[Image from Funnyordie]
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Distant Memories from the Challenger Explosion
I'm going to admit to myself and throw it out there; I didn't for years know much about the Challenger explosion. The myth of "watching it unfold live on CNN" was just that, a myth, or misdirected memory. I was in school, about to start some class---History or English, who knows---and Ms. Roy, our then superintendent, walked in and informed us of the tragedy. We were then sent home to reflect upon the situation even though there was really not much to reflect upon, other than seeing an aircraft explode repeatedly, endlessly, and wondering how terrible could it have been for the seven astronauts inside. People magazine ran an extensive article (as did Newsweek, TIME, et al.) and I read them all, fascinated since I was in the middle of my science fiction/astronomy phase, and I felt the need to learn more.
MSNBC has a great article by James Oberg, a [former] NASA Analyst and NBC Space Analyst that attempts to shed light on the Challenger disaster as we've chosen to see it, but also as it more than likely transpired. It's a great read and I'm linking it here.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Ratatouille!
Even at its dirtiest I don't remember rats in the subway train. Well, perhaps platforms late at night, tiny, occasionally scurrying about. But not on the train, scaring people half out of their wits.
The appearance of the first rat on a subway train (a video that went viral) and the fact it looked almost... tame... made me wonder if it was put there intentionally. [Apparently, not, but okay.] Now, a second rat showed up on an R train in the middle of the afternoon.
Things You Must Have To Party Like Charlie Sheen
I know, I know. But it was too freakishly hysterical for me to ignore it. I somehow kept thinking of a half-eaten watermelon and the image of a guy's grinning face peering from behind it, bulging, greedy eyeballs and drool dripping from the sides of his mouth, giggling. Anyway. This is the crotch of Kacey Jordan. She's the pornstar walking crotch-in-hand with Charlie Sheen's obsessive plunge into self-destruction. At least it's shaved. No nasty, nappy hairs peeking out like tree branches or tiny blades of grass or Nair-bumps peppering her inner thigh, making it look like a pimple explosion. Which is important, you know, if men go down on you multiple times a day---6 times a day if you're into meal-counting and fitness. You don't want to present something so disgusting it might lead your client to regurgitate the amazing amounts of liquor and pills he's taken in order to make it a home-run into 36 hours of debauchery, and this not even being the weekend yet. Eh, at least she's tan, right?
So let's see. According to Gawker, where I saw this gem, you need: mouthwash, Coca-Cola, Lysol wipes, prescription drugs, Fiji water, a pack of Marlboros, cologne, lube, an IKEA Magiker Table (sounds kinda cheap), and Bedhead After Party Cream. The vagina is just the icing on the cake Charlie Sheen is eating.
At least he's not sending her to the bathroom, afraid for her life, calling 911. And that's what's important. A man must treat his pornstar with utmost respect and not trash the crap out of her. Kudos to Charlie. And kudos to Jordan for sharing her privates with us.
It's not a dildo: this is Bed Head Party Cream.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Harps, Their "Family Shield". and the Outraged Shopper Who Could
The viral photo that Jennifer Huddleston took and tweeted to celebs like Ellen Degeneres.
Normally I don't go to supermarkets to check the magazine aisle. That's what Hudson News is for. However, being that an Harps, an Arkansas supermarket, decided that the US Weekly cover featuring Sir Elton John, David Parish, and their son was too shameful for it to carry, I'll have to pay more attention. Thank you, Jennifer Huddleston, even if I don't know you. Censorship shouldn't happen. Not when involves the image of a happy family who just happen to be men.
Yet you can see train wrecks like Jersey Store or Skins and no one bats an eye?
You can read the story here.
Not to be Dethroned.... Sarah Palin on "Spudnut Moments"
Get it now!
I'm just going to sit back and let her do the babbling for me. She's basically done my work for the day, and all I have next to me is a small stein of chardonnay and a whole lotta belly to laugh at this one.
Quotes:
PALIN: Speaking of last night, that was a tough speech to have to sit through and kind of stomach, because the president is so off base in his ideas on how it is he believes government is going to create jobs. Obviously, government growth won't create any jobs, it's the private sector that can create the jobs.
And his theme last night of the State of the Union was the WTF -- you know, winning the future. And I thought, OK, that acronym -- spot on! There were a lot of WTF moments throughout that speech.
VAN SUSTEREN: Governor, last night there was a lot of talk about the 'Sputnik moment' that the president talked about. Um, do you agree with him -- is this our moment?
PALIN: That was another one of those 'WTF moments' that when he so often repeated the 'Sputnik moment' that he would aspire Americans to celebrate. He need to remember that what happened back then with the former Communist USSR and their victory in that race to space -- yep, they won, but they also incurred so much debt at the time that it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union.
PALIN: So I listen to that Sputnik moment talk over and over again and I think, 'No, you don't need one of those. You know what we need is a Spudnut moment. And here's where I'm going with this -- and you're a good one, because you're one of those reporters who actually gets out there in the communities, find these hard-working people and find solutions to the problems that Americans face.
Well, the Spudnut shop, in Richland, Washington -- it's a bakery, it's a little coffee shop that's so successful -- 60 some years, generation to generation, a family-owned business. It's not looking for government to bail them out and to make their decisions for them. It's just hard-working, patriotic Americans in this shop -- we need more Spudnut moments in America!
And I wish that President Obama would understand -- in that heartland of America, what it is that really results in the solutions that we need to get this economy back on the right track, it's a shop like that!
Um, yeah, whatever you say, lady.
Crazy Eyes: Unfocused, and Trying Too Hard
Look at the camera, Michele. No, no---the camera. The ca-a-a-a-a-mer-r-r-a-a-a-a-a....
Yay, there you go! You go, girl! Make us happy! Oh, wait---
Uganda: David Kato Beaten to Death
This is what the extremity of homophobia can do, especially when it is fostered by radical US evangelicals who pontificate on hatred through religion.
The article appears on today's New York Times.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Cross-Eyed Visions: Michelle Bachmann
I'm not sure what books Michelle Bachmann studied. Or if she studied history at all. It's entirely possible she may be of the School of Mel Gibson who thinks the Holocaust never happened. Or perhaps she's on a different, quasi-astral plane where things tend to happen at a more harmonious way. It is, however, a peach seeing her talk about people coming to America, saying
"it didn't matter the color of their skin, it didn't matter their economic status (...) the language they spoke (...) once you got here, we were all the same."
Of course. Tell that to the Africans who were dragged into this country against their will and put into slavery, then barely acknowledged until roughly 1964. For the longest the Irish were the scum of the Earth, then the Italian, then the Jews, and most recently, Muslims, Mexicans and (many) Hispanics, depending on location. The earliest to get the brunt of our coming to America? The Native American Indians. All they have left are scraps of land and a history with a lot of blood spilled on this very land.
But... maybe I'm wrong. Bachmann might be some visionary, like Joan of Arc. After all, while she points out that John Quincy Adams did work for the abolishment of slavery... he wasn't a founding father. And, if I have my history books straight... all of them had slaves. Three-fifths of a person.
Facts are a great thing to have and possess. When you have a basis in reality added to the mix your arguments can't bend to ridicule. Bachmann, however, is a woman of her own creation. A bit outre, shall we say. And when you're of her mettle... you form your own realities to fit your needs and coat it in a soft speech. That's where the trouble lies: that she, along Sarah Palin, crazy Glenn Beck, and others, are public people, and have an audience of gullible people. Trying to embellish history is a rather irresponsible tact to use in order to obtain the votes of the people and only makes her to be as false as the words coming out of her mouth.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
In a Chill Mood
Speaking of "brrr..." on a night as chilly as this, this is what anyone in a warm room sipping sangria over ice and peaches can listen to. A classic chill-out tune from 1996. Timeless and atmospheric.
Osmosis Jones
I was supposed to meet my Colombian friend Angel for a late-morning coffee at Starbucks on Grove but I was up late last night into 5 am watching oldies with Bob. For four hours we saw both Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart have their respective freak-outs in classics like They Drive By Night and Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Over lots of wine.
So when I woke up I felt the world spinning just a little to the left, like my political leanings. My stomach was on fire, unlike my sex life, but then again I'm a slut in fiction so I guess that compensates. I sent him a text saying I couldn't meet him today, I had a hangover, but I really needed the coffee so could he please-please-PLEASE bring me a cinnamon mocha latte, venti with a twist. The twist: a hunk in tow, have him drink it, and I from the comfort of my bed would think of his 11 incher as if it were a straw and reenact a calf getting his feed on.
His response?
:-O
Friday, January 21, 2011
Keith Olbermann, Signing Off
It's probably safe to say this was coming after his suspension. You can't be a commentator on the liberal/independent side of things and not have some kind of backlash waiting in the wings to silence you. For Keith Olbermann to continue his show he'd have had to become an uber-right winger and cater to the fundies that pop up with grandiose ideas of "taking America back". Sadly for him it wasn't so, and this is the result: the merging with Comcast, and Olbermann's "leaving." The Network lives on.
Sarah Palin's Blues
It's probably safe to say 2011 didn't quite start the right way for right-winger Sarah Palin. [Maybe 2011 is a left-leaning year.] From her political ambitions laying in shambles after the Tucson, Arizona shooting, now it seems Mr. Sarah Palin, a.k.a. Todd, has some yum-yums he's getting on the side. Then again, that's what happens when you turn your back on sex education and leave it up to God and a throw of the dice. First, a teen-mom, now a straying hubby, and the one who should be getting a decent amount of fucky-fuck is "stuck in the middle"... with nothing.
Ah, shucks.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Sarah Palin's Circus Act
I've come to believe Sarah Palin has to be some kind of clueless contortionist. Her foot has to be so far down her throat that it's now being digested by her own stomach but she wouldn't know it if she felt the burns of the HCL. Her appearance on Sean Hannity she tried to deflect her responsibility in the Tucson shootings by pointing the finger at "those on the left" and that the shooter, Jared Loughner, was a "left-leaning" individual. Whatever the case, she's still fun to watch. And since they're not going to shut her up, well... we can expect more.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Petty Woman | ||||
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Funnies
Blame it on Old Man Winter. Blame it on Alaska and Sarah Palin. Or blame it on my High School frenemies. The truth is, I'm sick. S-i-c-k, and without a voice to boot. Not that I use my voice a lot, but it can help when needing quick assistance in opening a can of yum-yums when spotting a hot guy walking his poodle down the Avenue, melting the snow with his looks, and me needing some of that. Anything to ease the pain. The dog can stay out of the picture for all I care. I'm in good company, though. With Russell Brand to my left and Kathy Griffin to my right I'm sure that the next three days will be me just hawking olive-tinted loogies out my throat as I laugh myself to oblivion. The books in question: Brand's "My Booky Wook" and Griffin's "Official Book Club Selection". The hottie can wait for next time when I'm in a better mood to mingle with his man-parts.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Boys of Randy Blue - Homage to Kylie
Recently the boys of Randy Blue [link is NSFW] performed their tribute to Kylie's Get Outta My Way. It's cheeky, fun, and has all the right amounts of candy in all the right doses---especially the middle guy. Absolutely yums. Encore, anyone?
Betty White Eats Robert Redford on her Birthday
Um... well... not really. But I'm sure the thought barely escaped her lips as she got the surprise of her life!
You can watch the video here.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Ricky Gervais and the Golden Globes: No Holds Barred
I love it when comedians have huge balls. Even the women, like Kathy Griffin, who doesn't mince words when it comes to using celebrities as the butt of a joke (often with "allegedly" tacked right behind it, just in case.). Tonight was no surprise. Ricky Gervais in his opening speech kept it deliciously funny, taking hits at Charlie Sheen's partying habits with a porn-star, the apparent two-dimensionality of The Tourist (Johnny Depp laughed, no reaction from Brangelina), Cher, Hugh Hefner, and a carefully-placed gay joke aimed at "two famous Scientologists" when speaking about I Love You Philip Morris. That one drew some gasps and boos but hey, that is what you have to face when you have an acid speech to deliver. Comedy isn't for kids. The awards might be for the actors and people involved in the makings of entertainment, but it's really us, the viewers, who have to sit back and watch overpaid people come up and deliver boring speeches.
Someone has to lighten up the mood. And shock. I love Ricky Gervais for that.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Fierce Creatures
So now it seems rats aren't content to stay in the gutters of Manhattan, congregated in KFCs or parks, generally grossing the crap out of everybody. [I knew something was up when the Kardashians decided to open shop in New York City with dubious intentions. My friend Karen said the same: she threw her alabaster arms up in the air and spat, "He-e-e-ere they come! Better start playing re-runs of "Ben" on the radio. Fuck it---I'm moving North."] Now they've decided to take their presence up a notch. Right in your face, as a matter of fact. Tickle, tickle---squeak, squeak, and a possible munch if you're lucky.
To move around in the city one must take the subway. Now, unless you're with friends in the middle of a conversation or the train is so packed with people there is bound to be some hanky-panky and indecent (or kinky, take your pick) rubbing whether you like it or not, what is the first thing you do when you get on one of these half-empty cans? You find a seat, preferably solo, turn on the iPod, and close your eyes.
And pass out.
Imagine you're so passed out you're conducting your own symphony with the power of your snores and drool is slowly sliding out the corner of your mouth, onto your coat. It can happen and don't tell me you haven't been in that situation: trust me, New Yorkers don't really care, unless your snores are louder than the shrieks of the trains wheels on metal. Then we're talking major "shut the fuck up, bitch, and get off the motherfucking train."
Now add a rat to that picture. Sneaking up on you, climbing your leg... and giving you a "how do you do" right where the drool starts.
Well... this is exactly what happened to a rider a couple days ago on the 4 train. I don't know that the man was drooling, but he was fast asleep, tired perhaps, sitting in his own corner, and... well... see for yourself.
Ain't that cute? And repulsive at the same time? And it didn't really seem to faze the sleeping man all that much. After all, it's just a rat.
New York is INFESTED with them.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
September - Me and My Microphone
And this is her utterly massive dance 2007 hit Cry for You as a refresher:
Cinematic Beauty: NYC in 3 Minutes
New York City as seen from Fiske Park, Jersey City.
This is the view that would greets you every day if you live in my neighborhood of The Heights, or as it's also somewhat known, as The Cliff. At only one mile away, you could probably walk it provided there was a bridge over the Hudson. Which is unseen in this picture, an optical illusion that makes Hoboken, below, look as if it merges with the Meat Market. And the only way for you to get an idea of what it feels like to live here is to link a video I just viewed.
NYC - Mindrelic Timelapse from Mindrelic on Vimeo.
Shaun Considine's Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud
This is what I've been barricaded with inside my house reading for the entirety of my weekend. Thank you, Shaun Considine, for bringing forth one of the juiciest accounts of the Mutual Admiration Society ever wrought by these two larger-than-life megalomaniacs. I've burned a streak through your book in less than a day's time because, well... my eyeballs are a pair of Hoover vacuums, sucking it all up like a greedy vampire.
More, please?
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Meet Armond White
Armond White, throwing a cunty look at the camera.
He's the world's crankiest critic for the New York Press.
He'll never like a movie you make, be it as an actor, director, or screenwriter.
He'll go out of his way to humiliate you in public.
He can't seem to say a single nice thing to anyone, about anything.
God knows what he says about you when you're not in the room.
He'll even make Annette Bening cry because frankly, the haterade was too much on the night she accepted her award at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards for "The Kids are Alright"... a film he probably dissed.
But give him a budget of oh, a modest 10 million, and let's see if he can make a decent movie.
Don't bet on it.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Snow, Snow, Snow
In some other context this could be one of those computer-generated images of an Ice Age from years gone to dust, but this is the state of the country today, January 11, 2011. Forty-nine states are covered in snow at least tangentially. Yup---even Hawaii. Florida is the only state that isn't seeing the white stuff (nor do they want it). If this were blow, Scarface would be in heaven.
While I'm on this... NYC and NJ are both getting slammed with another foot of this from tonight into tomorrow night.... bring on the plows and travel advisories... the non-stop shoveling, the snow-plows barreling through the streets, the salt... and so on, and so on....
Carpetmunchers, Out!
Is this because I'm a lesbian?
I've never been to David Barton Gym nor do I intend to---I just don't have the inclination to join a gym that seems to be a haven for bois all around New York City. To me, gyms should be grungy, with giant amounts of weight and filled with muscleheads showing off their hard work and reminding me that the competition ain't over, that like The Carpenter's song, "We've Only Just Begun" (although I wouldn't listen to that in a gym, either. Snore.). They shouldn't be so gay I wonder if I'll ever wipe the cunty off my skin. However, I just read in the Post that two lesbians who worked as fitness trainers were fired from David Barton because they were, um... not gay. Really? That's a new one. I live to see dykes in a gym; some of them are actually quite sexy and make me question if perhaps I'm on the wrong team or maybe I should go skinny dipping a little in the fish pond. It wouldn't surprise me, however, if some of the muscle-queens there weren't offended (i.e. 'threatened') by their masculine energy. God knows there are some men who are lacking in that department. A-List, anyone?
Glenn Beck's Answer to Stop the Violence
One one end, he read Sarah Palin's email where she stated "I hate violence. I hate war. Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence. Thanks for all you do to send the message of truth and love and God as the answer."
On the other, he released this image:
On the other, he released this image:
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Aftermath
Sarah Palin has stopped being the brunt of everyone's jokes and revealed herself to be frightening.
Frightening because of her pig-headed ignorance, and her charisma over the weak-minded holy-rollers with a need for gun-action who are following her. It's suddenly turned macabre at a level only comparable to Charlie Manson and the Tate-LaBianca murders, for the sole reason to incite Helter Skelter and a racial war. Her divisive politics have proved that where there is glamour, there will be those who fall for it, blind, some vocal, some quiet, looking for the same purpose: destructive action.
Frightening because now we see what evil can come out of imagery and words that can certainly take it as "innocuous" and "passionate"... but is extremely provocative and rousing to nothing good.
Yes, you can discuss 'til the cows come home that you may also have violent images all over the place. Lately there's been the consensus that the liberal left has been quick to judge and condemn those on the extreme right. I can say that extremism begets extremist behavior and while you can certainly say Democrats have used some language deemed "inappropriate", it never has been at a magnitude that the Republicans and conservatives have used as of late. Look at Palin's touting of "Obama's Death Plan". It's extremist. It has no logic. Look at her now infamous use of target images to overthrow political opponents. It's extremist. I'm pretty sure that if Obama had utilized a language that was a bit too aggressive for some people he'd be getting crucified even if nothing tragic came out of it. One: because he's black, and two: because he's black. When you are a public figure, it does not matter what your ideologies come from---you cannot use words that are closer to the wild, wild west and not expect some consequence.
You don't have to be a member of the tea party, but if you're one of the poor crazies and psychotics out there, sitting at home, getting restless, angry, unemployed, no health benefits, wondering what the hell is happening... and you by chance stop by FOX News and see not just her, but Beck, for example, ranting and raving... something's bound to snap.
And then you get Tucson, AZ.
Something has to give.
This weekend I witnessed not only the terrible massacre of Tucson that created the monster that is Jared Loughner and deprived the life of 9 year old Christina Taylor Green---herself borne on a tragic, terrible day---as well as and five others and almost killed Gabrielle Giffords... but how volatile people can be to one another as they react to these events. Instead of acknowledging that gun imagery and violent, bloodthirsty rhetoric has played a tangential but significant part in these events, I saw people I thought were sensitive and intelligent lash out---violently so---against anyone who expressed these opinions. It seems now one cannot view the beast for what it is and call it such without getting reactions that border on the bipolar, and are steeped in hysteria. I found myself wondering whatever happened to common civility. I found myself somewhat saddened that people who were acquaintances suddenly had no logic and continually closed their eyes on a glaring truth.
I realized that you never know who's your friend until something happens that shakes our reality to the core, and our true nature comes out. It's all fun and games, verbal repartee and fare-thee-well until you call a spade a spade and then see friendly faces suddenly bare teeth and attempt to berate you, because after all---how dare you? You are out! of! line, mister!
Oh, well. Worse things have happened. I know that once you throw your thoughts out there you will have those who think before they talk, and others who act out before they think. I made a decision to refrain from active arguments, from name-calling, from verbal one-upmanship. Now that the beast has shown its teeth, all I can do is move on, move forward, and hope for the best.
Even at the cost of friendships.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Keith Olbermann on The Arizona Shootings and Personal Responsibility for Those Who Incite Violence
Olberman had some pretty strong words against Satah Palin and her ilk after today's lamentable events in Tucson, Arizona on January 8, 2011: a date in American infamy. We cannot and shall not go back to the Kennedy assassination.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Palin's Guilty Hand on the Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
This is why sometimes being a media-attention whore can actually backfire. Sarah Palin will have a lot to answer for since. On March of 2010 she released a note titled "Don't Get Demoralized! Take Back the 20!" where she went on to say:
With the president signing this unwanted and “transformative” government takeover of our health care system today with promises impossible to keep, let’s not get discouraged. Don’t get demoralized. Get organized!Please note the wording of her blog-post and place it side-by-side to her usage of cross-hairs imagery per district because it's important to what just transpired today and why there should have been a little more attention paid to Palin's "target list" of which Giffords was singled out. On her Twitter page she wrote:
We’re going to reclaim the power of the people from those who disregarded the will of the people. We’re going to fire them and send them back to the private sector, which has been shrinking thanks to their destructive government-growing policies. Maybe when they join the millions of unemployed, they’ll understand why Americans wanted them to focus on job creation and an invigorated private sector. Come November, we’re going to print pink slips for members of Congress as fast as they’ve been printing money.
We’re paying particular attention to those House members who voted in favor of Obamacare and represent districts that Senator John McCain and I carried during the 2008 election. Three of these House members are retiring – from Arkansas’s 2nd district, Indiana’s 8th district, and Tennessee’s 6th district – but we’ll be working to make sure that those who replace them are Commonsense Conservatives. The others are running for re-election, and we’re going to hold them accountable for this disastrous Obamacare vote. They are: Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-1), Harry E. Mitchell (AZ-5), Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), John Salazar (CO-3), Betsy Markey (CO-4). Allen Boyd (FL-2), Suzanne M. Kosmas (FL-24), Baron P. Hill (IN-9), Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL), Charlie Wilson (OH-6), John Boccieri (OH-16), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3), Christopher Carney (PA-10), John M. Spratt, Jr. (SC-5), Tom Perriello (VA-5), Alan B. Mollohan (WV-1), and Nick J. Rahall II (WV-3).
We’ll aim for these races and many others. This is just the first salvo in a fight to elect people across the nation who will bring common sense to Washington. Please go to sarahpac.com and join me in the fight.
Stand tall, America. Real change is coming!
- Sarah Palin
"'Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!'"Problematic, because now you have a woman surviving a gun-shot wound to the head, fighting for her life, 18 others shots, a 9 year old girl as well as a Federal judge killed. The shooter? A 22-year old kid named Jared Loughner, for reasons unknown.
Problematic, because now Palin is distancing herself from this situation and professing her "condolences." Palin will have to face the responsibility of her choice of words and having incited violence. She may have your own political aspirations, but she cannot use her beliefs and that of her nutty supporters to silence those who have different ideals than herself. Today is proof-positive of how beauty is skin-deep, but ignorance and fanaticism such as hers reveals an ugliness of character unparalleled in US History. I would like to see how she will extricate herself from an event from which she is deeply entrenched. If she wanted the attention of the media, she has ii now.
And it's not pretty.
New Music: Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers
You won't know her by name. You will, however, have heard her sing in a little-girl-voice on Royksopp's "Miss It So Much" from their 2009 album Junior. Lykke Li just released her new song "I Follow Rivers" that is set to appear on her forthcoming CD Wounded Rhymes, to be released in March. It's an earthy song, with a hint of hippie chick. I love how she makes a throatier, sexier use of her voice. You should definitely give it a listen.
Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers by dynmk
The Future's So Bright...
On growth: I have always been driven by some distant music -- a battle hymn no doubt -- for I have been at war from the beginning. I've never looked back before. I've never had the time and it has always seemed so dangerous. To look back is to relax one's vigil. -- Bette Davis
Friday, January 7, 2011
Jazz 24 to Launch the 100 Quintessential Jazz Songs of All Time
NPR posted an article today that Jazz24.org, their partners based in Seattle, are coming up with a list of the 100 Quintessential Jazz Songs of all time. They are inviting anyone to post five---yes, you heard it, fi-j-j-ve---of your favorite jazz songs, from which they will make their selection. Quite a task, considering the massive, almost insurmountable body of work the biggest names of jazz produced in the days of the big band, swing, blue note, and cool. Being a guy who's been listening to jazz since I grew up in New York in the 70s and Dominican Republic in the 80s before returning to New York City in the mid-90s this was nerve-wracking. What to choose? Would I go old school? How could I leave Diana Krall and Lorraine Feather out? Would I converge mainly in the late-50s and very early 60s period where Miles Davis and John Coltrane shone? And how could anyone make Decisions, decisions...
So I closed my eyes, threw a mental penny into the air, began re-listening to my personal list of favorites---not an easy task since I have a huge jazz selection that does not include smooth jazz---and threw this out:
So What - Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue"Now I'm wracked with guilt. All those other songs... left out. Oh well, I hope someone else likes them enough. I'm very interested in what the outcome will be.
Take Five - Dave Brubeck Quartet, "Time Out"
Acknowledgment - John Coltrane, "A Love Supreme"
'Round Midnight - Thelonious Monk, "Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1"
Key Largo - Sarah Vaughan, "Sarah Plus One"
New York, Trashy, and Lovin' It
This is what's become of New York City since the snowpocalypse of 2010. An odd, deconstructed bird. Hoarders would love this. It has memories.
[Thanks, David---I couldn't help it---it's so ugly it's actually... beautiful?]
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