Rhymefest

I was introduced to Chicago rapper Rhymefest this summer, I liked what I heard, but didn't bother to look for more until this week. And now it's all I've been playing; his studio album Blue Collar, and two mixtapes--The Manual, and Man In The Mirror (a Mark Ronson produced Michael Jackson tribute). Rhymefest's raps are wonderful. Clever, fast, vicious at times and a breath of fresh air.

Rhymefest has the ability to make me laugh and tell a real story in his rhymes as well as create some seriously catchy tunes. I think his stuff is pretty accessible too, he uses a lot of mainstream tunes as his beats, especially on Man In The Mirror, on which virtually every backtrack is a Jackson hit. He's signed to ark Ronson's label, and co-wrote Kanye West's "Jesus Walks".

Essential Tracks: Every track on Blue Collar, seriously they're all great, especially: More, Sister, Tell A Story.

From Man In The Mirror: Breakadawn, Never Can Say Goodbye

From The Manual: RNQ

Spring 2010 RTW Faves So Far

Clockwise from top left: Alexander Wang, Lacoste, Boy by Band Of Outsiders, Rag & Bone, Organic by John Patrick

VMAs 2009

This year was the first year I watched the VMA's with "normal" people, and let me tell you it's THE BEST. The questions, the confused look, the disgust. It's so great.

Anyay first things first, the pre-show, the Twitter Tracker, UGH. Repulsive, micro-blogging rules, and don't get me wrong, I was refreshing my TweetDeck on the minute, but the correspondence on Twitter, the technology that looked more advanced than the election trackers, ew. Also, 2/3 out of the girls I watched with had no idea what Twitter was. Normal people, what a life. Other than the tweet coverage, Pink arrived in a fire truck (ugh), Taylor Swift arrived in a clear carriage drawn by white horses (double ugh) and Lady GaGa arrived with Kermit The Frog in a feather neckpiece and a gold mask (YES YES YES!). The normal's reaction to GaGa's get-up was SO AWESOME a lot of overwhelmed faces, and "Wait so is she like, a dude or what?".

So finally (?) the show begins with Madonna giving some weird tribute to Michael Jackson, and having everyone in the audience yell "LONG LIVE THE KING". I like Michael's music, and I have no problem with the musical memorial Janet put on, but if we could refrain from celebrating the character of someone who we all know was a child molester.

Next came the best moment of the night, Kanye West running on stage to tell Taylor Swift that Beyonce deserved the award. That in and of itself wasn't that great, Kanye does this ALL THE TIME, he's not really a loose cannon, he's a calculated cannon and he knows what nerves to hit to make your mom call you and ask you if you heard about what that Kane West said. And he does a great job because people FREAKED OUT. The girls I watched with were beside themselves "OMG I love Taylor! She's so cute! Kanye's such a jerk omg, he has no heart". I didn't bother trying to say that Taylor Swift is 19 and can handle being interrupted and these are the VMA's not the Grammy's or her High School graduation and who even fucking votes for the winners of these things because I really think it's just Kurt Loder, and that really Kanye was right Taylor didn't deserve the award, I mean did you see her performance moments after?

Holy shit, the subway, the dress, the teens singing along, it's all too much. But still:

GaGa was my other highlight of the night, just her attempts to be as bat shit crazy as possible, and the normal people in my room were freaking out.

There was this:

and this

and especially this:

The night closed with Jay-Z and Alica Keys, and Jay-Z KILLED IT. Then Lil' Mama ran on stage and started nodding at Jay-Z really hard and it was all kinds of awesome


In closing this sums up my feelings on the VMA's this year:

Degrassi: The Next Generation Seasons 1-3

Degrassi has been my latest obsession. Seasons 2-3 are available to watch instantly and having always been curious about the show I decided to check it out. I finished 2 and 3 in a week. The show isn't great, the acting is stilted, the scripts are Lifetime movie quality and the clothes are particularly painful (exhibit A Emma's linen pants painted with dolphins--puke). However Degrassi has some magical Boy Meets World quality that makes me feel like everything is going to be OK when I watch it. I know that at the end of the 22 min episodes everything is going to be OK. There's no problem to big to be wrapped up in a bow by Degrassi (although teen pregnancy, child abuse and rape did require 44 min double episodes). And I have no problem with this being trite, or unrealistic (for the record IT IS), but it's so ridiculously comforting that I'm totally OK with it. Sign me up for Degrassi High, Class of 2006.

The characters are (kind of) realistic in the sitcom High School stereotype way, there's Craig, sensitive heart-throb never seen without his acoustic guitar and camera. Paige, popular blonde cheerleader, complete with bedazzled "hottie" tank top. Manny, the younger girl attempting to make the transition from cute to sexy, and Mr. Simpson the sweet, awkwardly cute computer teacher going through chemotherapy. Degrassi's biggest strength is its ensemble cast. Each episode focuses on a different character and you really get a full view of the high school as a whole.

Check out Degrassi if you've got the stomach for it. I can't wait to start Season 4.

Kate Moss W Cover

There's really nothing to say. Kate Moss has still got it, her bone structure pains me, I'm obsessed. The cover is really fun too, I love the big hair, really different! Anyway pick this up, I know I will!

(500) Days Of Summer

I was really apprehensive about seeing this movie, I thought it could be a trying to hard to be quirky Juno-style disaster. Much to my surprise this move was delightful! It had it's moments that were pushing the quirk to hard (the precocious advice dispensing younger sister comes to mind), but most of the film was postitivley delightful, spending time with Summer and Tom was a lot of fun, and the unique directorial choices kept me engaged. A musical number, the split screen, the non-linear time line, the narration, somehow all these elements which can be obnoxious separately mesh together to paint a beautiful rich portrait of a relationship within Tom's mind.

Unlike traditional rom-coms (500) Days Of Summer doesn't pretend that it's giving you a mixed perspective, we only see Summer through Tom's eyes, we don't know about her childhood or what she does when she's not with Tom, or what she yearns to be in life. All we know is what she said to Tom, the limited amount of herself that she shared, and that, to me, was very interesting. This ambiguity allowed for a beautiful sequence in which the same montage of shots, when played twice with different music and at a different point in the film painted Summer as a beautiful to-good-to-be-true angel, and a selfish cold bitch.

Give (500) Days Of Summer a shot, it's a sweet August movie that will make you smile.

Brick

I watched Brick again tonight, it's a movie like Annie Hall that I just like the tone of so much. One that I could play in my house all the time just to have something on in the background. In Brick's case I think this has a lot to do with the excellent score.

Brick is a modern Noir set in a high school, Joseph Gordon Levitt's ex-girlfriend ends up dead two days after calling him asking for help with a bad brick, a tug, and a pin. We follow protagonist Levitt through his quest to figure out what happened to, and how to avenge the death of his ex. It's got a really interesting tone, kind of bittersweet. JGL gives a really great performance, he's so talented, re-watching Brick has made me even more anxious to get around to Mysterious Skin and 500 Days Of Summer. Another great surprise in this film is Nora Zehetner who plays femme fatale Laura. She's totally delightful and walks the line between temptress and evil incarnate really well.

The dialogue is what's most impressive in Brick. The first time I watched it I put subtitles on as to catch all the subtitles in the script. The talk is tight, and it doesn't slow down to make sure you understand, it's not all style either, missing one or two lines of dialog could mean the difference between following the mystery and being totally lost. This is all to say nothing of the ending scene which is breathtaking in its beauty. I want to move into this movie's world. Check it out immediatley if you haven't.

New Where The Wild Things Are Trailer

This movie cannot be as good as it looks. If it is I may be forced to set up shop in a theater and not leave until Christmas. The tone is so right on, theres moments of elation and fun, and delight and some truly heartwrenching scenes. I cannot wait. The kid playing Max looks and sounds so great, he's so little kid cute that he makes me want to get pregnant right now. Less than 2 months now and it's still too long.

Rodarte to do a line for Target

Kind of surreal. The infamously unwearable Rodarte is planning a 55 piece line to be sold at Target stores all for under $80. It seems kind of risky for Target, and for Rodarte. There's nothing in my eyes about the brand that screams everyday woman, I feel an Alexander Wang for Target line would have made a lot more sense, but we'll see what the pieces are like. If they manage to keep the feeling of the original line I can see myself picking a good portion of the 55 pieces up.

Funny People

Funny People was probably my most anticipated movie of the summer. I'm a total Apatow fan-girl, Knocked Up, Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared are among my favorite comedies, I've loved nearly everything Seth Rogen has done, and I think Adam Sandler does a great job in more serious roles, his performance in Punch-Drunk Love is especially memorable.

Funny People, is Apatow's third film, and maybe my favorite so far. I suppose it's not as laugh out loud funny as Knocked Up (which is not to say it doesn't have its moments) but the emotional pay-off is greater here, and the characters are more varied and interesting. Sandler's character George is totally miserable, and kind of an awful person, the dynamics between him and Rogen's Ira (playing the lovable nice guy once again) are so fun to watch. You find some part of each of them to relate to, and to hate. There are some really emotionally arresting scenes having to do with Sandler's illness, one of my favorites being the moments after the diagnosis, which in another movie would have been slow motion, close up on his face, sad music being reflective. In Apatow's world, life goes on, fans still ask for pictures, he still has to wait for stop lights etc. Really this is kind of what the movie is about, through the darkest moments in this film, Apatow never shies away from cutting the tension with a dick joke. And for some reason this speaks to me.

The only thing that doesn't work about Funny People is the last act love triangle bit, I see what they were going for, and parts of it are genuinley funny, but in the end the payoff isn't big enough to justify adding another hour to the film (which clocks in at 2.5 hrs). I would have rather seen that time spent with Sandler, Rogen and RZA. Yeah RZA! He's in this! Aces! See it now.