Meal ticket: Last.fm edition

I've been listening to last.fm lately, and while I'm sure I'm one of the last to jump on board, it's been a lovely ride through the annals of French pop. I started the journey in typical fashion, ie not knowing what to do, so I typed in Mano Negra and starting listening to all the 'similar artists', which gave me access to some old friends I met at RFI and new groups I had never heard of.

Here's a picture of Julieta Venegas and Caetano Veloso for you, which I lifted from Julieta's myspace page. In the caption she writes: Caetano, es lo maximo!!!! She was so excited to meet him, natch. She could hardly be cuter, good people.


So here's a video of her being wicked cute. GREAT group dance happening here. Let me know if you want to get together and learn it for the upcoming talent show! This song is not her newest but it's lovely and was filmed in Argentina.


Also in the video is Anita Tijoux, from the Chilean hip hop group Makiza, who were so good back in the fin de siècle. I'm going to make it easy for you to remember:

oh wait, you haven't had enough?

Here's the other one... kirsty MacColl is the greatest. You earned it, baby.

Here's the video I was looking for. Billy Bragg sings "A New England" to adoring fans. He's wearing an ACT-UP! t-shirt in this video from 1991. The Wikipedia says he's an outspoken opponent of fascism, racism, homophobia, and sexism. He still looks good, btw.

So I went a searching on the webs for a video of "A New England" by, say, Kirsty MacColl or Billy Bragg, and I came up with P-Unit's "Tea Partay", weirdly rapping about the motherland. (Nothing like a tea party on the Cape, let me tell you.) What I learned from this video is that Cape Cod keeps it reals. Word. When I finally got to the end I realized that this is a Smirnoff commercial. Please drink responsibly.

Upside Down...

Here's Diana Ross and special friend singing and dancing! to "Upside Down". It's a live video with lots of excitement. If you avoid strobe lights, do yourself a favor and avoid this video. Diana looks unbelievable and is obvs having a wonderful time. And the special guest! How cute! I had forgotten what he was working with at the time. I like how he snatches the mike from Diana. I also like how we share the leg lift as part of our dance routine.

Tie Me Up!

Here's a picture of Rossy De Palma at Paris Fashion Week.


You may not know her from Almodovar movies such as Law of Desire, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and Kika. Kika is not included in the recent VIVA PEDRO boxed set, but it's a psychodrama like only Ally Almodovar can do. Plus, it has Victoria Abril, who's always great, especially in ATAME, which IS NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD. WTF? [Rossy de Palma gets her name from Rosa, her first name, and her hometown, Palma de Mallorca. It's also said that she has the "face of a Picasso" in Spain. She's worked for years as a model and actress, and now she lives in France.]


My favorite Almodovar movie, Atame is a great film about this guy Ricky (Antonio Banderas) who gets released from the mental institute, falls in love with a B-movie actress (Victoria Abril) and holds her hostage in her apartment. Every time he leaves her alone, he ties her up. Towards the end, as they get to know one another, she begins to ask him to tie her up when he leaves, volunteering herself. This is her:



Her sister, the seriously hilarious Loles Leon, oh wait...
this is her:


There are some really great moments in this film. One I especially like is when Victoria asks Loles what she should wear to some party (uh, it's been a minute) and Loles responds, "algo sexi, pero sin complicaciones"... you know, something sexy, but without complications. Clearly, my dear.

Another great moment is in the final scene, when [somewhat of a spoiler but I'm not tellin you much], after much drama and excitement, Banderas, Abril, and Leon drive away in their little European shitbox singing "Resistire", ["I will survive"] by the Duo Dinamico. It's a precious scene, especially for a movie about Stockholm Syndrome. [Antonino's looking fresh faced and foxy, no?]

hey girl i'm in houston

Sometimes this blog is just one more thing that I don't get around to doing- like paying my phone bill and going for a run. But I'm ditching that attitude and I'm just going to let it come when it comes and stop being so...judgmental of myself?

This blog originally started out about condiments- I had started it in a fit of silly ecstasy and glee in the summer, went to Canadia, and wasn't to post again for a few months or so... I then found the condiment theme to be restricting, so I changed it up. This has always been a problem of mine in some way, like my eternal struggle that I should have one journal for writing about my thoughts and feelings, and anything else-- to-do-lists, writings about other stuff-- would have its own space. I posted on and off, and enjoy it. But it can't be one more thing that hangs over my head. C'est pas grave, right?

In any case, I began this blog partly because I became fascinated with the blogs I was reading at the time, and an interest in the medium. As I clicked on links through many people's lives and musings, I started to think about the ways that I was witnessing communities of people communicating and forming. A lot of the guys I read were like no one else I knew; a look into a world hidden to me, but right there for everyone to read on the internet.

Blogs had been on my radar since I had first seen my long-time friend KP's, who started his in 2000 (that's right, betches) and documented his transition. During the 2004 presidential race I remember hearing from K8's mom about the influence blogs were having. There's a guy who studies blogging where I work. He says that there is usually a time when people get their bearings and observe, and then a period when they get into a stride, post a lot, comment, and communities form. In our one conversation about this topic he told me this and showed me some interesting articles.

I like that I can put videos and songs on here, so that's what I do. I usually post the songs I listen to fifteen times in a row at my job. The internet is fun. There's all sorts of people doing all sorts of things for different reasons on this piece, and it's good to be one of them. I post so infrequently and I would have to assume that it's my friends and my friends alone who [would ever think this was interesting enough to] read this, and that's fine with me.

Here's this one girl who loves the internets too, with some holiday cheer for ya.