Top 9 of '09

Did you know that in Dhaka (Bangladesh) the New Year came twice. Once the clock struck midnight we had to roll them back for an hour and wait for the new year again. It was kind of wonderful, as impatient as I was for the new beginnings of 2010. I had a lot of time to think, for that extra hour. So I made a strangely specific list.

Biggest Issue: Healthcare Reform. It is going to be the make or break move of Obama's political career, and it feels like it may make or break most of us in our current situations. It's so strange that heads of state who don't have to worry about this kind of thing get to choose what works for the greater good.
Honorable mention: Gay marriage. 'Nuff said.

Most Keenly Felt Emotion: Disappointment. Let's be honest, we're the generation of loneliness, so that barely even registers. But because of the optimism of '08, we had some pretty high expectations for '09. I don't think they all worked out, but I'm grateful for what has. Honorable mention for what follows disappointment: determination to get back on track and not repeat mistakes.

Best Media Sneak Attack: Huffington Post has turned blogs into something that big media companies should be scared of. With pervasive presence in all subjects, most acutely, political. I'm just wondering what they might do next.

Best Apocalypse Story: In a Perfect World, by Laura Kasischke. While the rest of you may be 2012'ing it up, I am obsessed with the quiet bravery and fearlessness portrayed in this book. Forget feeling helpless as John Cusack survives earthquakes and floods. In a Perfect World has a much more realistic and therefore scarier end-of-the-world scenario. However, reading it made me feel like I can survive whatever may come.


Best DVD to Watch with Wisecracking Friends: Drag me to Hell. Don't get ready to be scared, get ready to piss your pants laughing.


Most Unlikely Internet Meme: Truly, the joy of internet meme-age is that it rarely makes sense. But David going to Dentist? C'mon... they are making t-shirts and money out of their kids drugged out freak out... I won't go into my child exploitation rant right now, but suffice to say, let it go. I'm trying...

Best New Television Show (despite AWFUL subway ads): Modern Family. Yes, those posters featuring Ed O'Neill and some other randoms, is laugh out loud funny. There is that heaping spoonful of dysfunction (which, face it, we can't live without) with a dash of good ole fashioned heart. Sounds cheesy? It is. Sounds utterly watchable? That too.

Best New Venture by Old-school Indie Darling: Taken by Trees album, East of Eden. Victoria Bergsman, formerly of the Concretes, and more recently female vocalist for Peter, Bjorn and John's Young Folks shows us time and time again that she makes great, refreshing pop tunage. But what is so great about Taken By Trees album is that it really, really sounds new. You can listen to it over and over as well.

Honorable mention: Julian Plenti, I've always had a bit of a crush on him, if his album featured fewer Interpol knock-off tracks I would have been duly impressed.

Best New Pop Enigma: Lady Gaga, you should have guessed! It has more to do with the fact that she writes meta-pop songs about just getting drunk and having sex and people taking pictures and shitty boyfriends, and less to do with the performance artist stage persona (though that helps). She will not have some strange anthem like Beautiful by Christina Aguilera which tries to sell some meaning but falls flat on it's face for sheer insincerity. This is a girl who does what she wants, and right now, I want it too!

Happy New Year!!!

-Kastoory

Fame Monster

Went too far?



Photo: David LaChapelle

Wish List

All I want for Christmas (or whatever non-denominational, exploitative, gift-giving holiday people celebrate) are these things:


These are ridiculously beautiful, and the design makes it sound better... brilliant. Little Horn Speakers are a must have for the disgustingly rich (don't even ask how much they cost, and if you look it up and have a heart attack, don't say I didn't warn you.)


This kind of looks like the Christmas tree my dad brought for our first Christmas ever, when we moved to New York from Dubai. And the winter was so bitterly cold, and every night I dreamt of home, but would wake up in this freezing, grimy, sad city. No gardens or sunshine in sight. We still don't celebrate it, but I miss my tree, this picture doesn't do it justice (but it's the closest I could find).


I want the second season of True Blood, so I can get the saccharine taste of Twilight out of my mouth. Or maybe I want hot vampire sex to keep me warm through the winter. Or maybe I just want to catch up and see that last episode again before it begins right where it left off.


I just want this album, but am too embarrassed to get it for myself, even though most pop-haters agree, this girl is for real.

But Santa, even if I get none of these, just some peace of mind would be great-thanks!

-Kastoory

Oh!

New York Magazine's Approval Matrix is usually way dated, and I can rarely afford anything they feature in their pages. This is possibly a pathological reason to poke fun at their Approval Matrix. But this video from their blog has me bluffing, I got nothing on it.



-Royal

Can't Read My

The Teaches of Peaches @ Music Hall

Photo by Nicole Wasilewicz

When I first saw Peaches I was a teenager in frilly panties drinking half of bottle of raspberry vodka before stumbling into the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. My third time seeing Peaches and I'm stone cold sober fully dressed at the Music Hall of Williamsburg about to turn 26. And one thing hasn't changed a bit - Peaches still rocks harder and longer than any boy I've ever known or seen.

After she stood on top of the audience and the drum machine - she went up into the second level of the venue and announced that her family was here as she put her arms around an older lady (her mom?) and then gyrated wildly over the railing.

The re-enactment of the "Lose You" video complete with the robe costume and projections of faces on her arms was a highlight -- but she had us at "hello" in a ridiculously puffy sexy outfit. The audience was transfixed when she played with a light rod; and throughout the performance she shed a million layers of leotards until she was down to one flesh colored sweat covered number.*

At one point someone next to me compared the almighty Peaches to Lady Gaga - gag me! With her questions and sometimes "fuck you" to gender roles, DIY mentality and Cousin-it backup dancers Peaches is in a place where Lady Gag-me doesn't even know how to dream about - because it's REAL and raw and disgusting and wonderful.

Treating the audience to three encores and letting her backup band (Sweet Machine) - dressed in mermaid scales and lingerie play a little solo number Peaches rode us all into oblivion and even left us wanting more...until next time lady, I love you!

*It is now decided that I will wear nothing but leotards this summer and cut my hair into a Peaches-inspired mullet.

-Lauren