Sex and the City ecard

For all the girls going out tonight to see the movie in groups...

Caren Explains Colour Revolt

Photo by Danny Klimetz

Southeast Performer has posted the cover story I penned on Colour Revolt, the young indie band from Oxford, Mississippi. The June print edition should be out soon.

Give 'em a listen or check out a video from SXSW

It is an abnormally hot day in Austin, Texas. Despite the unforgiving afternoon sun, there is a steady stream of people flowing out to the back patio of the Volume Night Club. Colour Revolt has just finished its set at the Paste + Stereogum DELL Lounge at South By Southwest and its members are milling around in the company of Nada Surf and Destroyer. While his bandmates are talking to friends and fellow musicians, guitarist Jimmy Cajoles is sitting at a high-top table and admits (through a wide smile) that he is “tired as hell"... Read More

Another some(indie)card

After my recent someecards knock-offs, I decided to cue in some good music and make some(indie)ecards for Paste... the resounding favorite was inspired by Death Cab For Cutie:



These cards have thus inspired a lot of suggestions from friends and coworkers, so I'm working on mocking up some more... if you have a suggestion, please leave it and I'll customize a fauxecard for you.

In the meantime, here's another... file under "Confessions" or "Break-Up"


(Inspired by Leona Lewis - "Bleeding Love")

Caren Explains Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip

At SXSW, Leila and Rachael and I got to catch a performance by Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip at the NME party (this was funny and ironic, because in their UK hit song the hip hop/electronic duo advise, "Thou shalt not read NME").

Here's a video from the streets of SXSW right after the performance:



"Thou Shalt Always Kill" is a rad song, but late reaching the US. Dan Le Sac was handing out "Just a Band" stickers at SXSW and I may have stuck a few on posters of arrogant rock bands around town.

Read the lyrics while you listen.



Thou Shalt Always Kill - Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip
(See original post for the embedded song)

Thou shalt not steal if there is direct victim.
Thou shalt not worship pop idols or follow lost prophets.
Thou shalt not take the names of Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Johnny Hartman, Desmond Decker, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or Syd Barret in vain.
Thou shalt not think that any male over the age of 30 that plays with a child that is not their own is a peadophile… Some people are just nice.
Thou shalt not read NME.
Thall shalt not stop liking a band just because they’ve become popular.
Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry.
Thou shalt not judge a book by it’s cover.
Thou shalt not judge Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover.
Thall shalt not buy Coca-Cola products. Thou shalt not buy Nestle products.
Thou shalt not go into the woods with your boyfriend’s best friend, take drugs and cheat on him.
Thou shalt not fall in love so easily.
Thou shalt not use poetry, art or music to get into girls’ pants. Use it to get into their heads.
Thou shalt not watch Hollyoakes.
Thou shalt not attend an open mic and leave as soon as you're done just because you’ve finished your shitty little poem or song you self-righteous prick.
Thou shalt not return to the same club or bar week in, week out just ’cause you once saw a girl there that you fancied but you’re never gonna fucking talk to.

Thou shalt not put musicians and recording artists on ridiculous pedestals no matter how great they are or were.

The Beatles - Were just a band.
Led Zepplin - Just a band.
The Beach Boys - Just a band.
The Sex Pistols - Just a band.
The Clash - Just a band.
Crass - Just a band.
Minor Threat - Just a band.
The Cure - Just a band.
The Smiths - Just a band.
Nirvana - Just a band.
The Pixies - Just a band.
Oasis - Just a band.
Radiohead - Just a band.
Bloc Party - Just a band.
The Arctic Monkeys - Just a band.
The next big thing - JUST A BAND.

Thou shalt give equal worth to tragedies that occur in non-English speaking countries as to those that occur in English speaking countries.
Thou shalt remember that guns, bitches and bling were never part of the four elements and never will be.


Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music

Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music

Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music

Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music

Thou shalt not pimp my ride.
Thou shalt not scream if you wanna go faster.
Thou shalt not move to the sound of the wickedness.
Thou shalt not make some noise for Detroit.
When I say “Hey” thou shalt not say “Ho”.
When I say “Hip” thou shalt not say “Hop”.
When I say "he say, she say, we say, make some noise" - kill me.
Thou shalt not quote me happy.
Thou shalt not shake it like a polaroid picture.
Thou shalt not wish your girlfriend was a freak like me.
Thou shalt spell the word “Pheonix” P-H-E-O-N-I-X not P-H-O-E-N-I-X, regardless of what the Oxford English Dictionary tells you.
Thou shalt not express your shock at the fact that Sharon got off with Bradley at the club last night by saying “Is it”.
Thou shalt think for yourselves.

And thou shalt always kill.

Leslie Feist liked my joke

Thanks to Rachael for catching that the lovely Feist linked up to my "Breaking News: Feist sued by Seven and Eight" post on her MySpace page! Read it in its entirety at PasteMagazine.com

Then read the comments here... they are hilarious... about 1/3 of the people get it, 1/3 think it's real, and 1/3 think Feist herself wrote it.

I am beyond humbled to be noticed in this vast space called The Internet.

CK

Caren Explains someecards

My recent Paste 7 entry was about the free e-card website someecards... I probably send three a week and receive just as many.

But lately, I haven't found what I've been looking for... nor has my sister... nor have my friends... so I used some existing cards to mockup "somebetterecards"... enjoy.


(File under: Friendship)



(File under: Breakup)



(File under: Cry For Help)



(File under: Confessions)



(File under: Breakup)

... and my personal favorite (especially since I had to go out and find my own clip art this one)...

Caren Explains Her Recent Dreams

It's been awhile, but I'm having crazy dreams again, like the ones I used to post on Sleep to Dream. I had to stop posting to that blog because people were convinced that I was lying and did not dream those things. I wish that were the case -- do you know how tiring it is to wake up from a night of sleep and feel like you didn't sleep at all? Instead, it feels like I'm being forced to watch movies, a la Clockwork Orange.

Normally these types of dreams happen when I'm beyond exhausted, sleeping in a new place, or working on a new painting/story/screenplay. Any of these things -- or the crazy squirrel living in the walls of my bedroom/bathroom! -- could be to blame for my recent dream sequences, which include...

- Watching Adam Duritz of Counting Crows play an artist-in-the-round show in New Orleans with bluegrass gal Abigail Washburn
- A fictional episode of Dancing With the Stars, featuring Mark-Paul Gosselaar (aka Zach Morris)
- Babysitting the Jolie-Pitt children for a day (note: in this dream, Shiloh kept crawling for the door, looking for an escape!)
- Interviewing Natasha Bettingfield at a water park in Orlando


Why yes, I'd love to babysit!

It's not like I spend all day watching E! News... I don't understand it...

What celebrity should I try to conjure up in my next dream?

CK

Caren Explains Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

As I've mentioned before, I kinda have a thing for John Krasinski, and am looking forward to seeing what he can do as a director when his first movie, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, is released (TBD). I also kinda have a thing for Ben Gibbard, who offers "the meaning of life" in the new issue of Paste magazine and also makes an appearance in Krasinski's film. (I've seen a low budget short film that Gibbard and the Death Cab boys were in a few years ago, and it was pretty fun to watch.)

So back to Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. It's an adaptation of the 1999 book with the same name, a brilliant work of fiction by David Foster Wallace. I first came across DFW in Rolling Stone a few years back, when he penned an article on Senator John McCain. Lately I was curious to read Brief Interviews... so Katie picked up a copy and lent it to me.

Holy cow.

Sometimes I had to remind myself that this was fiction, because the characters were just popping off the pages! They are written so vividly: at times hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking. The literary devices DFW employs are fascinating, too. In all, a very clever look at relationships and how little we know, or rather care to know, about each other.

Now I'm especially curious to know how Krasinski will adapt the book for the screen -- which stories can be faithfully adapted, and which would be lost in translation if put on film?

Here's the opening page of the book, to further peak your interest.

A Radically Condensed History of Postindustrial Life

When they were introduced, he made a witticism, hoping to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. Then each drove home alone, staring straight ahead, with the very same twist to their faces.

The man who’d introduced them didn’t much like either of them, though he acted as if did, anxious as he was to preserve good relations at all times. One never knew, after all, now did one now did one now did one.