Our roundup called the Grammys “the nerdy older sister of awards shows,” and this year impressed yet again with a strong showing of irrelevance and poorly performed, manic mashup choices. We were given “Speechless” with “Your Song,” Beyonce honoring Alanis Morrissette, Jamie Foxx and opera, and other baffling choices that make you feel like the Grammy organizers have been listening to too much Girl Talk.
Unfortunately, not every hit song from 2009 earned airtime (can you imagine the hammered brothers in Kings of Leon motoring through “Use Somebody” with AC/DC?). Instead, we go to mashup artist DJ Earworm, who has created the United State of Pop 2009 by combining the top 25 songs on the Billboard chart from last year. We’ve mourned the irrelevance of the Billboard chart in the past, so the fact these songs earned a combined 25 Grammy nominations is a sobering thought. We’ve included this year’s mashup along with the United State of Pop 2008 and 2007 after the jump. Try and count how many songs you remember or wish you could forget.
We snorted with a mix of delight and derision today when reading Choire Sicha’s rail against the “corporate tribble” of the American Girl franchise over on The Awl. But Choire! thought we. How could you possibly understand the cracked-out secret code of the American Girl fiend if you weren’t aged 6 to 11 in the early 1990s? After the jump, a very biased analysis of “what it all means,” plus doll-owner profiling and gross generalizations on the sociology of doll-collecting.
The Cereal Project takes a beloved breakfast staple and archives it into a pop-culture encyclopedia of graphic design, advertising, and historical significance.
The website is full of random cereal trivia; for example, Quaker has released 27 versions of Cap’n Crunch that riff on the 1963 original. (Ship Shake Cap’n Crunch Liquid diet drink, anyone?) Extensive video content includes Julia Stiles acting her heart out in a 1994 Apple Jacks commercial and Michael Jordan’s classic shill for Wheaties.
Commercial photographer Susan Anderson crosses over to a fine-art career with her striking portraits from child beauty pageants.
Shooting “tarted-up tots” with elaborate couture costumes, hair, and make up, Anderson explores the “high glitz” realm of child pageantry. Through her photos, she captures the reality-show dreams of the American families that invest endless hours and money in their quest for top honors on the surreal side of pop culture. Read More »
