Maura Johnston
Most Recently: Christmas Music: Saint Etienne, Mariah Carey, Tuscadero, Mary Timony
I have no idea what I am doing.
Christmas Music: Saint Etienne, Mariah Carey, Tuscadero, Mary Timony
I wrote a Christmas song once. It's been lost to the sands of time and warped cassettes, but it was a track that was not-very-vaguely about a dude I'd been seeing at the time. He lived in another state and liked Star Wars, which I had last seen when I was three, so I took the melody of the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria," wrote a few lyrics about lightsabers and plane trips, and asked a four-track-enabled friend to assist with guitar parts and recording. Et voila, a holiday love song, sung by a totally twee me. Sweaters and cocoa for all! Oh, and the guy and I broke up about two weeks later. READ MORE
People Who Danced Onstage at Madison Square Garden on Saturday While Prince and Sheila E Played 'A Love Bizarre'
● ?uestlove
● Dr. Cornel West
● Naomi Campbell
● Tavis Smiley
● Jamie Foxx
● Whoopi Goldberg
● Spike Lee
● Sherri Shepherd
● Alicia Keys
● John Leguizamo
● Guy in Steelers jersey who was quite possibly a Steeler READ MORE
PJ Harvey, "Written On The Forehead"
This just in: A new PJ Harvey song from her forthcoming album Let England Shake, which comes out next February. The song is a half-spiky, half-spacey track that finds Harvey exploring the upper register of her voice the way she did on White Chalk; it is called "Written On The Forehead," and it's definitely not what I expected after hearing other songs she'd been working on. (A sampling of artists/labels name-checked by friends who'd heard the track: Deerhunter, Cocteau Twins, the Knife, Kate Bush, "early 4AD," "almost Stones Throw.") But what fun would the predictable be? Stream after the jump. READ MORE
The Naked Truth About Getting People To Click, Revealed
It's a trick question! The answer is actually "pageview bait."
Snoop Dogg And Bachelor Parties: A Match Made In A Very Logical Place
"When I heard the royal family wanted to have me perform in celebration of Prince William’s marriage, I knew I had to give them a little something. ’Wet’ is the perfect anthem for Prince William or any playa to get the club smokin’. " READ MORE
Receptionists: Just Another Budgetary Item To Cut
The next casualty of the recession: Receptionists, who are, as one expert quoted by the Wall Street Journal says, a "a nonproductive use of a person." (That the person who proffered said opinion is a management consultant resulted in me making one of those laugh-cry-sneeze sounds.) READ MORE
'Bon Appetit' Eats The Future
The new issue of Bon Appetit declares Grant Achatz's Chicago restaurant Next, a high-concept, ticketed joint that will "serve four menus per year from great moments in culinary history — or the future," one of the best restaurants in the country for a celebration. Perhaps the magazine took the restaurant's idea of eating in "the future" seriously, since the place has yet to open, and likely won't until early 2011. [Via]
'Cowboys & Aliens' Is Not Kidding, You Guys
"By the time the film, which cost about $100 million to produce, opens next July, the studio expects advertising and future promotions to have persuaded almost everyone that Mr. Favreau’s movie is a tough-minded adventure on the order of Clint Eastwood’s 'Unforgiven'—with aliens."
Ladies Who Blog, Listed
Here is a list of "125 Fearless Female Bloggers," most of whom apparently possess that quality because they're not afraid to post about SEO practices, people being "Too Fake On Facebook," and "How To Get Incoming One Way Backlinks to Your Blog." What these women are trying to say aside from "Look at me! I have a message!" is unclear, but that is precisely why I am never not fascinated by the alternate-universe Internet; it's not even the medium that is the message over there, but its amplification. [Via]
Why The Ads For Christmas Engagement Rings Make Me Uncomfortable
It's not even December, but the "aggravating trends in holiday commercials" list is already filling itself out quite nicely, and right behind the chart-topping scourge of twee that is Pomplamoose has to be the surge in ads for diamond merchants like Jared, Zales, and Kay, all of which have decided that the best way for a man to celebrate the season is to put a sparkly ring on his intended's finger. But all these ads are doing for me, a red-blooded American female, is solidifying my belief that that I never want someone in a relationship with me to feel like they have to "propose." READ MORE
