I've chosen not to get into the Michael Jackson dying just because I'm sure like me you've seen it in every single media outlet possible and might well be as sick of it as I am. That said, what the hell is going on in the Liberian Girl video? You see Feldman in there? Ricky Schroeder? Who is Theo trying to mack on his old-ass phone?

In its own strange way, I think that this video contains both the great and the awful about Michael Jackson all wrapped up into one confusing video. It might be the timeframe, or it might be that you can tell that this probably would've been his dream, to be watching some of Hollywood's biggest names sitting around talking about him. Either way, ...yeah.

Senator Franken?

It's almost July, and Minnesota might just have two senators now.

Why I don't read X-Men comics

Strangely, this is pretty calm when compared to the whole time travel thing.

from Eye on Springfield

It's the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. I would've completely forgotten this if I hadn't been listening to a recording of an interview with Noel Coward and Judy Garland, whose nearby funeral was supposedly a big reason the Stonewall Inn was so crowded that night.

Anyway, it's pretty amazing how things have progressed with the gay rights movement. Of course, there are still many strides to take, but it's still as good a time as any to stop and look around for a minute and ponder on how in a lot of ways, things are moving in the right direction on this fucked up rock we call home.

It's like 150 degrees out right now and what I would like to do less than anything else on this green earth is sit here and read about the philosophies of information organization. But alas, I'm stuck with it. Still, this picture is just about heaven to me right now: a brisk, rainy day in the city with an Oscar-winning animated movie. Sigh.

found at Shorpy

Looking back with hope for the future

As a Philadelphia sports fan, it seems like draft day is usually the most positive, where we get a new addition to the team, and usually a cheap one at that. I was happy with the Eagles picking up Pitt alumn Shady McCoy, and despite the relatively low pick in a far from sensational draft, I remain optimistic for the Sixer's pick. Partially because of the new uniforms (it's for real, and Sonny Hill was there for proof!) and partially because of the fact that it's the Sixers, and I gotta look upwards. It's almost certain we're going for a guard, and if the mock drafts around the internet are believed, it's practically a lock that we'll go after Ty Lawson (though I saw one somewhere with us taking Chase Budinger, which terrifies me). I like Lawson, and I like pretty much every name I've seen thrown around (Maynor, Ellington, Maynor, Holiday, etc...), so I can't really complain as long as things go to plan.

Of course, it's the Sixers, so I'll probably have somehting to complain about tomorrow night. But for now, I remain hopelessly optimistic.

incidentally, there's a great bunch of photos over here of Philly throughout the 60s. There's legends, there's riots, there's everyday life, there's sports, and there's... Candice Bergen. It's honestly some great pictures, and I recommend the view. If you go over there, though, and look at the zombie prom pictures instead... I don't know you.

Ray Bradbury: Still Piss & Vinegar (at first he was just vinegar)

Ray Bradbury is violently opposed to the internet, and crusading for libraries.

First, let me state that I fucking love the guy's work. The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man are two of my favorite works ever. and I certainly have no beef with him trying to save funding for libraries, for the obvious reasons both personal and professional.

But I don't get the internet hate. Sure it's a distraction, but it's an invaluable tool and capable of doing so much. At least once a day I read an anti-internet screed (written by people taking classes online, at that) and I can just roll my eyes and go back to looking at the latest celebrity gossip... or something.

Neutral professional

"The 20th Century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy" - Alex Carey

I found this somewhere in a paper I was reading last night that about the idea of "the myth of the neutral professional*. Basically, the point was that there is no such thing as neutrality when in a position in which you are to teach or present. As a teacher, you can abstain from presenting a dissident opinion when teaching politics or history, but that in doing so, you're perpetuating the dominant power. It says that neutrality, or at least the attempt at it in these instances is really the passive acceptance of the status quo. And even if you present the two major competing ideologies involved, who's to say you're not leaving a third or fourth out, and thus not giving them equal attention, blah blah blah.

I disagree with a lot of the points made in this article, not the least that I feel like the author has so liberally biased the article that it will fall to many of the concepts presented within it. Nonetheless, it's an interesting read and short enough that some of you might actually be interested in reading it.

So there's that.

*this is relating more to the more literal definition of the word. Or at least I'm told.

It was 40 years ago yesterday that Cleveland's lake Cuyahoga caught fire, giving Pittsburgh something to feel good about for years before the Steel Curtain instilled a whole new pride. It's improved a great deal since then, but it does remain on the EPA's polluted list. Frankly, I think it's nice just to see some improvement in the region. Western PA/Ohio has historically had some of the most polluted waterways in the country, stemming largely from industrial sites, many of which are long gone. The region is still paying for it, though (Consider that PA has as many superfund sites as California, for a second, despite having less than a third of the area). So as laughable as the fire was, at least it gave birth to some serious reconsideration on our environmental stance, which we should be grateful for.

Anyway, there's a great article here documenting like 15 other fires that took plce on the river, going back well over a century. Apparently, "Compared to the 1952 inferno, the 1969 fire was nothing special, a freak accident that merited little local concern, but sparked national attention because of increased environmental consciousness throughout the country".

It seems like most of the pictures we see and associate with the 1969 fire (and likely including the one above) were actually from the 1952 fire. Huh.

Triumph at Bonnaroo

I don't think I've mentioned how great Conan has been since the switch, but it's not like I have to. Nothing's changed, really, except he has higher profile guests than before. It's been a long bumpy road since the monorail episode of the Simpsons, but he hasn't skipped a beat. Go Conan.

Pt. 1 is over at the NBA site.

So I put that mix up that I tried to finish before leaving. I had to cut 2 songs off it to prevent having to split it up, but there's no big loss.

From English Russia

And people complain about Betterton's steps...

The Smugglers of Pirate's Cove

Indoor pool with diving platform

Sea Breeze Serenade

1. "Four Minutes to Lock Down" (feat. Raekwon & Ghostface Killah) - Method Man and Redman
2. "Holiday" - Pink Mountaintops
3. "Reality" - Carolyn Franklin
4. "Horror Business" - Pajo
5. "Ships With Holes Will Sink" - We Were Promised Jetpacks
6. "Love Vigilantes" - Iron & Wine
7. "Honeybee" - Throw Me the Statue
8. "A Broken Heart Don't Really Break" - Main Ingredient
9. "When I'm Gone" - Groovie Ghoulies
10. "Return Journey" - Ghost
11. "Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers" - Nella Dodds
12. "The Reason Young People Use Drugs" - Abner Jay
13. "Ships Go Out" - Ron Sexsmith
14. "Love Comes and Goes" - Lee Fields & The Expressions
15. "They Done Wrong/We Done Wrong" - White Rabbits
16. "All of the Above" - The Phenomenal Handclap Band
17. "When I Go" - Slow Club
18. "Fuck Christmas, I Got the Blues" - The Legendary Tiger Man
19. "Never Forget You" - Noisettes

This isn't put together as well as I'd like it to be, and but I'm set to go on vacation in a couple of hours, so I figured better now than never. It's kind of all over the place.

Sorry I didn't get to update this more over the weekend, Finals and a small bout of food poisoning have kept me somewhat out of the loop. I'll post pictures of the trip if/when I have reception, but otherwise I won't be able to really post until Friday morning. Hope everyone has a good week!

Download here

Finals: DONE

Yes, I have resumed sleeping, bathing, speaking, etc...

I have a coupla posts and another mix lined up, but first I have to run some long overdue errands. Needless to say, I'm excited to write about bullshit for awhile. So yeah, that's coming.

in the meantime... look at this fucking hipster.

I know I said I was taking some time off, but 2 things happened:
First, I was going over lecture notes about web 2.0 and libraries 2.0 (I am promising here and now that these terms will never appear here again) and there was a passage to the extent of "if you can't find the time to post to a blog regularly don't bother" and then I felt guilty.

Second, CRYPTID SIGHTING!!!!!! This is all over the nerdly realms of the internet, but in case you don't frequent the same dorkish corners of the web that I do, basically what happened is that a Vermont man allegedly caught on his camera phone some footage of the Lake Champlain monster "Champ". One of the great things about camera phones is that things like this are boung to start being mroe plentiful, right? Well, that and and blurry videos of celebrities in airports).

Anyway, this looks to be the first "major" recorded sighting of Champ in over 30 years (see the picture above). So if you live in the Lake Champlain region, get ready for the invasion of sweaty folk and drunk people with harpoon guns.

I've been absent lately because of my impending finals (1 project down, 1 project and 1 exam to go), and I haven't had very interesting things to share. I have about 2 hours a day where I'm awake and not staring at notes, so I try to spend it not doing anything in front of the computer. Anyway, I'll be back by next wednesday, and I have a waist-high stack of emails, correspondence, phone calls, magazines, albums, and comics to peruse, so I should have a whole bunch of stuff to run my mouth off on. So please bear with me. In the meantime, Conan has returned like the milkman in war-torn London, bringing nutricious laughs, so I'm gonna watch the glorious ascension to host of the Tonight Show.


anyway, check out this link I found at Duane Swierczynski's site (which is great for anyone interested in classic hardboiled and noir detective stories and comics). It's a photo set of all these pulpish shots of a beautiful woman shot on old Polaroid stock. Anyway, I just spent plenty of time just imagining low-budget gore and sexploitation flicks based around all of these. Warning: there's some nudity involved.

Neil Krug's Pulp Art Book