11.24.04
Posted in the pop life at 11:49 pm by shawnz
I missed VH1’s “I Love the 90’s” the first 10,000 times it has re-run, but finally caught a full episode tonight. Fittingly, I caught the last in the series, “I Love 1999″.
I think, in general, this series has been entertaining and a great way to waste a Saturday afternoon away. But this ‘99 episode was pretty unwatchable.
The ’90s are just as interesting as any decade, which is why this series makes sense. But when you want to get all nostalgic, you think back to MC Hammer, ice, and the grundge scene from the early ’90s. I don’t think we’re nostalgic about the early days of Britney Spears, or in other words, the late ’90s. Which is why it was weird to watch “I Love ‘99.” It was less than 5 years ago. I’d think that most of us pretty vividly remember this year; its not like 1990, or for me, years with no memory, like 1980 or 1970. And how do you even gauge the influence of events from a period that recent? I don’t think pop culture events become clear in their influence until way down the road; after all, we’re still immersed in some of the same trends that were dominant in 1999.
Anyway, the bits with Mo Rocca made it worth watching. Mo Rocca needs his own show.
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Posted in crazy insane at 11:43 pm by shawnz
I’m weary of posting articles like this, which attract fetishists from google. But this is too good. What is the worst job in science? How about an anal wart specialist. From this month’s Popular Science:
“I see about 15 butts a day, and a third of them have warts,” says nurse practitioner Naomi Jay of the University of California at San Francisco. Jay and infectious-disease doc Joel Palefsky were the first to run extensive clinical studies on the sexually transmitted diseases that afflict the anus. “He’s the tushie king, and I’m the tushie queen,” Jay boasts. Each of us has about a 10 percent lifetime risk of contracting anal warts, the worst variety of which—enemy number one storming the battlements of Jay’s royal domain—is human papillomavirus. This same STD that can cause cervical cancer in women also causes anal cancer in both genders. And the only way to detect this rare but deadly disease is to ask a highly trained nurse like Jay to scrutinize your derrière. “A giant anal wart can be a couple inches large and blocking the anal opening,” Jay says with her customary vigor. The bright side? “In 13 years I’ve only been pooped on twice, and that’s not bad.”
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11.17.04
Posted in shawn update at 7:05 pm by shawnz
Neil-san, a buddy of mine from Wash U, is now officially a part of the Brain Vomit empire. Check out his blog as he documents his life as an American (ex-pat yet?) in Japan.
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Posted in the pop life at 7:02 pm by shawnz
Remember the Grey Album, DJ Dangermouse’s illegal remix-ation of the Beatles and Jay Z? Now we have the remix video. Its a clever concept that is well-executed.
via BoingBoing
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11.14.04
Posted in muzak at 11:00 am by shawnz
If you haven’t heard the news, ODB is dead at age 36. ODB was genuinely one of the most interesting people on the rap scene, and thats saying a lot considering the likes of Kool Keith, 50 Cent, and others. I hope he’ll be remembered for more than his criminal record and PR sheninagans, but honestly, you can’t separate this stuff from his personality… I’m looking forward to hearing his last album, and maybe its fitting that he died recording it in the studio. Rest in peace, Big Baby Jesus.
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11.12.04
Posted in political gibberish at 10:07 pm by shawnz
I think I’ll always be fascinated by people who see the world in a radically different way than I do, and who are convinced that this or that thing is the end of the world as they know it.
Example, James Dobson: To Dobson, gay marriage is a looming catastrophe of epic proportions. He has compared the recent steps toward gay marriage to Pearl Harbor and likens the battle against it to D-Day.
Man, thats gotta be a trip, having that belief! James Dobson, you are one fucked up mofo, but I’d pay a lot of money to study you in my little laboratory in the basement.
Global warming, gay marriage, Bush’s re-election - the list goes on, but none of these things will catalyze the end of the world! The world, and the people and other things that live on it, are too smart, too strong, too lucky, i dunno, whatever, but I don’t think the end is coming anytime soon.
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11.10.04
Posted in shawn update at 4:19 pm by shawnz
Ah, its been a busy week, but the weather in LA is back to its ole ’sunny and clear skies’ forecasts that takes the leverage out of the Local Weatherman’s Union 352.
Tonight, Vida’s band. Here is the plug: Irie Tribe will be playing world music influenced hip hop with a live band on wednsday nov 10 at Goldfingers in Hollywood. $5 at the door
Goldfinger’s
6423 Yucca Street
Los Angeles, CA, 90028 -5002
Tel. 323-962-2913
Check it out. And finally, I found a new cartoon that I really like, called Bad Reporter. Looks like its in the SFGate.
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11.07.04
Posted in political gibberish at 5:50 pm by shawnz
The site, Sorry Everybody is a gallery of people apologizing to, well, everybody about Bush’s electoral victory. I really enjoyed looking through these pictures, and it made me feel a little better about what happened this week. I’m used to being a part of marginalized groups, whether it was the 3rd party advocates back in 2000, or my indie rock college radio station. So, this is nothing new. But look at all the diverse (and young!) faces that oppose Christian conservatism as American policy, and American foreign power unilateralism. Everything is going to be okay.
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11.01.04
Posted in political gibberish at 10:36 pm by shawnz
Needless to say, this is a depressing image for me, though if the Sox beat the Cards, maybe there is some greater good to be achieved here.
Anyway, I’m with Steve Johnson, who seems pretty convinced of a Kerry victory tomorrow. Keep an eye out on the Slate election tracker. Its fun to watch them decide the outcome of the election based on the most recent polls, only to switch based on the next poll released an hour later.
Jon Stewart, on C-Span, supposedly promoting his new book, put it best with this analogy (and I paraphrase):
If someone drives you into a ditch, and then offers to get you out, but someone else walks by, you might want to consider letting this someone else - anyone else, even a 7 year old - have the keys and give it a try.
Pretty good analogy, and thats where I’m at.
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