Sundry thoughts from the cluttered mind of Peter Chen on mostly news and politics, but also music, movies, books, art, the Cubs, sports and most importantly, random internet bullshit.
What's in a Southeast Asian nation's name? Jonathan Foreman at the Corner seems to think that referring to Myanmar is de facto endorsement of the regime. Obviously, the NYT isn't actually endorsing the regime, as evidenced from their story standing sympathetically with the monks in the streets. Jon Stewart, though, makes fun of Bush here for still identifying Burma as a country. Is calling Myanmar Burma a political statement? Or a factual error? If someone called Israel Occupied Palestine, wouldn't they be in for a load of trouble?
Matt Bai talks about his book The Argument, about bloggers and the intellectually bankrupt Democratic Party, on TPMCafe's book club. He actually responds to the commenters, leading to a quite lively discussion. Worth the read. (Reviews of the book here and here. I've yet to read it, but I've read a decent amount about it.)
OK, I'm not one to defend Bill O'Reilly, but this story seems like it's being blown out of proportion. Yeah, he went to a restaurant in Harlem, and then professed his shock that black people were not all uncouth, gun-toting, profanity-spouting gangstas. The liberal blogosphere has predictably used this as a moment to laugh at Bumblin' Bill. Still, here's a guy, going to eat a meal with Al Sharpton, being taught a lesson or two in how deep his ignorance of blacks was, and immediately here comes the (mostly white, mostly upper-class, mostly male) blogosphere to pillory him. Certainly there's a cultural image projected of "blackness," which remains the only form that O'Reilly or the ruling elite actually see (despite living in Washington, D.C., the blackest city in America). If anything, Bill O'Reilly is trying to become enlightened, and we're smacking around him for it.
Long piece worth reading: Life is more than a moment. Elizabeth Eckford walked to school in Little Rock. Hazel Bryan taunted her. Elizabeth was black. Hazel was white. The moment was captured here, Labor Day 1957. What happened afterwards became a story of unlikely friendship and the hope that all of us have to change and better ourselves. It's not often that you hear a story of good rising up from the depths of hatred. This is one.
Bed-wetter nation. More response to Ahmadinejad's visit, in comparison with Khruschev in 1959.
Great, this is still a story, kept alive by CNN, the new National Enquirer. Honestly, has anyone else noticed just how lame CNN's website has become? Yeesh. See my take on "FUCK BUSH" here.
Schmidtty reminded me about DerrickComedy so I checked out the website again. They're still pretty funny, even if not quite to the extent of "Bro Rape."
9.25.2007
Discussions about the future of Internet discussion at the U.Chicago law blog, (with Instapundit!).
Congress is investigating foul mouths. Again. Why haven't they brought our troops home yet?
Did anyone else watch the Eagles game yesterday? Or more importantly, see those atrocious uniforms? (pictures courtesy of Uni Watch) The Redskins throwbacks were much nicer.
Duck Hunt! Consider at least an hour of your day gone.
Speaking of throwbacks, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the New Adolph Hitler, is speaking at Columbia University! Somebody stop him before he converts all of those liberal academic snob elites into his fold of evil... IF HE HASN'T ALREADY! But seriously, folks, I don't think Ahmadinejad is a nice guy, but come on, the whole reaction to this from the conservativepress seems rather infantile. I think the real problem is that Ahmadinejad is not an ogre; he's a politician. When people see him, they'll realize he's a person, not a monster. And that's more dangerous for the conservative base than anything else.
Yeah, so I wrote a couple reviews for IDS Weekend, but because of space, they have not yet been published. So I'm going to put them up here. I reviewed Chamillionaire's Ultimate Victory and Northern State's Can I Keep This Pen?
Don't Keep It
Northern State – Can I Keep This Pen?
It’s impossible to hear NorthernState without thinking of them as the female Beastie Boys. The three “Lon Gisland” girls, Hesta Prynn, Spero and Sprout, punch the last beat just like the Beasties (“Knock knock. Who’s there? Prynn, how you BEEN?/ Do you still have my copy of Huckleberry FINN?”). They dabble in rock and experimental production just like the Beasties. They’re white, bright and geeky just like the Beasties.
And just like the Beasties these days, they suck.
Despite critical love, NorthernState sounds like a bunch of privileged white girls play-rapping for a summer camp talent show. While they should have unique perspective in a hip hop world dominated by lewd misogynists obsessed with their own greatness, they simply cannot rap, reminding me of Blondie’s “Rapture,” with equally comical lyrics.
Take these sample rhymes from the highlight on the album, the Seussically suggestive “Things I’ll Do”: “Call me any time, I’ll manage your damage/ I’ll balance your budget then make you a sandwich.” Ugh. While the production behind them evokes a funky double-dutch, the three girls’ flabby rapping fails to illuminate their admittedly humorous, political perspective. Rhyming “2008” and “candidate” seems like the domain of local campaign staffers, not purportedly professional musicians.
On their third LP, NorthernState has produced a record that spans genres and styles from the post-punk rock-out of “Cold War” to the old school wiggles of “Sucka Mofo.” Each track begins with exciting sonic territory, but then these amateur karaoke-hour hacks sadly enter the stage. Ad-rock’s production provides the Beastie blessing on boards, and their admirers are many: they’ve toured with De La Soul, Le Tigre, and Tegan and Sara. With pedigree like that, I want to like them a lot – but just because they’re the best rapping liberal Whole Foods intellectual girl group doesn’t mean they’re any good.
Grade: D
God, they suck so much. Here's "Better Already" one of the tracks on the album where they "sing."
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Ponder like a rockstar
Chamillionaire - Ultimate Victory
After naming your album Ultimate Victory, anything less than that seems like a let-down. Chamillionaire, Houston’s latest hit-maker, should’ve solidified his position as a rap star after mainstream success in “Ridin’ (Dirty).”Alas, despite high hopes, this album stands as an admirable preachy failure.
Cham’s had enough with bling’n’bitches and tries earnestly to inject true politicization into a genre that has only dabbled occasionally and laughably in social criticism (“George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” “Vote or Die,” etc.). His sincerity even makes him swear off swear words and abstain from the N-word, staples of the hip hop world.
It’s hard not to applaud him for his attempt, but sadly, Chamillionaire’s commentary can’t sparkle like his more traditional tracks, including two great collaborations with each member of UGK: the one-hand-on-the-steering-wheel low-rider “Pimp Mode” with Bun B and the menacing bass line Southern anthem “Welcome to the South” with Pimp C.
In Cham’s solemn sermon on media bias (seriously) “The Evening News,” he commits some rhyme atrocities to fit his nonsensical observations (Does “one” rhyme with “him”?). Despite capable beats and a neat violin hook, it turns out that criminal lines like “The White House is gonna stay white/ even though we know that Obama’s black” sound terrible regardless. From 9/11 conspiracies to Flava Flav, he sounds as self-righteous as a hip-hop Art Garfunkel – “7’o Clock News/Silent Night” with a drum machine.
Other than his unfortunately popular “Hip Hop Police,” the track on the album that most epitomizes the face-plant of this audacious experiment is “Rock Star,” featuring Lil’ Wayne, the wailing guitar-crunk sound from “Party Like A Rockstar,” the thumps of “We Will Rock You” and meaningless idiotic rhymes. At once meditative and blustery, bashing materialism while basking in its spotlight glow – and rapping poorly – Cham can’t quite tie together this mixed bag, but damned if he doesn’t try.
Grade: C+
Here's Cham's aforementioned well-intentioned debacle, "Evening News." Reading other reviewsof this album, you'd think the lyrics were revelatory or "heavy" or "reflective," but really listen to them. They're just incoherent babbling.
Hopefully these appear in the Weekend soon, but I have no guarantees, since they're growing less timely by the minute.
First up, Daniel Gross goes over why drastic price-cutting spells problems for the U.S. economy. By heavily slashing prices, they're essentially forcing themselves to make more price cuts for future products (see: American automakers).
John Paul Stevens: conservative. Why does he look so liberal then? Oh, because every Supreme Court justice has been replaced by a new more conservative justice. Who appointed Stevens again? Oh, yeah. Gerry Ford. Who's his judicial hero? Oh right, Potter Stewart. Sadly, the reason he's so liberal to us is because we're more conservative than we were 30 years ago. Isn't that terrible?
Speaking of which, hey Democrats? Know what shows that you're ballsy? Being ballsy.
As many of you know, I am loath to openly Bush bash for no reason other than to Bush bash. I assail liberals and conservatives who go after the easy flubs, the mistimed jokes, the perceived stupidity. But honestly, Andrew Sullivan says what I would:
What a fucking disgrace this man and his journalistic lackeys are.
Excuse my language. But I can't take this any longer. We're at war; and he's still playing Rove's game.
Moving on to things that piss me off slightly less, have people been following the Jena Six? There was a significant protest on campus today on Dunn Meadow (as well as Jena), and a lot of ink has been spilled defending the young men on trial. Yet, it's important to note that the attempted murder charges have now been changed to a lesser charge (assault) and the one convicted suspect, Mychal Bell, has a criminal record and was only convicted of second-degree battery. In that sense, didn't the protesters already win? I mean, they're still on trial, but that's because they beat a guy up. When you beat a guy up, it's still a crime. Racism still exists, but the law has rectified its mistake. Should the white dudes have been charged for putting up the nooses? Probably, but the statute of limitations may well be past (I'm not sure). Still, what further action really needs to be taken? The charges have been reduced to something reasonable for a beat-down, and Jena now looks like the racistest town in America (not to mention, the school itself actually burned down). I'm sure that racism existed in the case, but because of all the noise surrounding the case, it's hard to get a good read on what action should be taken now.
Remember that thing about the weak dollar? 1 USD = 1 CAD. Insane.
A bunch of college graduates from various universities took a basic civics test. They sucked. A lot. Some would argue that memorizing facts and dates is irrelevant to understanding history. I would argue that facts and dates are supplementary information and that they are fixed into place by purpose, but if you don't know the facts, then you know shitty history. Take the quiz here. (Disclosure: I got 3 wrong. WTF bonds?)
Today's video is in memory of the senators who voted against the advertisement, or who, like Obama, refused to show up for a cheap political stunt denouncing a newspaper ad. This is an example of the shit they don't have to deal with when riding in their cars to the Hill, and a reminder of the danger facing our troops while they decide whether or not an advertisement was nice or not.
Anyone else here see the rate cut as a big problem rather than a boon? With the dollar crashing, shouldn't concern for inflation override the pains of those who are going to lose their homes? A recession sometimes has to happen; it's the nature of financial cycles. People keep stocking up on dollars for the foreseeable future, and no one's just going to dump them without a thought. Still, just because the Dow jumped 300 points doesn't mean a rate cut is a good thing. Besides, points ain't what they used to be.
A new neat WashPost feature: FactChecking the candidates. Should be fun. Should also be fun watching them all deny lying.
Hey, guess what old fogeys? It's not "those durn kids" who have irresponsible behavior. It's THE OLD FOGEYS, or more accurately, middle-aged men. So really, it's just "those durn kids" from 20 to 30 years ago, the tail end of boomerdom, who never stopped their risky behavior.
Guess who's running for President? It's my favorite!
Speaking of Presidential longshots, take a look at this video from WashPost about former Sen. Mike Gravel. He's never gonna win, but God, it's great to watch him try, isn't it? Everyone thinks Hillary, Obama, Edwards and whoever else are liberal, but they obviously never met this guy. Here's a man who deserves to have his message heard, but the netroots remain quiet about Gravel. Too bad really. So I'll do my part: read his issue profile here.
Video time! Normally I avoid Reddit's videos, as they tend to suck. But this was too good to pass up because of the music. They put a camera on a trolley, then watched people turn into it. I think I'm going to get a bike helmet for sure now. If people can't see a giant trolley, I'm not too confident in their ability to see me.
Ali G, I'll be honest. Now's probably not the best time to be releasing your book and accusations about irresponsible GOP government. Y'know when would've been a good time? WHILE YOU STILL RAN SOMETHING IN THE GOVERNMENT. Just like all the ex-Bushies who now throw up their hands (Powell... I'm lookin at you...), he could've done something while still in power. Now he can't. Way to go, schmuck.
More on why the war on drugs is idiotic. Guess what? Morphine isn't that expensive, but it's hard to get because of drug-war bullshit. Y'know how this could be fixed? Ending an outrageous offensive against patients in pain.
OK, boys and girls. Time for the video. Everyone, by now, has seen Britney embarrassing herself and this kid freaking out about it. If you want to watch'em go ahead, but I won't directly add to their views. Instead, I offer the best of the responses to Chris Crocker, Seth Green's rendition of "LEAVE CHRIS CROCKER ALONE!"
