Stream Neko Case
Scenestars has three songs from Neko's new one: Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. Check them out here. We all love Neko, let us know what you think about her new songs in comments.
January 31, 2006
January 27, 2006
To Do This Weekend: Lez Zeppelin and Iditarod
Friday January 27
Lez Zeppelin
The all-lesbian Led Zeppelin cover band
Bowery Ballroom - $15
Jonny Lives! will be opening. Read all about them here and be sure to check out this MP3.
and
Saturday January 28
Idiotarod 06
Absurd shopping cart race where a bunch of drunk
hipsters nearly kill themselves
2pm; $5 per person
jstark@nonsensenyc.com - email him for location/details
The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. This Idiotarod is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it's people, instead of sleds, it's shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it's New York City. Tonic hosts a free after-party at 6pm.
January 26, 2006
Federline Rocks Out
This video of Britney's hubby, Keven Federline, jamming in the studio is too wonderful to not share. Check it out here.
Stream Belle And Sebastian's "The Life Pursuit"
It's available at Scenestars. Check it out here,
January 25, 2006
NBC Caves to Evangelical Nutjobs
This is disgusting. Another victory for Dobson and the American Family Association
The last chapter of the controversial religious drama "The Book of Daniel" has been written at NBC. Although the network stopped short of saying the low-rated show was canceled, a spokeswoman said Tuesday it has been dropped from the schedule.The series, which starred Aidan Quinn as an Episcopalian priest with a pill habit who holds regular conversations with Jesus, has a promiscuous son and a daughter who deals marijuana, proved better at drawing criticism than viewers.
Conservative Christian groups condemned the depiction of Jesus as blasphemous, accusing the writers of portraying Christ as tolerant of sin in talks with the priest. Seven NBC affiliates refused to air it.
Who knew there was a difference between cancelled and dropped from the schedule?
And here's the AFA statement:
“NBC didn’t want to eat their economic losses,” said AFA Chairman Donald E. Wildmon. “Had NBC not had to eat millions of dollars each time it aired, NBC would have kept ‘Daniel’ alive. But when the sponsors dropped the program, NBC decided it didn’t want to continue the fight.”“This shows the average American that he doesn’t have to simply sit back and take the trash being offered on TV, but he can get involved and fight back with his pocketbook,” Wildmon said. “We want to thank the 678,394 individuals who sent emails to NBC and the thousands who called and emailed their local affiliates.”
No wonder NBC is in last place in the ratings. Pussies. You can read the article here.
January 24, 2006
It's Kind of a Funny Story
The new novel by Ned Vizzini
A non-review by J. Stefan-Cole
I read page one of Ned Vizzini's, It's Kind of a Funny Story, and took a downbeat turn at the thought of reading another kid-on-the-ropes novel. I’d just finished Jonathan Safran Foer’s, Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud, which I’d found extremely irritating and loudly unbelievable. That kid got on my nerves, a know it all whose grief over his Dad, lost in the World Trade attack, left me unconvinced. And what's with all the graphic aids? This comes right out of the Dave Eggers School of Staggering Genius; punching up the words with gimmicks, like words don’t have strength anymore to carry meaning on their own. When I saw the little doodad diagrams at the chapter heads in Vizzini’s teenage novel, I was ready to revolt: I didn't think I could take another pubescent view on life and death.
I was wrong.
Vizzini’s Craig Gilner is not another Oskar Schell. He’s closer to Holden Caulfield, and the dialogue is kid snappy without being nihilistically dark. Craig spends a full year of his barely begun life cramming to get into an elite Manhattan school, Executive Pre-Professional High. "That first semester, in addition to the book list, I had this class called Intro to Wall Street that required me to pick up the New York Times and Wall Street Journal everyday...to create a portfolio of current events articles and show how they related to stock prices..." Phew, that would send me into a Republican-inspired corporate-ruled panic attack. We don’t quite learn why Craig wants to join ranks with the powerbrokers except for a vague idea of becoming president some day. Yes, of the United States.
The story opens with him coming undone from the strain. He somehow failed to grasp that the superhuman effort required to get into an elite school would only amplify once there. At fifteen, he’s on Zoloft, getting lousy grades—in the low nineties (?!)—not studying or doing his homework but growing steadily more internally paralyzed instead. His mind loops on what he calls cycling; thoughts that spin on themselves until he’s flung, mentally inert, into a corner. He can’t eat, can’t sleep and can’t think of himself as anything but a failure. I’d crack too, and it turns out a good percentage of the kids at Pre-professional are only coping with the aid of chemical interference (like Paxil and Prozac).
It’s a ferocious society that turns its kids into brain trusts instead of people. Craig’s suicidal thoughts and subsequent call for help come poignantly, and funnily, home in the face of pressures that have robbed the kid-ness out of being a kid. Who wants to be elected king of the most powerful nation in the world anyway? What’s life got to do with it? Craig’s story is populated by characters reeled in from the chaotic sea of so-called civilization; from loving, clueless parents to obliviously cruel friends, shrinks that try, and the sadly comic cast of patients in the psyche ward where he spends five enlightening days. Not so original maybe, the inmates being more in tune than the mad, mad world outside, but Craig is so vulnerable in his hour of need that we sign into the ward right behind him.
He wasn’t always a mess. Before Pre-professional Craig was a little quirky, not popular or hip, but a kid with confidence and discipline who ate and slept and got acquainted with his sexuality, alone, but, hey, he was thirteen. When he figures out he’s only average in a pool of geniuses, he snaps. This is right about the time he takes up with Aaron, a hipper kid whose bedroom in a downtown Manhattan apartment has its own entry and ventilation system. I don’t know how Aaron manages a steady supply of pot (it’s expensive—not to leave out illegal—and none of these kids is rich). Aaron has a new girlfriend, Nia, a Jewish Chinese beauty (who knows it) and Pre-professional coed. Craig inwardly yearns for Nia and turns to pot and internet sex (the parental control is where here, never mind) to soothe the ache. It’s too much, he can’t cope. His life’s been taken over, he’s not up to Pre-professional, or the other kids, or girls, or anything.
A little man moves into his gut and pulls a rope inside whenever he tries to eat, resulting in frequent trips to darkened bathrooms to throw up. All he can do is wait, hope for a mental “shift”, to turn a corner that will bring back the days before Pre-professional. “The Tentacles are the evil tasks that invade my life...the opposite of the tentacles are the Anchors...things that occupy my mind and make me feel good temporarily.” Riding his bike is a rare anchor, school an expanding, strangulating monster until finally one long sleepless Saturday night he figures a jump off the Brooklyn Bridge is his only way out.
“So why am I depressed? That’s the million-dollar question, baby, the Tootsie Roll question; not even the owl knows the answer to that one. I don’t know either. All I know is the chronology.” He’s ready to peddle to the bridge in the wee hours of the morning. He decides against leaving a note (too melodramatic) figuring his bike will tell the tale, but then worries, what if the bike is stolen and his family won’t know for sure that he jumped? This is a black moment.
Straddling the brink, Craig’s conversation with the hotline guy is very funny, even as the tension of that hopeless morning mounts.
Fortunately, Ned Vizzini is not afraid to charm. He balances angst with humor and warmth and pathos and, best of all, humanity. Craig is put in with the adults at the mental hospital because the children’s psyche wing is under renovation, and he finds himself in the right company. The other patients are off the wall, lost, seriously messed up, but truthful and they hold up just the right size mirror for Craig to get a glimpse of his tangled up brain. There is a danger here of things turning pat, a little too smooth, but Vizzini’s character has captured us and we can’t help it, we don’t want this budding kid to be chewed alive and spit back out as a tool of the power elite. Or worse, a hollow man.
What the psyche ward offers, besides desperately needed time out, is constancy. If not an anchor, being on the inside offers a simple movement through and clear conclusion to each day. Craig gets a chance to sort through his head. He mentally answers a nurse who asks about hobbies:
“I work, Monica, and I think about work, and I freak out about work, and I think about how much I think about work, and I freak out about how much I think about how much I think about work, and I think about how freaked out I get about how much I think about how much I think about work. Does that count as a hobby?”
One of the things Ned Vizzini does really well is catch the absurdities of normal life. Inane hobbies meant to tame the beast, blind ambition meant to cobble a power personality out of raw stuff—succeeding in order to sell insurance (like Craig’s nice, inept Dad), using fashion to define a self (Nia’s hot-outfitted beauty). All this works without skipping a narrative beat, without ever drifting outside Craig’s fifteen year old head, written on the cusp of child into adulthood with all the hurting, hardness of growing up middle American hanging out.
Craig Gilner’s is kind of a funny journey. One made it over the cuckoo’s nest. Vizzini makes you wonder about all the other kids growing up thinking they need to rule the world; civilization creating its discontents. He's asking if they can be sprung to explore more worthy ways to spend their lives.
January 23, 2006
The Bauer Blog
We stumbled across the Bauer Blog this weekend. We'd wondered what Gary Bauer, former evangelical Right golden boy, had been up to. Evidently, when's he's not in DuPont Circle, hiding behind the big oak tree, throwing pebbles at gay men, he's blogging. His latest entry reads "Bin Laden Joins the Anti-War Movement." We're glad to see he's as creepy as ever. It brings stability to our lives.
January 19, 2006
January 2006 Movie Preview
by Dave Thomas
From Why We Fight
This month's movie preview is coming a tad late because, well, we're retarded and forgot to post it. So sorry, Dave. We've kept your public waiting. We're still in a post-holiday haze, even though it's almost February. Without further ado, here's the truncated January Movie Preview.
LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD
WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Albert Brooks is hired by the government to be the title.
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is not so great. Apparently, he doesn't find it.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
The return of Steven Soderbergh next week will overshadow this. This week, bad
buzz might move people to the more serious "Why We Fight." $1mil.
-----------------------------------
UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION
WHAT'S THE PITCH?
More fun with that guy who looks like the lead singer of Creed and Kate Beckinsale
as a werewolf/vampire hybrid and straight-up vampire, respectively.
WILL IT SUCK?
They have pretty much the same crew in front of and behind the camera again
so expect the same level of quality as the original. Which is to say, yes, it
will suck, but not terribly so.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I think this will pull a "Saw II" and outdo the original thanks to
DVD sales expanding the audience for the franchise. $87mil.
-----------------------------------
WHY WE FIGHT
WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Remember when Eisenhower warned us against the military/industrial complex?
This doc looks out how that all worked out for us.
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is quite good, claiming this is even better than the documentarian's
previous effort, "The Trials of Henry Kissinger."
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Higher profile indies the following week, and it's unclear whether or not audiences
are ready for a head-on discussion of war, though "Syriana" returns
indicate they're at least ready to hear about oil. $2mil.
-----------------------------------
January 27
-----------------------------------
ANNAPOLIS
WHAT'S THE PITCH?
"An Officer and a Gentleman." Really, there's no twist. That's basically
what it is.
WILL IT SUCK?
I would call this an enourmous waste of director Justin Lin's ("Better
Luck Tomorrow") considerable talent, except his next project is just that
("The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift"), so I have to call this
something else. How about "serviceable?" That's what the writer's
last project ("Out of Time") turned out to be.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I think between this and "Tristan and Isolde," James Franco will split
his own demo. $23mil.
-----------------------------------
BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE 2
WHAT'S THE PITCH?
I'm not sure I really need to say.
WILL IT SUCK?
Fear not. They got the screenwriter of the original back! And they added the
director of "Malibu's Most Wanted!" Are you crying yet?
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Sadly, the first one was a hit. Fortunately, we've had five years to forget
that fact. $46mil.
-----------------------------------
NANNY MCPHEE
WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Think "Nanny 911" with magical powers.
WILL IT SUCK?
The reigning queen of starring in her own adaptations, Emma Thompson ("Sense
and Sensibility," "Wit") pulls double duty once again. This time
she is the titular Nanny. And having the director of "Waking Ned Devine"
on board doesn't hurt. Early buzz is good, but it'll have to be pretty damn
great to be as awesome as her turn as Nanny G on "Cheers."
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I don't think the trailer is doing it any favors. $25mil.
-----------------------------------
TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY
WHAT'S THE PITCH?
An extremely post-modern adaptation of the "unfilmable" Laurence Sterne
novel "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman."
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is extremely good. It looks like director Michael Winterbottom is
back in his "24 Hour Party People" playground with Steve Coogan once
again narrating directly to the camera. He's got the screenwriter from that
film back as well. Good times.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
"Bubble" will provide some competition, and I may be the only one
who's been yearning for a philosophical follow-up to "24 Hour Party People."
$200,000.
-----------------------------------
BUBBLE
WHAT'S THE PITCH?
The plot involves a murder at a toy factory, but the point is that Steven Soderbergh
has a bunch of non-actors act. Hence, the naturalism...we hope.
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is mixed, but generally positive. This is from the screenwriter of
"Full Frontal," considered by many to be Soderbergh's worst effort.
If nothing else, though, expect this to be on the experimental side of his oeuvre.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
That's the question. The real story here is the release. This is coming out
simultaneously in theaters, on DVD, on an HD Cable Network, and I think in cave
drawings as well. Will this experiment prove successful or will Steven Soderbergh
single-handedly destroy theatrical distribution? Or will the fact that it's
an experimental Soderbergh film negate the fact that there's anything unusual
about the release at all since those generally don't do well to begin with?
$3mil.
-----------------------------------
IMAGINE ME & YOU
WHAT'S THE PITCH?
Remember how I said there were two films with a fiancée falling for another
woman this month? Here you go.
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is split with the meme being that this is too straight for the queer
eye and too queer for the straight eye. But hey, Anthony Stewart Head! Giles,
man! Yeah, that's still not enough.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
The above problem could leave this as a film without a demo. $2mil.
-----------------------------------
Next month: Joe Roth and Lars von Trier both give us their takes on race relations. Which do you think will be more incendiary? And you have one month to watch "Equilibrium" and discover why maybe you should get psyched for "Ultraviolet."
-- Dave ThomasThe Goth Eucharist
Evidently there is a Goth Eucharist at a church in Cambridge. We didn't even know there was such thing as a Cambridge Goth, much less a church. [From Ananova (Thanks JR)]
The candlelit Goth Eucharist services feature a specially written liturgy and music from bands like Depeche Mode, Joy Division and the Sisters of Mercy.Rev Ramshaw said: "As Goths there is a broad sense of an outlook of life that focuses on the bad things.
"The point of the service is that we all get desperate at times. We all get knocks and sometimes life seems hopeless.
January 17, 2006
"It's my belief that we should get out now"
Those are the words of Walter Cronkite, not Cindy Sheehan. Of course, now we want to ask Bill O'Reilly, is Cronkite being "run by far-left elements" who are using him. And is he "dumb enough to allow it to happen." After all, those were the accusations he tossed at Sheehan.
What mud can Bill sling at Cronkite, he's probably wondering. How about trashing Cronkite's credibility? Probably not a good idea Bill, since you started out on "Inside Edition." How about saying his statement will dangerously undercut troop morale? Eh — not so great either since you're already using that line of reasoning on Murtha. You could call him crazy. Nah — you're already using that one on Gore, Clinton, Kennedy, Dean, and Moore.
How's this one, Bill, just says he's old. Yeah, that'll work.
January 13, 2006
This Weekend: The Juan McLean at Supreme Trading
Saturday Night, Jan 14:
at Supreme Trading: 213 N 8th Street, Williamsburg
Room 1
The Juan Mclean (Live Performance, DFA Records)
Derek Plaslaiko (Spectral Sounds, Ghostly
International)
Spinoza (The Bunker, NYC)
Eamon Harkin (EA, Crashin'In)
Room
Ayres (The Rub, NYC)
Low Budget (Hollertronix, Philly)
Sure Shot (NYC)
Oil (Kanine Records, Crashin'In)
Open PBR from 9p-11p
RSVP ONLY: A-LIST@ONTHEGOMARKETING.COM
January 12, 2006
Cat Power at Town Hall Feb 14
This should be a great show, coinciding with the release of her record The Greatest on January 24. Chan will be playing with The Memphis Rhythm Band for this show. Download the title track here. And tickets are available here.
[From the Matador site] For 'The Greatest' (not a greatest hits, but the brand-new studio album), Marshall returned to Memphis, pursuing this time the slinky Hi Records sound of the 70s, famed for its sensuous feel and beguiling rhythms. She got Al Green’s guitarist and songwriting partner Mabon "Teenie" Hodges to play guitar on the whole album (Teenie co-wrote "Love and Happiness" and "Take Me to the River," among other soul classics). With Teenie came his Hi Rhythm bandmate (and brother) Leroy "Flick" Hodges, who plays on half of the album (Memphis A-team bassist Dave Smith supplements). Anchoring the band is Steve Potts, whose reputation on drums was solidified when the surviving members of Booker T. and the MG’s asked him to replace their late drummer, Al Jackson. Other top Memphis musicians guest on keyboards, horns and strings.
January 11, 2006
Moron of the Week Award
The winner is hooker-lovin' Dick Morris. He claims America is shifting to the Left politically because of the successes of Bush.
A big part of the reason [that America is shifting to the Left] is the success the Bush administration has had in solving and hence diminishing the importance of the Republican agenda. Taxes have been cut, we have not had a terror attack since Sept. 11 and trial lawyers are on the defensive. The issues that remain — energy, environment, healthcare and Social Security — usually are Democratic and liberal.
Read the article here.
January 10, 2006
New Of Montreal video
The new video from Of Montreal's "Requiem for O.M.M. 2" from The Sunlandic Twins is available. Check it out. We LOVE this underated record. It was our number two of 2005.
January 09, 2006
"Impeachment a possibility"
If this were only true....
Read the story here.
January 06, 2006
Can Everyone Say "Brownie"
Captain Cronyism, George Bush, has once again nominated a well-connected buddy—who like Brownie is totally unqualified—to head an important federal agency. This time, her name is Julie L. Myers and she's the new head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), an agency with an annual budget of $4 billion and 20,000 employees. The Agency is responsible for, as pointed out by the Washington Post, "preventing terrorists and weapons from entering the country." To make matters worse, Bush intentionally made this appointment (and several others) while Congress was in recess, "circumventing the need for approval by the Senate." Myers has been attacked by Republicans and Democrats as being unqualified. As reported by The National Review in September:
"Given the importance of the position and a history of mismanagement in the immigration service, Congress took the unusual step of inserting a statutory requirement that nominees have a minimum of five years of experience in both management and law enforcement....Her most relevant previous experience was managing only 170 employees and a $25 million budget while at the Commerce department."
Nevertheless, Myers is the niece of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Richard B. Myers and is married to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's chief of staff. You know, she's a crony. Bush's audacity never ceases to amaze us. Read the Wash Post article here.
January 05, 2006
Dokebi - Korean Restaurant
We just posted info about this new Korean joint, Dokebi, on 199 Grand Street, Williamsburg. Has anybody been? Post your reviews here.
Speaking of food, Cakehead.com has a revealing post about New York Magazine's trust-fund-only, "101 Best Restaurants" issue. Read it here. Somebody had to bitch about it. Thanks Cakehead.
January 04, 2006
The Morons at CNN Need a Tact Editor
Real classy, guys.
Letterman Rips O'Reilly a New Asshole
The old David Letterman is back. Unlike all the other talking heads on talk television, he's begun to actually speak his mind again, like he did early in his career. We started watching him again a couple of years ago and he just keeps getting better. Last night, he told Bill O'Reilly that "about 60 percent of what you say is crap." Watch the Windows video here. Quicktime video here. O'Reilly was clearly fazed. And read some highlights below [via Newsbusters]. Go Dave!
Letterman: “How can you possibly take exception with the motivation and the position of someone like Cindy Sheehan?”O’Reilly: “Because I think she’s run by far-left elements in this country. I feel bad for the woman.”
Letterman: “Have you lost family members in armed conflict?”
O’Reilly: “No, I have not.”
Letterman: "Well, then you can hardly speak for her, can you?"
....
Letterman: "Yeah, but I think there’s something, this fair and balanced. I'm not sure that it's, I don't think that you represent an objective viewpoint."
....
Letterman: “[w]hy are we there [Iraq] in the first place? [applause] The President himself, less than a month ago said we are there because of a mistake made in intelligence. Well, whose intelligence? It was just somebody just get off a bus and handed it to him?... I agree with you that we have to support the troops... However, however, that does not eliminate the legitimate speculation and concern and questioning of ‘Why the Hell are we there to begin with?’"
January 03, 2006
The Hilarious Andy Milonakis Has a Blog
Jack Abramoff pleads guilty
Evidently, he's going to start dressing like Inspector Gadget and saying "go go gadget kickback," to firm-up the evidence for his insanity plea. Read the story here.
Cakehead is back, Wonkette is leaving
Our favorite culinary website, cakehead, has finally returned with a funny expose on the Google holiday party.
In other blog news, our favorite, slutty, news source, Wonkette [aka Ana Marie Cox], is to become a Wonker.
Bill O'Reilly Threatens Frank Rich and Bill Keller
Tough guy, Bill O'Reilly is really pissed at Frank and Bill. See the hilarious video here. [Via CrooksandLiars]
JUAN WILLIAMS: I was listening to your Talking Points and there you are, threatening Bill Keller and Frank Rich and I thought: What are you gonna do to them if they engage in the politics of personal attack against the President?O'REILLY: It's a good question, Juan, and I don't see it as a threat. I mean, I think you have to say to people, as we do with all our guests here, this is what's likely to happen and, if they continue - those people continue - to attack people personally as Frank Rich does almost every week and Keller allows it, then we'll just have to get into their lives.
We must admit, Keller does need a good ass-beating, albeit for completely different reasons than O'Reilly suggested. Given his silence on the wiretap debacle and his paper's blind endorsement of the WMD "evidence" leading up to the war, Keller should be getting a check from the administration.
