Honeybee at the Bemis from Lindsay Trapnell on Vimeo.

HOME from martin de thurah on Vimeo.

More commercials need to be like this. I love its simplicity and leisured pace. And great composition, lighting and sound design, obviously. Directed by Martin de Thurah, who directed the amazing “When I Grow Up” video for Fever Ray. Also kudos to IKEA for allowing such a creative, interesting vision. I love it when companies (Levi’s, Stella Artois) hire visionary directors for such work. You could say something about corporations co-opting from the underground/avant-garde or whatever, but if someone’s going to get paid a bunch of money, it might as well be an artist who’s making truly interesting and creative work.

I love shoes. When I was in Utah in January, I came across a great local shoe company called Zuriick, based out of Salt Lake City. I now own the two pairs below (defensive note: one at a major discount). They have a cool, new website and some newly designed shoes, all of them pretty sweet. I suppose it’s a blessing in disguise that they don’t make a women’s version of the Shug series…

This is my current favorite song, and this version is awesome. I saw Beach House last week and they sounded so good live; one of the few bands I’ve seen that sounded better live than on record, which is very surprising to me especially considering the kind of music they make. Victoria LeGrand’s voice is amazing.

There have been some exciting recent developments regarding the now-defunct Bikini Kill and Kathleen Hanna. Firstly, Kathleen has donated documents, zines, flyers, correspondence and other archived materials to NYU’s Fales Library as part of their new Riot Grrrrl Collection. This is exciting for a number of reasons, such as a) I would love to see them b) The public has access and many more people can see them c) Libraries and other archives are expanding their reach to include documents and parts of history that are outside the mainstream and what would typically be thought of as “important” or academically useful and d) They are an important asset to study involving feminist theory, pop culture, punk history, queer theory, music history, activism, the women’s movement, etc. e) I’d love to see more theses including Kathleen Hanna.

The other news is that Hanna has created an online Bikini Kill archive (aka blog) as a way for fans to post stories or videos about Bikini Kill: Bikini Kill archive. To see these, you have to click on posts on the right top. It’s fun to read people’s reactions/memories/experiences, and it’s clear that they were a hugely influential and meaningful band for a lot of people (including myself).

For those interested, Kathleen also has a blog: Kathleen’s blog.

And for fun, here is an awesome video of Bikini Kill performing live in Fargo, North Dakota and then a recent interview with Kathleen Hanna.

Music

dirty projectors – bitte orca
micachu and the shapes – jewellery
grizzly bear – veckatimest
lightning dust – infinite light
animal collective – merriwether post pavilion
tegan and sara – sainthood
the yeah yeah yeahs – it’s blitz!
st. vincent – actor
tune-yards – bird-brains
fever ray – fever ray

honorable mention: sunset rubdown – dragonslayer, mos def – the ecstatic , the gossip – music for men, neko case – middle cyclone, the fiery furnaces – I’m going away, YACHT – see mystery lights, the xx – xx, vivian girls – everything goes wrong

09 albums I’m currently listening to but haven’t listened to enough to judge: girls – album, japandroids – post-nothing, rihanna – rated r, alicia keys – the element of freedom, the dream – love vs. money

Movies

The Landlord*
Fantastic Mr. Fox
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Beeswax
Bright Star
Goodbye Solo
Medicine for Melancholy
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Beaches of Agnes
The Messenger

*this was my favorite movie I’ve seen all year, but it came out in 1970, so it’s technically disqualified

might make the list but haven’t seen yet: Gomorrah, Summer Hours, In the Loop, Precious, Sugar, 35 Shots of Rum, Mammoth, Broken Embraces, Inglorious Basterds

Other random 2009 pop culture enjoyments/discoveries: This American Life Seasons 1 and 2, Radiolab, Super Mario Bros for Wii, Beatles Rock Band, A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore, Susan Sontag – Reborn: Journals & Notebooks 1947-1963, Smashburger, printmaking class/wood engraving tools, Mad Men, Parks and Recreation, Bored to Death, banana chocolate chip muffins from Blue Line, pub quiz victory, smartwool socks

*sorry for the audio distortion.