What KONY 2012 Is and Is Not

KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

I have seen KONY 2012 all over my Facebook and Twitter feeds recently, garnering tweets from friends and celebrities alike (just recently I saw tweets about it from Zooey Deschanel, Taylor Swift, Kelly Oxford, and Derek Webb, among others). I watched the documentary (above) and found it to feel something like a call to arms. Here are three things the KONY 2012 movement is not and three things the KONY 2012 movement is.

Every Girl is the "New Girl"

If a girl watches an episode of "New Girl" and doesn't say she's just like Jess, does she make a sound?

First Reaction: Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

Generally I prefer album reviews that have been written after listening to the album a few (or more) times and thinking about it. But Lana Del Rey, the Internet star/phenomenon/meme, has prompted almost exclusively knee-jerk responses, so I feel this is appropriate. I have just finished listening to the her debut album Born To Die for the first time, and I am going to write a reactionary review of it.

New Year, New Tunes

Amazon MP3 has over 1,000 albums for only $5 each for the month of January (but the sale actually starts today). As always, there are some good ones, and as always, I have decided to list them. Here are some of my favorites (and some that I have been told, and I assume, are very good), which are in no particular order.

Top Albums of 2011

This was a good year for music. I enjoyed several albums, and so I have put them into a list for you to read. First is the top albums of 2011 with my boring commentary on all of them. Following that is top non-traditional releases of 2011 (EP's, re-issues, singles, Christmas albums, soundtracks...anything that isn't a traditional, new, full-length release from an artist). Here we go.