Hysterical Paroxysm
Jun 16, 2008 8:17am
“ I make jokes about it, but it’s the truth that I kind of patterned my look after the town tramp. I didn’t know what she was, just this woman who was blond and piled her hair up, wore high heels and tight skirts, and, boy, she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. Momma used to say, ‘Aw, she’s just trash,’ and I thought, That’s what I want to be when I grow up. Trash. ” - Dolly Parton, on her signature look
Jun 16, 2008 2:54am
Use Your Allusion So, seriously, you guys. YOU. GUYS. Seriously! Aimee Mann. She looks like a German nihilist, dresses like a mod Annie Hall, and writes the most literate pop songs going. Listening to her latest album, the allusion-filled @#%&*! Smilers, is like heading to an all-night diner with the smartest girl in your college classes for bitter coffee, and even more bitter banter. The lyrics to one of my particular new favorites, the melancholy “True Believer”, could practically serve as the Wikipedia entry for Spiritualism. Using the séance as an extended metaphor to sing about faded love and longing for the unattainable, Mann deftly weaves in choice historical tidbits about the mid-nineteenth century religion. The “Mary” in “Mary, dim the lights” likely refers to Mary Todd Lincoln, who turned to Spiritualism after her young son Willie died of typhoid fever. Apparently, she held several séances in the White House trying to contact him, which her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, and prominent members of society attended. The line “Houdini blows the gag again” is also rooted in fact. Like Mary Todd Lincoln, Houdini was inspired to look into Spiritualism after a death: the passing of his cherished mother. Unfortunately, Houdini’s unique training allowed him to see through the illusions fraud mediums would use. Although he first sought comfort in the religion, the magician soon made it his personal misson to debunk spiritualists, who he believed preyed upon those in mourning. Houdini went so far as attend séances in diguise, and “when he had gathered enough evidence to make an exposure, he would leap up, tear off his disguise and shout something like ‘I am Houdini! And you are a fraud!’” Ghost. Busted. [album art by Gary Taxali]

Use Your Allusion

So, seriously, you guys. YOU. GUYS. Seriously!

Aimee Mann.

She looks like a German nihilist, dresses like a mod Annie Hall, and writes the most literate pop songs going.

Listening to her latest album, the allusion-filled @#%&*! Smilers, is like heading to an all-night diner with the smartest girl in your college classes for bitter coffee, and even more bitter banter.

The lyrics to one of my particular new favorites, the melancholy “True Believer”, could practically serve as the Wikipedia entry for Spiritualism. Using the séance as an extended metaphor to sing about faded love and longing for the unattainable, Mann deftly weaves in choice historical tidbits about the mid-nineteenth century religion.

The “Mary” in “Mary, dim the lights” likely refers to Mary Todd Lincoln, who turned to Spiritualism after her young son Willie died of typhoid fever. Apparently, she held several séances in the White House trying to contact him, which her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, and prominent members of society attended.

The line “Houdini blows the gag again” is also rooted in fact. Like Mary Todd Lincoln, Houdini was inspired to look into Spiritualism after a death: the passing of his cherished mother. Unfortunately, Houdini’s unique training allowed him to see through the illusions fraud mediums would use.

Although he first sought comfort in the religion, the magician soon made it his personal misson to debunk spiritualists, who he believed preyed upon those in mourning. Houdini went so far as attend séances in diguise, and “when he had gathered enough evidence to make an exposure, he would leap up, tear off his disguise and shout something like ‘I am Houdini! And you are a fraud!’”

Ghost. Busted.

[album art by Gary Taxali]
Jun 13, 2008 3:37pm
[via AndrewH85] You might be a redneck if…

[via AndrewH85]

You might be a redneck if…
Jun 13, 2008 3:35pm
“ The dap or pound, as it’s also called, was a natural and beguiling moment that showed the country that, even though she started out as her husband’s boss and has a résumé that matches his, she likes him and is rooting for him, and is not engaged in a dreaded Clintonesque competition with him. ” -

Op-Ed Columnist - Maureen Dowd - Mincing Up Michelle - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

Thank you, Obamas, for bringing “dap” into the NYT lexicon.
Jun 4, 2008 9:50pm
[via] Denise MickilowskiApricots With Purple Tissue2007 Dag. This lady paints “apricots” like Georgia O’Keeffe paints “flowers”.

[via]

Denise Mickilowski
Apricots With Purple Tissue
2007

Dag. This lady paints “apricots” like Georgia O’Keeffe paints “flowers”.
May 24, 2008 6:12pm
[via] I was shopping in MXYPLYZYK today when I noticed a book called Tart Cards: London’s Illicit Advertising Art, filled with galleries of cards similar to this one.Tart cards “are cards found in phone booths in London (especially) and in certain places elsewhere in the United Kingdom that advertise the services of call girls.” Seeing the book made me recall them myself from a trip to London with my father nearly decade ago, when I (surreptitiously) nicked a few to keep as funny souvenirs.

[via]

I was shopping in MXYPLYZYK today when I noticed a book called Tart Cards: London’s Illicit Advertising Art, filled with galleries of cards similar to this one.

Tart cards “are cards found in phone booths in London (especially) and in certain places elsewhere in the United Kingdom that advertise the services of call girls.”

Seeing the book made me recall them myself from a trip to London with my father nearly decade ago, when I (surreptitiously) nicked a few to keep as funny souvenirs.

May 23, 2008 10:37am
irony[via Simon Crowley] (This applies to my love of Hall & Oates. And Steve Perry.) 

irony
[via Simon Crowley]

(This applies to my love of Hall & Oates. And Steve Perry.) 
May 20, 2008 1:59am
Miiowrey[via ldandersen]My boyfriend and I invested in a Wii for our one-year anniversary. Here’s my lil’ melon-headed avatar. (It’s like lookin’ in a miirror!) I’m still getting the hang of this new-fangled Mario Kart (being the reigning queen of the N64 edition). My driving style thus far might best described as “Splendor in the Grass.”

Miiowrey
[via ldandersen]

My boyfriend and I invested in a Wii for our one-year anniversary. Here’s my lil’ melon-headed avatar. (It’s like lookin’ in a miirror!)

I’m still getting the hang of this new-fangled Mario Kart (being the reigning queen of the N64 edition). My driving style thus far might best described as “Splendor in the Grass.”
May 18, 2008 11:58am
Yuko Shimizu“V - ‘Virgin in Vinyl’”2003 Yuko Shimizu
“V - ‘Virgin in Vinyl’”
2003
May 16, 2008 1:45am
Dorothy Parker No. 2[via Reckon] alex: I want to have like three enduring quotes. like a winston churchill level of quotabilityme: or woody allenalex: yeahme: i strive for woody allenalex: being a dorothy parker would suck, because inevitably a lot of quotes that you don’t even think are that good get famousme: HAHAalex: and you’re ultimately unsatisfied with your sham legacyme: she was like, “that? shit, i was blotto at the time”alex: yeahme: “imagine if i was really trying!”alex: hahame: poor, poor dorothy parkeralex: exactlyalex: oscar wilde could sneeze artfully and it would be immortalized

Dorothy Parker No. 2
[via Reckon]

alex: I want to have like three enduring quotes. like a winston churchill level of quotability
me: or woody allen
alex: yeah
me: i strive for woody allen
alex: being a dorothy parker would suck, because inevitably a lot of quotes that you don’t even think are that good get famous
me: HAHA
alex: and you’re ultimately unsatisfied with your sham legacy
me: she was like, “that? shit, i was blotto at the time”
alex: yeah
me: “imagine if i was really trying!”
alex: haha
me: poor, poor dorothy parker
alex: exactly
alex: oscar wilde could sneeze artfully and it would be immortalized
Page 2 of 23