The Endowing of the Plastic Pickle

NBC’s Late Show won’t be the same without Conan. His orange-blood coiffure, skin white as parchment, ungainly walk–we’ll miss that. Hiring Jimmy Fallon wasn’t at all detrimental but I don’t think there’s anyone out there that can supersede the likes of O’Brien. I remember those late nights at home watching him and cackling so loud I’d wake my parents. I was such an obnoxious fan.

One of the more interesting prospects of the new program, however, is Jimmy’s house band, The Roots. Like, the fuck? I think I can come to grips with a funky guy like Questlove joining the show, but the entire band? I suppose this means I won’t be seeing them live anytime soon, despite living in N. Philly. But regardless, Jimmy is getting a monumental boost with his house band, and I’m glad they’ve accepted. It’s good for television. Their live instrumentals and jazzy and eclectic approach is still highly innovative in contemporary hip hop, and they’ll suit Mr. Fallon well.

The New York Times writes an interesting piece on Mr. Fallon’s preparations and anticipated debut on Late Night. The plastic pickle has been bequeathed, passed on, endowed to Fallon, the newest host of a historic show. Good-luck to you, sir.

Zach Galifianakis, Rap Farce

Kanye West “Cant Tell Me Nothing” (Zach Galifianakis version). I totally mooched this off this kid, Brad. It was too comical and so Galifianakis-like to pass up though. Plus I haven’t been around the blogosphere much of late, so this should suffice until I finish this “essay of despair,” as my professor titled it.

NPR’s All Things Considered: Andrew Bird

Click here to listen to Andrew’s in depth on-air interview with Melissa Block from NPR’s “All Things Considered”
Rough Trade Album of the Month!

“I think of like, when I was a kid, and I would get my Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass and throw myself down in a pile of mulch or something and go in there and pretend that I was microscopic. I wanted to capture that kind of woody, mossy, decaying kind of sound.”
-AB

Andrew Bird’s Natural Disaster

Black-Circle-Spinners Rejoice

According to Pitchfork Fat Cat Records is about to reissue two Sigur Ros albums on 180-gram DMM vinyl in the UK. Apparently they got the memo. Vinyl-obsession is spreading like ambivalence in Kosovo. But being part of hipster circles (and I cringe to admit it) is rewarding. I mean, really, what other sub-culture adorns vintage Crosleys? I could make a case for jazz studies majors, but that’s a given. And they’re already subsumed in the culture of knit beanies, skinny jeans, and cardigans anyway. It’s a sensation of the urbane. It’s vintage and pleasant. So if you’re as old-timey as me and drink as much coffee you might just appreciate this.
Oh, similar 180 gram DM ministrations will be given to Animal Collective fans. No release date has been….released.

“Decade at Bernie’s”

As Brendan of Brooklyn put it in the comments: “Another day, another visionary article by Paul Krugman.” In a financially depressive epoch, it appears only Krugman can say he foresaw the housing crisis. Well, that isnt true. I’m sure there was some mutated, congenital Maverick-goer in austral America who said the same. Look for him in The Wall Street Journal maybe. Or the National Review. But anyway, the impending crisis was intelligible to Mr. Krugman from the start and I’m beginning to think maybe HE should be the one crafting policies in the oval office. You can read his latest Op-Ed in the New York Times here.

Beirut “A Sunday Smile”

The Balkan-gypsy inspired Zach Condon and his musical cronies made their national television debut last Friday. David Letterman played host to their performance of “A Sunday Smile.” Their forthcoming double EP titled March of the Zapotec/Holland EP is scheduled for a February 16th release; however it leaked to the internet late January and was made available via iTunes on January 27th. Here’s their performance on the Late Show:

Dickens/McSweeney

Statue of Charles Dickens in Clark Park, West Philadelphia

Via Timothy McSweeney’s List: Fortune Cookies for Dickens Characters

Darwin’s 200th

Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday will arrive on Thursday and I think it’s right to pay homage to the man that still influences biological conversations well-into the 21st Century. His theory of evolution has become the bedrock of modern biology. But for most of the theory’s existence since 1859, even biologists have vigorously opposed it, in whole or in part. Now the common koine among biologists, Darwin’s mechanism for the evolutionary process, natural selection, is a speical aspect that took over a century to absorb. Formerally, I refused to interpose on Darwinian concepts, but have come to accept it as a scientific reality. I think the fact that were still not entirely persuaded by him, but remain in a wrangle, is a testament to his insight. The Science Times offers a few toasts to the man and his work, but can’t be read without subscription. Tuesday’s issue of the NY Times includes these “drinks to the trees of life:” outbursts, editorials, and comic impersonations, all of which pay some form of tribute to Mr. Darwin and his progressive ideas. They’re good lunchtime reads!

JK Rowling, French Knight

Potter author JK Rowling received France’s highest civilian award on Wednesday–the Legion of Honor. Now the second member of the Rowling family to be conferred honorary knights of France (her French great grandfather had been made a knight of the Legion of Honor for his courage in World War 1), Rowling joins Steven Spielberg and Barbra Streisand as the only foreign recipients of the honour.

Personally I’m not in the least enticed by Potter-mania. I think it’s good that children are reading more voraciously (if that term can even be applied in the modern world’s dismal reading rates) but it’s puerile and ridiculous that such second-rate literature gets this much attention. I could name twenty-five plus reader-friendly individuals that are just as dependable at producing literary works, but fail to obtain any commercial success. Suffice to say genre isn’t an issue. But perhaps it’s a good thing that my favorite writers remain obscure. I sleep better that way.

Peace.

Girl With a Pearl Earring

"Girl With a Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer, currently housed at The Mauritshuis in The Hague.

Kind of arbitrary, right? What place do Dutch paintings have on this blog? Well, you’re right–it is arbitrary and pretty insignificant. It’s just that Wikipedia featured it in their Picture of the Day archives several days aback and it’s reminiscent of my lovely trip to Sarasota last summer whereupon I visited the Ringling Museum of Art. Yeah, it’s an antiquitous estate dedicated, mostly, to all-things circus. But don’t let that fool you. It’s not all revelry. The art museum, which stands afar from the other circus attractions, offers twenty-one different galleries of European paintings as well Cypriot antiquities and Asian, American, and contemporary art. One of my favorite painters Peter Paul Rubens is included among the museum’s most celebrated collection of 16th, 17th, and 18th century European paintings. But enough of the facts.

Girl With a Pearl Earring, widely considered the Mona Lisa of the North, is such a beautiful image–I could seriously contemplate it’s meaning for hours. The canvas in itself is worldly-wise enough to stare at like a creeper, or one of the cops in Seven doing their little indagation. But no, really now. Don’t you agree?

If you ever get the opportunity to visit Mr. Ringling’s estate I recommend taking advantage of it. If anything else, the staff maintain a lovely, lovely rose garden located near the Ca’ d’Zan mansion, and overlooking the Sarasota Bay. Gah–I really wish I had my camera. I took some nice, plesant pictures before the batteries died. Goddamn technology. But hey, that’s what makes art museums so special. The fact that it’s one of the few man-made places, along with libraries and ol’ timey theaters, that one can enjoy and perhaps mildly indulge the pleasures of entertainment without any technological opuses.