A reunited Pulp spent the winter holidays playing shows on a cruise ship called the S.S. Coachella (uhh …) but also got together with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy to record this perfect disco-hopping/shopping track called “After You.” And here it is, in all its cheesy-synth-hook droll Jarvis Cocker glory.

Released on Boxing Day, but apparently not yet for sale, the song is the first new thing released by Pulp in a decade. Also, on the cruise ship, Jarvis did Power Point presentations on the songwriting process and James Murphy led a wine-tasting class.

by Awl Sponsors

It has been said that the essence of city life lies in the promise of the chance encounter — the feeling that absolutely anything could happen at any moment. In this way, cities are more than just containers for human activity; they are also distinct characters in of themselves, each conveying a unique identity told through culture, architecture and history.

The digital revolution in photography has only served to empower a whole multitude of city-dwellers to capture and document the beautiful complexity that can be found in contemporary urban life. With this idea in mind, Samsung gave the new GALAXY Camera to 32 photographers to prove that their city is the most photogenic in the world.

Meet Juan Pascual from Madrid. Juan’s passion for photography grew from capturing moments in life that Instagram has now allowed him to share with more than 10,000 followers. Juan’s task is to allow viewers to look closely at the city and see a new kind of beauty. In this segment we see Juan employing his craft to capture close-ups in perfect detail — magnifying his subjects to create bold, soft images.

Vote for your city here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyMcBpwNQ-A

Follow Juan on Instagram: @juanpas9

“Nearly a fifth of Britons fail to change their sheets at least one a month, startling new figures suggest.” (This news is startling only if you don’t recall that a) this is an annual feature and b) it is a well-established fact that Britons are the most verminous, filth-encrusted hominids to roam the earth and that they recoil from the idea of washing up even more quickly than they do from the glint of a blade wielded with menacing intent which, to be fair, they are probably desensitized to by now. )

“National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronomers are getting ready for asteroids and comets that could flyby near planet Earth this 2013. NASA’s deep-space radars at Goldstone, California and Arecibo, Puerto Rico will reportedly monitor space on January 9 for a particular flyby of an asteroid identified as 99942 Apophis at approximately 14.5 million kilometers away. The asteroid, which was first discovered in 2004, was named after the Egyptian god of evil and darkness measuring at an approximately 877 feet across. Early computations only suggested a 2.7% probability of asteroid collision in 2029.”
 — Oh, there’s nothing to worry about, just an asteroid named after a deity responsible for evil and darkness. What could go wrong? You can see it in the video above, where at first it looks like a harmless piece of dust just bopping along through the universe and is then shown as a giant piece of space doody hurtling towards our planet on a mission to extinguish life as we know it. But not soon enough, and probably not at all. More’s the pity.

New York native Larry Storch — older readers will have vague memories of “F Troop,” and younger readers should probably just take a look at this article from last summer — turns 90 today. Happy birthday to him!

“Music idol David Bowie broke years of silence and speculation today to release his first new single in a decade — with an album to follow. The star, who shot to fame in the late ’60s with ‘Space Oddity’, surprised fans by suddenly releasing a new recording, ‘Where Are We Now?’, on his 66th birthday.”

Be Your Own Year

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of this New Year already, you know? Over it! And I blame Last Year and thinking about Last Year and a Look Back at Last Year and Last Year in Review. Can we just have regular time all the time now? Isn’t it time to do stop doing this and start doing that? Can we just have Normal Year this year? No Rear in Review-Preview stuff? No more New and coming soon, just, now? Just, like, more days, onward in one-day increments? No more looking back? Or forward? Or anything? Can we just do stuff? Let’s review 2013 now, OK? You do you and I’ll do me: Here’s my review of 2013: Over it! Let’s just move on dot org and live our lives, OK? People should do Elevated things like Science and Medicine and Helping Others, but the rest of what seems to be in store, man, I am gonna channel some Dumb Animal this year, I’m not kidding, otherwise I’m gonna be down on the floor in a darkened room with the Migraines. I am going to approach a lot of things like a dog or maybe a marmoset or a woodchuck or something that is a placid and pastoral animal and just live in the moment, you know? But not a bovine. Meanwhile, I’m not gonna do jack-squat extra stuff this year, and it’s gonna be so great. For example, can we just talk about what we’re gonna have for dinner or a movie we’re gonna go see, just for this week right now? Can we have some pleasant conversation for once, is that too much to ask? Seriously, I’m not saying be Stupid or even just Ignorant, go ahead and read the Internet for News and stuff and be aware of your politics with these fucking asshole jerks who are in the Government.

Jesus Christ, OK, wow, I’m veering, man, but sidebar: If there’s anything to vote for, any Public Office, just vote against whoever is in the job, or whoever’s been in the Game longer, fuck ’em, out. OUT. Get the fuck out and come and get a real goddamn J-O-B like the rest of us. You want to serve? Then Serve, motherfucker, you don’t need to be elected to do that. You can do a lot of good for the Nation without your cush government gig, and I am thinking about this Mitt Romney fellow, who, what’s he doing now? Sure, it’s OK to take a vacation from six years of running for President of the United States, that’s cool, but now since they got the Official and Legal part of the Presidential Election wrapped up howabout maybe getting into a non-Leader way of helping, huh?

Fucking ego, man, these goddamn Leaders are all highly overrated. And also same goes for that blowhard Barney Frank who “retired” and now all of a sudden he wants to come in and be the Hero of that whole bullshit phoney baloney Fiscal-kill-me-now-but-make-sure-you-line-the-gun-against-your-own-head-first-and-I’ll-take-the-trickle-down-bullet-Cliff. Jesus Lord Mahavishnu Orchestra, man, all y’all Governmenters, let’s just start with Congress, you are cordially invited to leave office, you all stink. All of you. You’re all bad. Even the good ones. Get out. Man, 2013 sucks, but I’m not reviewing it or making a list, it just is, I can’t do anything about it, and don’t talk to me about this stuff, especially you, Tea Party, be quiet.

Did I pay attention too much last year to stuff I shouldn’t have? Did it make a difference, all the attention that was paid? Attention: Must it be paid? Am I already paying too much attention this year like last fucking year? Do you think the looking at Last Year was completely out of control Last Year? And spilling into This Year? I’m already afraid of it for This Year this year and This Year next year, you know? Fuck it! Let’s make a rule that you can only review Last Year when it’s that year so there’s no Looking Back to ruin my New Year next year, OK?

Furthermore, I want a week that’s like, a Normal Week, where Nothing happens. Unremarkable Week. No lists, no obligations, no having to look forward or back, no Plan. If we make it a holiday, it defeats its own purpose, like those atheists who have meetings, so I’m gonna have my own personal relationship with 2013. And I’m not telling you what to do, but I think you should, too. Be your own year! I’m gonna not-lead by non-example. Start by not taking pictures of your dinner plate and putting it on the Internet. That’s an easy step. Everybody knows that’s just a thing people do and nobody cares, so there’s no damage, right? Just quit that. And if you see that, Do Not Want it, you know? Delete, or un-whatever, Quit, Out. I want that, let’s do that, I mean, seriously, you can do what you want, but I’m making that happen this week, that is my latest Resolution, which I reserve the right to have whenever I want, not just when there’s a New Year, OK? My year goes forward in all directions, including backwards. No more New Years excuses to make lists! There is only: Resolutions, which I will downgrade, hyperbole-wise, to: Things I Am Going to Do, like normal people should, just let’s have some things to do and sure, maybe make a list so you don’t forget, and then accomplish these things. And keep it to yourself, because nobody fucking cares, man, really. From now on everything you do needs to be Less Important, except like, lunch and what time are we having convivial beverages. Stop talking about everything and get some shit done, and don’t talk about it after you do it, just go enjoy Life, OK? Let’s go!

I certainly enjoy the times of year when there are Holidays because that’s an excuse to not go to work and maybe eat and drink too much, but I also enjoy the times of year when there’s nothing, and like, right now, it’s the most Nothing Time of the Year! Enjoy it! Live it! You know what I got going on this week? Tuesday! That’s what I got! Never mind! Besides, what do you care! Right! Yeah! Also, since there’s no movies with cars crashing or rocket ships or space aliens, I’m going to see that Zero Dark Thirty movie about how they (as in Us, as in US) killed Osama Bin Laden, and I will treat it as a work of fiction so I don’t get into any arguments about which parts were bullshit besides: All of them, because: Movie. Also this week I’m gonna do this recipe for “Flank Steak Pinwheels” I saw on public television, which is almost all cooking shows now on weekend mornings, where you get a piece of flank steak and pound the bejeezus outta it with a food-hammer, and then you spread Basil Leaves and sliced-up Portabello Mushrooms and Blue fucking Cheese all over the flattened-out meat, and then you roll it up, and jam skewers into the roll and then cut it sideways and grill that shit in a pan, oh, man, that’s gonna be good. And then I’ll enjoy that with a nice big bottle of wine, because I Resolve (for my health) to guzzle hella way more wine in the upcoming Right Now and then I will likely fall asleep on the couch watching “Shahs of Sunset,” or maybe that cray-cray on “Homeland,” or that “Boss” show with Kelsey Grammar, I can’t believe they cancelled that shit before I finished watching it, damn. You might have a birthday or some personal items you have to remember soon, and that’s fine, but there’s no giant Holiday on my stupid calendar that I have to do stuff for, so it’s straight Nothing for me.

It’s fucking awesome, man, let’s go see some entertainment or have lunch again, hah? I’m having two lunches a day this year whenever I want, that is my Resolution. Lunch for Breakfast, Lunch and Breakfast-Brunch for Lunch, Lunch that goes so long it becomes Cocktail Hour and then Dinner Lunch. I also Non-Resolve to Go Someplace, as in Travel, and Do Nothing there, that’s the best! Going to a place is an Activity, and then once you get there, doing Zero is a choice, man, it’s a pastime! I totally Resolve to do more Nothing this year, it’s gonna be great, man, I can hardly wait. I might even do it by myself or in groups. I’m doing it right now. Mostly lunch, probably, that’s low-impact and I need to relax because this year is kicking my ass. Also: Happy New.

Mr. Wrong can converse with you via many medias.

★★★★ Nothing to complain about. The expanse of sky over the Port Washington line was cloud-covered, but with intimations of something less grim: bits of blue glimmered to the north of the train; patches of brightness glowed through to the south. By the time the dim sum hall had filled up, as the early brunch hour moved toward lunch, full sunshine lay over Flushing. Gulls flapped or glided over the train platform, against a clear sky. Midday in Manhattan was almost warm in the sun, or at least mild, and only a little chilly in the shade. It didn’t matter where the kindergartner’s knit gloves had gotten to, let alone the insulated mittens. He thrust in hands in his coat pockets and was fine. Other people thrust their hands in their coat pockets. A branch of a discarded Christmas tree moved a little in the breeze by the curb. Light worked its way around to find red furniture on a north-facing balcony. Incinerator smoke blended with a sooty purple haze on the uptown skyline. Down to the south and west, a few late clouds arrived, just enough and just in time to make glittering streaks around the descending sun.

“While working with poor families, he encountered children who were members of street gangs. He found it impossible to talk to them directly about gang life; they would tell him only what they believed he wanted to hear. A rented panel truck gave him a way to observe them secretly. He walked the streets where the gangs ruled, and once went on foot through the subway tunnel between 96th Street and 110th Street. It was a scary experience. He wanted to show that street gangs, universally seen as a symptom of social dysfunctionality, gave to the poor a structure of loyalty and a sense of community. They were neither sick, nor bad, only poor.”
 — Brooklyn author Sol Yurick, who turned his experiences at the NYC welfare department into a 1965 novel, The Warriors, that Walter Hill would turn into a movie that would turn into a cornerstone of hip-hop, died Saturday of lung cancer. Put three beer bottles on your fingers and clink them in his memory.

A wild gray wolf continues to wander all over Northern California, a year after crossing the state line. The wolf, named OR-7 by wildlife biologists because he’s the seventh male in the Oregon pack that has been unwillingly fitted with a radio-satellite collar, has traveled more than 2,000 miles back and forth across the top of California in search of a mate and its own territory.

Like many young males today, OR-7 has a Twitter account. But that is not why cow farmers in rural parts of Northern California are so angry. Cow farmers hate any kind of predator and any kind of wild nature — the last wild wolf in California was shot dead by a trapper “intent on making the West safe for cattle” in 1924.

But this wolf, OR-7, he does not like to eat stinky cattle. And like many weary road travelers, he hates Interstate 5. These are some of the insights gained from following the wolf’s progress since it broke off from the Oregon pack and entered California on December 28, 2011. Since the gray wolf was reintroduced to the northern Rocky Mountains in the 1990s, packs have grown and spread out to Idaho and Oregon.

Just before Christmas, 25 conservation groups from the states of Washington, Oregon and California launched a new plan to restore wolves to the West Coast:

The Pacific Wolf Coalition envisions populations of wolves restored across their historic habitats in numbers that will allow them to re-establish their critical role in nature and ensure their long-term survival. The announcement of the Pacific Wolf Coalition coincides with the one-year anniversary of the first wolf, OR-7, in California in nearly 90 years.

Wolves are making a comeback in the Pacific West. Here, as elsewhere in the lower 48, wolves were driven to regional extinction decades ago.

The world hasn’t ended since these few packs of wolves have begun to repopulate the west, not even for cattle growers. (Ranchers who do lose livestock to wolves are compensated.) And because the non-cattle world needs large predators, California’s fish-and-wildlife officials are preparing for the inevitable presence of entire wolf packs in the state’s open spaces. A petition seeks to force California wildlife officials to give the wolves official protected status in the state — whether the wolf will go the way of medical marijuana (legal) or gay marriage (illegal) will be decided later this year.

Photos of OR-7 via the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.