Lights Will Guide You Home

Thank you Mr. Martin for showing your support for TVHH.

We were impressed with how well you had already familiarized yourself with our repertoire. I think your homage to us, FIX YOU, demonstrates this most patently.

1. The slow nebulous buildup to epiphanic ending.
2. The 'live' sounding drums to contrast with the electronic atmospherics.
3. The gentle whisperings giving way to chorus strewn vocal harmonies.
4. "Lights will guide you home"

Here's to you, Chris...

LONG LIVE COLDPLAY AND LONG LIVE CHRIS MARTIN

He Who Dies With The Most Toys...

Pic from Tony's Trading
Tony gets a lot of crap for having such a curious life pursuit. Some see it as materialism to its absolute extreme, while others are willing to except him as a fantastic creative person with an interesting outlet for his artistic energies. In any case, Tony's highly developed sense of organization and material exploration cannot be denied.

Tony:

To those few who have had unkind words to say - is your life as full ?

He also wants to quit his day job... No surprise:

If there are any Millionaires or Billionaires out there wondering what to do with their spare millions, I would be very grateful if they'd consider giving me some! I would like to spend more time expanding this site, so any donations towards this goal, so that I can give up work and concentrate on the site would be most welcome!

The archive begins here.

It starts out normal enough, but soon becomes increasingly wonderful/psychotic with each additional collection.

12 of 13

The new-unstoppable Nuggets are playing the Lakers tonight.

12 of 13! A dream come true for any one who has had to watch the Nuggets struggle since... forever.

Bipolar Nation

Pic from Vice
From Vice:

I started hallucinating. I was having audio and visual hallucinations, really all-engulfing stuff. I was experiencing mainly homicidal visions. I could clearly see myself shooting into and killing groups of people, like, crowds on the street. It seemed very real at the time. Afterward, I would feel like it had been a dream. It would be like coming out of a blackout, but when these visions were happening, it was undoubtedly real. After the episodes, I'd find myself wishing that I'd done what I'd been hallucinating. The audio aspect of these visions was major loud explosions going off right in my ears. Like dynamite explosions and bombs going off. I kept denying the visions, and I kept thinking they were going to go away. I would think, "This isn't happening. It's going to stop." But it didn't.

...read more

Jonathan LeVine + Ray Caesar

Pic from BoingBoing
Neu-Macabre artist Ray Caesar (cover art designer for TVHH's much delayed, Mourir C'est Facile) is having his anticipated solo show opening in NYC, March 19 at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Ray's particular style combines Rococo/Baroque and über-Goth completely in the digital realm to surprising, often frightening results.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Pic from ESPN
I am so excited about the Wizards that I spend most of my day in catatonic disbelief.

Good to see that basketball and Dante are filling up Travis Morrison's time.

Here is the better story:
8 in a row.

Black Box


Pic from GCP

Red Nova reports:
DEEP in the basement of a dusty university library in Edinburgh lies a small black box, roughly the size of two cigarette packets side by side, that churns out random numbers in an endless stream. At first glance it is an unremarkable piece of equipment. Encased in metal, it contains at its heart a microchip no more complex than the ones found in modern pocket calculators. But, according to a growing band of top scientists, this box has quite extraordinary powers. It is, they claim, the 'eye' of a machine that appears capable of peering into the future and predicting major world events. The machine apparently sensed the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre four hours before they happened - but in the fevered mood of conspiracy theories of the time, the claims were swiftly knocked back by sceptics. Last December, it also appeared to forewarn of the Asian tsunami just before the deep sea earthquake that precipitated the epic tragedy.

Now, even the doubters are acknowledging that here is a small box with apparently inexplicable powers.

... read more

also: Princeton's Global Consciousness Project

The Spader Trifecta

In case you haven't drawn the lineage yourself yet- a great trilogy of sexual disobedience awaits your discovery, all under the slippery methods and hidden discipline of Hollywood's cool exalted creep, James Spader.

At once ostensible, but never obtuse, only because there is something deeper down inside the actor's psyche reaching out in Spader's De Sade like characterizations. Dr. Jekyll puts on his theatrical show, but Mr. Hyde is pulling the strings underneath the facade.

Behold then, a thinly veiled ruse, for when these three examples (Sex Lies and Videotape, Crash and Secretary) are put together, a perfect thesis for our new sexual deviant icon is born.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Crash
Secretary

10.0

Pic from TOD
Back in 2002 I picked up a copy of Source Tags and Codes based solely on a review I read in Pitchforkmedia. I had never heard of AYWKUBTTOD before, and frankly, I was a little apprehensive about plopping down $16 for a band with such a pretentious name. But, I did it anyway- not only because Pitchfork was/is the Holy Grail of snobby critiquing, but also because I was perpetually sucking all known music into my personal domain at the time. Everything was game: from Jay-Z to Satie; Prince to Brian Eno; Blink 182 to Mission of Burma. I was a giant sponge constantly burning, buying, and listening.

And now my collection is too large. Really, do I need every Bjork maxi-single ever printed? Questionable. I, like many others, are now stuck with too much music and are having to trim the fat to stay true to a thin, healthy collection.

What does that mean?

Well, strangely enough, for me that means holding on to Dude Ranch, and scrapping ST&C.

I recently came upon my old copy of AYWKUBTTOD's ugly, fat, bloated piece as I was moving last week. I decided to give it another listen and try to reevaluate why this album has become so special to some while inspiring such great disappointment in others.

Actually, I don't know many people (outside of critics and emoheads) that like ST&C. In fact, throughout my close circle of friends, NO ONE likes ST&C. Only scared critics who are afraid to admit that they are blatantly wrong can afford to still stand up for this album in order to save their reputations.

Compare this recent review with the original (both on Pitchfork):

(new review, PFM's top 100 of 2000-2004) This record is full of moments that sound ridiculous when taken out of context, the kinds of flourishes that never should have flown in our cynical 00's: The spastic drum fills from "It Was There That I Saw You", the strings and bells of "Another Morning Stoner", the Muppety shouting and bombast of "Days of Running Wild", the Brian Wilson-aping segueway that closes "Relative Ways". This is a record written by kids of the 90s, kids who listened to the same Sonic Youth and Sunny Day Real Estate records that a lot of us did, and when it came time to write their opus, they went as big as possible, and Source Tags succeeds on its sheer wide-eyed exuberance and I-heart-rocknroll sincerity. --Jason Crock

HarHar. 'I-heart-rocknroll'

Maybe what we should really be drawing our attention to is that AYWKUBTTOD shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as SDRE or SY.

Something happens from the earlier idea of ST&C to our new conception of it. Now the critics are trying to justify how this album could be considered anything but confused and failing.

Segue from the newer, more pessimistic and cautious review- to this older, blindly hopeful and misguided praise from LeMay:

(original review, PFM 2002) Some music begs to be explored. Promising fascination and intrigue beyond your wildest dreams, its distant melodies beckon you towards it while you try your very best to discern every distinct element that presents itself to you. As you get closer and closer, you begin to relax, letting yourself become completely enveloped by the entrancing tones. -- Matt LeMay

Matt LeMay's words seemed so hypnotically strong and convincing at the time that I couldn't resist going out and buying this music that was beyond my 'wildest dreams.' I almost immediately walked out the door to my local record store upon reading the review. I remember putting the disc in for the first time, anticipating that my mind would be blown away by this perfect 10.0 album.

But, then... Nothing happened. In fact, I was- like many others, completely let down.

Some of us were confused, and wanted to believe that maybe the problem was with us...

"Yeah this band is real good. But, you have to listen to the album, like, thirty times- and then... it should just 'click' and you'll get it"

Others took this advice and tried to find what the hell everyone was so excited about.

But still. Nothing happened.

And so we waited for the parade to end- abandoned to the desolate, littered street left in its wake.

But no! This flaming pile of shit shows up again in Pitchfork's top 100 of 2000-2004!

And how the fuck does this rank ahead of Girls Can Tell?!

Pitchfork... Your credibility is falling into question.

ADDENDUM:

I saw AYWKUBTTOD in Denver two years ago at the Gothic Theatre. Many there remember how AYWKUBTTOD started destroying their shit after they played for about a half hour. We thought the show was done, but then AYWKUBTTOD came out again and apologized because they were told that they had to play more songs. Whoops! What a bunch of monkeys!

So they set up again and played five more songs- and then!

Surprise! They destroyed their shit all over again!

Anyway, I would like to take this time to apologize to my friends for trying to turn them on to AYWKUBTTOD. I saw one of my friends at the show and he told me, "Dude, I showed up to this show just because you recommended it."

Little did I know how much that night would suck.

Thanks AYWKUBTTOD!!!

RIP Poloroid Scene

Dear narcissist,

Cobra Snake.

Blame Canada

Pic from cyberflag
Dear Condi, I'm glad you've decided to get over your fit of pique and venture north to visit your closest neighbour. It's a chance to learn a thing or two. Maybe more...

Axeworthy, the UN Master of the Universe, clearly illuminates what has gone spoiled in our democracy here.

Feel the Hate.

Besides our government telling us what to do ('Don't Do Drugs, Join Now, Practice Safe Sex' etc.), take a moment to consider how many corporations are also vying to commandeer and appropriate our lives. From sports ('Feel the Hate'- ESPN), to water ('Make Everybody Happy'- Aquafina), the faceless monoliths of corporate control are swaying our every decision.

Creepy, eerie.

129 Corporate Commands, and counting...

Don't Do Drugs!

Here is an example of fusing two mythologies to generate a new hybrid-story. What is intriguing about the transformation are the hilarious results ensuing from conjoining two things that strangely have many ideas in common (Biblical characters + super heroes).