- Via SuperPunch’s Tumblr account:
- Julian Assange hiding out in Ecuador comes close to defining irony; here’s an article from February of just this year titled, “Ecuador’s [President] Under Fire for Media Laws”, which goes on to say, “President Rafael Correa of Ecuador is leading a relentless campaign against free speech” and “the most comprehensive and ruthless assault on free media under way in the Western Hemisphere”. Nevermind, it defines irony.
- That JJ DOOM album I mentioned yesterday is now streaming in its entirety.
- One gripe I have with current state critically acclaimed music is that a disproportionate amount of it is infinitely happy. I’m happy sometimes too. It’s good to be alive. But far too many bands are failing to explore the darker sides of music (some of these band’s lyrics get dark, I guess). It’d be very interesting to somehow take all the acclaimed albums of the last two years and compare the amount of minor-key’d songs to that of years past. A lot of it is major keys, with very consonant, resonant melodies and hooks. In previous decades/cultural trends this has been the aim of Top 40/Pop music, not independent and/or acclaimed music. And considering the uncertain atmosphere that seems to be leaking into almost every aspect of our lives on a global scale, one would think it’d be the opposite. What’s probably really going on here is bands/musicians/possibly artists are overcompensating for this, and using their output to cope with all the unrest. But for me, it just doesn’t seem honest a lot of times. And even when it does feel honest, it is not for me.
I tried Googling this, to see if anyone else what noticing or writing about this… I found nothing.
- Through Edward Hopper’s Eyes: In Search of an Artist’s Seaside Inspiration.
She was also intrigued to discover that Hopper, who is regarded as a realist and who painted the houses in Gloucester with great precision, manipulated one important aspect of what he saw. “He changed the light and shadows in his pictures a lot and combined different times of day so that the shadow might go in two directions – that’s how he created his narrative, his drama.” Albert Halaban responded to this by taking a more painterly approach to her photographs and manipulating the light as Hopper had done in the 1920s. “The houses that he painted remain, but the narratives he created only exist on his canvases. Standing in the same places, I was inspired to take my own liberties and create narratives that are my own.”
-Sonny
