Friday, December 30, 2011

idolelogy



wwkd?

mixed-up



priorities.

nomnom



yes, please.

on the road



a raw, scratchy, bluesy love letter from the queen of pop. recorded on only one take on a tour bus, it reflects the brilliance of her much-admired stripped-down performances, accentuating on gaga's drunken demeanor and nonsensical freestyling through echoing claps and off-pitchiness that recalls riot grrls and british punk. what i love the most is that the lyrics begin with gaga having "nothing" but by the end, she has sold out a show in minnesota, giving the song a beautiful chronology of this torrid, rural love affair from its humble start to its humbled finish. i'd be lying if i didn't say i'd prefer an entire album in this vein but that is completely up to the artist. in the meantime, i will always wonder what could be whenever i listen to the immortal line: "we've got mice in the kitchen/but we don't care/'cause we're in love."

Thursday, December 22, 2011

hopscotch



with "roman in moscow," finding its hyperactive voice on the billboards charts, this apparent non-single was released a couple of days ago and already seems to be following the trend of nicki trailing back to her mixtape roots. primarily a diss track over an "itty bitty piggy"-esque beat, the song reflects the inner bitchiness of (one of) nicki's famously spastic alter-ego roman zolanski, a gay fireball who embodies the artist's inner angst, boostin, flossin, and throwin shade to all the wannabes. it's colorful, playful, and jumpy and the repetitive chants of "you a stupid hoe/you a you a stupid hoe" remind me of ghetto junglegym insults. after her pop-rap cornucopia of pink friday, nicki seems to be treading in new territory, a mix between brash and hiccups. if this is the direction of roman reloaded, i may just have to pre-order.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

dah who doraze



oh the noise noise noise noise!

go



we need more of this from our actors. fight, baby, fight.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

moon update #12



where were you in '92?

moon update #11



hermes give me strength.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

changes



ever want something so bad just to have it ripped away from you and not know if it was worth trying to get it back again? in a lot of ways on my road to author-infamy, i have thought naively i was the only one, but here in pop sheen is reassurance that not only can one start all over again, but one can do it with such a force that all possibilities seem endless. with her 5th single from born this way, gaga cements herself as the most gifted of the club goddesses, directing the day in which she was dropped from def jam, broke down with a box of cheerios, dyed her hair in a damp bathtub, and danced the scheisse away to interscope. of course the technical rules are broken, of course there's humor in the sadness, but underneath it all lies a humane work of heartbreaking illusion, serving as a cinematic wrap-up of all the videos that came before it, a sort of explanation for all the extravagance and philosophical beauty lady gaga has become emblematic for. only we know it's not quite over yet. with its bedazzled denim, manic ballerinas, and fragile distortion of the past, "marry the night," a dance song about the darkness of our fears, is only the beginning of what i perceive to be an era of more honesty, more truth, and most of anything, more passion.

death takes a holiday



it almost resembles science-fiction in the way it portrays the hunger for tv ratings in our world of youtube views ("and mary lou retten as tiny tim!"), but the madness of modern capitalism and bill murray's hilarious cynicism of holiday cheer seems timeless, invoking probably the best incarnation of the dickens tale this side of vanessa williams.

places i've never been



that early 80s new york luxe-bohemia is golden.

wildlife



the world in a nutshell.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

iris



this is how i feel right now.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

angels



it pains me to never have been able to meet this genius.

tis the season



i wish it could always be like this.

rhythm nation



j'adore.

smuck



play her all day.

lifesavers



i would be nothing without these.

Monday, November 21, 2011

it was a time



this has been a banner year for music. not only has the near-decade-long slump in album sales swiftly turned around due to the return of the superfan and ear-candy enthusiasts the world over, but the quality of product has become important once again. even the billboard hot 100, which for years has been the bane of my existence, has revealed that we now want better sounds, we now want better artists. and nowhere has this been deeper than in the pop stratosphere. five years ago in a sea of tail-end crunk and r&b kiss-offs, one could not foresee such a pop revolution that would occur throughout the electrifying 11 months of this year. it just didn't seem possible.

however the stars were aligned at the end of 2009: beyonce launched the digital phenomenon that is "single ladies," katy perry found a niche in sorority philosophy, britney just finished the lacquer of circus, rihanna proved herself as the moodiest of them all, ke$ha reminded us of those club urchins who messily dance alone on the floor with a water bottle in hand, and as the summer faded into fall, a new york alien starchild named lady gaga made her global debut and changed the game. it is quite unfair to say gaga "changed" the game, however, before she came on the scene, all of the previously mentioned artists, aside from bey, were seen with disdain, as if pop could not have a soul. yet gaga infused the utmost seriousness in a dying genre and made even the most cynical of critics re-evaluate their eyerolls.

in the wake of this pop rebirth, we have been given some incredibly bejeweled works of art: the misery and intergalactic vibes of the fame monster and the profane and sacred mural brushes of born this way (lady gaga), the island disco thumps of loud (rihanna), the beer-and-candy-coated delusions of teenage dream (katy perry), the soulful experimentalism of 4 (beyonce), the stealth futurism of femme fatale (britney) and of course, the newest and critically brightest of them all, the arena-lounge melancholy of 21 (adele). each of these albums have been doing extremely well, from singles to videos to overall sales, and it represents the modern fascination with the pop diva as philosopher and soothsayer. and i don't expect anything less from rihanna's latest effort, talk that talk.

stylistically, the 23-year-old's sixth album is an ingenious concept of a nymphomaniac desiring to be a virgin again. although sex is celebrated and appreciated far more openly here than on anything rihanna has ever done before, it is still counteracted by mid-tempo synth-ballads about wanting love, finding love, and needing love in the most elementary, basic forms. it's this fantastical notion of having it both ways alone that adds a wave of sadness over the promiscuous joie de vivre, giving a tremendous amount of depth to someone who is constantly vilified for her supposed lack thereof. what rihanna is saying is not that she hates fucking, it's that she wants to be fucked by someone she is in love with.

this message is nowhere clearer than on the opener "you da one," which is bound to become rihanna's 12th #1. the blossoming languid track is the kind of nursery-rhyme confessional one whispers into their pillow, the blazing sun basking through the window in one's eyes whilst dreaming of touching that special person once again. with careful ease, its sleepy sweetness is soon interrupted by "where have you been," an electric noir of oceanic and glacial capabilities that verge of paranoia yet ultimately result in pure tantalizing euphoria. it is that buzz-driven bipolar musing that warms you up for the complete burst of sonic tear-stained moodiness of "we found love," which manages to make the repeated chorus of finding love "in a hopeless place" seem like the most tragic line in pop this year.

the eponymous song is a cool, pulsating duet with jay-z in which they play a lust-filled cat-and-mouse game in which rihanna reminds her suitor that he will never have "another like me." the next track, "cockiness (love it)," is a classic hard-banging sex romp that reminds one of an ancient rome foam party and the bass-driven interlude (?) "birthday cake" continues the sleek, sizzling hedonism though, unfortunately, fades out before the act can be exacted. "we all want love" is a call-to-arms for romantics in which rihanna asks "what are you living for?," a question that strikes me as both applicable to adoration and the current confusion of the world. and in one of my favorites, "drunk on love," she anchors to her bed, hungry and lonely of romance through an echoing crunch of galactic energy, coming off like an olympian princess with no one to share her greatness with. it is a heartbreaking, incredibly-danceable beauty that perfectly encapsulates the album's theme of sex and love.



ending talk that talk is the jumpy sensuality of "roc me out" that vibes metropolitan grime in a shake of vibrancy and causes the pop star to sweetly admit "i'll let you in on a dirty secret/i just wanna be loved", the colossally charming new wave lullaby of "watch n' learn" that brilliantly mixes the sound of a mobile hanging above a baby's crib with the mobility of baby-making music, and "farewell," which resembles that of a folded-up letter not to be given or received by the person it was intended for. it is a sharp, decidedly contemplative way to finish such an album filled with bump and step, but it was also a passionate one, as it wraps up the primary theme of nostalgic purity in a world in which hedonism is valued equally. it is not a moral, socio-political message, yet whether a humanist comment on being young, beautiful, sexy, and aware of it all. nor is it a gimmick, as most critics will note, but yet a cosmic tone poem of pop/dubstep proportions. of all her albums, i find this to be the most mature and the most vulnerable at the same time.

as the year winds down and opens up room for another of perhaps even greater degrees, i am happy to have lived in 2011, in which music and primarily pop--which i have been rooting for a comeback since the fade-out of the boyband/princess era--has become important again. we are living in a time where our generation has usurped the old guard of musicians and has replaced them with a glittering variety of talent, style, and skill. it is glorious to look at the charts, remember the videos, and to take in the huge moments that occur around us and be grateful that we can look back and say, "yeah, kiddies, i was there."

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

miss manson, if ya nasty



the queen of my teenage soul. play the self-titled album and version 2.0 back to back and you'll see my adolescence.

Monday, November 14, 2011

they know, they know, they know



hearing great, great things about drizzy's new album that officially drops tomoz. will be playing the tracks off youtube until i get it on x-mas morning. can't wait. love this kid.

Friday, November 11, 2011

pouring



from her classic 1997 album butterfly, "the roof" is vulnerable, contemplative, and liberating. a pop diva goes off her pedestal to mingle with the commoners though can't shake bittersweet memories of one special night long ago that'll never happen again. if there was any modern singer who reminded me of the powerful opera sirens of ancient europe, it would have to be mariah and her innate ability to capture sorrow and pass it off as strength. melancholic r&b at its finest.

ghosts pt. 8



still rooting for our maddest starlet. hope she doesn't fuck it up.

my ford



gimme.

rockgod



oh, the humanity.

made of stars



a master at her craft. case in point.

yum



just one of the few brightly-colored, insanely-hip, and incredibly stonerish animated delicacies created by the first major cartoonists of our generation. this is what growing up on nicktoons, fox kids, and what-a-cartoon will do to you.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

exhibition



sex symbol bursts on scene after private tape goes public. sex symbol soaks up attention and becomes reality royalty. sex symbol dates various athletes and complains of wanting to be married (again). sex symbol meets and marries subpar athlete/guy after tediously documenting their engagement in multiple tv series. sex symbol files for divorce 72 days later. this will go down in the gossip books as a golden age. i'm so glad to live at this moment in time.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

decay dance



it may be the sucker for decadent youth in me, but the much-derided video for "we found love" is one of the best of the year. as the melancholic electropop throbs in the background, it tells the story of a vibrant, stylish couple in an anonymous citysprawl whose charming hedonism and reckless abandon ends up working against them--all of it a jumbled, disjointed trail of memories recollected by a tortured rihanna, who agonizingly leans and crouches against her bedroom wall in beautiful adolescent tumult. british model queen agyness deyn gives a somber opening narration that sounds like a drunk dial lullaby. there are tremendous shots of concrete decay and pastoral bounty alongside fashionable children as if predicting a dystopic future. the kid looks like brown but he's more gorgeous. oddly enough it reminds me of breathless or amanda knox and her foreign boyfriend before the drama. and i wouldn't be surprised if her clothes became the latest thing in due time. a timeless representation of a generation high on renaissance dreams.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

imperial



we would be stupid to lose a couple this gorgeous.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

sculpture



something out of a museum.

Monday, October 10, 2011

i'll dance



salome as a spoiled flapper in a world made of pretty faces and utter decadence. artificial, grand, subtle. a gaudy poem.

you say you wanna revolution



probably the best propaganda film i've ever seen. much better than triumph of the will.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

zeus



there goes our leonardo, our brilliant mind who gave our modern culture life and breathed so heavily into it. i feel somewhat like an orphan who's returned home to only an empty table and a cold bowl of soup.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

red-blooded



i love the look of the mid-20th century american gaijin.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

roots



this is who we are and this is who we've always been.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

spitfire



oh, stanny.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

outrun my gun



an interesting thing happened this summer: a rock group released a catchy, laidback song that captured the spirit of the age, the feeling of the climate and it slowly but surely charted its way to the upper echelons of the billboard charts. now let's remind ourselves that this is 2011 and not 1968, where that sort of thing was easy and actually quite commonplace. in the midst of the (hopeful) tail-end of this current electro-pop/electro-rap period where each song is tailor-made for the dancefloor, foster the people has managed to penetrate the stale culture and invigorate it with the kind of raw coolness that rock has been famous for, first hinted with the rise of mgmt, but now made glorious with the massive success of "pumped up kids." at #3, the song finds itself sandwiched in between the vintage ballad of adele and the electro symphony of lmfao, proving with its macabre lyrics, beachy whistles, shoegaze echoes, and sunshine harmony that america is yet again ready for a new great rock phase.

kevin's not here



my favorite christmas/childhood movie. has the power to cure any depression or anger.

Friday, September 23, 2011

vrai



"but we know it doesn't happen that way and we don't lie to ourselves about it. maybe you won't ever find anybody you love. or maybe you find somebody you love four minutes, maybe ten minutes. but i mean, why lie to yourself? we know we're not going to love one man all our lives. maybe it's the bomb--we know it could all be over tomorrow, so why try to fool yourself today."
--jane holzer

ambassadors



what they did for globalization is bigger than any governmental policy.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

boom



there's something about postwar america that makes me absolutely giddy and delirious.

mermaid



happy birthday sophia loren, mega-goddess.

now



"jane holzer is the most contemporary girl i know"
--diana vreeland

Monday, September 19, 2011

romp



one of those amusing pre-counterculture sex comedies with jane fonda as the girl who wants it but wants love even more and rod taylor as the guy she meets one sunday on the bus and finds an adequate choice. it's bright, optimistic, and silly and has the same fluffy, lighthearted prewar feeling of many 90s films. best watched on a rainy day like this one.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

walk of a romantic



been listening to a lot by this guy. his name was viktor zoy and he was the lead singer of kino, a soviet rock group whose unique post-punk sound was that of malt shop melodies mixed with whimsical synth beats and a slight echoing factor that creates a visualization of intimacy. he died young at 28, a year after i was born, but i would hope his legend lives on forever. i would love to put his music in a movie.

make like a leaf



quite possibly the saddest american childhood tale.

minimaestro



we're, like, brothers.

Monday, September 12, 2011

gnarled reality



i'm only but insanely jealous of his infamy.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

bobbysox



croon much?

audrina



the early bird.

Friday, September 2, 2011

waltz



due to my perfectly healthy obsession with tcm, i finally saw goodbye mr. chips tonight. it's about a sweet teacher (played by doe-eyed robert donat) at a boarding school who incidentally falls in love (with the daring greer garson), loses his love, and becomes a revered figure amongst his mischievous ever-changing supply of students through the victorian years and up to the first world war. a charming movie that made me literally laugh and cry. the kind of thing that makes you think of the world and how precious life is. i'll never look at childhood the same way. no wonder they call it a classic.

page sixteen: vma recap



selena gomez still works the shit out of dresses. britney is worshipped. gaga brilliantly plays drag king. beyonce suggestively rubs her baby-bump while jay-z glows. adele is profound. lil wayne wears tight pants. nicki minaj dresses like a harajuku druggie. katy perry attempts to have multiple wardrobe changes. justin bieber can't keep his lips to himself. tyler the creator introduces the modern counterculture. kanye west is sober. jessie j is the best house singer i've seen. wiz khalifa makes out a lot with amber rose. katie holmes comes back from the dead. russell brand anxiously eulogizes amy while bruno mars rocks out in memory. demi lovato looks beautiful. colton haynes is sex. pitbull and usher prove that what happens in vegas, can be performed on any stage. more than anything, this was the vmas that made me realize my generation has begun to dominate. the youthquake has indeed erupted.

sheen



we love too much without loving enough.