Grammy Nominations Out

03 Dec 2008, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Music, Playground, 0 Comments

Over at the New York Times, David Itzkoff just wrapped up his live blog of the Grammy nominations ceremony. Gone are the days of early morning announcements:

For the first time in the 50-year history of the Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy is attempting to make the announcement of its nominations as much of a flashy and unpredictable event as the awards ceremony itself. The traditional, early-morning yawner of a press conference is out; in its place, a prime-time concert special on Wednesday night, mixing nomination announcements with performances by Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, Foo Fighters, and many more.

The Foo Fighters (who knew they were still around) covered “You’re So Vain,” Mariah Carey sand one of the best Christmas songs ever, “All I Want for Christmas is You” “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and the Jonas Brother broke the time-space continuum by being in LA and at the Rockefeller Center tree lighting in the same night.

Leading the nominations are Lil Wayne with eight nods and Coldplay with seven. But a bigger question remains. Who cares?

R.I.P. Irony

23 Nov 2008, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Playground, 0 Comments

According to the New York Times, irony is dead. From John McWhorter, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute:

“When you vote for Obama,” he said, “you are showing that you are past the nastiness, and that’s a natural feeling and a healthy feeling for white people to have.”

So much for hipsterdom.