October 28, 2003 % 8:20 PM
Go here and look at the T-shirt and read the guy's rant. It's beautiful, even better than the famous one in Trainspotting, to me anyway. In fact, I'm going to paste it here because I believe in it so much and one day the link will probably be dead and I will have lost these words.

 
You know them. You hate them. Spoiled, rich white kids who go to snooty art schools for the overprivileged and pretend to be starving, unsung heroes of postmodernism and sensitivity with more of a right to set foot on holy, cool-kid record store soil than you, because they once uttered all three of the monosyllabic words they’ve managed to memorize phonetically to that chick from the Dandy Warhols before they started getting so "whatever." Few seem to come to the enlightened realization that what they actually are is just the modern incarnation of the filthy, whorish hippie, clad in thrift store bought 80’s memorabilia, and sans the heady political agenda. Oh sure, they’re vegan and against animal testing and baby raping and all that war and oppression they’ve heard about on TV, but only because it impresses the blank-eyed, sheep-brained skanks who fawn all over them in their pot and teenybopper-hormone induced stupor like they’re David fucking Cassidy or Kevin fucking Costner or whoever the fuck you worthless goddamned shitbeans fawn over these days. If there were no easy teenage pussy in it for them, I guarantee you they’d drop their ersatz, lofty ideals like a sack of proverbial dirt, and stop listening to that shitty, whiny, alternateen, folk meets fuzz pedal music that is written specifically for the purpose of fueling the masturbatorical fantasies of ignorant little girls whose daddies didn’t pay enough attention to them. Yeah, you wanna know something? Belle and Sebastian are a fucking shit band. I hate them now and I hated them decades ago when they recorded under the name "Donovan." Go sit the fuck down and write some really deep poem about how your girlfriend dumped you on a piece of cardboard and ring up my fucking burrito before I shove that multicolored Nokia up your pasty, gaping chimphole, you worthless goddamned "special needs" child. Your ritalin popping Weezer-wannabe ass ain’t gonna amount to squat.
-Kusotare Heavy

October 27, 2003 % 10:02 PM
Ever wonder what happened to Lauryn Hill? Fascinating article from the usually garbage publication Rolling Stone. It's a pity they had to make her look crazy (taking quotes out of context, using loaded language, liberally reporting information from anonymous sources, downplaying the sentiment and importance of her present sociopolitical views) but I guess this is as good as it gets with gonzo journalism. Note how 470,000 records sold is a "failure" even for a solo live acoustic album. Also: "Sources say the musicians are required to sign a waiver giving Hill sole writing credit for the tracks they work on." I bet Dr. Dre does that for real.

October 20, 2003 % 1:24 PM
For anyone who's ever wondered what I'm on about when I talk about my much neglected, long-time (1997) art group, PHUX, this was my original inspiration. On that site there are thousands of old-school ANSI and VGA graphics in all their glory. The online art scene used to be a lot more closeknit. Now that anyone can download Photoshop for free it's like everyone's an artist. ANSI took some real skill, creativity, and dedication, and the way these "art packs" were distributed on BBS's was really special. I'm happy to see that two of the best groups, iCE and ACiD, are still around.

October 19, 2003 % 1:00 PM
Hehe, terrific articles on: Jessica Simpson/dumb celebrities and Lost In Translation. Enjoy!

October 18, 2003 % 8:47 PM
Lots of hold-over updates since I never feel like doing any coding, however minimal.

First, check out the audio clips from the still-untitled new Venetian Snares album due June 2004! Some really beautiful and interesting stuff, better than his usual.

The main thing I've been listening to lately is the new Outkast double album. It's my favorite album(s) of the year, crammed full of some of their best work. I was going to post whole paragraphs about how good it is but you should really just check it out yourself. My favorites recently on the albums have been "She Lives In My Lap", "A Day In The Life Of Benjamin Andre (Incomplete)" (5 minutes of straight rhyming, no chorus!), "Reset", and "The Way You Move", but really I could name every song as a favorite, it's so good. If you get it be sure to read the production notes, too.

I've also been listening to Hood's Cold House (still!) and Madlib's Shades of Blue Blue Note remix album.

I had this left over from two weeks ago to put up here: "I know I'm hard to read but truthfully I think very positively of people." How very accurate! I'm working, slowly but surely, on warming up to people. People get the wrong idea and I lose friends. I'm not referring to anyone or anything specific, just a trend in my life so far. It's weird to get all "emo" on this page, which isn't a journal, but whatever! It's my site and I know people are reading.

I meant to update with this yesterday:

This morning's overheard dialogue:

Squirrely girl in a very chipper voice: So is she your girlfriend?
Meathead guy: Ummm. I don't want to get into it.

I realized that most of the girls and guys here are doing their best impressions of Mandy Moore and John Wayne, respectively. The lunkhead jocks and fratboys here aren't anything mysterious, they just have trouble articulating simple ideas. The girls try so hard to be extremely interested, hanging on every labored and damn near meaningless word the guy says, and to not seem more intelligent than the guy who's talking.

Bonus link: Asians vs. album covers. What the heck?

Best part of the update: excerpts from this really fascinating SHOWstudio Bjork Q&A I just read.

Frankie Poullain, bass player, The Darkness, UK: Why don't you rock?

Björk: I guess I was brought up with rock 24 hours in my house. My stepfather is a rock guitarist. By the time I left home, around 14, 15 or something, I sort of felt that I should come up with something else. Enough is enough! I love extreme rock, though. I love death metal and Jimi Hendrix, early Queen: anything that goes all the way. I guess the more bland, passive rock that stands for stagnation like Oasis and a lot of the Indie Rock stuff drives me nuts.
 

You go girl! Haha. I think a lot of people don't realize she was in hardcore bands like the very excellent K.U.K.L. in the '80s and she most certainly did rock. I can't really blame her for growing out of it, I barely/rarely listen to rock anymore myself. I do think she'd sound really good working with Hood though, and some other very creative "rock" bands. Anyway, I just love how she makes that subtle point about rock being your parents' or even your grandparents' music. It's safe and conservative. The Darkness crack me up. Rock, at least bands like them, is not extreme or radical. What Bjork's doing is far edgier. I can relate because I consider my radio show the punkest on the whole station and I don't even play music that's typically labeled punk. The so-called punk DJ's at the station play really sanitized versions of punk rock and frankly it makes me sick. But hey, that's just my opinion, if you enjoy those bands, that's great.

John Wolfington, LA, CA: Where do you find your lyrics?

Björk: Lyrics are tough for me. It's sort of the opposite to making music. I write most of my songs in one or five minutes. They're just like a spontaneous flow. They lyrics are like the opposite. I've said this before, but I think of them as signposts, explaining the music to people. Sort of like David Attenborough telling you about the animals.

One or five minutes???????????????????? Speaking of Bjork lyrics, Mark Bell says she's very influenced by Sylvia Plath.

Michael Jackson, Santa Barbara, California: I have always loved and admired your creativity. Nature's struggle to survive alongside mankind has been an inspiration for me: given the natural beauty of your Icelandic homeland, how does nature inspire your work?

Björk: I hope this doesn't sound too naff, but being alone in nature, especially after walking for hours, just puts you in your place and you realise how small you are and how plenty of everything is all around you. Then you just let go and surrender, become part of it. I'm so chuffed you asked me a question! I have to say you're the best, keep fighting and it angers me how cruel everybody is to you. It's like in the US right now, it's illegal to be an eccentric. Maybe people would have been more understanding if you were a contemporary of Ludwig II of Bavaria, who comissioned Wagner and lived with the swans. I listen to Butterflies off your last album all the time. You are a true artist! Thanks for fighting and believing in magic even though the rest of the world have forgotten about it.

Aww, Michael! Thanks Bjork, someone had to say something nice about him. Michael rules. What a great talent and how horrible it is that the media has turned everyone against him. I'm not going to get into it but, like Bjork said, being an eccentric is not a crime and as to whatever story you want to bring up about his past, there are a lot more troubled people who are far more accepted/embraced than Michael, and a lot of what you've heard is either rumor or incomplete information. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

Nick Knight, London: When I meet you, you have the complexity, depth and raw sexuality of a woman but a lot of your imagery is from a child's world. Is this a conscious decision to separate the two worlds and if so is it a positive choice, or indeed do we never really become adults?

Björk: That's an interesting question. I think when I was about five, my relatives would tease me and tell me I was an old lady. Apparently, I'm supposed to have brought up my mum. So, I guess I'm quite confused when it comes to how old I am. Yeah, I've always been quite old and silly at the same time. This is probably not my thing to judge. It's hard for me to see it from the outside. But, I'm probably more mature sonically than visually. That's probably why I am attracted to quite mature, visual people. But thanks Nick! You've given me some food for thought there. These are speculations, but maybe part of it is coming from Iceland, where there is no tradition of ladies in fishnets (it's probably too cold!) but a lot of strong women poets, intellectuals, authors. I think it's the highest rate of women in politics in Iceland. Maybe we don't share the physical, sexual flamboyance of say the French. It's more for the imagination.

Lou, Gabriel, Domonic, Miguel Mtnez, Soho, Bologna, Kidderminster, Madrid, Spain: How does it feel to watch yourself die in 'Dancer in the Dark'? Are you afraid of death?

Björk: I haven't really watched it yet. When I saw it, all I was thinking about was how to deal with the 5.1, how the mix of the audio was spreading through the speakers in the cinema. I'm not afraid of death, I'm actually quite curious about how it's going to feel. I have to confess, I'm occasionally afraid of fatigue, because then I lose my voice.

October 2, 2003 % 7:53 PM

"I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
    -Stephen F. Roberts

Ever wonder how you can become a "camwhore"? Maddox explains!

You know how Rush Limbaugh is always talking down drug users? He must have a serious self-hate complex, but hey if I were Rush Limbaugh I'd hate myself, too! Linkage.

I don't think I've linked this yet: Comprehensive site documenting the fascinating history of uncleared sample-based music. Not only is it an amazing read, it's full of whole song examples in free (what else?) MP3 format. Some of these songs are hilarious so definitely check it out if just for the MP3's (many of which are cleared by the artist).

Return home