Read this interview with Die Antwoord. Or this one. Or, better yet, catch up with them by reading this informative, catch-all post.

"The art world, which used to be a community, is now part of the world wide visual culture industry, which includes film, fashion, television, and advertising, and works overtime to trample down the boundaries that used to keep them separate."

"The only recent photograph of him (taken many years ago) is of him wearing a furious face as he fends off an intruding cameraman." Indeed. His name is J.D. Salinger, and now he's dead.

The difference between comedians & musicians is a matter of self-esteem. I'm not sure who has more, and who has less.

A longing goodbye to 2009, the year I acknowledged the greatness of Nick Cave. (Not that Nick Cave, though it's also the year I fell in love with doubling.) Below is the video clip for what may be Cave's greatest song "Into My Arms." Try listening to it and not misting up.

I'll admit it. I get off on death. Skeletons. X'd eyes. No, not the phenomenon itself, but certainly the aftermath -- the way it makes you consider what comes ahead and what came before. It's not a kink but a forced form of contemplation.

All over the land you can hear hipsters saying, "You've got hip-hop in my indie rock," and all over the hip-hop nation, they are saying in return "You've got indie rock in my hip-hop." I've been meaning to write a bold, brilliant essayistic statement about this phenomenon.

Two bits of hip-hop/r&b media have come to my attention in the last few days.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Today is my favorite of all holidays. If you ignore the whole set of associations with native American genocide it is, quite literally just an occasion to say thanks -- a kind of non-denominational, all-inclusive moment of grace.

In this morning's paper I came across this quote from novelist Cormac McCarthy: "The director had the notion that he could put the entire book up on the screen. Well, you can't do that."