Contests

Fluevog Shoes Wants You to Design The Brand’s Next Ad

Stephen Blackwell :: Friday, January 22nd, 2010 4:30 pm

Iconic shoe brand Fluevog is tapping young designers everywhere to produce creative for their advertising campaigns. Potential designers can choose any active design briefs from the Fluevog website, download the toolkits to begin designing and let their artistic juices flow. MORE »

Dick of the Week: John Edwards

Stephen Blackwell :: Friday, January 22nd, 2010 1:45 pm

John Edwards, you dick! You know, man, you could’ve been Attorney General right now. And a solid contender for 2016. In America, we love the fall from grace — it’s become the locus of our social media interaction — due in no small part to our protagonist’s impending redemption. Look at Chris Brown. He beat the shit out of a female pop icon and he’s already back. But you- you’re up in the air. We don’t even know how to file your transgressions. Diapergate? Cancersexgate? And isn’t it kinda freaky how much Martha Coakley and Rielle Hunter look alike? They’re like twin blonde-headed demons bent on disgracing the Democratic party and stifling its until-now amazing resurgence.

Your sexual misconduct during your presidential run can best be chalked up to bovine stupidity. You lied to our faces while promising us everything. As such you would have been a great fucking president, man. Like Eazy-E before you, you’re now the poster boy for latex brand condoms. Quick, someone pitch Trojan on this.

Kanye West’s Forthcoming Redemption

Stephen Blackwell :: Friday, January 22nd, 2010 12:46 pm

American Altruism Biting You In The Ass?

Stephen Blackwell :: Thursday, January 21st, 2010 1:00 pm

President Obama as well as Presidents Clinton & Bush have made numerous overtures to the American public to donate money to Haitian relief. As Obama puts it, “When we show not just our power, but also our compassion, the world looks to us with a mixture of awe and admiration. Every American can look at this relief effort with the pride of knowing that America is acting on behalf of our common humanity.” (Clinton, the more straightforward of the two, says “We need more money to ensure that we can deal with the immediate humanitarian crisis.” [Newsweek]

Word is some of us have been a little trigger happy with the charity. The public-spiritedness, combined with a misunderstanding of how the the text message donation program functions, has left some people with $1,000+ phone bills. Are you one of them? Let us know. Was it excessive goodness on your part, or did you quite not get the technology, you luddite. You can e-mail me: [email protected].

Martha Coakley Vs. Scott Brown: Will A Brown Victory Prove Kennedy Curse?

Stephen Blackwell :: Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 5:30 pm

Much has been made of Scott Brown’s sexiness, and believe me I see it. This guy blows away Obama’s “hot nerds.” He makes Jon Favreau look like Screech.

Now, this is only a slight digression from the salient issue — the stall of healthcare reform — which is inexorably tied to Brown’s victory or defeat. His “I’m a dude, you’re a dude” appeal has gone a long way with Massachusetts voters, as Coakley’s HRC-styled hauteur doesn’t exactly inspire the Southies.

There are over twenty-five million articles online right now (author speculation) insinuating that a Brown victory would lead to the death of healthcare reform and a reversal of fortune for the Democratic party. We’ll see, won’t we? The irony here is that it’s Ted Kennedy’s vacant seat that is causing the uproar. MORE »

Joanna Newsom Readies Have One On Me

Stephen Blackwell :: Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 12:40 pm

Joanna Newsom, the effete hippie who in 2008 was overexposed to nauseating tedium, has announced the release of her new album, Have One On Me. It will be released on Drag City February 23rd. Additionally, Newsom has announced a show in New York City on March 18th.

I’m not great at keeping up with dating gossip, but I’m under the impression Newsom is still with Andy Samberg. The significant-other litmus test is a longstanding tradition of the songwriter. I wonder how Samberg reacts when Newsom asks, “Hey, you want to hear something I’ve been working on?” pulls out a gigantic harp, then fiddles away her latest eight-minute esoteric opus? It’s gotta be a bit like “Dracula’s Lament.” After the first two minutes he probably just starts rolling with it.

Ghostbusters 3 Is Coming, What’s Next?

Stephen Blackwell :: Monday, January 18th, 2010 3:00 pm

Sarah Palin on Fox: Jersey Shore for the News Room

Stephen Blackwell :: Monday, January 11th, 2010 7:15 pm

Like it or not, Sarah Palin has a long and bright future ahead of her.

Of our society’s top three cultural ascendancies (Barack Obama, Adam Lambert, and Palin), I’d hazard to say hers has been the favored. Lambert quickly fizzled out on the charts, mostly because Bowie and Iggy Pop’s shock antics benefited from an exciting misfit appeal and some great songs while inspiring an expansive mindset, not wont of recklessness or lust, in impressionable teens. Lambert inspired people to send tweets. MORE »

2010 Internships Wanted

Stephen Blackwell :: Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 12:30 pm

Happy 2010.

We’re looking for some new interns that are currently in school as well as former professionals who have a strong background in writing/blogging but lost their jobs and are collecting unemployment. Hey, if you’re looking for something to do until things “pick back up,” drop us a line. Click through for all the details. MORE »

Exclusive Liars Party: You’re Invited

Stephen Blackwell :: Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 3:30 pm

Seminal Brooklyn band Liars will release their next record, Sisterworld, in early 2010. Are you in New York and want to catch a sneak preview of the record tomorrow evening? You’re in luck: We’re giving away five pairs of tickets courtesy of Mute Records.

The first ones to e-mail win; just drop us a line at [email protected] with “Liars Contest” in the subject heading and we shall provide, granted you were quick enough on the draw. (We’ll let you know the location in the e-mail.) Go for it!

Noah and the Whale Talk Film, Tour, and Beyond

Stephen Blackwell :: Monday, November 30th, 2009 1:20 am

Here’s a video we recently filmed with Noah and the Whale during their three-night stint at the Mercury Lounge. The indie film-obsessed band talk about their movie, The First Days of Spring, their upcoming album, and their tour. (We tried getting their thoughts on Fantastic Mr. Fox, but they hadn’t seen it yet. We bet they loved it.)

Check it out after the jump or over at VTech.

More Vampire Than You Require

Stephen Blackwell :: Thursday, November 19th, 2009 5:00 pm

New Moon, the next film installment of the Twilight book series, opens tomorrow. Conservative estimates suggest the vampire teen-love story will exceed the $70.5 million opening weekend Twilight scored, while others suggest the film will gross over $85 million in weekend ticket sales.

True Blood racked up 5.1 million viewers its debut weekend this summer and continued onward and upward as girls swooned over Viking vampire Eric Northman’s story arc.

In music, one of the biggest pop bands of the moment is called Vampire Weekend.

As you know, it’s vampire time. Our culture invests a lot in the fantasy, which is a bit at odds with the election of our first black president, considering vampires are symbols of white supremacy. MORE »

Japandroids Road Relief

Stephen Blackwell :: Thursday, November 19th, 2009 1:45 pm

Here’s a line of poetry for you: touring is boring. Bands do all sorts of stuff to break free from the grind of 12-hour drives, so-so attended shows, and the cramped discomfort of the van. Mostly they do drugs and, even if they’re ugly, have sex with strangers.

How do Japandroids blow off steam? They set off fireworks with children. Watch ‘em do it after the jump. (Also, we’re not saying Japandroids are ugly and don’t work in their fair share of lovemaking. For all we know they could be having sex right now.) MORE »

Yes, It’s a Survey

Stephen Blackwell :: Thursday, November 19th, 2009 1:15 pm

It’s winter. That means it’s time to bunker down with some hot toddies and play video games all night. Need some? Fill out this survey and you’ll be entered to win the God of War Collection on PS3, Halo ODST for Xbox 360, and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles for the Wii.

Palin Drone

Stephen Blackwell :: Thursday, November 19th, 2009 12:00 pm

Sarah Palin is officially beating Twilight in the headline department. Politico described the media’s obsession with Palin as a bottom-line fueling co-dependency (They quote the Daily Beast’s Tina Brown: “Newsweek is using her to up the sales of the magazine, and she’s using Newsweek to up the sales of her book). How did we get here again? Oh right. Everybody wants to have sex with her. MORE »