Endorsements - The October 6 Edition

Whoops! I let this go, didn't I?

It's been such a busy time with a temporary full-time job, and so much happening in Montreal in the fall. It's very beautiful here and one day I'll get around to taking pictures of my neighbourhood with all the pretty colours. In the meantime, here are a list of things I like this week:

• Katie Moore. This Montreal singer blew me away at the Ukrainian Federation on Sunday when she performed with (my fav) Patrick Watson and a motley crew of other local artists. What an unbelievable voice.
  MySpace
  
  
• This magazine cover:
  
  (The New Yorker, October 11, 2010)
  /via Tracy, my hairdresser and cook
  
  
• ... and this magazine cover:
  
  (Candy, Issue no. 1)
  /via @stitchtowhere
  
  
• Raymond Biesinger. I met this illustrator at Puces Pop this weekend and bought one of his posters, a fine little piece of type and design. This new Montrealer, who hails from Edmonton, has worked for basically everyone who's anyone (read: Monocle, Wired, the New Yorker, Saatchi & Saatchi... shall I go on?). And he still sells some of his brilliant and original work for $5 a pop. Or check out some of it online for free (mosey over to Etsy afterwards) ---
  Website
  
  
• Homemaking. I am seriously domestic, and it tastes good.
  
  
• Vulture on Twitter. I'm a massive fan of New York magazine and their website, but I didn't know that their culture blog, Vulture, was on Twitter (living under a rock, apparently). This changes EVERYTHING. Links to the need-to-know entertainment/arts/culture news of the day, good celebrity interviews, hot remixes, and enough viral video to take you through a day at the office and then some.
  @vulture
  
  
• My Second Empire. Everything by Chris Jones deserves to be mentioned until people start rolling their eyes. The Esquire staff writer is absolutely one of the best working journalists out there. And he's Canadian. He's not even one of those guys that left for New York. He lives in Port Hope, Ontario. Jones is currently renovating his new home in Port Hope. Read all about it on the "My Second Empire" blog on Esquire.com. It makes me laugh every day. Start with the time that Jones interviews George Clooney after major surgery.
  
  
• Megan from Montreal. This Mad Men minx makes it fun to listen to Don Draper with my eyes closed. ("Megan, I don't think this is a good idea... I can't make any mistakes right now...[groaning and other sexy noises]...Do you want to grab a bite?")
  
  
  (Trivia: Jessica Pare, who plays Megan, is actually from Montreal)
  

Hot and Bothered

Hi there,

The hot weather here has made it difficult to think. I have been keeping my computer off so that it doesn't add more heat to the insufferable amount that just hangs in my apartment. The other night, Tracy and I phoned our favourite podcasters, Jonathan and Seth from "Uhh Yeah Dude," in a fit of heat-induced insanity, and let them know that we were possibly going to perish. Seth called us back the next day to check that we were OK.


And we are.

It's finally cooled down a little bit in Montreal. Yesterday's incredible thunderstorms drove some of the heat out of the city and it's now possible to sit in my place without sweating pouring down from all parts of your body. It's gross, I know.



I am just a week away from going to Toronto for a while and I have to make a decision about where I'll be in September. It's been wonderful here, though I miss you all very much. I like eating fancy cheese three times a day, riding bikes on the way home from the bar and unknowingly walking into concerts any day of the week.



Also, I've noticed that a lot of restaurants here serve water in wine bottles, to be poured into little glasses meant to hold scotch. Little pleasures, right?

It's also been lovely to have months off to do anything I want when I come home. My supervisors at Reader's Digest have discouraged me from putting in extra hours; overtime is a compulsion when you work in publishing. Now I come home and have to find other things to do with my life, which has been confusing.

Pie fans: I concocted a blueberry nectarine lattice pie last night - to die for.



I've also taken to listening to more music, taking time to catch up on Pitchfork favourites so I can talk the talk in this city of hipsters (Hey, guy, aren't you hot in those tight pants?). Also, my work with the web department led me into reviewing books so now I am reading some great stuff from Random House (thanks, RH), like The Golden Mean by Annabelle Lyon. I can't wait for more from Lyon.

I'm also reading:

• Esquire - The Impossible issue
• Maisonneuve - Music We Hate issue
• Lush Life by Richard Price (highly recommended)
• Greedy Little Eyes by Billie Livingston

Some food notes for those planning to visit (me in) Montreal:

• Ripples on St. Laurent has some tasty, tasty ice cream. Surprising flavours, and dipped cones too.
  
• McKiernan is a delight.
  
  
  
  
• The best Chinese BBQ pork is not at the well known Toronto joint Kom Jug Yuen but Andy and Dobe on the border of Montreal's Chinatown. The pork is thinly sliced, tender and perfectly sweet. Takeout comes with a few pieces of bok choy, green onion-ginger sauce and a generous portion of delicious rice cooked in chicken stock and fat.
  
• Picnics on Mont Royal with Cookies of Course, a round of crib and a large bottle of wine are a must.
  
  
  

Anyway, that's my dispatch. What are you up to these days?

Talk to you soon.

X-
M

(P.S.: Sad Mag is launching issue #4 at the Colbalt on August 4 - it's going to be HOT. The party will be hosted by the fabulous Terminal City Roller Girls!)

Right On - The Roots (feat. Joanna Newsom)

The Roots featuring Joanna Newsom and STS – Right On by Hypetrak

She said I am the one who will dance on the floor in the round

Aloe Blacc ("I Need a Dollar") covers MJ's "Billie Jean." So good, it's another instant classic.

Endorsements (June 21-28)

Hi! Endorsements today:

Today, I submit to you things I like for the week of June 21-28:

• The Boing-Boing endorsed art blog, This isn't Happiness - smartly curated.
• Slate's Culture Gabfest podcast - A weekly gathering of Slate editors. It's funny, it's snobby, it's eclectic (really).
• Fatties on Ice - a podcast co-hosted my staffer, Cynara Geissler. No, she's really my master (I am the student). Cynara and her co-host, Jenny-with-the-best-voice, talk pop culture and media from a feminist, body positive perspective. I like.
  
• Top Chef - Season 7, and it's still good! I like to watch the celebrity chefs make faces when they taste a bad ceviche. If you like this show, then you'll love Max Silvestri's recaps on Eater.com.
• Every Person in New York - A sketch blog so lovely, so simple, it makes you forget how New York feels on most days: crowded and unnerving.
• I've saved the best for last: I just heard "Send Me Some Loving" by Otis Redding on This American Life last week, and I was like, who is this person losing his mind over a woman? You could just hear his desperation, and the liquor, and the sweat in the 20 seconds that they played. Next, I'm on Grooveshark, and now I haven't stopped listening to Ol' Otis for days. Here's a video, I love. Watch the audience get their minds blown.
  

Explain this to me: the Hanson edition

I read today that there was a riot at South Street Seaport in New York City last night; overcrowding at a free concert prompted officials to cancel the much anticipated event. The throngs of fans got angry and things got out of hand. There were police spraying mace.

So why were emotions running so high? Who were this crowd so eager to see? One of the headliners was "the new face of hip-hop," Drake. So there's a lot of teenage girls, Degrassi fans, and/or Kanye West devotees--OK, I get it.

But guess who got almost equal billing? Hanson, meaning that this mystery musical act with a weirdly familiar name was intended to draw a similar sized crowd to the concert.


I was so flabbergasted by the possibility that it could be that Hanson, I went through the whole day thinking there was another indie band named themselves after the MMMbop brothers because it would be ironic. This was not the case.

The Awl confirms that it was in fact that band with Least Desired, Older Brother, Baby Brother, and Brother that Looks Remarkably Like a Girl that was scheduled to perform last night. This is blowing my mind. Who makes up their fan base? Are they the kind of people that still buy CDs? Who is backing this come back attempt? How do you describe Hanson's music now? Do people remember "MMMbop"? Explain this to me.

Emwow and the Shampon

More things I have collected

To read:

• "Marijuana Fuels a New Kitchen Culture," New York Times
• "200 Moments that Changed Journalism, 2000-2009," Poynter
• "What Startups Are Really Like"

To share:

• "Sweetest at the End," Modern Love, New York Times (Your tears via Cynara)
• The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.

For your convenience:

• What The Fuck Should I Make for Dinner? (via Ryan)

To listen to:




For your information:

• this

Janelle Monae - Tightrope

Who recommended this to me? It's fantastic. Thank you!

In-flight Entertainment

Perfect opening credits for How to Make It in America

Music by Aloe Blacc: "I Need a Dollar"

Says Stark Online about Blacc's track, "holy shit a HOOK."

Lovely Day

Having a love affair with Bill Withers

Inspired by Aaron Leaf and Sasha Frere-Jones

The Children of Cyberspace

Chelsea just sent me an article from Saturday's New York Times about "kids these days." "The Children of Cyberspace" hits the nail on the head by noting that the adoption of new technology happens naturally and fast for people under 20. I've always had the nagging feeling that people just three or four years younger than me could use technology in ways that were far more sophisticated than anything I could conceive of doing. As Brad Stone argues, there are micro-generational gaps between people born in the same decade. So while us "old fogies" - the twenty-somethings - feel wired and hip using twitter (while still reading books), our younger siblings, nieces, and nephews are just taking every new invention as a natural part of their world. The author's daughter won't be the only little girl who considers a kindle to be a book!

We had a discussion in class today about what it meant to finish a book and put it on your shelf. And the particular arrangement of magazines and books on your coffee table or night stand when guests are over. Sure, they say something about you and lend a sense of accomplishment--but maybe your LibraryThing account could replace that. The kids surveyed in this article would certainly agree. It doesn't sound like they are too attached to their books. (But oh, what would happen if you took their laptops away?)

My feeling is that you'll part ways with your DVD collection (ok, maybe you already threw that out) and your library (if you have to move again), and that you'll define your cultural and intellectual identity to others by customizing your tablet to display what you're watching, reading, and listening to at the time. And you'll keep your copy of The Catcher in the Rye/On the Road/The Bell Jar/Catch-22/The Prophet (har) with you forever.

Agree? Disagree? Shoot.

P.S. ! JULIA STILES?

Merry Christmas

A treat from the Daily What

via The Daily What

Celine, Queen of Canadian music

It's like throwing myself under a train right now, what I'm doing - blogging at 11:18 PM when, for tomorrow morning, I need to read a 50-page book contract and about 70 pages of a dense manuscript.. But for you, my beloved mystery Internet friends, I have two videos.

This Saturday, I attended the Ambleside Summer Sessions featuring Sarah MacLachlan, Neil Young, and Sheryl Crow. Holy Lillith Fair, (wo)man! I began yearning for the girl-power mania of the 90s. Someone, take me there so I can wear my armpit hair long and sway to the vocal stylings of the Indigo Girls and Jewel!

Naturally, I was reminded of the showy counterpoint to Lillith Fair: Vh1 Divas Live. Aretha! Shania! Mariah! And how could we forget Celine, queen of Canadian music. Too far? Here, I'll prove it to you:



This video was compiled by Vh1 blogger Rick Juzwiak, who incidentally, also put together the following mega-mix of reality television's golden line, "I'm not here to make friends."

Music to Wake Up to

The Very Best (Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit) - Warm Heart Of Africa (Ft. Ezra Koenig Of Vampire Weekend) (Architecture In Helsiniki Remix)



And for a real brainteaser, try to figure out what is happening in this YouTube video!

Viral Music

Kid Cudi (Feat. MGMT & Ratatat) - “Pursuit Of Happiness”

Miyazaki vs. Andy Samberg