Whitmore releases his official video for Field Song, off the album Field Songs. It’s pretty much perfect, and if you’re female worth watching right up to the end for some WEW based swoons.
Be warned though. It might make you want to give up your career in social media and buy a farm.
Just me then?
I’m not going to weigh in with my views on what’s happening, or why, or what we should do about it. Because nobody seems particularly qualified to be making those calls right now. The world is currently a pretty bleak looking place, so instead of pondering on it and getting more depressed I’m recommending that you watch the new Eilen Jewell video for Warning Signs from her latest record, “Queen Of The Minor Key” because it’s good and it makes me smile, and that’s what I need.
I wrote a review for the girls over at For Books Sake.
You’ve probably already seen it, but I like to make sure i’s are dotted and t’s crossed.
http://forbookssake.net/2011/07/27/how-to-be-a-woman-by-caitlin-moran/
Shockingly spot on Twitter infographic based on Josh and my tweeting habits. They seem to have detected that I am obsessed with tea and he is obsessed with dogs, and that I’m the more interesting one.
Sorry, I love infographics and I’ve been waiting for visual.ly to do something for ages…
It’s a pretty grey, muggy Tuesday afternoon. Summer has once again, temporarily departed and everything feels a bit meh.
I was daydreaming of a perfect slightly sleepy, slightly melancholy Summer afternoon, and then I found this, and I had to dream no more.
It’s not going to make you want to work though.
A long time ago, when I was still in film school, I used to be a huge film snob. I hated anything that anyone else liked, I had a massive thing for Kieślowski and I despised mainstream Hollywood. Then a funny thing happened, and I got the fuck over myself, stopped hiding my secret love affair with all things Bruckheimer (oh The Culture of Excess how I love you!) and lightened up. To the point where I began to love Appatow movies (once I got over other people liking him, of course) and thats how we arrive at me, dragging Josh along to see a PREVIEW (I couldn’t even wait another 2 days) of Bridesmaids.
Billed as a female version of The Hangover (although, it’s really not, they don’t even make it to Vegas) it treads the awkward territory of the Gross Out Chick Flick. A territory that hasn’t been explored much at all. I’m not sure how much of this was because the two genres mesh seamlessly and how much was based on trying to make an “intelligent chick flick” bankable (Baby Mama and Spring Breakdown both having been box office failures despite casts)
Regardless of the reasoning, it works. And not in a Geordie Shore way either. It’s really well written and full of conversations that actually happen between women, in real life. The dynamics and complexities of female relationships are explored here, and it’s done pretty well, all alongside drunken girl on girl make outs, cock-in-face jokes and spontaneous vomiting in hair. I’d argue that it’s exactly what female audiences need.
The story is is no way complicated. The film centres around 2 childhood friends in what I can only assume are their mid thirties. One of them (Annie) is recovering from a failed business and relationship, playing fuck buddies with the terrifically terrible Jon Hamm, living in a house share and working a shitty job. The other one (Lily) has just got engaged and is moving up the social ranks and living in another city. Lily asks Annie to be her maid of honour et voila. Movie.
One of my favourite things about the movie, is that when Annie finds out that Lillian is engaged although she does the fake happy thing, she doesn’t do it all that well. It’s refreshing to see an honest female character, jealousy and self pity are central themes for Annie’s character, and quite dangerous things for a female protagonist to exhibit in Hollywood.
I don’t mean to make the movie sound dour, it’s the opposite of that, it’s laugh out loud awesome a lot of the time, and even the schmaltzy elements aren’t that sickening. It’s the kind of girl based movie I wouldn’t resign for just viewing on PMS days.
It’s beautifully played by a stellar cast. Everyone is funny and pitch perfect. Jon Hamm plays a fuckable douche SO WELL (not in a Draper way) Chris O Dowd from the IT Crowd is an odd choice for a nerdy love interest, but he’s great. Melissa McCarthy (who I’ve loved since Gilmore Girls) is amazing and takes the token fat chick role to a whole new level.
So, if you’re looking for a movie that appeals to your sentimental side that talks about letting people change, accepting responsibility for your actions, realising your dreams and watching your adult friendships evolve while simultaneously showing a myriad of meltdowns, misbehaviour and a room full of women in Wedding attire getting food poisoning in graphic detail then I’d give this a go.
I really liked it, and think it’s a triumph as far as movies made specifically for girls go.
Hello,
I’m going to try and blog more often than once a month. I mean it this time.
Anyway, the thing I wanted to talk to you about this June is Jeff Caudill.
It’s a well documented fact that I love(d) Gameface, and pretty much everything that Jeff has done since. You might also be aware that my favourite Gameface LP was 2001s “Always On”
The album was as radio friendly as anything the band ever did, with My Star becoming a bona fide indie radio hit. I could talk forever about each of the songs and the memories that they hold. But then that’s what was so great about Gameface, their songs were always so easy to make your own…. But I digress.
So, fast forward a decade, and Jeff has just released Always On – an acoustic LP to mark the tenth anniversary of the original. All your favourites, but acoustic and a little more mature (I swear, if the new version of Warmest Heart Attack doesn’t melt your heart just a little bit, then you probably don’t have one)
The record is available through Unless You Try, here – and is pressed on black, blue and clear vinyl. (You also get a copy of Every Last Song, the rarities and demo’s record that I love so much, with each purchase)
To support the release of this record, Jeff is heading to the UK this July. It’s a small DIY tour so it’d be awesome to see some of you there. Looking forward to the Windmill so much!
Dates are:
Monday, July 18
LONDON, UK at The Windmill Brixton
Tuesday, July 19
OXFORD, UK at The Gloucester Arms
Wednesday, July 20
SHEFFIELD, UK at The Greystones
Friday, July 22
BOLTON, UK at The Dog and Partridge
Thursday, July 28
CAMBRIDGE, UK at The Portland Arms
I just got finished with James Francos first fictional offering “Palo Alto“, this afternoon, and I have some thoughts about it that I’d like to share with you.
It’s set out as a series of short stories, each from different characters who live in and around the Palo Alto area in the mid 90s. Some of the characters know each other, others don’t. Some are male and some are female, they’re mostly around high school age and few seem to have many scruples.
Firstly, at the beginning of the book I was struck by how simple it was to read, considering Franco’s boner for Gus Van Sant and being an “artist” and all I was expecting a pretty verbose affair, but the the prose was super readable and the characters immediately intriguing if not intrinsically likeable.
As I progressed through the book it became apparent how massively in love with Easton Ellis, and indeed the entire blank fiction movement he is. The prose is sparse, the characters are mostly misogynists and the interconnectedness of the characters is less like a hipster Tales of the City and more like The Rules of Attraction picked up and planted right in the middle of mid 90s Palo Alto.
The thing was, I couldn’t figure out if I liked it. It was a pretty engrossing read and he’s obviously crazy talented in a myriad of departments, but I don’t know how interested I am in books about horrible teenage boys anymore (No-one here has even a hint of Holden). I think if I was in my early twenties I’d probably love this. And it’s definitely better than anything that Ethan Hawke has written. It’s pretty hard to read this and not imagine Franco’s Freaks & Geeks character as any one of the male protagonists. Although even he would have difficulty making some of these guys likeable.
It reads quite similarly to Nick McDonnell’s “Twelve” but that might just be the disaffected youth thing. All of this being said, it’s one of the simplest things I’ve read recently and I’m glad I did. I like his style, I’d be interested to see a change in subject matter, but I think that might be because I’m 33.
Pop punk outfit of awesome Mixtapes released their new EP Hope Is Important last week. Needless to say it’s fantastic, and you should head over to http://animalstylerecords.bandcamp.com/ and pick it up for a paltry 5 bucks. It probably won’t blow your mind as it’s more of the same from Cincinatti’s finest, but it will, because they’re consistently great.
What sets Mixtapes aside from the rest of the pop punk crowd for me, isn’t just the juxtaposition of sweet female/gruff male vocals or any of that, but the slightly grumpy, don’t want to party all the time but with an underlying sense of positivity lyrics.
Anyway, enough from me, they just released a video for the title track from “Hope Is For People”. Watch it, fall in love with it and all of that Latterman inspired pop punk summer stuff.
There are still no plans for them to come to the UK as yet, but they’re heading out across the US this Summer with Dear Landlord, and later with Red City Radio. (which I’m a little gutted about missing)
Check out their bandcamp here
I initially found Julie Klausner’s book on Amazon after reading something about the book 
being converted for TV with Lizzie Caplin up to star as the protagonist. My decision to purchase was also influenced by the only review for the book, written by a horrible woman who really didn’t seem to understand humour and was upset that it wasn’t more like Sex And The City. I was sold!
The book is primarily about Julie’s dating exploits from childhood through to her early 30′s, where we find her, well adjusted, today. However, it’s most definitely not one of those “Smart Girls Guide To Breaking Up/Who Needs A Man Anyway” deals. Far from it. Julie LOVES men. And that’s one of the things that stops this memoir falling into the realm of angry young feminist sitting in Clevercleverland.
Right from the get go, this book is pretty fucking hysterical.
Learning about young Julie’s childhood struck at least a few chords of resonance with me – well, of the Judy Blume/Paula Danzinger inspired childhood I had in my mind if not my own dull English Countryside existence. From her desperation to be a child star through to her initial foray into the world of boys, and her catalogue knowledge of TV shows, movies and indie rock. (Now I realised that this describes pretty much any girl that came of age in the 90s and has ever picked up a copy of Bust, but trust me, these days we’re a dying breed)
From long distance early internet romances through an adolescent obsession with phone sex lines, there are many cultural markers that will ring true to many a girl of a certain demographic. At times it’s as if she’s dredging up my own sordid teen years, but without any of the stomach-in-mouth embarrassment that would usually accompany.
I particularly enjoyed reading Turn Down The Glamour about the relationship with her first real boyfriend David, who “tried to strip away all of Kate’s lovely lashes and wigs and iridescent outfits to reveal what he was confident was the mousy, wide-eyed, ragamuffin little girl that he wanted to love me as, and who he wanted me to be”
Who hasn’t been in this situation with at least one punk/indie rock boy?
Another favourite is the essay I originally read years ago “I Don’t Care About Your Band” about dating an “Indie Rock Musician” from “Williamsburg” (I remember at the time reading a rumour about who the piece was about, and then meeting the supposed suitor myself a little while later, and also being super-surprised by how short he was)
This piece has always rung so true to me, because boys in bands do refuse to grow up – more than boys in general. They will literally be in their 40s and still behaving the same way they have been since their teens. Although this is an appealing prospect in your early 20s, as a woman, regardless of how many pins still adorn your denim jacket, you’ll soon find yourself wanting more than an encyclopaedic knowledge of Elephant 6 releases.
And it’s always nice to be validated.
Julie traverses the New York dating landscape and encounters almost as many types as you’ll find in 90s classic Field Guide To The North American Male. Learning a little something from each and every encounter. She finds humour sometimes even sense, and rarely strays into bitterness in her descriptions.
I’d love to write more about just.how.good I found this book, but I’m already a little on the verbose side, and I have one more point I’d like to make.
One of the things that really upsets me about other reviews I’ve read about this book is the assumption that because at times Julie warns you that you can’t trust all your female friends, and has the audacity to have a gay best friend (jeeez, how stereotypical) then she can’t possibly be a feminist.
This is the kind of (haha) rationale that will send me into a huge fit of rage. There are literally hundreds of books written by girls who just love shopping and “chicklit” and weren’t appalled by the way Sex And The City finally ended. And there are also hundreds of books written by Wimmin’s Studies majors who despise lipstick and believe wholeheartedly in the power of girlhood. You know what there aren’t hundreds of books about? Girls who fall between the two camps. Girls who grew up with Riot Grrrl, but also lust after pin up good looks and hate being photographed without their Rubywoo.
Girls the media often refers to as “sassy”
I’m one of those girls, and I’m glad that someone has eventually written a book so smart and so funny that I can actually relate to.
Julie Klausner – I salute you.
Julie Klausner has a tumblr here and tweets here.
Oh, and you can buy her book here