CocoRosie and their insulated world

I watched two interviews with CocoRosie and was struck by their disconnected behavior, as if somehow in their connection to each other and their art-music, they are unable/disinterested in connecting with the rest of the world. As a being who is interested in connecting to as many others in the world as possible, and doing so intentionally, I was disappointed to feel this disconnect from them. I love many of their songs, but did not love this. Watch them here, in order:

The first (can't embed).

The second:

They speak of their desire to insulate themselves from the world, create a private space, to make their music from. And this "artists as isolationists" belief is a thread that runs through all time and into the current moment. But I disagree with it heavily now. I do not see it as responsible to create art out of that space. I see it as intentional obliviousness. Willful ignorance of the scope of events going on in the world today. To me, artists, musicians, cultural creators, have an obligation to inform themselves of the contemporary world and history, of philosophy and realities, and then make their new works to further the dialogue or illuminate a problem, or even the best, solve one!

Art, music, culture, is our gift to the world and if we use it only to distance ourselves, or mock the present world as is, we are mis-using our gifts. We are taking advantage of capitalism to support our selfishness. We are feeding our egos.

A very bright article in the New York Times today, by Holland Cotter, has inspired me to think with optimism on how the art world can become. How this economic upheaval can create a whole new way of thinking and making. It's beyond inspiring. Read his absolutely articulate, wise article, "The Boom Is Over. Long Live The Art!" here.

New Video, Anthony Hegarty

As usual, Anthony Hegarty, of Anthony & the Johnsons, has a smoke-filled haunt of a beautiful voice. Worthwhile, albeit a bit cheesy, video to watch below:

Jodie Harsh, London character created by Jay Clarke

Jodie Harsh, recently featured as one of Out's 100 most influential people in 2008, made this dryly hilarious video of herself and friend Scottee interviewing a zookeeper at the London Zoo.

Creepy blankets

Oh my god, the Snuggie. I am definitely barfing in my mouth, but more than that, it's the sur-reality (as in, less than reality) of American culture present in the Snuggie promotional video that amazes. With the vast array of real life dilemmas, interpersonal conflicts, religious warfare, hunger, homelessness, greed, that are prevalent in this world, one would think the focus would be on fixing those, rather than making sure mom's arms don't get briefly cold from reaching for the portable phone while watching TV on the couch under a blanket.

We should not be this comfortable!

Don't watch this parody until you've first watched the real thing (above), and barfed a little in your mouth too, but then watch this parody.

And then after watching that parody, watch this parody:



Cult robes aside, the Snuggie is cheap and supposedly you'll then turn your thermostat down and just wear your blanket around. Perhaps there is some spend-thriftyness with an eye towards the economic downturn and awareness of global climate change in this product and its marketing?

Nawwwww----
it's just a blanket, that's creepy.

Cornify it up

Just click it. And just keep on clicking it until you fall backwards from the bubbling glitterweight of the unicorns and rainbows.



For an explanation see: Cornify.com

In Appreciation of Steve Martin

This man can do everything with masterful grace. I'm not saying his banjo playing is incredible, but you try being an acclaimed comedian then actor, then writer/director and now musician? I can't even remember to water my garden. Let's all get to work. If everyone worked like Steve Martin, our culture would be a bustling boom of perpetual learning and joy. Go get to work!

Austin has a sushi train now! And it's tasty.

Finally, the vibe of a big city has parked its techno-food savvy ass on Austin soil.

Korea Garden on N. Lamar just remodeled and installed a sushi train. When my girlfriend and I walked in tonight we were surprised by the scene: the band Corto Maltese was just leaving as we arrived, tiny hipsters from UT filled a row at the conveyor belt, and, 75% of the patrons were gay. We ordered a hot pot of green tea and took our perch at the counter between a middle-aged, gay male couple on our left and an awesome, quirky student and her friends on our right.

Korea Garden has been around for a while and serves up Chronicle/Statesman lauded Korean food, but the sushi conveyer belt is a new addition. Called a kaiten-zushi in Japan, the metal conveyor belt slickly delivered lots of nigiri sushi, goma wakame (seaweed salad), a few eel rolls, a few california rolls, desserts, and even house salads with ranch dressing on them. Though it would seemingly be fully unexciting to eat an iceberg/ranch dressing salad off a sushi train, Korea Garden's house salad was delicious. The radish sprouts, avocado, carrot and cucumber slivers spiced it up to an enticing level.

When I lived in New York I frequented a sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt like this between Union Square and Gramercy Park (17th and Broadway?) and loved it. Prices were based on the color of the plate, a format Korea Garden will be moving to after tomorrow. For now though, for its opening week, Korea Garden is running a special: all plates $1.50 each! Get it cheap while you can.

Back to the bar around the conveyor belt, an awesome behavior was happening amongst the patrons. In true Austin fashion, as soon as diners sat down they became part of a collective conversation. You can't put Austinites in the same goddamn space as each other and facing each other without a ton of friendly banter. The sushi train I went to in New York was more like a bar; you faced the sushi chef/server. At Korea Garden, you face other patrons. And, inevitably conversations strike up over the sushi and over who wants what as the plates slowly make their way down the line.There's already a Missed Connection about the sushi train! I think it's arrived. And, I think Austin has arrived in some small way. Hear me out on this one: Clearly the young'uns, gaymos and artists have been waiting for this; a new city trinket that facilitates the same gentle friendly Austin has possessed all along.