Lana Del Rey came out of the wood work in the end of 2011 with her hit Video Games. This song was a hit on Youtube and came number 6 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2011. Sold out 2 shows is Australia and internationally. 2 cancelled shows in Australia.
Great, youre a star, your gorgeous and you have quite a set of pipes. The world loves you. Until the world doesn’t.
A botched preformance on SNL and accusations that you dont practice what you preach has now led Lana to being the most reviled It girl of 2012.
You know what, I don’t care. I love you!
Sassy and unashamed, this album is old Hollywood glam mixed with the mafioso. It’s like strapping on your gun holster before dressing in vintage Valentino.
The album is fantastic and my only criticism is that the record company have recognised the potential and so have made you release a debut too early leaving most songs half-baked. But if this is your half-baked I’d love to see your polished.
Fleetwood Mac are one of the most interesting and volitile bands of the last century.
Their album Rumours has been resonating with me of late. Created when no members of the band were speaking due to relationship breakdowns and general inter-band incest, they only communicated via the writing process.
The result was Rumours, a soulful collection of heartbreak, break-downs and re-birth.
What more could you want from a rock album… or from life?
Of late I have been having a love affair (most likely a Greek tragedy) with existentialism. In full knowledge that no one should be allowed to read Nietzsche until they can spell it, the 22 year old and I have taken great effort to indulge in this genre and challenge each other in pretentious conversation, pouring over every piece of literature to support our platitudes.
Advised that Nietzsche’s (and other prominent existential writers) dark and visceral look into the futile existence of man would be a bummer for me I opted to go for a summery written by Craig Schuften entitled Hey Nietzsche! Leave them kids alone! No one loves a good pun like I do but I have come 5 years late to this book exploring the correlation between yesteryear’s “emo” movement and the writings of Nietzsche.
I also brazenly informed the author (over Twitter) that I would keep him posted when I was “enlightened”. He replied graciously that he would love to know what I thought when I was finished. It was better than getting a tweet on #QandA. However, considering that I am time poor and haven’t finished reading it, this post is not about this, nor can I tell the author himself my review, I don’t want him to think me a slow reader!
I have instead spent a day reading Albert Camus’ the Stranger winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. I adore short books. Akin to Bret Eastern Ellis’ Less than Zero, these novellas are short literary delights. Consumed in an afternoon.
Albert Camus is another depressed poster child for existentialism and the 22 year old purchased the book for me in the vain hope he would know someone else who had read it. I figured if Robert Smith had read this book then it was worth the 3 hours of book time. However, both Smith and I read the book in the translated English, the 22 year old has read it in its intended French; therefore there are apparently many subtle nuances only he can interpret for me. Hmmm.
The Stranger is the protagonist’s grapple with a life he finds no value in. He exists because he can, focused only on the natural elements, sun spots in his eyes, the sound of the ocean. Overcome with the exasperation of existence the normal platitudes of life seem to pass by. Camus shows a true dedication and commitment to restraint to reflect the character experiences. He shared no more with the audience than the character would, allowing no indulgence in creating a landscape the protagonist wouldn’t notice.
I must applaud the author for bringing to together all these seemingly inane and unimportant events and creating what is the demise of the main character.
I originally thought this much akin to B.E.E Less than Zero but Camus is far more focused on a underlying story. Pulling you into events to slowly reveal their greater purpose to the story.
The crux of the issue lies in the lack of reason around something so intrinsically important to the human race: purpose.
After mulling over this issue for a while I’m not convinced it can be wrappd up neatly. Shame, it would make a great present.
