Jimmy Chen

Power Quote: Beavis

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdmSFXKM_QU

“I think that the problem with this video is it is highly derivative of many popular bands within the genre. Although when viewed on its own merits, it does have a deeper groove. However what it has in groove it lacks in originality. One can’t help but be reminded of such bands as Pearl Jam, White Zombie, Suicidal Tendencies and other bands that bear the mantle of so called “Alternative Rock.” One is even reminded of Laurie Anderson when she wore curlers. This video speaks less to the heart and more to the sphincter. In closing, I think Korn would do well to learn more from…”

Beavis and Butt-head

Power Quote / 14 Comments
November 20th, 2009 / 8:19 pm

Sommelier Says: Reynard Seifert

Sommelier.jpgIn a recent tussle betwixt Jereme Dean, in which Reynard passive aggressively “bracket-belches” (i.e. [belch]) in response to the prospects of the former commenting more, Jereme, in his response to that, unfortunately misuses the apostrophe in “belch’s,” leading Reynard to say:

& an apostrophe does not denote the plural

Sommelier Says: It’s wonderful how the ampersand resembles, and operates as, the treble clef — cuing the melodic brassy notes to come. (One imagines a rusty trombone.) Seifert’s eloquent bouquet of alliterated “o”s in “does not denote” opens an olfactory opulence for, oh, I don’t know. The quick jab at someone’s grammar to demonstrate one’s superior education and/or anal retentiveness has prominent notes of douchebag and raspberry. Such syntactical severity gets better with age, so just keep him in a dark cellar for five years, and those who believe “nutty flavors” involve teabags will wish to try it out on Mr. Seifert the next time he opens his mouth.

Web Hype / 20 Comments
November 20th, 2009 / 3:12 am

Cultural Optometry Lesson

glasses

I hate eyewear ads where models who don’t need glasses wear glasses — just seems so fake, and makes me resent the models more for having better genes than me. (Would you have a leg amputee model shoes? — I think not.) I also get annoyed at legally-blind intellectuals who feel they are above Lasik surgery, or think that contacts are a cosmetic option. Chomsky said “From the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.” I think what he meant was: people are made to feel like they need to buy stuff to feel better. No conspiracy Noam, it’s called a shopping mall. Speaking of feeling better, I think I would feel better if Noam bought new glasses, maybe even the more expensive “featherweight” lenses. In short, glasses ought to be real, but not too thick. Everyone is either shallow or too deep; just give me a kiddie pool to drown in. Thank you for accepting the truth, and for being able to see this.

Web Hype / 11 Comments
November 20th, 2009 / 1:23 am

A book by its cover

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It’s funny how publishers convey to their readership how tedious and non-pleasurable a book will be based on the lack of color on the cover. Stick some guy’s grainy face on there and consider the suicide pact signed. In my indulgently dour youth, I would only read books with grim black n’ white covers, thinking that such monochromatic plight was “deep,” and that I was similar to those intense and austere men in our refusal of hue. True, many of these books and their designs happened before color photography, but it seems most of the incidents were retroactive.

READ MORE >

Web Hype / 16 Comments
November 16th, 2009 / 10:07 pm

Samesies

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Samesies finds photos taken by different people of the same thing. The collection is stunning, and reconfirms my faith that we are all sort of living the same lives. I think of Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, an account of one beach scene told by multiple characters, told over and over again, segmented by decades. It’s told in that murky VW way — and I suppose arguments and interpretations are possible — but I think the point is time, despite its grave capacity to shepherd one towards death, does not exist. And light behaves without prejudice, which is a start.

Web Hype / 20 Comments
November 12th, 2009 / 2:35 pm

Caption Contest Winner

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No. Stop. I don’t need your help. I can do it myself.

— Ben White

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Contests / 3 Comments
November 11th, 2009 / 9:35 pm

Htmlgiant Caption Contest

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xr_CARTOON_CAPTION_CONTESTIn the spirit of New Yorker‘s caption contest, we are having our own. Jeffrey Brown has graciously not only accepted our invitation to judge it, but will be procuring the prize: an original artwork by him (no details — maybe a doodle, maybe more).  Just comment what the fish on the ground is saying or thinking. (I made the cartoon as a nod, however awkward and unworthy, to the style of B.E.K., my favorite New Yorker cartoonist.) One entry per person. Only comments with valid links to contact information, or accompanying the entry, will be considered.

Contests / 100 Comments
November 9th, 2009 / 3:22 pm

I like Daniel Eatock a lot

Display Book Shelf by Daniel Eatock

Display Book Shelf by Daniel Eatock

Eatock says, “The shelf sags under the weight of its contents in a graceful arc, the top edges of all the books are perfectly flush as a result of a conscious selection of volumes chosen to accommodate (or compensate for) the arc of the sagging shelf.”

Daniel Eatock is my favorite kind of conceptual artist: one who shows us the missed harmonies of this world rather than its discordances. His hand is patient, his mind is clear. Check out three of my favorites (trees, shoes, shelves) and then spend some time with the entire site. I like Daniel Eatock a lot.

I Like __ A Lot / 8 Comments
November 4th, 2009 / 7:02 pm

The Improbabilities of Snoop Dogg

snoop-doggI assert to you 3 cases, lyrics from “Fuck Wit Dre Day,” from the album The Chronic in which Snoop Dogg makes multiple guest appearances:

(1) “I’m hollin’ 187 with my dick in yo mouth”

187 is the numeric California penal code for murder, and the allusion is simple: Snoop will murder “you” (the second person here operates as Easy-E, a former friend and subject of this song) while [you] perform fellatio on him; this is not about homoeroticism, but an abridged version of power for the disenfranchised. The method of homicide, as implicated by a precedence of firearm mention, is a gunshot to the head. The narrative incongruency, of course, is that Snoop would somehow have to shoot Easy-E in the head without shooting his own penis. This, while possible, would be very difficult.

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Craft Notes / 32 Comments
November 3rd, 2009 / 4:12 pm

The Statutory Rape of n+1 by Lewis Lapham

Reorganizing book shelf, saw two books, narrative unfolded.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24H_uqtwAuY

Uncategorized / 12 Comments
November 1st, 2009 / 7:00 pm