Some recent stories that piqued my interest:
This New York Times article from today's paper talks about the ability of the Russian government to forcibly seize land and basically implement a more authoritarian version of America's "Eminent Domain" laws. In Soviet times, of course, private land ownership was illegal, as all land was property of the state. While this is no longer true, the laws surrounding land ownership and real estate in Russia are still vague and easy to manipulate, as they are with alarming frequency in Moscow, now the epicenter of Russia's remaining upper class, and one of the wealthiest cities per capita in the world. While the rest of the country crumbles under a stagnant economy and outdated infrastructure, Moscow has boomed into a high-tech, finance, and natural resources empire of vast, ambiguously-controlled conglomerates like Lukoil and Norilsk Nickel, major world players and controlled by a handful of majority sharteholders and board members. The ties to the Kremlin are also rather worrysome, as private sector companies see not only increasing government aid, but control and influence as well. The obvious analogy is a return to socialist, far-left Soviet era politics in Russia, but the reality of course lies somewhere in between, as Russia struggles to find it's identity in the 21st century, and emerge from the setbacks of the iron curtain era. As Russian elections loom on the horizon, I can only hope the Vladimir Putin's troubling administration is replaced by a more pragmatic, and less political regime.
This is really sad and seemingly quite pointless as well. Gerhardt Fuchs, a drummer and musician involved in the bands 'Holy Ghost!', The Juan Maclean, Maserati, and has collaborated with MSTRKRFT and James Murphy. He has been involved in starting up NY indie label DFA records, and was reportedly working on a new album. The really unfortunate part was that he died falling 4 stories down an elevator shaft, trying to jump out of the stalled car, most likely intoxicated and/or on drugs, on his was from a party in Williamsburg. What a waste. This sort of reminds me of NY hipster icon and artist Dash Snow's death not too long ago from a heroin overdose.... tragic, but also a product of his own lack of ability to take control over his life. Not his fault necessarily, just a product of his own mental illness and pain, and the rediculous expectations of the art and music scene in New York and other such places; to expect people to both conform viciously to the indie culture machine and social norms, but also be constantly unique and new and exciting. What a strange world we live in.
This is a slideshow of whimsical and slightly silly scenes from Wes Anderson's new movie, "Fantastic Mr. Fox", the latest in his shameless rip-off of classic children's books, retro-fitted for the 21st century with a healthy dose of blase hipster irony and boring middle-aged couple drama depicted in stop-motion animation. Ok, now that I've finished my judgmental, uninformed rant, let me say that cynicism aside, I actually am quite excited for this movie; the New Yorker wrote a superb piece about it recently, and I love the idea of intelligent, though-provoking adult roles being depicted in a medium like stop-motion animation. The level of detail Mr. Anderson has executed in his depiction of realistic products and landscapes is remarkable; as is the shear difficulty and time needed to produce a feature-length stop-motion animation piece that doesn't come out looking like a backyard version of Wallace & Gromit.
The battle for supreme pop-culture blandness continues, most recently among 2 of the mainstream media's favorite stars, country-pop singer Taylor Swift, and her recent nemesis, independent hip hop artist turned sellout Kanye West. I know I sound like an elitist hipster asshole here, but here me out: These sort of conflicts are great. They bring out the overwhelming blandness and mediocrity of our mainstream media on a level playing field, where the public can be wooed and coerced into caring about the latest non-event. Meanwhile, this allows real indie culture to thrive unfettered by the demands of the masses.... theoretically.... but in reality, the indie media machine has also made it's set of demands and expectations quite clear; albeit to a smaller audience. The Ten Commandments of successful hipster-dom seem like a joke, but I think there's some truth to it. 1.) I am thou lord, Pitchfork Media, and though shalt listen to no other music reviews before mine. I will skewer anything not endorsed by the Williamsburg populous, while simultaneously proclaiming Animal Collective to be "accessible" to a wide audience. Umm... no. 2.) Thou will adhere to the rigid standards of style proscribed by my demi-gods, the trifecta of American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, and anything from Sweden. If thou expresses any style not deemed neon, skinny, monochromatic, unisex, "vintage" [pending approval], or otherwise unique [but not really], thou shalt be banished to mainstream purgatory. 3.) Interest in subjects diverging too far from the "it" artists/filmmakers/musicians, the latest trends that aren't trends, or mindless musings on the merits of apathy and irony, will not be tolerated, and may cause banishment to "mainstream" land. 4.) showing to much interest or enthusiasm in anything is not allowed.
5.) random shows of intense emotion not intended to be ironic are not allowed.
In other news; the L.A times wrote a great article in the music section on an up-and-coming artist I really like, instrumental hip hop, funk, and neo-boogie genius Dam-Funk. His sound could be described as "glitch-boogie", which doesn't really make any sense, but serves to emphasize the uniqueness of Dam's music.
Here's the link:
