WE DON’T LIVE HERE NO MORE
March 18, 2009 at 3:27pm | In internet | Leave a Comment
We’ve moved on, to our own little piece of the blogosphere at tinygems.org. Check our new location for recent updates, and please update all links and feeds accordingly. Tiny Gems – now with more unironic love of pop culture, making fun of art, semi-bullshit sociological analysis, and totally ridiculous media theory (on acid)!!!
Thanks for reading, and for feelin’ us, always, Nadine & Michael Tom
Black Magic Women
March 11, 2009 at 6:32pm | In art, music, video | Leave a CommentTags: bad song covers, bat for lashes, don't cross the boss, electrelane, music videos, nadine byrne, natasha khan, potential friends
As much as I don’t want to like Bat For Lashes (aka British singer-songwriter Natasha Khan) for the total travesty that was her cover of “I’m On Fire” by Bruce Springsteen, I have to admit – she’s pretty awesome (for the record, no one should attempt to cover that song after the amazing Electrelane version). Check out these new songs from Khan’s upcoming album “Two Suns,” due out in the United States on April 7. I’m not going to deny that I’d probably like anyone rocking this kind of Björk-Kate-Bush-magic-space-goth-hippie-weirdo aesthetic – but, as Pitchfork points out, she must have a pretty good sense of humor about her own bizarre indie sub-genre in order to come out with this totally ridiculous cover for “Daniel,” the first single off of “Two Suns.” Plus, I have to mention she is the musician responsible for one of the best music videos of recent years with “What’s A Girl To Do.”
While I’m at it, I’d also like to mention the awesomeness of another European lady rocking a similar aesthetic in her work – Swedish artist Nadine Byrne. Besides sharing a first name with my Tiny Gems co-contributor and a last name with Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, she creates some really interesting textile/sculpture, performance, sound and video pieces. The image above is a still from her ongoing video/performance/music project, The Magic State (2008).
Style Alert: British crackheads
March 9, 2009 at 4:43pm | In fashion | Leave a CommentTags: amy winehouse, blake fielder-civil, crackheads, england, kate moss, pete doherty, rule britannia, style alert, the kills, the poor man's graham coxon, wizards dressed as muggles
Here in Philadelphia, we know a lot about crackheads – but “fashion plate” is rarely the first phrase to come to mind to describe them. Our crackheads typically dress like wizards from “Harry Potter” when they try to look like Muggles – that is, they wear some absurd combination of ridiculous found clothing that doesn’t really make any sense at all (for example, wearing a tuxedo shirt, sweatpants, cowboy boots, a trench coat and a sombrero). That in itself is kind of awesome, but not exactly what I would call a great sense of style.
So, what is it about all these British trainwreck celebrities that can make being a crackhead so stylish? I imagine that Pete Doherty, Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil (Winehouse’s ex-husband, just recently released from prison) must use their few, precious moments of clarity to plan out their outfits – it really must take some effort to find clothes this good while hunting for your next fix. If they could only put the same amount of effort into getting sober – but I guess they must have said “No, no, no” to that.
Enjoy this photo gallery of sweet British crackhead celeb clothes below – plus some pictures of Allison Mosshart and Jamie Hince (without or without Kate Moss) of the Kills thrown in for good measure, even though they’re not really crackheads (I think) and Jamie Hince is totally the poor man’s Graham Coxon.
(Keep an eye out for the next “Style Alert” – the new, semi-regular fashion section of Tiny Gems!)
Kick Out the Jams: Strawberry Spring
March 9, 2009 at 4:07pm | In music | Leave a CommentTags: 8tracks, kick out the jams, mixtapes, perfect pop songs, springtime
In reality, as I write this, I’m sitting in a tan cubicle at my desk job under fluorescent lights, basking in the sickly glow of the computer screen and its ever-present Excel spreadsheet. In my heart, however, I’m outside, slinging a busted boombox over my shoulder, wearing gold silk shorts and that Built by Wendy Mean Streets tee, drinking sixteen-thousand Diet Cokes, possibly hopping the next bus to Asbury Park N.J., and most definitely preemptively satisfying your needs for the utmost in perfect springtime pop jams.
Now that our old pal Muxtape has risen from the ashes – at least for now – in the form of 8tracks.com, I hope to make “Kick Out the Jams” a semi-regular feature on Tiny Gems. In honor of the sweet springtime weather that graced us here in Philadelphia this weekend, I’m gracing y’all with part one: Tiny Gems Strawberry Jams!
“Never say, ‘I’ll be right back,’ because you won’t be back.” (The State of the Slasher in 2009, Part Two)
March 3, 2009 at 6:29pm | In film, pop culture, sociology | Leave a CommentTags: "the rules", everyone loves randy meeks, final girls, friday the 13th, likeminded blogs, omfg why did someone make those sneakers, scream, slasher film, state of the slasher in 2009
It seems (after Nadine’s epic, long-awaited analysis of “The Twilight Saga”) that we here at Tiny Gems are very interested in talking about teenage sexuality and its representation in popular, youth-focused media. Which means, of course, that I’m back to the slasher film. We all know the frequently re-hashed tropes of the sexual politics of the slasher – the carnage and chaos unleashed by any active teenage (female) sexuality, the killer as punisher of sexual activity, the “Final Girl” as “masculinized” virgin, the Freudian implications of knives and wounds. Been there, done that. At this point, these generic cliches have even become the founding principle/in-joke of an entire slasher franchise (the Scream series). But what I’m wondering is, do these tropes still hold up – and if they do, do they really impose any normative ideologies over slasher audiences?
In other words – do Randy’s “rules” from Scream (1996) really mean anything today? Did they ever really exist to begin with? Could all of the many, many academics and critics who have trashed the slasher sub-genre for years be wrong about its implications?
Another day, another GaGa
March 3, 2009 at 5:56pm | In music, pop culture | Leave a CommentTags: bizarro universe, clockcleaner, lady gaga, philadelphia, up the punx, weird connections
…you didn’t think I’d really let you go this long without another Lady GaGa update, did you?
But seriously – has anyone else noted the odd similarities between “Poker Face” by Lady GaGa and “Vomiting Mirrors” by local punx Clockcleaner (aka “The Most Hated Band in Philadelphia”)?
ClockGaGa? LadyCleaner? Who knows. In the meantime, check out Clockcleaner’s last show ever at Kung Fu Necktie on April 18. Oh wait, it’s “invite only.” Endless bummer!
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