A Quick Glance Backward

I was walking through the East Village the other day when a dark sticker triggered a strong memory in me.  Someone had decided to slap a One Eyed Doll sticker on a pipe jutting out of a building and the second I saw it I was transported to another place.

I'd written about One Eyed Doll back in 2007 when I was writing my way to some extra college cash with music reviews and feature stories.  I talked to Tyrese, interviewed Paramore before they were on anyone's radar, and rubbed elbows with rappers.  But there was nothing like the simple pleasure of receiving a CD in the mail.

One Eyed Doll was one of the artists that sent me a CD, and then when I wrote about her she followed up with a handwritten note thanking me along with a short stack of stickers.  The same sticker I saw pegged to the pipe just a couple days back.  

In honor of the romance of it all, I decided to do a quick search and dig up what I wrote about her three years ago...

 

"One-Eyed Doll is dirty, corrupt, and dangerously sweet. Her dark, humid rock tantalizes heavy metal fans and grants entrance to the mainstream with bustling popular harmonies. Adorned with humungous guitar riffs and Kimberly Freeman's sugared girlish voice, the debut album Hole will send you into a fit of pleasurable desolation.

One-Eyed Doll doesn't hesitate to reveal what's on her mind. Her candied voice praises suicide and Prozac, and sends and ode to needles in a mental hospital. To contrast the disturbed images of desperation, One-Eyed Doll also stands strong for what she believes.

She won't tolerate players, abuse, or hypocritical America. Freeman stands strong against an ex in "Scapegoat." The track is introduced with a plucking guitar progression before drums slide into the background as the track oscillates between slow composure and raging intolerance.

"And I'm not your scapegoat, / And I'm not your punching bag, / And I won't be sorry, / Cause I'm the best thing that you'll never have," Freeman fumes. "Scapegoat" has all the elements of the sweet and anti-authoritarian Avril Lavigne at her best. Only Kimberly Freeman takes on this role naturally, while it seems Avril has to strive to achieve the disaffected image.

The assailing side of One-Eyed Doll attacks listeners with "Suicide Serenade." We become acquainted to this track with the first four notes of the "Star Spangled Banner." Just as a singer might say "see," the guitars scream with fierce anger before coming to a close. Then a pop beat combines with Freeman's sweetest voice to bop a repetition of "Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy America!" The track quickly teeters back to harsh metal and descriptions of people falling to their graves.

"Master" broadcasts the artsy side of Kimberly Freeman's work. The subtle track holds an aura of slow paced surrealism. A sample of laughing and screaming kids quietly decorates the track as the simple track radiates with raw beauty. The quirky side of One-Eyed Monster reveals itself in "Hoochie Mama." Scott Sutton, who appears as a frequent guest throughout Hole, shines on the drums during this track. Sutton slams the percussion while changing tempo and rhythm. Freeman's intelligent and playful lyrics refuse to allow a seedy man to think he has a chance with her.

"You think it should be easy to get in my pants. Well it took me five minutes to put these things on, I can hardly breathe let alone be turned on," Freeman seethes. "And I don't want to hear your new death metal riff," she adds to drive home her disinterest. Disturbing yet wonderfully addictive, One-Eyed Doll proves that Kimberly Freeman is the foul, daring girl that every man wants but won't necessarily get.

The Austin-based artist won't let men control her, and she's certainly not taking anybody's foolishness. One-Eyed Doll would prefer control your emotions with her hook laden tracks, incredible voice, and diverse range."

Posted via email from LaurenProctor32's Posterous

Why Google is Really Investing in Solar

During the past week or so I've heard a lot about Google's plan to reduce the cost of solar power. Surface journalism has called this a benevolent act that will lower our electricity bills and other reporters have said that this is a strategic way to earn positive PR points. I give both opinions credit, but it seems strange that no one has even mentioned how important this is to Google's business.

Is this so apparent to everyone that it isn't worth mentioning, or have we overlooked the important part? As it stands, Google spends more than $2 million dollars per month on electricity. Of course they want to research lower cost energy consumption. It'll only help business.

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Music Recommendation: Sin Fang Bous - Indie rock that will swing you through the day with quick beats and pleasant cherades

Why Diane Tucker Might Be A Contender On My "Wouldn't Kick Out of Bed For Eating Crackers" List

Perhaps this is simply journalist humor best suited for those who have read and reread The Elements of Style as if it was the bible, but this is truly one of the most brilliant things I've read in quite some time. In one swoop, Diane Tucker has been added as a potential contender on my brilliant people I admire list (otherwise named "People I Wouldn't Kick Out of Bed For Eating Crackers").

Check out the article below. I'm curious to find out if this is funny to people who don't write.


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She's the female Jack Johnson equivalent in a way, and if you haven't heard of her yet you ought to listen now. Behold Tristan Prettyman.

The Real Way to Play Hit Machine

The second I saw Hit Machine I knew I'd spend my next sleepless night shredding my keyboard with the online Rock Band equivalent. But in watching an online video all I could think was, "No she didn't!"

The person playing in the demo video below is playing while sitting down. For all practical purposes I couldn't tell whether they were writing a report or playing what might be a milestone of an internet gaming release. It seems like a sin.

The beauty of Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and now Hit Machine is its ability to allow us to pretend that we are the band. In other words, I'm kicking my desk chair into the hallway for awhile, taking my lampshades off so I can shine the bare bulbs like spotlights in my eyes, turning on every multicolored light I have, and BEING the band. I've already rigged a way to mount my wireless keyboard on a baseball bat so that I can "play guitar" until the club shuts down. So don't call me tonight, unless of course, you want to be my drummer.

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Get revved up with supercharged bassline heavy The Girls Can Hear Us.

The Girls Can Hear Us remix of Beach Boys - "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (Please excuse the disturbing image. It's well worth enduring because this combination of old and new is about as fun as it gets.)

Another Reason Why the MTA May Cause You More Aggravation

If you've ever taken public transportation in NYC during the summer, you know the feeling of peering down a dark tunnel and waiting for the light as sweat streams down your back and your pants stick to your legs. It's aggravating, especially since the MTA raised their fares and reduced service. But now we may have something else to worry about.

Chris Schoenfeld tried to save some suffering with an iPhone app called StationStops. Meant to provide people with MTA schedules, it would reduce wait time and help people navigate schedules with ease. But then the MTA sent him a cease and desist letter. Apparently MTA schedules are copyrighted material and therefore off limits to people like Schoenfeld.

Why does the MTA care so much? Maybe they're worried about losing control or website hits? I'm not really sure, but it seems that they've left me sweating, staring at that dark tunnel and waiting for the light.

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You may have heard him on This American Life, but if not you'd best check him out now. David Berkeley.

Where The Wild Things Are Is Turning Kids Into Consumers of Cool

I'll admit, I've never read Where The Wild Things Are (WTWTA). It's a sin, I'm sure of it, but I plan on seeing the movie if only for the soundtrack. From what I can tell it seems like WTWTA is a movie about finding a place of belonging. It seems like a film where if only for an hour or so, anyone can take adventures and dreams can come true. It looks like a fun movie, but more than that, the font, the soundtrack, and just about everything else in the way the film is being presented makes me believe that WTWTA's marketing team wants to appeal to a group of kids who they hope will grow up to consume cool.

Not cool in the everybody's doing it sense, cool in an independent sense. Cool like Juno cool, or cool like the kids who listen to Arcade Fire (the trailer track) and Karen O (the woman behind the soundtrack). Everything about the movie says alternative in a subtle way, not counterculture alternative, but alternative in a "Sundance has suddenly turned mainstream but still seems independent" sort of way.

Maybe the day of uncool becoming cool has actually arrived. It's in our sweaters and nerdy glasses. It's in the fact that statistician has just been named one of the sexiest fields to enter into in the near future. Will the alternative remain cool? WTWTA seems to think so, at least for a little while longer.

Where the Wild Things Are Trailer #2

Why Yogi's Might Appreciate Your Next Computer

Your next computer purchase might be a touchscreen. If you're skeptical about that claim you might point to the not so popular HP Touchsmart, but I would counter your argument with rumors about the new Apple Tablet. Supposedly a larger, more laptop like iPhone sort of device, the tablet is just one step along the way toward incorporating serious touch technology into regular laptops and desktops.

If Apple releases their tablet the right way and brings us into the realm of touchscreen computing, there's no doubt that others will follow. So unlike the laptops of yesteryear, when touching your screen and blurring the graphics was a mortal sin, the next generation could encourage intuitive touches and gestures.

What's significant about all of this to me though, is something I've never heard anyone consider. Of course I'm interested in flicks and resizing, but what seems more important is the way that such technology will naturally change the office environment. As traditional computing combines with the touchscreen technology we'll find ourselves reaching up and grabbing the world rendered on our computers. We'll open our shoulders and work against the all too known I-spend-too-much-time-on-the-computer-so-I-look-like-a-gorilla slump. The next generation computer might release us from the confines of our keyboards, but more than that, we will literally free our constricting pectorals and open ourselves up to a freer world. That, to me, seems like technology at it's best.

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Open your life up to the easy flow of Aussie singer-songwriter ">Jamie Hutchings.

Jamie Hutchings - "After the Flood"

Healthcare Explained On Napkins

Dan Roam, the man behind napkin illustrations that can explain just about anything, has created a slide show that explains health care. Clever, but even more than that, it reiterates how well we respond to stories.

Healthcare Napkins All

View more documents from Dan Roam.

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Check out Thrillmagazine.tumblr.com for some music recommendations and a few blasts from the past.

I'm Going to Write A Novel

I'm in a writing mood tonight and it's not necessarily the type of writing mood that's at all related to blogging or talking about why I think some sort of new achievement will change the world in a small way. No, tonight plagues me with the sort of writing mood that seeps out of me in accidental fragments and then leaves me suddenly speechless.

The urge to write is engrained in me, stuck somewhere in my body and circulating, heating up and brewing. As far back as I can remember I've been brimming over with stories. Short stories with tall orders and long ones without any point except to make someone smile.

During the day I often lose myself researching and studying the ideas of others, but if I stay up late enough the urge to write something literary overcomes me and bubbles over in long meandering emails or the introductions to books I've always wanted to write. Up to this point in my life only a half a dozen or so of my closest friends have seen the rhythm of my sentences change as I'm overtaken by the sweeping sentences of the classics that have inspired me all my life. Tonight I have formally decided that this is going to change.

I have too many stories and too many people saying, "I still think you should be writing" to relegate my literary side to a few drifting emails written as the sun rises after a sleepless night. I feel a sustainable plot forming in my mind and I'm almost ready to begin. And after I do I hope you'll hold me to it. Or perhaps more important, I hope at some point some publisher somewhere decides to hold onto me.

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In my writing mood I was lured back to a man whose music I've loved for years. I bring you...

Her Space Holiday - "Sleepy California" (1. I apologize that the video is just lyrics but it was the only one I could find with decent sound and I wanted to include this song because this song has always made me think.)

Could SEO Spur Internet Gentrification?

Since the internet came into existence everything was about leveling the playing field. There's Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, the bits economy of costs getting closer and closer to zero, the idea that music should be free, and the ruling principle that on the internet anyone can do anything. All these concepts remain, but now that the internet is growing into an unfathomable web of layered thoughts and contextual relationships it seems like our content consumption is depending more and more on 1. friend recommendations (something I plan to address in a future write up) and 2. the power of search.

Favorite Song On the Radio

For all of you psychology students who need a thesis topic, have I got a good one for you.

Please, dissect why it feels so much better to hear a favorite song on the radio than it does to simply play a CD or .mp3 file.

Of course the answer lies in the fact that it’s an unexpected surprise but I have a feeling there’s more. Is it partly because we relish in the fact that someone somewhere out there at a completely different point in their life might share this song with you and feel like you do? Is it because we crave familiarity and like to think that other people also want to hear the things that are our favorites? Or maybe it’s some sort of approval of our favorite things? Tell me everything that makes us feel that way.

Send me a thorough thesis and I’ll give you something (what it is will depend on how well off I am at the time). And then together we can figure out how to apply that beautiful “Omigod they’re playing my song” feeling to product perception and marketing.

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And now for an artist you'll probably never hear on the radio but probably ought to listen to anyway. His name is Parov Stelar and he's an Austrian jazz electro guy who knows how to drop a beat.

Parov Stelar - "Matilda" (I can't even tell you how much I'd LOVE to be in this video, or at least throw paint water balloons around an empty room while wearing all white.)

So You Want To Be Quoted?

Pear Analytics filtered through 28,000 tweets in a recent about Twitter usage and consumption, and if you're at all familiar with Twitter some of the results may be predictable. Apparently 40.55% of 0ur tweets are what they consider "pointless babble," but 37.55% are conversational and 8.7% were of what Pear Analytics calls "Pass Along Value."

You may have heard about the recent Pear Analytics study analyzing the nature of usage and consumption of Twitter, and whether you've read the study or not it probably won't surprise you that 0.55% of 0ur tweets are what they consider "pointless babble." On the brighter side though, 37.55% are conversational and 8.7% were of what Pear Analytics calls "Pass Along Value."

All this is interesting, but here's the real gem of this study, the part that might actually help you. Tweets that occur on Monday and near 11:30am are most likely to be retweeted (quoted and passed along) and if you're looking for news tweets on the public timeline are most newsworthy around 2:00pm and on Tuesdays. Hopefully that helps somebody out there, but if not, check out this beautiful music recommendation.

Bowerbirds - "My Oldest Memory"

Rock Paper Scissors, An Important Environmental Breakthrough

There's a new paper that's made of stone. It's called TerraSkin and production takes half the energy of regular paper. According to a recent article in Business Week it's recyclable and durable, but if "exposed to sunlight and humidity long enough" it "breaks down like talcum powder." I'm not sure what long enough means, but sales of these bags are expected to triple by the end of 2009 and some proponents of green are calling TerraSkin a major solution.

All I have to say is that I can hardly wait to offer to carry a TerraSkin bag for someone and then say, "Goodness this is heavy! What do you have in here, rocks?!?!?!"

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And in case that wasn't enough pun for one night, until you get your hands on a rock bag you should rock out to Frankmuzik electro style.

Kept, Lost, Forgotten and Remembered Again

There's a website called Forgotten Bookmarks and in case the name of the site doesn't explain enough, it's like Post Secret for the bookish type. I've added a couple images below, but check it out if you're curious.

Preferably while listening to the sweet sounds of The Backseat Goodbye. (Warning: He's a total guilty pleasure but a pleasure nonetheless). And not that it matters, but he has a song called "32 Ways to Make You Smile."

Is Cyber Warfare Effective?

Cyber warfare. It's one of the only social media related news I heard about after reports started coming out offering reasons why Twitter, Facebook and LiveJournal were experiencing so many problems. It was DDoS (Denial of Service Attacks) related to the conflict between Russia and Georgia, and the attackers wanted to stifle the voice of a guy with a handle of Cyxymu.

In turn, people suddenly started talking about ways to back up your social media profiles and Twitter accounts, and just about everything else on the elusive cloud where we're all starting to store more of our data. They also started talking about cyber warfare and how it might become a piece of the future. But before the lights went out on Twitter I had no idea Cyxymu even existed, and goodness knows I didn't know to he was someone whose voice was important enough to send internet usage for millions to a screeching halt.

Now my appetite for Cyxymu's words is insatiable and it makes me wonder. If an attempt to stifle a voice sends its decibels further than they would have reached before, can this so called cyber warfare really be effective?

Let's hope not.

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Now for some affable folk (although as a warning, some of his songs will hit you hard and leave you wallowing on the floor in sweet misery...okay that was major hyperbole). Check out Brooklyn's own Jonah Smith.

Re: Sneakers

Many of you may remember my talk on sneaker trends and the democratization of footwear this past spring. In it I suggested that the lines between dress shoe and sneaker will continue to blur. I also wondered if sneaker companies would capitalize on this trend as much as actual stylish clothing brands. Other than the Nike Cole Haan partnership (which doesn't really count) or brands like Puma (which still remain largely casual), we aren't really seeing brands like Adidas spiffing up their shoes to create comfortable hybrid dress shoes and I wonder why that is.

It seems like the H&M or Zara type places that sell casual footwear are the ones that are winning out. Specialty brands like Marc Jacobs, Swear, and Schmoove have also capitalized on this concept of creating sneaker like dress shoes. Does this mean that streetwear is going to swing back away from the cool of casual sneakers and back toward something "nicer?" Is this what the new oxford trend is telling us? Your guess is as good as mine.

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Tonight I'm listening to Marching Band, a Swedish indie pop rock group.

To BE That Feeling

I read Aimee Bender's The Girl in the Flammable Skirt yesterday and by page eight I was messaging my favorite reading buddy.  "Have you ever read any Aimee Bender?" I asked.  When she asked me if I recommended her my response was emphatic.  Then I admitted that I was on page eight.  

But like hearing the first few measures of a great song for the first time, it didn't take long before I felt rhythm and voice slip into the marrow of my bones.  Art is beautiful like that.  In an instant it can sweep you off your feet, fill you with happiness, and stick with you forever.

I justified my especially early reading recommendation with some version of that feeling.  Then I thought about the first time I heard the intro to a song that to this day smears a grin on my face and leads me directly to my dancing shoes.   

I wonder, what if you could BE that feeling?  You'd jump around all day from place to place, filling people with a contentedness so good they sometimes can't find words for it.  I suppose sometimes late at night, you'd long for something deeper.  But to be that feeling to be savored, to exist as a thing so pure and reliable.  Your only need would be happiness, and it would always come because you could provide it for everyone you touched.  

I can't stop thinking about that.  And I can't stop listening to The Portland Cello Project's collaboration with Thao called "Tallymarks."  Both The Portland Cello Project and Thao are brilliant, I'm sure.

Paper Heart

I got word of Paper Heart a few months ago and when I finally saw the trailer I was immediately in love. I don't really know what to expect from this movie, but it seems to me like a reinvention of cinema in a way.  Charlene Yi seems promising and there's something about Michael Cera that seems like he could save the world. I don't care that he's always the same character, his sincerity will always make me melt and Yi seems to share the same delivery of heartfelt sarcasm and sensitivity.  

If you haven't heard of the movie yet, check out the trailer below and watch for lines like "Take somebody to Applebee's and give them hot wings," "I mean he doesn't even know me, how could he like me," and "I think I'm going to get the Mexican Beach salad. I want to say that to the waiter. He'll look at me and say, 'Oh hey, this guy gets around."

For music that will steal your heart and a voice that will leave you in chills, check out Brown Shoe.
Brown Shoe - "Aquarium"

I Know What You Did Last Summer...And Just A Second Ago

I figure it's only a matter of time before someone releases a movie in which Twitter is the central character? Perhaps they'll call it Twittered, or Tweet? I predict it's only a matter of time and suspect that the film will fall into the genre of horror.

Perhaps a quick release, poorly constructed slasher film where the killer knows exactly what you did last summer...and just a second ago. Or maybe they'll avoid the film because the prospect of Twitter stalking someone to their demise is just too realistic... Nevertheless, sometimes I think Twitter: The Movie is only a matter of time.

On a happier note, I'm going back to basics with an artist I don't think I've mentioned yet but have loved for a few months now. Check out the soulful Little Jackie, a duo who will leave you with head bopping hooks long after the song is over.

Little Jackie - "Go Hard or Go Home"

Little Jackie - "The Stoop"

A Date or a Dentist Continued (see below)

For some reason the formatting on the last blog was a nightmare. So instead of toy with it longer, I'm posting a continuation here:

While you're deciding if I should go with a mature dentist with a four star bedside manner or a young blonde with five stars, feel free to lose yourself in the sweeping sound of Rey Fresco. This groove lounge harp, drum and bass concoction has a West Coast vibe to leave you feeling like you can conquer the day.

Rey Fresco - "Fairline"