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Sorry to everyone trying to celebrate National Peach Pie Day, but the only thing anyone can talk about today is Donald Trump‘s mugshot. The former president, who faces 13 felony counts in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is expected to surrender to authorities in Fulton County on Thursday. It will likely happen in the evening “during the prime viewing hours for the cable news networks,” according to the Guardian.

Trump skirted having his mugshot taken, let alone released to the public, during previous arrests, but Fulton County sheriff Pat Labat vowed that he’ll be treated like everyone else this time. “Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mugshot ready for you,” he said earlier this month.

As for how Trump might look in the mugshot, former federal prosecutor Brian T. Kelly gave some tips to the Boston Globe. “Menacing is never good,” he said. “It could taint the jury pool. I’d say the best a person can do is simply look calm and serious.” Retired New York Police Department detective Michael Alcazar bluntly added, “The photographer just takes a picture and that’s that.”

Trump’s mugshot might actually break the internet (before it appears on thousands of the cheapest bootleg shirts you’ve ever seen).

(Via the Boston Globe)

When Phil was in art school, he developed a shake in the worst possible place: his hand.

He thought it meant the destruction of his dream to become an artist, so he left art school and quit art altogether.

When visiting a neurologist years later, Phil learned that the shake was the result of permanent nerve damage and could not be corrected. He was right to have given up. Or so he thought. But the doctor had a different outlook on what that prognosis meant for Phil’s art. He said the seven words that Phil will never forget: “Why don’t you just embrace the shake?”

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And from that day on, that’s exactly what he did. Letting his shake run free, he discovered new ways of drawing, used new materials, and completely changed his perspective on the type of art he wanted to create. When he embraced the shake, he realized he could still make art — he just had to get creative. And that’s when he learned an important lesson:

Embracing a limitation can drive creativity. A limitation just might be your liberation.

Boom. Mind blown.

In the talk, Phil goes on to give examples of how he applied that principle to his work and life, with some pretty amazing results.

No, really. They’re incredible.

But this isn’t all about Phil.

It’s about you too.

What would happen if you “embraced your shake”?

Watch the Ted Talk video by Phil Hansen below:

This article originally appeared on 08.26.15

Last weekend me and my partner, Kate, were at our one of our local New York City watering holes. This is the kind of place that blasts XTC’s “Dear God” and shows movies on their televisions instead of sports. It’s usually here that I notice things about movies I’ve seen dozens of times that I’ve not noticed before, which is probably because of a combination of three reasons: there’s no sound, so the subtitles are on, so I’m reading dialogue instead of hearing it; the lack of sound makes me pay more attention to the visuals; and alcohol, obviously. For whatever reason, on this night, there was a sci-fi theme, with a projector showing rotating clips from the original Star Trek series, Lost in Space, and the Flash Gordon movie starring Sam Jones. The two main televisions were playing Logan’s Run and The Empire Strikes Back in their entirety.

I’ve always kind of thought Lando Calrissian was unfairly maligned for his contribution to the events of The Empire Strikes Back. Now I truly believe this. Lando is maybe the only sensible character in this whole movie. At the time, people didn’t know what to make of him and questioned if he was a hero or a villain, even though The Empire Strikes Back ends with Lando clearly on the side of the Rebel Alliance. To the point how could any reasonable person come away thinking otherwise?

But from the time we meet Lando until the time he finally decides to fight back against the Empire (and briefly get choked out by Chewbacca), his character is carefully constructed and the audience is meant to question what this guy’s deal is. But it’s a trick The Empire Strikes Back is playing on the audience because the movie is careful to never have Lando actually do anything remotely sinister or evil. “Oh, but he betrays Han!” Honestly, I don’t even think Lando knowingly does this. Also, Lando doesn’t owe anything to Han. Lando’s responsibility is to the people of Cloud City, not these fugitives who literally show up out of the blue on his doorstep.

Let’s look at this from Lando’s point of view, incorporating some real-world events. Let’s say you’re the mayor of a small industrial city. You’re getting a sweetheart tax deal because you fly under the radar of a lot of bigger operations and state and federal governments have bigger fish to fry. This all sets up an era of prosperity for your city and the residents of the city. You are, by all accounts, a popular mayor and the city is running well. Everyone is making money.

Out of the blue this dirtbag you knew from a previous life shows up in your town. Let’s say he and his three associates are famously wanted by the FBI for storming the Capitol. The last thing you want as the mayor of this town is federal agents snooping around. Not only that, your dirtbag friend you haven’t seen in years is asking if you’ll fix your old car that you used to own. For free. So yes, your buddy just needs a few favors, which amount to some aiding and abetting known fugitive charges.

Now, the Feds are onto your old pal already and knew exactly where he was going. To the point, the feds arrive first and threaten to shut down the industry center of your city unless you help. But there’s some good news, these four who are coming? The feds don’t care about them at all. They are small fish. They are after the ringleader. And the feds are quite sure the ringleader will show up shortly after your old friend arrives. In the meantime, just show everyone a good time. Give them a tour. Fix his car for free. And once the ringleader shows up, the feds will be on their way with this other guy you’ve never even heard of in your life. So Lando is in a bad spot here, but Han is the one who brought this on him. And, again, Lando’s duty is to the citizens of Cloud City. If I’m Lando, I’m furious at Han. To the point, he should have just told Vader, “You can take him, too, I don’t care.” The fact Lando even bothered negotiating for Han in the first place is above and beyond. When Lando marches out to greet Han, I can only imagine there’s some truth to his whole, “You’ve got a lot of guts coming here,” shtick before turning on the charm.

I love the scene in the detention cell. The audience is, of course, going to empathize with Han and Leia’s point of view because we’ve now spent over one and a half movies with these characters – and a Holiday Special and three nonstop years of Star Wars hype – and we just met Lando. We are upset Lando doesn’t help these characters we like and doesn’t seem to care at all about Luke Skywalker. (Also, it’s funny Lando, even with Vader not around, still refers to him as “Lord Vader” just in conversation.) Lando mentions he’s done all he can do but he’s got his own problems. Han sarcastically calls Lando a “real hero,” but, come on, Lando’s point of view here is an extremely fair one. He does have his own problems! He has an entire city to run! Not to mention, Han literally punches Lando in the face – again, the mayor of the city Han is currently in – and Lando calls off his secret service detail hellbent on beating the stuffing out of this criminal who caused all these problems in the first place.

Also, it’s never mentioned that Lando gave up the most to join the Rebellion. Han was a two-bit smuggler. Luke lost his family and had nothing left. Leia was a career politician who lost her entire planet. These are three people, who, at this point, didn’t have much to lose. Lando ran a city and a business! He was living the dream! He could have continued doing so, he just had to turn over these three people and their droid. But Lando’s conscience got the best of him and he gave it all up.

(There’s a scene during the last part of The Empire Strikes Back that really stood out this time. It’s a small detail, but Star Wars used to be so good at these small details and just kind of being vague about the larger issues. Now it’s the opposite. It’s during Luke’s rescue when the Millennium Falcon is hovering beneath Luke as he hangs from the weather vane. Lando is the one who opens a hatch at the top of the Falcon to retrieve Luke. I’ve seen this scene too many, many times, and have noticed this before, but never really thought about it: Lando wears a safety harness and actually hooks himself to the Falcon so he doesn’t fall out. This is such a great little detail and a very smart thing to do. Again, Lando just might be the most sensible character in this movie.)

I wish we’d stop saying Lando betrays Han and Leia on Cloud City. Lando was correct, he has his own problems and it was lousy Han and Leia brought the Empire to Cloud City in the first place. Also, Lando was initially under the impression the only person the Empire wanted was Luke Skywalker, whoever that even is. Lando’s obligation was to the people of Cloud City and he did everything in his power to protect them until he couldn’t any longer. Then gave it all up – politics, money, power, his business, a full city – to work as a guard at Jabba the Hutt’s palace. This was the ultimate sacrifice.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

I found a hidden gem on the Internet this week: NPR has a Soundcloud set of “binaural soundscapes.” Strap on your headphones — it’s going to be a surreal ride.Important note: If you have hearing loss, this may not work well for you.

Maybe you don’t know what a binaural recording is.

Basically, the deal is, you have two ears.

They are the width of your head apart. And there’s a big lumpy meatball in the middle. So your ears hear different things. Then your brain processes these two distinct streams of information and uses them to position stuff in space. Standard stereo recording often uses a couple of mics, but it’s not trying to position them in a way that mimics your ears.

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Recording artists have started building these crazy microphone setups that imitate the position and direction of your real ears.

Then they take them around the world. The results are astounding. You really can feel the birds singing as they move through space, or people passing you on the street.

It’s like a window into other landscapes. It makes the world feel so close and small and familiar.

Here are a few of my favorites.

(Oh, and this doesn’t work with regular speakers. Use your headphones.)

First stop: A regular day on a street in Tibet.

(Close your eyes. Trust.)

Wasn’t that just amazing?

Next up, a stop in the Ecuadorean rain forest to hear the song of the orapendula. (It’s a bird. I looked it up.)

I could listen to that all night.

Let’s wrap up with a visit to Dzanga Bai, a clearing in the Central African Republic, where elephants gather as evening closes in.

For more magical journeys, check out the rest of NPR’s Binaural Soundscapes.

This article originally appeared on 01.05.15

On September 1st and 2nd, Guided By Voices will perform two concerts in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio. Joining them is an all-star cast of supporting bands old (Dinosaur Jr., Built To Spill), new (Wednesday, Kiwi Jr.) and somewhere in the middle (Heartless Bastards). This is appropriate, as the concerts mark the band’s 40th anniversary, and the bill reflects GBV’s longevity and unlikely career arc.

The fact is that GBV isn’t so much a band as it is an idea invented by Robert Pollard in 1983. A schoolteacher who started writing songs for fun as a music-obsessed teenager, Pollard made music in obscurity for nearly a decade before anyone outside of his immediate circle of friends and bandmates started to care. By the time he became the subject of magazine profiles in the mid-’90s, he was a husband and father whose 40th birthday loomed on the horizon. At that age, many musicians start to run out of artistic fuel. But finding inspiration was never a problem for Robert Pollard. He makes music like you and I produce carbon dioxide. He once described his process like this: “You get up in the morning. You take a shit. You write a song.” This explains why there are at least as many songs in Pollard’s life as they are mornings lived.

If you know anything about Guided By Voices, it’s probably at least one of the following factoids: 1) Their most famous recordings are “lo-fi,” which is a succinct way of saying “sonically reminiscent of a cassette that has been run through a washing machine for two hours”; 2) Their songs have very long and convoluted titles (like “Burning Flag Birthday Suit” or “14 Cheerleader Cold Front”); 3) They have a ton (and I mean a ton) of albums. That last one is GBV’s calling card and Achilles Heel. Pollard’s compulsion to create has resulted in a catalog that feels more spontaneous and alive than any of his contemporaries. But it also makes their catalog daunting to anyone who is not already a committed Pollard disciple. This has automatically limited the band’s reach. With Pavement, it’s easy to know where to start: Go to Slanted And Enchanted, and then proceed through the discography from there. With GBV, however — between all of the albums and EPs and solo albums and side projects — there are dozens upon dozens of releases to sift through.

How does one wade into the world of GBV? Is it an impossible task for a beginner? No! Not anymore! Not with this handy beginner’s guide! Let’s lay this out explicitly like a fruitcake!

GBV 101

A newcomer to Guided By Voices is bound to be intimidated by the seemingly endless number of possible entry points. But the good news is that practically everyone who cares about this band agrees on the GBV albums that are most essential. I refer to the mid-’90s trilogy composed of 1994’s Bee Thousand, 1995’s Alien Lanes, and 1996’s Under The Bushes Under The Stars. Reasonable people might disagree on which one of the three is the best, but heading here first is unquestionably the most obvious (and best) starting point for neophytes.

Bee Thousand is the one that turned GBV into an indie phenomenon. Released on the tiny independent label Scat, the album garnered ecstatic raves from critics — it even landed at No. 8 on the Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop critics poll, just ahead of major-label alt-rock behemoths like Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral, Beck’s Mellow Gold, Soundgarden’s Superunknown, and Green Day’s Dookie. Pollard conceived Bee Thousand as a kind of greatest hits album, in which he pulled songs from throughout his life in order to create the ultimate representation of his work up to that point. He wanted it to sound like a collection of fuzzed-out Beatles outtakes, though what Pollard actually presented was a classic rock album in which the bootleg is the record, like if Brian Wilson had just put out the demos of Pet Sounds in the place of the actual Pet Sounds.

As a lyricist, Pollard came on like a hybrid of mid-’60s Dylan at his most obscure and early ’70s Peter Gabriel at his most whimsical. He sang about elves, dreadful crows, and parallel lines on a slow decline. His talent for pure abstraction did not get in the way of delivering emotional payoffs — no matter how difficult it might be to explain on paper the resonance of a song like “Gold Heart Mountaintop Queen Directory,” on record it communicates a deeper and unknowable kind of power and truth, due almost entirely to the conviction of Pollard’s vocal and his commitment to world-building.

Mystery was key to GBV’s initial appeal. Pollard’s songs were catchy but inscrutable, both sonically and lyrically. The band members themselves were also enigmatic. Bee Thousand did not include a band photo, and the backstory about these workaday, 30something-year-old guys who magically transformed themselves into swaggering rock stars amid the shadows and grime of an Ohio garage lent them instant mystique. Even in the ’90s, there was suspicion about nepo babies always cornering the market on “next big thing” status. GBV was about as far removed from that as anyone could imagine, then or now. They were like the Beatles if the Beatles were hard-drinking Midwesterners who lived next door with mortgages and boring day jobs. They were, for lack of a better term, “authentic.”

Guided By Voices was already on the radar of Matador Records before Bee Thousand, thanks to the evangelizing of early super-fans like Matt Sweeney of Chavez as well as a career-making performance at the iconic Manhattan club CBGB’s in the summer of 1993. But GBV didn’t make their Matador debut until Alien Lanes, a 28-song epic that unfolds in a brisk 41 minutes. Once again forgoing a traditional recording studio, Pollard and his compatriots — including Tobin Sprout, his most important collaborator at the time and the band’s George Harrison figure — turned out songs in a primitive basement set-up at a rapid, beer-fueled pace. The final result is even more formally daring than Bee Thousand, piling a series of short pop songs on top of each other in a manner that sometimes seems reckless and chaotic. But this was by design, and if you get on its singular wavelength, listening to Alien Lanes feels like a record-collecting savant rearranging rock history and running it through a blender laced with sugar and shrapnel.

The final album in the mid-aughts trilogy, Under The Bushes Under The Stars, registered at the time as Pollard’s attempt to make a “big” rock record. Though when heard more than 25 years later, it sounds like a slightly (but only slightly) more polished update of the previous two albums. Perhaps because the release was followed by the dissolution of GBV’s “classic” lineup — not the “original” lineup, as we will discuss in a minute — Under The Bushes tends to not get the same shine as Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. But in terms of songs, it is very much in the same league as those other records. “Cut-Out Witch,” “The Official Iron Man Rally Song,” “Bright Paper Werewolves,” “Your Name Is Wild,” “Don’t Stop Now” — these are rock anthems that gesture in the direction of the somewhat “normal” rock band that GBV became in the late ’90s without losing the “outsider art” quality that initially attracted admirers to Bee Thousand.

Beyond the mid-aughts trilogy, I would put three more albums in the GBV 101 category. Two of them immediately precede the trilogy: 1992’s Propeller and 1993’s Vampire On Titus. While Bee Thousand broke them with the wider critical community, Propeller and Vampire On Titus were the ones that got early tastemakers like Sweeney on board, setting up that gig at CBGB’s during the CMJ Festival. At the time, Guided By Voices was such a non-entity in their own town that they hadn’t played live in six years. The reception was so dispiriting that Pollard originally conceived Propeller as his swan song. Though you wouldn’t know it listening to the record — part of the reason Propeller broke through is that along with being GBV’s most consistent collection of songs up that point, it has an arena-rock exuberance that the band’s early work doesn’t have, starting with the “G!B!V!” chant that opens the first track, “Over The Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox.”

Pollard disbanded Guided By Voices after Propeller, so when the album caught on outside of Dayton he was left to record Vampire On Titus with his brother Jim and his faithful sidekick Tobin Sprout. Because they had no drummer, Pollard took over timekeeping duties himself, giving the songs a caveman stomp that makes Meg White sound like Buddy Rich. The album overall is noisy and dissonant, plugging into the same “bleak small-town degradation” vibe of GBV’s pre-indie fame work.

The last album that belongs in GBV 101 is the best entry point for listeners who can’t stomach the lo-fi sonics of the aforementioned records: 2001’s Isolation Drills. After a series of records in the late ’90s in which Pollard tried to make himself into a relatively conventional indie-rock star on par with peers like Stephen Malkmus or Wayne Coyne, Isolation Drills arrived as the most complete realization of “normal rock band” GBV. Now, instead of creating a bombed-out bootleg spin on Who’s Next, Pollard made rock music nearly as towering and hard-hitting as any classic-rock masterpiece. It was a triumph in nearly every way except for (possibly) the most crucial, at least from a commercial perspective: It didn’t make GBV an arena-rock band (or even a “large theater” band). After Isolation Drills, Pollard stop trying to be a rock star and focused on plying his committed cult following with an endless bounty of songs.

In the 2005 book Guided By Voices: A Brief History, author (and one-time GBV bassist) James Greer tracks down Pete Townshend to ask his opinion of GBV. Pete, sadly, says the band is not “my cup of tea,” which prompts a dismissive (and defensive) reaction from Pollard. (Pollard has also ranted about this on stage.) Hopefully, Pete will one day hear Isolation Drills.

GBV ADVANCED STUDIES

I discovered GBV from reading the review of Alien Lanes in Rolling Stone, which supposedly is the longest album review in the publication’s history. This is partly due to the review also covering Box, a collection of the band’s first four albums: 1987’s Devil Between My Toes, 1988’s Sandbox, 1989’s Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia, and 1990’s Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, as well as the early outtakes collection King Shit And The Golden Boys. (It does not include 1986’s Forever Since Breakfast, their debut EP later packaged in the 2003 box set Hardcore UFOs: Revelations, Epiphanies and Fast Food in the Western Hemisphere.) The Guided By Voices you hear on those early albums is much different from the one that rose to prominence in the mid-’90s. Starting out on Forever Since Breakfast as a jangly power-pop group clearly indebted to R.E.M., GBV take a darker, artier turn on the Box era albums as Pollard tries to master his “blue collar loser genius” aesthetic on a part-time basis while juggling family, his teaching job, and a constantly shifting lineup of support musicians. At this time, there were no hip NYC scenesters around to assure him his music was amazing. On the contrary, Pollard’s obsession with songwriting and making records prompted skepticism and even scorn from most of his peers in Dayton. And you can hear that in the music, which exudes alienation even on the poppy numbers. At times, Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia sounds like Joy Division’s Closer if it had been transplanted to Ohio, particularly the menacing lead-off track “The Future Is In Eggs.”

Pollard literalized the musical dislocation of Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia on the next album, crafting Same Place The Fly Got Smashed as a concept LP about an alcoholic who commits murder and is subsequently executed. The most pivotal track is “Drinker’s Peace,” which opens with Pollard singing, “At times I wish I was dead.” It would be a mistake to interpret this as a self-portrait, but there is nevertheless a striking contrast here between the “shit yeah, it’s cool!”-style joy of the mid-’90s material (as well as much of the work that came afterward) and the music Pollard made when his talent was unrecognized and denigrated.

This period of GBV is fascinating for many reasons, but the primary one for me is that it shows from the beginning that Robert Pollard was a unique artist. While he was obsessed with rock history, he never recycled sounds of the past in the manner of so many trad-rock groups. Even when GBV draws upon their most obvious influences — The Beatles, The Who, Wire, Genesis — they never sound like any of those bands. Pollard is just as difficult to pin down philosophically as a beer-drinking ex-jock who also has encyclopedic knowledge of every important (and important only to him) art-rock record ever made. Ass-kicking and cerebral, conceptual and instinctual, intellectual and anti-intellectual — GBV’s music is neither broadly appealing heartland rock nor niche-y cool-kid indie but something that resolutely exists outside of that binary. It has one foot in the bowling alley, and another foot in the art gallery.

Of course, early GBV is where you should end up after digesting the best of the later work. On that count, I’m going to stump for two underrated late ’90s LPs, 1997’s Mag Earwhig! and 1999’s Do The Collapse. This is where Pollard tinkered with the sort of “chunky rock jams” template that he perfected on Isolation Drills without completely shedding the micro-sized digressions that defined the mid-’90s period. It was during this time that Pollard also hooked up with guitarist Doug Gillard, his most important bandmate after Tobin Sprout and a similarly reliable foil to his most indulgent tendencies. I started attending GBV shows regularly around this time, and no matter how drunk the rest of the band might get on stage Gillard always functioned as a kind of designated driver, making sure to guide the band back from sloshed to splendid in the space of a single song as needed.

Gillard’s first run with Pollard in GBV carried through two fine post-Isolation Drills efforts, 2002’s Universal Truths And Cycles and 2003’s Earthquake Glue. The following year, Pollard disbanded GBV and focused on his solo career and various side projects for several years. (Even though, in reality, there is virtually no difference between his GBV work and his solo work — it’s all essentially Robert Pollard music.) In 2010, he reformed the “classic” lineup of GBV with Sprout, guitarist Mitch Mitchell, bassist Greg Demos, and drummer Kevin Fennell, though that eventually folded again after a few years. (The best album from this era, 2012’s Class Clown Spots A UFO, nevertheless isn’t quite as exciting as seeing this incarnation of the band live, especially for those of us who thought we would never see it.)

Here’s one of the many points in GBV history where things threaten to become way too convoluted for a newcomer (or even a casual fan) to follow. For now, I’m going to be slightly reductive and point out that Gillard re-entered the GBV orbit in 2016 as a last-minute sub in the current GBV lineup formed by Pollard after he made Please Be Honest, a quite good sorta-comeback he recorded by himself under the band name. With Gillard back in the fold, GBV has had what many diehards consider to be a late-career golden age, with 2018’s Space Gun, 2021’s Earth Man Blues, and 2022’s Tremblers And Goggles By Rank delivering especially focused and cogent rock songs within enjoyably sprawling contexts and concepts.

GBV PH.D

Like I said, all GBV music is Robert Pollard music, and vice versa. Which means if you have gotten this far without losing your appetite for more GBV music, you will definitely want to dig into his solo records. Two of Pollard’s best, 1996’s Not In My Airforce and 1998’s Waved Out, sound like companions to the GBV records he was making at the time. Sprout also put out several fine solo efforts in the wake of leaving GBV in 1996, the best of which is 1997’s Moonflower Plastic, in which he sets his amiably reedy tenor against stately piano melodies to create some of the most flat-out most beautiful music to come out of the GBV-adjacent canon.

The line between GBV and Pollard gets even blurrier with 1999’s Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department, an excellent collection co-credited to Gillard that might be even better than the two late ’90s GBV albums from this period. Certainly “Pop Zeus” sounds like a potential hit that never was.

Speak Kindly is among the earliest releases of the Fading Captain Series, a group of 44 albums released between 1999 and 2007 that became a clearinghouse for Pollard’s wildest and least commercial ideas. At times during this period, Pollard seemed more invested in his experiments than his “proper” band. For every album like 2001’s relatively straightforward and rocking Choreographed Man Of War, there are scores of side projects that sound more in line with the cacophonous GBV albums of the ’80s than the contemporary GBV of the early aughts. Even devotees by now had trouble keeping up with, say, the latest Lexo And The Leapers release, though sometimes the most committed were rewarded with a song as great as “Alone, Stinking And Unafraid” from 1999’s Ask Them.

If the prospect of 44 albums released in an eight-year period as a side hustle sounds daunting, allow me to introduce you to 2000’s Suitcase: Failed Experiments And Trashed Aircraft, a 100-song box set compiling tracks going back to the mid-’70s (including Pollard’s earliest recorded material) that somehow hadn’t already ended up on a GBV-affiliated album. It goes without saying that Suitcase (or the three other editions that followed) is not for anyone who is not already maniacally captivated by Pollard’s inexhaustible muse. The fabricated band names given to each individual track speak to the hyper-insularity of the exercise. But for those who are maniacally captivated by Pollard’s inexhaustible muse, it’s hard not to admire this man’s unshakable faith in his ability to create musical worlds that are constantly surprising and utterly idiosyncratic.

EXTRA CREDIT

Banks Tarver’s 1996 documentary Watch Me Jumpstart is hardly comprehensive — it’s only 36 minutes long, or about the length of a typical GBV album — but it shows Pollard and the “classic” lineup in their initial flash of indie fame as well as the guys hanging out in Dayton. For a more in-depth history of the band, Matthew Cutter’s 2018 biography Closer You Are: The Story Of Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices is a good read, particularly on those mysterious pre-Bee Thousand years.

For all of the music that Pollard has committed to tape, a case could be made that Guided By Voices is best experienced live. The band has released several live albums, though the one that’s most readily available, 2007’s Live From Austin, TX, is by far the weakest. Two semi-bootleg live LPs from the mid-’90s, 1994’s Crying Your Knife Away and 1996’s Jellyfish Reflector, showcase the classic lineup’s boozy camaraderie and offhand rock power, though they can be hard to track down. As for the current lineup, 2018’s Ogre’s Trumpet is a triumph, though it also has limited availability.

And then there’s Relaxation Of The Asshole, the infamous 2005 compilation of Pollard’s “best” drunken stage patter that was awarded a rare 0.0 from Pitchfork. Does the album deserve it? Yes. Do I own it on vinyl? Also yes.

Dua Lipa was surprised when she received backlash for attending Lizzo’s post-Grammys party at a Los Angeles strip club in January 2020 (as reported by The Guardian at the time). Nearly four years later, Lipa was asked about it again as the newly revealed September cover star for Vogue France.

In an interview published on Thursday morning, August 24, the publication touched on Lipa’s enduring feminism and pointed out to the “Dance The Night” hitmaker that “some accused you of defending ‘the exploitation of women’” as a result of her partying at a strip club with Lizzo, who is currently embroiled in a lawsuit brought against her by her former dancers. (Lizzo has denied the allegations of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.)

“Obviously I am against any exploitation,” Lipa said in response, which was translated from French to English by Google. “But I also see that we constantly criticize the choices that women make. … We get slut-shamed for everything and anything. And before attacking people, who cares about their history? So, for me, it’s super important to respect women’s choices, whatever they are.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lipa commented on the states of homophobia and transphobia.

“Homophobia and transphobia are close to misogyny,” the three-time Grammy winner said. “A lot of people, deep down, are just afraid of themselves. The freedom of others confronts them with what they do not have the courage to express. The beauty of a free, true and proud being paralyzes them.”

Lipa additionally opened up about her “duality” as a person, her thoughts on motherhood — “As far as I’m concerned, when it’s the perfect time, I’ll know; But, in the meantime, I have other priorities, I want to continue enjoying my youth” — and her formative experiences as a model.

See more from Lipa’s Vogue France cover shoot below.

Dua Lipa and Lizzo are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Painful sex, or dyspareunia, is an uncomfortable reality for many women, and its ripples are felt beyond the bedroom. It permeates every aspect of a relationship, fostering feelings of inadequacy and stress, and can affect overall mental well-being. The common culprit? Vaginismus. It’s a condition characterized by involuntary tightening of the vaginal muscles during attempted penetration. This discomfort can transform what should be intimate and enjoyable experiences into moments fraught with anxiety and fear. Luckily, there’s
the Milli Vaginal Dilator, an innovative tool designed to help you reclaim control over your sexual health and relationships.

This tool is a potential game changer for individuals affected by vaginismus. Milli’s unique design and features provide a user-controlled, millimeter-by-millimeter expansion, paving the way for a comfortable, tailored approach to dilation therapy. Unlike traditional dilators, Milli remains inserted in the vagina during use, allowing you to avoid the discomfort of reinsertion while also enabling you to track your progress effectively.

The Milli Vaginal Dilatoror isn’t just a medical device – it’s a revolutionary approach to combating the often hidden challenges of painful sex. Milli delivers a personalized solution to address vaginismus, allowing for gradual expansion at a pace that suits your needs, helping you to regain comfort, confidence, and control gradually. With Milli, you can redefine your sexual health journey on your terms.

Understanding Vaginismus

Vaginismus is a condition where the muscles inside the vagina involuntarily tighten or spasm, making penetration, whether for sex, tampon insertion, or gynecological exams, uncomfortable or even impossible. This distressing cycle of anticipation, tightening, pain, and avoidance sets vaginismus apart from other sexual health conditions. And while it may seem like a purely physical problem, it’s also interwoven with emotional and psychological aspects.

The ripple effects of vaginismus extend beyond the physical discomfort. It can be a source of emotional turmoil, creating frustration, inadequacy, and shame. It can strain relationships, dampen intimacy, and even lead to avoidance of sexual interactions altogether. But remember, it’s not just about sex. The consequences of vaginismus can seep into a person’s overall mental health, potentially leading to anxiety and depression.

In response to vaginismus, traditional treatment protocols have typically involved physical therapy, relaxation exercises, psychotherapy, and the use of vaginal dilators. These solutions aim to help individuals gradually accustom the body to penetration, reduce the fear and anxiety associated with it, and break the cycle of pain. However, not all dilators are created equal, and finding the right one that respects your comfort and pace is crucial. And
that’s where Milli steps in.

Introducing the Milli Vaginal Dilator

Enter
the Milli Vaginal Dilator, a groundbreaking approach to addressing vaginismus. Uniquely designed with the user’s comfort in mind, this expanding dilator takes the dread out of dilation therapy. Imagine a smooth silicone device, starting at a comfortable 15mm (just over a 1/2″), that can gradually expand at your control without the need for removal or reinsertion. Milli doesn’t stop at that — it also offers an optional built-in vibration feature for enhanced comfort.

The user-controlled, millimeter-by-millimeter expansion is just one of the many benefits Milli brings to the table. Its design eliminates the intimidating jumps in size that static dilators often present. This allows for a less stressful, more comfortable journey towards overcoming vaginismus. Additionally, Milli’s all-in-one device discreetly fits into your life, letting you maintain your dilation therapy as private as you want it to be. The added convenience of a discreet charging case only sweetens the deal.

While various vaginal dilators are already available, not all have undergone the rigorous process with the FDA to ensure their safety and effectiveness. But the Milli is the only dilator cleared by the FDA that’s available directly to consumers over the counter. This FDA clearance serves as a testament to Milli’s commitment to providing a safe, effective solution to those grappling with vaginismus.

How the Milli Vaginal Dilator Works

Simply put, the Milli employs a tried-and-tested method with a revolutionary twist. The device works by gradually expanding, stretching, and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles — the same concept traditional dilators use, but with the crucial addition of user control. With Milli, you are in the driver’s seat, adjusting the expansion one millimeter at a time at a pace that feels right for you. This control minimizes discomfort and reduces the anxiety associated with sudden size increases.

While every person’s experience with vaginismus is unique, which means results can vary, the overall impact of using Milli can be transformative. Users can expect to see a reduction in the pain associated with vaginal penetration and an improvement in their ability to engage in sexual activity. It’s more than just physical —
Milli can also bring significant psychological relief by breaking the cycle of fear and anxiety associated with sexual intercourse.

Take Control Of Your Sexual Health

In a world where vaginismus can often make sex an ordeal rather than a joy, the Milli Vaginal Dilator stands out as a beacon of hope. With its revolutionary features, like gradual millimeter-by-millimeter expansion and built-in vibration, Milli brings a fresh approach to managing this condition. Its FDA clearance is further testimony to its safety and effectiveness. But the real magic lies in its potential to transform sexual health, easing the pain of penetration and reclaiming the joy of intimacy.

If you’re living with vaginismus, or you know someone who is, consider what the Milli Vaginal Dilator has to offer. It doesn’t promise a quick fix — it provides a tool for gradual, controlled, and comfortable progress, giving you the power to take back control of your sexual health journey. Don’t let vaginismus define your sex life. Click here to take the first step to rediscover comfort and pleasure today.

Rock stars tend to play with the boundaries of gender. Alice Cooper is one of them, flaunting his signature exaggerated makeup look for decades and speaking openly about sexuality.

However, in an in-depth interview with the eccentric musician, Stereogum’s Rachel Brodsky inquired about his thoughts on gender and sexuality, and it took an unexpected turn. “I’m understanding that there are cases of transgender, but I’m afraid that it’s also a fad, and I’m afraid there’s a lot of people claiming to be this just because they want to be that,” he answered. “I find it wrong when you’ve got a six-year-old kid who has no idea. He just wants to play, and you’re confusing him telling him, “Yeah, you’re a boy, but you could be a girl if you want to be.”

After calling the situation absurd and comparing it to a Kurt Vonnegut novel, he continued, “The whole woke thing… Nobody can answer this question. Maybe you can. Who’s making the rules? Is there a building somewhere in New York where people sit down every day and say, ‘Okay, we can’t say mother now. We have to say birthing person. Get that out on the wire right now?’ Who is this person that’s making these rules? I don’t get it. I’m not being old-school about it. I’m being logical about it.”

“It’s getting to the point now where it’s laughable,” he said. “If anybody was trying to make a point on this thing, they turned it into a huge comedy. I don’t know one person that agrees with the woke thing. I don’t know one person. Everybody I talk to says, ‘Isn’t it stupid?’ And I’m going, ‘Well, I respect people. I respect people and who they are, but I’m not going to tell a seven-year-old boy, Go put a dress on because maybe you’re a girl, and he’s going, No, I’m not. I’m a boy.‘”

He also invoked the debunked argument of men using trans laws as an excuse to enter women’s bathrooms. “Well, that’s going to happen,” he said. “Somebody’s going to get raped, and the guy’s going to say, ‘Well, I felt like a girl that day, and then I felt like a guy.’ Where do you draw this line?”

Prince may not have wanted the extensive contents of his massive vault released for public consumption, but that isn’t stopping his estate from cashing in. Prince’s 1991 album Diamonds And Pearls — his first recorded as Prince And The New Power Generation — is set for reissue in October, with 47 unreleased tracks and two hours of live concert footage. A pair of examples from the unreleased trove has already been unleashed, consisting of an early mix of “Insatiable” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” a vaulted track originally recorded in May 1991 at Larrabee Sound Studios in Los Angeles.

The album itself will be remastered and released on its own, with two deluxe versions comprised of the bonus material. The super-deluxe edition will include 12 vinyl LPs or seven CDs including the original album, a collection of single mixes and edits, and 33 songs pulled from the vault. These songs are made up of ideas he recorded on tour in 1990, with some songs going to other artists, while others are original/alternate versions of songs that were later reworked for Prince’s albums.

The live recordings come from Prince And The New Power Generation’s Minneapolis Glam Slam show in January 1992. Another show, from the band’s performance at the 1991 Special Olympics, is included, as well as the original Diamonds And Pearls video collection, which was initially released on VHS and LaserDisc and has long since gone out of print.

Diamonds And Pearls will be reissued on 10/27. You can pre-order it here.

On Thursday morning, the Los Angeles Lakers posted a video (fittingly at 8:24 a.m. PT on 8/24) featuring Vanessa Bryant that made the long-awaited announcement that Kobe Bryant will get a statue outside Crypto.com Arena in L.A.

As Vanessa Bryant notes, Kobe spent his entire 20-year career with the Lakers and his legacy for the franchise will forever be remembered, but now there are plans for a physical tribute to one of the all-time Laker greats outside the arena. The statue will be unveiled on 2/8/24, where the ceremony will also pay tribute to his daughter, Gianna, who wore the number 2 on her youth team.

We will have to wait to see what the exact statue will feature, as there are a number of possibilities from Kobe’s many iconic moments with the Lakers, but you can be sure that it will be an emotional night when the statue is unveiled prior to an already highly anticipated matchup between the Lakers and the defending champion Nuggets.

It has been more than three years since the tragic helicopter crash that killed Kobe, Gianna, and seven others in Los Angeles, but his memory still looms large over the league where his influence is easy to see. Come February, fans in Los Angeles will have a physical representation of that legacy alongside the rest of the Laker legends immortalized outside the arena.