Review This Mother F*****

So, the New York Times wrote a review on my brother's band and well, read it for yourself, but I thought it was a rambling, ignorant piece of shit so I decided to write my own review of his review. Here it is:


Long before he was mashing out censures composed of unnecessarily lengthy and complicated sentences, valuable only in their ability to impress English teachers and expose an illicit affair with a thesaurus, the leach-like Jon Caramanica was himself the suffering victim of musical critique. With his dreams obliterated beyond repair, he burned his guitar and began tearing though his record collection, devouring all traces of optimism and joy and spewing forth malevolent masterpieces of critical literature.

His affinity for decimating wide-eyed innocence through the use of big words was the main inspiration for his latest piece, entitled "What's to Love About Theft?" His ability to transform the written word into a sword with which to slash the tender, green hope of young bands goes beyond mere emasculating parallels with 13 year-old girls: "'You to Miss' wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the recent 'Hannah Montana: The Movie' soundtrack", but reaches further into the depths of literary repression, to the true art of inducing despondency- a blase, uninterested tone and an overall feeling that you fall right into the devastating middle ground- perfectly luke-warm.

I struggle to find a flaw in this master of dream-draining, this artist of ambition abolition, but if I must critique I will indicate a minor imperfection- he seems to lack the instinct to actually listen to the music placed before him before he begins to thread together SAT words with commas and colons and impressive compound punctuation. This is made apparent in his final paragraph when he speculates the meaning behind "Slow Down" (the first line of the song addresses itself to a personification of life).

In the end, I give two enthusiastic thumbs up to this arresting piece of critical and literary sculpture. I hope he sent a copy to his AP English teacher. KATIE BANDAS

Saw it, Want it

Saw this in Nylon. Found out its Anna Sui for Target. Available Sept. 13th. Need it.
http://www.collegefashion.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/blair3.jpg

Plan B

OK, this isn't the kind of plan B that is just in case plan A doesn't work, nor is it emergency contraceptive. This is an idea that is following the original plan and to be honest, its gaining on it. It may very well pass it up. But then again, it may very well fall flat on its face. Plan B (an abridged version, because this is idea is so bad A that you'd steal it, I know you): Live here-

-and sell my sister's, our friends', and my art and things out of the store front Its a live work space. You see in the picture that garage door across from the kitchen island? It works. It opens up to a communal courtyard. AMAZING. If you know me then you understand how this makes my heart flutter- I'd live outside if I could. Then also, in the same complex, there is a huge open space thats not built out that we would get for cheap because of that. We and a few friends would rent the two spaces as one unit and we would all share the benefits of both spaces- including the facilities. We would all have office space, a store front, space to play music, paint, film, have concerts, parties, entertain, and realize a vision that Aaron and I have had for a while, which is the big picture idea that I'll leave out. Tah Dah! So, now I wait for by go-betweens to go between and see if they will accept our offer. eee!

My Brother!

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Update

Some things I've added to my home sweet home as of late...

A very much needed storage piece in the kitchen ($30 off craigslist). The bright orb is a pretty chandelier that i'm sad you can't see...


A mobile that I made, which was inspired by something I saw in an Anthropology store (cost me $0 to make).


A chandelier that I bought for $20 at an antique store and painted bright red! Hung in the living room.


The most amazing find of.. the month at least- a red LE CREUSET tea pot found at a garage sale and purchased for a haggled price of a mere $7. Thank you.


A chair I found by a dumpster, recovered and painted (cost= $0). Here's the before and after:

God's Gift to the Financially-Challenged

oh my goodness, I'll geeking out about this website. Pretty sure it's gonna change my life.
www.mint.com
(also a Glamour Magazine Sept. 2009 find..)

New [to me] Style Website!

Considering how much time I spend on style.com, this excites me.

"Just Like a Family"

I was reading Glamour Magazine and came across an article on the 2 women that started an organization called GEMS- Girls Educaional and Mentoring Services- to help rescue young girls from the world of prostitution. It completely grabbed me. Visit the website to learn more about what they are about and what they are doing. I was particularly appalled at the realization that though these 12-21 year old girls are participating in an illegal activity, prostitution, they are girls that need help, not incarceration. It's sex trafficking. They are the victims. Check it out.

From the article in Glamour Magazine: Rachel Lloyd, a survivor of the sex trade herself, founded GEMS 10 years ago to help girls understand that what they have with their pimps is not love but exploitation... Lloyd once asked a girl why she stayed with her pimp. "She told me that every evening they'd sit down and eat dinner together, 'just like a family.'"

interesting

This is interesting to me.. but also, I just really love the design of the studio! yeah.. thats really the main reason... :)

A Plan

I may or may not be really hyped up on coffee. But nonetheless. I have a plan. It goes like this:

October- lease is up, spend the month saying goodbye to my lovely apartment
November- Move out and into my parents garage, saving money
December- buy space heater, happy birthday to me, keep saving money!
January-February- It's effing freezing but I've saved up 2000 bucks!
March- Finishing up getting the EPs and merch ready for Europe, $2500 saved
April- Sell car, $8000 in the bank, get on a plane, fly to the other side of the pond
May- playing shows, selling merch, loving life
June- Land on NY, stay.

Maybe. Maybe not. But maybe...

...