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.