What she needs is a tightness maker

From what I've seen thus far, the most clear-sighted critique of Rilo Kiley's new single, "The Moneymaker", comes from MySpace user Morgan Manhandle's comments on the MySpaceTV video page where the song's video is now playing: "This sounds nothing like Rilo Kiley. I'm pissed."

Now, Morgan should be excused for her (his?) simplicity. As an ersatz Rilo Kiley fan, Morgan is justified for identifying the main issue at hand (the band's mystifying and decidedly un-Rilo Kiley turn in this song) and leaving it at that. I, on the other hand, parted ways with J-Lew and Co. sometime after their departure from the Saddle Creek Records mothership and I have never really looked back, with the exception of an eyebrow furrow aimed at the whole Watson Twins escapade. So it gives me no pains to take Morgan's critique one step further and note that not sounding like Rilo Kiley is only part of the problem. If Rilo Kiley suddenly sounded a lot more like the Cowboy Junkies or Wilco or something, then Morgan would just have to stop worrying and learn to love to bomb.

The fact of the matter is decidedly worse: like Lindsay Lohan going through Alison Goldfrapp's closet and then doing a cover of Gwen Stefani kind of worse. And that's why I'm bothering to even comment on a song by a band I don't pay much attention to these days. Because where the earlier Rilo Kiley material served a certain purpose for some people (especially if you found yourself scoring a short indie film about spunky, troubled young love in the wild-but-not-too-wild west), this Rilo Kiley seems bent on irritating people like me by rejecting emotionally evocative shimmer for...well, at least Jenny Lewis's top shimmers.
My guess is that the Jason Lader production had something to do with the Gwen Stefani angry/lusty attitude of the delivery. But I just can't imagine why Jenny Lewis would abandon her enviably crisp and clear sunshine of a voice for a shiny bra and a nervy "ohh-yeaah". Fame, I guess, is ugly...and shiny!

P.S. France is tight. Joyeux 14 juillet!

Time to tighten up my MySpace profile, I guess

Oh, Hollywood, you giant bagillion dollar ray of sunshine into our sad, numb, day-to-day.

So apparently reality TV "pioneer" Mark Burnett's next gift to the world is going to be a show called 'Independent' in which 100 MySpace users are going to run virtual presidential campaigns with debates and socioeconomic integrity and everything! Here's why this is so awesome:

1. News Corp., owner of MySpace and Fox News, is the perfect media conglomerate platform for a show called 'Independent'. Because if there's one thing Fox News knows, it's fair and balanced, independent-minded politics. Am I right, Bill O'Reilly! High five!
   
2. Anything that has to do with this man is automatically awesome. Behold La Murdoch:
3. The candidates are apparently required to interact with the public. I sure hope that the 51-year old from suburban Florida who requested me as a friend last night gets one of those spots! I totally want to meet that guy!
   
4. This show is going to be all about huge social truths, like this one by a Burnett exec: "We wanted it to be legit, and there's no greater democracy in play right now for people in their 20s than MySpace."

Wow. No greater democracy than a website where I get to choose which picture of my dog Nora to post next? Neat! Now why would anyone think that the other kind of democracy is lesser? Hmm. Oh well. Gotta run! The View is on!

McCain: Momentary Lapse of Campaign Stance

[via Slashdot] Apparently some of John McCain's staff don't know a lot about giving credit where credit's due. Or at least they don't know a lot about keeping their tubes clean. A MySpace page was generated for McCain using a layout template designed by Mike Davidson who says he didn't really mind the McCain camp's lack-of-nod. What he did mind, however, was the bandwidth suck the page was causing every time McCain supporters went a'clicking -- the layout was still pulling an image sitting on Davidson's servers. So Davidson thought he'd get even by, umm, altering the image a bit. It reads: "Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage... particularly marriage between two passionate females." Nice; wow. Internet dork-and-tomfoolery at its best. Davidson calls it an "immaculate hack".

Tighten up, McCain staffers! Y'all should know better! And while Davidson could seriously get into some hot water for stunts like this, he certainly made his point. Way to keep folks on their toes.

Let this be a lesson for all to tighten shit up and cut the hot-linking.