Hey gang. I was surfing the net today and stumbled upon this. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to investigate. The story happened as follows in real time:
1) I discovered a list of the top 10 artists in the UK with the most number 1 songs. I began to read more.
2) First on the list was non other than Mr. Elvis Presley. No surprise I thought. He was a great man and an honest American. Good work UK.
3) Upon reading further I came upon groups that I had never heard of before such as Westlife. I began to question the name. Westlife? Like a life in the west? But its one word. Maybe they are talking about west lives. But then shouldn’t it be Westlives? I eventually came to the conclusion that it was stupid regardless and continued reading.
4) Holding the number 6 spot with 11 number one songs in the UK was Take That. Having no idea who they are or what they are like I opened a new tab and typed in www.youtube.com for further investigation.
5) Choosing the song with over 2 million hits I leaned back and saw this:
No wonder this video has over 2 million hits. Horses. 5 young men walking on a beach with the waves coming in. The video is hilarious. I had to rewind parts to make sure I actually saw what I thought I did. Mind boggling. God bless whoever did make this because I was laughing for a good 15-20 minutes.
(Wish I could embed it but youtube and the powers that be have disabled embedding of this video…. probably because of bloggers like us. Power up bloggers!!)
Jace Clayton, who’ll I’ll be seeing in Marseille on Thursday, posted this on his blog and, in a way, the Auto-Tune doesn’t take away from the power of the celebrated speech, though this Letter is no less important, but often less remembered than the speech:
As /rupture admits, “Auto-Tune is culturally complicated”. Some of us may have heard of Shawn Corey Carter’s hate on Auto-Tune, but frankly, J.Z. hasn’t released worthy of a close listen (actually J.Z. only appears on The Jaz records, so the prior should actually read Jay-Z) – not to say that certain Clark Kent, Premier, 9th Wonder, The 45 King’s Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) and the Kev Brown Brown Album productions on Jay-Z’s albums aren’t not worth a listen – since the In My Lifetime/Can’t Get Wit Dat 12″ (1994). Orignal rap? A Rockafella neva sellin’ out, eh?:
Now, although the cleanliness, glory and occasional uplifting moments of Empire State of Mind is far from Nas’ Queensbridge project-born, dark realist masterpiece NY State of Mind – all Jay-Z’ll prolly do is squeal – and I do not necessarily disagree with Mr. Carter and Ms. Keys possible belief that New York is perhaps the city where dreams are made of, but I will judge both by the content of their character, as New Jacks masturbating on their wealth made in a culture industry that has exploited the creative potential of hip-hop as an artistic expression and emptied it of any artistic expression. Hip-hop lives, but Jay-Z has nothing to do with it: it is moving in directions founded on intelligent, creative, poetic expression, militant politics and a universal self-empowerment of the poor, and MPC, electronic and turntable experimentalism: misogyny, capital and social inequalities are and have always been its primary targets. From the looks of the Empire State of Mind, it seems Mr. Carter takes pride in becoming a billboard for MacDo, NYPD security cameras, pharmaceutical companies, Hershey’s, T.G.I. Fridays, the Nets, Knicks and Yankees…and that poverty no longer exists in Brooklyn or elsewhere around the Metropolis. Thanks Jay-Z! There is nothing you can’t do! If I move to New York for graduate school at least I’ll know that I can play out my fantasies there! Or at least I can play out my fantasies in fantasizing about that Empire elsewhere!
My criticism is not necessarily of Jay-Z, the man, as, since Proust, at least, one should not confuse the art with the artist. I find a strange joy whenever Canibus, Chino XL, Ras Kass and other battle rappers toss their (often violent) criticisms at Mr. Carter’s work. Nevertheless, how quickly one forgets how apparent is the robbery in Jay-Z’s lyricism, the sonority of which is nothing but a New Jack version of the machine-gun, stutter-stop-go lyricism of Das EFX, the only difference being that Skoob (bookS) and Krayzy Drayzy brought the style straight from the sewer and never came out. :

He says the craziest things! (link)

Nah, just kidding. It’s Grace Coddington. And actually, she isn’t even like… 1/8 the evil of Vigo the Carpathian.
Tonight, out of an odd mix of curiosity and boredom, I decided to watch NBC’s Jay Leno Show for the first time, and write down my thoughts. Enjoy!
9:01 PM: Here come the Halloween jokes! Get ready, America!
9:02 PM: That Cliff Lee line went over great. Good one, Jay.
9:02 PM: Okay, that Kevin guitar guy is still involved. Thank God. I was worried he’d get kicked to the curb.
9:03 PM: What is this show? Who is this for? The jokes aren’t even that horrible, really, he just seems mildly annoyed telling them. Like he’s being put out.
9:05 PM: Great shot of an audience member looking around the room, confusedly. Yes, sir, you’re looking in the right direction. This is actually what this show is.
9:06 PM: Really, this is on five nights a week? Did NBC lose a bet?
At least according to one of my coworkers; and he should know, he was a member for 30 years.
you can find the article from Nightline this past thursday here
video for part 2 of the show here. It’s pretty disturbing.
my coworker is the bearded guy, Bruce Hines
if you want to know more about scientology, here is an article on scientology from Rolling Stone a few years back that does a great job of creeping people out about it.
I think this “press conference” often bodes worse on the question askers and audience than Dylan. Nevertheless, Dylan comes across in a way that I’m sure will annoy some people.
In this, we see a lot of people trying to look cool and trying to sound cool. Some are older, some are younger. Fashion is important and on display. Some people are nervous. In fact, a general uneasiness and anxiety seems to control the room. Who is in on the jokes? Am I with Dylan? Am I in the know, a part of the scene?
Pretension can be described as vanity, and also “an allegation of doubtful value.” I think it can also be associated with in-authenticity. Authenticity in this sense can be described as acting “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.” I guess I find it interesting when people try to match with an externally defined or constructed identity or scene for the purpose of inclusion, especially in being perceived as “cool.” In this case, we see this exposed in the “art” world.
As I get older, I increasingly can see the value of “cool” as defined in a person’s identity and actions dedicated to their own, self-defined individuality. Sometimes this seems easy to sense in some people. Their passions and curiosities aren’t necessarily isolated from external influence, but instead seem to avoid being conformed to an arbitrary value system that confines or even destroys. Maybe Dylan embodies these characteristics. Perhaps he does so unintentionally, as a product of his rushed celebrity identity and idolatry. In that mode, it seems reasonable to laugh and not take things all that seriously. Still, I’m not convinced. Nor am I convinced that this authentic “cool” is very common, without it being a show, an embrace of apathy or ‘giving up caring,’ or a convincing self-delusion. Pretending not to notice. Pretending not care about how others see you.
I’m fascinated by the constant pressure to look cool, and to feel like one looks cool. Do I think of the way I look to others when I am dancing at a concert? Do I want to say something refined and unique to impress a socially superior celebrity or social leader? We often forget that all people change their actions and appearance based on the circumstance they are in. In psychology its called fundamental attribution error, or “the tendency to over-value dispositional or personality-based explanations for the observed behaviors of others while under-valuing situational explanations for those behaviors.” I think that trying too hard to “stay” authentic at all times, to always attempt to convey a specific image or predictable look/action, perhaps is much more inauthentic, or pretentious, than simply allowing the variety and flux of image, action, and personality, that naturally occurs in all of us. We are complicated identities, in flux always, and this is probably ok.
Celebrity worship creates very strange human interactions. This interview and this period of time is fascinating to me, and obviously it leads me to reflect on the present and the way similar trends continue for each generation.
The rest after the bump.

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Happy Misquote That Movie “Tobey Maguire” Day!
Today you should misquote that Tom Cruise movie about the talent agent who wants to see money. So when you see someone with money, shout at them “Let me see your money!” When you love someone and you want them to know it, say to them, “I wasn’t done, but thanks to you, I’m all set. Ding!” And if you just want someone to shut up, say, “I was sick of you when we first met.” Finally, when you want someone to help you help them, say, “Hey, you need help. I need help. Let’s go find someone to help us, but let’s carpool.” Jonathan Kenicky is still alive, BTW.
From the always inspiring Bob Powers.
Why take one movie villian, when you can get a Twofer for the same price with the SAME NAME!

In the 2007 summer blockerbuster “Face Off!”, Supervillain Castor Troy (Nick Cedge) is in a coma after a big gun fight with supercop Sean Archer (Jon Travola), but the government decides to keep him alive so Archer can take Troy’s face and sneak into a prison to find where Castor’s brother Pollux had planted a bomb somewhere in LA because only they knew its location and how to disarm it. But then Castor Troy woke up without a face and took Sean Archer’s face for another mighty battle between the super pair!
Castor Troy, a Travola/Cedge super hybrid, comes in at number eight for best movies villains giving us the pleasure of two brilliant hollywoods playing the same evil killer who looks cool and is perfectly disguised and can give you chills and fights to the death.