American Apparel

There isn't a spreadsheet in the world that will prove American Apparel's idea to use the scraps of material they usually discard, as a sales asset, will once again show why they are opening outlets at a considerable pace, all over the world. 

Because they are a company that puts outcomes ahead of incomes the profit follows naturally, but if you put the numbers before the values you're competing with the rest of the mediocrity (sic).


Update: I bookmarked this in my delicious (mmm yummy) when I learned that a Federal raid on American Apparel busted them for hiring illegal aliens and lost the brand 1500 employees or a third of their workforce. American Apparel I salute you. But maybe that outlet in Beijing was a bit premature though ;)

And While We're At It

The first 5-10 seconds of sound on this one is probably as stunning as the first time I heard Acid music way back in 1988. Not bad pop either. Probably the sort of thing I'd sample for Cillit Bang to convey that it cuts through any shit you either can see or conceive of.

Powerful.

Ferociously effective.

Just a thought.

K - POP

I've been pompously sniffy about pop music and especially so when I grasped just how easy  it is to package the stuff that makes the young salivate so easily.


So I really much more enjoy anything from (unclassical?) Classical and say Minimal Tech - The good stuff mind but then I would say that as I haven't really paid attention to anyone of significant pop music popularity with mandatory good looks and maudlin lyrics, for more years than I can remember.

However, I've had an enforced loss of music. Some 30 Gigs or so of quite choice and select music that went with the cab driver. To make up for this I've been swiping peoples music off mobile phones and I've had an epiphany about Korean Pop music. Yes it's often formulaic, yes it's all about pretty boy bands, or (but not and as they dont mix) girl bands that are too hot for a middle age man to gawp at for more than a second or so, but the facts remain.

About 5-10 percent of K-Pop is top notch pop. The productions are flawless, faultlessly lavish, choreographed cleverly and lastly the music is obviously Korean though frequently with often an English chorus deployed, so we (including the rest of Asia) can all join in or get the gist of the usual teen themes of love that could never spin off tangentially into gender dysphoria issues or handicapped sex because which I just cranked up the imagery deliberately for emphasis rather than any fixation with amputee sex or what not.
In any case as far as K-Pop goes, the music is kick ass in sections and this compensates for the relentless parade of pretty boy good looks and skin that I don't see many women able to match without recourse to traditional concealment techniques. I wont mention the K Chicks because they are stunning, and a charming conclusion to the topic is beyond me right now.

Here is 2PM's "Again and Again" and it's worth more than one listen because there's something heartfelt in it apart from the preternatural pretty boy band expectations it's difficult not to prematuraly conclude.

I'll go as far as to say that K-Pop has something going on right now that has the potential to go really global. I am also currently blown away by the production of Britney Spears who is clearly lacking in talent but a blindingly scary showcase for how good music can be if the best of the best in production are involved. Style over substance? Yes. But then so is moisturiser, lipstick and nail varnish even though I've written at length about cosmetics recenty and I'm not what the Germans would call part of "die brutale emanzipierte frauen" brigade.