Kitties!

Holiday

Ah, the familiar trip to Florida for the holiday. I just made this trip and am not looking forward to another 16 hour trip in 3 days. Oh well. I love my family and its totally worth it, but its just such a long drive for me. Stupid airline tickets being too expensive for my poor ass. My poor ass.
I thought about taking Cairo (so she could be reunited with her brother) but decided against it, since the only thing worse than a 16 hour car trip is having a live animal in the car. The mind reels and I don't hate myself that much. Plus I don't know if cats even care about their siblings.

Shelves... at last

I made them black and white because I despair at the color of my walls. That's right. Despair.

Ms. Arulpragasam

Halloween + M.I.A. =
A winning combination.

It was so nice to get out again. Especially at such a fun concert. I'm in trouble now though. I was already crushing on Ms. Arulpragasam, but now its at full-scale infatuation.

I don't know what I expected, but I was surprised that the crowd (as can be seen in the picture to the left) was overwhelmingly white. Is M.I.A. too weird to be attractive to mainstream hip-hop? Is she only appealing to white indie-rock kids? Any record that samples/references The Modern Lovers, New Order, the Pixies, and the Clash has got to have some pull on that audience. Also, I noticed that pitchfork is all about her while the only outright negative review I've seen of Kala was in VIBE, so maybe. The crowd was distinctly indie-rock, but the show was... something else. A perfect compliment to her music, as crazy as it is. Genre-bending and reverse cultural colonialism have never sounded so good - it gives me hope that globalization is not such a bad thing after all. To some people it sounds like a big mess, but she has got methods to her madnesses.

So, M.I.A.'s not exactly mainstream, but she is smart and awesome and talented*. That's why people love her and its enough.

























*And popular, the show was sold out.

World of Warcraft vs. Farmers

There are more WoW players than Farmers in the United States.

I do not know if this is a good thing.

But next time some politician starts playing up his/her "down home" style credentials, I want to see him/her at a computer discuss avatar etiquette.

Close Calls With Brick Walls

Finally started 2006 this morning with Andrew W.K.'s Close Calls With Brick Walls. I don't understand the amount of undue hate AWK received back when I Get Wet came out. Sure, on first glance it seemed like roided out jock rock about partying, but there's so much more to him. Well, maybe not that much more, but there's definitely more than that. Its his power of positive thinking mantras that keep me fascinated by the guy (his ultra catchy, bizarro music helps too, though). Its a belief system that is so counter-intuitive to my own that its like listening to an unknown language, one spoken through a shiny muscular horn.

Calls With Brick Walls expands on his speed metal cheese repertoire to include new wave, piano balladry, and death metal cheese. Can't ask for more than that.

Favorite track: "Slam John Against a Brick Wall" or maybe "I Want Your Face"

Last week was: Modern Lovers, Modern Lovers; Ween, 12 Golden Country Greats, and Subtitle, Terrain to Roam.

I think this week will be: Nico, Chelsea Girl; Of Montreal, The Bedside Drama A Petite Tragedy; and The National, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers.

Cairo

No particular reason.