About 300 Americans have died because they couldn’t afford health care since I started this count five days ago. About 50 more will die today. Since this is turning into a kind of daily witness, I suppose I should document my source for the statistic this is based on. Michael Moore says in Sicko, and […]
Entries Tagged as 'Culture'
Good Morning, Day 6
July 23rd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Activism, Film, HCC-DDT, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Human Rights, News, Politics, The Economy, Stupid
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Fresh Toni Basil Salad
July 22nd, 2007 · 2 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Music, New Wave
Funny, Rubber Nun and I were just talking about Toni Basil. Now John at Lost in the 80s has “The Ultimate Toni Basil Post.” Is he spying on us?
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Video Roundup: Colbert, Stewart, and Olbermann
July 20th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Comedy, Culture, Healthcare Crisis, LGBT, Media, News, Politics, TV, Video
First up, Stephen interviews Michael Moore … all the way from Brazil! Next, Jon Stewart’s take on anti-gay Surgeon General nominee James Holsinger, in which he manages to reveal some surprising truths inherent in plumbing fixtures. (I previously posted Colbert’s take on Holsinger’s fixture fixation, but Stewart gets some good mileage out of it, too.) […]
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Moore vs. Gupta: The Wrap-Up
July 20th, 2007 · Comments Off on Moore vs. Gupta: The Wrap-Up · Culture, Film, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Media, News, Politics, TV, Video
I didn’t get a chance to weigh in on the whole Moore vs. Gupta dustup while it was happening (much to the relief of the scale!), but here’s a little post-mortem wrap-up. First off, some links in case you missed any or all of it (all video links except the second one): Round One: Michael […]
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Dogging Michael Vick
July 19th, 2007 · 6 Comments · Activism, Culture, Film, Media, News, Pets, Politics
There have been a lot of scandals involving professional sports figures in recent years. But the federal indictment of NFL quarterback Michael Vick (of the Atlanta Falcons) on dogfighting charges is in a far worse league than the latest steroid abuse flap. Here’s what the email I got from the Humane Society of the United […]
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Crowded House: For the World, Not for the War
July 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on Crowded House: For the World, Not for the War · Culture, iTunes, Music, New Wave, News, Peace, Politics
The new Crowded House album, Time on Earth, was released last week in the US and the week before in the UK. It’s available for download from iTunes (with bonus tracks!) and of course you can get the CD from Amazon. The band will be touring through December (including their two shows here in Chicago, […]
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Books: “Too Slow a Form of Information Delivery”
July 13th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Books, Culture, Education, History, Internet, Lit, Mythology, News
Scary quote of the week: In an article from the LA Times about the sad passing of another indie book store owned by a wonderful old eccentric — which is kind of like losing one of the last 12 rare rhinoceroses or something – anyway, toward the end of that article, we read this: Dowdy […]
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Great Moments in Misplaced Modifiers
July 13th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Culture, Grammar, Internet, Language
Spotted just now in an online customer review for a handheld vacuum: We have a 2 year old daughter who loves to throw food and her five cousins who ride in the car. … those poor cousins, being thrown around the inside of a car by a freakishly strong two-year-old! I hope the grownups at […]
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Update: Internet Radio Gets a Reprieve
July 13th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Activism, Culture, Internet, Media, Music, News
For those who’ve been following the “Internet Radio Is in Danger of Being Shut Down Forever” story (background here), there’s some good news. According to Wired News, as a result of the massive outcry Congress heard from listeners, SoundExchange is backing away from the draconic royalty rate structure that would have put Internet radio out […]
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The Mid-70s Bowie Video Vault: David, Dick, Dinah … and a Dentist
July 12th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, Music, New Wave, Performance, TV, Video
I think I must have died and gone to David Bowie video heaven. Prior to discovering the other videos in this post on YouTube, I had seen the clip of Bowie performing “Young Americans” on the Dick Cavett show in December of 1974, because it’s on the Best of Bowie DVD set. (I missed seeing […]
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NYC Fire Fighters vs. Giuliani
July 12th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Activism, Culture, History, Labor, News, Politics, Terrorism, Video
Speaking of unions … here’s what the New York fire fighters’ union has to say about Rudy Giuliani. It’s a little slow to get going, but if you take a few minutes to watch the whole thing, it’s pretty damning. Rudy really made some incredibly bad decisions. For example, I hadn’t known about him […]
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Liking Norma Rae
July 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on Liking Norma Rae · Activism, Culture, Film, History, Labor, Media, News, Peoria, Politics, The Economy, Stupid
After reading this piece, which originally ran in The Nation, I bumped Norma Rae up on my Netflix queue and was very glad I did. I was really too young for it when it came out in 1979, and had somehow never gotten around to renting it in the years since. And seeing Norma Rae […]
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I Font You To Font Me
July 9th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Design, Lit, Typography
NZBC linked to a recent Slate piece in which a gaggle of writers discuss their favorite fonts to work in. I’m a heavy Times user myself, mainly because it’s the only font that doesn’t distract me while I’m working in it — to me it just looks plain and neutral without being hard to read. […]
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Roundup: Cannibal Cane Toad Edition
July 9th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Cannibal Cane Toad Edition · Activism, Blogs, Comics, Culture, Education, Food, Hate Crimes, Health, Human Rights, Internet, iTunes, LGBT, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Organic Food, Pets, Politics, Restaurants, Roundup, Science, Tech, Vegetarian & Vegan
John Conyers tells it like it T-I-Is: Conyers says Bush spared Libby from jail to keep him from singing. This is patently obvious to just about everyone, but of course the White House immediately called the charge “ridiculous and baseless.” Which allows it to join the distinguished list of other ideas the administration considers “ridiculous […]
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