this blog is about me (directly)

my name is leon leon leon, and i am nearing the last minutes of the work day, so everything seems to slowwwwwwww down. i'm loving my new fashion style because it involves snappy business wear paired with sweet ass racing shoes (i think theyre racing shoes because they have a checkered stripe on the back). i'm trying out boxer-briefs because i think they make my butt look good, also, i like a tight package. i'm listening to house music.

house usually sucks, because it's what you normally hear while shopping at armani exchange. and usually if you're shopping at armani exchange, you're a douchebag. so it works, in a way.

but some of the best house comes from the top producer/dj/musicians ever - namely, the guys in daft punk. of course, daft punk is considered "french house" to some, but they've put out stuff on other names that's much more house-oriented and less pop-accessible. think less "harder better faster stronger" and more "one more time".

daft punk is thomas bangalter and guy-manuel de homem-christo.

thomas bangalter was part of the short-lived group stardust, that put out the immensely popular song "music sounds better with you", along with alan braxe and vocalist benjamin diamond. he was also part of another duo called together with dj falcon, another top-notch dj.

alan braxe is in his own rights a sick french house producer, and works all the time with a dude called fred falke. any track with either of their names on it is going to be fucking banging - with both of them, it's going to be off the hook.

guy-manuel de homem-christo has his own duo with eric chedeville called le knight club. do yourself a favor and download any track by, or remixed by le knight club. how these guys continue to bring such a fresh funky groove to dance music year after year is insane.

o yea, he also produced an album for a little someone called sebastien tellier!!! sexuality dropped in 2008, clashed electro and r&b, and spawned a slew of bloghouse remixes.

thus ends our brief segment of the more you know: daft punk edition!



i'll upload some tracks onto here when i get home. though i dont know if anyone even downloads what i post - do you?

Is that a paintbrush in your pocket or...

My latest artist infatuation is with the painter Kehinde Wiley. I've been following his work for some time now, and have always found it appealing, but his recent gallery exhibition with Deitch Projects is absolutely astounding. He finds his models on the streets of Brooklyn, and paints them in juxtaposition with classic imagery to create visually and intellectually arresting pieces. Never has a painter set my heart so aflutter with anything that even hints at realism...But everyone has an experimental phase right?

So you got a pretty big canvas there, want some help stretching it?

this is what i do

I realize that the purpose of this blog is not to talk about ourselves (directly), but Leon did just post about his dj-ing gig, and I just had a conversation with Zamdrovsky about "isn't-it-amazing-that-we-all-have-jobs-now-even-though-we-were-so-worried-before (except for Alex who is still in college)."

Anyway, I'm spending this week going to classy restaurants and taking pictures of food that looks "christmassy." That's my job. The best part is that we get to eat everything afterwards. It's entirely possible that the magazine I work for believes that because I get perks like occasional free food from restaurants they (the mag) are not obligated to pay me living wages. Nevertheless, it's a pretty funny gig. AND I get to take pictures of tomatoes.

I want to hear what everyone else is doing too. It would be pretty cool if we all could do a short post about what our "real" lives are like these days.

(By the way, don't tell anyone that I posted this photo here, I think that I'm technically violating my contract that I never signed)

um HELLO

so wtf is the deal just when i start posting again yall slows down. sucka butt! yesterday, while watching cool hand luke (paul newman is so classically beautiful, i want to stare into his eyes all day. i've never seen a paul newman movie before. my boss started a dvd club here at work) we saw the puppies of mysterious puppycam (why? where? who? can i have one?) burrow under their bedding, being all unbearably cute. i spend a not insignificant portion of my day watching those lil tykes romp about

i was also catching up on episodes of my favorite game show, never mind the buzzcocks. if you've never seen it, you should (episodes are on youtube) - it's a british celeb-pop quiz show that is more the view than jeopardy. hosted by simon amstell, a terrificly sarcastic basard (you might remember him from popworld, where he made britney spears cry during an interview), the show frequently has top musicians and actors on who basically spend the entire show making fun of themselves, each other, and amy winehouse. oh yeah, she was also on the show too, being fantastically drunk.

one part of the show, called 'identity parade', has each team try to spot a musical artist out of a line-up of five people. it's embarassingly rude (and hilarious), because it's sorta like 'haha, you once were a famous musician now no one even remembers you'. the worst is when you actually do remember the artist. this last season had the singer from bbmak on. wow. i remember bbmak (back here babyyyy ...), and i just felt terrible. this guy was once on TRL, now he's in a line-up of losers, while current, successful musicians and actors are laughing and pointing at him.

i hope i'm never like that guy. id rather be dead than a has-been.

albatross albatross albatross

ok so yea i havent posted on thousands in about forever. whats changed since then? well, we now have a real president, its almost turkey day, and i got a day job. duck, duck, GOOSE THAT IS NOT IN ANY WAY COOL OR AWESOME.

i also made my dj debut this weekend at a place called the mug lounge, on the lower east side of manhattan (13th and ave a). we randomly scoped this place out a few weeks back before seeing mstrkrft, and the bartender there happened to mention they just fired their friday night dj. wasting no time to hop on board, i laid down a fresh set of tunes for them, and they liked what they heard (to be fair, they asked me to play house, trance, european house, european trance, reggae, and old school hip-hop. or something like that. they have no idea what they want). i also met renee, who is 33 years old and a 32B bra size. she tried to request songs, but ended up just pointing at her breasts the entire night.

ive been trying to mix more disco and house, and have come to the conclusion that "doom house disco" is my new favorite genre. it doesnt exist. but it will.

heres some tunes of what comes close. first we have some doom, from a little-known dj in canada called hemingway. its gritty, its dark, and makes me think of blade runner, if it was directed by david lynch. then we skip the house and go straight to some disco, with a remix of sneaky sound system by breakbot. last, i bring you some house. HOUSE OF JEALOUS LOVERS that is, with a funked up high energy party pleaser that will have people to their feet in no time. tenderlions does the remix, and brings their upbeat sound to a classic.

hemingway - machine

sneaky sound system - when we were young (breakbot remix)

the rapture - house of jealous lovers (tenderlions remix)

now i have to go to a "meeting" about "market research" on the "7th floor". killself.

Albums of the Year (Heartfelt and Sincere Opinions)

This list was compiled in like 10 minutes.

Either there will be disagreement (no loss, probable gain), or someone will chime in with something better (super gain). I'm especially interested in the 1990-2003 years, because those will have solidified and proven some enduring value.

Guaranteed net positive gain!

2008 - The Dodos "Visiter"
2008 - Fleet Foxes "Fleet Foxes"
2007 - Animal Collective "Strawberry Jam"
2007 - Andrew Bird "Armchair Apocrypha"
2006 - Sonic Youth "Rather Ripped"
2006 - Sunset Rubdown "Shut Up I Am Dreaming"
2005 - Wolf Parade "Apologies to the Queen Mary"
2005 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah"
2004 - Arcade Fire "Funeral"
2003 - Motion City Soundtrack "I Am The Movie"
2002 - Wilco "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"
2000 - Modest Mouse "The Moon & Antarctica"
1998 - Neutral Milk Hotel "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"

Garfield Minus Garfield

Many of us are familiar with Garfield Minus Garfield. For those who aren't familiar, you're in for lasagna!

Here's an interview with the author posted on The New Yorker's website.

Does an internet-based comic creation program exist? Can anyone advise on the best way to create comics intended to be displayed online? I miss making comics. Man I'm sure you all miss me making comics. They were so GOOD. I tried to get the newspaper to take them off their website, but they said something like, "No, sorry, just because you now think your work sucked and don't want it to be linked to your name, doesn't mean we will take it down for you." I swear some future would-be employer will reject me for mental health reasons after googling my name and stumbling on those gems.

HayK, do you have a comic blog yet?
Congrats to Leon Leon Leon for locking up a weekly DJ gig!