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14 Feb 2010 21:39

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Biz: Papa John’s hearts look more like circles with the tops cut off

  • Happy Valentine’s Day, pizza fan! Perhaps your great idea of getting a heart-shaped pizza in lieu of flowers or candy sounded good, but as proven by these photos of a “heart-shaped” pizza, it was perhaps misguided. Who loves you? Not Papa John’s. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 21:43

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Music: It was drugs: Jay Reatard’s cause of death finally revealed

  • He died from “cocaine toxicity,” and alcohol was in his system. The plot to this film has been written way too many times. Live fast, die young, take in lots of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll in-between. And a medical examiner confirmed that this, too, was how Jay Reatard died last month. On the plus side, his legacy will be put on wax once again for more to hear: Albums by his bands The Reatards and The Lost Sounds will be re-released by two of his former labels. Sob. He was one of the greats. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jan 2010 12:40

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Music: ShortFormBlog Saturday Mixtape: Remembering Jay Reatard

  • Jay Reatard was a musical genius of brevity. His great gift was an uncanny ability to write a pop song tighter, more stylistically diverse and with with more hooks than anyone else. Which is why his death earlier this week came as a total shock. His best days weren’t behind him. He was just getting started. So with that said, here are five songs from his fruitful recent period which nail down why he’s essential.

  • 1. “My Shadow” was something of a calling card to the rest of the world about what his hometown of Memphis already knew from his many early bands – Reatard’s ability to reimagine punk as fun, poppy, and dark was unparalleled.
  • 2. “All Over Again” was one of Reatard’s best singles, and he recorded a lot of them. In fact, he released TWO singles compilations in 2008, and both of them were stylistically different enough to warrant purchase of both. Despite its two-minute length, the song doesn’t feel anything remotely close to short. It’s loaded with ideas.
  • 3. In Jay Reatard’s heaven, “Haunting You” should be playing on repeat. It’s quite literally his modus operandi, and it feels like, considering the circumstances of this week, that it was written ahead of time, to his many fans – past, present and future.
  • 4. What Reatard did better than most was the driving chorus, insistent and forceful. “Always Wanting More,” was a great example of what he does best. In a live setting, he played his short songs as quickly as he could, often not stopping for stage banter and plowing through songs as if he was a Ramone.
  • 5. Perhaps the most interesting part of Reatard’s most recent release, “Watch Me Fall” (what an ominous album title), was an evolution of his sound. He started adding elements from 1980s Kiwi-rock on the album, and largely drove the songs with acoustic guitars rather than thrashing electric sound of most of his earlier material. Single “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” (also ominous) showed a sound that was getting more diverse without losing its best elements. What a terrible, awful loss of someone so amazing.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2010 17:01

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Music: RIP Jay Reatard. You were one of the good ones. Peace man.

Dear Gods of indie rock, why did you have to take Jay Reatard? That guy had more good songs than most of those other punk guys have come up with combined. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Dec 2009 00:43

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U.S.: The seedy underbelly of Las Vegas, in the literal sense

A number of homeless people live in giant tunnels under the glitz and glamor of the bright lights. Many are addicted to drugs or in trouble with the law. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Dec 2009 11:20

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Biz: BREAKING: Editor & Publisher ceasing operations. Oh no!

One of the best publications ABOUT newspapers is gone. You know the newspaper industry is in bad shape when THAT happens. Le sigh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Dec 2009 20:19

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Offbeat: Want to play a trick on a butterfly? Make it weightless

  • This seems cruel. You take the “fly” out of a butterfly and put it in zero-G, and this happens. There there, poor butterfly. It’ll be OK.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 Dec 2009 19:06

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Biz: The decline in unemployment, tempered by a depressing cartoon

  • Dear Mint.com: Thanks for accurately depressing the heck out of us. It’s a good explanation as to why the 10% unemployment rate sounds good, but is really not telling the whole story. We hope they didn’t create this whole thing today. Click the link to see the corresponding graphic. Whoever does their graphics is awesome, BTW. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Nov 2009 23:04

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Culture: “Paula Deen hit with ham” new “man hit with football in groin”

  • This video has been everywhere today, and we’re only posting it here to make sure the most unfortunate twelve seconds of Paula Deen’s life gets its due.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Nov 2009 20:13

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Culture: Meet the sad, miserable face of anime’s popular decline ^_^

22-year-old Rie Otani spends long hours at low wages drawing anime characters for a market that doesn’t give a crap anymore. We never did. Sorry Rie. ^_^ source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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