Blogs/Web

Voog 2.0

Filed under: Blogs/Web

The stork paid a visit to the Voog household last night, as Anacam subscribers can attest. Minneapolis performance artist/professional naked person Ana Voog gave birth to a 6 lb. 6 oz. baby girl named Lili, a child whose arrival was fretted over and celebrated by those who peer daily into Voog's life via the 24-hour live camera she's been exhibiting her life through for the past decade. And while the preceding months have had rough patches of worry in which Voog and her boyfriend drafted plans for letting family members with more conventional lives raise the baby, in the end, it all came down to a father, a mother, and an in-home birthing pool with a webcam trained on it. Mazal Tov!

Posted by Sarah Askari at July 31, 2007 12:50 PM | Comments (5)

 

Guthrie website redesigned

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Check it out here. The "sleek, blue, modern...unnavigable" joke seems a little too easy. And besides, it's actually not bad.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at May 4, 2007 11:21 AM | Comments (0)

 

Spoken Word Poetry 'Zine

Filed under: Blogs/Web

METAPHOR is a new online magazine that covers the world of performance poetry. International in scope, the cyberjournal is the pet project of Pioneer Press reporter Matt Peiken. Peiken, who wants the 'zine to be "the Rolling Stone of performance poetry (that is, when Rolling Stone was relevant)," kicks off the first week with interviews of Andrea Gibson and Ed Mabrey, and a piece about Latino poets that includes the Doomtree collective's own Dessa.

Posted by Sarah Askari at May 2, 2007 12:33 PM | Comments (0)

 

Zero-gravity sex: Pigs in space?

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Slate's explainer about whether anyone has ever joined the "62-mile high club" got me wondering: Am I the only person who has pretty much fantasized about this scenario since he was 8? (To my eternal mortification, my preference became known to my mom one day when she went through the wrong drawer and came across numerous homemade comics illustrations.) Judging by a Google search, zero-grav getting-it-on has a long life in literature (yes, there really is a Wikipedia entry for everything). In movies, Barbarella winked at it; Moonraker nudged. That last link contains my answer: In last December's Outside Magazine, Michael Behar describes convincing his wife to fly in a modified Boeing 727 operated by the Zero Gravity Corporation, who, for a mere $3,750 per person, plunge the craft in a series of 10,000-foot free falls to simulate weightlessness for up to 30 seconds...

In this condition, sex would probably be mind-blowing--that is, if I could get within groping distance of my wife. G-Force One rises into another parabola, but before I can get to Ashley, a chubby Mensa dude with a knotty beard rams into my knees and sends me barreling like a bowling ball into a cluster of other passengers. I score a strike. Globs of water and M&Ms are dancing through the cabin. G-Force One climbs again, and this time Ashley throws her legs around my waist, clasping them tightly behind my back. Firmly entwined, I pull her head toward me, ramming my lips into hers like an overeager teenager. Technically, we kiss. But it's not pretty.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at February 8, 2007 3:00 PM | Comments (2)

 

3 Questions: Post Secret's Frank Warren

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Post Secret, a website that encourages people to send their anonymous secret admissions via postcard, originally started as a community art project and gallery show. In the years that followed, it has rapidly spawned one of the most-read blogs on the internet, as well as two books. Frank Warren, the man behind the project, receives between 100 to 200 confessions a day. Recent cards included: "My Husband can't find his car keys because I hide them," "Sometimes I go shopping at Wal*Mart just so I'm not alone," and "My nightmares involve exploding showers and toilets."

City Pages: What was your inspiration for starting Post Secret?

Frank Warren: I have always felt that people have these rich interior lives and that if given the chance they could share another side of their humanity. So I tried to create a nonjudgmental, anonymous place where people could remove their social masks and reveal the hidden parts of themselves.

City Pages: What do you hope people get out of the Post Secret experience?

FW: I hope that people who visit the website or read the book learn the same thing that I have—everyone has at least one secret that would break your heart if you knew it, and if we could just remember that there might be more compassion and understanding in the world.

City Pages: What is it that drives you to continue the project after so many confessions? Are their any secrets posted that you still think about today?

FW: I think many of us have a desire to read these soulful, funny, and poetic admissions. They can help us learn more about others and maybe something new about ourselves. One of my favorite secrets arrived in my mailbox written on part of a Starbucks cup. The handwritten message on the stamped and addressed cup read, "I give decaf to customers who are rude to me." The secret that still haunts me: "Everyone who knew me before 9/11 believes I am dead."

Frank Warren discusses Secret Lives of Men and Women tonight at Barnes & Noble. Free. 7:30 p.m. 3225 W. 69th St., in the Galleria, Edina, 952.920.0633. Also 7:00 p.m. Friday January 19 at Birchbark Books, 2115 W. 21st St., Minneapolis, 612.374.4023.

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at January 18, 2007 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

 

Are Hans and Molly the new Steve and Sharon?

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Former Rake and Spin editor Hans Eisenbeis is being joined at the Current Music Blog by former City Pages staffer and continuing contributor Molly Priesmeyer. Eisenbeis restarted the Minnesota Public Radio blog back in August of 2006 after it whithered on the ethereal vine last spring. The two former Request magazine co-workers have also conspired to create Pinch, a blog and daily e-mail blast with tidbits on local art, culture, fashion, sales, and music. The blog is currently in a beta version, with a slick new site on the horizon. Can a morning zoo show or an afternoon chat program on Fox 9 be far behind?

Posted by Corey Anderson at January 10, 2007 4:33 PM | Comments (3)

 

Alec Soth should have been a writer

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Actually, he is.

The Walker Art Center blog, one of the better arts blogs in town, recently opened a lot of eyes ('round here, anyhow) to an even better one: Alec Soth. The local fine art photographer is already a superstar in New York and beyond for his beautiful, sad, and often quirky large-format work, but just four months into his new online writing venture, Soth is already being hailed as one of the best arts bloggers on the Internet.

Whether he's describing his own artistic process, posting the occassional poem, keeping us up on his career moves, or (most often) showing off the work of other photographers he admires, Soth's writing is witty, analytical, thoughtful, and clear enough to delight even those readers who aren't interested in fine art photography--or rather, don't yet know they are. In this age of DIY user-creationism, you hear a lot about the difference between "thinking visually" and "thinking verbally," and Soth's blog--with its poetic images and descriptive prose--proves how bullshit that line of thought is. Words and images aren't polar opposites; they aren't even two poles on the same spectrum. The relationship is deeper than that. They're signifiers of the same thing. Which is to say--and arts grant proofreaders may disagree here--visual artists are often better writers than they let on.

As Soth himself says in this post about book jacket art, specifically portraits of authors: "How do these portraits alter the way we read the author? I'm not sure. All I know is that pictures change words as much as words change pictures."

Quit that master's class and go read Soth's archive.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at January 3, 2007 3:59 PM | Comments (2)

 

Corpus Obscurum named one of the best blogs you're not reading

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Minnesota ex-pat Rex Sorgatz, purveyor of pop culture factoids and emerging online trends at his blog Fimoculous, has compiled the Best Blogs of 2006 that You (Maybe) Aren't Reading—thirty notable blogs that find themselves in the online version of the witness protection program. We're honored to find the City Pages blog, Corpus Obscurum, saluting those whose accomplishments far exceeded their fame, ranked #5 on the list that also includes Cute Overload, Metafilter, and Starbucks Gossip. Our compliments to Mr. Sorgatz for the acknowledgment and the page views.

Posted by Corey Anderson at December 4, 2006 2:49 PM | Comments (1)

 

Rumor confirmed: Rake publisher buys MNSpeak

Filed under: Blogs/Web

"Tom Bartel (publisher of The Rake) and his son, Matt, are the new owners of this site," writes Rex Sorgatz at MNSpeak.com, confirming the gossip relayed here last week. "This site needs more resources, and these guys are committed to making it happen. Basically, I really trust them." A press release from Loquamur, LLC., the company controlled by Rake publisher Tom Bartel, confirms the news: "Matt, a senior economics major at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, will take over as the site's primary caretaker, while Mr. Sorgatz will continue in an advisory role." Here's the Rake press release...

LOQUAMUR, LLC PURCHASES MNSPEAK.COM

Loquamur, LLC., a Minnesota corporation controlled by Tom Bartel, Publisher of the Rake Magazine, and son Matt Bartel, has purchased the assets of MNSpeak.com from MNSpeak founder Rex Sorgatz. Mr. Sorgatz sold the site after accepting a position with the Microsoft Corporation in Seattle.

"We've been fans of MNSpeak since the beginning and we admire the work Rex has done. When it became available, we jumped at the chance to continue what Rex started," said Tom Bartel.

"I was happy to find buyers like the Bartels who will continue with an approach that's been successful so far. We have a lot of loyal readers who I think will be happy with the future direction of the site," added Mr. Sorgatz.

Matt, a senior economics major at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, will take over as the site's primary caretaker, while Mr. Sorgatz will continue in an advisory role. Said Matt, "I have some big shoes to fill after Rex leaves, but the driving force behind the site has always been the users. As long as people in the Twin Cities are interested in local discussion, the site will continue to provide them with a forum."

Mr. Sorgatz plans to start a similar site in Seattle called SeattleSpeak.com.

Loquamur means "let's talk" in Latin.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at January 26, 2006 1:11 PM | Comments (3)

 

A convention for people not cool enough to get into Comic-Con

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Registration is currently open for Blogging Man 2007, a three-day event to be held in October 2007 featuring speakers, media presentations, political candidate speeches, and e-mail breaks. Don't let the sorta-hip Burning Man-like name fool you, this won't be no hippie love-fest! The only thing smokin' at this event will be dozens of laptops employed to take down that dreaded mainstream liberal media. BM 2007 Chairman Eric Odom, a conservative activist in Northern Nevada, has enlisted a small battery of neo-con bloggers to speak, including Pamela a.k.a. "Atlas" of Atlas Shrugs, "Wyoming Christian" contributor Christopher Adamo, and the godfather of neo-con blogs himself, Hugh Hewitt (above). The first 500 early-bird registrants will receive a 50% discount (a $75 value), as well as a free copy of Hewitt's blockbuster tome "Blog," which Hugh will no doubt be distributing from the trunk of his car. As the website touts, "with 5,000 bloggers in one room, who knows what will happen"? Let's just hope they remember to slip out of their jams and put some pants on.

Posted by Corey Anderson at January 19, 2006 1:03 PM | Comments (0)

 

Who's buying MNSpeak and DUNation?

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Rumor has it that the Rake is negotiating to buy MNSpeak.com, one of the best local web discussion boards. MNSpeak proprietor Rex Sorgatz said today he wouldn't comment on the gossip, but says that he'll make an announcement in ten days. He does confirm that he'll be licensing the idea, and serving as a consultant for whoever takes over the site. "I've purchased the name Seattlespeak with the idea of starting a legitimate startup/franchise opportunity," he says. "There's a possibility that I'd turn it into a genuine startup company." Lars J. Larson, meanwhile, has confirmed that his own message board, the hip-hop-oriented DUNation.com, is also being considered for purchase by a group of investors. Will these essential online outlets of Minnesota culture flourish under larger owners? Or will they lose some of their WTF flavor?

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at January 18, 2006 6:00 PM | Comments (4)

 

Bootleggers, download them tapes

Filed under: Blogs/Web

A company hired by record companies to pollute file-sharing networks with "spoof" audio and video files has just gone out of business. Overpeer was one of the first companies contracted by the music and movie industries to foul up peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa by flooding them with phony files. The logic was that the constant, overwhelming amount of spoof files would bring down the networks and discourage users from bothering to download anything. All it really did, however, was drive dowloaders to more sophisticated, and harder to track, BitTorrent networks, where fake files like Overpeer's practically never show up. Hence, the going-out-of-biz sign. (P.S. When Overpeer logged on in 2003, there were an estimated 3 million downloaders on the p2p networks-- today it's 10 million.)

Posted by Steve Monaco at December 12, 2005 12:29 AM | Comments (0)

 

Tip o' the hat to the Pizza Man

Filed under: Blogs/Web

A belated congratulations to Pizza Man, whose Streets of Pizza blog was a Yahoo! Pick on November 25. Here's an excerpt:

The Pizza Man prowls the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul, dropping off pies and picking up stories. He chronicles his escapades on a gritty blog (hosted by local alternative weekly CityPages) that reads like a stiff cocktail of Dashiell Hammett, Charles Bukowski, and Statler and Waldorf.

Read the entire piece here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at December 5, 2005 6:16 PM | Comments (0)

 

Jordis blogs, doesn't play Ascot Room

Filed under: Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music

This post was revised on November 29 (see above); the following represents the corrected version: Some news about Jordis (alternate site here), the Rock Star INXS breakout from St. Paul: She has a new blog (here's her old one), and she has left Liars Club (formerly Fighting Tongs), who have changed their name to the Payback, and play a show on New Year's Eve in Minneapolis. (Catch up on the entire Jordis saga via MNSpeak.) The breakup news arrives via a correction from Gingerjake's Ian Severson to this post, which previously (and erroneously) reported that Jordis would be performing with Liars Club on New Year's Eve. She will not. Instead, she's pursuing a solo career, with a Sony debut due in early 2006. (Jordis doesn't post many details about performing on November 20 at the opening celebration for the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, but turns up in photos with Bill Clinton, Jim Carrey, and Ali himself.) As for New Year's, it's only one show, not two, as previously published, in the Quest Ascot Room, with Gingerjake (more here), Crashing By Design, and the Lid: Doors at 5:00 p.m., and it's over before 10:00 p.m., so you can still make that New Year's Party. $8 under 21; $20 for 21+, which includes "2 top-shelf drink tickets at $14 value." Call 612.338.3383 for advance tickets or keep checking www.thequestclub.com (currently down).

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 22, 2005 8:48 PM | Comments (0)

 

Walsh gets by with a little help from his friends

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Seems that week three of the Walsh Files finds Jim already in need of assistance in compiling his Top 20 downloadable tunes. Musicians such as Billy Bragg, Mike Doughty, Rosanne Cash, Bob Mould, and John Doe among others, suggest 33 songs you should be listening to by bands that include The Fray, Feist, Imogen Heap, Animal Collective, and Test Icicles.

Posted by Corey Anderson at November 7, 2005 4:29 PM | Comments (0)

 

Tina Schlieske: "I've become this internet whore."

Filed under: Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music , Local Music

Ever wonder what happened to Tina Schlieske of Tina and the B-Sides? Six years after the band broke up and the singer left town, she has recorded a roots-gospel-country debut with an array of cool L.A. session guests--Elvis Presley guitarist James Burton (watch Tina's video), X drummer D.J. Bonebrake, singer Garrison Starr, and more. Slow Burn (Movement Records) also features Schlieske's catchiest song in years, "Slow Down," in which the vocal powerhouse slips gingerly in and out of soprano to tell a loved one, "Time to stop your running around." Schlieske, who performs on Saturday at First Avenue, has slowed down herself somewhat. "These songs took me forever," she says, speaking over the phone from Santa Barbara, where she lives near the ocean. "I think I went into a bit of a shock after the B-Sides broke up because that was my family for about 15 years...

"Songs take so much longer to mature now." Schlieske also took other gigs; in 2001 she fronted Stevie Ray Vaughan's old band Double Trouble. Now she gigs around southern California and stays close to her sister, longtime backup singer Laura Schlieske, whose band plays every Friday at the James Joyce pub in Santa Barbara. Tina returns to the Twin Cities at least twice a year to play concerts with her beloved cover band Lola and the Red Hots, usually timed to the annual Pride celebration and Thanksgiving at Bunker's. ("That's a fun tradition," she says of Bunker's Turkey Day. "It's just an excuse to leave the family early type of thing.")

Meanwhile, the former Sire Records signee finds the indie world increasingly navigable in the online age. "To me, it's so exciting how easy your music can get out there," says the new Myspace user, who finds fans in the Netherlands and Japan through her website. "I've just become this internet whore."

(Tina Schlieske CD-release show with Garrison Starr on Saturday, November 12 at First Avenue; 612.332.1775)

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 7, 2005 3:42 PM | Comments (1)

 

Rex leaves. Want to take over MNSpeak?

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Shortly after news came that A Prairie Home Companion would leave St. Paul (more links here), the following arrived in our email from "Prairie Ho" blogger Rex Sorgatz, who runs the essential MNSpeak: "Hello friends, ...this is a pre-emptive note to hopefully tell you before you hear it elsewhere: Yes, this adamant midwesterner is leaving Minneapolis; yes, I am moving to Seattle; and yes, I am taking a new job at Microsoft. It's the internet, so let's do this FAQ-style: What will you be doing at the Evil Empire? This new job, which will be within MSNBC.com, involves starting a new team that will be researching and developing new initiatives in online news. Yes, that's vague, but it will be one of those "invent this as you go along" projects. I'm excited. When do you leave? Not until after the Winter Olympics. (I'm working on NBColympics.com again.) So one more winter in Minnesota. Are you going to miss Minneapolis? You have no idea. I have the best friends and colleagues in the world. I'll never be able to recreate what I've had here over the last five years. Never. It was an immensely difficult decision. I mean it. What are you going to do with MNspeak? Good question. I'm currently talking to people and companies who might be interested in taking it over. Are you ever going to update Fimoculous? Um.... Will you miss me? Heck yah. Come visit! -Rex"

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at November 4, 2005 9:02 AM | Comments (0)

 

Fill up your iPod with Jim Walsh's help

Filed under: Blogs/Web

City Pages staff writer and musical raconteur Jim Walsh has recently launched The Walsh Files, a weekly mix of 20 must-have tunes that will finally make your life worth living. Week One's roster includes tracks by Eels, Wolf Parade, R.E.M., Precious Bryant and Broken Social Scene. Walsh will offer a little commentary about each number, and school you on the local release of the week. Check out the site, and offer up your own opinions in the Comments section.

Posted by Corey Anderson at October 24, 2005 4:33 PM | Comments (0)

 

Kenyan hip hop and Afrofuturism, plus a rap battle

Filed under: Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music

For a $25 entry fee, you can compete tonight in Freestyle Fridays at Digital City Music in North Minneapolis, where a grand prize of $1500 awaits the winner (if I have the rules straight). The rap battle is cheap to watch, in any case ($3), and I'll be there with a camera covering it for City Pages. 905 West Broadway, Minneapolis, MN 55411-2615, 612.588.2000. Registration is at 5:00 p.m., showtime 7:00 p.m. Click photo for more weekend hip hop as part of Saturday's local celebration of Kenyan independence (including a new Kenyan hip-hop documentary and a night of music at the Blue Nile). Also read more on Saturday's finale of the Soap Factory's essential Afrofuturism event, which kind of ties it all together.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 21, 2005 3:06 PM | Comments (0)

 

"Do they Know It's Halloween?"

Filed under: Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music

Watch the video for "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" and consider plunking down dough for the charity single, now in stores. Performed by "the North American Halloween Prevention Initiative," the parody track benefits UNICEF (as in "trick or treat for...") and features Beck, Sum 41, Les Savy Fav, the Arcade Fire, Sonic Youth, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Joey Waronker, Sloan, Peaches, Feist, Devendra Banhart (who performs Tuesday at the Fine Line, and is reviewed by Andy Beta in this week's City Pages), Wolf Parade, Postal Service, Buck 65, Elvira, Malcolm McLaren, Gino Washington (for more on him, see "Gino vs. Geno" at Complicatedfun.com), Roky Erickson, Rilo Kiley, Sparks, Tagaq, and producer Steven McDonald of Redd Kross, though I have to admit, the only voice talent I recognized on first listen was David Cross. (By the way, did you read his parody of Pitchfork reviews?) Here are the lyrics. Listen while you carve your own virtual jackolantern.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 19, 2005 8:07 PM | Comments (4)

 

Rob likes 'North Country,' Charlize Theron talks

Filed under: Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film

Forget praise from the film's subject herself. My fears about North Country, opening Friday, were put to rest by Minnesota cinema connoisseur Rob Nelson in today's City Pages: "Minnesota-movie vets, including Chris Mulkey (Patti Rocks) and Frances McDormand (you betcha), were offered supporting roles as part of what could easily be seen as a show of respect for our cinematic tradition," writes Nelson. "(Boy-from-the-north-country Bob Dylan was tapped to supply a half-dozen vintage tunes.) And, consciously or not, [director Niki] Caro seems to be channeling the independent spirit of Wildrose (1984), John Hanson and Sandra Schulberg's little-seen classic about the struggles of an Eveleth divorcee (Lisa Eichhorn) working among sexist men at the Iron Range's Mesabi Mine." Read Rob's appreciation of The Heartbreak Kid for background (cover image here), and check out this social action organization spawned by North Country and Good Night, and Good Luck, with accompanying group blog. (See also: a hi-def North Country trailer, Ranger reactions, a real Ranger's preview, and other items in MNSpeak's search engine.) Theron and Caro will participate in a video-conference Q&A after a 7:00 p.m. screening tonight (Wednesday) at the Regal Eagan Cinema 16. A screening at Lagoon Cinema on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., sponsored by and benefiting Minnesota Women in Film and Television, will be followed by a panel discussion of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 19, 2005 5:50 PM | Comments (0)

 

And now the award for best book based on a... blog?

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Nominees are being sought for the first ever Lulu Blooker Prize, an award created to honor books based on blogs, a trend almost as unnerving as turning pop stars' oeuvres into Broadway musicals. Examples include Star Trek actor Wil Wheaton's memoir "Just a Geek" and former D.C. staffer Jessica Cutler's "The Washingtonienne." A trio of judges: Cory Doctorow (Boing Boing), Robin Miller (Slashdot), and Paul Jones (iBiblio) have been drafted to select winners in fiction, non-fiction, and comic-blooks, with an overall winner chosen as well. Details for submitting your blook for the prize can be found at LuluBlookerPrize.com, so start blogging, then write a book about it. And, yes, Flooks, films about blooks, are on the way, Chuck.

Posted by Corey Anderson at October 10, 2005 10:04 AM | Comments (1)

 

"Rome" wasn't downloaded in a day

Filed under: Blogs/Web

The new HBO series Rome is a big hit among BitTorrent file-sharers, and the cable empire is waging war against the program and its users. (If you're unfamiliar with how torrents work, this introduction, while biased, is fairly straightforward.) Besides uploading their own bogus files, HBO is actively interferring with all attempts to share the show. Ironically, the music industry, which originated the practice of phony file downloads, is now being forced to tell unhappy consumers how they can get around the new copy-protected CDs, which otherwise won't load onto iPods. They draw the line, however, at introducing users to a program called CDex, which does all the work for you.

Posted by Steve Monaco at October 7, 2005 4:45 AM | Comments (0)

 

Little Red Footballs?

Filed under: Blogs/Web

I could be wrong in my belief that tonight's Bush speech (parts one and two on CNN) signals a cultural sea change after the New Orleans disaster (mentioning "poverty" and "racial discrimination" in concecutive sentences, for starters). But consider the responses at Littlegreenfootballs.com, the most fiercely loyal corner of pro-Bush conservative bloggerdom, where amid the usual Nagin- and Blanco-bashing you could hear the old familiar strains of common-sense American socialism. After some initial qualms...

I cringed at Bush saying that Americans have a right to expect so much from the Feds, not in my opinion. We have a local gov't for a reason. I didn't like all the Big Government stuff in this speech. If it helps Bush in the public's opinion, and helps the GOP next elections, then I guess I'll have to stomach this.

The commentary ran more and more like so...

This speech is a classic example of the "capitalist imperialists" being the only nation which can afford socialist planning on a grand scale. Mixed economies tilted towards the private sector aren't sexy, but they work...

...these people need insurance, dammit. Second, better jobs, dammit. No, I don't know what to do - I just want to do it - wish I knew how. Once we take care of the basics, we can get them started investing for retirement, but first things first.

Pres. Bush is gonna out Kennedy the Kennedys, as President Johnson swore he was going to do with his Great Society, Vietnam War and Space Program in the 1960s. Pay any price, fight any foe, baby. You lead and I'll follow and open my wallet.

As a lifelong Southerner, I was moved to hear this President speak directly to the issues poverty, race, and opportunity--specifically the multi-generational lack of opportunity for our black citizens. A $5000 personal account to pay for job training, child care, and related expenses is an idea that could never have been advanced by a Republican without this backdrop of a devastating natural catastrophe. But, it is an idea that may be just the opportunity that many families need to break the cycle of poverty and dependence. Thank you, America, for your compassion and generosity. And, thank you, Mr. Bush, for leading the way.

We've just entered a new age of GOP Entitlement spending. 200 billion dollars poof. Might as well send it to the palis [Palestinians].

Not if it's done right. Think of large scale "capital investment" with a by product of good jobs. What the New Deal started out as,(e.g. TVA, Rural Electrification, etc).

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 15, 2005 10:38 PM | Comments (0)

 

Smoot! The Comix of Skip Williamson

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Artist Skip Williamson, one of the beloved granddaddies of the nihilistic underground comics movement, finally has his own website. Trippier than a sheet of windowpane acid, and often more political than compatriots like R. Crumb, Williamson also invented the "Playboy Funnies" section of America's favorite lad mag. Check out his candy-colored paintings and culture-vulture collages here.

Posted by Diablo Cody at August 30, 2005 11:07 AM | Comments (1)

 

Christopher Walken for President

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Though his publicist has called it a hoax, the Christopher Walken for president site conjured all sorts of State of the Union speech fantasies: (to quote from the classic Onion parody) "If any of you people disagree, I loathe you. I despise you. Not only that, but I also despise all your loved ones. I want to see them torn to pieces by wild dogs. If I ever meet you in person, I'll smash your brains in with a fucking bat. Then we'll see who doesn't like hot dogs." Walken fans can take comfort in this doll on ebay, this fan site, and the news that the actor might at least play a zombie.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 16, 2005 6:23 PM | Comments (0)

 

Gawker crashes Klosterman's party

Filed under: Blogs/Web

Pick your way through the snarky remarks about messenger bags, geek love, and pop culture debates, and you'll find pictures of our very own Rex Sorgatz, as well as former TCers Jon Dolan and Melissa Maerz. Yeah, Gawker, we get it. Chuck (like 98.7% of his music critic brethren) is a self-indulgent dork. There's a reason normal people don't usually crash our parties...

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at July 20, 2005 4:27 PM | Comments (1)

 

Free Beethoven

Filed under: Blogs/Web

No, that headline is not a political slogan--though I can't begin to tell you how many times I wish I'd picked up a "Free James Brown" T-shirt during that forgotten liberation movement. And it's not an appeal to fans of the titular St. Bernard from the well-regarded cinema quintuple feature, Beethoven, Beethoven's Second, Beethoven's Third, etc.

Rather, BBC Radio, in a typically beebish gesture, has made Beethoven's nine symphonies available for free download at this website. You already missed your crack at one through five, which is fine because who really needs more than four? If you don't want to be a jerkoff, you might consider waiting until my downloads are finished, as the files are dribbling in at 3kb a sec--a rate so slow that I could probably inner-tube across the North Atlantic and pick up a cassette, or have someone cable over a string of 1s and 0s by morse code.

The cheap man, as is so often the case in this world, is a frustrated man.

This post represents the first in what I imagine will become a series dedicated to the places where mp3s still roam free. I started with Beethoven mostly because I have a hunch his name hasn't appeared in City Pages this decade, and probably won't again. Unless Grodin is signed on for Beethoven's Sixth.

Posted by Michael Tortorello at June 30, 2005 1:57 PM

 

Naked Ain't Sacred

Filed under: Blogs/Web

In the grand scatalogical tradition of Dysfunctional Family Circus, presenting Rejected 'Love Is' Comics from blogger Bachem Macuno. Who knew that adorable naked couple was so drug-addled?

Posted by Diablo Cody at June 9, 2005 2:03 PM