BitchyList

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

[Late] NoobTimes: Stalker Song - Religion

[This post was supposed to be up on the 24th of June.]
I'm agnostic. My relationship with g-d is very particular and isn't attached to any religion or cult; I study Jewish Kabbalah, but I'm not a Jew; I believe in Jesus Christ as an example, but not as a deity. Therefore I feel free, without any dogmatic string.
I usually joke that if I had a religion it'd be polytheistic and its deities besides being anthropornomorphized, they'd be very human characters - like in Greek mythology. My Olympus woud be pop culture, inhabited by its iconic and almost "devilish" artists [according to the Christian belief].
Who'd be Zeus? Only one name has the weight and strength worthy of being the mount's boss: Madonna. During my wild weekend it was her who maddenned the senses with her [old] music videos, times lysergicora times imsply beautiful.
Below five tracks that silenced the folks and put them in an uncontrollable trance, in order to catch each of their nuances.


6. Fever
Call it campy, kitsch or what-fucking-ever, this 90's rarity has the incredible power to play with you senses in a way you don't expect. With [very] strong colours and beats that contrast with the diva's almost-sweet vocals, it's practically impossible not to feel the fever the track incites.





5. Frozen
In spite of the name, Frozen doesn't freeze you at all. Madonna, queen of metamorphosis, shows up as never seen before: pale and dark, like a deity disfavored with the blonde sympathy, but no less hypnotic, as she throws a turning-table message.
Filled with symbology and references, this magnanimous track's video, already classic in pop culture, leaves you dumbstrucked with its effects more psychological than the usual.






4. Human Nature
After society trying to shut her up during her most seuxal/romantic era [Erotica], Madonna spit this somewhat bitter reply. The video probably has the most wonderful choreography and synchronicity registered in pop music.






3. Ray Of Light
I always knew this song's effusive skills, but the song/video combo is AWESOME! Its very hard not to franticaly shake with the paraphernalia of sounds and images from this masterpiece.






2. Bedtime Story
After this 1995 video Madonna didn't have to do anything else; and still she did. But this work of art, directed by Mark Romanek, is an example of an excelent edition allied to inventive and profound minds. Treating unconsciousness as something more active than what we suspect, Madonna gifts us with a sequel of oh-so psychedelic and lysergic images that reinvent the very meaning of the word "dream".





1. Nothing Really Matters
I think that me and my friends repeated this video 5 times at least, to see if we could capture all the frames, references and expression this woman did in this video. Try to catch every face she does and you'll see she's not a bad actress when properly provoked and inspired.




Monday, June 16, 2008

NoobTimes: Stalker Song - Status Quo

Corao corao¹ we're late, so much I don't even remember stalking last week. I just know that I'd be writing about The Ting Tings here. Marce told me to download them and, as always, it took me a while to listen to them. However when I did I was instantly dominated by all the enthusiasm and glamour of Katie White and Jules De Martino.

Hot as hell, both have the classic pose of most of the indie bands that go through electro-pop woods. With style and New Rave sense of fashion, but the attitude of whom's not giving much of a damn to all the fuss, De Martino sexy slams those drums, while White rebels, ferocious and beautiful, on the vocals; and the guitar and the bass drum... they have this manufactured pop quality [?] overcome by the wonderful poser strength of the "fuckyou attitude."

The album We Started Nothing already brings in its title that you will find no reinvention of the same - the Tings started nothing and wish they didn't. This is my favorite thing with the Tings: the great problem of the whole Indie scene of today is that the majority of them is nothing more than imitators [and some suck at it - hi Hadouken!] - but they get all the hype because they're indie. Projects like, for instance MGMT and Hadouken!, put up their presumptuous Indie armor ["hi we're not mainstream, we make the difference"], but in spite of the the good quality [in the case of the first], they're just repeaters of a style/time/whatever that has long gone and adds little to our everyday life, except for the nostalgic desire infused in us.

Already in the begining The Tings strip themselves from this demagogue speech of the "everyday indie" and wear the FUCKIT costume. But only seeing and listening that you can fully comprehend how good it is to kick the bass drum and shout SHUT UP AND LET ME GO!

Current essencial songs: Great DJ, That's Not My Name and Shut Up And Let Me Go, on the BitchyList - in the "Stalker" folder.

To see The Ting Tings clickhere!
¹Corao corao = run run [slang in bad Portuguese].

Message To The Ho

Maybe my posts are weird cos this kind of stuff has rocked my socks. Hehe

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Oops!

Yesterday I crashed the car. A bug, to be more specific a butterfly flew across my nose distracted me and I stepped on the wrong pedals and suddenly I was already on the back of the car in front of me.
Nor me or my sister got injured, nor the people on the other car, but ours [says my dad] got pretty fucked up. He likes to exaggerate this things; it's actually a bit irritating because when he wants to reprehend me he always speaks with this dull and supposedly calm tone that is filled with condescension. But deeply I prefer that cos I just roll eyes and pretend I'm really listening, if he freaked and yelled I'd be crapping my pants.
But what impressed me the most was the fact that when everything happened I was completely calm! I didn't freak, not even shivered or got into a quivering craze. I called dad so he would instruct me on what to do and all the conversation was very sober and normal, he told me the right procedure to the insurance stuff and blablabla. Later the cop came to register the occurrence and I was calm enough to flirt with him... some of my friends have heard what happened and showed up at the moment I was signing the occurrence and there was this mixture of preoccupation and hilarity. We all laughed of course, especially on the butterfly part.
Anyways, all this rambling... I don't know what this rambling was for. Meh I'm just telling an anecdote. zzzZzZzZzZzZzzzZZZZzzz
[Song: Loco - Annie]

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Saint Anthony's Day

In Brasil its our equivalent to the North American/European's Valentine's Day.
The ho and I always kid that will do all the old spells people here like to do in this time of the year to catch a boyfriend; stuff like hanging the saint's image upside down in a closet until he gets us a boyfriend.
As usual I get majorly bitter at this date and this year is no exception. However I feel I'm more relaxed and most of my bitterness is just for the sake and the fun of being so. Not even horny I am today. Actually I just feel a little bit sick but it has nothing to do with the date, because I don't give a shit about V-Days. lol A holiday less to spend money on.
Me and my other single friends went to the mall to have some beers but I before we had a joint that left me worst than I was so I simply wanted to go home and shove myself into blankets. That gave me reason to be really bitter - although people insisted it was because of the day. But in the end, who cares about having a bf when I can have crushes as gorgeous as them:

[Song: Great DJ - The Ting Tings]

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

So You Think You Can Play...

I haven't mentioned before, but me and a couple of friends formed a musical-trio. We're the Egocentric-Hard-Porno and we are basically DJ wannabes. We already have a gig booked at a gay party promoted by some friends of ours.
Today we had our first DJing class and though the thing isn't as easy as we expected, for the style of performance we're going to do it is not so hard. Tired of the same electronica scene of the town we're to play some good and old pop music. With mindsets and tastes similar but very different in essence our setlist is to be very eclectic - so the usual 4/8 beat pattern from electronic music won't work with us. I ask how to mix Feist's Sea Lion Woman into Róisín Murphy's Let Me Know? So the result will sound more like radio setlist than a rave setlist [for example].
That sounds lame... and it is! But we'll be trusting in our good taste for music to make people shake down on the dancefloor... by simply playing the songs we would like to dance to!
[Song: That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings]

Monday, June 09, 2008

NoobTimes: Stalker Song - Stalking Abroad

Sorry I'm late: Saturday was hype-wild and Sunday was low-wide - couldn't write anything. [Sometimes I have fun writing as if I'm read].
I came to know Estelle by a friend that noticing my new enthusiasm with Black Music, showed me this jewel from the Queen's crown. With her delicious velvet voice and a style that sounds like Alicia Keys, but undeniably better because Estelle sounds totaly forceless in everything she does, both in the vocalizing without the genre's exaggeration [SHOUTS!] and in the raps. Not that Keys has completely fallen from my concept - but while I can do anything listening to Estelle, you can't calculate The Ting Tings's CD price + the shipping tax + plus the credit cards importation tax + how long everything will take to get here with ONE NO ONE NO ONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE buzzing in your ears... you know what I mean. u.u
And since looking for Italian Boys to increase my Italian network is my newest stalker activity - Estelle's best song to define the action is American Boy. Like every song from her marvelous sophomore album Shine, American Boy has this retro Soul feeling, but it's ultra modern! Especially when Kanye West kicks in with his lovely rap, which makes me have a bigger sympathy for him, who always sounded annoying.







Check this video out mapeoples!!! Cinematography is beautiful, her outfits are marvelous and the American Boys are OHHLALA!! But her blasé expression is hilarious and the way she dances like a clumsy child is AWEEEEEEEEESOME!!! I thought it fun - noob like me! Lolz


The second song of my stalking week was Nelly Furtado's Do It. The song itself is a cute example of the psychotic genre, talking about a person who had a thing with another in the past and now can't forget.
It's interesting how these genuinely obsessive songs work so naturally into our minds. Of course that has everything to do with the fact that [like Caetano used to say] from a close range no one's normal, so our little sick heads match perfectly with things produced by other sick cabezitas.

Note: every song featured on the SS has now exclusive folders on the white box on the blog's top. The folder's obviously called "Stalker" and each post has its own.
Begosmiliga!

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Good Times, Bad Times

Live with people is as easy as people living with us. Get the picture? I'm far from being perfect, but as I read on the Kabbalah daily tune-up, the thing isn't reaching perfection - we'll never get there - but striving for it.
Two months ago or so, me and three of my best friends did a photoshoot for a conference and the photos got bigger attention than what we expected. However, there's this kinda-unspoken common agreement, that even if the pics ended up being marvelous and people have liked them more than what we foresaw, the process of production was the most gratifying. That's a practical example of that cited on Kabbalah. But what to do when you're put on a test?
Last night I got deeply irritated with a friend's ego. His has got into the linepoking mine and even if I thought I was right, the fact that I got pissed and even thinking I am right is proof that my ego also reacted. "Listen, we all react. We aren't angels."
Although I think that abrupt reactions like arguing and looking for a higher tone than the other person's are useless, I do think that after a little self-analysis you should show that a barrier was surpassed, that [if the case] not only the ego was pinned, but a limit of was broken and the parts involved must solve a problem. Yesterday, I tried to show that with actions. My look stiffened, my voice got a darker tone and in a short time I chose to leave instead of exposing myself even more to what was bothering me - I chose to leave to not explode. That way, I still was reacting.
When I got home I was ANGRY! My eyes were so red I wouldn't concentrate in bullshit I put myself to do, so I went to bed. I went to sleep frustrated, angry with myself for not having spoken what I thought at the moment that happened, angry with my friend for being so thoughtless about his actions... so, there Lucas and his brain [aka ego] were reacting like a snake before moviment.
But today in the morning, after a surprisingly good night of sleep [considering the little pain I was feeling due to my recently pierced nose and ear], I woke up with Nelly Furtado singing Do It. I chose this song to wake me yp everyday because it gives me a sense of musical: when the leading girl wakes and gets up dancing around as she starts to prepare herself to the day.
As I got up and moved my hips as far as my sleepy body would allow, I noticed that I still had ego, but it was more worried with the piercings than with last night. And following the custom, I sat down here and read my emails and there the Kabbala Daily Tune-Up was waiting for me:


"Kabbalah isn't about attaining perfection — it's about striving for perfection. We are not going to attain perfection and then the world will change. The world will change when enough people strive for perfection.
Listen, we all react. We aren't angels. But if we are just aware and striving not to react, the act of striving and being somewhat successful at it - more times than not - is helping to raise the immortality rate for the entire world.
Today, put extra effort into proacting. When you see someone coming who you don't like, run towards them with love and acceptance. Do the opposite of what you normally do."


Maybe, June 8 has arrived earlier for me...
[Song: Shine - Estelle]

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Call 555-555-CONFIDE

Theres always that tale that the shrinks are always the fucked up ones and choose the job as a way of solving their own crap. I'd certainly be one of those if I had ever started the Psychology course I was accepted in couple of years ago; but there are times that I really feel like the shrink-of-us-all. I'm already used to the fact that I was born with a "confide in me" sign stamped on my forehead. But it's from her that I often get my experiences. But what experiences?
They say that wise are those who learn from others' experiences. If that is true, I'm the best relationship guru I know. Always the fly on the wall of my friends' relatioships, Lucas is always watching the behaviours and actions and when they come for advice, it's funny, sometimes even for me, how I always have something meaningful to say [I say so cos I get positive feedbacks]. And, to be honest, it's very true! Along the years I have listened so much to people's romantic complaints that, allied to all these million of films and books I read, makes me like to think I really have some substance on the matter.
But today, as I shared my wisdom with a friend, I found myself facing a moment of self-doubt in demagogy. Perhaps this vast but only observatory experience doesn't make me an impostor? After all, I have as much practical experience as a pubescent girl. From crush to crush I'm always the one who ends with the broken heart and the cheesy songs.
Nowaday I barely complain; a lot of times I even thank G-d for thinking that I'd easily fall into the "do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do" crap. However, there are always the moments you get pissed with everyone else for having the thing you most long for and they behave so inept in dealing with the thing.
Nevertheless, who said I'd know how to handle? My friend said I seem to be prepared for it when it comes, but am I? Dunno maaan!! Even liking to be a good adviser, I've got doubts if I'll be as shrewd when my time comes, conseidring that I've been automatically falling into the same old traps.
[Song: Creator - Santogold]

Monday, June 02, 2008

YSL Is Dead!

I'm shocked cos I only read about it today!

One of the greatest Fashion designers the world will ever see he raised fashion to the status of art, at the same time he was a libertarian dignifying women's position on society. He was the responsible for the publishing of the first black cover girl - Naomi Campbell. Saint Laurent promissed advertising retaliation if they put the cover off. Always brave and fearless to be controversial his brand released a perfume called Cocaine, and guess who was the chosen model?
Yes, she!! >>>
I don't know much about YSL's life but as soon as I learned to like fashion I learned to admire the beautiful clothes designed by him that made clothing more than a necessity but a beautiful and luxurious way to express ourselves.
RIP.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

NoobTimes: Stalker Song - Stepping In The Dark Side

The other day I got all wet to write at once what was supposed to be posted here, but I didn't have much time, la bohême was already waiting for me, but I swear that it was hardfuck to leave and forget the PC's amplifiers pumpin the Missy Elliott out into my eardrums. However it's not only hers today's Stalker Song, but of a whole genre that not even Madonna, with her new reinvention, nor Mariah made me feel as curious about it as Nelly Furtado did in the last few days. The genre in question is the controversial Black Music, with richer variations than the prejudice allowed me to see.

Missy Elliott is a rapper, fact. But what I didn't know how well produced and conceptual her albums were. Timbaland's little friend, they were two of the responsibles for a whole revolution on Hip Hop that happened on the late 1990's - adding more elaborated beats and percussions, with details that transcended the repetitive basis of traditional Rap.

But Lucas, in spite of being generally dumbstruck with Missy's work, chose as her stalking feat one of her most bizarre songs: Get Ur Freak On, that already shook my dancefloor dreams, but now it has an even stronger taste of novelty, considering that its genre is my newest curiosity.

However, it's Esthero, a Canadian who does trip-hop that showed me how far and yummy Black Music can go. Mixing Soul, Hip Hop, Rap and Caribbean music, thus read Esthero's music may sound like a big giant mess, but in her second album, Wikked Lil' Grrrls - for exemple, - everything's perfectly harmonized; with production having instruments coming in and out with perfect timing, the songs' orchestration is a big guy's thing! And she's only 29!!!

Ledgend has it, that after leaving home at 16 and going by herself for Toronto, Esthero passou started to sing at open mic bars while worked at several places to earn some cash. Then she met a pair of managers who took care of her career until she was 18, when they set up a meeting with Canadian EMI's president, Michael Mccarty, who - amazed by the girl's charm - even withou hearing her singing a single note booked and paid for a demo's recording sessions.

Ever since Esthero is declared influence for the likes of Nelly "Nellstar" Furtado. It was through her that I came to know Esthero, years ago when I became the Nellstar's fan I came to know a beautiful song called I Feel You, b-side from I'm Like A Bird's single, that features Esthero. However, twas just now that I came to download and know wonderful songs like Thank Heaven 4 You, Wikked Lil' Grrrls, Bad Boy Clyde and My Torture. And it's exactly it that is on video bellow.
Bellower, Missy's!