Archive for August, 2008
Stupid title, stupid argument
Russell Morse wants to argue that Obama would be the first Hip Hop president. Why? Erm…because Biz Markie played the afta partay. Er, sorry. Let me turn down “He’s Just a Friend.” This is the gracenote of Morse’s article–he actually embeds the extended play video with Biz et al playing the dozens on a bench [...]
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I’m tempted to post a whole series of el debarge videos, especially since it is so hard to pick a favorite. This is the band that got you dancing through the night in 1985, that caused you to ask about Donna’s whereabouts, and made a convincing argument that parachute pants and shoulder pads were fashionable.
But [...]
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Work will set you free
The central, animating irony in rap is that it abounds with aesthetic appropriation (of musical samples, clothes, speeches, ideologies) but insists so forcefully on a-social, unchanging, monolithic definitions of authenticity.
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Today’s news in music.
Would you like a “butternut reduction”? Go GO GO GO watch what happens when Akon calls T-Pain. (h/t SFJ)
Also, ever wonder what body part each genre mentions the most? Go see Tyler Cowen’s count, by genre. Rap? White booties. (h/t EMME)
Now with bonus material!! Your portrait as a Chinese hero.
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Things I dislike about my job, #2: Inattentiveness, or, when Your Problem becomes My Problem.
A friend of mine just went four rounds of email with an undergraduate student who claimed the online (Blackboard administered) quiz wasn’t working. They finally ended the detente with the following email from teh student: “I thought the reading was only those couple of pages online.. I got it now… sorry to keep emailing [...]
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Hype hype hype
Vanderbilt is abuzz with the new. New residential college system. New incoming students. New faculty, new students, new year. Just had our ‘welcome to the year’ faculty lecture, award ceremony and shrimp-filled reception, and so it seemed fitting to share with you this video. Two good friends are featured–Tony Brown, [...]
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Shame and Misdirection
[Although I am tempted to write about how terribly I did in the classroom today, cooler heads have prevailed, and instead...(but I did want you to know, the first day is my worst (let's hope))...If only I read had and adopted some of these tips.]
The temptation to detail every bit of personal minutia is very [...]
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Four sexy sailors dance the night away. You learn 37.4% of the important things about me by knowing I love this song.
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Round Up.
Barbershop signs from West Africa.
JN sends news of Sardonicus, a computer brain with a web interface that will help all us writers to identify factual and ironic similies. The initial sorting into categories isn’t intuitive, but the similies are great. “Deadly herring” might be my favorite so far.
Apostropher tells me that this video is what [...]
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