kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk

A Moment of Silence, Please
For Benjamin Orr, of the Cars, who died yesterday of pancreatic cancer at age 53. Like Gael, I worship his splendid vocals on "Drive". I can hardly tell you how sad this makes me.
Thursday, October 5, 2000 09:42 a.m.

Space-Age Swingin' Exotic Loungecore Sounds for the Bachelor/ette Pad

No matter what you call it, the sound of kitsch is back to stay, it would seem. Though it's suffered a bit of backlash lately, it shows no signs of going away, and I for one say, hooray!

I was going to write something long & witty, but I think the most I can crank out at this pre-caffeinated hour is something brief & boring. So, on with the links! Enjoy.
Thursday, October 5, 2000 08:05 a.m.

Sophisticated Lady
That's Miss Julie London, folks. I'd wanted to know more about her since reading Stephin Merritt's raves about her album of Cole Porter covers, and wouldn't you just know that there would be this big, comprehensive site, that includes a complete discography and full RealAudio samples of some of her best songs? Of course you did. And I want that turquoise chiffon dress of hers. Rowr.
Thursday, October 5, 2000 08:04 a.m.

King Kini's Club Velvet
I found a portal to all things exotica, and this link to a club in Minneapolis stood out at me. I expected the ones from LA, NYC, and Boston, but somehow the Twin Cities just didn't pop into my mind as thriving centre of loungecore fan-dom. I feel bad for underestimating them, so here's this link as my penance.
Thursday, October 5, 2000 08:01 a.m.

I Think I Have to Have This
Who knew that Robert Mitchum recorded an album of calypso music?! Not me, for sure. But now I must acquire it. Get a load of that album cover. What a badass he was. I had no idea that Mitchum had done time in prison. Wow. I could do without the anti-semitic remarks, though threats directed at Kirk Douglas could be the exception to that rule.
Thursday, October 5, 2000 08:00 a.m.

Dusty Groove
If I ever go to Chicago, I am making a beeline for Dusty Groove Records. For now, I must content myself with their amazing and drool-inducing website, from which I have ordered several fantastic film score reissues. They even have some of the stuff from SpyJazz, so this is a good place to go if that site has whetted your appetite for loungecore. They also have a fantastic selection of obscure hip-hop stuff (including mixtapes) and Brazilian music. Mmm, Brazil. Samba. Bossa Nova. Os Mutantes. And much, much more!
Thursday, October 5, 2000 07:59 a.m.

Spy Jazz!
I love old movie music. My beloved Dad used to have a huge collection of film score LPs, but in a fit of overzealous housecleaning years ago, he donated this precious trove of tunage to a local community center. I don't know that I'll ever be able to forgive him for dispensing of my musical birthright so casually, but at least I can listen to little clips of music from movies like Modesty Blaise (which stars Sexy Old Guy Terence Stamp), Danger: Diabolik, and The Liquidator and sigh over what could have been mine.
Thursday, October 5, 2000 07:58 a.m.

New Blur Video at nme.com
The dancing in this video is fantastic. You think those Gap ads are cool? This video is like all of them put together, given a more Mondrian-looking wardrobe, and thrown in a blender of haute moderne coolness. And the song is good, too.
Wednesday, October 4, 2000 04:53 p.m.

Say It Isn't So
According to this story at Popcorn.co.uk, Mariah Carey is a frontrunner for the role of Wonder Woman. Now, I love me some "Heartbreaker", but those of you who have seen that video know that Mariah can't do fight scenes to save her life. Not to mention that she's got all the screen presence of a tape dispenser. I'm down with Tobey Maguire as Spider Man, but this is creative casting gone many steps too far. If I still had my Wonder Woman Underoos, I'd make them into a flag to fly at half-mast in protest. Ok, that would be a pretty lame protest, but I'm too nap-deprived to come up with anything better!
Wednesday, October 4, 2000 02:04 p.m.

Brilliant Careers: Michael Caine
I love this guy. He's such an actor's actor. And his was my hands-down favorite Oscar acceptance speech last year.
Wednesday, October 4, 2000 08:16 a.m.

Pen-Pen is the Cutest Deity!
My spiritual search is over! I pledge eternal allegiance to Pen-Pen and all his many incarnations. I want a Mini-Pen of my own. I simply cannot resist a Supreme Being who has a secret fondness for Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back", "which expresses tolerance of all female body types and [who has] a great respect for Madonna's career longevity and what she has meant for feminine cultural liberation." This is clearly the religion for me. Brought to you by Katie, of jejune fame. I can't believe it took me so long to check out the non-blog parts of her site - 30 lashes w/a wet noodle for me.
Wednesday, October 4, 2000 08:13 a.m.

The Little Shirley Beans Indiepop Cred Evaluator
Talk about keeping it real! This evaluator has so much Indie Cred that it isn't even automated - you have to tot up your answers & calculate your own score. You have to get a score of 65% or better to be on Shirley's official list. My indiepop cred score is a measly 40%, at least 4% of which is directly accounted for by my being in library school (hanging out in libraries) and by my residence in Canada (frequent sweater-wearing). And yet, I don't yearn for a higher score.
Wednesday, October 4, 2000 08:10 a.m.

Bibliotherapy
I linked to an English newspaper article about this a few months ago. Now Salon has an article of their own on this new program in West Yorkshire, in which doctors will be working in tandem with librarians to prescribe therapeutic reading as a complement to psychiatric care for patients suffering from mild anxiety or depression. The ALA spokeswoman's reaction really annoys me: "'This is a very litigious society,'" she points out. "'If you hang out a shingle and claim that you can cure people, you're making yourself vulnerable (to lawsuits).'" Well, duh. Are people really so stupid/desperate that they're going to assume that a book is going to make them all better? Maybe they are, as I am so often & painfully reminded. Regardless, I've been engaging in bibliotherapy of my own for ages, and I'm delighted that someone, somewhere, is investigating it more fully.
Wednesday, October 4, 2000 08:07 a.m.

Love at First Click
I am loving toobossy.com very, very much. The Boss Lady collects collects handbags. She has the cutest cat of all time. Her series on Old School Foxes is brilliant. My favorite is Sean Connery, circa Dr. No. He is totally on my list of Hot Old Guys. And oh, man, her discussion of muumuus is causing tears of mirth to stream down my face as I type this. Finally, I shout, "Amen, Sister!" to the Boss Lady's treatise on the power and glory of sleep. A life without frequent naps is one not worth living, I say. Once she writes a piece extolling the many virtues of soup, my suspicions that we were separated at birth will be confirmed! Swiped from Sarah.
Tuesday, October 3, 2000 08:56 a.m.

Talkin' Tough with Stevie Nicks
Excellent 1994 interview with a very candid Stevie Nicks, from Details (back when it wasn't a giant pit of suckiness). I particularly like the melodramatic photograph of her, and her comment on Lindsey Buckingham: "Lindsey just plain doesn't like me. . .I just had this innate ability to walk in, sit down at a piano, write a song in five minutes, and go to bed. It drives him nuts." Kind of different from the Fleetwood Mac post-reunion "Oh, sure, we get along great!" party line, huh?. Did anyone else think, after watching the VH-1 special, that Lindsey would maybe like to get back together with Stevie? She shot the idea down straight away, but he seemed to have some lingering hope in that department. Poor Lindsey. For more Stevie Nicks fun, check out this massive archive of articles & interviews.
Tuesday, October 3, 2000 08:53 a.m.

Ellen's New Girl Speculation
Ok. Stop with the fooling around, gossip columnists. I want to know who Ellen DeGeneres' new girlfriend is. And I want to know now. Ted Casablanca has this to say: if the identity of Ellen's new amour becomes known, "I assure you, it will make that little whatever Meg and Russell have going look like a little wank in the park." Salacious!
Tuesday, October 3, 2000 08:52 a.m.

Yeah, What He Said
This a thoughtful and well-reasoned article about why Buffy is such a great show, and why it's worthy of more than the dismissive snickers so many "grown-ups" meet it with. And, unlike a certain sloppy blogger whose page you're reading, it doesn't end its sentences with prepositions.
Monday, October 2, 2000 07:27 p.m.

For My Working Week Readers

Hi, guys. Just so's you know, I did update over the weekend. Last week's page is archived, in case you're interested in stuff from the last two days.
Monday, October 2, 2000 08:15 a.m.

Lovers of Snarkiness, Rejoice!
Jackie Danicki is back. Her life is crazy right now, but at least she's updating on a fairly regular basis. Hurrah!
Monday, October 2, 2000 08:14 a.m.

Divas of Dish
Rrrreeowr! Time for a de-clawing. Liz Smith, Michael Musto, and Jeannette Walls do a round-table on the life of a gossip columnist. And what a life it is.
Monday, October 2, 2000 08:12 a.m.

Everything's Coming Up Sassy

If you were a teenage girl (or a particularly forward-thinking boy) in North America from 1988 to 1993 or so, maybe your life was changed, as mine was, by reading Sassy. This magazine was unlike any other magazine for girls. Openly, gloriously, humourously feminist, it encouraged girls to figure out who they were and to have fun doing it.

It had most of the trappings of a Seventeen or YM, like quizzes, and fashion spreads, and yes, stuff about boys, but the formerly great Jane Pratt & staff didn't pander to lowest common denominators of teenaged girlhood: fear (about our looks, our bodies, our smarts, our abilities to get boyfriends) and jealousy (of other girls' looks, bodies, smarts, boyfriends). I sound like a rabid nostagia freak, I know, but Sassy was truly incredible. Their Dear Boy column featured advice from guys like Thurston Moore! They hired Chloe Sevigny as an intern! The What Now section fostered indie-rock fandom among girls! Their short-lived brother publication, Dirt, featured Spike Jonze as an editor! Spike Jonze, people!

Anyway. As many of you know, Sassy was sold to another publishing conglomerate after a period of struggling over editorial content vs. advertisers, their entire staff was summarily fired (or quit) and the entire operation moved from Manhattan to LA, where it fizzled out and died.

And yet, the power of Sassy lives on. Former staff writer Margie has a nice archive of her own work for the magazine at her website, linked above, and there are a number of very well-done Sassy archives & shrines (some with scanned-in illustrations) scattered throughout the web. I've linked to a few of my favorites. It amazes me how deeply so many of these articles still resonate with me, some ten years after reading my first issue.
Monday, October 2, 2000 08:09 a.m.

Supercomplete Sassy-ness
This is the grandmother of them all, in terms of re-creating the look of Sassy. It's a little overwhelming, in an impressive kind of way.
Monday, October 2, 2000 08:07 a.m.

Sassy Archive
This is a very good archive of what I'd call Sassy's greatest hits.
Monday, October 2, 2000 08:05 a.m.

Margie's Sassy Writings
Margie was one of my favorite writers (Christina was the other) for Sassy. I'm so glad I found her site, which includes a little archive of most of her work for the magazine during its salad days.
Monday, October 2, 2000 08:03 a.m.

Blair's Sissy
Blair Magazine rocks my socks. After Sassy was hijacked to LA and given a repulsive makeover in the image of YM and Seventeen, the Blair guys and their pals from the old Sassy got together to produce one last issue. And here it is. My favorite bit: the Chloe Sevigny as Edie Sedgwick fashion spread.

Not had your fill of Chloe? Check out her role in the parsing of break-ups, here.
Monday, October 2, 2000 07:45 a.m.

Mr. T vs. Clerks
See? Not everything has to be about Sassy. And you know that when you throw together Kevin Smith hilarity with some fool-pitying, things get helluva fun. For more Mr. T smackdowns, check out Mr. T vs Everything. Via pocketpig, which is quickly becoming my favorite non-blog blog.
Monday, October 2, 2000 07:44 a.m.