December 29, 2011

Lyrics and Meaning


I just read this here takedown of Bon Iver on Slate:
Is Vernon the worst poetaster in the history of popular music? Is he simply incapable of writing a lyric that makes sense—that tells a story, conveys a recognizable human emotion, in English or Elvish or any other language?
Dan Bejar often says that striving to deduce concrete meaning from his lyrics is a mistake. He wants his words to do something rather than mean something, to have an effect rather than to have sense.

I wish someone would inform Jody Rosen of this concept. Lyrics can be poetic and can often be read as poetry. Songs and albums can tell stories. But they don't have to, and reading lyrics apart from their musical context is inherently a mistake. Lyrics constitute a distinct form of art that cannot be judged by the standards of poetry or storytelling.

December 19, 2011

Best Fails of 2011

So some of these might be cringe-worthy, but some of them also had me laughing 'til tears.



(Blatantly stolen from my friend Jane's Tumblr.)

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December 18, 2011

Surf Madness




I'm kind of obsessed with the music on this surf film right now (first song is kind of so-so, but after that...). Very entertaining video, especially if you're even remotely interested in surfing (I'm not, but still found it quite enjoyable).

Favorite song/sequence (minus the Handsome Furs) runs from 17:40 to about 20 minutes.

(Sterling Spencer, by the way, is the cousin of one of my best friend's back in elementary school. Ryan–my friend back in the day–has "Additional Footage" and "Special Thanks" credits.)

December 13, 2011

Identity


I have a presence on Facebook, Google Plus (until HiveMined goes live anyway), my personal blog, two collaborative blogs, a collaborative tumblr, and now Twitter. I find this distressing.

Those of you with similar social-networking overkill: how do you decide what goes in each platform? Some of it is intuitive, but some of it still alludes me.

PS: I've changed my name, you'll note, to "Porter Perkins." I start a teaching job in two weeks and would like to make it slightly less simple for my future inquisitive students to find me.

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#052

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A weekly sampler of what we're listening to (new and old), and what we think you might like, too.

01. JACK -- "Get Away", Yuck
02. CHASE -- "Follow", Crystal Fighters
03. TONY -- "Northern Lights," Bowerbirds
04. ECON -- "Christmas Bop", T. Rex
05. KYLE -- "Whole Lotta Love," Led Zeppelin
06. DUNN -- "Melekalikimaka", Beach Boys
07. OATESS -- "Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song", Jeffery Lewis
08. MARK -- "Rhythm and Soul", Spoon

MWM #052 by Jack Hittinger on Grooveshark

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December 10, 2011

Top One Christmas Movies of All Time

1) Die Hard.

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December 5, 2011

Puppets of destruction!

I loved the new Muppet movie, but I think I love this music video even more. Short list for best video of the year?



The best part is when the big green puppet bashes the purple puppet's head with a rock.

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