Pop Life

Saturday, February 21, 2004

 
MADVILLAIN: MORE ANIMATED THAN EVER

doom run run runs, the doom run runs


If you haven't seen the new video for Madvillain's "All Caps", you're missing out on a great mesh of music and animation. And peep: it's all hand-drawn. CG gets the gasface.
(spotted at 1976 Worldwide)
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Friday, February 20, 2004

 
UPDATED
LORD OF THE RINGS GO BLING?
JEFF CHANG GOES OFF?
JAY-Z GOES METALICCA?
EGO TRIP GO VHI?
MEN GO DOWNTOWN?
YEAH, WE STILL GOIN' 'ROUND THE BLOGS



speaks for itself
(spotted at lowculture.com)


  • There's nothing worse than touchy, defensive white men who seem to think the world revolves around them, and moreover, that any general comment made about white supremacy is somehow directed explicitly at them. Case in point: Mark Jenkins goes after Jeff Chang with an embarrassingly sloppy column that wholly misinterprets Jeff's now-infamous "Da Capo critique". Jeff, never one to let a scrub try to school him, blasts back with a righteous fury. Jenkins - duck down!

  • Okay ya'll, this Jay-Z remix thing is already way out of hand. It gets crazier everyday. Now there's the "Double Black Album", mixing up Jay-Z with (yup) Metallica. I know I came out in full support of Danger Mouse's "Grey Album" but listening to the "Double Black Album," it just doesn't sound as fresh. Maybe I'm just tired of hearing the Jiggaman over 1,001 different beats.
    (spotted at different kitchen)


    Meanwhile, Mark over at Hella Hip-Hop gets props for keeping track of all the various Black Album remixes. So far? 12! Crazy, I'm telling you, crazy.
    (speaking of "The Grey Album" though, if you've living in a cave and still haven't downloaded a copy yet, Grey Tuesday (2/24) is your day)


  • Mark your Tivos suckers - Ego Trip and VH1 Present: TV's Illest Minority Moments (terrible name, cool show): Sunday, February 22, 10pm (watch it after Sex and the City)

  • Over at Blacktable.com, Amy Blair regularly writes columns based on reading through Craigslist.org personals. This week, she singles out ads by men offering oral services to women. I just want to note that Amy combs through the NYC Craigslist and that's all cool and what not (read: whatever), but if she really wants to find the folks who wildin' out, she needs to roll with the original Bay Area Craigslist. The Bay gets their freak on like no other - don't front.


  • Whenever Julianne Shepherd gets into the writing zone, she's so ill, the CDC should put an alert out. This time, she writes about the David Banner/Chingy/Ludacris show in Portland. Is she crunk? Yes, she is.

  • The great thing about Hua Hsu writing about Kanye West is that I just know it's going to be gooooooood. The bad thing is that it means that when I have to write about Kanye West, it's going to be that much harder. Bastard.

  • The current furor over gay marriage, especially in my home 'hood of the Bay Area, is like a clarion call for Margaret Cho to exhort everyone to "Step Up" as she describes in a recent blog posting. I got more to say on this whole issue but for now, Cho expresses anything I'd want to and more.

  • Holy crap, Jazzbo actually updated his site - and with aplomb too. He dishes the inside dirt on The Neptunes and Wacko Jacko. Hot ish. Pha'real.

  • Porn meets speed dating. Well, sort of. Hilarious read regardless from the gal at Pornblography.
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  • Thursday, February 19, 2004

     
    MEDIA SPINS: KERRY VS. EDWARDS, COLORADO FOOTBALL SCANDAL, DECIPHERING FLOWERS, NUTS FOR TRUCKS

    Kerry does his best Frankenstein impression
    Edwards does his best RFK impression


  • I don't want to be mean, but that is just a TERRIBLE photo of Kerry. Dude looks like death warmed over in the microwave for a few seconds. I think it's a Right wing conspiracy - someone made sure that CNN ran the most unflattering pic of the Demo front-runner in their story about the 2-man race for the nomination. I'm scurred just looking at it for too long.

  • I've been following the insanity over at the University of Colorado, off and on, but it's just getting to ridiculous proportions. Coach Gary Burnett simply has to be one of the most stupid and least media-savvy coaches in Division I today. Not only did he sound laughably unconvincing in claiming that neither his program - nor any other in the NCAA - would eever stoop to using sex or alcohol to recruit players, but his latest gaffe has been to ridicule former kicker Katie Hnida, who recently said that she was raped by a CU player while playing for the team. The school has put Burnett on administrative leave and one can only think that his firing is just moments away. When that happens, it will be far too soon. I know it probably won't go down like this, but in a more just world, Burnett shouldn't be able to find a job coaching pee-wee football. Forget that, I wouldn't let dude sit next to me at a foos ball table - what a clueless disgrace he is.

  • Even though Valentine's Day has already come and gone, it's not too late to understand what your floral bouqet means for your relationship. Ever wonder what a bouquet of anthuriums symbolize?
       "I'm really cheap and not sure I like you that much in this stage of our relationship."

      It's hard to imagine anyone liking a flower that looks like Gene Simmon's tongue, so even when the florist proposes anthuriums ("Hey, they're red, they look like hearts - see?") a steadfast swain won't cave. A man who gives anthuriums is so on the fence about you that he's got splinters up his butt. Proper response: "I guess they ran out of roses?"
      (spotted at blacktable.com)

  • Nutsfortrucks.com. I don't even know what to say - just look:

    (spotted on fimoculous.com)
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  • Wednesday, February 18, 2004

     
    IDOL CHATTER

    roll on, willy, roll


    First of all, how does Matthew Rogers, manage to advance despite all the judges agreeing that his rendition of "What You Won't Do For Love" was waaaaaaack? I'm telling you why - it's because he's this white yahoo reppin' for red necks and pick-up trucks and there's no other white contestants who fit that same bill. AND, if I have to listen to him brag about how "I was in the Rose Bowl" one more time, I'm gonna holla. Who cares if you played college football? If you were first string for an NFL team, ok, navel-gaze away but really, we don't give a fuck.

    In some better news, my girl DJ Anna mentioned that William Hung has been offered a recording contract by Koch Entertainment. Say what? Dude is gangster large. MSNBC has more on the story.
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    MID-SEASON T.V. CHECK: SEX AND THE CITY, ALIAS, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, SURVIVOR: ALL-STARS, ETC.


    you think this will hurt manolo blahnik sales?


  • Alas, it's time to bid adieu to Sex and the City and I have to say - the writers have done a fantastic job of closing the show out with some of the best material they've ever created. Everything this second half of the season feels so much more deep and meaningful rather than just a series of cheap laughs and titillating sex talk. For once, I actually feel real depth coming from the main four leads and it's been a wondrous thing to witness. I looooove Miranda and Steve together as a family - she seems so much better for the relationship yet doesn't sacrifice the edge that's been her signature. Charlotte seems so much less annoying now that she's settled down in her new family life (and let's face it, cute dogs never hurt). Samantha has been incredible the last few episodes, not simply dealing with her breast cancer, but also how adult her relationship with Smith has been. Carrie...well...Carrie's been her twitterpated self as always, surprisingly the weak link in the chain since she keeps coming off seeming rather twiggy around her new Russian/artist love interest but she also gets to grow into a relationship in a way that we haven't seen with either Big or Aidan. Personally, I'm rooting for Big though I'm predicting she comes home to New York and chooses neither man. We'll see come next Sunday. I'm genuinely sorry to see the show go, especially since it's riding such a high wave right now.

  • I'm loving Alias right now. It's entirely, absolutely convoluted and I pity the fool who stumbles into this show mid-season (hell, I pity anyone who hasn't watched the first two seasons). I mean, the Da Vinci Code is less confusing but if you've been a hardcore fan of this show, it's paying off in spades. Lauren, Covenant? Teaming up with Sark? Sydney and Vaughn making eyes at each other again? Jack, the biggest bad ass ever? Marshall married and a father? Gimme more, more, more. All this needs is for Lena Olin to come down on her price and this show is so far off the hook, there's no reeling it back. (Note to Quentin Tarantino: you still are better at making movies than starring in them.)

  • If you haven't watched Arrested Development please do? Besides being the drop-dead-funniest sitcom on t.v. right now (ok, after The Simpsons), it brings us the return and redemption of Jason friggin' Bateman. That has to count for something - maybe everything. What next, will Skippy from Family Ties pop up? Can the return of Jim J. Bullock be too far behind? Seriously, Bateman is great, the whole cast is great, the writing is on point and funny and you're missing out if you're missing out.

  • I stopped watching Survivor early into the "Africa" installment and I haven't regretted straying away but with this new All-Stars format, I'm back and loving it. So much shit-talking and back-stabbing, this is why they invented reality television. I, like millions, are just gleefully waiting for the day that Richard gets served off the island. It will happen, people. It might even be better than seeing Jerri get voted off of "Australian Outback."

  • Last but not least, this isn't a TV show but I caught the second half of Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express and seriously, it has the best closing scene ever. Besides the fact that Tony Leung is positively hunkalicious and Faye Wong ain't looking bad in a flight attendent uniform, there's just something so giddy and wonderful about how this scene ends. In Tony's eyes we see attraction, adoration and most of all, this belief that the future is limitless. It is such an incredibly optimistic statement, communicated in just a look and then, just to top it off, Faye's cover of "Dreams" (Cranberries) kicks in just to seal the deal. It's better than ice cream.
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  • Sunday, February 15, 2004

     
    ...AND YOU WONDER WHY REPUBLICANS HAVE AN IMAGE PROBLEM

    College Republicans at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island have established a scholarship designated for white students only. This is supposed to be a parodic criticism of affirmative action policies and while this will surely get the outraged attention of people everywhere, all it's really going to do is make these guys seem like a bunch of misguided racist morons. Which of course, they are. And why is always College Republicans who come up with dumb shit like this?

    I mean, college lefties I knew weren't the most strategically gifted people I knew either but a scholarship for whites only? I'm sorry, but in a world filled with evil geniuses like Karl Rove, these guys are strictly sandbox in their sophistication. Enjoy the attention guys and I hope the forthcoming beatdowns will be suitably painful.

    P.S. Jason Mattera, the brain trust behind this plan, is a Puerto Rican who himself received $5,000 in funding designated for "minority students". I'm sure many will point out the hypocrisy but let me just ask the obvious question: Jason - you give back that five grand yet?
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    WB DRIVES A STAKE THROUGH ANGEL? UPDATED
    PIERCE BROSNAN OUT AS BOND?



    yeah, we're bummed too


    Damn.

    I had been meaning for weeks now to write up how much I like the current season of Angel but WB had to up and go cancel the show. This sucks on multiple levels especially the show has actually been really good this season (its fifth), blending some of the best writing I've seen on this show ever, mostly good storylines (but ya'll kind of axed Lindsey a little quick, no?), and great chemistry between the main crew, especially with Spike having ported himself over from Buffy.

    Speaking of which, if Angel really does end (and apparently, this isn't so certain according to the folks over at Joss Whedon's blog), it more or less spells the end to the Buffy-verse in terms of forming a constant presence on television for the last half decade or so. There's rumors that WB might still be down to air movies built off the Buffy-verse but that's kind of a weak consolation prize.

    Anyways, what I wonder is if Whedon and company are going to try to tie up all the strings they can before the end of the season. One expects that, unlike Sex and the City and Friends, we're probably not going to see a round of weddings hitting Angel by May, especially since none of the current characters are really romantically linked to one another right now. And while I'm sure a nation wants to see Buffy and Angel reunited ('cause it feels so goooooood) I just don't really see that happening right now with only 9 or so episodes left in the season, but hey, you never know. (this story originally spotted at radosh.net)

    Update: Here's a thoughtful analysis of why being a "cult hit" is far worse than it sounds. (spotted at whedonesque.com)

    Speaking of endings - apparently, Pierce Brosnan's days as James Bond are over. I have mixed feelings about this - I mean, he was surely an improvement over Timothy Dalton but am I the only person who thought that while Brosnan looked the Bond part, he just never played 007 with the kind of charisma that Connery or even (god forbid) Roger Moore did? Brosnan was just far too smug as Bond, lacking a sense of humor.

    Then again, maybe the real problem is that the whole Bond franchise has been well-nigh bland the last 10 years. Especially at a time where action films have taken a quantum leap forward thanks to everything from The Matrix's special effects to John Woo's gun-fu to Lord of the Rings' pathos, Bond is still the same formula done over and over: cool gadgets, nice car, hot women and some dialobical plot to take over/destroy the world. Yawn. For once, it'd be nice to see some actual dialogue that wasn't a bunch of one-liners or a storyline with some sophistication. Wouldn't it be great to see a Bond movie directed by David Fincher? Or Bryan Singer? Or the Wachowski Brothers (ok, maybe not them right now)?

    As for who can replace Bond - Sharon wants to nominate Johnny Depp which I'm all for (but of course, would never happen). Some have bantied about Jason Stetham (Snatch, The Transporter) and apparently, Clive Owen (The Croupier) was asked but passed - Owen would have been excellent, maybe he'll reconsider? Just please, please, please, not Colin Farrell.
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