telepathe's "so fine"

...at their record release party for their dance mother album:



the dancing is not the best, but it fits; everything in this performance has a certain charm to it. note the two-star rating; yes, i guess the video is that terrible. but when you like a band, you get biased. so far, this is the only song that i really like on their album. also, i think the members of the band are cute, because the cute factor wins over everything. it's not because they look cute--they ARE cute. the embodiment of cute. sometimes i gush and cry and die whenever i see something cute. not googly-eyed cute, if you know what i mean. it's hard to describe. it's not just things that are googly eyed and have no mouths (hello kitty) that are cute, y'know?

it's really hard to imagine an electronic-based band perform, because a band either has pre-recorded loops playing, or they do all the synths and instruments live. it's possible for ladytron to do that (they have live drums and play all their synth parts, as well as a touring bassist and guitarist), but since telepathe is just a two-person band, that's not really possible--you'd need octopus arms. this kind of performance kinda reminds me of khaela miracich or tender forever, where they mostly sing along a la karaoke to their music. and they do awkward wild dancing and the cute charm to make up for everything else.

man, i guess i gotta start one of those separate music blogs... maybe.

PS.
i just recently started playing pokemon platinun on the DS, and i'm addicted. all the baby pokemon are so cute when they start out, but when they evolve, they turn kinda ugly. pokemon evolution will probably make me stop playing the game, and i guess that's a good thing. hah,

PPS.
why are there so much idiots on youtube? does everyone think their opinion is highly valid? what happened to credibility? name calling, shit talking, and personal attacks are just... ugh. just no. nononono. no.

music + sketches ....

Hello people of the internet, Eliot here!

I'm tired, it's past midnight and I still have a bunch of homework to do for tomorrow/today (Friday). I'm one of those procrastinateurs extraordinaire who do things at the last minute. Terrrribbbblibible.

Despite all that...NPR recorded a recent Antony and the Johnsons concert! Go and listen to it! There are some links to video footage of the concert on the NPR page too. (If you look hard enough, you'll see I left a comment on the NPR website I'm a geek, hehehe.) Antony is my hero, and he's got a gorgeous, gorgeous voice. He used to live in my hometown he calls "the armpit of silicon valley," as I read in an article in the local newspaper last month. He also did a recent show at the Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco, which I missed...

What else did I miss? Lissy Trullie's performance at the De Young museum in San Francisco for the "Warhol Live" exhibit, that's what. I've been waiting for her forever to come to the West Coast! aand I MIIISSSSEDDDD IT! okay, that video is a little bit so-so because her band isn't with her, but that's the only footage i've seen so far on the internet for that event...look at this one instead. She totally looks like she could've hung out with Andy Warhol. Back in '07 when I probably first heart about her, her band (which used to be called Lissy Trullie and the Fibs) didn't have any released recordings at all, and now she has a EP out! hooray! :) Watch out for her. She's gonna be big, I swear!

Here's a drawing I did recently just for the hell of it:


and an older one:


Now, I hope your poor eyes aren't shock'd from the nudeness. I draw naked people every friday, and sometimes on mondays and thursdays, and it's no big deal. Those who have no or little experience with life drawing are initially overwhelmed by nakedness, but eventually you're supposed to forget all of that because you are supposed to draw. drawing is hard, period.

Right now I'm struggling in my drawing class ("Drawing for animation/illustration") and one of my instructors is real TUFF, but he's real cool since he worked on films like Space Jam and Fern Gully and has been drawing since forever! My class is learning the techniques of the Florentine School, which goes way back to the Renaissance! Now I can say stupid stuff like, "we are the heirs of Michelangelo and a bunch of old dudes that drew lots of things five hundred years ago." I'm also taking an art history class (a general education one, sadly) and we're covering the Renaissance so it's all so amazing to learn about what you are practicing at the same time. Next semester I'd like to take a class exclusively on the Renaissance. Oh, I could write and write everything in this measly post... but that would be too much. So now I sign off. Bye!

Marlon Brando's Oscar® win for " The Godfather"

watch it here.

shame youtube won't let me embed it, but check it out. i think this is pretty interesting and still! very much pertains to today (and just not in this aspect of portrayals and any kind of injustice)...

description:
"Sacheen Littlefeather refusing to accept the Best Actor Oscar® on behalf of Marlon Brando for his performance in "The Godfather" - the 45th Annual Academy Awards® in 1973. Liv Ullmann and Roger Moore presented the award."

i'm real sad to hear those boos at 1:45, but then people still applauded for it. i have no words. it takes, ahem (excuse my language), balls! to do shit like this. always. especially on television. (i really don't like using words like that. but i just had to.)

in other news... i tonight i just saw clint eastwood's changeling and it was the BOMB. very powerful. the story's tone is in the vein of million dollar baby but is more optimistic. i heard gran torino is pretty good too. mrmrm. gotta see it... and coraline too! and then there's movies that i wanna see, wendy and lucy and waltz with bahshir, but i don't want to go watch all alone. i would like to, but it would feel weird. and hooray for pixar for winning an oscar for wall-e. it makes for a good resume. ahh. so many movies i wanna see, and i have possibly no time (but i waste it anyway). :<

ps.
what is tumblr? is it a short-hand kind of blog? whenever i visit random tumblrs i get soooo confused, since much of the content is quoted from someone else's tumblr, who quoted it from someone else's tumblr who might have quoted it from someone else. sometimes i get so lost with posts with pictures that have no captions or links. i feel rather old and i'm not even twenty-one yet.

I made something cute!

Finally, a picture upload!

It's a card for fredflare.com's Valentine's Day charity event. They're selling homemade cards V-Day cards online and then the proceeds go to crafts programs for the elderly. Pretty cool, huh?

I am so dreadfully far away!

I am in the south of California and it is blagh, okay. I am at grandma's and there is no one to keep my company, so you, trusty blog, will have to do!

Eliot and I are workin' on a collab. I write, she illustrates. I'm gonna post what I have so far here so you can seeeee!

Enjoy.

(This piece is currently saved on my computer under the document name "Unicornz To Be Illustratedz)

When she was five, Elias saw her first unicorn.

It passed by her window on a winter’s night when the panes of glass were like hazy sheets of ice that glimmered in the moonlight.

With one large, unblinking eye, it looked in and exhaled. In the next moment, it had disappeared. Its warm breath left a sunburst of clarity on her window. Through it, Elias could see the darkened houses across the street.

By morning, the unicorn’s impression on her glass was still there. Over cornflakes, Elias told her mother what had happened.

Her mother stood with her back to Elias as she stirred heavy cream into a mug of coffee.

“Well,” she said, her voice laden with indifference. “You were named after a prophet.”

The word rang like a bell in the air and Elias rolled it over in her mouth for the first time. It tasted delicious.

The second unicorn came shortly after Elias’s eighth birthday. She didn’t have a party that year. Instead, her parents bought tickets to an opera performance. They said they were giving her culture as a gift, and that she would appreciate it in the future.

In the darkened auditorium, Elias sat next to a man with a thick, beautiful mustache and a monocle dangling from the pocket of his jacket. During particularly violent scenes, he would hold it to right eye and lean forward.

During intermission, he turned to Elias for the first time. His dour expression shifted to one of wonderment. “It’s you,” he said. He turned and looked around, suddenly frantic. “Excuse me, my dear. I must go.” He stuffed his monocle in his pocket and shuffled towards the aisles with the rest of the crowds that were headed towards the washrooms.

Before Elias could ask how he knew her, he was gone. He did not return for the rest of the performance.

Elias was once again in her room when the second unicorn arrived. This time, it lingered. So as not to startle it, Elias crept forward on her bed until she could rest her cheek against the window.

“Hello,” she said, and the unicorn snorted in response. It left just as softly as the last one had, without the sound of a single hoof striking against the cement. She did not know what the unicorn’s arrival meant, but she knew that it must be significant.

The next day, Elias watched her parents for signs that something had changed, but all seemed as it was before. It wasn’t until she walked herself to school that the event occurred.

The monocled man swooped out of nowhere. One moment, Elias was rounding a corner, and the next, the man had his viselike grip on her upper arm. He pulled Elias into the alley between the exotic sausage shop and the Baptist church.

Her first instinct was to scream. But then the monocled man brought a finger up to his lips and released her arm. There was something so serious and earnest in his expression that it seemed more practical to wait to see what he had to say before she started yelling for help.

“My dear,” he said, his tone apologetic. “I am sorry I acted so rudely just now. It is just that the matter I must discuss with you requires the utmost privacy.”

Elias said nothing.

The man leaned in, his face mere inches from hers. She held her breath. His gaze was searching. “My dear,” he asked. “It is very important that you tell me the truth. Have you seen anything strange recently?”

Le Tigre circa 2000!

Look what i found! Old-school Le Tigre footage!

Oct 12, 2000 at Rice University, Houston TX. AWESOME


I was like, in 6th grade. wow.

(this is kinda turning into a music/video blog now... hmmm)

music post

This is Jana Hunter, from New York.

"Palms."


(okay, I really am too lazy to scan any of my drawings so i just do these kind of posts instead :/ wait until the end of the semester! honest. or when i'm actually done worrying about my school projects, haha. i'm lame.)

i just discovered this band this/previous morning and I am very addicted:

Now, Now Every Children from Minnesota,
"Friends With my Sister."


I've been listening to the four songs they have on their myspace over and over and over. And then i was pretty much enthralled when I saw that their record label accepts money orders ('cuz i don't have a credit card lolololol). Yay for snail mail orders! They opened for mates of state(!!) when they were in their ... uh, state (MN). that's street cred right there! lucky them. :)