A new Polvo video.  Such a great album.

Carrie Brownstein on the current state of mellow, male rock:

“What followed — at least in the world of indie music (and I use the term “indie” loosely and for lack of a better term) — was the rise in popularity of mostly bearded men making very sensitive music: Fleet Foxes, Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, Devendra Banhart, Beirut, Girls, Grizzly Bear, The Dodos, Iron & Wine, and so forth and so on.”

She makes some interesting points but also stakes out a strange position with regards to musical “authenticity” (scare quotes intentional).  She wants to get back to a genuine punk or post-punk aggressiveness and angularity (sounds good) but seems to insist it has to be done with guitars.  As a guitarist herself that’s understandable, but as a critic she seems to limit herself to a certain version of “rock” that always has been and probably always will be dominated by dudes who want their sincerity confirmed by a fawning (and mostly female) audience.  (Although I can name at least one bearded dude that hardly fits into her thesis — James Murphy).

More bluntly, I find it strange that she spends so much time listening to bands she doesn’t seem to like.  Is she that beholden to the “indie” ideal (which she admits is a useless term) that she has to torture herself by listening to every release by these mellow, unabashedly rockist men?

That said, I wonder if she’s into The Locust (YT).  Because they’ve got enough aggression in a single song to make up for the whimsical stylings of 100 Devendra Banharts, thank god.

Matt Taibbi on Sarah Palin and just about every other aspect of America’s dysfunctional media culture:

“At the end of this decade what we call ‘politics’ has devolved into a kind of ongoing, brainless soap opera about dueling cultural resentments and the really cool thing about it, if you’re a TV news producer or a talk radio host, is that you can build the next day’s news cycle meme around pretty much anything at all, no matter how irrelevant — like who’s wearing a flag lapel pin and who isn’t, who spent $150K worth of campaign funds on clothes and who didn’t, who wore a t-shirt calling someone a cunt and who didn’t, and who put a picture of a former Vice Presidential candidate in jogging shorts on his magazine cover (and who didn’t).”

Later, on how she’s managed to out-Rush Chairman Limbaugh himself:

“Palin — and there’s just no way to deny this — is a supremely gifted politician. She has staked out, as her own personal political turf, the entire landscape of incoherent white American resentment. In this area she leaves even Rush Limbaugh in the dust.”

Boutique, Itaewon.

Seoul is filled with great museums, but I heartily recomend a visit to the Leeum Museum of Art if you’re ever in town.

It’s not the biggest collection, but the range of pieces from early Korean pottery up to contemporary work is impressive.  My only gripe is that the interior layout is a bit quirky, and requires you to take elevators multiple times.

It was a bargain at 10,000 won.  And everyone needs a little Nam Jun Paik in their life.

Korean supermodel Daul Kim, age 20, found dead in Paris of a probable suicide.

The suicide rate among young Korean celebrities is tragic and ridiculous.

Not entirely sure what’s going on here, but best wishes to Presidents Obama and Lee.

Thomas Frank on Sarah Palin:

“But Ms. Palin’s life is meant to be an inspiration. Maybe I should follow her example. The opinion-page equivalent of the Palinesque style is easy enough to imagine: I would use this space to recite the indignities the world forced on me over the course of the week—an effete-looking young person ignored me the other day—plus glimpses of heartland authenticity—I sure do like pot roast—before concluding, darkly, that the reason I suffer is because I am such a sterling American.”

I hate to admit that I can’t look away from the spectacle of her perpetual beclownment.  And what with Andrew Sullivan going all cyber-ninja, who knows what tomorrow will bring with regards to Alaska’s sweetheart.

One of my parents has come to the realization that if one surgical mask helps prevent H1N1, two will provide double the efficacy.

They’re “Hello Kitty” masks though, so it’s pretty cute.

President Obama to visit Seoul for 24 hours on his Asian tour, in South Korea for two days.

The linked article is an interesting slice of how Koreans view their standing in the world.  On the one hand, the author states plainly that while Obama spent more time in Japan and China he really doesn’t need to spend the extra time here because the US-Korean relationship is so strong.  It’s those suckers to the east and west who really need to get their act together.

Then of course, he slips and goes on at length about how the president of Peru was so captivated by Korea on a recent visit that he stayed an extra day.

I’m probably too sensitive to these swings of national self-regard, but it’s not a bad place to start in trying to suss out that peculiar mix of extreme pride and embarrassing self-consciousness that informs the modern South Korean psyche.