Feeling Fourteen

Jess:Y U UP. ·
Bailey: oh hey
you know
just watching the under cover of darkness video again
wondering how five people can be so hot
also im a little drunk
how about youuu.
Jess:god fab us STUPID HOT

mypod roundup

Ever since it's first release on October 23, 2001, Apple's greatest invention has become an integral part of our lives with regards to the speed and advances with technology, how we interact (or don't) with others in public situations, and how important music is to each of us on a daily basis.

I specifically remember two of my very good friends getting the first versions of these bohemith paperweights and thinking that they were the coolest thing in the world while I still rocked the Sony walkman on the bus. While I am so grateful that they have changed over the years to include more space for music and a sleek screen, I personally think that Apple has cast its original cash cow aside for bigger and "touchier" things. Were you aware that you can no longer purchase a white version of any ipods? Now everything is black and grey, but those are not colors that we all associate with the iconic ads from yester-year.

Is it too much to ask for the clean white look to make a comeback?

My ipod is a third generation ipod "classic" in white with 30GB space. Even when I got it before I left for college I knew that this would not be enough space; it still isn't, but I manage. That being said, every time I want to add a new album that I have added to my itunes syncing my ipod has become an inveratible Sophies Choice. With the upcoming release and recent leak of The Strokes fourth studio album Angles I knew that more of my lesser listened to music was about to get the axe. Instead of wallowing on the mp3s that we have lost this afternoon, I'd like to focus on the new entries into my earbuds!

The Strokes -- Angles
The highly anticipated return of the beautiful kings of garage rock revival has blown me away. It has prompted me to think about and rank the four releases of my NY boys in the order of preference:
1) Room On Fire
2) Is This It
3) Angles
4) First Impressions of Earth

Broadcast & The Focus Group -- Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
The colaboration album of two fantastic Warp records bands results in an equally fabulous album full of vocal and instrumental layering that excites as well as soothes. I picked this up right after I saw Broadcast perform at the Warp 20th anniversary party back in London. It's still so sad to think that this is the last released material featuring Trish's voice.

Belle & Sebastian -- Write About Love
Less of a musical impact than I would have hoped from the Glasgow natives, I still have a musical ethics code that states that I must include all releases of my favorite bands on my ipod. You never know when I will want to listen to everything that Stuart ever releases...

Paul McCartney & Wings -- Band On The Run Limited Edition
Duh. The only reason it wasn't on here earlier is because I just got the new vinyl edition for Christmas and hadn't gotten around to the syncing. I'm lazy. Moving on!

Wolf Parade -- Expo 86
After being invited to the Wolf Parade concert at Los Angeles' Wiltern last summer as a MORA piece, I was incredibly intrigued by this album they were promoting.

I am most excited about having this next one on my ipod to be able to listen to it every single day:

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band -- The Promise
This past Christmas we bought my mother (diehard Bruce fan for life) the rereleased Darkness on the Edge of Town complete with replica spiral notebook of Bruce's doodles and notes. Class A work for whoever marketed this thing. With all these adorable keepsakes of the Jersey native and his hobo friends came the two disc first release of the "outtakes" of the Darkness sessions. These are not your typical outtakes, these are 21 completed songs with over 10 instant classics (including the original version of "Because The Night" which the Boss gave to Patti Smith). Get it if you dont have it already.


(you did good Bruce)

Eye-Dentity: Jess's Doppleganger

First off, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Also known as my 4th drunkest day of the year after my birthday, Halloween, and most Friday nights (rimshot). Anyway, I loved Bailey's latest post, and la dee dah to her looking exactly like such a legendary style icon. So, I thought I'd post my iconic doppleganger:



  

 Hipster Ariel! Uncanny, right? 

Eye-dentity -- Francoise Hardy

For as long as I have had hair, I have had straight across bangs. It has become a part of my identity that I can't even imagine living without (especially considering how pale my forehead is after 21 years of being covered up). Naturally because of my own comfort with the look of straight bangs, I tend to be drawn to/identify with style icons who also share this same look. While contemporary hair heroes come and go with the fickle wind of changing fads and the weird invention of hair extentions, there was a time when a hairstyle was a statement.



1960's French film and ye-ye music icon Francoise Hardy is one of my favorite examples of the straight hair & straight bang combo. Always stylish and elegant, Hardy mixed in the influential circles of British rock royalty (by being personal friends with The Rolling Stones), and the American folk scene (seen as a muse for Dylan in the early stages of his career).



Beyond her ability to rekindle my love affair with my own haircut, I love Francoise because of her ability to look great with minimal amounts of makeup or styling. Of course she was dressed beautifully (always looking sharp with straight leg pants, pull over sweaters, button up shirts, and successfully being able to pull off a leather jacket), but she never looked artificial. Mixing class with comfortability is something that I strive to achieve in the same vein of Hardy's classic looks.



Clean lines, solid colors, and minimalism is something that Hardy embodies beyond her garment choices. In a decade defined by large dark eyes and multiple layers of eye shadow and fake eyelashes, Hardy's fresh face and less is more approach to eyeliner allows her to continue to be considered worthy of fashion and style worship even while mod / sixties fashion seems to flux in and out of date (it seems to recycle every three years if you really pay attention).


Sometimes the times gets the best of all of us...

Crazy For You

Today is yet another beautiful day in Los Angeles. Therefore I will be blasting Best Coast and singing along to all of Crazy For You at the top of my lungs pretty much all day.



 Also, this video pretty much sums up my entire life and everything I love.

HOLD. UP.

STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING BECAUSE YOU NEED TO BUY THESE SHOES.

Furry, fun AND flirty? And they come in black? I'll take both! (Even though there is clearly a severe lack of patent leather here.)

Pair these babies with one of their vag-grazing "dresses" and you've got yourself a SATURDAY NIGHT.

Thank you Forever 21, for continuing to make the baby prostitute look so accessible.

Reel Talk: Sunset Blvd

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." Haven't you always wondered where that iconic phrase came from? Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard is the answer to that question (remember it for a pub quiz), but it should be remembered for so much more than that. Aesthetically stunning with the help of classic film noir cinematography, Sunset Blvd tells the story of a faded silent film superstar who can't grasp the harsh realities of talkies and the world that comes with it.



While I do believe that the film relies an awful lot on the use of voice over which is never a good sign, the sheer acting capability of Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond is so captivating that you never want the film to end. This is an especially powerful statement considering how creepy this film is from the beginning. The film starts with the audience meeting Joe Gillis (William Holden) who is running from debt collectors as an out of work screenwriter in the tough world of Hollywood. Yes, I too thought that I saw where it was going and how boring it was going to be, but I was completely wrong. In his car chase and resulting flat tire, Gillis wanders into an old Hollywood estate up on Sunset which seems to be falling apart. Desmond mistakes him for another visitor she is expecting and brings him up to help pick out the specifics for a monkey coffin. I really wish that I could tell you that this was the weirdest that it gets...

What follows is almost two hours of a terrible man playing with the heart of an addled old woman who acts as the original cougar/sugar mama, while he basically does nothing with his life. To be fair without giving anything away, Norma Desmond's actions would make me want to cut and run as well. Beyond the central love and loss story of Desmond and Gillis, Sunset Blvd brilliantly shows the agonizing climb back to stardom that Norma Desmond so desperately desires through personal meetings with C.B. DeMille and a scary realistic montage of trying to maintain ageless beauty. In the end we watch all the pieces of both Gillis' and Desmond's lives fall apart with chills running up and down our spines.



While psycho-thrillers about fame and the mental price you pay for it continue to be churned out (a la Black Swan), I think that it is necessary that we look back and admire the original film about pathetic egos and horrifying actions; it absolutely holds up to this day.