M.I.A.’s performance at the Way Out West festival in Gothenburg, Sweden, solidified how lost she’s become, both artistically and literally, apparently.
Inter-song commentary aptly reflected personalities and performances at the Way Out West festival in Gothenburg, Sweden, this August.
Setting the bench for charm and congeniality was Stephen Malkmus of Pavement, who exemplified humility when he recognized that most attendees (“except you all in the front”) weren’t familiar with the band:
“In case you haven’t heard of us, we were a popular — or not so popular — band in the 1990s in the States. I hear we’re philosophically aligned with bob hund, which is cool. “
Comments like this paired well with the energy of the songs and made the show a joy to watch, even for newcomers.
On the low end was Panda Bear, who bookended his set with an unenthusiastic hello and thanks, with his eyes firmly closed in between, possibly to deny our existence or even wish us away — a perfect match to his droning set.
Worse was M.I.A., whose words were sparse but damaging.
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Urbanears Headphones in “Ocean” ($54.50)
I’ve been looking for headphones off and on for a while. All I’d been using were earbuds, which are terrible for your ears. (I already have tinnitus, and don’t need it to get any worse.)
Priority one: they look good. Priority two: they cost under $60. Priority three: they sound good.
This order makes sense when you consider that I’m just a chick with a few hundred MP3s, and an MP3 is an MP3. It’s never going to sound great. So sound quality, not so much of a priority; looks, yes. If I’m going to wear something on my head for hours while commuting or coworking, it needs to be cute.
I found these at Dijital [sic] Fix in Brooklyn. They come in gorgeous colors, and sound better than others in their price range. They’re pretty comfy, too.
Mr. Phantom X iPhone Skin ($15)
I bought this adorable sticker from FriendsWithYou both to give my iPhone a little personality and to be able to differentiate it from others at geeky get-togethers. It cheers me up when I see the little guy hiding out in my wallet, which looks like this…
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Phil Gyford recently created an infographic that defames infographics. Its argument: bad infographics give talented designers a bad name. This comes in response to the proliferation of data visualizations that don’t fully take advantage of the medium, but instead give flat visual interpretations of uninteresting stats.
The visualization that results from the Ionz personality infographic generator probably falls in this category, as it’s hard to read and interpret. But the process behind it is fun. Answer a few questions about yourself in English or Portuguese, and you get your own personalized infographic. You can customize aspects of its appearance, too. Click on the image above to see mine.
The first meal out we had in Brooklyn this spring was at Mimi’s Hummus, which I (and NY Mag) highly recommend for vegetarians and anyone else who loves delicious Israeli food.
When our excellent waitress asked if we’d like some Mint Sage Tea with our meal, I took her up on the offer, though I’d never had it before. It was absolutely delightful. I asked for a refill and, when that had dulled the taste, a second fresh cup.
I’ve been cutting back on caffeine, since it’s terrible for your body and brain in a dozen ways. It hadn’t occurred to me that simple herbs and hot water would be a good alternative to boring decaf chai.
Ever since, I’ve been making mint and sage teas at home. It’s cheap and easy, and there are lots of other yummy herb combos to try, like Thyme Apple Ginger, covered in a recent Real Simple article.
