Prison, American Style

1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says — For the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report. Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local […]

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Hordes on Shopping Sprees?

If by “liberal bias,” the NYT is accused of taking pointed liberties with the language they employ, well then, count me as another critic. Take, e.g., a couple recent items demonstrating the Grey Lady’s ongoing implicit prejudice against the plight of Palestinians (via the always astute, and acerbic, angryarab and leninology), dehumanizing and trivializing as […]

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What Chew Know About Down in the Hole?

I’m not really a TV watcher. Really. I mean, sure, I’ve watched something like 2000 videos on YouTube over the last couple years (and I don’t think that even counts videos embedded in blogs, etc.). But I probably watch OldTube only a couple hours a week at best — like if, say, a big Bawstin […]

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Globalistas e Baptistas

Not long ago, w/r/t global gobbledecrunk, I referred to an interview I gave recently to a Brazilian journalist. The journo in question is Camilo Rocha, who doubles as a DJ (& has a fab disco mix over @ Spannered). The piece was just published in Folha de Sao Paolo, apparently Brazil’s biggest newspaper. I don’t […]

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Just Call Me Mr. Meme Maker

when i say that ghislain poirier is one of my favorite global ghettotechies®, i think i mean that unsardonically, but i’m not sure where that leaves us ghislain’s music, however, usually leaves me grinning if not spinning keep it blazin, g —

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Talkin’ All That Canon: On Hip-hop’s Jazz

Did I say something about “counter” canons? I think I like “loose” canons better. But the gist remains: that is, if we listen to some genre of choice through the ears of another, it can tell us a great deal about both genres (which is to say, about the producers and devotees of both). — […]

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Hallelujah Holla Black

Some readers might remember that I participated in a panel about ego trip’s White Rapper Show earlier this year at the annual meeting of IASPM-US. I’ve been wanting to share my thoughts / comments from that session here for a while, but haven’t had a moment to collect (or transcribe) them. Well, I just spent […]

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Order of Importance

a car bomb maybe almost exploded in London today ; how many do you think actually exploded in Iraq this week? guess what’s on the news? the horror. ::::::: :::: :::: :::::: :::: :::: ::::::: :::: :::: :::::: :::: :::: :::::: :::: :::: and, right … cats. which will win @ the water cooler? tune […]

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Prez 2.0: The Cher Presidency

It seems a sign of a seismic shift in presidential-electoral politics, and perhaps a turn for the worse, that all of 08’s frontrunners are firstnamers. Barack? Hillary? Rudy? Mitt? Who’s the next Americal Idol? I mean, at least we all thought of Reagan, explicitly, as an actor. Get yer 3D glasses, folks, this is gonna […]

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Brave You World

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to sound like Time fckn Magazine or appear too technoptimistic. Indeed, allow me to repeat here — for those who aren’t comment readers — /jace‘s well-put and well-taken anxieties w/r/t web2point0h: i think most of web2.0 activities is lil autonomous nodes — blogs, youtube uploaders & viewers, […]

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Smackademics

Much as I like to bellyache bout the NYT, you gotta love it when they let pomo philosophers pen op-eds about politricks. And even if (sadly — for all of us, not just him) Zizek’s mostly remixing his ol’ desert of the real spiel, I was totally tickled to see him — in so many […]

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The Party Line

When the NYT prints something like this — Hamas, a radical Islamic movement that is considered a terrorist group by Israel and the West, , , , it tends to remind me of, The Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine, , , , & […]

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It’s a News Story

Charlie Nesson has been on a YouTube tear of late. And though, given that his clips often lack a certain coherence, I look fwd to the day that my dear dad-in-law (“in law” indeed) becomes a video wiz, I love that he’s been embracing the tech (as always) and launching headlong into exploring and sharing […]

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Telling Truth

RE: the ongoing discussion of how we tell the truth — I wonder, do the fuzzy storylines of Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything help to bring things into focus? (I feel like they do.) Can sharp perspectives emerge through blurry lenses? (I think they can.) I heartily recommend catching up with Ben (there’s quite an […]

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Riff Mental

Yesterday Becca and Charlie hosted Tricky Nick Sylvester in their CyberOne class in order to discuss “Active Participation in the Media.” It’s an interesting conversation, raising a number of points every good reader should consider (and that means YOU). Nick speaks well, students don’t let him off easy, and Becca keeps our eyes on the […]

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