Rest In Peace | Michael Jackson

"Consciousness expresses itself through creation. This world we live in is the dance of the creator. Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye but the dance lives on. On many an occasion, when I am dancing, I have felt touched by something sacred. In those moments, I felt my spirit soar and become one with everything that exists. I become the stars and the moon. I become the lover and the beloved. I become the victor and the vanquished. I become the master and the slave. I become the singer and the song. I become the knower and the known. I keep on dancing and then, it is the eternal dance of creation. The creator and the creation merge into one wholeness of joy. I keep on dancing— until there is only. . .the dance."

–Michael Jackson 1992

The New Male Beauty

Think of Chace Crawford, Ryan Reynolds and Zac Efron: Faces are symmetrical — no distinct, hooked noses or strong jaws, no prominent chins or heavy brows that scientists associated with high testosterone levels. Columbia University professor Leonard Lee tells Aleksander: "Large eyes are a 'neotenous' cue, one people associate with babies and that elicits female nurturance." Aleksander translates this as: "Women have literally become attracted to men who look like babies."

Casting agent Randi Hiller offers this theory: "If you go back to [old] iconic movies, everybody wasn't super-beautiful, but a lot of them were sexy. But there's also something about young women today being more comfortable with a boy-man; they're less threatening sexually than a man-man."

Is it because women today are more empowered — and not in need of a hulking, masculine fatherly/protector type? Do women who find Zac Efron attractive actually feel "threatened" by a more rugged type? And don't many women find both "masculine" types like Clive Owen and boyish or femme types like Chace Crawford hot? And aren't standards of beauty always changing, each era with its own "look"?

The New York Observer examines.

Justin Vernon of 'Bon Iver' Side Project 'Volcano Choir' Album Announced

Back in May, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon talked about Volcano Choir, his new project with fellow ethereal Wisconsinites Collections of Colonies of Bees. "We started collaborating three years ago and just this year we started to realize we had nine or 10 tracks almost done," he said. "I sing on it, but there aren't a lot of lyrics-- it's definitely more on the experimental side of things."

Now we have all the official info: Volcano Choir's debut LP, Unmap, is out September 22 (Sept. 21 in the UK) via Jagjaguwar.

Meanwhile, Bon Iver are busy working on their long-playing follow-up to For Emma, Forever Ago in between summer gigs, including a stop at Glastonbury this weekend. Volcano Choir tracklist and Bon Iver dates below:

Unmap:

01 Husks and Shells
02 Seeplymouth
03 Island, IS
04 Dote
05 And Gather
06 Mbira in the Morass
07 Cool Knowledge
08 Still
09 Youlogy

Bon Iver:

06-27 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury
06-28 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury
06-30 London, England - Hyde Park (Serpentine Sessions)
07-09 Salt Lake City, UT - Twilight Concert Series !
07-11 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
07-14 Santa Barbara, CA - Granada Theatre %
07-16 Fresno, CA - Tower Theatre %
07-18 Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery %
07-25 Dorset, England - Camp Bestival
08-07 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08-12 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival 2009
08-14 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-15 Haldern, Germany - Haldern Pop
08-16 Leicester, United Kingdom - Summer Sundae
08-20 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop
08-21 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands 2009
08-22 Powys, United Kingdom - Green Man Festival
09-19 Omaha, NE - Slowdown
09-24 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
09-25 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
10-03 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival

! with Jenny Lewis
% Justin Vernon solo, with the Indigo Girls

Arctic Monkeys Unleash Album Art, Dates

The story so far: Sheffield brat-pop upstarts Arctic Monkeys have a new album coming out, their third. It's due August 24 in the UK and August 25 in the U.S. via Domino, and it's called Humbug. The band worked with two producers for this one: Old collaborator James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco and new friend Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. And now we've got the album cover. It's that picture above, and the washed-out 70s-looking photo supports the theory that this will be the Monkeys' stoner-rock move.

Also, the Monkeys have added a few shows to their festival-packed touring schedule. In August, they'll play three small American club shows amidst all the big outdoor stages. Dates below.

Arctic Monkeys:

07-02 Gydnia, Poland - Open’er Festival
07-04 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic - Rock For People Festival
07-05 Vienna, Austria - Vienna Arena
07-07 Split, Croatia - Prokurative
07-09 Novi Sad, Serbia - Exit Festival
08-01 Jersey City, NJ - All Points West Festival
08-02 Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Music & Arts Festival
08-03 New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
08-05 Boston, MA - Paradise
08-07 Chicago, IL - Metro
08-08 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza Festival
08-13 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
08-14 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-15 Copenhagen, Denmark - Beat Day Festival
08-21 Erfurt, Germany - Highfield Festival
08-22 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival
08-23 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08-28 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
08-29 Reading, England - Reading Festival
10-19 Tokyo, Japan - Budokan
11-06 Paris, France - Zenith

Unreleased Jeff Buckley song featured in new movie soundtrack

The song is a beautiful cover of Elton John's "We All Fall in Love Sometimes". It seems to be a remastered version of Buckley's much bootlegged, but never officially released, live take recorded on WFMU's "The Music Faucet" program in 1992.

The movie, sure to be a tearjerker, is My Sister's Keeper, the new flick from Cameron Diaz and the guy who brought you The Notebook.

Listen to the updated Buckley version of "We All Fall in Love Sometimes" here and the original WFMU version here.

How AT&T Stumbled Through the iPhone 3GS Launch

It wouldn't be a new iPhone launch without problems. While the last launch of the 3G involved mostly Apple having issues getting folks their phones in a timely, operational matter, this time around their partners at AT&T dropped the ball with a slew of problems, including:

• No immediate MMS or tethering support
• Early upgrade fee for iPhone 3GS
• Additional charges for text messaging
• AT&T’s pre-order system
• Activation woes

For a detailed accounting of this round of iPhone launch mistakes, click here. Lesson seems to be, don't buy your iPhone the first weekend it comes out.

Tesla, Ford, Nissan all receive electric car development loans from U.S. government

The electric car company Tesla has just been granted $465m in loans from the Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program.

The bulk of the money will go towards a postponed Model S factory, while the remaining $100m will be used to fund an electric powertrain manufacturing facility that will sell parts like motors and battery packs to other carmakers.

Nissan also received $1.6 billion to build batteries and EVs in Tennessee and Ford received an undisclosed amount to build two upcoming electric cars.

Also, a "congressional source" has told the AP that Ford's getting $5.9 billion.

So much love for the electric car. 'Bout time.