For all you youngins, since the original Pharcyde video came out 12 years ago (Jesus), click here for some context. Hip hop used to be worthwhile. Credit: Poplicks
First, MIT students are not this good looking and cool. Second, I think every time a movie is made about MIT, I'm going to cringe a little inside with regret. Third, if a movie is ever made about MIT political science grad students becoming bad ass master criminals, I'm just going to shoot myself in the face. My professor offered to send me to MIT/ Harvard for a year to study. I think I'm going to take him up on that once I pass my qualifying exams. I just have to know what I gave up. Was [...]
Rap represented in mathmatical charts and graphs . (credit to efffthatnoise for the link)
In last month's Economist, a wonderful article was published about how apes exhibit more patience than humans, but humans exhibit a sense of fairness. It's suggested at the end that a sense of fairness is genetically coded in humans, and that it was critical in the creation of societies. Chimpanzees were nearly four times more likely to wait for the big reward than humans were. This suggests not only that the trait of patience predates the split between humans and chimpanzees, some 4m years ago, but that the trait seems more characteristic of chimps than people. [...]
When I entered community college, a little more than six years ago, I was a hard-line left wing radical. I read Emma Goldman, Noam Chomsky, Lenin, Mikhail Bakunin, and a ton of Marx. I listed to Pacifica Radio, subscribed to The Nation, and wore IWW shirts. The summer after my first semester, I made plans to form a student club on campus, called Class Action, through which I hoped to organize monthly teach-ins. The plan was to infiltrate and take over the student government, allocate all the money to my club, and use it to turn a [...]
Andy Samberg is a genius. They say true love comes only once in a lifetime and even though we're from opposite ends of the earth, my heart tells me you're the one for me. Mahmoud I remember when it started, saw you on the news you hating gays, I was eating food I was feeling you, and even though I disagreed with almost everything you said you aint wrong to me, so strong to me, you belong to me Like a very hairy Jake Gyllenhaal and me Mahmoud, make [...]
Apologies for the lack of updates Life has been full of changes. Firstly, I've gotten a new roommate. We don't hang out as much as I would like, but it's been working really well aside form that. Secondly, for various reasons, my parents are splitting up. We're supposed to talk about it when I get home in December, but I'm pretty sure my father is moving to Canada. I was deeply affected upon finding out, but after thinking about it, I've accepted that it may be for the best. My parents are unhappy together, and I don't [...]
More to come tomorrow, but for now RIP Pavarotti. I don't care what Dave says, music used to be way better than it is now. No one today busts like these two dudes.
(Credit: Toothpaste for Dinner )
I'll go back to listening to Hip Hop when this shit is the norm. Until then, don't ask me if I checked out the latest MC Whatevertodo album. A few other worthwhile Youtube jewels: First, the wrong way to be a teacher . What's funnier? 1) The fact that this guy made flash cards for the N-word 2) The look on the interviewer's face 3) "NigGAAHHHHHHH" If you're not allergic to corn, this is a video of [...]
Song: Onipa Nse Hwee by Nana Ampadu Album: Greatest Hits by Nana Ampadu Song: Fat Boy by Billy Stewart Song: Sitting in the Park by Billy Stewart Album: One More Time: The Chess Years by Billy Stewart Song: Adjoa by Super Sweet Talks International [...]
The map of the US, with states renamed according to their GDP equivalents (note this isn't normalized to population, so it's kind of silly; this is only in raw terms). (big hattip to Tony Abate, because he'll cry if he doesn't get credit)
Michael Moore's new movie, Sicko, is available for viewing here (full version). Better watch now before they take it down. For the record, I hate Michael Moore. As Christopher Hitchens once wrote about him, "he prefers leaden sarcasm to irony and, indeed, may not appreciate the distinction." A much smarter piece on why we don't have universal health care is located here .
Open directly through your UnZip/ UnStuff program and give tell the bouncer Chasing.Red. (two caps, two periods, two real). Song: Sovay by Andrew Bird Song: Fake Palindromes by Andrew Bird Album: The Mysterious Production of Eggs by Andrew Bird Song: Peace, Prosperity & Paper by A Tribe Called Quest Album: [...]
Having worked in independent publishing for five years, I have a lot of empathy for the work. The pressures on small companies were bad when I was in the trade and I doubt they've improved since I left: distributors often screwed indie houses; the internet became a serious competitor for audiences' time; and production costs were constantly rising. Now, my favorite independent publisher is at the edge of tanking. McSweeney's is announcing a big sell-off to raise money: McSweeney's is holding a big sale and auction to make up for [...]
Every time I sit down to write about some weighty political science matter, some crazy shit hits the internet and I just end up doing blockquotes. From the BBC, the Pentagon confirmed it sought to build a "Gay Bomb." The US military investigated building a "gay bomb", which would make enemy soldiers "sexually irresistible" to each other, government papers say. [. . .] The plan for a so-called "love bomb" envisaged an aphrodisiac chemical that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among troops, causing what the military called a "distasteful but [...]
Click on the image to start the video. For more Mr. Rogers bad-ass-ry, click here .
Once again, back is the incredible, the rhyme animal, the incredible D. I've been busy trying to get things done before my semester starts - reading the ten foot high stack of books I've built up in my queue, shooting the Bay Area up with my Holga, and finishing up research projects at work. All the while, I've somehow found myself quite a social life. So putting up music hasn't been quite on schedule. But alas, nothing like music blogging to while away the afternoon that should have been spent writing a research paper. [...]
I swear I will be uploading some music early this coming week, but for now, this is ten fold more exciting than anything else I can offer you. Wong Kar Wai's new film, My Blueberry NIghts, opened this year's Cannes Film Festival. The movie trailer is here . The NY Times article is here . Wong Kar-wai, the Hong Kong director who was president of the jury at the 2006 festival, opened this year's event with "My Blueberry Nights," a romantic confection that begins with a lingering shot of vanilla ice cream melting into the [...]
Chasing.Red.Chasing.Red.Chasing.Red
Sleigh Bells - Demons (Official Music Video)
The Rains of Castamere by The National
A-Trak & Dillon Francis - "Money Makin'" (Official Video)
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Nas - Daughters
Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Mr Fogg - Eleven
Crocodiles - Endless Flowers
