Double Reading » Trends

Twin Peaks Shoes

jason — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:08:44 +0000

Because what everyone is really missing is a pair of Twin Peaks-inspired shoes, Nike has a special ‘Twin Peaks’ shoe for all of us obsessed fans. And the bottom has that black/white zig-zag pattern from the Black Lodge!

Too bad it looks like it’s definitely made out of leather, otherwise I might consider getting a pair.

25 Things

jason — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:25:27 +0000

There is a Facebook meme going around where you are supposed to post 25 random things about you. I guess my list isn’t so random, but whatever. I figured I’d cross-posted it here.

01. i first used the internet in 3rd grade (around 1990) when i was one of the few people in my school to get a chance to use prodigy. i remember their main feature at the time was some NOVA special about sleep.

02. my first online obsession (starting in 1993) was an online game called MUDs (multi-user dungeons/dimensions). imagine world of warcraft without graphics (all text). my favorite MUD was called dark saga.

03. eventually i created my own MUD (and was called a “god”) and that’s where i learned how to do computer programming (in a C-like language). strangely enough, the name of my MUD escapes me. i remember my part of the MUD was called deluge and it always rained there.

04. i’ve come to the realization that i prefer reading critical theory/philosophy more than standard fiction.

05. my favorite writer/philosopher is slavoj zizek. he’s the perfect balance of high culture/low culture for me. i wish i knew about him in college so i could’ve incorporated him into every paper i wrote.

06. my other favorite writer/philosopher is laura kipnis. she’s the perfect mix of freud/marx.

07. one of my favorite books is gravity’s rainbow by thomas pynchon. i read it the summer before college and probably understood only like 5% of what was going on. i want to re-read it but it’s so long and very daunting…

08. i wore glasses until i lost them in a mosh pit at a smashing pumpkins concert. ever since then it’s been contacts for me.

09. i love paintings by rothko (honestly and truthfully) but my favorite visual artist is magritte.

10. i’ve been a “strict” (whatever that means) vegetarian since 2000/2001. i’ve only ate meat once (knowingly) since then and it was when a “vegetarian” housemate of mine put chicken in a dinner. they tried to remove the big pieces but there were still little shreds of chicken. i felt sick for the rest of the night.

11. i try to be vegan as much as possible and it’s my ultimate goal (though i’m making slow progress). i own a bunch of vegan cookbooks and i cook mostly vegan, but i love pizza and delivery pasta too much.

12. i love the television show dallas even though i never watched it before it was on dvd.

13. i did, however, watch the final 3 seasons of knots landing (which was a spin-off of dallas) and that’s why i started watching dallas once the dvds came out.

14. my two favorite film directors are david lynch and wong kar-wai.

15. when mulholland drive came out in theatres, i saw it somewhere around 10 times.

16. by the time i saw 2046 at SIFF (i saw it both nights), i had already watched a bootleg dvd version of it at least 3 times.

17. my favorite drink is captain and coke.

18. i don’t like typical “comedy” movies. i think movies like i heart huckabees and best in show and drop dead gorgeous are hilarious. so i guess i like deadpan/dry/dark humor.

19. likewise, i hate sitcoms. but funny shows i like are arrested development, weeds, 30 rock, the office, drawn together.

20. i pretend to be a DJ meaning i have tons of music (currently 19,948 songs in itunes [and this is after a bunch of "great purges"]) and sometimes make mixes. i haven’t “remixed” anything yet though and i’m really struggling to learn ableton.

21. my “dj name” is who shot JR? which is a reference to dallas (see #12) and my initials.

22. until very recently, the only video games i would ever play were games in the final fantasy series. i’ve started to branch out and now i’m totally loving fallout 3.

23. random things i’ve been obsessed with at one point in my life: star wars, bettlejuice, oingo boingo, the pixies, linux,

24. the magazines i read are: entertainment weekly, wired, mixmag

25. this list was written while i listened to: “happy up here” (boys noize remix) by röyksopp, “your disco needs you” (casino radio mix) by kylie minogue, “there there” (the twelves mix) by radiohead, “love etc.” by pet shop boys, “meddle” (AC slater & dj skeet skeet remix) by little boots.

Mitochondrial DNA

jason — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:39:55 +0000

The other week I was reading an article about a mummy found in the alps that has little/no living relatives today. That got me doing some wiki research and I thought my “stream of wiki” was sort of interesting…

Update: Frankie Valli

jason — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:07:53 +0000

My trendspotting regarding Frankie Valli doesn’t seem to be as random as I hoped. Apparently there was recently (2005) Broadway play called Jersey Boys about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. That would explain all of the recent interest.

Masks Are The New Black

jason — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:39:08 +0000

Recently I’ve noticed that masks are the new cool thing to wear. Animal masks, in particular.

Exhibit A:
Fox N’ Wolf performing “In Yr Underwear”:

and

Exhibit B:
The Bat For Lashes video “What’s A Girl To Do”:

Exhibit C (my favorite):
Last night at the ridiculously awesome Institubes Paris Terror Club show a bunch of the DJs were wearing animal masks:

(On a side note: the concert was absolutely amazing… Surkin and Curses! totally blew me away. There was silly string, hella dancing, “Hungry 4 Love,” the Switch remix of Nine Inch Nail’s “Capital G,” some Klaxons remixes, Boys Noize‘s “& Down,” animal masks, and a bunch of other stuff that I was too drunk to remember! It might beat out Soulwax’s show as my favorite event at Chop Suey.)

So what does this animal mask trend mean? Honestly, I don’t have any theories yet but I’d love to hear others.

Frankie Valli

jason — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 03:13:34 +0000

For some reason Frankie Valli seems to be the guy right now.

A while back Pilooski remixed “Beggin’” and spawned this awesome video:

Then I saw that Simian Mobile Disco mentioned his song “The Night” as one of their current faves. And pretty much immediately after I saw that I noticed that Leam or Rosebud had already remixed the song!

And if you check out searches for “valli” on HypeMachine there is quite a bit.

I’ll admit, I think this is awesome. I’ve loved The Four Seasons since I was a little kid. Songs like “Let’s Hang On” and “Sherry” and “Working My Way Back To You” still have more of an emotional effect on me than I would expect.

Let’s hope that we see some more Franki Valli and Four Seasons remixes coming soon.