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Sunday, February 16, 2025

The Avenue

Florida Alligator
THE AVENUE  |  FASHION

City inspires bloggers

Fashion and street-style blogs are usually based in big cities where fashion has a heavy presence, and the style savvy roam the streets and make it easy for bloggers to click their cameras and post the pictures for all the world to see.


Florida Alligator
THE AVENUE  |  ART AND THEATER

Death of Polaroid is end of an era

For most, the start of the new year signaled a fresh beginning, but for Polaroid film it marked the end of an era. Last year Polaroid announced that it would stop making instant film, and it should be phased out of stores by 2009. To many people in this digital age, Polaroids are no more than ancient relics, but to those in fashion, art and photography industries they are very much alive.


Florida Alligator
THE AVENUE  |  LIFESTYLE

Bromance makes sense

Brody Jenner stared at me from the other side of my TV, spray-tanned and wide-eyed. "What's a bromance?" he asked, incredulously. As if I should innately grasp the homosocial premise for his new series. Uh, you tell me - dude.


Florida Alligator
THE AVENUE  |  FASHION

Fashioning Kimono: Now on display at the Harn Museum of Art

A flurry of colors and designs ranging from cartoon floral prints to men on fishing boats adorn the kimonos now on display at the Harn Museum. One "little boy kimono" is embellished with images of battle ships and airplanes flying over water, which signifies the mark of World War II. Many of the women's kimonos display vibrant colors and geometric shapes. These were to mimic the idea of "art deco," influenced from Western culture. Fashioning Kimono, the exhibit flaunting numerous types of kimonos, dates from the late 19th century to early 20th century.


Florida Alligator
THE AVENUE  |  MOVIES AND TV

Watchmen intrigues, compels

I must confess, I have never read "Watchmen." So I can't speak of the movie's faithfulness to "the most celebrated graphic novel of all time." But I can tell you that one of the most anticipated movies of this year delivered on its big blockbuster promise.


Florida Alligator
THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album review: U2 – “No Line On The Horizon”

Noisy, surging guitars; octopus-arm polyrhythms; Bono hollering on like a hopped-up Pentecostal preacher; spectacularly transparent declarations of purpose whooped in flailing whoa-oh frenzy. These are the first sounds of "No Line On the Horizon," U2's new album, and they combine to say what, with this band, goes without saying: This is a statement.


Florida Alligator
THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album Review: Loney, Dear – “Dear John”

Emil Svanängen is moving on up, literally. Having recorded his first album on a laptop microphone and CD-Rs in his mother's cellar, the Swedish popsmith now makes a big enough name for himself to afford real studio equipment, a high-end computer, and presumably, his own home. In keeping with the little-guy theme, "Dear John" comes off like techno-fied Belle and Sebastian - Svanängen sings in breathless, hushed tones, as if trying to carry on a conversation in a library after running a marathon. Most of these songs flirt with electronic chamber pop, veering at alternate forks into "Phantom of the Opera"-esque theatrics ("Harm") and somber, Postal Service dance tunes ("Summers," which would fit snuggly on "Give Up"). If there's a turnoff, it's that a lot of these tracks are too prettily twee for their own good, like a good-looking guy who never makes the first move. And winds up living in his parents' basement.


Florida Alligator
THE AVENUE  |  MUSIC

Album Review: The Bird and The Bee – “Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future”

Aside from an obvious flair for album titling (makes you want to shout, "'Ray Guns' are now, bitch!" doesn't it?), vocalist Inara George and soundboard extraordinaire Greg Kurstin also have a way with swinging '60s pop music set to fantastically modernized, yet still retro, production. Does this make sense? If not, think of "Ray Guns" as the aural equivalent to Disney's Tomorrowland - both create a future that will never exist by looking to tail-finned Cadillacs and moon landings as points of reference. This record awaits the mythical Year 2000, and in so doing, delivers groovy neo-psychedelia ("Ray Gun"), doo-wop era Motown complete with seductress spoken word bits ("Baby"), and breathy cocktail lounge balladeering ("Meteor"), all in a sleek electronic shell. "Diamond Dave," George's irresistible tribute to the great David Lee Roth, is not only the most catchy song here, but the only appropriate evidence by which to date this offering. It's Van Halen hero worship dressed in spacey beats and a plat-blond 'do, and as such, cooler than Judy Jetson in a discotheque.


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