Robert Smith…worse off than Keith Richards?

You decide. My roommate sent me this link today from Brooklyn Vegan.

I replied back simply: DEAR GOD

Also, shameless self promotion, but Agingsnob now writes for an online tv show, Iheartbrooklyn. Check it.

Rachel Ray’s scarf inflames coffee-boycotting conservatives; Urban Outfitters sales in jeopardy?

Today my coworker forwarded this bite from Boston Globewriter Mark Shanahan:

Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Rayfor a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men. Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott. “The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,” Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. “Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant and not-so-ignorant fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons.” The company at first pooh-poohed the complaints, claiming the black-and-white wrap was not a keffiyeh. But the right-wing drumbeat on the blogosphere continued and by yesterday, Dunkin’ Donuts decided it’d be easier just to yank the ad. Said the suits in a statement: “In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial.” (In case you’re wondering, the stylist who selected the offending scarf was not Gretta Enterprises boss Gretchen Monahan, who appears on Ray’s TV show as a style consultant.) For her part, Malkin was pleased with Dunkin’s response: “It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists.”

I’ve often wondered about the Terrorist Scarf/Keffiyeh-style phenomenon (a throwback to 80’s boho, one which was revived right around the Iraq war in early 00’s). Is it a lazy protest against the war? Is it a sort of watered-down Hanoi Jane look for the Millennial generation?

Plain Jane: Will nehru shirts come back again?

Rachel Ray is wearing a scarf that isn’t even a real Keffiyeh (those are closer to the kind that are sold on every sunglasses/hat-selling street stand in New York…check out this article from Village Voice from two years ago for a better explaination of the differentiation between hipster wearing around neck and pro-Palestine activists wearing around head). Still, apparently Fox News doesn’t keep up with the latest fashions (see Ann Coulter’s cocktail dress from 1989 look) and this scarf has gotten right-wing crazies all stirred up. Oh just another reminder of the insanity of the Bush administration’s Opie-with-a-blog conservatism. However, if Rachel’s all about those scarves do we–you, me, Mary Kate Olson–have to stop wearing them? Luckily it’s summer and only douches wear scarves in summer. Or not… see Urbanoutfitters.com. Summer scarves! Oh and this little video from NIN, “Survivalism”:

Oh Trent you’re so 2005.

The Return of Marion Ravenwood!

Everyone I know–snob and non-snob– is psyched for the new Indiana Jones movie. The Indy trilogy was a huge part of our generation (late Gen X, early Y/Millennial) and whether you hate Spielberg or not, he helped define a huge chunk of the early lives of us children of 80’s pop culture. What I’m most excited for is the return of Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood on screen, possibly the most kick-ass female action character ever created.

Allen was one of the most beautiful actresses of the late 70’s and 80’s with her cascades of reddish brown hair, big green eyes, freckled skin and lean figure. She exuded the same kind of natural, slightly ersatz beauty that young Diane Keaton did–a thinking man’s screen siren.  But, uh, yeah, she was also Lara Croft before there was a Lara Croft! As Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark, she was a heavy-drinking, tough-ass bartender/abandoned daughter (her father was Indy’s mentor) who wasn’t afraid of snakes or Nazis. As an equally freckle-faced childsnob in the 80’s, I watched Raiders over and over again. I would then go and play “drinking” with my parents’ empty wine bottles and I’d drink my dolls under the table just like Marion did with those native bar-flies. Hmmm, interesting, yes? Never got into pretending to seduce Nazis, though.

What makes Allen as a person so very, very cool is that she aged gracefully and with taste to become the ultimate hippie mom (not a “why don’t people like old actresses, oh wo is me” Debra Winger figure). In her fifties now, she has taken up a second career of knitting and she has her own store: the Karen Allen Fiber Arts store in Western, Mass. She also opened a yoga studio, which is why when we all go to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we will admire how lovely her skin still is and what nice shape she’s in.

Check out Karen’s scarf:

A little bit like the 80’s Afghan garb floating in the bar she tended?

Rascal Rauschenberg Remembered

Robert Rauschenberg, possibly my favorite artist of the twentieth century (that’s a grand statement, but I have to say the last show I saw of his did make me feel just exactly that grand), passed away yesterday at age 82. Many obituaries have been coming in today, but I decided to show you the work and the words of the master.

What comes across in his work–a great deal which was created from found objects and trash on the street–is a joy in life and a sincere love of the beauty of ordinary things. “I feel as though the world is a friendly boy walking along in the sun,” he once said. Indeed, his vision and this charming perspective never ceases to amaze me. He helped do away with the self-absorbed pretention of the abstract expressionists, opening the door for far broadminded and expansive work. Rauschenberg refused to limit himself to a medium, instead using whatever he saw fit to make into art. He even delved into album art by designing the cover for Speaking in Tongues by the Talking Heads (which gives him only more kudos in the agingsnob book!)

To find out more about him, check out the episode of him on the American Masters Series on PBS if you are interested learning more about him as an artist.

“People ask me, “Don’t you ever run out of ideas?” In the first place I don’t use ideas. Every time I have an idea it’s too limiting, and usually turns out to be a disappointment. But I haven’t run out of curiosity.” -Robert Rauschenberg

“Bed” (an early Combine)

“Coca Cola Plan”

“Shapes”

Set for Merce Cunningham (a frequent collaborator, along with John Cage)

Clip from Ovation-TV

Utterly unfunny but highly-snoggible Fallon takes over for Conan in 2009

Everyone knows that Jimmy Fallon is not funny.

But most white American male comedians are kinda gnarly–Dmitri Martin a glaring exception. However, Fallon, mad cute! Not just cute, but nonthreatening cute, unlike creepsters like David Spade or spasmodics like Jim Carey and Adam Sandler. Fallon’s impish idiocy is almost charming…ok, not really charming. But those eyes! Fuck, ok, he’s nothing but a cute bum. 

Oscar Nominee Thandie Newtownthinking “Wow, I just broke up with PhD candidate boyfriend…hmmm….”

When I was in highschool my nicotine-stained, too-sassy-for-our-own good girlfriends and I had this friend Darren*  whose house we use a lot for parties. Dude listened to a lot of Phish, smoked a lot of weed, and pretty much could be coerced into doing anything if you made eyes at him. He, like Jimmy Fallon, was fairly petite, had lovely soft features anddark brown eyes. With his hemp necklace tied too tight around his small throat, he almost looked like a puppy on a leash. 

Darren rarely had a girlfriend despite his adorable visage, so he became that boy that all my friends would make out with when we were a. bored,  b. trying to make another boy jealous at the bonfire or c. needed some adolescent rebounding from our first loves (i.e. safe-albeit-awkward, barely secondd base fumbling in a tree house or a basement) . Darren was our Jimmy Fallon. He rarely made jokes that were funny–although, damn, he tried. He, like Fallon, did a lot of giggling, often at his own failed jokes. Did he ever read a book? Na? Graduate high school? Pshaw. That would screw around with power hour (beer/bong) which managed to be about every hour. The beauty of him was he represented everything vapid and nonthreatening in boy form…the farthest thing from smart, soon-to-be sucessful boys who would and could break our smart/cynical girl-hearts.

Well, Darren now works in insurance, lives with his parents, and has grown out of his Justin Timberlake-goes-hippie-snuggliness to look more like a fan of the defunct Man Show, complete with beer gut and ill-advised facial hair. Although I believe he may still wear hemp. Fallon on the other hand, as officially announced today, is going to take over for Conan O’Brian (no Conan, don’t go!) on NBC’s “Late Night” when Conan takes over for Letterman.

The reasoning for this choice?

NBC expects that Mr. Fallon will at least maintain Mr. O’Brien’s superiority among the younger male viewers who have traditionally made up the core audience for the post-midnight shows. But those younger men are also becoming mass defectors from traditional television viewing, often watching comic performances either in replays from DVR’s or on YouTube.

Uh-huh. Yeah, dudes are way into Fallon. Just like chicks really loved Craig Kilbourn. Well, the press conference didn’t bode well:

“Mr. Fallon claimed his kindergarten yearbook featured his photo above the caption ‘Most Likely to Take Over David Letterman.’ (Someone in the crowd, possibly auditioning to be Mr. Fallon’s sidekick, let out an audible “Wow” at this point.) When asked what kindergarten had yearbooks, much less ones with references to David Letterman, Mr. Fallon joked, ‘It’s a magical kindergarten. It’s taught by a unicorn, a talking unicorn.’”

Oh god. At least we’ll all get to see Conan earlier. Still, low blow NBC. Low fucking blow.

*Not his real name

Ways to Cheer Myself Up as a Nine-to-Fiver!

Everytime I get bummed about working 9-5 (or 10-7 more like it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not up at 7:30 to commute for 45 minutes to work!) I remember that I could have moved to back home with my parents and pursued my art. Today I found an excerpt of At a Crossroads: Between a Rock and My Parents’ Place, in New York Magazine’s Vulture page. A memoir in graphic form (the only memoir I can handle–what can I say, I like drawings!), it’s about a girl who comes home after a postgraduation trip across the world to live with her parents in–where else?–Suburban PA to attempt to write her novel. It ends up being a lot of this:

This reminds me–my god wasn’t Desparately Seeking Susan the best? Happy Friday y’all! 

World Music Ain’t Yanni When You’ve Got Real Rhythm: A new mix

Olafur Eliasson
Colour spectrum kaleidoscope (2003)

I’ve been a bad blogger as of late. I am afraid the real world of job duties/life duties has been taking my time away, not to mention the glorious spring weather outside, dinner parties to be thrown and attended, attempts at accelerated fitness, etc.

  

If you’ve read anything on here before you might notice Agingsnob is currently obsessed with alt/dance music from Australia (see Cut Copy and Cave posts). I’m also a fan of blip blip/crash!/ industrial agro/minimal beats that come out of Germany and I’ll groove to effete French men regularly too. All of this is anticipation for my weekend of dance music from abroad—Midnight Juggernauts at Bowery Ballroom on Friday and Ellen Alien on Saturday at Studio B, not to mention a jaunt to MOMA for the Olafur Eliasson show, which will be a kind of visual rhythm fest, perhaps? So start dancing now! Even if you’re in a cubicle…think of it as office exercise…

 

E Talking: Tiga

Heart It Races: Architecture In Helsinki

Downtown: Heloise and the Savoir Faire (funky!)

Newtons Gravitatlichkeit: Einstürzende Neubauten (not funky, but it is music made with power tools!)

Road to Recovery: Midnight Juggernauts

Funkenflug Der Traume: Ellen Allien

La ritournelle: Sébastien Tellier

Yippiyo-Ay: The Presets…yet another Australian electro band I’m gaga for

Swan Lake (Aka Death Disco): Public Image Limited …ever wonder where the term death disco comes from? John fucking Lydon.

 

(ALSO, Happy Birthday Tyler, thank you Joanna and Bryan for making my tickets happen and yay Claire/Jacob visit…)