12 October 2009

The Wedding Spree: Part 1

the wedding spree- we all go through the point when your vacation time is chucked up to weddings all over the place. i'm told it's an age thing, a la "oh, you're at the age where everyone starts getting married. just wait until they all start having babies!" christ.

last night was the wedding of my neighbor from the miami dorms to one spyder rosenthal. he's an awesome guy and their story is a magical ball of romantic goodness that would make Richard Dawkins believe in destiny, but throughout the whole ceremony i couldn't help but wonder what the hell his parents were thinking. i can't begin to imagine what the playground taunts were like and there's no way to say, "i kara, take you spyder forever and ever" without losing it. it's a good thing they're the type of couple that loves to laugh so it wasn't a big deal. they actually helped the groomsmen trick a guy into believing it was a beach boy/ hawaiian shirt themed wedding. the poor guy showed up to a pretty posh wedding at the adamson house loggia in malibu decked out in chucks and a lei.

despite the dj opening with billie jean (really- where do you go from there?), it was a gorgeous ceremony with the irish blessing and poems from rumi intermingled with their story from kindergarten and i'm not gonna lie- i cried a little. i know it's sappy but i cry at weddings. this is why i like outdoor weddings where i can hide my romanticism behind huge sunglasses.

romantic inspiration aside, this wedding was the complete opposite of wedding #1 of the season, the new orleans with oysters overflowing from their shells and a tiny recreation of the south rampart street parade. the reception was killer- put nicaraguans and columbians in the same room in new orleans and the bacanal is unstoppable- but the ceremony had me a little freaked out.

it was held at saint louis cathedral and since i'm not catholic, i had never been inside. cathedrals tear me up: the artistry (esp. when there's a choir) makes me want to kneel down in awe, but you think about all the dogma and guilt that built it- the families that were suckered into going without so the pope could reign supreme- and it kinda grosses me out.

i'm sitting in my pew, peering around this dominating structure when i notice crusader flags lining the congregational seating. i follow the flags to the mural above the alter and notice that it's a dude surrounded by guys with swords. sure enough, the caption in french says, 'st. louis announcing the 7th crusade.' in the paintings, in the stained glass- even held by statues- there are swords everywhere, proudly declaring the christian attack against islam and seeding the friction that caused the attack on the world trade center.

holy shit.

11 October 2009

Free Charlotte Gainsbourg Teaser for IRM


I discovered Charlotte through her father, Serge Gainsbourg. While traveling in Osaka on Christmas Eve, Antoine Guidicelli gave me a complete compilation of Serge's wild, jazzy sensations complete with allusions to comic books. I fell for Charlotte before I realized she was the darling from Michel Godry's Science of Sleep.

Charlotte Gainsbourg has teamed up with Beck and released a new album. Dubbed 'IRM,' this album is inspired by the MRI tests endured to tackle a brain hemorrhage she suffered after a water skiing accident. It's clangy, mechanical percussion give the sensation of an assembly line of robots poking and drilling while lights and sparks flash in every which direction. Layered above, Charlotte's soothing voice walks you through the song like a nurse narrating the procedure.

To get a free download, check out her site: http://www.charlottegainsbourg.com/