February 2008 Archive

Lisa Schiffren: Worst Person of the Day

In an unsurprisingly sleazy move from the (proto-fascist) National Review Online, Lisa Schiffren, utilizing her extraordinary apparatus of political acumen, pens a remarkable tale of Barack Obama’s “political origins,” arguing that because his parents were in an interracial marriage, they were Communists—yes, the kind of analytical profundity one would expect from this epic publication.

For a better analysis, check out Edge of the American West’s post. If you choose to read the original Schiffren article, I would suggest keeping Stuff White People Like in mind.

—Bryan Klausmeyer

US Court Shuts Down Wikileaks

We previously linked to this website when it first appeared in the news after they revealed that several suspicious Wikipedia edits had IP addresses which resolved to the U.S. government. The U.S. is now joining Thailand and China in banning the website. Any sarcastic comment about the suspect nature of “freedom” seems to be incredibly passé, and in this case I think the situation speaks for itself.

—Bryan Klausmeyer

Stuff White People Like

This is probably the best blog ever.

Here are just a few examples:

• Coffee
• Religions their parents don’t belong to
• Organic food
• Diversity
• Barack Obama
• Non-profit organizations
• Having black friends
• Apple
• Microbreweries
• Not having a TV

And the list goes on!

(Via The Weblog.)

—Bryan Klausmeyer 1 Comment

The Jewish Kurt Cobain

Rolling Stone’s Rock & Roll Daily:

Speaking of the Moldy Peaches, our hero Adam Green’s new album, Sixes & Sevens, is out in March — twenty songs stuffed into forty-eight action-packed minutes. “For my fifth studio album, I hired some Brooklyn gospel singers to give my music some class,” says Green. “It’s a comeback album with a message.” The single “Morning After Midnight” is already a hit in Belgium; he duets with girlfriend Loribeth Capella on “Drowning Head First”; and “You Get So Lucky” revives the pan flute. “I nearly crapped myself after that,” he says. “I knew that my life was never going to be the same.” Our favorite? “Getting Led,” which Green describes as “a sweet and tender song about fatalism and submission.” “People say I’m the Jewish Kurt Cobain,” says Green. “But I’m really the Woody Allen of music.” Discuss.

—Mark Elliot Cullen

Vanity Fair Re-creates Hitchcock

A bit ridiculous, but the photos and the accompanying anecdotes about Hitchcock’s bizarre persona are well worth checking out. I think my favorite anecdote is the one for The Birds:

Hitchcock said he made the film in order to “scare the hell out of people,” but Hedren may have been more scared than any audience member. Hitchcock ordered Hedren not only a complete wardrobe for her films, but also—shades of Vertigo—one for her personal life…

—Bryan Klausmeyer

Obama: Actually, I Think We Can

An extremely comprehensive analysis of all of Barack Obama’s policy positions, for anyone looking for a good reason to endorse him as the presidential candidate.

(Via The Edge of the American West.)

—Bryan Klausmeyer

Energy Dept. Funding Iranian Nuclear Reactor

Politico-philosophical question: does this justify a preemptive strike on ourselves?

—Bryan Klausmeyer

Do You See What I See?

A hilarious little blog about Dutch Golden Age Painting.

I see a well dressed man holding a book. Possibly a ledger, with several more on the self.

Is this gentleman, sporting a lovely? fur coat, working his accounts or is he just rewriting the bible from a humanist standpoint?

And…

Do you see what I see:

1) Just imagine if you had to wear burlap. It would be like wearing a coffee bean sack all day.

2) This is my dinner and my future pillow etc.

—Mark Elliot Cullen