I’ve just made a four-day trip to NYC, and had the misfortune—curse you, American Airlines!—of having The Blind Side as my “feature presentation” both coming and going. They say that every man has his own hell; mine would be sitting strapped to a chair, like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, watching Sandra Bullock movies for [...]
Ah, the joys of serial writing! In yesterday’s post, I referred to the title of Michiko Kakutani’s recent NYTimes essay incorrectly—not once, but four times. (Don’t bother to look back: I’ve “silently amended” the error.) I’d credited her with writing “Texts without Contexts”; the actual title of the essay uses the singular “context.” Now to [...]
I’ve realized recently that I can be something of a reactionary against “reactionaries.” I suppose I’m a left-reactionary, though reactionary against both right- and left-reactionaries. Quite a “meta-” situation, to be sure: precisely the kind of thing Michiko Kakutani loathes. As many of my readers will be aware, Kakutani has been at it again; her [...]
I’ve not to this point followed the Adam Lambert saga closely, though the sophisticated and erudite readers of fakechineserubberplant will, I think, know the general outlines of his story: a finalist in the eighth season of American Idol, Lambert’s chances to win seemed to evaporate precisely at the moment that pictures of him making out [...]
Let’s get finished with Valleys of Neptune now with all due dispatch. “Mr. Bad Luck”: forgettable (given the proviso, ventured yesterday, that all of these tracks bring something of value). Let’s move on. Hendrix’s almost seven-minute instrumental version of “Sunshine of Your Love” is the track (after “Valleys of Neptune”) that’s been getting the most media [...]
[Owing to some technical problems out here on the road, this week's Mystery Science Auditorium has been pushed back to Sunday: with apologies.--KD] Having begun Thursday with some general comments on Hendrix’s new Valleys of Neptune, I’d like to venture some specific remarks about a handful of the album’s more remarkable tracks today and tomorrow. [...]
At the record company meeting On their hands a dead star And oh, the plans they weave And oh, the sickening greed. . . . Re-issue ! Re-package ! Re-package ! Re-evaluate the songs Double-pack with a photograph Extra track (and a tacky badge) –The Smiths, “Paint a Vulgar Picture” On February 23, Johnny Cash’s [...]
So, ponder this: Why do The Runaways deserve a movie? What’s the hook—what’s the movie, what were The Runaways, about? I’d looked forward eagerly to the film; it left me quite disappointed. Well, the first all-girl rock band, right? But that answer just begs further questions. What’s newsworthy about an all-girl rock band? Presumably it’s [...]
Inspired by Kyla’s stirring, nay eloquent photo series of Starbucks cups embellished with her Sharpie-misspelled name, I find that I too have a Starbucks story to tell, or at least a conundrum to pose. Questions that demand an answer. The first week of March was a weird one for America’s Favorite Corporate Java Giant. (Full [...]
1.0 A blog called “fake chinese rubber plant” has to comment on an album like this, right? I mean, to begin with, Gorillaz are a (proudly, self-proclaimed) “fake,” or virtual, band, the brainchild of Damon Albarn, from the Britpop band Blur, and comic-book artist Jamie Hewlett; their music videos are animated, with cartoon character band [...]