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Rest in Peace, Mr. Sutton. The Times does a great job of summarizing his professional accomplishments.
Posted on December 27, 2009
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R.I.P. Roc Raida. Complex and The Daily Swarm have fitting tributes. I’ve seen him perform once, alongside the X-Ecutioners, and it was a transcendent experience.
Posted on September 21, 2009
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Swayze in Dirty Dancing, by Rickey Purdin, who’ll be posting Patrick Swayze tribute sketches on his blog, Rowdy Schoolyard, for the rest of the month. He’s done Point Break, and a scene from that famous Saturday Night Live sketch Swayze did with Chris Farley so far. Worth checking out. h/t Agent M.
Posted on September 17, 2009
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Thirteen years and one day. R.I.P. Tupac Amaru Shakur. On a side note, videos like this remind me of why Vibe Magazine, and many of the other old-line glossy cultural journalism outfits were valuable. They had the best content. It’s a shame that no one had the foresight (or the capacity) to effectively revise their models to keep up with the new media world. h/t Nah Right (and doesn’t that just say it all?)
Posted on September 14, 2009 with 1 note
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A Sober Look At Ted Kennedy
I think that this profile by Michael Kelly for GQ in 1990 really captures the complexities and contradictions of the Kennedy legacy. H/t Bill Simmons (@sportsguy33)
Posted on August 27, 2009 with 1 note
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The same Republicans who are talking about the problems of the inner cities have nominated a man who said, and I quote, “I have included in my morning and evening prayers every day the prayer that the Federal Government not bail out New York.” And that nominee is no friend of this city and our great urban centers across this nation.
The same Republicans who are talking about security for the elderly have nominated a man who said just four years ago that “Participation in social security should be made voluntary.” And that nominee is no friend of the senior citizens of this nation.
The same Republicans who are talking about preserving the environment have nominated a man who last year made the preposterous statement, and I quote, “Eighty percent of our air pollution comes from plants and trees.” And that nominee is no friend of the environment.
And the same Republicans who are invoking Franklin Roosevelt have nominated a man who said in 1976, and these are his exact words, “Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal.” And that nominee whose name is Ronald Reagan has no right to quote Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, R.I.P. There are bound to be tons of memorials written about Kennedy over the next week, and many will praise him for his willingness to be ‘bipartisan’, to ‘step across party lines’. We should not forget (especially in this age of dispassionate centrism) that being a liberal (yeah, I said it - not progressive, but liberal) really used to mean something. Ironically, the h/t goes to Meghan McCain.Posted on August 26, 2009
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Most Americans will never know how many things Ted Kennedy did to make their lives better, how many things he prevented that would have hurt them, and how tenaciously he fought on their behalf. In 1969, for example, he introduced a bill in the Senate calling for universal health insurance, and then, for the next forty years, pushed and prodded colleagues and presidents to get on with it. If and when we ever achieve that goal it will be in no small measure due to the dedication and perseverance of this one remarkable man. We owe it to him and his memory to do it soon and do it well.
Robert Reich, on Ted Kennedy’s passing. Senator Kennedy was also widely praised for the quality of his legislative staff, which has produced a number of policy heavyweights in domestic and foreign policy. Steve Clemons has some interesting comments on that front.Posted on August 26, 2009
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For more great performances featuring Les Paul’s classic guitar, click here.
Posted on August 15, 2009
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Posted on August 13, 2009
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By the time I realized I would probably not become a super-hero, I wanted to spend my life making up stories about them.
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I admit it. The fiction I write is primarily intended for juveniles. But just because it’s for juveniles doesn’t mean it has to be valueless. I try to imbed my juvenile adventure stories with values I believe in, values that transcend the genre. Sometimes I succeed.
-Mark Gruenwald, writer and editor for Marvel Comics, (June 18, 1953-August 12, 1996). These quotes are excerpts from a column he wrote for Marvel Age back in the ‘80’s. I think that this is the most entertaining part of his Wikipedia entry: “In the pages of Fantastic Four, writer/artist Walt Simonson created the Time Variance Authority, a cosmic bureaucracy that regulates the Marvel Multiverse. Simonson paid homage to Gruenwald by having the TVA’s staff all be clones of Gruenwald; no one could keep track of everything but him.”
I can’t believe that it’s been thirteen years since his death.
Posted on August 12, 2009
