The Gap Between The Pauses

Zeitgeisters, I just looked under the Party Shuffle section of my iTunes – as locations go it’s a place like my local public library – I know it exists, but I rarely bother to visit. I don’t know what algorithmic wonder-formula it employs to extract certain songs from the play list and use ‘em to get this theoretical party started, but I think there’s a glitch in the system It’s got all of the Hill Top Hoods songs, of which there are but a handful, but only one of ACDC songs, of which there are many. Cliff Richard (Wired For Sound) is in, but no Arctic Monkeys and no Aretha Franklin . If iTunes Party Shuffle really knew what an introvert I am, then my Radiohead and Smiths songs would be in the Shuffle and not flippin’ Butterfingers and Nik Kershaw – not that you thought I was cool, but that really tears it. The omissions go on, no Basement Jaxx , no Stereo MCs , but ALL of The Waifs . What kind of party are we having here? Right, Party Shuffle. You clearly have no more idea o...

Zeitgeisters, Just like you get the politicians you deserve, it appears you get the protest songs you deserve. I keep hearing John Mayer's WAITING ON THE WORLD TO CHANGE (2006) and have been constantly annoyed by the blandness and absolute gutlessness of its content. Musically it sounds good, it cribs effectively from the 1960s Soul/R&B songbook, but lyrically it’s bereft of anything approaching a message. Me and all my friends We're all misunderstood They say we stand for nothing and There's no way we ever could Now we see everything that's going wrong With the world and those who lead it We just feel like we don't have the means To rise above and beat it So we keep waiting Waiting on the world to change We keep on waiting Waiting on the world to change It's hard to beat the system When we're standing at a distance So we keep waiting Waiting on the world to change Now if we had the power To bring our neighbors home from war They woul...

Zeitgeisters, here’s an idea whose time is still coming . Posted in Boing Boing today was this photograph of an old CD spindle holding a bagel lunch. Someone obviously thought this was clever, though I'm not sure why. When you click through from Boing Boing , you end up on Flick’r where the above image is revealed as "bagel to go" by Rodrigo Piwonka. It’s an okay concept, if you're concerned that the hole of your bagel might become obstructed by the bagel's filling during transportation. I guess its that fear - mobifillingaphobia - that would persuade someone to employ this method of food storage rather than say just putting your bagel into - I dunno - Tupperware? Taken further, one might choose to bring ricecakes to work in a DVD cover or maybe use an old casette tape box as a kind of raincoat for a packet of Tic-Tacs. Then again, one might use ... Tupperware , people. This idea is geek-sexy, tops. Which is why its on Boing-Boing . Elevate the Insignificant, M...

Zeitgeisters, time for the confession. I watch CSI once a week. Any of the CSI 's. It doesn't matter which one. I don't really care if it's Miami, New York or Original Recipe. Although I know the Original Recipe crew by name. And I am even prepared to diss their hair when necessary. I watch CSI Miami because I love things shot in an orangey palette. I also love the way that Horatio Kane (David Caruso) does that dog-with-head-tilted look. Unfortunately this look stands in for a number of emotions, "I'm trying to work out if you're telling the truth"; "I know you're not telling the truth and this head-tilt is intended to psych you out" and "If I weren't in such deep emotional pain maybe you and I could have a shot at the big brass ring". Like Roger Moore's eyebrow and Bruce Willis's smirk, the gesture doesn't multi-task as well as the actor imagines. I watch CSI New York because Gary Sinise's character (Ma...

Zeitgeisters, I watched a rather good doco on SBS yesterday, made by Peter Rosen, called Who Get's To Call It Art? (2006) I could attempt to recap it, but someone at great expense bothered to write the following: A wild ride through the New York City art scene of the '60s, through the eyes of Henry Geldzahler, the first curator of contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Geldzahler was an unusual curator who lived among the artists, spending all his time in galleries and studios. Geldzahler possessed a rare eye for beauty and an even rarer willingness to discover it in out-of-the-way places. A cornucopia of archival and contemporary footage - featuring a veritable who's who of painters and sculptors, from Jasper Johns to Frank Stella, John Chamberlain, James Rosenquist and Francesco Clemente - traces Geldzahler's intersections with the changing New York art scene. Interviews included Mark Di Suvero, John Chamberlain, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Ivan Karp, E...