Typo

Domain of proofreaders and editors. Scourge of writers and designers. Just glad it wasn't my bad this time. Poor Callie. Probably not that big a deal. Who reads a magazine ad and then contacts the company via their street address these days? It ain't the nineteenth century anymore.

Awkward

Q: What's more awkward than showing up to a party in costume and finding out when you get there that its not a costume party?


A: Going home to change, coming back and finding out that it is a costume party.

Oh well. I had fun in spite of the misunderstanding.

A Band By Any Other Name

I was listening to New Order the other day when I came upon the notion that they had chosen the very best name possible for their band. In addition to being a “new order” for them personally and professionally, their refinement of Joy Division’s more chaotic (or divisive if you like) tendencies and movement toward dance music created a “new order” for music in general. I began to think of other bands that had chosen the absolutely perfect name and others who had not chosen so wisely.

The Best

Radiohead: In addition to being a semi-obscure reference to The Talking Heads (whose career trajectory Thom Yorke and company have taken a page or two from), it’s a name that combines aspects of humanity and technology – a subject that has dominated their music since the beginning. Plus, could you imagine eagerly anticipating the new On A Friday record?

Sonic Youth: Evoking their DIY-inspired beginnings and their ability to stay musically evergreen Sonic Youth’s choice in name is typical of the band’s way with words (Goo excepted).

Queen: Elegant, powerful, pompous and feminine – yep that’s Queen.

Crystal Castles: Whether or not it is a reference to She-Ra’s castle (as the band claims) or the classic arcade game (as is widely assumed), their name perfectly reflects the retro 8-bit sounds of their music.

Yo La Tengo: “I have it” in Spanish. Perfect for heady, abstract indie-rock band fronted by a former music critic.

The Bad Seeds: Seriously, these guys are not good for you.

Self: We’ll Matt Mahaffey did do it all by his lonesome.

Wire: Thin, spare, and metallic are adjectives that perfectly compliment their music.

Broken Social Scene: Literally.


The Worst

Abe Vigoda: Seriously? That’s the best you guys could come up with?

The Smashing Pumpkins: The name conjures imagery of Halloween pranks and youthful indiscretion, which is appropriate for some of the more wistful Pumpkins songs but completely wrong for the majority of their catalog.

!!!: No. Just no.

Spoon: They are one of my favorite bands, but seriously, Spoon? That’s just silly.

Vampire Weekend: I prefer Werewolf Vacation.

Pavement: Pavement is heavy, gray, and under the best circumstances you just forget that it’s there altogether.

Oasis: An oasis is rare, refreshing, and can save your life. Oasis is commonplace, dispiriting, and will rot your soul.

Archers of Loaf: This band should have been bigger than they were. Granted they had a small hit with “Web In Front” and Eric Bachmann has gone on to success with Crooked Fingers, but still they had way too much talent to be alt-rock also rans. I can’t state that it had everything to do with their name, but it certainly didn’t help. Good nonsensical names can conjure absurdist imagery or provoke interesting connections. Bad ones sit there like a dead pig. This is a very bad one.

Something to Hate: John McCain's Presidential Campaign

Has there every been a more reckless and irresponsible campaign for the presidency of the United States? It's as if McCain is running a reality TV version of a presidential campaign. Its all flash and no substance. Oh, the pretty girl arrives in an unscripted moment to throw the whole race into question. Emergency, the campaign must stop to solve the financial crisis (that he doesn't know anything about, or even begin to know how to fix)! These are some of the best plot points to ever come out of a presidential campaign, and next year I hope they honor such exemplary writing with an Emmy. But there's the rub. Next year one of these people will be in charge of the free world and the bizarre national fixation/fiasco of the campaign will be over. It sure is entertaining to watch John McCain. Its also chilling to think of him as president.

Something Great: Rifftrax.com

I love Mystery Science Theater 3000. Mike, Joel, old Crow or new Crow - I don't care. It's all good. It took me a while to dig in on Rifftrax (besides the pointless wordplay that I hate). It was just weird to hear Mike and Kevin and Bill talk as themselves and riff on new movies, but now I'm hooked. I don't care that Kevin laughs at the jokes, or that there is a bit too much toilet humor (Ok that does bother me a bit). Rifftrax is great. The surprise of the bunch is Bill. He didn't really have a fair shake on MST3K, following up Trace as Crow 2.0 (plus the fact that he played the dumb brain guy in the deadly pearl runners. He's always great on RT and has become my dark horse favorite riffer - Mike always has a place of honor at the top. Well done.

Is 'Enough' Enough?

Barack Obama said this yesterday

This happens every election cycle. Every four years. This is what we do. We've got an energy crisis. We have an education system that is not working for too many of our children and making us less competitive. We have an economy that is creating hardship for families all across America. We've got two wars going on -- veterans coming home not being cared for -- and this is what they want to talk about. This is what they want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about."

"You know who ends up losing at the end of the day? It's not the Democratic candidate. It's not the republican candidate. It's you, the American people, because then we go another year or another four years or another eight years without addressing the issues that matter to you. Enough."

"I don't care what they say about me, but I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and swift-boat politics. Enough is enough."

Fuckin-A.

What the man said just there is a perfect dissection of what the dishonest Republicans dish out, what the lapdog media serve to the American people, and what the American people swallow - every day, not just every four years. Nobody in the equation is blameless (and that includes Democrats), but someone has to stop the bullshit. The Republicans have to stop producing it, the media have to stop serving it and the people have to stop eating it. Republicans get rich off doing it, so that leaves them out. The media too, so unless they have credibility they're out of the equation. So its up to us, the people, to say no. I thought for a while that enough people were fed up with this bullshit, but now I don't know. I hope enough is enough.

Hello Blogness My Old Friend

I haven't written on this here blog in about 3 months, but that is about to change. Right now. I'm going to start with something cool. I love working with Brett and ASIFA-Atlanta. They always have interesting projects and Brett is super supportive. I designed the flier here to advertise their upcoming "Art Inspired By The Golden Age of Cartoons & Comics" gallery show. I may do a piece for the actual show as well. Fun stuff.