Monday, May 17, 2010

Monday Demographic Pandering

Our weakness for comely damsels with killer voices is well established. Now, more than ever, as aggressively cynical dreck like Lady Gaga and Ke$ha dominates the airwaves, and this not-such-a-pirate stares down the barrel of 40, we need the comforting charms of a few chanteuses.

I've had a little thing for Zooey Deschanel since I first heard her playful, breathy take as the lead voice of She & Him. Here's 'In the Sun' from their new record. If you can take your eyes off of her, you're a better man than I. And M. Ward's guitar is nearly as good as Zooey.

She & Him - In The Sun from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Old favorite Neko Case is back in fine voice on The New Pornographers' latest. I don't like it quite as much as the band's last two records, but if you like a well-crafted pop hook, A.C. Newman's your man. (If you like Jheri Curl and oddly well-publicized celibacy, A.C. Green's your man.) There's no Neko in the video below, but there are lots of ninjas.

Finally, because our market research indicates that nobody watches more than three embedded videos in any single post, here's one that's been stuck in my head for the past few weeks. It's also just a picture of two people in masks with a track playing, so feel free to listen to it while you open another tab. Sleigh Bells finally got around to actually releasing a few songs last week, but 'Ring Ring' has been kicking up noise in the indie underground for nearly two years. The production is admittedly (intentionally?) rough, but it's a good rough.

54 comments:

T.J. said...

http://twitpic.com/1nthry - The Ghita has never looked so good.

d-train said...

are those bowling balls?

T.J. said...

rob...gift.
http://bit.ly/cb2ddT

T.J. said...

Vin Baker and Keon Clark want in on this...http://bit.ly/bFthbF

Dave said...

i don't have a working sound card on this computer, but the video streamed and i felt really creepy watching it silently just to get a look at the singer-- but she is cute . . .

Geoff said...

You guys might want to file this one away before OBFT:

"Women's softball has been associated with lesbians and being gay for a long time. ... That's been sort of a signal, like two men sunbathing together on a beach" -- Pat Buchanan, just saying ("Media Mob").

zman said...

Last year I told a co-worker I was going on a fishing trip with a bunch of college buddies and she asked if we chartered a boat and I told her how there's no fishing on the fishing trip and she paused for a second with furrowed brows and pursed lips and then replied "That's so Brokeback Mountain" and I said "Yes, yes it is."

Dave said...

what was the over/under around the bar for "brokeback mountain"/ i believe it was three, and we were over.

I haven't seen it.

Dave said...

if no one's planning a topical post tomorrow, i've got part two of my world cup preview almost ready to go.

it's long and almost as stupid as the first one, but with better pictures.

zman said...

I used to work with a Vietnam veteran and when I asked him if he ever saw "Full Metal Jacket" he replied "I didn't have to, I lived it."

d-train said...

i've seen brokeback. "i wish i knew how to quit you" is one of my favorite lines. i say it to my wife, this blog, and other "friends" often.

Dave said...

it would have been funnier if you asked him if he saw "brokeback mountain" and he said, "no, I lived it."

in fact, the next time someone asks me that question, that's what i'm going to say.

Clarence said...

The over/under on Brokeback was three, and only Dave Flynn and I had seen it. Not together.

rob said...

i think zman's making an admission of a sort

T.J. said...

Apparently Family Guy made a typically offensive and over the top Vietnam Memorial joke last night...I have yet to see it.

zman said...

I saw Brokeback Mountain in the theater. I'm not afraid to say that I think it's a good movie. The "I lived it" attempt at humor was my way of saying anyone who refuses to see BBM has lived it, although if you've seen BBM you'll realize how miserable it must have been to be a gay cowboy in the 1960's. Alternatively, anyone who's gone to OBFT can bow out of seeing BBM with the same excuse.

A failed comedy rhombus. A comedy octagon maybe. Like James Bond in the octagon with two razors?

Clarence said...

Back to Pat Buchanan, who seems to be going blow for blow with Pat Robertson on saying outlandish things lately...

Dave, didn't you become privy to the women's softball team code for who was and was not from the Isle of Lesbos? Something about visors or caps...

Dave said...

the girl's softball coach, who played girl's softball in college, said the visor is the "indicator," to use the proper parlance.

funny thing though-- i wore that flynn visor all the time, and i never scored with any lesbians.

zman said...

A sequel, titled The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) has been planned for theaters in 2011, with filming starting in London in June 2010. Full Sequence will supposedly include a centipede composed of twelve individuals. Tom Six has stated that the first film in effect will serve to get audiences used to the idea of a human centipede, preparing them for the idea of a much more graphic and disturbing sequel, 'First Sequence' being "'My Little Pony compared with part two."

Geoff said...

Clearly we are building up to a full 50 person, 100 appendage human centipede...starring Nic Cage as the head.

Dave said...

a centipede has between 30 and 40 legs. so obviously tom six knows his bugs-- as the twelve person version will have the correct number of "legs."

Shlara said...

Rob, I take it you've seen 500 of Days of Summer, featuring your gal Zooey.

That movie is my fav from 2009.

Geoff said...

My ignorance of centipedes has led to public embarrassment once again.

zman said...

Centipedes aren't bugs. Bugs are a narrow taxon of insects called hemipterans because they only have half of a shell covering their wings (unlike, say, ladybugs, which aren't bugs at all, they're beetles). Centipedes aren't even insects, let alone hemipterans!

Can you tell I took entymology?

T.J. said...

Next week on "Zman and the Teej"...hope to stop Mothra with a garage floodlight.

zman said...

You'd probably wind up attracting Mothra instead of stopping him. Moths use the moon as a reference point when they travel and they confuse bright lights with the moon. They get confused and wind up circling the light.

Entymology was the worst class I ever took because now I know stuff like this.

rob said...

you had to take a class to know that moths are attracted to light?

zman said...

No but the part about the moon was new to me. And I'm not too smart, I went to W&M for God's sake.

Dave said...

i used "bugs" loosely there-- i'm an entomology fan as well, and i actually wondered if anyone would nail me on the "bug" usage.

alex and ian are REALLY into bugs, so spend a lot of time trying to identify different disgusting creatures that they bring into our house.

Dave said...

and i when i taught virginia woolf's profound essay "the death of the moth" this year, i accompanied it with a clip from "godzilla vs. mothra" which i called "the death of mothra."

those two twins are really weird. only a few kids thought the contrast was funny-- the rest were wondering if they had been assigned to take english with a madman.

rob said...

on the bright side, my next three hours just freed up

zman said...

Whatever happened to Dice-K's dreaded gyroball?

rob said...

it, like every other pitch he throws, turned out to be afraid of the strike zone

zman said...

At least he likes to throw lots of pitches.

rob said...

vamanos los suns!

T.J. said...

What. The. Fuck. Is. Craig. Sagerm Wearing.

T.J. said...

Craig Sagerm is of course Craig Sager's downstairs neighbor. Always wearing kimonos. Crazy guy.

rob said...

please tell me you saw the a-team commercial with barkley, kenny, and ernie.

T.J. said...

Fuck. I did not. But I'll tell you what...this Aaron Boone/Nomah booth makes me want to down an arsenic and bleach martini.

rob said...

every time i turn that game on, bad things happen. so i'm watching anything else.

T.J. said...

Ah, yes, waiter...one platter of dicks for Chan Ho Park please.

T.J. said...

I mean, fuck you buddy. Seriously.

rob said...

good lord, i just saw sager's getup. that's an all-timer.

chan ho!

T.J. said...

Drew Storen making his Nats debut...

Mark said...

Hey Guys :) !

Mark said...

Grant Hill just received a tech. That's a pretty sure sign that the officials are doing a terrible job.

T.J. said...

Suck it Papelbon.

Mark said...

Kobe is destroying the Suns. Absolutely, completely destroying them.

Whitney said...

Paperboy - done in Beantown? The writing's been on the wall for a couple of years now, but when the Yankees do that, everything gets amplified.

Mark said...

This is impressive, even for Kobe. His ability to create and make shots all over the floor is what separates him from LeBron. Well, that a killer instinct and a rape charge.

Mark said...

If this game was even remotely close, Kobe would have at least 50 by game's end. He'll have to settle for 40 and 30 point win.

zman said...

You know what's more gruesome than the Human Centipede? Episodes 6-9 of the Pacific. And I haven't gotten to episode 10 yet. I never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima.

zman said...

Papelbawn's gawt no haaaht!

T.J. said...

Not sure who this Whitney person is, but perhaps it is time for the Sox to deal Papelbon and go with Bard as the closer. The fine, rational folks in Boston aren't gonna put up with a repeat of P-Boner's '09 season.