The Times on 'Latter-Day Rude Boy Fashion': Swing and a Miss

I know my audience so I'm pretty sure you guys will get a kick (in a bad way) out of this photoshoot the New York Times magazine did recently, and not just because the outfits clock in between $400-$1000 or because the last photo in the series has puffy lady sleeves. I can't even imagine who suddenly decided this would be a good idea.

The Other Patrick Wolf Vid is better than the weird one

Patrick Wolf "Hard Times" Video from biz3 publicity on Vimeo.

But it's still weird. Patrick Wolf makes use of glow in the dark facepaint in a day-glo Pierrot musical number with kaleidoscopic effects. Half the time you want to reach out and knock some sense into Wolf-- still can't get over that direct self-absorbed vibe that leaks out of him- but the Boschian spectator nuns and assortment reinterpreted in a techno-club setting adds an interesting, innovative touch that is missing in the Vulture vid. This video is more representative of the actual genius of Patrick Wolf's work balancing with his ego to create good music, this time indicated by his use of a backing chorus to enhance the track, the idea that working with others makes for a better product. Perhaps the chorus' (representative) physical presence in the video makes gratuitous images of Wolf's face more palatable.

1944: D-Day marks start of Europe invasion

D-Day announced by the BBC. Click to listen.

President Franklin D Roosevelt told a news conference the invasion did not mean the war was over.

He said: "You don't just walk to Berlin, and the sooner this country realises that the better."

Stormtroopers! STORMTROOPERS!

"Stupid Garbage Compactor. . ." Property of JD Hancock

JD Hancock, whose Flickr stream you can check out here, has put together an awesome and fun set of stormtrooper action figure shots-- a sort of behind the scenes/day in the life of the average Imperial ground troops complete with really, really wonderfully bad puns. It's a welcome addition, especially since the stormtrooper gets no respect, ever since Lucas decided they were all clones. (Anybody keeping up with the EU stuff? Are classic trilogy troopers clones?) Anyway, Hancock's photos are a passel of delightful miniature fun, and if you like what's up there, checking out the other pictures is time well spent. Also check out this creative reproduction of Jabba's palace (or whatever seedy place Boba Fett stopped at en route to Tattoine with a Bith band.)

Don't Watch the Patrick Wolf music video if you want to like the song.

I've known at the back of my mind that Patrick Wolf was putting out a new album soon, and I finally headed over to Youtube to watch the video for the album's first single, "Vulture," which was released in April.

Patrick Wolf describes the video as "an intimate portrayal."

I am going to direct the video for the new single "Vulture" by myself.. I may be mad... but I just want to deliver the most intimate portrayal to you of the dark self destructive place in my heart and groin that the song was written from..... Let's just say it just may have to go on x-tube rather then youtube for its debut! [via Wikipedia]

The caveat always added to my fondness for his music is that I am quite undecided on him. The video spells it out neatly; he features himself, in dramatic black and white, in three leather-heavy costumes. The "dark, self-destructive place" in Wolf's heart looks like bondage, elves, and looking like Morrissey. Watching the video, though, makes me uncomfortable not because of the explicitness but because it comes across as explicit for narcissism's sake, an "intimate portrait" made so that he could watch it over and over again and marvel at himself. Wolf is a good looking guy, but we don't want him to know it. It's like watching Morrissey without the explicit understanding that after decades, there is going to be an element of camp. To Morrissey, you can say, "Oh, Moz. What a douche." To Wolf though, the message is "Yo son, calm down." A product of the millennial generation satuaration with constant affirmation, perhaps, taken to new heights in the life of a prodigy? Whatever it is, he thinks it's all art when in fact the video comes across as posturing.

But the song is good!

• Watch "Vulture" (or don't)