My all time favourite picture of Obama, is the one of him hanging from a bar in a gymnasium, doing a pull-up (I think it’s pretty symbolic of not just strength, and resolve, but also a good sense of humour) but really there’s a lot of photogenic to go around with this guy.
A thorough examination of Obama’s breakthrough 2004 DNC speech. A must-read for anyone interested in not only, how this whole thing got started in the first place, but how Obama’s rhetorical skills were honed (am I the only speech-geek in the room? Yes? Oh. Well, I blame Aaron Sorkin).
His speech on race gave me chills and tears in equal measure, but I do love a good oratory. If you haven’t watched/read it yet, now’s probably the time to do so.
It’s been printed and pressed, and the band - a little outfit cleverly named Provincial Parks - is having a party to celebrate - so you should be there. I will be there, anyways. I would like a copy of my work - and the music inside it’s pretty awesome too (sort of a sparkly-shiny indie rock with some poppy undertones) so I’m excited about getting a copy of that as well.
I don’t get how the Euro’s are doing it, but it’s getting to the point where I’m not really bothering to listen to music if it didn’t come from a country where they eat a lot of smoked fish.
Alphabeat are makers of such music. There are pretty much a billion ways I could describe them, so I’m just going to mention the most fun ones:
A Scandinavian S Club 7 with Cyndi Lauper meets George Micheal vocals? Sure.
The Thrills - but from Denmark instead of Ireland and obsessed with New Wave instead of Surf Rock? Yep, that one’s good.
Infectiously-sugar-coated, eighties-pop-tinged, happy-music from the land of modernist teak furniture? That pretty much sums it up, actually.
They also have a pretty cool typographic motif going on, not to mention the cute outfit factor (them being Dansk and all, it’s pretty high).
I dare you to watch this video and not get into a cheery mood.
This is the best outfit I have ever seen on a celebrity (Lily Allen, BTW).
Pink!
Turquoise!
Sparkles!
Bambi!
Who’s her stylist? Hello Kitty?
It’s all sooooo cute! If i had gotten married at the age of 11, I probably would have worn exactly that, pink hair and all. Actually, I will probably still wear something like that when I do get married in the next couple years. I just can’t help it, when I see vibrant pastels like that all in one place, it just makes me happy. It must take me back to some childhood place where Rainbow Brite and Jem and the Holograms still scamper about.
Also adorable: the apology she put on her blog for gettting drunk that night
And I Quote:
“Last time I wrote here, I was defending my honor and dignity, explaining my innocence and also outrage at the press for insinuating my behaviour was embarrassing. This time I’m putting my hands up, I got very drunk last night, too drunk. It’s not cool getting that drunk, I feel awful and I have to thank my little brother Alf for getting me home safely.
Kids, drink responsibly or you’ll end up looking like this, not pretty! Was quite fun though, from what I can remember. Need fry up now.”
If you watched the Hills this week, then you probably rocked out a bit to that great French pop they played in between sweeping shots of the Eiffel tower.
Well, I am here to lead you to the source of it’s awesomeness. Although frankly, Jezebel beat me to it.
Her name Yelle, and she reminds me a heck of a lot of a certain other talented young European as she has a penchant for wacky - yet surprisingly flattering - Euro trash fashions and sweet and poppy elecro.
But where Robyn is like Bjork meets Gwen Stefani as raised by Missy, Yelle is like the secret French love child Peaches and Princess Superstar were always meant to have, with Francoise Hardy as her godmother.
When I watched horribly dubbed European childrens shows on TVO as a child, I never imagined that all those wacky/tacky clothes and all that cheesy Casio music would come back to haunt me in the most fabulous way possible.
How do Europeans get away with being so sophisticated all of a sudden, by doing the same things they’ve always done? We used to at least have their weird clothes and musical tastes to make fun of, even if everything else they did was pretty much superior in every way. Great, now you guys have a sizzling economy, unparalleled culture, excellent social programs, and all the good pop music and outfits. Unfair guys, unfair.
(Sidebar: If you’re unfamiliar with Francoise Hardy you should click on this link ’cause Francoise Hardy is the bomb. I can never get over how pretty she was, and how modern she looked and sounded - fourty years ago BTW - and she’s pretty much even hotter now that she’s older - hrmmm… maybe the French have always been good at the whole music and outfits thing…)
I don’t usually post videos, but I keep running across this same artist’s stuff, and I am totally in love with her:
Her name is Robyn, she’s Swedish, and she used be a teeny-bopper pop-star in the mid nineties (remember “Show Me Love”? It was pretty ubiquitous at one point. Still hear it from time to time on adult-contempo radio). During the nineties her producer/song writer/Svengali was fellow swede Max Martin - Yes, that Max Martin, of later Britney infamy.
Eventually Robyn, not surprisingly, grew a little tired of being marketed as a pop-tartlet by her record company. But rather than put out a whiny new single about being misunderstood, or how hard being rich and famous is, she dumped her label and started her own.
Then she gave herself a asymmetrical bleach blond haircut; started wearing crazy outfits usually seen on more avant-garde artists (like a dress made to look like a Wurlitzer juke box); and started writing all her own material, collaborating with all the hip, young, up-and-coming producers and DJs Europe has to offer. Pretty awesome right? Now as a result, she’s the hottest thing in the British press, which means her total world dominance should be forthcoming shortly.
She’s pretty much Bjork and Gwen’s long lost Swedish love-child as raised by Missy. In other words: what’s not to love? She’s totally adorable in a wacky, Scandinavian sort of way and she’s got the chops to back it up.
I think he was with the rest of his band too, but I don’t recognize them because I don’t see their faces plastered all over the checkout aisle when getting groceries.
I did not break out my camera phone, because I am a nice Canadian girl and we don’t do things like that.
In other news that I actually care about: that charity I might be building a website for might want me to do a whole full blown branding as well! I can not tell you how exciting that is to a fledgling designer. Can not even express it. Can’t. I’m getting started RIGHT NOW.
The following is a list of the most awful things I have ever owned:
“Northern Star” (By Melanie C)
“Happiness is Not a Fish You Can Catch” (by Our Lady Peace)
“Jesus Freak” (by DC Talk)
An completely unread copy of “The Two Towers” (by JRR Tolkien)
A completely read copy of “Fall on Your Knees”, an Oprah Book club book (by Ann Marie McDonald)
A VHS copy of “Ever After”
A VHS copy of “Steven Curtis Chapman: LIVE”
At least 3 clown themed music boxes (one of which played “Send in the Clowns”, another which played “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head”)
A year long subscription to Focus on the Family’s magazine for teen girls: “Brio”
Two pleather skirts. One pair of pleather pants. One pleather jacket.
Psychadelic Daffy Duck Keds
Fake Doc Martens
Navy blue, yellow, lime green, pearly blue, black and at least 4 varieties of sparkly (multi, silver, purple, red, etc) nail polish. Often worn all at once.
A logo t-shirt from American Eagle
A fuzzy Elmo shaped backback.
I just thought you should know what you’re getting yourself into.
First of all: Ron Hawkins showed up to open with an acoustic set!!!
I luuuuuuuurrrrrrve Ronnie! He is pretty much my favourite of all time.
That should have made my experience 100% delightful…
But I could barely hear the show.
Barely.
People yapped through the entire thing, Ron’s set, and Mr. Graffins (the one they actually came to see, on purpose!).
We had to move a couple times to get a better vantage/listening point. It was either next to the speakers (and more importantly a bunch of drunk frat boys), or at the back with a bunch of drunken concert goers who were too busy discussing how awesome Bad Religion used to be, to actually listen to the dude from Bad Religion who was actually up on stage.
Either way it was a bad scene.
The folks in the pit seemed to be having a better time, but maybe that’s just a ‘grass is always greener…’ thing.
I really did not believe that “Torontonians are bad concert goers” mumbo-jumbo until last night.
But I had never been to a concert that was totally awesome (musically speaking), and was then ruined by an obnoxious audience before.
There’s a first time for everything I guess.
It was still pretty awesome, musically speaking though. I just don’t think I could stomach it again.
Maybe someday far off when all Mr. Graffins fans are too geriatric to be rowdy…
