This is Cool: Japanese Barcodes

"Masters of turning the mundane cute, we recently came across this collection of the clever ways Japanese designers have extended this eccentricity down to the boring barcode" [from Cool Hunting-- visit them for more!]

Those wacky Japs-- as in Japanese--and their insanely cute things. Make sure to visit Cool Hunting for more, some are quite funny, all are stupid cute. You can see the hippie gun barcode over there and more at Barcode Design Gallery, which designs and licenses out the retooled barcodes.

iko iko

There are a few songs I really, really hate-- can't stand. I know it sounds high maintenance but there is something about these tracks that makes me cringe. Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl." Any version (even the Clash version) of "Louie Louie." "Chapel of Love"- "sing-songy, cloying, childish"- by the Dixie Cups, a group which I wrote off for a long time solely based on that insipid, insidious track that stays in your head the way Tootsie Rolls stay stuck to your molars and then makes you get cavities and have to have Novocaine and pay insurance on false advertised filling material that isn't covered by insurance but Dr Dentist Evil failed to mention that before.

Which is too bad, because 1, they're a seminal group that really can sing, etc, and 2, the Dixie Cups do a fantastic (my favorite, probably) version of the oft-covered"Iko Iko" (or "Jock-a-mo.")

"Jock-a-mo" was the original version of the song "Iko Iko" recorded by The Dixie Cups in 1965. Their version came about by accident. They were in a New York City studio for a recording session when they began an impromptu version of "Iko Iko," accompanied only by drumsticks on a coke bottle [Barbara Hawkins: "We were just clowning around with it during a session using drumsticks on ashtrays. We didn't realize that Jerry and Mike had the tapes running". ]. The tape happened to be running and session producers Leiber and Stoller added bass and drums and released it [wikip]

The bare bones beat from those Coke bottles mesh perfectly with the precise, ultra-clean, almost blase vocals. The song is about a fight between two Mardi Gras crewes, which explains the epically threatening lyrics, which kind of form the fun with the contrast to the bright melody. I've also included the version off of the Diplo/Santogold collab "Top Rankin Mixtape," which I listen to more than Santogold's (or however she spells it now) s/t. Enjoy!

• Iko Iko - Dixie Cups
• Iko Iko - Dixie Cups/Diplo & Santogold
  

ps. What??

backk.

guess which one was the shit hole. hint. t's the one with blood everywhere.

hey all. So it's been awhile, but I have an excuse! I've spent the last few weeks embarking on a less-than-expected chaos but still overwhelming move out of the old shithole and into a fab new apartment downtown. We just got the wireless set up two days ago, after 5 or so customer service calls, 2 of which didn't get us anywhere because the party making the call was drunk. Wasn't me. But here's the best part, besides that we have a real kitchen and we're by some mediocre but cheap bars. . . we NO LONGER HAVE BED BUGGIES. (And our friends will visit us again. I think.)

So some party music to welcome me, you, us (?) back. I don't know why I've been listening to this song so much. I don't own nor have I ever worn Adidas, but you could probably hate Adidas for your own personal secret important reasons and still (had better) dig this track. According to the Adidas website, it was the first time a major artist endorsed a brand, though interestingly, "no checks were signed[, n]o managers were approached." So of course Adidas is a little bitter about it all, or would be except that group is plastered all over their website.

PS. What's with the explosion of Run DMC shirts everwhere? They're even before my time and I saw a 12 year old wearing one on 9th Ave the other day. Is Urban Outfitters selling them?

	Run-D.M.C. - My Adidas
	Found at skreemr.com

artsy fartsy friday with bil donovan

I name these things using the day of the week (it is Friday, right?) like it will become a regular thing. Bil Donovan does fashion and design stuff, and it's all delightful and colorful, but what I really like is his portraits of classic movie stars.

For more, including Marlene, Grace Kelly, and Katherine Hepburn. . . Continue reading!

Check out his website for others like Sophia Loren and Mae West, as well as his other work.

Jesus Hates Zombies feat Abraham Lincoln Hates Werewolves?

Came across this picture on Ben Templesmith's blog. He is illustrating the cover for the comic called Jesus Hates Zombies by Stephen Lindsay. Which sounds like the best thing ever. Templesmith used on old Russian-style icon, very cool, and it's a picture of Jesus hatin on zombies. Look at the shit. Look at that nail through the bat. Shit.

Unfortunately I've been drinking and it's making research hard. Yes, it's noon. Yes, this is an auspicious start to the day and the weekend.

And yes, even with minimal research, it is easy to find out how awesome Jesus Hates Zombies sounds. From the Amazon.com description:

The zombie plague has swept across the Earth, and Jesus has been sent down to take care of it. Along with Laz, (his loyal zombie sidekick) Jesus must unite the remaining humans to stand up and defeat the zombie menace. A werewolf-slaying Abe Lincoln makes his debut here, fighting in the 19th century while Jesus saves the world in the 21st century. Will these two historical heroes finally cross paths? You'll have to read to find out!

You think you're cooler than that? You think you are? Cos you're not.

fuck you new york, and thanks for the bedbugs.

slings & arrows of outrageous fortune

My roommate showed up last night, drunk, and threw a book down on the table. "This is for you. Hi, dollar table." What was it?

The PRIMA WindWaker guide. Yeah. . . And the rest of the story goes. And B picked it up and started flipping through it and that was it. She needs more Zelda. And then it turns out new roommate starting 10/01/09 (COUNTDOWN) HAS a GC and HAS WindWaker and HAS a TV screen?!

Shiiit. WW is the only of the games that I have played that I have played once. (That makes sense in there, somehow.) But I was just on the ZeldaWiki (shut up) and looked up the upcoming Wii game. Ok. So look at the concept art. Really, you're not excited?

But on the other hand. . . "He indicated that he would like to have a whole new control system for the game, and that it was possible that one-to-one swordplay (first person perspective sword combat) could be implemented." I dunno. I'm all for innovation but I don't even like FPSs. (They make me motion sick. I'm lame.) But we'll see. Having never used a Wii, maybe it makes sense, and I'm sure people will sound off. Til then. . .

to take arms against a sea of troubles
I don't got a Wii.

and by opposing them, end them
So the thing on the other end of the equal sign of this equation is. . . I need more local geeky friends. Who have Wiis. Hi. Can I borrow that?

Dorian Gray Trailer

I've been keeping the upcoming film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's gothic classic The Picture of Dorian Gray in my peripheral vision and so I just came across the trailer that was posted earlier this summer. In terms of one in a spate of upcoming vaguely-Victorian imagery'd films, it looks like it will take advantage of the same requisite boho/filthy rich imagery, cast in a gunmetal/steel-blue palette (and idiotic font choices) to remind us that this isn't The Importance of Being Earnest.

But in the interest of full disclosure, I haven't actually read Dorian Gray all the way through. All I have is a beat-up copy of some Wilde plays, many of them funny except that melodrama Salome (John the Baptist is often, when painted as a wee baby-child chillaxing with JC, shown with a plate-- COS HIS HEAD'S GOING ON IT.) Harper has a fantastic complete Wilde on the bookstore shelves that looks lovely and that I covet for my own edification and because I like the picture on the spine (can't find an image. . . sorry kids.) What, you say? "It's in the public domain?" Is that what you say? I know-- and I am, as I should have mentioned before, suitably embarrassed. But not as embarrassed as Colin Firth should be of that facial get-up he has in the trailer. (Ha!)

New Best Thing Ever: Los Hooligans' "Despeinada"

The Los Hooligans, as far as I can tell, were a Mexican group in the 60s. It's hard to find information on them (with just a basic google search) but you can tell from this vid that their dance moves made them the coolest kids on the block. (The very hip to it audience seems to think so too.)

I'm trying to dig up an mp3 so I'll keep you posted :)

Orientalism Yeah!

This is the illustration "Demonism" by Vania Zouravliov, a positively amazing artist--spooky, precise, detailed, strong, exotic, erotic--I just incidently discovered. I'm hoping to put a post together with more art in the next week so you can see what he has to offer, so here's a preview.

Fantasy Shopping for the Purposes of Auto-Housewarming

So I'll be moving apartments by the end of the month (or we better be-- either that or stuck in Maison Shithole with Wop Slumlord for another month. I'm not kidding. Our building is sagging and the windows are not lined up.)

Been wistfully looking at house decor that I (still) can't afford; but it's warranted to some degree. We'll finally be moving into a real apartment (we aren't squatting, because we're paying a rent, but we're zoning squatting in that we're living in a commercial/light industry space. . . as is the child-beating fortune-teller downstairs.) So in this new fantasy apartment we actually have a stove, a kitchen sink, all mod cons. Like real people. With real stuff.

I'm looking for something that crosses a faux camp boudoir or rococo-ish (lamps, couches) aesthetic with clean modern lines (in cabinetry and bath and curtains especially) and a little whimsy. So I want all those punk rock flyers and posters we've got in nice frames. I want to look like adults live in this new place. Of course, I'm talking like this is going to happen tomorrow-- it's not; we're dealing with the snakiest of snakes: Manhattan brokers on what was originally listed as a NO FEE apartment. But it is just too nice to pass on: French doors, a kitchen, nice building, good neighborhood near the bars (and near the Joe Strummer mural.)

So now that those brokers are about to break the bank, let's talk fantasy purchases because that's as far as we'll get after we're done funding their Jets tickets and fashionable coke habit. Of the products I've found this is my favorite. Useless, sure. But cute. Why do I need a cream caddy? Because real people have cream caddies. (Which aren't called cream pitchers or jugs or cream thingies.)

Cute though is a problem. My roommates are an ex-Marine and a guy who was in Subincision. . . so I guess the bedroom will keep looking like this: Continue reading!

(Which like I said, I love. But I want FRAMES dammit.) Because it looks pretty swell when it happens. Check out our NWA poster (we also have a Bad Brains in a frame-- all found on the street when FIT kids-- urkkk-- evacuated for the summer, from what I remember):

Pure class, eh.

Here are some other favorites:

OUTRAGEOUSLY priced sofa from Urban Outfitters. (not pictured because UO is a dick, not news) . . toothbrush holder in the shape of Bambi's absentee father. . . TOAST CLOCK. Shiiiit. . . This Sweet Throw Pillow.

YEAH PS Urban Outfitters (besides PS- thanks for letting every Douchebag Mackelroy go around wearing Fred Perrys that I still can't afford- or fit, since you're not carrying girls. . . ) This looks like it's supposed to be used for something else. I don't know what. But something.

Mindless Drug Hoover: "Fuck Off." From Jim's sweet SFRP mix :)

Amanda Blank? More like Amanda Blah!

Oh, I am clever. (Also grumpy. Sorry.) Two things prompted me to post this. One is that you all know how I'm on the cutting edge of music ("the Offspring are still around? Durr.") Second is that I was sitting around waiting to do something very important with my future roommate (it's apartment hunting time aka getting fucked up the ass by Manhattan brokers time.) He was showing me some songs he likes (Fleet Foxes-- ok cool; Matt & Kim-- ugh) and when he would describe ones he didn't like, or an album that the song came from he didn't like, he'd say "it just didn't work for me." Which on one hand seems like a nice way (and he's a nice guy) to say fuck it, it was shit, but on the other hand actually is a good descriptor for some things. Things that are uninteresting so that you become disinterested. (See what I did there?)

So going back to the cutting-edge part of this blog. Amanda Blank is I guess a newish big thing-- foul mouthed female MC from Philly, not hard on the eyes-- marketable, easily packaged for the hipster crowd (cute and white, how convenient.)

She generously has a lot of tracks available on her Myspace so it's easy to get a sampling of her music, but I can't figure out what the difference between her tritely explicit lyrics and the Pussycat Dolls & co-- sure she can talk fast. But if you want some fast talking, go listen to this-- yeah, even this is more interesting. If you want some snarly female spunk that is smart and dirty at the same time (and SAX), go listen to "Never Say Never," referenced in Blank's "I Might Like You Better." Amanda Blank seems like the Lady Gaga of the female MC crowd-- intriguing for about ten seconds, and since this is mostly through the hype, actually hearing the music is like coming up against a brick wall. It isn't that it's terrible; it's that it's neither here nor there. It just doesn't work for me.

On the other hand, she is part of Diplo's interesting remix of Santogold's "I'm a Lady" with sample + cover of LL Cool J's "I Need Love," which is found on the pretty darn good Top Rankin Mixtape. I really hate the way the Skreemr embed thing looks, so click on the links below.

• "I'm a Lady" Santogold (Diplo remix feat. Amanda Blank)
  
• "Never Say Never" by Romeo Void
• "I Need Love" LL Cool J

Thursday cute overload. Or ladybugs eat aphids?

detail of The Aphid and the Ladybird by *JenZee on deviantART. This image has been cropped and displayed for commentary/reporting purposes and is [c] 07/05/09 by the artist.

hair hair everywhere

I just got a haircut a few weeks ago-- a chelseahawk! (And just in time for the weather to get. . . cold?-- it's been chilly in the city.) And yeah, haircuts do carry a lot of cultural baggage, but it's important to remember that it defines for and affects those who are so concerned about pigeon-holing that they're backing themselves into a culturally dead corner.

In a slideshow over at TIME, "Michelle Obama's Hair," the commentator notes that "Michelle switched up her usual straight strands for a White House event celebrating musician Stevie Wonder. Having a black First Lady who is widely praised as sophisticated and stylish has done little to calm the debate about whether black women should straighten their hair or wear it naturally curly."

Here's a thought. There is no "should." (This is a comment on the existence of the debate rather than the commentary for the photos.) People should wear their hair however they fucking want. Except shitlocks. And long hair on guys. But you get what I'm sayin. (Of course, I'm not black. Maybe it's a black thing. Oh wait. All human beings have hair.)

Anyway, what was your favorite haircut, dear reader, ever? I think this new one is my top one just because it's a nice big change and now I like to touch myself (where the hair is shaved, hahaha, funny huh.) Second fave was the Bettie Page one our uber-overstayed-his-welcome houseguest last fall gave me, though I never got the courage/motivation/hair products to put it up in victory rolls. . .

Swimming Pools & Summertime Tunes

J Bennett Fitts photography series "No Lifeguard on Duty" showcases retro motel pools in such exotic locales as Victorville, Panama City, the Inland Empire, others. It's interesting to look at the pools, most only partially if even filled, as well as the skies that Fitts captures- the colors complement the abandoned faded-out feeling of the pools, a Polaroid aesthetic. Check out the rest!

	Ella Fitzgerald – Summertime featuring Louis Armstrong
	Found at skreemr.com

	Billie Holiday - Summertime (Organica Remix)
	Found at skreemr.com

Tunes can be downloaded if you follow the links. I'm not sure how I feel about the Billie Holiday remix, but I'm leaning towards the positive so I threw that in there (it sounds like something they would have used in Kontroll), and then I threw in "Ebin" for good measure because 1. Sublime makes me think of driving in the car in the summer and 2. my boyfriend won't stop listening to it for some reason and now I want to hear it. And then I thew in "Crack Rock Steady" because I never post these guys and it seems like a good poolside song. (And it's been stuck in my head.)

	Desmond Dekker - Israelites
	Found at skreemr.com

	Choking Victim - Crack Rock Steady
	Found at skreemr.com

Zoe Avril

I've been a fan of Zoe Avril since I heard and saw the video for "On ne changera pas le monde" (I believe it was posted on Filles Sourires.) It got mega plays on my iTunes but I had trouble finding other stuff and let it go.

But I just found the entire album (and you can too!), the self-titled Zoe Avril. I, and I expect I'm not alone, associate French chanteuses with light often simple and cheerful, and when not cheerful, slightly melancholic, songs. It helps also, as Jim pointed out regarding Carla Bruni, that they're usually easy on the eyes.

If you get a chance to watch the "On ne changera pas" video, you'll see that Zoe Avril is the most cheerful person you've ever watched in a music video. She seems to be having fun but also seems to be genuinely happy to be singing. I'm not sure if the video is supposed to be a satire of a kid's show or what. It's almost a little disconcerting (not knowing the lyrics but knowing that the gist of it is "one will never change the world" and that we need to live simply, and maybe she's talking to her mom?) but at the same time the energy engenders enthusiasm in the viewer. Anyway she should be happy. Her work is fab, fun to listen to, catchy. The music itself is poppy and sugary with fun sound effects (the opening of "Avec toi" makes use of subtle clicks and horns, video game synthy notes on "Jeune diplomee"), and Avril's voice can easily and smoothly bounce between a light sweetness typical of this genre to a more serious, even more vulnerable mature sound (think Keren Ann), already evident in the chorus of "On ne changera pas" and in stand-out form in the urgent "L'accident."

Here are a few tracks, which you can download if you click through to divshare. Buy the album here.

Penguin Merch

I totally want these, though I can't decide between the two. And while I don't want a deck chair, I wouldn't say no to this one.

Remember the Offspring?

Well I bet you don't remember PhD Molecular Biology/Offspring frontman Dexter Holland looking like the guy from the Goo Goo Dolls. But wait. . .

You can't tell, can you! (Dexer is on the left.) And I mean, yeah, Dexter isn't known for wise hair choices (beads. . .) but still.

That was a single (watch it here) off their latest release, which I completely missed, something with a long name ("Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace," 2008.) I like the Offspring, and I still have fun listening to their songs even though I liked them in middle/high school. I had put them into Youtube and noticed that there were some new videos. Lo and behold, etc.

For those of you who are too young to remember (kids on Youtube. . . jhaha, except for this guy: "This reminds me of my pog collection.") the Offspring wrote 90s/early '00s classics like "Pretty Fly for a White Guy," "Come Out and Play (Keep Em Separated)," "Gotta Get Away," the underrated "Da Hui," "Bad Habit," and "Original Prankster." If you pick up there greatest hits album and you listened to the radio in their heyday, you will recognize and probably have memorized a big chunk at least the chorus. Hailing from Long Beach, the Offspring wrote fantastic pop punk and always seemed a little wilder than the Blink-182 guys. Even with classic gems of lyrics like "When you're in prison don't be no one's bitch" the band managed to pull together, like their fellow pop-punk Green Day & Blink kids, some incisive commentary on the brat culture of the 90s.

So this new album. I've checked out a few of the singles' videos. "You're Gonna Go Far Kid" delivers the expected harmonies and melodies that have always recalled a light hearted Bad Religion, and "Stuff Is Messed Up" opens with an American Idiot-era Green Day drum beat. It's all okay stuff, and while everything sounds familiar, nothing quite achieves that special Offspring formula that we all have come to know and love. But as that implies, I'll always have a soft spot for the guys and I will give them the benefit of the doubt. The record company MADE Dexter wear a John Rzeznik wig.

More music for a hot summer day with Sublime & Bedouin Soundclash

Obviously this photo has nothing to do with anything except hopefully those bathing suits means it's hot out, but it's from Toronto Life, credit due. Maybe that dapper old fellow is waiting for his ruca. So here is the original from Sublime, and then the Bedouin Soundclash cover, which loses a lot in the interpretation but features their as-usual great vocals and makes for a decent track if you pretend it's a different song. Click the links to listen & grab. You can buy "40 Oz to Freedom" here.

See me in a 'alter back. See me give you heart attack.

But enough bitching about songs I feel bad about liking/can't decide if I like it. The weather is finally clearing up (for now), and it's time for some good summer music. And here's a surprise-- it's a little reggae for you (because it's hot in Jamaica, I just checked the weather), "Uptown Top Ranking," a song I had criminally forgotten about til last week and is now being played every hour. Althea & Donna are the youngest artists in Britain to top the charts when in 1978 they reached number one in the UK. As with such tracks as "Return of Django" and Link Wray's "Rumble" it's absolutely impossible to not, as they say, groove along to the track.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Zero"

I meant to post this closer to its sister posts. I had earlier written about Thao and the something-or-other's "Swimming Pools" and also about Lady Gaga. As an update, I haven't been hearing "Poker Face" in the supermarket anymore, and I'm not really missing it. The ultimate in disposable pop music.

So the last horse in my pop-songstress guilty pleasure trifecta is "Zero" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. First, though, I don't like Karen O, and it all has to do with the way she dresses. I don't like it and I hate seeing people influenced by her on the streets or on the L train. Her clothing, designed by a friend of hers, looks slapped together and sewn poorly, like all that doll clothes you used to make when you were a kid but always got too impatient to actually finish. There are ways to be avant-garde and creative and then there are ways to be sloppy. Like the "work" of the art students who worship the band, Karen O's fashion veers towards the latter-- uninspired and attention seeking.

As I mentioned, indie rock tends to be guilty pleasure music for me, and this song, this band in general, also falls in that category. They're widely-played tracks are either fun radio singles or uninteresting songs like "Y-Control"-- which have the same elements that the good singles have, catchy phrases, a blend of musical styles, repetition-- but never come together. When they stick to making radio-ready music, they succeed, though the songs are so catchy it's easy to get sick of them ("Pin"). I get YYY fatigue easier than I get Johnny Depp or "Such Great Heights" fatigue. "Maps" was a great song until every station in the world was playing it every hour, on the hour.

I think I might stick with "Zero" for awhile, though. It's a big song and does a lot more with the vocals than other songs have, eschewing the gimmicky "Pin"-like chorus, resulting in a track that is more mature and ambitious. Check it out.

• "Zero" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs [listen & download]
• Watch the Video
  

Retro Book Covers for the Future

Check out the rest! Harry Potter by MS Corley. He has also given Narnia the treament.


As promised, I Can Read Movies series from Spacesick. Don't forget to check out the rest.

There's been a small spate of book cover designs projects modeled on old classic Penguin/60-70s book covers. The results are quite extraordinary. The designers pare down the book, movie, or video game to a few elements descriptive of the entire product. Not only do these artists have a good eye for design, but they also have a sense of how essential evocative symbols are in describing something much larger, especially because books and movies-- stories, basically-- require time and dedication because they exist as complete products, as "whole" or "big" pictures. The symbols must intrigue someone enough to spend time on further exploration.

Also check out the video game series, including Zelda, GoldenEye, GTA IV, and Silent Hill, by Olly Moss.