Darbi!

imwithkanye: Flawless.

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 23:29:39 -0500

Flawless.

Taylor Swift and Rihanna

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:27:27 -0500

Taylor Swift’s video for “I Knew You Were Trouble” is like the Kidz Bop version of Rihanna’s “We Found Love” video. Right down to the opening narration.

Interpol - Obstacle 1 I am feeling so old! Pitchfork is having a...

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:42:53 -0500

Interpol - Obstacle 1

I am feeling so old! Pitchfork is having a retrospective on the 10 year anniversary of Interpol’s debut album Turn On The Bright Lights.

It’s hard to explain what this album meant to me. I’ll be honest, the album came out in 2002, but I didn’t discover it until 2003 when this song was featured on The O.C. Interpol really introduced me to indie music and listening to stuff that was not necessarily on the radio. I used to lie on my twin bed, pretending I had more angst than I really did, and trying to feel as if I could relate to any of the lyrics. Interpol was surly and sexual and ambiguous and undeniably cool in a way that I did not really know music could be. Obviously I had not yet heard of Joy Division, but that is another story.

Everything about Interpol, and especially their front man Paul Banks, was aspirational in a way that pop music was not for me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Top 40 in the early noughties (still do!) , but I was 14 and I knew I was never going to live the lifestyles depicted in their videos. But I could be surly! I could move downtown! I could wear chique tailored clothing in all black! I could go to endless concerts and call them “shows”!

And so a little baby hipster is born.

How did she fare? Well, I’ve never been surly, and I never moved to NYC. I do often wear all black but only because I’m lazy and have about 6 black pencil skirts. I didn’t go to my first “show” until 2007, when I was 18. By then Interpol were already in decline. My first show was an Of Montreal gig at The Avalon, a venue near Fenway Park in Boston that is now closed. I’m pretty sure I wore khaki shorts, and possibly a t shirt from Hot Topic. Also I was intimidated by basically everyone around me, too much to truly enjoy the show, and I could barely speak to the man at the merch table.

I’ve since calmed down considerably. I’ve been to half a dozen shows in the last year, which I think would make 14 year old me happy.

sexmusic: bombay // el guincho download: amazon mp3 |...

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 23:55:52 -0500

sexmusic:

bombay // el guincho

download: amazon mp3 | itunes

Automatic reblog forever!

Debate on TV and @washingtonpost ‘s The Grid on the laptop...

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 21:45:34 -0400

Debate on TV and @washingtonpost ‘s The Grid on the laptop #dc #debate (Taken with Instagram)

sexmusic: sugar water // cibo matto download: amazon mp3 |...

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 22:02:42 -0400

sexmusic:

sugar water // cibo matto

download: amazon mp3 | itunes

This should be on everybody’s baby making playlists

I just saw Moonrise Kingdom

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:56:19 -0400

Loved it

Club Lunch - Hipster BBQ My office does this thing where a...

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 15:38:41 -0400

Club Lunch - Hipster BBQ

My office does this thing where a group of people sends around playlists to listen to while working. I was invited to join in last week, and here’s my first playlist! Tell me what you think.

Tracklist:

Mystery Jets - Two Doors Down

Vampire Weekend - Giving Up The Gun

Jukebox the Ghost - Somebody

Frank Ocean - Pyramids

The Virgins - Rich Girls

The Naked and Famous - Young Blood

Blur - Under The Westway

LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls

Hot Chip - Over and Over

Friendly Fires - Paris

M.I.A. - XXXO

The Drums - Let’s Go Surfing

Passion Pit - I’ll Be Alright

El Guincho - Bombay

Best Coast - Boyfriend

fuckyeaheverton: Phil Jagielka & Marouane Fellaini after...

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 15:09:51 -0400

fuckyeaheverton:

Phil Jagielka & Marouane Fellaini after England v Belgium

I love this. #standtogether

A Coworker asked me to make him a playlist. FYI: I did an...

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:11:09 -0400

A Coworker asked me to make him a playlist. FYI: I did an awesome job.

Caveat: He’s a mellow dude who tends to perfer slower songs and female vocalists. I tried to balance that with some general music awesomeness. According to him I went 25 for 26, because as it turns out he hates Blur.

"I told him, ‘If you played with me 10 years ago, I give to you every day one punch in your head!’"

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 02:22:32 -0400

“I told him, ‘If you played with me 10 years ago, I give to you every day one punch in your head!’”

- — Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini to striker Mario Balotelli (via meninblazers)

I love it. If anyone needs a daily punch in the face its Mario Balotelli.

Fabrice Muamba's 78 Minutes

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:37:23 -0400

Fabrice Muamba's 78 Minutes:

This is quite probably the best written and most informative take on Fabrice Muamba I’ve read. In case you’re not an English soccer (football) fan, Fabrice Muamba is a 23-year-old midfielder who plays for the Bolton Wanderers. On March 17, during a game against Tottenham Hotspur, he collapsed on the field, and his heart stopped for 78 minutes.

Music Videos: Aging Gracefully with Robbie Williams, Gary Barlow and Co

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:00:05 -0400

Also known as British Boyband Take That. They’re probably best known in the United States for their 1995 hit Back For Good. Take That were absolutely MASSIVE in the United Kingdom and Europe in the early part of the 1990s, think of them as contemporaries of New Kids On The Block. Unlike NKOTB, and other boybands (British and otherwise) Take That actually wrote a lot of their own material. Their early music had a lot of rather forgettable teenybopper dance music, but what their most famous for are their ballads, written by lead singer, songwriter, and face of the band Gary Barlow. He in fact wrote Back For Good, which would go on to reach number 1 in thirty-onecountries.

Gary Barlow is the blond one, and the only one who gets a solo in this song. Robbie Williams is the shorter one with the chinstrap and the massive fur coat. I can identify the rest, but have nothing interesting to say about them.

So what happened to Take That? In short, Robbie Williams happened. In 1995, Robbie Williams left the band basically at the height of their fame due to a) creative issues (Take That basically being The Gary Barlow Show) and b) his drug habit which was causing problems. Take That continued on another year, before breaking up in 1996.

In 1998 Robbie releases his second solo album, and makes his first and pretty much only impact on the American Market with the song Millennium. You might recognize it as one of the songs from Now! That’s What I Call Music Volume 2. I, myself, was obessed, both with Volume 2 of Now! That’s What I Call Music as well as with the song Millennium.

It’s a fun video that spoofs James Bond, and Robbie Williams that “cheeky chappie” has charisma to spare. I’ve always been sad that Robbie has never really broken into the American Market, because, much like soccer (football) he is a force to be reckoned with elsewhere. He’s one of the top selling artists of all time, having sold over 70 million albums (on par with Bob Dylan).

Robbie’s hot streak lasted more or less until 2007. Towards the end of 2006 he released an album that was more dance and electro inspired than his previous efforts which have been radio-friendly pop/pop-rock. Rudebox sold well, but confused his core fan base. The lead single (also called Rudebox) was called in the media “The Worst Song Ever.” The video is unembeddable but can be found here . I don’t think it’s the worst song ever, but I also don’t think a man in his thirties has any business telling women to shake their rudeboxes.

Rudeboxes aside, Robbie Williams, Gary Barlow and company have done lovely jobs aging gracefully. Take That reunited after 10 years in 2006, sans Robbie, but by 2010 the whole band was back together. Their 2010 album and tour have been absurdly successful, and they’re not just singing the hits (I’m looking at you NKOTBSB). The songs are great, catchy and singable, and the band all look fantastic. Whats more, they’re not embarrassing themselves in their videos. They’re singing dance-pop but they’re not trying to keep up like they could back in 1993.

Love Love is off of their 2011 EP Progessed, as well as the XMen: First Class sound track and it’s a total jam. It’s what NKOTBSB wish they still looked and sounded like, as well as being an example of how to make a nice looking video on a small budget. Musically, it has a total Robbie Williams influence (Gary Barlow being a balladeer). It’s also nice to see Take That give Mark Owens a chance to sing (he of the emo hair cut, and Celebrity Big Brother winning.

Of course, before the original line up of Take That got back together, Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow had to have a reunion song. Robbie’s leaving the band in 1995 was supposedly very acrimonious, and he and Barlow didn’t get along for many years. So back in 2010 they recorded Shame, and it is in every way amazing. The song itself is a ballad and a duet sung by two men, and the video is a Brokeback Mountain reference played (pardon my pun) completely straight.

How adorable is that? If Kevin ever comes back to the Backstreet Boys, I hope they greet him with a Shame-style ballad.

The 20 Best Food Trucks in the Country

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:22:55 -0500

The 20 Best Food Trucks in the Country:

This would be a great list to take a long when you’re traveling. Plus, I’m terribly excited that DC’s very on Fojol Brothers has made the list because their butter chicken is fantastic.

Next on my dream “To Try” list? Phoenix’s Torched Goodness, Austin’s Coreanos and East Side King, and Columbia SC’s Bone-in Artisan Barbeque on Wheels.

Also: if you don’t read Smithsonian Magazine, you should. It is One of the most consistently fascinating and entertaining websites/magazines I’ve ever come across.

Glad You Came by The Wanted VIVA THE BOYBAND! Welcome back!...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:08:00 -0500

Glad You Came by The Wanted

VIVA THE BOYBAND! Welcome back! Finally, little girls who arn’t into Bieber, and missed the brief time that The Jonas Brothers were a thing, have a singing dancing boy to crush on who is not a part of the Glee cast.

Much like Jessie J, The Wanted are big in the UK, and are making a break for it stateside, and I’m rooting for them. Glad You Came is pretty standard club fare, the kind of song that Usher* could knock out in his sleep and Taio Cruz probably wishes he had sung. It’s got some fairly silly lyrics full of double entendre which bring me back 10-15 years to the time when the Backstreet Boys and NSync were blowing up the charts. Examples:

“You cast a spell on me (spell on me)

You hit me like the sun fell on me (fell on me)

And I decided you look well on me (well on me)”

Also:

“Time is slipping away from us so stay

Stay with me so I can make

Make you glad you came”

And what about the video? It’s more Taio Cruz** (down to the yacht) than it is boy band or even Usher. Its a lot of pretty people frolicking in a pretty place, making this video resoundingly “fine”. The song itself is a great introduction to the United States, but not a great introduction to the band. I can only name two of the members offhand: Max (the one who can sing, he opens the song) and Tom (3rd soloist in the song). Which one is the cute one (Brian)? Which one is the sexy dangerous one (Aj)? The big brother (Kevin)? The baby (Nick)? The one nobody likes (Howie?) SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS! How are little girls supposed to decide which one they love?

Besides the overall “meh” factor of this video, and lack of introduction, I also have a huge problem with the fact that they don’t dance. What kind of boy band doesn’t dance OR play instruments? It’s a little bit tragic, because really, only one of them can even sing.

*Usher just released a new song called Climax with Diplo. It is fantastic.

**A comparison to Taio Cruz is assuredly not a compliment. Taio Cruz is possibly the most boring pop star ever. His lyrics are dumb and banal, he can’t sing, and he can’t dance.

popculturebrain: skylerdobin: Here’s Batman going all medieval...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:12:05 -0500

popculturebrain:

skylerdobin:

Here’s Batman going all medieval on your Tumblr.

(via Geeksaresexy)

Batman meets the Witch-King of Angmar.

thedailywhat: Haute Creepture of the Day: From Black Milk, the...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:16:07 -0500

thedailywhat:

Haute Creepture of the Day: From Black Milk, the company that brought you The Steve Buscemi Dress, comes the latest in see-thru fashion: Designer James Lillis’s Muscle Leggings.

Goes great with protruding rib cages! (In that they’re both gross.)

[buzzfeed.]

I’m going to cal these “Rock DJ Pants”.

shortformblog: jcstearns: Smoke bomb used by riot police at...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:05:31 -0500

shortformblog:

jcstearns:

Smoke bomb used by riot police at UMass Amherst to disperse crowds rioting after Patriots Super Bowl loss.

Source: https://twitter.com/jcstearns/status/166371130570055680

Post-Super Bowl rioting at UMass.

Booo UMass. You all should just be happy that your basketball team beat GW on Saturday.

indierawk: M.I.A. - Bad Girls. “Live fast. Die young. Bad...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:00:05 -0500

indierawk:

M.I.A. - Bad Girls.

“Live fast. Die young. Bad girls do it well.”

New video via Pitchfork. It has everything I expected from M.I.A. and the song, including crazy ass car stunts.

I really cannot explain how much I love this song and this video. I basically worshiped Arular , M.I.A.’s first album back in high school, and this brings me back to August of 2007 when her second album Kala (the one with Paper Planes) came out. I was not as fond of Maya her third effort, but this gives me hope for her fourth outing!

Also I cannot wait for the media promotion around this album. I wonder what her dad’s doing now that his terroristing is over.

The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:39:25 -0500

The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World:

Flavorwire made a list!

And its awesome. People who know me know that I a) love to read and b) love Amazon, especially their Kindle. I was an early adopter and see no reason to look back. I’m not particularly fond of the idea that we ought to save independent bookstores, just because they’re independent. To me, I think reading, knowledge and enjoyment are more important, and I think smaller scale operations create false economies.

THAT SAID, this slideshow totally won me over. I want to go to all of those theres. Especially the stores in Portugal and Argentina. The architecture of all of these stores is breathtaking.