Disqus - Latest Comments for dyfl

Re: New York, NY: Free Caller ID for 7182159347

Chris — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 17:36:53 -0000

This is in some way linked to Scientology -- this number normally never leaves a message, but the one time they did, they left an LA-area callback number that's associated with the Church of Scientology. I've never been a member, but I get their mailings for some reason, and am unwilling to engage with them on any level at the risk of somehow getting contacted even MORE frequently.

Re: Lights On for the Lower East Side

Chris — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:41:36 -0000

Any idea if that includes Seward Park, south of Grand and north of East Broadway? I assume so, but using Canal as a boundary gets fuzzy over there.

Re: Holy Crap, There Are a Lot of Famous People on “The Voice” Now

Chris — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:52:38 -0000

For half a second I read "Alanis Morissette and Robin Thicke" as "Morrissey and Robyn" and I almost fell out of my chair trying to get to my DVR in time.

Re: Sound of the City - Maura Johnston - Kanye West's New Workout Plan For The Creative Class: DONDA

Chris — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:22:41 -0000

I don't disagree with any of this, but you could also call this company "Entertainment 720" and be dead-on.

Re: It’s Time For A Jennifer Lopez Greatest-Hits Album, Folks!

Chris — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:31:37 -0000

Agreed! And no "Let's Get Loud," either? That said, we're up to nine perfectly respectable songs on here already, so yeah, thesis proven, I guess.

Re: Sound of the City - Maura Johnston - The Not-Very-Secret Message Of Lady Gaga's "Edge Of Glory" Video

Chris — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:51:31 -0000

See, I really like the "this is an obviously fake backlot"-ness of it all, that's totally on-point for the aesthetic she's going for, and it's a smart aesthetic to mine for the song. My problem with it is that, as we have now seen, it's very easy to make that the beginning and end of your video. I really do expect more ambition from Gaga, and it's damaging to her "myth" when she succumbs to commercial realities and makes the simplest video possible because, well, that's when the marketing plan needed the video to be ready. I was not a big fan of the "Judas" clip -- some of the shots were just plain amateurish, which is unsurprising, since it was directed by amateurs -- and I was hoping for a course correction for the best song on the album. But alas, the seams are showing.

Basically: we could have had everything this video gave us in terms of 80s video fetishism, and then taken it to the next level. I don't think I'm overstating it when I say it is Gaga's job to take any aesthetic she touches to the next level. She aims high, and she had a sickening hit-rate, so it stings all the more when she misses.

Re: http://dyfl.tumblr.com/post/6126335817

Chris — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:20:27 -0000

Kind of a lot like that, actually!

Re: Sound of the City - Maura Johnston - Lady Gaga's Glitchy, Catholicism-Drenched "Judas" Has Leaked

Chris — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:43:10 -0000

Based on the listening thing I went to (shhh!), that was the song "Scheiße," which sounds kind of a lot like this, but even more 90s-dancefloored-out and even more industrial. It had a similar spoken-word section though. (Also, yes, "Scheiße" serves serious Sprockets realness.)

Re: Sound of the City - Maura Johnston - Lady Gaga's Glitchy, Catholicism-Drenched "Judas" Has Leaked

Chris — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:25:57 -0000

It's not my favorite Gaga single and it never will be, but I do like the way the "Ju-DAS Judah-ah-ah" bit makes me think of a demented Andrew Lloyd Webber. I wonder how much shit she's gonna catch for the Rihanna-aping verses? More fuel for the "Gaga as ripoff artist" burns, I assume. (I do admit I'd rather she have come up with some kind of melody for the more monotone bits, no matter how fun that vocal sneer might be.)

Re: http://dyfl.tumblr.com/post/2589025748

Chris — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:04:37 -0000

One was on Fluxblog, there was another on one piece or another that linked to Caramanica's Kanye thing, and there were a ton on the AllMusic Blog's list of best singles. Admittedly I do not normally pay any attention to the AllMusic Blog and it is no surprise to me if it has a very rockist commenter base, but just seeing that again after years of self-selecting my critical input was still a bit surprising.

Re: http://dyfl.tumblr.com/post/1462556275

Chris — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:43:59 -0000

Absolutely correct. I do think the teachers' unions in specific have a fair amount to answer for, but a full-throated attack on unionization as a principle -- which the education-reform movement is about half a step away from becoming -- is serious bad news.

Re: http://barthel.tumblr.com/post/1249518778

Chris — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:46:57 -0000

State-sponsored parody?!? Even IRAN has better arts funding than us? AND THEY SUBSIDIZE DRAG?!?!?

Re: http://barthel.tumblr.com/post/1203545713

Chris — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:50:51 -0000

Yeah, the Pew Forum article on the poll specifically says "Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education."

http://www.pewforum.org/Oth...

Re: http://dyfl.tumblr.com/post/913691301

Chris — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:51:56 -0000

Let's settle this the Hollywood way: congratulations, you're a co-producer!

Re: http://hungryghoast.tumblr.com/post/578988225

Chris — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:50:38 -0000

Huh. This video is kinda crappier-looking than I remember. Still love this ridiculous song though.

Re: An Incomplete List Of Long-Form Aesthetically Rewarding TV Serials I Have Watched Or Intend To Watch In The Future

Chris — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:38:30 -0000

I feel like I should unpack my opinion of THE SOPRANOS a little -- I totally acknowledge it as a major accomplishment, and as something that utterly transformed the quality of television. The level of writing on that show clearly elevated everything that came after it. It breaks my heart sometimes that THE X-FILES is a pre-Sopranos show, because it would have been soooooo much better after, when the model for long-form TV narrative was more clearly established. And I've definitely seen a few SOPRANOS episodes here and there. But for some reason they've never intrigued me enough to make me want to sit through the entire thing -- especially when I gather it doesn't get really, really good until well into its run.

Re: http://dyfl.tumblr.com/post/561008953

Chris — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:18:46 -0000

Yeah, "halting" means nothing in the context of a process that would've taken several years anyway. A delay of four months to do an investigation isn't even really a delay on that timeline.

Re: http://sashafrerejones.tumblr.com/post/536211464

Chris — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:47:12 -0000

Since I will probably buy this album in every single format she chooses to release it to, including bluebird-shaped USB drive and MiniDisc, I hereby promise to make up for at least a couple of the people who don't. (It sucks to leak it, but that song has brought such intense joy to many lives in the last twenty-eight hours, so I think that, karmically, you're in the clear.)

Re: http://dyfl.tumblr.com/post/521287072

Chris — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:41:13 -0000

Yeah, the music can sound like a studio recording if the visual/dramatic interpretation had the level of majesty and production we expect from the sound of a studio recording. If they're going to insist on literalism, then a more off-the-cuff "live" sound would be more appropriate. I'm not sure how you reconcile that with the demands of weekly television, but that's their job, right?

Re: Sleeve notes.

Chris — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:50:07 -0000

Yeah, it's sweaters that are the big one here -- I tend to shove those sleeves up but every so often you just need to pull them down either for warmth or for a certain appearance, and when you've been bunching them up the sleeve openings sag like, uh, big saggy things (i couldn't come up with a simile that wouldn't entail working blue).

Re: DYFL?

Chris — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:03:27 -0000

Oh HEAVENS yes. That one I enjoyed. This one is like a medieval torture device, but still, y'know, kinda fun.

Re: Pitchfork Top 10 Albums, In US Sales

Chris — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:54:43 -0000

I would say that would actually be the WHOLE part, not a big part! If Pfork is getting hundreds of thousands of readers a day, but their most-praised record isn't far above 100k, you have to wonder what level of purchasing power that audience even HAS.

Re: The Following Is A List Of People Who Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves

Chris — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:18:05 -0000

Not much point in even responding, but: Why is the majority always right? The majority has historically opposed plenty of things that our culture now regards as vitally important, like, say, the comparison that you want me to take off the table solely because it's an uncomfortable reminder of your own bigotry, the racial civil-rights battles of the 60s. Why, exactly, is it "ignorant" to compare the two? Gay people were never held in slavery, no, but our love was criminalized for centuries, we've been abused and murdered and discriminated against for just as long as African-Americans have, and the denial of our full protection under the Constitution is just as wrong-headed and bigoted. As long as there's a law that says gay people aren't like everybody else, then there's a leg to stand on for people who want to hate, torment, abuse, assault, and murder us.

You couldn't help but use the word "sanctity," I noticed. NOTHING IS "SACRED" UNDER THE LAW. A marriage can be "sacred" to a church, and that's the way things should be, and nobody's going to force a church to perform a gay union; but the law is about social contracts, and the views of your God or someone else's God (I would remind you that other people's Gods have very different opinions from yours) are irrelevant. The law is about people, not heaven, and people deserve the rights they're promised.

And it's rich to complain about ignorance when there are four misspellings between your two short comments. Sorry, just gotta be shitty about that.

And at the end of the day: butt the hell out of my life, OK? I'm not advocating to pass laws that alter your personal, private behavior. Who the fuck gave you the right to have an opinion about mine? For the record, "God" is not a correct answer. Laws are not about keeping people out of Hell, they're about keeping our society glued together. With things like, oh, I don't know, loving relationships and mutual respect? Just a thought.

Re: The Following Is A List Of People Who Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves

Chris — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:56:34 -0000

"Be glad?" Fuck you. Should I be glad for black girls who died in the South because of how long it took to pass civil rights legislation? Should I be glad for thousands of young gay men and women who've been driven to suicide by this country's bigotry? Fuck you. We can't move fast enough.

Look, I'm as liberal and wishy-washy as anyone but discriminating against gay men and women like this is a betrayal of the principles this country was founded on. Gay marriage is not the Holocaust, but bigotry is bigotry and I refuse to "move slowly" in the face of it. You fight it with your teeth and your fists and every weapon you have until it is gone.

Re: The Following Is A List Of People Who Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves

Chris — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:51:53 -0000

Tough. Sometimes a government representative needs to stand up and make the choices a community won't make themselves. And if they have a problem with it, they can work against that representative themselves. But I hereby swear they won't work harder than us.