Relationship Retards Unite!!!

A very good pal of mine, Matt Brand, launched Love in the Dumps, a site for the romantically challenged this past week. The site that he and the lovely PHP developer Isabel Chang created "marries heart-on-sleeve to tongue-in-cheek", says the NY Daily News article that announced the site's launch.

Please check out the site now, and click the Join button to create your own Impersonal ad (har!) and become one of the site's community. I'll be adding content to this site too, so be on the lookout for some sordid tales.

Joaquin gets his FREAK on

If you didn't see Joaquin on Letterman last night, you must WATCH THIS NOW.  

You'll glean this from the viddy, but Joaquin is in full-on freak mode in this clip. He appears homeless or something, sporting a huge beard, glasses and weird personal tics. He's claiming that he's done with acting, and concentrating on his music.

To me, it looks like the dude's taken a few too many pills...but the comments I've read so far in real time on YouTube and Twitter seem to indicate that I'm overthinking things, since many of the inital reactions call Joaquin's behavior a put-on and a publicity stunt. 

Really?! I mean I don't want to be all doom and gloom about it, but he looks too crusty to be faking. You can't just get crusty at the snap of your fingers. My prediction? Heroin or some other form of super nasty habit-forming narcotic.

What do you think?

YOU NEED THIS PLAYLIST

I'd embed, but the freakin'  code is screwed up. It's a Ghostly International compilation and includes artists you probably know like Matthew Dear, Michna, Osborne and Kill Memory Crash, plus a ton of other artists who are really pumping out new, fresh, ALIVE jams. Yum.

To download the zip for free, click here.

American Apparel in the Mission? ugh.

Just read this post from the Squid List about American Apparel setting up a storefront on Valencia in the Mission. Chicken John, the author of the post, is very objective in his consideration of the benefits of gentrification VS its many pitfalls.  But in the end, he makes it very clear that he is against AA's outpost on the traditionally indie street that is Valencia. 

My take? Of course I don't think American Apparel should be on Valencia in the Mission. They belong in Union Square or maybe Hayes Valley and across the street from one of the gazillion Art Institutes. But not on Valencia. 

That being said, even as I respect Valencia's indie pedigree, I have to step back and question the street cred of that area.  I mean, Medjool is right around the corner for chrissake--pretty much the epitome of gentrification. Not that we should just throw our hands up and let the yuppies take over, but I'm not sure if the American Apparel outpost is really going to push things over the edge. I'm just sayin...

Meanwhile, I'm still pretty disgusted that this may be in the works. And those who feel similarly can check out the Stop American Apparel blog to see what they can do to stall the gentrification a little, if not stop it completely.

Finally, I offer hope in the form of a put-down: American Apparel isn't exactly the pinnacle of hipsterdom that it once was. The 70s porn look of their ads are played as are most of the silhouettes, and I sometimes feel like I'm in 2005 when I pass by their other storefronts. Which poses another question: If AA is built and becomes a supremely unpopular storefront on Valencia, is it because they aren't indie enough? Or is it because people figured out there are only so many ways you can wear a fucking t-shirt.

All growed up music

Why is music letting me down so much lately? I don't know. But I do know that bitching and moaning ain't gonna get me anywhere. So here goes the 1st music reco from yours truly. I just got Bon Iver ep called Blood Bank. It's only got 4 tracks, but those four tracks will make you swoon and remember yourself and maybe even believe in love.

I've never had a crush on a dude from Wisconsin before, but Justin Vernon (the man who IS Bon Iver) has changed all that for me. Read all about him here. This Pitchfork article gives you background on HOW OFF the record execs were when putting together the tracklist for previous Bon Iver efforts. (And yes, I know that I'm often hating on Pitchfork, but let's just go ahead and avoid that subject right now.)

The posted viddy is my fave song on the EP, called Woods. This song features Vernon on vocoder, so it has a little old school R&B feel about it, even though Vernon himself is mainly neo folk. His other tracks are packed with smart lyrics and lush soundscapes, but the pared down beauty that is Woods makes me pine for mid west boys.