February 2010
So far I am two-for-four on my predictions re: the... →
“Single Ladies” is not a Song Of The Year. A Riff Of The Year? Sure. A Viral Video Of The Year? Yes. But there are way, way better The-Dream compositions that could have easily swapped in.
January 2010
that said
the coverage of clive davis’ pre-grammy party seems especially obnoxious this year. maybe it’s because of the roster of performances shows just how little talent is on the radar of someone with the (admittedly made-up) title of “chief creative officer”? in addition to jennifer hudson paying tribute to barbra streisand and mary j. blige reminding everyone that she sang...
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in case you feel like you need an internet... →
Or just a way to ease back into being online after using Freedom.
(h/t matos)
aw
i might be a little u_u-faced over not live-blogging the grammys tonight. end of a mini-era, y’all. (at least i get to watch people imitating evel knievel while on snowmobiles instead, right?)
x-why
today i had a dude whose laptop was covered in stickers for things like “social media week” MANSPLAIN something to me! in person, no less! on the topic “how to use twitter properly,” of all things!!! i refrained from pulling the old “don’t you internet-know who i am” card, because it really wasn’t worth the effort. but i was kind of fascinated by the...
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Pop Couplets That Are Still 100% Chuckle-Worthy
“I was arrested, the car was impounded
There was no way for me to avoid being grounded”
Hearting Mike Barthel is not enough in this... →
“V*****e W*****d’s whole “appropriation” thing is a marketing technique. They are deliberately baiting you. If what you want is for them to not be successful, you should stop talking about them.”
There is more! Go read it!
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Points I Was Asked To Ponder Today While On The...
What if déjà vu is actually the result of the space-time continuum temporarily collapsing and sending afflicted people into super-super-super-short dream states?
maura johnston: i missed the sotu because i was x games partying
maura johnston: i am a bad citizen
Alex Pareene: haha you are the best american of all
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TV Party.
Other songs recently featured on TV that debuted or reappeared on Hot Digital Tracks this week:
Ting Tings, “That’s Not My Name” (SNL, Jan. 16; No. 152, 14,000 sold)
Ray LaMontagne, “Trouble” (American Idol, Jan. 20; No. 123, 16,000 sold)
General Larry Platt, “Pants On The Ground” (American Idol, Jan. 13; No. 194, 11,000 sold)
The power of "new"?
That horrible Jay-Z/Rihanna/Bono/The Edge song was the biggest-selling digital single from Hope For Haiti, selling 131,000 copies. Justin Timberlake’s “Hallelujah” moved 64,000 copies, while Jeff Buckley’s version re-entered the top 200 at No. 174 (12,000 copie sold). So much for my theory that the JT version would knock Ke$ha out of the top spot on the Hot 100! Maybe next...
Xtreme.
So I am in Aspen on a sorta-copywriting assignment for Jeep. I say “sorta-copywriting” because the writing in question will be done on Twitter. Perhaps I should call it “truncated-copywriting” instead? I’m going to be covering the X Games, which start tomorrow; you can follow my exploits here, if you’re dying to find out what I’m up to and/or who won the...
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John Fluevog really needs to cut the crap and... →
Ribbons? RIBBONS? My ankles aren’t goddamn Maypoles.
Now, the Plain Janes — those are shoes.
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Mark your calendars!
Gigantic and Vol. 1 Brooklyn Present The Greatest Three-Minute Rock n’ Roll Stories Ever Told Writers, rockers and raconteurs telling three-minute microstories about the best rock ‘n’ roll shows ever.
Thursday, Feb. 11th @ Bar Matchless (557 Manhattan Ave. Greenpoint) No cover, 8PM Stories from: Jami Attenberg (Author, The Melting Season) Justin Taylor (Author, Everything Here is the Best Thing...
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Sigh.
I’ve heard that fake Guns N’ Roses story repeated as gospel truth three times in the past 24 hours. Oh, dominant narratives.
Is it still "selling out" if you don't make any... →
Sample per-Tweet ad rates for a few people with varying levels of fame:
Eric B. and Rakim: $5.88/Tweet
The Fat Boys: $8.82
Jeffree Star: $121.59
?uestlove: $588.25
Carrot Top: $1.176.50
Aubrey O’Day: $1.764.75
Kelis: $1,764.75
Bob Vila: $9,750
twitstory asked: What, in fact, are concrete jungles made of? I WANT TO KNOW.
jakec asked: Why hasn't Gossip Cop hired you, seeing as you cut through the bullshit much, much better than they currently do?
takeittothechorus-deactivated20 asked: Are there any U2 records you can comfortably listen to, or do you feel overcome with irritation at Bono?
exquisiteboredom asked: What's your favorite song from 1971? FWIW, I think mine is "Roundabout" by Yes.
Top hats and turncoats.
So there’s a story on TMZ this AM about a Guns N’ Roses show “in Canada last Wednesday” where:
“concert security informed fans that they were required to turn their Slash t-shirts inside out …. and leave their top hats outside.”
Last Wednesday’s show was actually in Regina, Saskatchewan, but I guess TMZ’s higher-ups figure that if they...
The Scorpions are going to retire... eventually. →
It said it would end its career with a final album — ”Sting In The Tail,” to be released in March — and a tour that will start in Germany in May and take it across the world ”over the next few years.”
I guess the announcement is being made now so we can all prepare ourselves?
mackro asked: What's the secret of your tumblr success?
wiitns asked: what new releases are you looking forward to?
Ask me anything. →
Really.
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Finally, Michael Dobson gets a female equivalent. →
A Tennessee woman has been accused of killing both her first and second husbands.
Reading this story is making me feel bad for humanity, *and* it’s causing me to miss Jerry Orbach :(
(Context 1, context 2)
“Kiss me when I’m bad. That’s when I need it the most.”
– Maura Johnston, Age 9 (via viajake)
The things you find when embarking on Tumblr ego searches! I hope this is my “precocious” alter ego and not a transcript from one of the fake radio shows I made back when I was that age.
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Diablo Cody is picking up her hamburger phone to... →
Looks like someone needs to have the difference between “being cynical/cruel” and “genuinely not liking things because they are too smarmy and self-satisfied and just plain bad, and expressing that dislike” explained to her again!
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The new-ish math: (Pazz + Jop) - GAPDY = Neko Case... →
This version of the Pazz & Jop albums chart takes out votes from any person who put (G)rizzly Bear, (A)nimal Collective, (P)hoenix, (D)irty Projectors, or the (Y)eah Yeah Yeahs on their albums ballot. In this alternate universe, the top five albums are by Neko Case, Raekwon, the Avett Brothers, Mos Def, and Maxwell. Also, three metal albums ascend to the top 10, while Girls and Flaming Lips...
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Oh yeah, I also had a thing about the Grammys on... →
I think I can hear Jeff Rosenthal saying “NBFD” somewhere.
Paging Mike Barthel.
So, is Justin Timberlake’s “Hallelujah” going to sell enough buck-twenty-nine copies to make a big Hot 100 splash?
And if that happens, HOW BROKEN WILL YOUR BRAIN BE?
Related, obv. And also.
"People on the Internet Like to Argue About Music... →
"But for a sizeable minority of young people who... →
So sentimental!
“As a celebrity, when your celebrity dies, your career dies. I want to be a...”
– Tila Tequila.
Wrapping my head around this interview is proving difficult this morning.
My "Idol" Orlando recap. →
Last night was rough, y’all.
The Year of Too Much Consensus →
tomewing:
(the number of critics voting has crashed in the last few years).
Actually this isn’t true if you look at Glenn McDonald’s vote counts from his number-crunching:
2009: 696 voters 2008: 577 2007: 784 (pnj/idolator combined) 2006: 799 (pnj/idolator combined) 2005: 791 2004: 793 2003: 726 2002: 692 2001: 617 2000: 581!
Back up after a definite crash last year — which...
I think ur a Ke$ha
Hits’ projected first-week sales totals for Vampire Weekend’s Contra: 121,000.
Comparative cumulative scans (through 1/10): AnCo 148k; Phoenix 277k; Neko Case 180k; YYYs 201k; DPs 58k; Grizzly Bear 153k; The xx 66k; Raekwon 154k; Flaming Lips ??; Girls 27k.
You know what this means? Yes, that’s right: MORE ARGUING. (And I’m gonna bet a top-10 finish at this time next...
The Girls - The Girl From Yesterday
Prob goes...
OK, one more P&J link and then I will stop. (Until... →
The Album Similarity Index, in which you get to see which records were likely to appear on the same ballot.
• Correlated pairs include: Dinosaur Jr. and Built To Spill (alt-rock elder statesmen); The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Camera Obscura (tweevenge); The Dead Weather and Pearl Jam and The Black Crowes (torch-passing?); PJ Harvey and John Parish and Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (best...
Pazz and Jop is up. →
And, and, and, I have an essay in it. It is about the Dirty Projectors, and Solange, and “genre.”
Also here is my ballot.
CASTING: "Chicks, man."
After that, Hustler is pleased to announce its much-anticipated parody lineup for 2010-11:
This Ain’t CSI XXX: Chatsworth This Ain’t Curb Your Enthusiasm XXX This Ain’t Avatar XXX This Ain’t Glee XXX This Ain’t I Dream of Jeannie XXX This Ain’t The Cable News XXX This Ain’t The Soup XXX This Ain’t The Hills XXX
Um… The Soup? How? Why? And oh God… what about the dog?
(via...