January 2009
The Guide: 2009
Hank Stuever is out with The List: What’s in and out for 2009. This year’s list seems kind of meh (that’s gotta be out by now). From the In column, some of the things we can’t get enough of in the new year:
Drinking like “Mad Men” (We’ve already begun!)
Hulu
Honeycrisp apples
Nate Silver
REVENGE OF CAPS LOCK. (Periods. Are. Out.)
Fleet Foxes
MGMT
...
So draw up a list of new things to resist / And...
December 2008
A new visual code for the modern hobo →
My favorite of these warnings to the modern traveler is easily “Buskers here may actually be virtuoso musicians planted by the Washington Post.”
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
I don’t put a lot of any credence in the rumor/news about Steve Jobs’ health today. But it reminded me of the commencement address he gave at Stanford a few years ago, and it gave me some comfort to think that if he is facing death, he’s doing so without regret and with a life fully lived.
From his commencement address:
“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something...
“…muddled with frat boy misogyny and the sad clawing sound of lives headed...”
– Gawker’s brilliant description of “Bromance,” the new Brody-Jenner-looks-for-a-wingman epic disaster.
'Arrested Development' movie stalling →
COME ON. </GOB>
As promised, here’s ‘99...
Jaydiohead mashes up Jay-Z with SPOILER ALERT... →
As spotty as you’d expect, but the 99 Problems / National Anthem mash is a thing of menacing beauty. (I would post it right now but Kiehl wasted our daily audio file alotment on Voxtrot.) (JK Kiehl I heart that song.) (via)
anniehinton:
The Mountain Goats - No Children
...
Lil Wayne app adds ridiculous stuff to your... →
I was wondering how I was going to get teardrop tattoos on my Christmas cards next year. (via)
“I think the live-action family film is a lost art nowadays with so many CGI...”
– Ben Lyons, Roger Ebert’s nominal replacement on At the Movies and the most hated film critic in America, on Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories. In the words of eFilmCritic: “English motherfucker, do you speak it?!” (Lyons also called I Am Legend “one of the greatest movies...
I Will Possess Your Heartthrob →
Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel — better known by the tabloid amalgamation of their names, Zoobenschanelard — are gettin’ hitched. Soul meets body, indeed!
2008: A Year Of Not Shutting Up.
daveholmes:
WORD/PHRASE THAT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND ALL OF THE SUDDEN EVERYONE STARTED USING IT REAL CASUALLY, AS THOUGH THEY’D BEEN DOING IT FOREVER AND THE WORLD JUST CAUGHT UP:
(TIE) “Shitshow” and “In the tank for.”
WORD THAT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND WILL LIKELY BE WITH US FOR A GOOD LONG WHILE, BUT EVEN THE PERSON WHO MADE IT UP PROBABLY FEELS LIKE A DING-DONG WHEN THEY SAY IT:
...
Movies I Want to See
In approximate order of interest
1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Rachel Getting Married (back at the Charles!)
3. Frost/Nixon
4. Slumdog Millionaire
Anyone in Baltimore want to go with me?
“… bless my presence in this time and space, which will soon be only memory...”
– Jason Shinder, a poet who died of cancer this year, from the Times Magazine’s Lives They Lived issue.
The 25 best covers of the year →
One-stop shopping for pristine MP3s of the year’s most brilliant covers, including three Crumbler favorites: Gnarls Barkley’s “Reckoner”, First Aid Kit’s take on Fleet Foxes, and Vampire Weekend’s “Everywhere.” See also: a mellow, ethereal “Idioteque” from Calico Horse; a jaunty, collegiate take on Wolf Parade’s “I’ll...
“Rahm, it’s Ted. You’ve never failed me and I need $5 billion.”
– Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, in a voicemail for Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, requesting a bailout for his state’s shaky government.
Pinter obit written by guy who died before him →
Last time I remember this happening when was when Bob Hope peaced out.
“The film’s Chicago publicist, a really nice guy, announced that any movie...”
– Roger Ebert, in his review of Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories. (via Michael)
Rhett Miller - “Here It Is, Christmas”
Wash Post/Balt Sun to share content →
airhen:
What is a “sub-editor”? In British-English publications, it’a a copy editor, but I doubt that’s the case here. Maybe someone on Tumblr can answer this.
The Sun-Post deal came out of a lunch Franklin had in October with Marcus Brauchli, the new executive editor of the Post. Franklin broached the idea and Brauchli was receptive. Sub-editors then got involved to work out the details....
Aimee Mann & friends do a funny 'Christmas Carol' →
Featuring Jim from The Office, John C. Reilly, Michael Cera and others. Mann was an inspired choice for the lead; she’s such an ice queen in her music that she makes for a perfect Scrooge.
Malajube, the poppy Quebecers I fell in love with...
“When bandleader Art Alexakis writes in The Vegas Years’ liner notes, ‘The...”
– From the A.V. Club’s always-entertaining guide to the year’s least essential albums.
The paper that shunned the Web ... and thrived →
Doesn’t seem like it would scale, though.
“Everyone knows they are ficando - which is a Portuguese expression that means...”
– From a report in the British tabloid the Sun, regarding Madonna’s alleged hook-up with a 21-year-old model named Jesus. Posted here because I think the concept of ficando is incredibly useful and worth transplanting into English.
A new reason to hate U2 →
They’re selling a ninety-six dollar version of their new album.
Ignoring the last post entirely, here’s...
“The question is, without a public hungry for the references, is Feed the Animals...”
– From a lengthy, brilliant take-down of Girl Talk that’s a must-read for any fan of mash-ups. (And I love Girl Talk.)
The text at this link is allergic to your mouse →
Fun nerd trick.
“This was an evil thing, Prop 8, evil and immoral and incredibly hurtful to a lot...”
– Wonkette
“And do we not notice that almost all of our favorite “golden age” ex-Gawker...”
– Peter Feld (via)
“You look so much cuter with something in your mouth.”
– The official worst lyric of 2008, from Nickelback’s “Something in Your Mouth,” as judged by the Village Voice. Personally I would have gone with Lil Wayne’s “Swagger tighter than a yeast infection / Fly go hard like geese erection.”
“I can see Russia from my house!”
– Tina Fey’s channeling of Sarah Palin was the quote of the year, according to the Joe Sixpacks over at the Yale Book of Quotations.