Entries from May 2008 ↓
May 2nd, 2008 — Art, Controversy, Design, NONFICTION, Politics, Radio, Religion, Terrorism
Would you wash the feet of Saudi terrorist, supposed Al Qaeda founder, and alleged 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden?
That’s the question implicit in the above piece of Christian art titled Servant to the World. Created by artist Lars Justinen, the image depicts Jesus Christ, dressed in the manner described in his Last Supper of John 13, washing the feet of prominent world leaders: Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, former British PM Tony Blair, Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India. In His hands is the right foot of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
In the implied sequence, bin Laden is next. He’s seated beside George Bush, President of the United States, the very man who has promised to hunt him down.
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May 2nd, 2008 — Controversy, Crime, Entertainment, Government, Magazines, Music Video, Photography, Politics, Sex
I’m not exactly a huge LisaRaye fan.
I think she’s really pretty, and, in some instances, astonishingly so. When she’s lit well and in motion—like she is in this ignominiously titled YouTube clip, “Lisa raye lookin sexy big butt”—her face has a sculptural quality, an interesting-from-any-angle form. I loved her in 2Pac’s “Toss Is Up” video, much less in The Players Club…and don’t even mention the execrable All of Us.
But when I first saw the inside-gatefold cover of Smooth, issue #36, above, I have to admit I was actually a little disappointed.
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May 2nd, 2008 — Africa, Controversy, Journalism, Media, Politics, Race, Religion
Photo by ProtestShooter.com
“Hillary ain’t never been called a n-gger!”
Have you noticed that, of all Jeremiah Wright’s decontextualized quotes, this one has been completely dropped out of the mediated discussion of his statements?
When USA Today‘s Donna Leinwand, vice-president of the National Press Club, moderated the now-infamous Q&A with him on Monday, she asked him about Farrakhan, AIDS, “chickens coming home to roost,” etc., but not one question about this statement.
Why?
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May 1st, 2008 — Controversy, Fashion, Internet, Media, Photography, Race
Twice as nice: Somebody’s pretending they run VOGUE
Thought I’d show faithful MEDIA ASSASSIN readers something that came through here last month.
On April 10, I received this. You can click on and read it:
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May 1st, 2008 — Controversy, Government, Politics, Race
Bravo to Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford for his smart analysis of the Obama-Wright debacle. Titled, “Obama’s ‘Race Neutral’ Strategy Unravels of its Own Contradictions,” the piece argues that, in the wake of pastor Jeremiah Wright’s three-day, “televised Black Liberation Theology tour de force,” Obama is withering, not from what Wright hath wrought, but from a fundamental disconnect built into Obama ’08.
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May 1st, 2008 — Black Music, Entertainment, Hip-Hop, Journalism, Music Video, Pop Culture, Race
If you get a chance, do please take a gander at my review, in Wednesday’s Village Voice, of the Roots’ new, this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-ish album, Rising Down, above.
“Get Busy,” the first single, burns like the bombing of MOVE, mating a weighty kick-and-snare to a morbid chorus of fuzzy synth drones. “My squad half-Mandrill, half-Mandela,” rapper Black Thought intones. “My band ’bout 70 strong, just like Fela.” Coupled with guest lyrical maestros Dice Raw (“I’m half-dead/Never felt more alive”; “I’m kinda W.E.B. DuBois meets Heavy D & the Boyz”) and the reedy Peedi Crack, the whole fest bristles with the nervous energy of riot control on dust.
It’s a jaunty read, if I, myself, say so. Enjoy!
