Some kind soul has provided the service of splicing both She-Wolf and the best parody into a split screen. It makes the parody even more effective; and doesn't alter the original in the slightest. I mean, what could touch that priceless Loba?


Also, Lady Gaga keeps making me buy her new singles. Those shoes would make Kelly murder someone!

This is a meal I make when Kevin is away (like all things seafood). I guess it's really just glorified tuna sandwiches, but it's very filling and is one of the many things I make that remind me of childhood. I didn't take pictures of the ones I made yesterday, but this is close to how mine look:



There's so many different recipes as to how to do them; people use mayonnaise, potatoes, lemon juice, Cream of Mushroom soup mix, panko ... you basically need some fresh, sharp flavors; something oily; some crunch. My grandmom used to use oats, as she would for meatloaf. Here's mine:

1 can salmon (seperate the filets, remove the bones, reserve the liquid)
2 slices your preferred bread, pulsed to crumbs (don't toast, you need the moisture)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup instant potato flakes (or leftover instant or mashed potatoes)
dry seasonings (garlic, onion powder, paprika, parsley, dill, your own preference)

Mix up all of the above with a fork. Include the can liquid, or add lemon juice or mayo (a tbl or 2). You want a soft but not goopy texture.

Form into patties (I use a large wooden spoon to shape), and press onto a sizzling (not smoking) frying pan (I use half butter/crisco, dollops of each). You'll need to replinish the oil as you fry, but you don't need even more than 1/4 inch coating the pan at any one time.

I turn mine over twice, so they get 4 minutes per side, eventually.

Makes about 7 or 8, and I ate most of them myself over the course of the day.

Serve with fake Thousand Island Dressing (equal parts Mayo, mustard, ketchup and worcestershire sauce) or your favorite creamy seafood dip.

 

In comfort food news, used CD stores still apparently exist. Look what I scored at Cheapo Records in Central Square today:



Gotta love that eighties synth-line. And the back-up singers are straight from disco records. Did he hire the Pointer Sisters or something?

Of course, I also bought this again, so now I have a backup copy I guess?



But at least I realized I already have this and took it off my Amazon wish list. I've gone senile when it comes to Grandpa's Favorite Albums!
Help Grandpa, kids!



Man, remember Prince in the 1980s, touring the South, like this?:



And you wonder why we loved him?

You might have thought that the Pussycat Dolls were destroying the power of "Jai Ho" when they mangled it into a bubblegum hiphop song, but as kev_bot pointed out when I told him about the translated lyrics I found today, it maybe wasn't so much of a stretch.

(IT ROCKS!,IT ROCKS!,IT ROCKS!,OH IT ROCKS!)
(COME ON MY LIFE, JOIN ME UNDER THE BIG ROOF)
(COME JOIN ME UNDER THE GLITTERING BLUE SKY)
(IT ROCKS..OH IT ROCKS!)

(NIGHT AFTER NIGHT I TRULY DIED..)

(SPENT THE NIGHTS DANCING ON HOT COALS..)
(I BLEW AWAY THE SLEEP IN MY EYES..)
(I BURNT MY FINGERS TRYING TO TOUCH THE STARS..)
(COME ON MY LIFE, JOIN ME UNDER THE BIG ROOF)
(COME JOIN ME UNDER THE GLITTERING BLUE SKY)
(IT ROCKS..OH IT ROCKS!)
(Dance! Dance!)

(TASTE IT, O TASTE IT, THE NIGHT IS HONEY, TASTE IT)
(KEEP MY HEART, IT IS THE LAST LIMIT, YEAH KEEP IT)
(DARK, THIS EYELINER OF YOURS, IS LIKE A MAGICAL SPELL)



 

The eyeliner line is sort of interesting. Sounds like forbidden flirting! The Oscar performance was one of the most sincerely exuberant moments I ever remember seeing since I started watching them in the 1970s.

It comes up a lot on the Soundtrack Genre in my nano. I never saw the movie.

Waitaminute, why didn't she release this song first from the new album? It's not actually a laughable travesty like "She-Wolf."

Shakira on Saturday Night Live


I'm going to end up buying this album, aren't I? She's like a hot mess, and she's not apologizing for it!

Yayy, one by a girl that doesn't try to compete with Shakira's sexuality. Because that would be impossible.




"If you don't like this, try Hips Don't Lie!"

The braces are super-adorable.

Jamie Oliver, stop inventing things!



Apparently it's not one of those laundry balls that you throw in and it makes suds.

Okay, I just can't stop. This one is actually "America's Got Talent" level. The 'Hoff would be in tears. She seems to be doing it without a trace of irony, which is just sweet.

Is this song crucial to our culture at this point? All I know is I just bought it on iTunes. Where the remixes, Shakira? What up w/dat? Strike while the iron is hot, lobalita!

Notice she changes "it" to "she" several times, like a normal human would?

And then I found this one:


Wait for the "AHHHOOOOOO," that's all I'm telling you. Are the chords as easy as the dance moves in the video? What is going ON? 

This phenomenon that I have identified is giving me more hope for the younger generation than even my students do!

My favorite part is that it's mostly tween boys who love this song.  It's truly the (too much) Information Age.

This is the best. These siblings have over 100 lip-synching videos. Mom (who interviews them in one) is very indulgent.


This is the weirdest. Hiding his identity may have been a wise move.


( Shakira is so inspiring )

I just noticed another lyrical anomaly:

Ive been devoting myself to you Monday to Monday and Friday to Friday
Not getting enough retribution or decent incentives to keep me at it

Does she really need retribution for what she accomplishes at work? 'Cause that's kinky.

Well, I know who got there first, and apparently so does Roisin:



http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/newmusicalexpress/2110/lady-gaga-vs-roisin-murphyspot-the-difference/

However, there's something to be said for Roisin's witty, subversive reserve (she's called the Irish Ice Queen) vs. Lady GaGa's tendency to let it all hang out, dripping blood and getting ugly. I prefer Roisin's music, but I'm happy to see Gaga breaking some of these ideas into the mainstream.

Weirdo Divas. Do we have room for a plethora?

Shakiro?

Thank heavens for bored college queens, I can't say it enough.



It's gets even funnier the longer you commit to watching it. He said in some interview (of course he already has interviews) that he realized the dance moves JUST WEREN'T HARD!!!!

SFW? I don't know ... let's say VH1 could play it on Saturday morning, but likely won't.

I'm not sure murderous terrorists should be this sexy:



It's a very sexy movie, though, helped along by all that barking German dialogue.

These guys don't look as mature as they sound.

I couldn't find a legal video of their new single, so here's their old breakthrough, "Special."


The new album is even more experimental, if possible.

They had the EP free with the new CD at Newbury Comics; they're really being very nice about being the only game in town left when it comes to alternative CDs.

I do not admit that I'm excited by the current (millionth during my lifetime) wave of Beatles revivalism.

I do not play Rockband (honestly, I don't. Music plus videogames? Seems like that nasty Ocarina level of Zelda to me, set to infinite. Pass. Love music, but I'm not musical. I never had air guitar fantasies. I had standup comics fantasies instead. Though the people that make the game who work in my building are two things: hotties, and happy with their jobs).

I did not go buy Past Masters reissued today (yes I did). Even though we have the old Past Master vol. 2. This one has "Sie Liebt Dich" and "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" on it!

Speaking of German, I did not go see "Inglorious Basterds" this week and think Brad Pitt may have actually given a good performance (though most of it was his makeup), or that I've never seen a better depiciton of Hell on Earth than the deliciously unfolding and prolonged, layered climactic scenes. When Tarantino amuses himself, it's best for everyone.

I did not just put all the albums kev_bot bought on Wednesday on my iTunes. (They were not Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver or Let it Be)

I have not been watching Anthology all week.

I do not think Yellow Submarine is the best animated movie ever.

I do not approve of any album named "The Number 1's," though I have three of them.

I did not add "home sharing" to my iTunes last night so I could steal his other Beatles tracks.

I do not love John Lennon.

I do love Yoko Ono, however. While you could probably sneak out of up in here with my Past Masters, you couldn't prise Walking on Thin Ice out of my dead cold hands. I have the original 45.

The model drama is almost more interesting to me than the fashions, which, after all, are pretty much always evening frocks, aren't they? I really hope they give these queens and divas a menswear challenge this season. That's right, make some MF'in pants, schoolkids! How you like it now?

But today's special citation is for Crystal oops, I mean Qrystil, for her sound command of English grammar. I'm blanking on the words exactly, but Althea wanted to do something perfect last night, while Qristyl needed to really do her work speedily, or something along those well-spoken lines.

When did everyone stop needing adverbs in their lives?
( many sad returns )

Not only do they kick ass because they are Iggy Pop and Peaches, but they're also killing Zombies!


Iggy loves doing duets, I like this one, too:


Have you ever been out to LA, lately?

Submitted for your consideration, selected lyrics from a current dance single:

"Darling it is no joke, this is lycanthropy."

Nope, lycanthropy is certainly not automatically laughable.

"Starting to feel just a little abused

Like a coffee machine in an office"

What kind of office is this?

"There’s a she wolf in the closet,
Open up and set her free,
There’s a she wolf in the closet,
Let it out so it can breath (inhales, exhales)"

This part is disturbing because, in the video, Shakira's closet is lined with soft spongy red walls, sort of like the view your gastroenterologist gets during a colonoscopy ... or maybe it's your gynocologist?

"Nocturnal creatures are not so prudent,
The moon’s my teacher, and i’m her student."

More undeniable wisdom.
 

"Not looking for cute little divos or rich city guys that just want to enjoy
I’m having a very good time in the heat, very bad in the arms of a boy"

Divos, okay, points for that word ... but sometimes perhaps the Spanish translator should be someone other than the singer herself? Is it just a case of being way too literal for English?

"There’s a she wolf in the closet,

Let it out so it can breath (inhales, exhales)"

For example, there's a she-wolf, but we need to let it out so it can breath? Not her? Not she?

The parantheses, by the way, aren't lyrics but instead more like stage directions. Shakira's work is all about the process of respiration.

And I'm beginning to think she may need to be stopped.

Wow, after weeks of a sadly empty and depleted Tivo (Top Chef Masters, all you taught me was that Michael Chiarello is a boss-from-hell; Wipeout, it was fun, but now it's ovah!) we have one night of insanity, and more to come.

Spoiler free one-liners:

1) Project Runway All-Stars: what a bunch of whiny bitches! None of them ever learned anything, except apparently now even Sweet P ain't so sweet?

2) Project Runway LA: Thank you, Nina, Michael and ( definitely not Sarah Jessica Parker ), looking dead serious for cutting through the crap and saving us all from another season of Jubilee Jumbles/Spit taping/craziness. Good first choice to go!

3) Models of the Runway: I like Vanessa the best already. I look to this show to demonstrate the precarious nature of beauty and the exploitation of pretty women by our sick culture as an indelible object lesson that will redefine the industry. Okay, I'm just waiting to see who cuts a bitch first.

My big questions now:

1) Will Lifetime's website be as good as Bravotv.com was? Will we please please please get a verbal Tim Gunn podcast?
2) What will the reunion show be like without Andy Cohen?
3) How did they get Nina and Michael to LA? Did Lifetime foot all their commutes?

Finally got into a free preview of District 9 last night. Thanks to the guys at New England Comics for the tix!!

Here's the short film that the director made first around the same concept. Very interesting to see how the Peter Jackson money opened up the film in various ways.


ALIVE IN JOBURG is about 6 minutes long.

Shoegazer Grid This was fun to make. I'd say I still listen to all of these albums regularly, or at least tracks from a few of them. Maybe not the Darling Buds so much. It was hard to find enough to fill the grid, and I was surpised they actually all looked so distinctive. Yes, I know I left off the Boo Radleys. I never really was into them. But I've only discovered Catherine Wheel in the last year. And some of the ones on the bottom are more influences than full-fledged scenesters.

Added: key to the grid

chapterhouse*lush*curve*swervedriver*velocity girl
pale saints*catherine wheel*ride*slowdive*majesty crush
kitchens of distinction*jesus and mary chain*moose*darling buds*revolver
dinosaur jr.*cocteau twins*psychedelic furs*my bloody valentine*chameleons UK