the rich girls are weeping take notes

Hurts — Wonderful Life (via Popbitch, naturally) Oh my...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:22:00 -0500

Hurts — Wonderful Life (via Popbitch, naturally)

Oh my goodness! One really can’t complain about nostalgia-mongering synth-laden dance pop when it’s this utterly fantastic. From Manchester, of course. And determined to represent at Eurovision 2010. OK!

xoxo, c. hotpoint

Although I rent my apartment in Brooklyn, I do not have a home. My parents are still my home. I am part of a vast generation of people who perpetually live as if they just graduated from college. I am 38. I wear a backpack and I have no savings. I console myself with the thought that people live longer now, so it makes sense that some of us may take longer to mature.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:28:00 -0500

—JONATHAN AMES (via youmightfindyourself:tobia / NYTimes)

Let’s talk about this quote for a moment, shall we? First of all, this piece is from 2002. 2002! This attitude was a little more forgiveable then; we were all still blinky and disoriented after 9/11.

But! It’s almost 2010. When Ames wrote this article, he was 38. Now that would make him well into his mid-40’s now. And he’s gained a modicum of success in the intervening years, leading up to the new HBO show “Bored to Death,” starring Jason Schwartzmann as a stand-in for Ames himself, it seems — a sensitive, tiresome child-man who bumbles through life with no real purpose other than knowing that he has no purpose. Ames, now that he’s firmly staring down middle age, is still ~~condoning~~ enabling the man-child behavior of his generation, and the one after.

I’m paraphrasing Pinkie here (she alerted me to the post I’ve reblogged via a crabby email), but if anyone’s wondering why I’m (or she) is still single — this is it. So many of the men I know are the walking embodiment of Ames’ story — and it just seems to be getting more and more common the older I get.

I want to be an adult, why doesn’t anyone else? Or do they, and they’re just afraid to? Or don’t know how? Or can’t break away from the financial support of their parents? Or can’t figure out what they’re “supposed” to do because they can’t do what their parents did? (Namely, get married in their early 20’s, get a career track job, buy a house in the suburbs and have a 2.5 children and a dog?)

Whatever the reason, it’s a scary prospect, growing up with no viable template to follow. Yes, we all have no savings — yes, still. That’s one of the things from Ames’ 2002 piece that hasn’t changed. Because instead of having to deal with a catastrophic war, or major social upheaval — the only outstanding feature of our lifetimes is a chain of economic disasters. Just when you feel you’ve finally got your feet under you, the rug is pulled out — and there goes your 401k, your minscule nest egg, your hopes for a secure future.

I can’t even begin to think how long it’s going to take many of us to recover from this latest round of monetary bullshit. How many people do you know who took the plunge and tried to do what they were “supposed to” — and bought a house they couldn’t afford and are now dealing with or facing down an adjustable-rate mortgage that is crushing (or will crush) them financially? Or who can’t even begin to pay back all the credit card debt they accrued in the early/mid aughts, thanks to ever-increasing interest rates that won’t be helped by the too-little-too-late Credit Card Act?

Its easy to see why people our age stay locked in a state of perpetual childhood. But we don’t have to settle for that life. We can do better.

A public service announcement regarding tacky font usage

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:49:00 -0500

I don’t care if it WAS named one of the most “excellent free fonts for professional designers” by some semi-influential online design ‘zine two years ago, the loathsome Scriptina still makes me think of bad, bad, icky, bad LiveJournal fangirl user icons ca. 2005, and so if you use it as the logotype for your high-end online boutique, I will PROBABLY NOT SHOP THERE.

Just sayin’.

xoxo, c. hotpoint, who has see this too many times recently to keep quiet any longer.

Cooking with Christopher Walken! Remind me sometime to tell you...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:43:00 -0400

Cooking with Christopher Walken! Remind me sometime to tell you about how I’m secretly writing a screenplay in my head that’s specifically for Mr. Walken.

xoxo, c. hotpoint — who is very, very busy at work these days.

Lydia Hearst photographed by Miles Aldredge for the 2010 Lavazza...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:12:49 -0400

Lydia Hearst photographed by Miles Aldredge for the 2010 Lavazza coffee calendar. All the photos in this year’s calendar represent classic Italian songs — Lydia is posed here as “Baciami Piccina.” (via Telegraph)

xoxo, c. hotpoint, who apologizes for being so incognita lately, but she finally got A JOB. Yay!

Unquiet Thoughts : The New Yorker

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:58:25 -0400

Unquiet Thoughts : The New Yorker:

Several friends have directed me to Alex Ross’ new blog over at The New Yorker site. And now I’m letting you know in case you’ve missed it too. According to Ross, this new blog (he’s keeping his old site intact as an archive)

will consist of short commentaries, addenda to New Yorker pieces, audio excerpts from recommended new CDs, links to novelties and oddities around the Internet, and the like.

There’s only a few posts, currently — looking forward to more.

xoxo, c. hotpoint, who is lazily enjoying her last day of unemployment

"If someone—Jamie Oliver, for example—devised an appealing mass-market food product that was better..."

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:51:17 -0400

“If someone—Jamie Oliver, for example—devised an appealing mass-market food product that was better than Taco Bell on the taste/price/convenience dimension but also healthier, well that would be an excellent thing for the world. And maybe someone could do it … Jamie Oliver could do it. Mark Bittman could do it. Michael Pollan could do it. And it would be more likely to succeed than an endless procession of NYT Magazine articles hectoring people about how they should cook more.”

- Matthew Yglesias, What The World Needs From Its Celebrity Chefs « The Internet Food Association

(via ffffood:rodmitch)

OH GROW UP and cook your own food already. I really have no other response to this other than: if you’re interested in eating good food, it’s your responsibility, as a member of the human race, to select and prepare that food yourself. It is not the responsibility of the celebrity chef, who, I might add, is already down with the select-and-prepare it yourself philosophy. That’s why they write cookbooks. And have cooking shows.

The celebrity chefs of the world aren’t “hectoring” you. They’re reinforcing the knowledge that the ability to cook food for ourselves is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. I’m not saying that you should never eat out. I’m not saying that you need to prepare every meal at home. But you should be more interested in where your food comes from, and how it’s prepared. And you shouldn’t expect other people — from the corporate chef at Taco Bell to the prepared foods staff at Whole Foods to the thousands and thousands of chefs championing regional cuisine made with local ingredients — to do all the heavy lifting for you.

Take some agency in your life. Make some decisions about what you put in your body. Educate yourself about the way that food production works in America. Don’t have food guilt. Don’t have arbitrary rules surrounding what you can and can’t eat. And for goodness’ sake, cook some of that food yourself.

xoxo, c. hotpoint

Pushing Ahead of the Dame

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:36:34 -0400

Pushing Ahead of the Dame:

Have you seen this site? I’m cleaning out my tabs in the six Firefox windows I currently have open. Anyway, this site is offers a thorough analysis and history of EVERY SINGLE DAVID BOWIE SONG. I’m pretty much a Berlin-and-after Bowie fan (no, I don’t like the Ziggy Stardust period, thank you very much!), so it’s been illuminating to read about the songs I don’t know well.

xoxo, c. hotpoint

Piano Magic — Ovations (via Darla Records) It’s...

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:53:00 -0400

Piano Magic — Ovations (via Darla Records)

It’s pretty sad when the sheer volume of useless noise in the new music press is so deafening that I very nearly missed the release of a new Piano Magic record.

It’s gorgeous, naturally. Especially the contributions from Brendan Perry and Peter Ulrich of Dead Can Dance.

One can only hope that the recent Coldwave resurgence will finally give the criminally underrated Piano Magic their due. Have a listen; it’s easily one of the best albums I’ve heard this year: lush, sad and lovely.

xoxo, c. hotpoint

Priscilla Renea — Dollhouse Produced by Benny Blanco,...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:00:00 -0400

Priscilla Renea — Dollhouse

Produced by Benny Blanco, naturally. Which is why it sounds familiar-ish. But! 19-year-old Priscilla Renea, who, according to her press materials, got her start via viral videos on ye olde internet (of course!), writes her own songs and plays the guitar rather charmingly.

xoxo, c. hotpoint, who is totally obsessed with this song today

Grace Coddington in 1961, with a Vidal Sassoon haircut Some...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:49:00 -0400

Grace Coddington in 1961, with a Vidal Sassoon haircut

Some people criticize the perfect images the fashion industry creates, but I think you have to look beyond the picture. I’m still not comfortable with the amount of Photoshop that gets used — it goes against the grain. I guess you have to move with the times, but what you see and what you get are two different things now. Photoshop is a lie, they carve away a waist or a breast, and I think it’s sad — you miss the happy accident. it’s a shame that everything has to be so perfect, just because it can be. Maybe it’s because I’m not a blonde beauty that I like people who are a bit different, I don’t mind if they have a scar or are a little bit fat. People don’t come in the same mould and I find that interesting.

I think I’ve survived so long in this industry because I genuinely love what I do. When people call me the most influential stylist in the world, I think it’s bullshit. I’m not. I have a good time and am really privileged to do the things that I do — I wouldn’t be doing it if I thought any differently.I’m a Vogue girl, and once you’re a Vogue girl, you’re always a Vogue girl.

Grace Coddington quoted in Dazed & Confused - September 2009, pg. 89

xoxo, c. hotpoint, who thinks we are all pretty, for reals.

Regretsy - Handmade? It looks like you made it with your feet

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:34:23 -0400

Regretsy - Handmade? It looks like you made it with your feet:

Yes, we know there are a lot of “point and laugh at the terrible crap on Etsy” sites out there. This one is the best.

xoxo, c. hotpoint

Justice † Cross Piano Medley by the Napkin Holder There are a...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:51:14 -0400

Justice † Cross Piano Medley by the Napkin Holder

There are a lot (and I mean a lot) of people on YouTube who do crummy piano covers of pop songs; I just spent way too much time slogging through the worst ones out there. Believe me when I tell you that The Napkin Holder is the best one out there. Also, this is probably the most delightful way to listen to the Justice album in one sitting.

xoxo, c. hotpoint

Central Park after the Gay Pride March, June 28, 1970. Photo by...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:11:25 -0400

Central Park after the Gay Pride March, June 28, 1970. Photo by Fred W. McDarrah (Getty Images)

I absolutely adore McDarrah’s photos taken for the Village Voice of New York in the 60s and 70s.

xoxo, c. hotpoint

Andy: What qualities make a person a good candidate for copy editing? Mary: Self-doubt. It’s always...

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:29:00 -0400

Andy: What qualities make a person a good candidate for copy editing?

Mary: Self-doubt. It’s always good, before changing something, to stop and wonder if this is a mistake or if the writer did this for a reason. When you’ve read a piece five or more times, it is tempting to believe that it must be perfect, but you have to stay alert for anything you might have missed. Eternal vigilance! It also helps to have read widely (and well), and to have noticed, while you’re at it, how words are spelled. Of course you have to be attentive to details—you have to be a bit of a nitpicker yet be constructive in your nit-picking. You have to love language. And not be too proud to run spell-check.

Copy Editing at The New Yorker Magazine. An Interview With Mary Norris | Red Room

This interview is actually kind of tedious, but Mary’s responses are really sweet. The other item of interest in this Q&A is the news that Mary Norris is Baby Dee’s sister, and she’s writing a book about her! Amazing!

xoxo, c. hotpoint, who always runs spell-check. Always.

Brandon Flowers, as photographed by Elizabeth Peyton (via Paper...

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:02:00 -0400

Brandon Flowers, as photographed by Elizabeth Peyton (via Paper Magazine)

Stop that, Brandon Flowers! Stop it right this very moment!

I just adore this haircut on him — and still can’t get enough of those darling feather epaulets.

xoxo c. hotpoint, who makes no apologies for liking The Killers. So there.

newcurator: Wooster Collective: Shit We’re Diggin: Geoff...

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:50:58 -0400

newcurator: Wooster Collective: Shit We’re Diggin: Geoff Hargadon’s “Cash For Your Warhol” Prank

(via Vonelle, who always keeps me on top of these things)

xoxo c. hotpoint, who’s been afk for a few days, but is catching up on serious business.

Yay, there’s a new Morrissey record due out November 3....

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:38:00 -0400

Yay, there’s a new Morrissey record due out November 3. (ETA: It’s a b-sides collection from the last three albums.)

xoxo, c. hotpoint. (Obvs. the album art doesn’t actually have all those hearts and stuff on it.)

Blacklist — Flight of the Desmoiselles Yeah, we know a few...

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:46:00 -0400

Blacklist — Flight of the Desmoiselles

Yeah, we know a few of these guys; we’ve written about Blacklist for ages, it seems. And, if you haven’t given them a listen before now — you really must. I rarely do this, but — RIYL Echo & The Bunnymen and The Cult and The Church. Because it’s pretty impossible to compare Blacklist to anything else out right now, which is kind of nice, actually. Ambitious, epic, loud and full of unabashed posturing: a perfect antidote to snoozy faux lo-fi indie rock.

xoxo c. hotpoint

ps — Blacklist plays tonight (9/25) at Lit Lounge in New York and head to Berlin and Dombrim, Austria next week.

"When it came to BBC radio DJ John Peel, taste-making never seemed like a hunt for coolness or the..."

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:16:00 -0400

“When it came to BBC radio DJ John Peel, taste-making never seemed like a hunt for coolness or the next big thing.”

- Pitchfork: Articles: The Decade in News (via desnoise)

This is pretty much why I’ve (gracefully, I hope) exited from the “YOU MUST LISTEN TO THIS NOW!” business. Because at the stroke of 2007 (or, that’s when it happened for me), this all became less about thoughtfully sharing wonderful things and more about filling blank space indiscriminately in a 24/7, always-on media environment, and doing so in a shallow, hipper-than-thou, “FIRST!!!” kind of way. Oddly, I’ve only recently made peace with this, so I kinda hope that means that the bubble will burst soon.

xoxo, c. hotpoint