crazy like a fool

i've a long, long, LONG entry (well, in my head) that i'd like to write about Monster (short version: see it. it's very good. but know what it's about first, because it's just amusing to sit in a theatre with a bunch of tards who obviously only went to see it cos it was [at the time we went to see it] heavily tipped to be nominated for awards. and now has won awards. and seriously, complaining that it doesn't have a ruddy happy ending when it's based [well, parts] on a true story?!??! aieeee. --;;;)

i don't think i'll get to it before we leave, though. Spaz and i are hitting the road and going on vacation for the next week. so don't expect loads from me. although we'll be taking photos, and will of course whore share if any of them are good. XD

wrath of basil!

new recipe for Drunken Basil Sauce up at Licking the Spoon. a bundle of recipe goodness lately, i am!

now, must finish watching the 2004 Rallye Monte Carlo. the return of Mitsu shall be interesting, but damn if the Evo isn't really, really hideous...o.o;;;

begging for it, they really were...

check it. Subpop mocks Pitchforkmedia. hee.

also, picked up Franz Ferdinand's Darts of Pleasure EP last night. so far, quite enjoyable. also noted new Laika record which i hadn't been aware of previously. shall have to try harder. *chomps at bit frantically*

words + guitars

completely unrelated to one another (apart from info on both being thanks to ILM), the Sing-Sing site has been relaunched in order to coincide with the release of their new Madame Sing-Sing EP.

also, Sleater-Kinney has at long last put up their own site. it's full of the expected history and info, as well as some audio and video downloads. they're also taking questions from fans; they'll post their favourite 5 per week along with answers (as long as they're not logistic in nature).

what did you mean by it?

for anyone who, like me, had been interested in hearing The Kitchen (formed out of the ashes of Bis and Discount by Amanda and Ryan of those two bands respectively) but hasn't yet gone and tracked down the 7"s that they've released so far, check out ILoveTheKitchen.com. they've got a new song, "Notch," available for download.

enjoy.

mmm, self-revision!

now playing: "many classic moments. (Vincent de Moor's Budou Vox Mix)" globe.

new rice pudding variant recipe up at Licking the Spoon. don't walk, run!

just because you can...

got a semi-usual e-mail from Moss Mini detailing their winter sale and new stuff they've got in stock. all was well and good until i got down to their newly-on-offer Altezza taillights.

...admittedly, the black ones aren't so bad. but the clear ones seem to be what people with no sense of style whatsoever seem to like putting on whatever car they've currently got their hands on. they are hideous. there really is NOT a car that these look good on (despite the fact that that Lexus comes with them from factory), IMHO. the clears tend to look cheap, and tacky, and more to the point---just like everything else. because everyone puts them on.

really, i thought the point of modding one's car was to make it one's own---if one wanted it to look just like everything else, why wouldn't one just leave it stock? SO. CLICH?D.

(blargh. honestly, there ought to be a What Not To Wear for vehicular infractions. :P)

the in sound from way out!

i'm telling you, this had better be the absolute ultimate turntable cartridge ever, for $5,000.

it's awfully pretty, i'll admit. one wonders, however, what $5,000 worth of pretty actually sounds like...? XD

'swhat i get for not keeping up...

afraid i'm a wee bit late with this info, but videos of the last Bis gig ever are now available in both PAL and NTSC versions. check the link for complete info. total including shipping (in US$) comes to $20 in the US, $24 in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, and $25 in Japan. will of course post more once i've got my copy. ^^

you're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!

we here at Kerfuffle.org are proud to announce the grand opening of Joe's Garage, which is my oft-mentioned coconspirator Spaz' ongoing photo log/gallery of various automotive events we've been to and will go to in the future (as well as various things we see on the road). some of these photos have appeared here at HSL in the past, and i'm sure some will continue to do so in the future. we can't remember who took what any more, although i can say that he probably took most of the photos you'll see in his garage. take a peek inside and enjoy!

neither a hanging matter nor a capital crime

got my first rather unfortunate taste of The Darkness this past weekend, as there was some bash on MTV2 being shown to celebrate an MTV2UK anniversary of some sort. it was live footage, and oh, oh, oh was it painful.

in other news, apparently Grand Royal is now up for auction. NoRock mentions how there's likely Sean Lennon + Luscious Jackson masters involved, but i wonder if Bis' deal let them hold onto the ones for Social Dancing and Music For A Stranger World themselves? ooh, and Buffalo Daughter...

so, er, if anyone's got $10K burning a hole in their pockets, er...yeah. XD

[ETA 14/1/04: had i looked more closely, i'd have seen the PDF files with listings of the masters and the stock involved. hrrm, full of Buffalo Daughter and Butter 08 masterswise...]

important question

Were you to come across the phrase, "hotly deliquescing interior," without context, where would you guess it came from?

a) a romance novel

b) proper smut, real or imagined

c) a cookbook

d) a song lyric

If you'd like, please expound upon your reason for choosing what you did.

HSL in 2004: all about the aural smut. yes. XD

vocab quiz

Eppy posts a rather interesting discussion about pop music criticism over at ClapClap. Most of the points made are some I've also thought for awhile---basically, the idea of music criticism of any sort existing without actual analysis of the music involved seems rather useless.

At the same time, I don't think that people who mainly stick to analysis of lyrical content are automatically making themselves into literary critics. (Although, of course, there are some that do---I just don't think it's really an all-or-nothing proposition.) Literary criticism of pop lyrics is really rarely good at all (I'll be a fence-sitter and say "rarely" simply because I believe it's possible that someone somewhere has written just such an analysis and said something brilliant. Just because I've not read it yet doesn't mean it can't exist.)---this is a point I've argued (in somewhat less-than-cohesive form, I'll admit) many times before.

It's difficult ground to cover, too---of course, it's undeniable that if a song has got lyrics, and if those lyrics are intelligible, one will take some sort of analysis of them (however cursory) to heart upon listening to them---provided they're in a language the listener understands. That's an issue, though, in this sort of criticism---if one isn't able to criticise the lyrics because one doesn't understand them, then is that person unable to criticise the music altogether?

Relatedly, the issue of the sort of elitism and alienation that come with any sort of intense specialisation (and the jargon inherent) are undeniable if one speaks only in terms of music theory as regards these songs. Putting aside for a moment the notion that many people so equipped to disect music in this fashion would sneer down their noses at using such tools to analyse something so base as pop music, the fact that the theory courses are usually electives rather than requisites automatically limits and possibly cripples the audience. It's incredibly frustrating to have no way to describe something and say something that feels (well, to yourself, if no one else) somewhat intelligent---so why would people who aren't feeling a particular degree of masochism willingly subject themselves to it?

The main reason, then, that people are content to criticise pop music based mostly upon lyrical content (as well as to read such criticism by others) is that, of course, it's a matter of comfort and familiarity. It's a matter of course that the culture of literary criticism is virtually beaten into a good deal of people who would like to consider themselves "educated." This irks me on a very basic level, because I'd like to think that my education hasn't been just about reading and regurgitating---or, worse yet, reading and responding in exactly the ways in which I've been coached, thereby tricking myself into thinking I'm doing something original when really, I'm following the path beaten through my skull directly from point A to point B. I don't think I'm overstating my case in saying that there are few ideas that make me angrier, actually, than the notion that I'm not thinking for myself---in any aspect.

Eppy's right---both a new vocabulary and a new way of criticising pop music need to be forged, and I do believe it's possible as well. I don't believe it's likely to happen without a lot of other people (and particularly those of the sort who write about pop music with anything approaching regularity) building it, of course. Eppy also makes the point that the easy-to-identify-with nature of current pop music and movie criticism is why both are fairly widely read. Cinematic criticism has incredibly varied levels to it, and pop music (in some form) has existed far longer than cinema. I'd really say this idea is highly overdue.

with the radio on...

saw Lost in Translation yesterday. wasn't overly impressed---wasn't really offended, either. thought it did a fairly good job expounding upon culture shock and resultant alienation, including the self-wrought variety.

what really did get me, however, is the whole "let's raid your record collection, shall we?" aspect of the music. XDXD not all of it, of course---certainly not the new Air and esp. Kevin Shields tracks. but the general idea was had. and i'd forgotten knowing about Peaches showing up in the strip club. hee.

the soundtrack is kind of tempting, in a "wow, new KS" kinda way. not overly so---wasn't really blown away by any of the incidental music he provided. 'twas alright, and worked fairly well, but wasn't thrilling in the way that hearing "Sometimes" in a movie theatre was. i can't describe how that felt, really, except it was gorgeous. while "Just Like Honey" showing up at the end provoked mad fits of giggles i had to stifle (since, yanno, wasn't really the appropriate reaction for the scene, and didn't want to be a rude twit in the theatre XD), "Sometimes" provoked sharp intake of breath and general sense of peace.

so what has this movie done for me? it's made me want to pillage my record collection and hibernate in my room house. XD granted, it's probably the weather that's a lot to do with it, too, but.