Julian Casablancas

This song is sooooo goooooood. Homage to George Harrison? I think so. Putting JC on the must-see concert list (1) Radiohead (2)Of Montreal (3)Julian Casablancas...



this entire album is great.

Music Phase

I'm digging into some Led Zeppelin nowadays, as I posted earlier. I've always liked classic rock (especially listening to it on car rides with my dad when we go skiing/hiking), but I for SOME CRAZY reason have never educated myself in LZ. When my dad and I saw "It Might Get Loud...", a documentary that takes three guitarists, Jimmy Page, The Edge (from U2) and Jack White, puts them in a room and has them talk about and play guitar together, we were awestruck by Page's obvious superiority to the other guys. This was especially shown off when Page started playing the rifts of "Whole Lotta Love", leaving The Edge and Jack White in complete "we are not worthy" states of being.

Anyway, this song is so flipping good. I'm sick of so many songs today that rely on keyboard beats and minimalist words and somehow are popular--people need to start writing great lyrics and music again. Ughhh.

Empire State but a Colbert Nation

Around 1:40 Colbert jumps in with some original rap... love him. And I already very much like this song... it makes me happy every time I hear it. Could you imagine being close friends with Colbert? Or being married to him? Is he even married? I wonder what he was like in college, or his early twenties... probably hugely dorky and annoying but hilarious and adorable!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

 Lyrics:

Yeah, I love New York, it's the king of all the cities

I lived up by the guggenheim till I got myself some kiddies

Moved to Connecticut, bye George Pataki

Volvo to the dry-cleaner pickin' up my khakis

Now my shopping mall is closer, my community is gated

My shorties are all private school educated

Home theater system, 60-inch plasma

Clean suburban air much better for my asthma

Still hit the city, Times Square I keep it real

Hard Rock Cafe for their appetizer deal

M&Ms Store, Disney Store, I'm in heaven

I own this town from 41st to 47

Got tickets to The Lion King, that show is fantastic

Leave half an hour early so I can beat the traffic

I can get home really fast, driver rocks an EZ-Pass

To the land of cheaper gas and the upper middle class

Animal Collective New EP: Fall Be Kind

Just listened to this for the first time today on a friend's iPod.

AC's new EP is better than Merriweather Post Pavilion. Just sit back and let this particular song, "What Would I Want? Sky" wash over you--listen to the bass notes after the first time and then pay attention to the number of layers in the music and also the tone changes. It's the best AC has done yet, nearing perfection in their own psychedelic sound. So good.

What Would I Want? Sky
Fall Be Kind (2009)



You feelin stormy? You feelin phony?

You're not the only

Heidi, baby

Oof. Heidi is killing it here. She is a woman that always, always, always looks good. The hair coloring and the posturing makes her look a bit Barbie-esque here, but in the best possible way. I'm a fan. AND she's a savvy businesswoman, wife, and mother as well.

I'm baaaaaaaack!

My computer is fixed!!! It looks like new and I will never abuse it again, I promise. Maybe this is what parents feel like when they drop their kids or something. It's rather sad/frightening how dependent I am on my computer, now that I've had to be without it for a week+. Also, I've left Dartmouth and am in NY now, where I will stay for the duration of summer, save the occasional visit (HOPEFULLY) to Hanover, D.C., Boston, Nantucket, and the New England region in general.

Oh, how I've missed the blog.

Lots to write about - firstly, I saw The Hangover a few days ago at The Nugget, a local nonprofit movie theatre in Hanover, NH. I paid full price too, because I forgot my Dartmouth ID, which allows students to watch movies for $4.50. Sigh. But it was worth the full-price ticket.

I was a tad skeptical about the movie at first, despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews it's been receiving (see metacritic.com), since I've seen one too many similarly set up bro-humor movies that have severely disappointed. For example, Observe and Report; unlike Fay, who saw some merit in the movie, I strongly, strongly disliked it. "Disliked" as in if I had paid to watch the movie (it was pre-screened for free at my school), I would've demanded my money back, if I did that sort of thing. It was overly crass for the sake of ... well not humor, because it certainly wasn't humorous. It's difficult for movies to be funny without crossing the line of being TOO inhumane or offending some group vs. the other end of the spectrum of being corny and expected and general lameness. O and R crossed the line, and wasn't even funny when it did. I don't mean the oft-cited pseudo-date-rape scene, which gave me pause but also some nervous laughter. It was the violence-related humor -- Seth Rogan and his gay mall cop lackey (who, while we're at it, was just gratuitously gay - his sexual orientation really didn't make his character any funnier or add any depth) smashing children over the head with skateboards? NOT cool. And (maybe) even worse - NOT funny.

But The Hangover (come on, even just the name is discouraging if you're wary of badly-made bro-humor) had almost none of this. The only thing that stands out in my mind is when they accidentally hit the baby in the face when opening the car door, which is actually in the trailer - I wonder why, because most of the humor in the movie is NOT like that. And that one cringe-worthy scene (hitting babies? really? since when was this funny?) was countered by so many other scenes involving the baby that were genuinely, genuinely hilarious (Omg the sunglasses?? So simple yet so funny!) that I can forgive that one questionable moment and appreciate the movie on a whole for what it was -- a very nearly perfect comedy. I hardly stopped laughing.

Aside from being HUGE LOL funny, the characters were well-developed (enough) -- with the noteable exception of Heather Graham as the stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold, who was well-acted and so beautiful but painfully empty; in terms of her character, she could've been replaced by Kendra from Hefner's Girls Next Door and the audience would hardly have noticed, except that Heather Graham is an infinitely better actress. The filming was rather good too, or at the very least easy on the eyes and fun to watch. Lots of wide-angle nightline shots and crisp, bright daytime shoots a la The Hills (but better, obv).

If you haven't already, go watch it in theatres! It's a great, great comedy. And then tell me what you think.

In other news, I made two purchases yesterday that I am very, very excited about -- I still have that addictive post-purchase high pumping through my veins right now. The first is a super versatile red velour bag with a gold chain (potential for: clutch, long single chain, double chain, wristlet chain, shoulder, across the body, etc.), which is kind of exactly what I needed.

The second is a beaded Herrera skirt that I am equally in love with (ahh the color and detail and intricacy of beading pattern) that I in no way or form could ever need but it SEEMS like it could be versatile. Shown here with a Hanes vneck, but I could wear it to work, right?

APW

HOW DO I PICK A DAY???



http://www.apwfestival.com/lineup/

Tao

Yay I love to see successful Asian models - they're kind of the last barrier.

"We weren’t the only ones to notice Tao Okamoto at the recent round of shows. The newly mop-topped model landed the Ralph Lauren fall campaign, a teaser of which (at left) appeared in WWD earlier this week. We also hear that Tao is set to star in next season’s Polo Ralph Lauren ads as well—a twofer not even matched by Valentina Zelyaeva, the long-running face of the house."
http://www.style.com/stylefile/2009/04/the-tao-of-ralph/

Snuggie+Sleeping Bag+

I realize it is spring, but why are Snuggies and "Lippi Selk bags" popular? This winter, I could understand why--the economy is bad, so people don't want to pay for heat and instead buy ridiculous looking blanket-sweater-poncho-things. But why now?

When I was in Paris, I also saw some pretty awesome "jackets" at Pierre Cardin. Check out this post on Gawker about Snuggies:

http://gawker.com/5216403/snuggie-wars-spread-into-shelter-category

and enjoy these pictures I took of window displays. My favorite is the red one that actually looks like a sleeping bag.

Drew, Drew, Drew!

omg! from that underwater Vanity Fair cover to the amazing hair she's been rocking lately (discounting that bleached mess she had that one day - and everyone gets days!) - when did Drew Barrymore get so hawt? That hair! Those cheekbones! That LOOK! The lip color! Proof that women really do get more beautiful as we age.

I'm coveting that hair right now. How can I do that?

@ Grey Gardens' Hollywood premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Bringing the Crazy, Just Like Tyra Taught Us

I love how Beyonce is just SO unabashedly herself. Or rather, Sasha Fierce.

Booky Wook

I have a huge crush on Russell Brand. Also, he's a huge ladies' man.

AD

Why was Arrested Development ever taken off the air? I've been watching the entire third season in the last 24 hours. It is literally the best show on TV I've ever seen. I can't wait for the movie.

MK Slays

MK, girl, why you gotta be so fly? Also, Tilda Swinton: your freakishly cool aunt who looks like one of those sand bugs that are transparent.

Well-thought-out insanity/impracticality

First thought: WTF
Second thought: SO COOL

It's really exciting to see what is coming from students in a developing high fashion market (by European standards) such as China as a whole.


BEIJING - MARCH 24: Models walk the runway during the Hempel Award 17th International Young Fashion Designer contest at the China Fashion Week Autumn/Winter Collection 2009 on March 24, 2009 in Beijing, China (Photo by Guang Niu/Getty Images)

http://jezebel.com/5182310/china-fashion-week-far-east-is-far-out