I had nothing substantial to add to the outrage over the killing of Troy Davis. After he was killed, I struggled to find something to write that expressed my feelings of lament. Nothing came clear.
This weekend I was driving with my sweetie and this Ani DiFranco tune came out of the speakers. “Why don’t you just go ahead and turn off the sun. We’ll never live long enough to undo all the things they’ve done to you.” That is what I’ve been feeling.
She even built her own wearable MIDI controller and sewed it into a leather/snakeskin jumpsuit, controlling her audio and visual set single-handedly. She called it “The Chakakhantroller.” “I named it after Chaka Khan because one, it looks badass,” laughs Rucyl, “and two, Chaka Khan needs no assistance to give an amazing performance.”
via Sleeping Giant | Philadelphia City Paper | 09/22/2011.
As an animal lover I’m not a fan of the leather/snakeskin combo, but I like the name. Respect to Rucyl and King Britt and to all those who push sound around.
Filed under communication, funk & soul, music
thanks to technorati.com for the image
Yesterday I bet my uncle $10 that Obama would lose the 2012 presidential election. Here is why he thinks Obama will win:
So this is the deal that I think was offered to Obama back in 2005 or 2006: We will give you two terms, and guarantee the safety of you and your immediate family. But you will have to preside over the transfer of all of America’s remaining wealth from the middle class to the ultra-rich. You must do nothing whatsoever for poor people or immigrants or prisoners or people of color. You will not be allowed to do anything ”environmental.” Do nothing about climate change, or genetic engineering, or the health “care” and “insurance” scams, or about Big Pharma or agribusiness. Don’t do anything that interferes with business at all! In addition, you must escalate both wars until they hit deep quagmire. Nothing sells more weapons than quagmire!
via There Could Be A Revolution In America « Talkin’ Blues About The News.
Not a bad argument. I’ll have a reply in a day or two. If you have a perspective on the question feel free to express yourself in the comment section.
Filed under capitalism, media, propaganda
Out-of-control star Taraji P. Henson is the person of the day here at Life of Refinement. Here she is rocking out on the Chelsea Lately show. Topics include twitter, her naked PETA ad, looking for a man, and the business.
Henson is a boss — she crushes co-stars in Hustle and Flow, Curious case of Benjamin whatever, her lifetime movie (which I didn’t see) and now has a bad-ass TV show. Of course, TV Guide decided to put the two white male co-stars on TV Guide. What?
Oscar-nominated actor Taraji P. Henson stars in the new CBS drama Person of Interest, but you wouldn’t know that if you asked TV Guide. According to Henson, the why-are-they-still-a-magazine magazine was planning a cover story on her new show, but the resulting photos featured her two white male costars… and not her. From her Facebook page yesterday:
WOW!!!! TV Guide is NOT including me on the cover with my cast members……. I am the female lead of a 3 member cast and I’m not included on the cover!!!!! Do you see the shit I have to deal with in this business….. I cram to understand!!!!
via Douchebag Decree: TV Guide Declares Taraji P. Henson Not a “Person of Interest” | Bitch Media.
Racism. Sexism. Idiocy. Thanks TV Guide.
I was listening to this song on vinyl, thinking about how much good music is out there in the world. Thought I’d share it with ya! Support your favorite hippie psychedelic indigenous instrument banger!
Filed under music
Sociological images for the pics
Kellogg’s is suing the Maya Archaeology Institute (MAI), a non-profit Guatemalan organization aimed at protecting the local history, culture, and natural environment. Why? It uses a toucan in its logo.
For those of you who did not spend your youth eating highly sugared empty carbohydrates for breakfast, the toucan (specifically, Toucan Sam) is the mascot of Kellogg’s Froot Loops. The toucan is also a large-billed colorful bird indigenous to Central and South America, the Caribbean, and southern Florida.
via Capitalism, Animals, and the Ownership of Icons » Sociological Images.
That is so grimy. The fight to own/control images, food, genetics, songs, language, and other shit people shouldn’t own is the showdown of this century. Of course large corporations already have a leg up, by having purchased things like the rights to images of freaking toucans!
Thanks Margo DeMello for bringing this to my attention and sociological images for juxtaposing these two logos.
Filed under capitalism, communication, propaganda
Roller Derby in 2011 is astounding because it is simply great sport. I just finished watching the London roller girls (the London Brawling ‘natch) defeat Montreal’s New skids on the block 137-135.
If you like football, soccer, basketball, baseball, cricket, rugby, race car driving, gymnastics, or the olympics, then you should watch the last period of this bout. The competitive frenzy will affect almost anyone.
Competition in roller derby is accelerating weekly. Internet broadcasts allow previously regional strategy developments to get shared, and the players in London have obviously been studying Derby News Network (DNN). They showed incredible hustle and an excellent ability to play the fast/slow modern derby. It was one of the best bouts I’ve seen all year and these two teams were fighting for the fifth and sixth position rankings! They struggled, fought and scrapped — trading body blows and sending jammers wheeling through the pack often on one roller skate (and at least twice by jumping over competition). I can’t imagine the physical strain — and this was each teams third bout of the tournament.
London arrived ranked tenth, then beat the then-ranked number seven Carolina team on friday. They then lost to number two Philly on saturday. And here on Sunday they suit up and give blood on the track for the fifth place. It was fun as hell to watch.
And kudos to Montreal. I noticed Montreal early in the season when the traveled to the traditional stronghold of badass derby — the pacific northwest and won some games. Unheard of for a random team to show up and shock champs. But Montreal seem to be well-suited to the struggle, and play a friendly game despite their extraterrestrial neon outfits.
Montreal lost to Carolina on friday, beat Dutchland handily and then sunday faced London.
Now the champs. Charm city is wrecking Pittsburgh for 3rd. And then Philly (Heavy Flo Yo!) against Gotham. Good luck Philly, yer gonna need it.
Filed under roller derby, sport
I love it when non-tough guy stuff slips through hip hop interviews. Mr. Motherf’n Exquire is NYC’s newest star. Recent interview w/ MTV’s Hive reveals his love for coloring with crayons.
When it came time to shoot a video I [was] like let’s just do the shit that we do in the crib, let’s record this shit and turn it into a video. Just keep it natural. And it kinda resonated with people. I guess that’s how everybody else lives too. Everybody ain’t rich and poppin Cristal and shit.
My crib is like the hub. Me and everybody just hang out at my crib. If you come here any time there’s music playing, somebody’s recording, we getting creative, trying to figure out a video, we do whatever. We do wild shit in here, we play video games, we fuck bitches, we color. We just have mad fun in here.
Did you say you color?
Yeah, I color a lot. All of us color. A bunch of gangsta n***** coloring.
Like… with crayons?
Hell yeah! Coloring’s a really serious thing in this crib, son. We don’t play with that shit, you gotta come hard. Niggas be really on they Picasso shit coloring. We get drunk and we just got mad coloring books. Coloring and NBA 2K that’s the serious business in the crib.
via Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Rapping Outside the Lines – Q&A | MTV Hive.
You can find Mr. Mutha’s new tunes online for free.99. Enjoy.
Filed under hip hop
I’m about to watch Steel City take on the hard-hustling Montreal.
This is playoffs season for the roller derby fan. Get serious, get loud. Check it out if you don’t know derby. Free streams at the women’s flat track derby association.
My picks: Gotham, Charm City, and Montreal in that order.
Filed under sport
Life of refinement 