Uncategorized – Page 112 – The Designer Monologues

January 23, 2009April 19, 2010

Friday Music

Here we go:

First up — M.I.A. is nominated for an Oscar! She’s nominated (under her full name, Maya Arulpragasam) for a collaboration with A.R. Rahman on the “Slumdog Millionaire” soundtrack. I’d love if this track won, but the statuette will probably go to the song from “WALL-E” (then again, I could be surprised — “Hard Out Here For a Pimp” won in 2005). A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam – “O Saya.”

Here’s a new Lily Allen track, introduced to me by . Love the lyrics on this (a bit of NSFW language, by the way). Not many folks do satire in song these days. Lily Allen – “The Fear.”

Forgive me — this song has been worming its way through my brain over the past week. It’s the psychedelic theme tune to an early-70s UK kid’s show, “Ace of Wands”, about a stage magician who uses genuine supernatural powers in his strange adventures. In finest UK kid-show tradition, the program was genuinely creepy at times. Check this youtube video of the opening credits, with a prominently-featured pentacle (yet another reason why you’d never have seen this show in the US). Here’s the full-length version of the very trippy (and extremely catchy) theme: Andrew Bown – “Tarot (theme from ‘Ace of Wands’)”

Lookbook is an unsigned Minneapolis duo — Grant Cutler (instrumentation) and Maggie Morrison (vocals). The vibe (especially on this particular track) is very Twin Peaks-y Julee Cruise. The band releases their own music, which you can get via the band’s myspace page, or via iTunes Music Store. Lookbook – “Believe The Hype.”

Lastly, U2 has released the first single from their forthcoming album No Line On The Horizon. I still wait (in vain, I know) for a return to the raw emotive power of their 80s output, but this is still pretty good. U2 – “Get On Your Boots.”

Enjoy.

January 22, 2009

Two Years

I just noticed today’s date — January 22nd.

Another “Alive Day” comes along. Two years now, still cancer-free.

It brought about a lot of changes — I now get paranoid about every possible ailment (is that lower back discomfort just a muscle ache? etc.), and a lot of people I thought were “big F” Friends turned out to be “small f”, or not even that (long, ugly story).

Still, though — still here. That’s something.

January 22, 2009

He’s Done It.

President Obama just signed executive orders which direct the CIA to shut down its network of “Black Site” secret prisons, orders the closing of the Guantánamo detention camp within a year, and prohibits the use of “coercive interrogation methods” (i.e. torture)– requiring that all U.S. interrogations of terror suspects must now conform to the U.S. Army Field Manual (policies derived under the Geneva Conventions).

After signing he said:

“The message we are sending around the world is that the US intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals … We intend to win this fight, and we intend to win it on our terms.”