Canned Dragons

The NYT recently ran a piece about baggy pants coming into fashion again. The observances about the cyclical nature of fashion trends made me pause to reminisce a bit. My dad drove me the four hours across mostly rural NC that it took to get to my college orientation back in 1994. He didn’t seem in a particularly good mood during the drives. On the way back, he shared an anecdote about a friend long ago who had been hit in the head by a glass bottle thrown from the side of a passing vehicle.

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Alisa Ruddell wrote a masterful and in-depth review of the visually stunning animated film The Peasants for Christ and Pop Culture. The movie follows a woman named Jagna, whose promiscuity threatens the social fabric of her community in rural Poland around the turn of the last century. The use of the movie’s contemporary changes cast against the original book it was based upon (which was published in parts between 1904 and 1909) provides fertile ground for illustrating changes in society.

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The new J. Mascis album, What We Do Now dropped recently, and has garnered a fair amount of attention. Though it’s expected that a solo album by Mascis will be a lower-key affair than a Dinosaur Jr. album, this isn’t the case with his latest effort under his own name. The songs have a bit more rock in their roll, though Robert Barry observes for the Quietus that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to be banging your head or that you will hear one of these tunes on the next Jock Jams compilation.

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I’ve loved the fourth track on the Small Black record, Limits of Desire ever since the album was released over a decade ago. It was a clear standout, a highly stylized, dreamy ode to a woman who could probably be described as a “free spirit.” The song is based on a real person. As is revealed in the anniversary reissue of Limits of Desire, “Sophie” can perhaps be even better understood as the spiritual successor to “Somebody’s Baby,” the Jackson Browne track that anchored Fast Times At Ridgemont High.

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I don’t always read Freddie deBoer because he can sometimes be a bit… well, mean. At the same time, I have to admit that he’s one of the most interesting and insightful cultural critics we’ve got. If you have the stomach to read one more think piece on the bizarre national divide over Taylor Swift, it should probably be his. deBoer is fully aware of the ridiculousness of this story and the breathless reporting on it.

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Lately, when my wife and I are both on our iPads, she watching Law & Order reruns and me reading blogs, I’ve been thinking about the concept of parallel play. Parallel play is something kids do during a certain stage of development. Parallel play is a form of play in which children play adjacent to each other, but do not try to influence one another’s behavior; it typically begins around 24–30 months.

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I’ve read a few conservative reactions to the pronouncement from Pope Francis that Catholic clergy can now offer blessings to those who are in same-sex relationships. What I was more interested in, though, is hearing from those who are most directly affected by the change. Namely, those who are in same-sex relationships and seeking blessings. Michael J. O’Loughlin provided just that perspective (gift article) for The Atlantic. O’Loughlin’s view is that it isn’t just those in relationships that the church does not recognize that can face difficulty staying in the church.

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This seems to have been the week for feed aggregators, with The Icon Factory and Silvio Rizzi (creator of the Reeder RSS reader) both announcing new apps in the space. Both are well-regarded developers with history behind them and the announcements have generated considerable interest. The Icon Factory’s new app is called Project Tapestry and has a Kickstarter campaign as its entry into the new space. The scope of the project sounds ambitious.

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This video for the song “Blame Me” by Bathe Alone is described as a “short film.” It’s full of symbolism depicting the recent dissolution of singer/instrumentalist Bailey Crone’s marriage, with the gleeful destruction of wedding props including the recognizable and iconic white dress. The lyrics to the song indicate infidelity, which is typically going to make a divorce less-than-amicable. Cyndi’s right again I told her everything She got it all from start to end

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Jane Penny, the frontwoman for TOPS is following in the footsteps of her bandmate Marta Cikojevic (aka Marci) and releasing a solo EP. The song features the satiny smooth vocals we’ve come to expect from Ms. Penny. I can’t confirm, but I would assume the music was composed by long-time collaborator David Carriere. There are sleek, modern sensibilities throughout the track that mix with a style that is in some ways congruent with decades old pop radio.

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