March 16, 2002

 
Yo La Tengo's WFMU call-in covers set just ended - it's been really fun. A partial list of what they played - nearly everything is in here, save for the handful that I didn't know, and didn't catch the titles...

The Kinks "Johnny Thunder"
ESG "You're No Good"
Patti Smith "Dancing Barefoot"
The Ramones "Rockaway Beach"
T-Rex "20th Century Boy"
w/ DJ Hova - Rod Stewart "Do You Think I'm Sexy?"
Three Dog Night "Old Fashioned Love Song"
The Monkees "Pleasant Valley Sunday"
The Stooges "Search and Destroy"
"Meet The Mets"
The Rutles "Cheese and Onions"
Tiffany "I Think We're Alone Now"
w/ a little girl on vocals on the telephone - The Ramones "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You"
Big Star "September Gurls"
Prince "When Doves Cry"
Four Tops "Build Me Up Buttercup" (excellent!)
Bacchmann Turner Overdrive "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" (also excellent!)
Cheap Trick "I Want You To Want Me"
a big medley including a big chunk of Sonic Youth "Schizophrenia"

If I had the enough spare cash to offer up the $60 it would take to get YLT to play a song for me, I think I would choose one of these four songs - I'd probably just pick my choice out of a hat :

Pavement "Rattled By La Rush"
Jandek "European Jewel (Incomplete)"
Destiny's Child "Bootylicious"
Michael Jackson "Man In The Mirror"

There's always next year...

 
A review of Peter Milligan and Michael Allred's X-Force is in today's New York Times...

The heroes, as drawn by Mike Allred and inked by Laura Allred in bright, primary colors, are stiffly posed with few facial expressions (frowning anger, teary woundedness) -- a parody of bad comic-book art whose ugliness becomes astute when combined with Milligan's merciless view of humanity.

Yikes! I wonder how much his opinion of the art would change if the writer knew that the art was not meant to be a parody...

Nevertheless, it's a very positive review, and will likely expose the comic to a lot of people who may really enjoy it and might not have otherwise know about it.

 
"Just because yr portly and balding and tend to offend people, that doesn't mean you have to sit around at home every night. Get out there, meet some drunks!"

A new Jim Treacher comic is online...

 
Preview pages from New X-Men #124 are online. "What is this world of liars?!?" Classic! I want that slogan on a t-shirt...

 
I've been waiting, ant-ic-ip-ating for a Pavement bootleg mix, and I finally get it in the form of "Fateful Pavement" by Dsico. It's "Silent Kid" with the vocals from "Bills, Bills, Bills" by Destiny's Child - it almost works. The audio mix is a bit off, the vocals need to be higher in the mix. There's a few sloppy transitions, and the ending is a bit rough; but the melody suits the riffs really well, even though it would be a lot better if they were sung live, a bit modified to match up more precisely. I'm happy - Beyonce harmonizing with SM!

The part with the lyric "you trifling, good for nothing type of brother/ oh silly me, why haven't I found another/ a baller" is just fucking magical, I think...

 
On one hand, this site about defaced Britney Spears posters in the NYC subway system is really fabulous. On the other, I'm disappointed that the one that I contributed to (it was on the F line at 14th St) isn't represented/immortalized. I wrote something to the effect of "Did you know that her body is made of a space-age super-resin?" on her breasts. Sigh. Oh well.

 
Russell has an excellent write-up about the first Alien film on his blog. My favorite part:

It's harmonious, really, in a way that few mainstream films are now; no standout shots, no ridiculous music, nothing that has any aim but to immerse the viewer in that ship. I watched the new Star Wars trailer the morning before I saw Alien and the utter insignificance of Lucas' current output aside, the contrast between the two is striking. Why spend eighty million dollars on crap digital sets, leaving your actors (good actors, some of them) in the lurch and you with a bagful of uninspired performaces when you could spend a little more and build sets like those in Alien, where your actors couldn't help but act? If any of the cast of Alien ever forgot what they were supposed to be doing, all they have to do is look, and it's right there. Sad. Think of all the craftsmen that built sets for Scott that are getting less and less work now. On the Titus DVD, there's a behind-the-scenes bit where Julie Taymor talks about all the old Italian craftsmen who worked on her film, and the fact that no one is interested in learning those crafts anymore. These guys are masters - incredible artists, and they can't get new apprentices because people like Lucas are hiring computer monkeys. Look at the sets in the new Star Wars films and look at those in Titus. There's not an inch of goddamned comparison. It makes me so sad to think about it - doesn't anyone ever fucking learn? When those crafts are gone, they are GONE. Knowledge dies, and when it does it goes quietly, right out the back door so softly that you never sense it. The ability to produce sets like those in Alien is a craft that's dying; creating perfect little worlds out of wood and metal and plaster will be impossible at some point, and I just can't believe that no one seems to notice.