The Lady From Shanghai’s Masterful Resolution

Truthfully, I didn’t really like The Lady From Shanghai too much. The handling of the film noir genre seemed confused, Rosalie Bannister (Rita Hayworth) was too passive for the plot to make sense, and Michael O’Hara’s (Orson Welles) Irish accent was unconvincing, distracting, and campy. All this aside, it was an interesting film and was visually engaging: I liked the representation of Acapulco and the Shanghai district of San Francisco, and finally the funhouse mirror scene.

Read my thoughts on the final scene of The Lady From Shanghai, and watch the actual video sequence below.

A Restorative Spring: Yasushi Okano’s Trip to Niijima

The weather’s been remarkably good. It started being beautiful this past weekend; unfortunately I spent very little of it outside (and instead most of it indoors working.) Today, however, was different. I took care to luxuriate in the warm spring weather – which basically means I ate a sandwich and read outside with my cat, both of us in matching bathing suits.

My point is, this weather must possess some kind of healing properties. I went for a run and it seemed like the whole world was outside smiling: people doing gardening things, guys taking their pugs out for a walk, daycare kids all holding hands, older couples walking together in the string of parks that weave through my suburb. Maybe I feel this way because I’ve been listening to Best Coast’s newest album (the theme of which exalts the beautiful setting of California, again.) Maybe it’s because, as I write this, I’m listening to a mix UO created, called Surf Daze. Or maybe I’m kind of right?

Read on to see more of Yasushi Okano’s photos and to read about the restorative powers of Spring.

The Hidden Truths in Cold Specks’s Holland

I saw St. Vincent this past December, and the opener for this was listed as Cold Specks. I’d never heard of her stuff so I checked it out, and wow. Her music is like an exposure: raw, gaunt, piercing. It is a beautiful wound. And although it was kind of annoying that during her performance the crowd was super raucous (which is not really conducive to a full appreciation of what she was like), words can’t even begin to do justice to what it was like to hear her play (and especially sing) live.

Al Spx is the Etobicoke, Ontario-born girl behind Cold Specks, and has performed under some other names (Basket of Figs, and The Hotel Ghost). What’s really funny about this girl is that she kind of was obscure up until a month or so ago – I remember wanting to post about her but there was no recent information and barely any media to draw from. But between then and now there’s been a major proliferation of stuff, including an actual Cold Specks site, which helps.

Read on and watch the video for Cold Specks’s Holland after the jump.

Michal Pudelka Taps Into The Archetypal Clique

I haven’t been able to really invest emotionally (or intellectually) in a lot of my classes this semester. I don’t know if it’s because it’s winter and that just makes everything shittier, or if it’s a genuine personal distaste for certain professors (actually, that’s definitely a factor) and the way they “teach”. Anyway, this week is the last before a study break, which I will spend by working full time. There’s just not a whole lot to look forward to for a while, until some girlfriends come visit me!

In this way, Michal Pudelka‘s photos are very appealing – they serve both as a satisfying representation (and even validation?) of my listless attitude lately, and simultaneously depicts girls together. The latter seems kind of trivial but their matching color-blocked outfits are great and reinforce a togetherness that I have to look forward to.

Check more photos and read on after the jump!

HOUSE of LaDOSHA Knows That U Know The Pose

I can’t pinpoint exactly when I discovered HOUSE of LaDOSHA – it was sometime in December – but I do remember I found their music through a referral on Twitter, and thinking, “this is exactly what social media is for”. LaDOSHA’s music is the most original and interesting I’ve heard in a really long minute. The first song I’d listened to was ‘THIS IS UR BRAIN” which is a trippy, distorted, mall goth track, and was a fantastic starting point.

Life Is A Gift, Love: Open It Up

Obviously the entire world knows that Jay-Z and Beyoncé gave birth to their baby girl Blue Ivy Carter. It seems like Jay-Z had been so inspired that he penned this for her as soon as she was born – which you can kind of tell, because the writing seems rushed. What to me is way more interesting is the actual subject matter – at one point Jay explains that “last time the miscarriage was so tragic / we was afraid you’d disappear, but nah, baby, you magic”.

You know how Jack Donaghy makes a video for his unborn kid, something to express his fatherly love and affection for his son, and it turns out his son is a daughter? I feel like Jay-Z did the same thing on Watch the Throne’s “New Day” – he opens with an appeal to his kid, “sorry junior – I already ruined ya”. This can be seen as gender-neutral but Kanye’s talking about his future son, and the song also represents the rappers’ own regrets of mistakes in their lives. Even if Jay was off the mark here, this is a much more heartfelt, sweet message than what Jack provided. This is a portrait of a sincere release: “My greatest creation was you, you”.

Cocoa of Côte d’Ivoire & Where Christmas Comes From

Zongo Arouna & Seventeen Cocoa Pods

I know I haven’t posted in a while, and I know I often preface these posts by acknowledging it, but I do so as a way to apologize. Sorry y’all! Anyway, the holiday season is winding down – Christmas and New Year’s have passed – and I’m wondering what to make of it. It’s not a new idea that people don’t “get” what Christmas means anymore, but that theme sort of ran through my visit home to New Brunswick this year. All of the politics of gift-giving was baffling and exhausting for me, I think because it felt like people were willfully ignoring very obvious and basic truths about the whole process.

I feel this is illustrated well with a discussion I had just last night with a friend’s husband about each other’s stance on the 2000 version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. I enjoyed it; he did not. His reasoning, among other things, was the negative portrayal of the Who’s as being wasteful consumers. For me that was exactly why I liked it; I think it’s highly representative of the way Christmas is conducted now. And this speaks to generally why I found Christmas this year – apart from being with family – pretty disgusting (I do get around to making a point, I promise.)

Read more (to see where I’m going with this) and check out James Mollison after the jump!