Entries from June 2008 ↓

Bumper Sticker of the Century.

Now *pay*.

It’s 3 1/2 in. by 11 in., available in either adhesive ($3.50) or magnetic ($5.50) form, from CarryaBigSticker.com.

Television Scientifically Designed to Generate Mass Black Hysteria, High Blood Pressure, and Cardiac Arrest

“Happy Mother’s Day!”

Most parents, no doubt, were shocked by this outrageous moment on May 20th’s The Dr. Phil Show, above. It takes place at “The Dr. Phil House,” during their “Brat Camp” episode, when an agitated and frustrated 10-year-old, Noah, unexpectedly slaps his mom, Wendy, loudly, across her face.

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“It’s an ancient Greek tragedy dressed as an action movie.”

Checking his sights….

So states director Timur Bekmambetov, above, of his actioner, Wanted, opening today, in an interesting interview with the Canadian web site MoviesOnline. The film stars Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, and Common as a team of super assassins.

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The Veil

Transition
Edelgard Clavey, 67, December 5, 2003, then one month later

What is death?

Or, let me ask it this way: When, one moment, a person is alive, then, a moment later, they die, what has “happened,” or changed? Where have they, the person you knew and loved, “gone”? What is it that makes the difference between a person that you love and touch, and the shell you avert?

Questions of this sort inevitably course through one’s mind when contemplating German photographer Walter Schels’s and collaborator Beate Lakotta’s earthy, profoundly emotional portraits of terminally ill patients, before, and, their very first pictures, shortly after dying. (Thanks to very.fm for the heads up.)

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Blackfish, Crows, Apes, and Uncle Remus: The Characters That Disney Would Rather You Forgot

“Keep it up an’ I’m cuttin’ yo’ throats!”
“Heh, heh…keep laffin’, lil’ white chillun…”: Uncle Remus and friends

You probably know that Disney, global makers of fine family entertainment, has a rich history of racist characters in its long legacy of films, TV shows, and other properties. But any list of the company’s nine most offensive creations, like this one from Cracked.com, that merely ranks Song of the South‘s “Uncle Remus,” above, at number 2 has got to be a doozy.

Mad Royal Flava

“Hit me!”

Is there anything more inspiring than seeing the man next in line to the throne popping and locking?

Yeah, probably.

Let the Music Light Up the Night.

I hear ya….

San Francisco-based designers Transparent House have found a way to repurpose the cassettes that no one but I are still using: They’ve turned them into eye-catching end table lamps. (Gracias, Gizmodo.)

The model above, titled “Forward,” is one of five, including two made of smaller answering machine cassettes. All the cassettes are in their boxes, and cool neon lights generate the brightness. Now, they just need to come up with a way to recycle all my VHS tapes.

Someone, Please: What in the World Was Charlize Theron Thinking?

Mushroom….

I dig anything that shoots holes in celebrities and the myth that they’re smarter, better, prettier, or, in any way, superior to regular people. So, I gets down for TMZ on the daily; love the “celebrities without make-up” subgenre; but Go Fug Yourself is the celeb site that I most want, somehow, to get on TV and satellite.

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George Carlin, 1937-2008

Lettin’ ‘em have it.

To a great extent, George Carlin is being remembered today for his “Filthy Words” routine, from his album, Occupation: Foole. In 1973, my radio station, WBAI-NY / 99.5 FM, played the bit over the air, resulting in a complaint and, ultimately, in a landmark Supreme Court ruling on free speech and the First Amendment. (“Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” on the 1972 album, Class Clown, is a similar piece. Its live recitation on a Milwaukee stage got the comic arrested in that year.)

To me, however, Carlin is possibly most significant in that he was the only white comedian I ever heard use the word nigger in a joke who actually made me really, deeply laugh. (The piece appears in his 1990 “Euphemisms” sketch.)

This is less a testament to his hipness or coolness—he had none, from my perspective—or any acceptance I reserve for white people using that word. All I reserve for any white person, without exception—including Carlin—is the suspicion of racism.

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Make It Pain.

“MAMA!!!!”

I find the exaggerated vocal stylings of news reporters contemptible. Particularly, I dislike the stretchy vowels and odd pitch changes through which African-Americans tend to report TV and radio news. It’s aurally inauthentic, and, I believe, it disarms Black people. It keeps us from utilizing a wide range and sophisticated set of rhythmic and tonal apparatuses by which we comment on information—signify—in real time, as we relate it.

So, it’s fascinating to see, in this clip, how quickly the reporter goes from Standard American Newsman to NSFW Black Vernacular when a chewy, protein-rich insect flies into his mouth.