This is the end...?

I'm putting this blog on hiatus for now. I haven't felt much like writing in here even when I do find the time to blog. I'm not sure if Erik will keep on blogging, that's fine by me, but there won't be any entries from me for awhile most likely. If I do decide to revive her I will let everyone that reads this know, I just don't know when that could be.

I have a lot of goals to accomplish this year. Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading!

Erik's Top Ten Albums of the year

Hey campers.

As part of my (admittedly early) New Year's Resolution to contribute to this blog more, I will begin by serenading you with my top ten albums of 2007.

#1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

Instead of giving you an in-depth analysis of why I love this album so much and how many times I have listened to "Watch the Tapes" this year on my way to/from work, let me just give you these snippets from various reviews of this album:

"Sequenced as well as any LP this decade" - Pitchfork
"Over and over, these songs reveal how a wisecracking record geek can still achieve rapture." - Spin

"I’d be surprised if the genre can produce anything much better than this." - No Ripcord

This is not merely an album, more a soundtrack for an entire generation confronted with the realities of the "real world," forced to cast off their idealism and instead merely laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Moreover, as an admitted "Goddamned track skipper," there is not a single song on this album that I dislike nor skip after listening to it pretty much endlessly all year. Probably my favorite album since Z.

Favorite Track - "All My Friends"

#2 - MIA - Kala

Coming in just the tiniest of margins behind (with a cheap AK in hand), comes not only one of the best albums but one of the most forceful political statements of the year. Kala finds MIA really flexing her muscles, copping well-known samples (not just the chorus on "20 Dollar," but the bass line from "Blue Monday" is in the same song) and hooking up with big-name producers (Switch), but making them distinctly her own. Stylistically, this is an album all across the board - everything from Bollywood standards ("Jimmy") to wildlife samples ("Bird Flu") to frantic, glitchy rave beats ("XR2") is put into the blender and reinterpreted in a totally unique and ultimately catchy way.

In most politics, both sides scream at another but the truth lies somewhere in the middle. MIA gives a voice to a side so startling that even the middle ground is a bit unsettling. Also bonus points for being of the few artists still advancing the "music as political statement" cause.

Favorite Track - "Paper Planes" or "Jimmy"

#3 - Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

I used to have a very difficult time with Animal Collective, feeling that they were at times a bit too avant-garde and focused on the strange sound and composition and the "art" instead of making something pleasing to listen to.

This album changed that. And how.

By scaling back some of the occasionally overwhelming sound, it allowed me to better appreciate the instrument that is Avey Tare's voice as it jumps all around on this album. Lyrically, this album has some of the more fascinating phrases put to music this whole year.

Favorite Track - "Fireworks"

#4 - Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer?

Where to begin with this band? The glammiest of glam, the poppiest of pop, this is a band that arrived two decades too late for the mainstream. If this came out in 1984, it would be all over MTV.

Also, thanks for naming our blog!

Favorite Track - "Gronlandic Edit"

#5 - Daft Punk - Alive 2007

To dismiss this as a "live album" or a "remix album" is a disservice to the intricacy of the mix of these songs. All of your favorite Daft Punk songs are slowed down, sped up, cut up, lined up and mixed into one coherent set, reinterpreting and reimagining even the songs you have heard hundreds of times.

In particular, track 5 is an epic, starting with Steam Machine, slowly dissolving into that oh-so-familiar Around the World bass line, then lined up with Harder Better Faster Stronger - and after an improvised scat-vocal break, the song is officially shifted to "Ludicrous Speed" as two men in robot suits drop into the mix "work it/work it/work it/work it/faster/faster/faster/faster." Seventy thousand people hopping in a field can't be wrong.

Favorite Track - "Around the World / Harder Better Faster Stronger"

#6 - Justice - Cross

This could very easily be #5a, as French House was EVERYWHERE in 2007. Yet another duo with fantastic pop sensibilities crafting unique videos and catchy hits. Even the infamously hard-to-please Kanye gave them props. Kid choir vocals, distorted catchy guitar loops - this is the future of pop music.

Favorite Track - "Waters of Nazareth"

#7 - Burial - Untrue

There is a lot about this album that reminds me of a sped-up Portishead with vocal samples instead of Beth Gibbons. A fantastic album for cold winter days. I could go on about how it's "mournful" and "soulful" and all sorts of other -fuls but it's beyond that - in addition to the raw emotion it's clean and catchy. It's almost better that s/he remain anonymous - I fear that the modern interrogation that has become the interview would prevent the artist from going to their "creative place."

Favorite Track - "Archangel"

#8 - Radiohead - In Rainbows

If this were a top ten list of most important albums released this year, this would unequivocally be number 1. Radiohead once again thought big, and landed the latest haymaker against the RIAA oligarchy.

But it's not. And the music, while typically good and typically Radiohead, is merely very good in a year full of spectacular efforts. I was still hoping for a new Bends.

Favorite Song - "Videotape"

#9 - Kanye West - Graduation

Let me make one thing abundantly clear - I hate the overwhelming vast majority of mainstream top 40 music. Can't stand it, really.

But. Kanye West, for all his brash arrogance and egotism, is the one person in mainstream pop music who is continuing to push the envelope. He understands that the future of music is not in showy, call-and-response "ringtone rap," nor is it the slick, overproduced singer-starlets that seem to be fabricated on television right before our eyes. He's the continuation of the MIchael Jackson school of pop - perfect, ubiquitous hooks that are easy to sing along to and follow you everywhere you go.

In GQ's December Men of the Year issue, Kanye said that Graduation is "nowhere near as good as I'm capable of." I just hope his egotism doesn't lead him to get a pet chimp.

Favorite Track - "Good Life" (sorry, I'm a sucker for that synth line)

#10 - The Tuss - Rushup Edge

Thanks Mitch!

2007 was the year I really got into some of the crazier drum and bass artists, and nothing quite defines crazy drum and bass like Richard D. James. Intricate and meticulous, yet accessible and head-nod-worthy, this album helped open my eyes to a whole new world of electronic music.

Favorite Track - "Shiz Ko E"

Honorable Mention:

Menomena - Friend and Foe
Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends
White Stripes - Icky Thump (Finally, the old Stripes sound again!)
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (probably #11)
The Field - From Here We Go Sublime

Apparently, from reading other people's lists, I should also have listened to Panda Bear?

Show of the Year:

Hot Chip, the Granada

I don't attend shows like I once did, but I have seen probably my fair share. And in all of the shows that I have seen at the Granada (including the Nightmare on Mass Street), I have NEVER seen people get down like I did that hot, humid summer afternoon. Some of the more subdued tracks took on a new life, most memorably "(Just Like We) Breakdown."

That's all for now. I may add more later. In the meantime, we'll continue consuming media so you don't have to...

"Trollson Twins" by Peta

On one hand this is extremely amusing but on the other hand this is kind of cruel. But then again, I believe it's cruel to steal a poor animal's skin just to wear it in a fashion sense. There are plenty of faux furs out there that look just like the real thing.

PETA Targets Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in New Campaign, Calls Them the "Trollsen Twins" Tuesday December 11, 2007
Courtesy of PETA

Move over, Jennifer Lopez.
PETA has a new target.

Well, two targets: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
In a new ad campaign to be unveiled today at the Olsens' Walk of Fame star on Hollywood Boulevard, PETA blasts the 21-year-old star sibs — whom they dub the "Trollsen Twins — for wearing fur and including it in their collections Elizabeth and James and The Row.
"Thin-twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are about to get some publicity that will have them running away faster than if they'd spotted a calorie," the group said in a snarky statement today.
The new ad features the twins above the headline "Fur Is Worn by Beautiful Animals and Ugly People."
To coincide with the ad, PETA has also launched a new web site devoted to "Hairy-Kate" and "Trashley."
It features, among other things, a mash-up video called "Full House of Horrors," in which footage from the twins' former hit TV show is interspersed with – you guessed it – scenes of animals being killed for fur.
"No one would argue that Mary-Kate and Ashley could use some meat on their bones, but the last thing they need is hair on their backs," PETA's Assistant Director of Youth Campaigns Dan Shannon said in a statement.

Peta has also created a "game" on their site where you can dress the twins in bloody pelts!

Source

Another Girl Gone Red!

Mischa Barton recently dyed her hair a fabulous shade of red. I love it of course but I may be a bit biased as it is my favorite hair color. What do you think? Do you prefer Mischa's beautiful blonde tones or her new vibrant red?

Before:


After:




Source for the bottom two: theskinnywebsite.com, although I actually found these on a message board. Sorry, I can't remember where I found the blonde before shot.

Smokin' hot!

Check out these Christian Bale photographs that set my girlie parts afire! (haha, sorry for that little image but I couldn't help myself).
I've always had a thing for the bad boys and these pictures are no exception. I know I shouldn't be attracted to people who smoke but I have been since my teens. I think it's just the whole bad boy image.






Photographs by: Ellen von Unwerth


See also Ryan Gosling post.

Style Inspiration

I have a history of loving really awful teenage tv shows. But you know what? I don't care. I love being addicted. My newest love is Blair Waldorf from CW's Gossip Girl. She's a bitch but you like her. At least I like her. But most of all I love watching what the characters are wearing. Here are a few pictures from my Blair Waldorf collection. She is the brunette for you non-Gossip Girl watchers. Even though I kind of doubt I could pull off these looks, it sure would be fun to try!















Various sources: The CW, gossip sites, etc.

I need to keep this blog updated better. I swear I have all ideas of things I should/could post but never take the time to write up a blog.

Be certain there shall be some Project Runway updates in your future. I am obsessed with that show. Obsessed enough to convince myself that I needed a sewing machine for Christmas last year. A sewing machine that has collected dust. A sewing machine that needs a warm touch and some love from it's owner. I hope that I can get motivated to learn more about it this winter.

Also I'm hoping to come up with a new design for this blog. I kind of hate this pink color now.
XOXO,
Mandy

GQ Men

Enjoy these gorgeous and hot photographs from some recent GQs:

Ryan Gosling

Mark Ronson

All I can say is yummy.

-Mandy