see they were all working properly. I just listened to the whole song going, "Where's the big pay-off like in that other song you fools did?" God knows the only part that makes me love "Crazy in Love" is the horns. I'm not necessarily asking for more horns, just a REAL AWESOME PART. I can't even remember how "Deja Vu" goes.

Now I'm listening to XFM. Aw, man! I'm so disappointed, they're doing commercials right now, and they were advertising this one Lupe Fiasco's new single, which I thought was "Kate Bush", but it's really just "Kick, Push". So disappointing! Haha. Actually, I just watched the music video and it's so cute. Heehee.

Today I listened to that At The Drive-In compilation (compilation? anthology?), and it was pretty awesome. I haven't watched the DVD that comes with it, though. What weirds me out is that I watch silly videos of them* on YouTube and I'm like, "Wow, so they're not the delusional wankers that I expected". When I think of what's become of ATDI now, especially those two crazy Mars Volta dudes, it shocks me.

I also fiiinally listened to the Lata Mangeshkar CD I took out of the library ages ago, and it was good but not as great as the Asha Bhosle CD I borrowed. Tip: it's really fun if you look these two women up on YouTube, because it just shows clips of old Bollywood movies. It's good for shits & giggles!

So Miss Modernage got a new blog, which covers stuff like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy and all those bad bands that I've been listening to lately. It's called So More Scene and its creation pisses me off not because it covers all that trash I like, but because it's separate from The Modern Age. I just don't understand why she would do that? She wrote to her mailing list, "I've started a new blog where I talk about all the music no one lets me talk about on The Modern Age." I mean, so what if people give her shit on the regular blog? Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of her blog, I just read it all the time, and it gets annoying to just read about stuff like the Strokes and Jack White**-related posts. And it's pretty annoying and even creepy to read a blog that is mostly entirely OMG WENTZXCORE, even if peppered with occasional commentary on my dearest pale chubby rocker. So I seriously don't have a problem with her mixing the two worlds. Besides, (1) I think I'm not alone in being fed up with the more "indie rock" shit and gravitating towards a more emo feel, since when I last saw Cam, he was all like, "I like We Are Scientists cos they've duped the hipsters into liking an emo band" and (2) these bands are relevant because musicsecret is awesome, so everyone should at least hear them once.

In other news that I received in my inbox, apparently someone made a Motherfucker documentary! Is Misshapes next?

Yesterday I sent this quickly-scribbled note to Dorothy Gambrell at work. If you go to the Cat and Girl site, she says that for a limited time, if you send a self-addressed, stamped envelope, she'll send you stickers and pins. Hope my letter doesn't freak her out and that I get stuff from her. Hurry up and send her a SASE if you want some as well!

At lunch, we were talking and this girl mentioned Larry Clark, and I paused for a second going through my inner useless info storage center, and then I asked, "The guy who did Kids?" She was like, "Yeah, that guy!" And I was so excited and surprised that I even knew the dude, because I've never ever watched any of his movies. How do I know this stuff?

In other news, I pretty much detest someone at work, and I feel bad because the person is quite nice.













*Like this silly video.

There's another video where they're being interviewed, and it's so old that Omar refers to "Derek from Murder City Devils", which is very strange to hear for someone who only knows the dude as "Derek from Pretty Girls Make Graves".

** BY THE FUCKING WAY: at work recently we got an order from a "John Gillis" from Tennessee and I swear to fucking god that I stared at it for ages wondering whether this was actually an order from Jack White. I don't even remember what he bought. :/ I just didn't know whether Jack White actually lived in Tennessee, even though I know his daughter was born there, but I just looked at Wikipedia, and y'all know Wikipedia don't lie!!!!!

More MoCCA.

Today I went to the MoCCA fair, and I had a lot more fun than last year. By some great windfall, the Charles Burns panel ended up being moderated by Adrian Tomine. I was far more excited to see Adrian Tomine on the stage, and I felt so good knowing that as accomplished as he may be, he still walks the more awkward side of life. It was strange to hear the voice of someone whose handwriting I love. It didn't feel like his voice and his handwriting correlate, but once he spoke more and more I got accustomed to his voice. Does that make me sound absolutely insane?

Anyway, yeah, it felt really good that whenever Tomine opened his mouth, the questions sort of struggled to form, even though he had these index cards right in front of him. I know I sound like a total ass, but I don't mean to describe all of this in a mean way. I thought it was absolutely endearing and he seriously seems like someone I'd want to be friends with. Doris got two books signed by him, and I think she really enjoyed it.

The panel discussion was pretty cool, too. It made me take Charles Burns more seriously, and it was cool to see how methodic he is in his work. Man's got discipline.

(We were gonna maybe sorta not really see Jessica Abel, we were eating and we didn't make it in time, not that it mattered because we wanted to just look around for the last hour of the fair. I spilled like 30 ounces out of the large 42 ounce drink that Kat and I were planning on sharing during our late lunch. :/ I still feel bad about it...)

But the other great thing about this event: I TOTALLY GOT TO TALK TO DOROTHY GAMBRELL! My life is complete!! See, I spied a couple of people with Cat and Girl comic books in their hands, and I was like, "Uhh holy shit I need one," and I mentioned it to Doris, and she's like, "Yeah, I know where they are," and she walked me to the table. So I thought it was the publishing company that had brought the book to sell it, but when I asked who I needed to pay, the guy at the table pointed to DOROTHY!!! And I was like, "ZOMGZ YR TOTALLY HERE ZOMGZXCORE YOU TOTALLY LOOK LIKE YR PIX ZOMGZ 4 LYFE MY MOM TOTALLY RUINED MY ICELANDIC T SHIRT." She understandably avoided eye contact with me. Can I get a LOL? I was a bit too intense, but I was just so excited to meet her. Damn, yo. I swear to God, next time I'll be more chill about it. Haha, she was very nice, shook hands and asked my name and everything. Lovely. The whole encounter was quite goofy.

Man, there was so much shit I wanted to buy! There was this David B. thingy and Love and Rockets books and and and and and oh god... Next year. I thought it was really cute, there were plenty of artists themselves just walking around looking at their peers' work and buying stuff too! Aww.

Seriously, that L&R volume I got out at the library was fucking excellent, I love it love it love it and I love Los Bros Hernandez and Adrian Tomine and David B. and Marjane Satrapi and Dorothy Gambrell and Craig Thompson and I'm so glad I have geeky friends who encouraged me towards this sick path of comic book love.