deep in the ocean, there lies a wave for you

i can’t stop.

All of the New Kids on the Block videos can be seen here. The secret’s out. Everyone knows what I did at work today.

Tags: new kids on the block

First of all, you can listen to the Klaxons album for FREE here. I don’t need to remind you that I was ahead of the pulse on this one (Goldsmith’s graduates, friends with Lini, etc). They’re adorable gents!

And now, no words need to be said except for a little background: Joey McIntyre played at Jammin’ Java on my birthday. We told the bus driver that it was my birthday, and he told Joey. It was another girl’s birthday, too, and her name was ALSO Rebecca. Notice the slick move at the end wherein I tap my cheek for Joey to kiss.

Tags: joey mcintyre | klaxons | jammin java

I wrote this entry for QueerSighted, and, as usual, the wise Kenny said it better. So I’ll post my straight-girl musings here instead.

My fellow QueerSighted bloggers tell me that they’ve given up on trying to respond to Larry Kramer’s rants and raves, but this is slightly new to me, so…

There are a lot of differences between Larry Kramer and I. For starters, I am a 23-year-old straight female, he’s a 71-year-old gay male. I haven’t been on this planet long enough to witness his legacy within the gay community, but I hear it’s a pretty important one. He’s known for pushing buttons and prompting what he sees as a passive gay population to move.

In his 2004 post-election speech at Cooper Union titled “The Tragedy of Today’s Gays,” he said:
“I love being gay. I love gay people. I think we’re better than other people. I really do. I think we’re smarter and more talented and more aware and I do, I do, I totally do. And I think we’re more tuned in to what’s happening, tuned into the moment, tuned into our emotions, and other people’s emotions, and we’re better friends. I really do think all these things.”

And, even though I am, sadly, not gay, I really do think all these things, too! We are in agreement, Larry. And Larry’s very frustrated with the population of gays in American for allowing each other to become addicted to meth, acquire sexually transmitted diseases, and let AIDS go by claiming more human lives.

That was two-and-a-half years ago, and today, in the LA Times, an editorial written by Larry ran titled “Why Do Straights Hate Gays?” I realize he’s utilizing the same tactics as he was in his Cooper Union speech. More action needs to be taken in order for change to occur.I am fully aware that the state we’re in right now is bleak. Bush HAS created a legacy fof hate, and not only for gays, but for “feminist” women, minorities, immigrants and poor people. I struggled with this editorial at first because I like to look hopefully at the future and think that more people in my generation put gay rights at the top of their priority lists when it comes to voting for a candidate. But here we sit, on the fourth anniversary of the War in Iraq, and personally, after seeing this video, I’m sold on Obama. But then I see this piece from the New York Times’ political blog which explains how Obama avoided direct commentary on the heinous comments of General Peter Pace. If Obama gets elected, even if things improve slightly, it will still take some time, and gays still won’t be entirely equal. How can I possibly be a part of that? But what’s the alternative?

Larry ends his editorial with this paragraph:
“You may say you don’t hate us, but the people you vote for do, so what’s the difference? Our own country’s democratic process declares us to be unequal. Which means, in a democracy, that our enemy is you. You treat us like crumbs. You hate us. And sadly, we let you.”

At first, I’m heartbroken. But I can prove Larry wrong and demand more of the candidates I choose to elect in the coming years. Some of the most important people in my world are gay, and in that respect, they’re equal. My straight friends are lucky that I love them as much as my gay friends. I will fight to make gays as equal in this country as they are in my own life, and I’ll make sure that those who feel the same way follow my lead. Also, is it counter-productive to separate “gay rights” from “human rights?” I think yes.

Oh, wait, Dan Savage thinks Larry Kramer’s nuts. I feel better now.

This had me upset and riled today, so I needed to vent. Andrew Sullivan, please respond to my email post haste! His take on the article was perfect!

Tags: larry kramer | gay rights | andrew+sullivan

I don’t know, I don’t know what to think or what to say, but this is pretty amazing:

Tags: iraq war annivesary | barack obama

Saw the Good, the Bad and the Queen last night. I pretty much could have died when it was over. The music is sub-par, but it doesn’t matter — Damon Albarn could poop in a sock and I would hold it to my ear to listen to it. Chris and I stood at the barricade like big nerds, but it paid off when Sir Albarn was within arm’s length of my quivering body.

Note: pinstripe suit, top hat, beauty.

Note: attitude.

Note: Paul Simonon had his best bass face / thrust going. He really worked the guitar and played up to the audience. Loves it!

Note: What is this instrument exactly? Who cares, I love him.

Note: OH MY GOD. Picture me while this is happening.

So basically at the end of it all I was so overcome with emotion that I shed a few. After the encore, Damon had the audience count to four, and on that note, all music ceased and they started to walk off. He immediately returneded to the microphone to say, “How rude of me! Thank you very much” and smiled. He was very smiley last night, actually; it made me think that he’s probably very nice in real life and not the d-bag I expected him to be (not in a bad way, in a deserved way). Also, I saw Fico and Luke from Cedars outside, and Fico told a tale of his friend in NYC who saw Damon at the Apple store in the bathroom flossing his gold tooth with a $20 bill. This visual is so good, I had dreams about it.

Tags: the good the bad and the queen | damon albarn | 930 club

A lot of people I have, at one time or another, thought were precious have decided that they need to cover their adorable faces with unkempt facial hair.
Cute Jon Brion:

Gorilla Jon Brion:

Cute Jared Leto:

Gorilla Jared Leto:

**But HERE’S WHERE IT GETS TRICKY!**

Cute James Mercer:

STILL CUTE James Mercer:

Dammit. Well, I just disproved my own theory.

Tags: james mercer | jared leto | jon brion | beards

RE: The new Arcade Fire album, Neon Bible. I think it’s OK. I especially like Track 7. I do not want to have sex with this record, nor do I want to put it on my top ten albums of 2007. Let’s look at the Pitchfork review and laugh (note: entire review is too long and boring to quote here, so I took out snippets):

On Neon Bible, the band looks outward instead of inward, their concerns more worldly than familial, and their sound more malevolent than cathartic. Angry, embittered, and paranoid, but often generously empathetic in their points of view, they target the government, the church, the military, the entertainment industry, and even the basest instincts of the common man.
Wow.

If Funeral captured the enormity of personal pain, Neon Bible sounds large enough to take on the whole world.
OK, with the first track, I’m excited … and then it continues on … and I hear the lyrics “Mirror, mirror on the wall / Show me where them bombs will fall” and I have to cringe.

These songs don’t erupt, but gradually crescendo and intensify. Unlike the cathartic Funeral, Neon Bible operates on spring-loaded tension and measured release.
Translation: boring.

The influences most commonly associated with Funeral were Davids Byrne and Bowie, but on Neon Bible, it’s Bruce Springsteen who appears not only in the wordy songs and aggressive shuffle, but in the compression of so many styles and sounds into one messy, exciting burst.
Translation: a lot of noise.

OK, now let’s look at the Washington City Paper review and, hi, Aaron Leitko? Will you marry me?

As “No Cars Go,” the penultimate track on Arcade Fire’s second album, crests its orchestral wave, vocalist Win Butler calls out to his audience: “Little babies, let’s go!” Your spine will tingle. Your eyes might water. But 10 minutes later, you’ll probably think, Babies? Neon Bible is the Titanic of indie-rock records: the Montreal collective employs what sounds like a Hollywood budget’s worth of choirs, orchestras, hand-claps, and hurdy-gurdies, all designed to make you cry like you’ve just seen Leonardo DiCaprio slip into the icy deep­­. But beneath all the special effects, Titanic was just a mediocre love story, and beneath all of those overdubs, Neon Bible is just a pretty good goth album—imagine 10,000 Maniacs playing Cure songs. “Black Mirror” opens the album with Butler weaving a web of ambiguous dread amid clarinet flourishes and groaning tubas: “I walk down to the ocean/After waking from a nightmare/No moon, no pale reflection,” he sings before reciting the song’s title in a mournful whisper. But where Robert Smith mixed gloomy lyrics and gloomy music and got gloom, Arcade Fire couches its dour sentiments in Broadway bombast and ends up with ­Meat Loaf. Sometimes this works in its favor. Bat Out of Hell rocked­ with so much motorcycle- and dragon-driven fury that you could forget how stupid it was, and Neon Bible benefits from the same orchestral shock and awe. On “Intervention,” Butler and his wife, Régine Chassagne, sing lines like “I can taste your fear” with such urgency and passion that you don’t notice it’s the kind of line that usually comes from a teen wearing black lipstick. But Meat Loaf at least had a sense of humor, and Arcade Fire never cracks a smile. Strip away the tubas, the clarinets, and the choirs, and Neon Bible’s music is stuffed with heavy-handed melodrama. Songs like “Keep the Car Running” and “No Cars Go” attempt to channel classic-rock escapism à la Born to Run, but their orchestral bluster is set to contrived slogans.“Every night my dream’s the same/Same old city with a different name/Men are coming to take me away/I don’t know why, but I know I can’t stay,” Butler sings on “Keep the Car Running.” The Boss might have grown up in the burbs, but people loved him because his songs were about running away from the ghetto. Here Butler doesn’t seem at all sure what he’s running from, or why, only that he’s afraid. Accompanied by a pounding rhythm section and an orchestra, Butler can make you feel for a moment that his words actually mean something, but he’s leading a great band that plays mediocre songs.

AHHH PERFECTION IN A REVIEW! I’m in love I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it!

Tags: the arcade fire | neon bible | pitchfork media | washington city paper

It’s today! It actually exists! Though Sufjan’s words did not describe what the day is officially about, it’s always on the first Monday in March (“On the first of March / On the holiday”). Casimir Pulaski was a Polish dude who was a Revolutionary War cavalry officer. Thanks, Wikipedia!
Umm to get a total boner and celebrate the day in style, watch THIS NUGGET.
Preview:

Tags: sufjan stevens | casimir pulaski day