Canadian singer songwriter Amy Millan tells us exclusively about the songs that form the soundtrack of her life: ‘1. Dark As A Dungeon sung by my dad (although it was written by Merle Travis). This was the goodnight, to bed my dear song. It is what I hold to be the nord star of my love of all things story old and sad driven. 2. Willabee Wallabee Wou by Raffee. I was obsessed with this children’s song when I was three and have tapes of me singing it over and over again. It was a song that included the names of all kids singing on the record. It turns out those kids became the guitars, back-ups and best friends in the band on my record twenty years later. 3. When You Were Mine by Cyndi Lauper. The first video I ever saw was a siren redhead in crinoline. I really believed all she wanted to do was have fun. I followed. But it was sheer pleasure to learn it was Prince who wrote the song when he later became a tight pant obsession. 4. Fearless by Pink Floyd. All things Pink, really, if we are going to go in order from years to ears. IT’S ALL IN YOUR MIND. 5. Gloomy Sunday sung by Billie Holiday. I am always drawn to songs you think are about one thing but when listened to closely have a different finish. I was deep inside my headphones feeling my chest grow heavy with the lyrics of this song, until the end. She is only dreaming. The way the lyrics and melody move this song is like a movie. You start in one place and end in another. Perfect’. [see also Little Barrie on The Stone Roses; Broken Social Scene on Slayer; and Dappled Cities Fly on the Bee Gees]
Also by ZOLTON
Maths explains the origin of superhero characters
I love the colours and simple reasoning in this clever series by Scottish illustrator Matt Cowen, which uses basic maths equations to explain how certain pop culture icons came to be. Read more
Star Wars Uncut: a fully crowdsourced version of Episode IV
The project of creative technologist, Casey Pugh, this full length version of the George Lucas masterpiece was created from multiple 15 second segments recreated from the original movie and submitted by thousands of Star Wars fans, which were then spliced together by editor Aaron Valdez to form the final product. Genius, as both a commentary on contemporary pop culture trends (there are references to LEGO, stop motion, memes and the like) and on the power of tapping your audience for quality material.
Filmmaker creates LEGO stop motion to propose to girlfriend
Now, this is one for the ages: back in 2010, Atlanta film-maker Walter Thompson created a jaw-dropping LEGO stop motion to propose to Nealey Dozier, his girlfriend of four years. The video took 22 hours of shooting and some 2,600 pictures to splice together, a small sacrifice to pay for years of happiness together. Right? Right! Oh, and she said yes. Bonus.
YOU'RE SAYING (2)
Zolton said | 21 November, 2006
Hey Dan, good suggestion. I’ve just posted some more from this interview with Amy Millan along with a link to one of her film clips. We’ll look include links to MP3s or videos wherever possible. z
HAVE YOUR SAY
We featured Bruce Osborn’s fascinating photo series, Oyako, a little while back on Lost At E Minor. Osborn lives in both Los Angeles and Tokyo, where he works as a commercial photographer and directs TV commercials and music videos. This shot is one of my favourites from this series that looks at the relationships between Japanese parents and their children, running the gamete of society ‘including Kabuki actors, punk musicians, policemen, Buddhist monks, and porno actresses’.
Yann Gross’ photos of tattooed bikers, cowboys, drag races, and Confederate-flag-adorned trailer homes are unnerving documents of the American experience. But his subjects aren’t American, they’re residents of the Rhone Valley in Gross’ native Switzerland. Judging from his photos, Europeans don’t necessarily look down their noses at the U S of A. Some of them actually celebrate it, blemishes and all.
You heard it here first. Singer-songwriter Julian Perretta might just become the most exciting new artist of 2008. Read more
These twin sixty-story towers to be built in Malaysia feature a combination of ‘continuous, flowing, double-curved perforated surface with a flickering, crystalline, transparent single-curved surface that is triangulated on an enormous scale’. The design by New York-based architectural firm, Asymptote, includes a 400,000 square foot retail section and the Penang Performing Arts centre.
Those old issues of Popular Mechanics that forecasted the wondrous technological developments of tomorrow now seem dated and more representative of the times in which they were published than the times they tried to predict. Read more
One of the most dynamic new acts to burst into our eardrums in years, Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls have just released their debut self-titled album, which combines Phil Spector-ish Wall Of Sound harmonies with fuzzy melodies, as reflected on this track, Where Do You Run To. We have it available for free download in the Music Download section of Lost At E Minor. Hooray! [psst, it's in the third column of the site]
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I’m not a watch wearer, but if I was, then I’d be rocking the wickedly cool new range of Diesel timepieces. The Basel 2008 collection is a sparkling, futuristic, retrotastic anagram of style, character and precision — of the digital variety. My favorite? The 1980s-themed watch above, with its ‘silver metallic leather cuff’ and ‘reflective shine’. Read more
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
It’s refreshing to see artists like Joe Kievitt who are contented to explore the beauty in simple forms and asymmetrical patterns. Read more
Honest Food Preparation Instructions
Yes, we’ve all been there: the chinese food from last week that still looks edible amongst the bare surrounds of an empty fridge. But really, we shouldn’t. Just let it be. Or College Humor will expose you! Read more
Pitched as ‘Ulterior Motives in Contemporary Art’, Disorder Disorder is running until November 14 at Penrith Regional Gallery. It’ll be well worth the trip out west of Sydney: the Australian, Japanese, American and European cast reads like a warriors of street art roundup and includes Mike Giant, Ed Templeton, Anthony Lister [artwork above], Ozzie Wright, and Jonathan Zawada. Read more
Benjamin Edminston’s psychedelic heads seem to have some fearful wisdom behind their blissed-out eyes. Read more
Never ever, ever, ever, ever park here
Some friendly advice for the neighbours, who simply don’t get it, or street art? You decide which one it is.
We love the re-Issue of the original Raised by Wolves and Furni digital watch collaboration, which comes with a built-in phone book, stopwatch, countdown timer and multiple alarm features with melody setting. Read more
If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
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dan said | 21 November, 2006
amy millan is great. clearly a compelling personality, and a talented musician too…
a small suggestion – would it be possible for some of these musician interviews to include a stream or an mp3 of one of their songs? May help to put these influences in context?
cheers guys, and thanks for the consistently great newsletter
dan