Black Heroism Illustrated

Comic books and race in America go hand in hand.

BY: THE SHADOW LEAGUE from: The Root

Comic books haven't always been a place where African Americans could find characters they related to. Black comic book characters ranged from being barely noticeable and blatantly disrespected to receiving lessened moments of racism from decade to decade.

DC Comics didn't have a black superhero who could stand on his own until 1977, when Black Lightning and his ability to create and manipulate electricity and electromagnetic fields was introduced. Marvel Comics beat them to the punch by 11 years with the Black Panther. He debuted in "Fantastic Four" No. 52 in 1966. Created by Jack Kirby, the Black Panther rules over the southern African kingdom of Wakanda. He dons a suit made of vibranium, a nearly impermeable metal found only in his country, and also is an elite-level martial artist and technological mastermind.

Captain America's trusted sidekick, the Falcon, would swoop in on the scene in 1969. In fact, his teaming with Cap was the first time a black comic character was a co-star to a major comic book character. There have been other heroes and villains of apparent African descent who appeared prior to 1970, such as August Durant of the Secret Six (DC Comics) and Jackie Johnson of Sergeant Rock's Easy Company (DC Comics 1960). However, there weren't many characters developed and layered enough to carry an entire comic book series on his or her own at DC or Marvel.

The Falcon would be joined by Power Man, aka Luke Cage, in Marvel's fast-growing pantheon of black superheroes in 1972. The vampire hunter Blade came along a year later—introduced in "Tomb of Dracula" No. 10 in 1973. Marvel also introduced an Asian character, Shang-Chi Master of Kung-Fu, around the same time. It was clear they were trying to be inclusive and to tap into a market of underserved comic book readers.

Other than the introduction of ex-Marine John Stewart as a part-time member of the Green Lantern Corp (DC) in 1971, as well as some smaller, less powerful characters dispersed here and there, Marvel's Power Man and Iron Fist were the second multiracial superhero team. They debuted in "Heroes for Hire" No. 1 back in 1972. DC Comics was very late to the party as far as fielding a respectable black superhero goes. Black Lightning came along in 1977. But Marvel was all about the one-up: They introduced, with great fanfare, Ororo Munroe, aka Storm of the X-Men, in 1979.

I never forgot that Marvel was the first to feature a black superhero of merit, inspiring me to become a lifelong fan because of it. Comic books were a welcome escape. I could leave the hood whenever I needed and go on missions to save the earth for 25 cents in the '70s, 50 cents in the '80s and up to a $1.50 in the early '90s.

But early on, some comic book publishers had the misguided idea to use "black" as a descriptive prefix to the name of any hero of African origin: Black Lightning, Black Vulcan, Black Goliath, Black Racer, the Black Spider, Black Manta and so on. DC Comics was guilty of this offense more than anyone else, but Marvel had its fair share of naming faux pas as well. I was as happy to see an increase in black superheroes as any other lover of comic books. But the fact that almost every character had to be given the "black" marker in his actual name as some sort of self-segregating practice of identification was just flat-out ridiculous.

Another stereotypical practice of comic publishers in the '70s and '80s was having every black superhero be from Harlem. Power Man was from Uptown, along with Falcon and a slew of others. Falcon was actually a street hustler who was rescued from the life by Captain America.

I mean, really?

These things let me know that while publishers were making an active effort to court and engage black readers, their ideas regarding our culture were still boxed and stereotypical. They felt like Harlem was the center of the black universe. And yes, at one time it was. Ironically, the home of New York City soul is skipping a beat with every encroaching step of gentrification. But that, true believers, is a story for another day.

Thanks, InsidePlaya

"Around The Beatles": Little-known 1964 TV special made concurrently with "A Hard Day's Night"

from Dangerous Minds:

 

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Although it was made during the first flush of Beatlemania and broadcast on television on both sides of the Atlantic (and internationally) in 1964, “Around The Beatles,” a one-off TV special produced concurrently while A Hard Day’s Night was being shot, is a comparatively “buried” Beatles treasure. It had once been released as a bootleg by Media Home Entertainment (who bootlegged tons of Beatles material in the early days of VHS and Betamax) but most people have never heard of it. A bit of it was used in The Beatles Anthology TV mini-series, and the Shakespeare bit has made the rounds, but YouTube doesn’t even have a complete version currently. Thankfully, there’s a high quality file on Dailymotion, embedded below for your listening and viewing pleasure.

“Around the Beatles” refers to the set, a theater in the round. Fading up from black, John, Paul and George, dressed in Renaissance garb, raise their horns. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre is seen and Ringo raises a flag with the show’s title before firing off a cannon with disastrous results (and cartoon sound effects). The opening comedy skit is a shambolic performance of Pyramus and Thisbe (complete with hecklers) with Paul McCartney as Pyramus and John Lennon in bad drag as his beloved Thisbe.

The special was directed by Jack Good, the TV producer and manager who gave the world Shindig!, Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde and others of Britain’s first wave of rock and roll stars (he’s also the guy who convinced Gene Vincent to don that Richard III garb—see a pattern here?). Featured on the program along with the Fab Four were Cilla Black, Long John Baldry, PJ Proby, the Vernons Girls, Jamaican teenage ska sensation Millie “My Boy Lollipop” Small, The Jets and Sounds Incorporated, an instrumental group who were Cilla Black’s backing group as well as the opening act when the Beatles toured. (Both Black and Sounds Incorporated were represented by Brian Epstein’s management company, NEMS. PJ Proby was Jack Good’s charge.)

The Beatles lip sync along to “Twist And Shout,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Long Tall Sally” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” and a medley “Love Me Do” / “Please Please Me” / “From Me To You” / “She Loves You” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” They also cover The Isley Brothers’ “Shout” and the Fab Four are seen providing (literally) offstage back vocals for some of the other acts

Of particular interest here is PJ Proby’s wild performance of “Cumberland Gap.” Introduced by Paul McCartney, he brings the house down! On the night this aired in Britain (May 6, 1964, to be exact), PJ Proby—who had been recording for years in Los Angeles without success—became an instant sensation. In the wake of his appearance on “Around the Beatles”, “Hold Me,” his first single released under this name (formerly he’d been “Jett Powers” a name probably familiar to Cramps fans for “Go Girl Go”) was rushed released to the screaming teenagers clamoring for it. (In fact the record was so rushed that they didn’t even finish mixing it, leaving stray vocals after the fadeout on the initial pressing of 45s.) Soon after the special aired “Hold Me” would rise to the #3 spot on the English pop charts, making Proby (who I think is one of the single most talented yet fascinating flawed figures of this era) a star for a short moment.

 

 

Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World

Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World tells the story of the wah wah effect pedal, from its invention in 1966 to the present day. Musicians, engineers, and historians discuss the impact of the pedal on popular music and demonstrate the various ways it has been used, as well as how its evolution has improved the ability of artists to express themselves musically. The film features interviews with Brad Plunkett, the inventor of the pedal, plus many other musical luminaries such as Ben Fong-Torres, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Buddy Guy, Art Thompson, Eddie Kramer, Kirk Hammett, Dweezil Zappa, and Jim Dunlop. These professionals explain how a musical novelty transcended convention and has become timelessly woven into the fabric of modern pop-culture.

Produced by Joey Tosi
Directed by Joey Tosi & Max Baloian
Executive Producer is Jimmy Dunlop

Eyes on the Prize Back to the Movement, 1979-mid 1980s

Final Episode, number 14 in the series

The series concludes with an examination of two cities—one southern, one northern. In Miami, Florida, viewers witness the destruction of Overtown, a once-thriving community, as it was ravaged by urban renewal and the construction of an interstate highway. Politically powerless, the community's economic plight was worsened by the steady arrival of another minority group—Cuban immigrants. In 1980, when white police officers were cleared of charges following the death of a black businessman, Miami's black community exploded in the largest riot since Detroit, 1967. In the north, frustrated by an unresponsive city administration, black Chicagoans successfully organized for political change through a reform candidate and brought about the election of Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor. The series ends with a look back at the people who made this movement a force for change in America. We listen to those who have worked for justice in the fifties, sixties, and seventies, as they reflect on their on-going struggle. Viewers come to realize how far America has traveled to arrive at this racial crossroads

Dirty Old New York aka Fun City part 4

Part IV. Baseball, punk vs. disco, Travolta vs. Gere, Blaxploitation, teen romance, goofball cops, crooked cops, fake cops, Gordon Parks movies, Gordon Parks Jr. movies, Joe Spinell, and a whole lot more...
knifeinthehead.blogspot.com/2013/09/dirty-old-new-york-aka-fun-city-part-iv.html

MORE Things You Probably Didn’t Know About NYC

21. There’s a wind tunnel near the Flat Iron building that can raise women’s skirts. Men used to gather outside of the Flat Iron building to watch. 

Via mcnyblog.org 

22. The borough of Brooklyn on its own would be the fourth largest city in the United States. Queens would also rank fourth nationally. 

23. New York City has the largest Chinese population of any city outside of Asia. 

24. New York has the largest Puerto Rican population of any city in the world. 

25. PONY stands for Product of New York. 

i.imgur.com 

26. In 1920, a horse-drawn carriage filled with explosives was detonated on Wall Street killing 30 people. No one was ever caught, and it is considered to be one of the first acts of domestic terrorism.  

27. In nine years, Madison Square Garden’s lease will run out and it will have to move. 

28. UPS, FedEx, and other commercial delivery companies receive up to 7,000 parking tickets a DAY, contributing up to $120 million in revenue for the city of New York. 

29. It can cost over $289,000 for a one-year hot dog stand permit in Central Park. 

The New York Times / Via nytimes.com 

30. Sixty percent of cigarettes sold in NYC are illegally smuggled from other states.

The incredible ‘POWDERED TOAST MAN,’ 1992

from Dangerous Minds

Early in the second season of Ren & Stimpy, there appeared a rollicking and utterly disrespectful segment called “Powdered Toast Man.” 1992. The character of Powdered Toast Man unified the clueless and self-important silliness of The Tick with the tendency to wreak havoc of, say, Inspector Clouseau or Maxwell Smart. Voiced by the incomparable Gary Owens—and you might not know the name, but if you’ve ever seen Laugh-In or Space Ghost, you sure as hell know his voice—Powdered Toast Man was the spokesman for, obviously, a product called Powdered Toast, which was billed as tasting “just like sawdust!” According to Wikipedia, he was based on the character of Studebacher Hoch, from the epic song “Billy The Mountain” of off the Mothers of Invention’s 1972 album Just Another Band from L.A. I frankly don’t quite see the connection, but anything’s possible.

It’s kind of amazing just how dark and subversive the Powdered Toast bit is. The anti-advertising message is just the start of it. Tasked with saving a kitten from being run over by a truck, Powdered Toast Man causes a passing jetliner to crash into the truck, thus saving the kitten at the expense of who knows how many lives (the injured survivors cheer him on anyway). A few moments later, Powdered Toast Man thoughtlessly tosses the kitten out of frame, where he is apparently run over by a truck, to judge from the sound effects. Later on, he uses the Bill of Rights for kindling. He induces projectiles to emerge from his armpits by doing that “fart noise” maneuver, he uses his own tongue as a telephone…....... actually, you really need to see the video to believe it. The satire of the prevailing superhero ethos really couldn’t be more savage—or more entertaining.

The Pope, “clinging tenaciously” to Powdered Toast Man’s buttocks

Appropriately enough, the role of the Pope was voiced by Frank Zappa. According to IMDB.com, it was the last time he would ever portray a fictional character (granted, he didn’t do this all that often). How did this come to pass? As often happens in showbiz, Zappa had expressed some admiration for the early Ren & Stimpy episodes, and ... one thing led to another. John Kricfalusi tells the story on the commentary track for the episode:

Yeah, Frank Zappa was a fan of the show, and I was a huge Frank Zappa fan growing up. I had all his records. and when I found out he was a fan, our mixer, one of the sound engineers, was also mixing some Frank Zappa records, and he ... handed the phone to me one day and it was Frank on the line. So Frank invited me to his house that weekend. ... and I went with Elinor Blake and Frank and his family and I, Moon Unit and Dweezil. We all sat around watching Ren & Stimpy cartoons all afternoon. He was laughing all through them, and after it was over I asked: “Hey Frank, you want to BE in a cartoon?” and he said: “Yeah, that’d be great” and I said: “You want to be the pope?” and he said: “Yeah, I always wanted to be the pope.”

(Note: Elinor Blake has had a successful musical career in her own right: After working as an animator on Ren & Stimpy, she released several albums under the name April March.) As it happens, Zappa has hardly any lines, but that’s all right.

Another interesting link between Zappa and the show: There was a recurring Ren & Stimpy segment called “Ask Dr. Stupid” in which Stimpy would respond to letters in an incredibly stupid way. Turns out, Zappa recorded a track called “Ask Dr. Stupid” all the way back in 1979.

The episode is available in full on The Ren & Stimpy Show: The First and Second Season (Uncut)



via Showbiz Imagery and Chicanery

Illness, Madness and Death The world of Edvard Munch and The Scream

from Dangerous Minds

Edvard Munch described his paintings as his children, and like children he believed they should go off into the world and have their own adventures. He therefore showed little interest in a painting once it was finished. It could be discarded in an outhouse, abandoned to the elements, damaged in its handling, and even on one occasion, a dog jumped through a canvas. Munch felt that these marks and mishaps added to the work.

I wonder what Munch’s would have thought of the exacting restoration of his paintings “The Scream” and “The Madonna”, after they had been damaged by robbers in 2004. The paintings had “humidity stains” and were badly ripped after removal from their frames. The restorers spent long, tiring hours ensuring the paintings were returned to their “original” state prior to the theft.

“The Scream” is Munch’s most famous painting, and it is the one which has taken on a life beyond the original pictures. Today you can buy “The Scream” printed on clocks, socks, t-shirts, key-rings, notebooks, mugs, dresses, inflatable punching bags and Internet memes.

Munch had been inspired to paint the picture after an evening stroll, as he noted in his journal 22 January 1892:

“One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became “The Scream’.”

He later wrote a more poetic version of his inspiration on the pastel version of “The Scream” (1895):

“I was walking along the road with two Friends / the Sun was setting – The Sky turned a bloody red / And I felt a whiff of Melancholy – I stood / Still, deathly tired – over the blue-black / Fjord and City hung Blood and Tongues of Fire / My Friends walked on – I remained behind / – shivering with Anxiety – I felt the great Scream in Nature – EM.”

But the inspiration for “The Scream” probably went further back than just one evening in Norway, it likely stemmed from his strange and oppressive childhood. Born into a middle class family in 1863, Munch was brought up in a household of strict religious observance, illness and death. When he was five his mother died of consumption. His sister suffered the same fate when Munch was fourteen. His father then went insane with grief, spending days praying, oblivious to the world. Another sister was schizophrenic and died in an institution. His childhood traumas were to bruise all of Munch’s life, as he later wrote:

“Illness, madness, and death were the black angels that kept watch over my cradle and accompanied me all my life.”

The first documentary gives fascinating examination of Edvard Munch’s life and work, while the second focuses on the story of his most famous painting, “an icon of modern art, a Mona Lisa for our time.”

Rick Rubin: Music and Spirituality

This reminds me a little bit of what Rick and I discussed for his words in my upcoming book.

from NOWNESS: Let the Grammy-Winning Guru of Record Production Guide You Toward New Year Nirvana

Recording artist whisperer and all-around wizened sage Rick Rubin contemplates life and art on the stunning cliffs outside his Malibu residence in this short film by Alison Chernick. The mogul ruminates on living in harmony with nature, the importance of recreating its perfection in art, and the transcendental power of sound before leading us into a guided meditation, a practice he has followed since becoming fascinated with yogis as a teenager. His trademark beard, untouched since he was 23 years old, pays clear homage to their spiritual influence. The story of Rubin’s beginnings at Def Jam Records with Russell Simmons in 1984 from his New York University dorm room has become the stuff of legend. He has since become one of the most influential producers in the history of pop music, producing seminal hip-hop albums by artists such as LL Cool J, Run-D.M.C., and The Beastie Boys, with an unparalleled knack for genre-bending and critically acclaimed covers. He has also masterminded the late-career resurrection of a number of artists via American Recordings, exemplified by Johnny Cash’s victorious comeback. Add to that eight Grammy awards, being named one of Time’s most influential people in the world, and a co-presidency of Columbia Records, and Rubin has more than earned his magic reputation. “He is on a journey through the spiritual and creative wilderness,” says Chernick. “It’s transformative to witness.”

Noam Chomsky: The Dimming Prospects for Human Survival

From nuclear war to the destruction of the environment, humanity is steering the wrong course.

from AlterNet

A previous article I wrote explored [3] how security is a high priority for government planners: security, that is, for state power and its primary constituency, concentrated private power - all of which entails that official policy must be protected from public scrutiny.

In these terms, government actions fall in place as quite rational, including the rationality of collective suicide. Even instant destruction by nuclear weapons has never ranked high among the concerns of state authorities.

To cite an example from the late Cold War: In November 1983 the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization launched a military exercise designed to probe Russian air defenses, simulating air and naval attacks and even a nuclear alert.

These actions were undertaken at a very tense moment. Pershing II strategic missiles were being deployed in Europe. President Reagan, fresh from the "Evil Empire" speech, had announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, dubbed "Star Wars," which the Russians understood to be effectively a first-strike weapon - a standard interpretation of missile defense on all sides. 

Naturally these actions caused great alarm in Russia, which, unlike the U.S., was quite vulnerable and had repeatedly been invaded.

Newly released archives reveal that the danger was even more severe than historians had previously assumed. The NATO exercise "almost became a prelude to a preventative (Russian) nuclear strike," according to an account last year by Dmitry Adamsky in the Journal of Strategic Studies .

Nor was this the only close call. In September 1983, Russia's early-warning systems registered an incoming missile strike from the United States and sent the highest-level alert. The Soviet military protocol was to retaliate with a nuclear attack of its own.

The Soviet officer on duty, Stanislav Petrov, intuiting a false alarm, decided not to report the warnings to his superiors. Thanks to his dereliction of duty, we're alive to talk about the incident. 

Security of the population was no more a high priority for Reagan planners than for their predecessors. Such heedlessness continues to the present, even putting aside the numerous near-catastrophic accidents, reviewed in a chilling new book, "Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety," by Eric Schlosser.

It's hard to contest the conclusion of the last commander of the Strategic Air Command, Gen . Lee Butler, that humanity has so far survived the nuclear age "by some combination of skill, luck and divine intervention, and I suspect the latter in greatest proportion."

The government's regular, easy acceptance of threats to survival is almost too extraordinary to capture in words.

In 1995, well after the Soviet Union had collapsed, the U.S. Strategic Command, or Stratcom, which is in charge of nuclear weapons, published a study, "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence." 

A central conclusion is that the U.S. must maintain the right of a nuclear first strike, even against non-nuclear states. Furthermore, nuclear weapons must always be available, because they "cast a shadow over any crisis or conflict."

Thus nuclear weapons are always used, just as you use a gun if you aim it but don't fire when robbing a store - a point that Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, has repeatedly stressed.

Stratcom goes on to advise that "planners should not be too rational about determining ... what an adversary values," all of which must be targeted. "[I]t hurts to portray ourselves as too fully rational and cool-headed. . That the U.S. may become irrational and vindictive if its vital interests are attacked should be a part of the national persona we project to all adversaries." 

It is "beneficial [for ...our strategic posture] that some elements may appear to be potentially'out of control'" - and thus posing a constant threat of nuclear attack.

Not much in this document pertains to the obligation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to make "good faith" efforts to eliminate the nuclear-weapon scourge from the earth. What resounds, rather, is an adaptation of Hilaire Belloc's famous 1898 couplet about the Maxim gun:

Whatever happens we have got,
The Atom Bomb and they have not.

Plans for the future are hardly promising. In December the Congressional Budget Office reported that the U.S. nuclear arsenal will cost $355 billion over the next decade. In January the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies estimated that the U.S. would spend $1 trillion on the nuclear arsenal in the next 30 years.

And of course the United States is not alone in the arms race. As Butler observed, it is a near miracle that we have escaped destruction so far. The longer we tempt fate, the less likely it is that we can hope for divine intervention to perpetuate the miracle. 

In the case of nuclear weapons, at least we know in principle how to overcome the threat of apocalypse: Eliminate them.

But another dire peril casts its shadow over any contemplation of the future - environmental disaster. It's not clear that there even is an escape, though the longer we delay, the more severe the threat becomes - and not in the distant future. The commitment of governments to the security of their populations is therefore clearly exhibited by how they address this issue. 

Today the United States is crowing about "100 years of energy independence" as the country becomes "the Saudi Arabia of the next century" - very likely the final century of human civilization if current policies persist.

One might even take a speech of President Obama's two years ago in the oil town of Cushing, Okla., to be an eloquent death-knell for the species.

He proclaimed with pride, to ample applause, that "Now, under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years. That's important to know. Over the last three years, I've directed my administration to open up millions of acres for gas and oil exploration across 23 different states. We're opening up more than 75 percent of our potential oil resources offshore. We've quadrupled the number of operating rigs to a record high. We've added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the Earth and then some."

The applause also reveals something about government commitment to security. Industry profits are sure to be secured as "producing more oil and gas here at home" will continue to be "a critical part" of energy strategy, as the president promised.

The corporate sector is carrying out major propaganda campaigns to convince the public that climate change, if happening at all, does not result from human activity. These efforts are aimed at overcoming the excessive rationality of the public, which continues to be concerned about the threats that scientists overwhelmingly regard as near-certain and ominous.

To put it bluntly, in the moral calculus of today's capitalism, a bigger bonus tomorrow outweighs the fate of one's grandchildren.

What are the prospects for survival then? They are not bright. But the achievements of those who have struggled for centuries for greater freedom and justice leave a legacy that can be taken up and carried forward - and must be, and soon, if hopes for decent survival are to be sustained. And nothing can tell us more eloquently what kind of creatures we are. 

This is Part II of an article adapted from a lecture by Noam Chomsky on Feb. 28, sponsored by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in Santa Barbara, Calif (Read part 1 here [3]).

© 2014 Noam Chomsky

Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/visions/noam-chomsky-dimming-prospects-human-survival

Links:
[1] http://alternet.org
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/noam-chomsky
[3] http://www.alternet.org/chomsky-staggering-differences-between-how-people-and-powerful-define-security
[4] http://www.alternet.org/tags/chomsky

[5] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B 

Eyes on the Prize The Keys to the Kindgdom, 1974-1980

Episode 13

This show examines the relationship between law and popular struggle as it chronicles efforts to inject substance into promises of equality. The movement's focus is on the keys to the kingdom: jobs and education. In Boston, black parents organize to improve their children's education through court-ordered integration; the response of the white community was swift and often violent. In Atlanta, Mayor Maynard Jackson, the city's first black mayor, used the legal remedy of an affirmative action program to guarantee black involvement in the construction of Atlanta's airport. Affirmative action programs did not go unchallenged, however, as Allan Bakke took his suit against the University of California all the way to the Supreme Court.

Dirty Old New York aka Fun City part 3

Dirty Old New York aka Fun City continues with the third, but not final, installment. As it turns out there will be a Part IV, which is already about halfway done. Perhaps that will be a good place to stop. I will continue to augment previous pieces, if I come across footage that fits too well to exclude. Footage is connected by film, actor, character, location, signage, motif, theme, or some combination thereof.

more Things You Probably Didn’t Know About NYC

10. According to New York City’s Office of Emergency Management, the last hurricane to pass directly over the city was in 1821. The storm surge was so high that the city was flooded up to Canal Street.  

11. Hog Island, a one-mile-long island south of Rockaway Beach, was never seen again after the hurricane of 1893. 

12. New York City’s leading hurricane historian, Nicholas Coch, a professor of coastal geology at Queens College, believes that this is the only reported incidence ever of the removal of an entire island by a hurricane. 

Via en.wikipedia.org 

13. Up until 1957, there was a pneumatic mail tube system that was used to connect 23 post offices across 27 miles. At one point, it moved 97,000 letters a day.

Via untappedcities.com 

14. Albert Einstein’s eyeballs are stored in a safe deposit box in the city. 

15. There are tiny shrimp called copepods in NYC’s drinking water. 

16. On Nov. 28, 2012, not a single murder, shooting, stabbing, or other incident of violent crime in NYC was reported for an entire day. The first time in basically ever.

17. About 1 in every 38 people living in the United States resides in New York City. 

18. New York City has more people than 39 of the 50 states in the U.S. 

19. There is a birth in New York City every 4.4 minutes. 

20. There is a death in New York City every 9.1 minutes.

from BUZZFEED

New Video from "OFF!" with cool cameos

“Red White and Black” directed by The Admiral, starring Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall) and Brian Posehn (Mr. Show) with cameos by Dale Crover (Melvins), David Yow (Jesus Lizard), Jack Grisham (TSOL), and Danny Carey (Tool)

Dave Foley and Brian Posehn, play fascists who get what they deserve in the new OFFicial video from OFF!, "Red White and Black."

The Los Angeles Philharmonic plays through an earthquake

From Amy Seidenwurm at Boing Boing:

Here's a video (well, real audio with some graphics) of the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing Ravel's "Daphnis and Chloé during a 5.1 magnitude earthquake. It's pretty interesting to hear the gasps and murmurs of the audience followed by the lovely music continuing without a hitch.

A couple of things to note here:
-Walt Disney Concert Hall was built only 10 years ago and is made to withstand seismic activity.
-I work for the LA Phil and had a hand in making this video.

Invoking blackface, conservative idiot whines that Stephen Colbert is racist towards conservatives!

from our friend Richard Metzger over at Dangerous Minds

 

I seldom write about political matters anymore on DM because there’s an assumption that if you hate Republicans then you must automatically be a Democrat and I got tired of offering the disclaimer that the only reason I would ever vote for a Democrat is to keep the Republican out of office. Not only that, once-reliable traffic-generators like “Glenn Beck says something OFF THE WALL (again)” or “Sarah Palin says something IDIOTIC (again)” don’t really bring in that much traffic anymore. Republicans are fucking idiots. If they weren’t, then they wouldn’t be Republicans. Most people who read this blog probably don’t need anyone, including me, explaining that to them. I prefer to ignore them.

Today, though, I’m making an exception for the #1 dumbest rightwing reaction to Stephen Colbert taking over for David Letterman. This is just too good.

Young Ben Shapiro was once the wimpy “boy wonder” to Andrew Breitbart’s blob-shaped crusader and he usually makes about as much sense as his blustery late mentor, except that no one takes him nearly as seriously. Lil’ Ben is now the editor of a silly blog called Truth Revolt that no one reads except for lefty bloggers who want to mock him. He’s written a new book called How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them and he’s proud of the fact that he was still a virgin on his wedding day.

Shapiro possesses pretty much the most punchable face I think I’ve ever seen. He fills me with visceral hatred. Which is kind of funny because in his latest Truth Revolt “think piece” Shapiro makes an inadvertently hilarious argument for the comedic genius, not to mention vital cultural importance of Stephen Colbert by complaining that:

“It is nearly impossible to watch an episode of The Colbert Report without coming away with a viscerally negative response to conservatives.”

Sharply observed, fuckwit! Give that man a Kewpie Doll…

But in the wake of all the conservative hand-wringing about Colbert replacing Letterman (Rush Limbaugh said that CBS was declaring “war” on the heartland with this pick) Babyface Ben sees something far more sinister going on:  Colbert IS a racist! He’s a racist against conservatives!

Blackface, which has an ugly history dating back to at least the fifteenth century according to historian John Strausbaugh, was used to portray demeaning and horrifying stereotypes of blacks. Such stereotypical imitation has not been limited to blacks, of course; actors tasked with playing stereotypical Jew Shylock often donned a fake nose and red wig, as did actors who were supposed to play Barabas in The Jew of Malta. Such stereotypical potrayals [sic] create a false sense of blacks, or Jews, or whomever becomes the target of such nastiness.

And this is precisely what Colbert does with regard to politics: he engages in Conservativeface. He needs no makeup or bulbous appendage to play a conservative – after all, conservatives come in every shape and size. Instead, he acts as though he is a conservative – an idiotic, racist, sexist, bigoted, brutal conservative. He out-Archie Bunkers Archie Bunker. His audience laughs and scoffs at brutal religious “Colbert” who wishes to persecute gays; they chortle at evil sexist “Colbert” who thinks men are victims of sexism. This is the purpose of Colbert’s routine. His show is about pure hatred for conservatives in the same way that blackface was about pure hatred of blacks. In order to justify their racism, racists had to create a false perception of blacks; in the same way, Colbert and his audience can justify their racism only by creating a false perception of conservatives.

No, no Ben, you’re confused. Colbert gives a very, very, very accurate portrayal of conservatives. Didn’t you just write:

“It is nearly impossible to watch an episode of The Colbert Report without coming away with a viscerally negative response to conservatives.”

It’s because conservatives are assholes, Ben. Like you. Someone who doesn’t get the fucking joke..

The comments below Shapiro’s logic-addled rant are as delicious as you might expect:

The only thing this article accomplished is making me think that I might not be too sad if society as a whole started systematically disenfranchising and dehumanizing conservatives. After all, if this guy is that attached to the blackface metaphor he should at least get to experience it for real firsthand.

Here’s another:

Is this an article or a rationalization? Sounds like more right wing sour grapes to me. Colbert’s character is successful because it is such a dead-on satire. You can listen to Rush and Fox News and conclude that Colbert is misrepresenting them as somehow worse, or more extreme than they really are? Laughable. Go re-examine your life. You’re on the wrong side.

Tee-hee. Expecting self-awareness from the likes of lil’ Ben seems a tad far-fetched, though.

Oh, brother. There’s this thing called satire and it always exagerrates its subject. That’s how it works. Minstrel shows weren’t satire. They were mockery and cultural appropriation. Is Mr Shapiro claiming that people are born conservative and Mr Colbert is stereotyping the entire conservative “race?”

Or…

BUT WHOOOOO WILL THINK OF THE BILLIONAIRE INDUSTRIALISTS AND UNEDUCATED SOUTHERN WHITE BIGOTS??

What about?

it’s almost as if you’re providing the source material for him to be successful…oh wait, you have

Here’s another good one:

You just compared the schtick of a comedian on a comedy network to the institutional and societal approved degradation of a entire race of people. Which in addition to being monumentally stupid is also precisely why folks like Colbert mock conservatives, your feigned attempts at equivocating always shines a light on the underbelly of your magnificent ignorance.

Not sure if Ben Shapiro and Truth Revolt are important enough targets for Colbert and his writers to take notice of—some attention from him is what Shapiro seems to be aiming for with this insipid drivel—but it would be amusing to hear their take on how the author of How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them scored such a humiliating own goal.

Meanwhile, Colbert did what he does best on last night’s program, totally pwning “Papa Bear”:

 

 

Freestyle Rap Battle: Translated orHow White People 'Hear' Rap Battles ;-)

DOPE.

Hilarious.

Eyes on the Prize A Nation of Law?, 1967-1968

Episode 12

By the late 1960s, the anger in poorer urban areas over charges of police brutality was smoldering. In Chicago, Fred Hampton formed a Black Panther Party chapter. As the chapter grew, so did police surveillance. In a pre-dawn assault by the police, Panthers Hampton and Mark Clark were killed. The deaths came at a time when movement activists were increasingly becoming targets of police harassment at both the local and federal levels through COUNTELPRO, the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program. During this same period, inmates at New York's Attica prison took over the prison in an effort to publicize intolerable conditions. During the police assault which ended the takeover, several inmates and guards were killed. For some, Attica came to symbolize the brutality of a hardened political regime.

Dirty Old New York aka Fun City part 2

The second installment of a multi-part series devoted to the Fun City years. Again, shots are connected by actor, location, character, film, recurring object or motif.

10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About New York City

1. Pinball was banned in the city until 1978. The NYPD even held “Prohibition-style” busts.

2. It is a misdemeanor to fart in NYC churches.
3. It costs $1 million to get a license (medallion) to operate a taxicab.

4. The first pizzeria in the United States was opened in NYC in 1895.

5. In 1857, toilet paper was invented by Joseph C. Gayetty in NYC.
6. The Jewish population in NYC is the largest in the world outside of Israel.

7. Up until World War II, everyone in the entire city who was moving apartments had to move on May 1.

en.wikipedia.org 

8. The city of New York will pay for a one-way plane ticket for any homeless person if they have a guaranteed place to stay. 

9. There’s a man who mines sidewalk cracks for gold. He can make over $600 a week. 

10. According to New York City’s Office of Emergency Management, the last hurricane to pass directly over the city was in 1821. The storm surge was so high that the city was flooded up to Canal Street.

from BUZZFEED 

We will post more from this list every friday for the next 5 weeks ;-)

An interesting look back at FreeStyle SkaterBoarder "Rodney Mullen, from the Ground Up"

new video from CHAIN & THE GANG

CHAIN & THE GANG -- "DEVITALIZE"
FROM THE LP "MINIMUM ROCK N ROLL" ON RADICAL ELITE RECORDS / FORTUNA POP! RECORDS.
DIRECTED BY JAMES SCHNEIDER
(CLICK ON THE "HD" OPTION TO WATCH IT PROPERLY)
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER THROUGH DISCHORD.COM IN THE USA / WORLD AND THROUGH FORTUNAPOP.COM IN UK AND EUROPE.
FILE UNDER: MINIMUM ROCK N ROLL / CRIME WAVE

and the promo clip for the LP

WHAT IS A GROUP? is a film by Ian F Svenonius starring Katie Alice Greer, Daniele Yandel, Chain & the Gang, Alex Minoff, Kid Congo Powers, Michelle Mae, Mary TImony, Francy Graham, and more. It explores the uses and origins of the rock n roll group.

I had a quick shoot with 'Nadya' and 'Masha' of PUSSY RIOT over the weekend.

After many phone calls, e-mails, and connections worn out, I finally had an opportunity to get a few minutes with Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, two members of Pussy Riot, between their busy schedule, while they were here in NYC on their way to California.

I was hoping to get one last shot for my next book. I wasn't able to get the balaclava image i was hoping for, but got a couple of good ones (probably even better since I could actually see their faces), and had a nice time talking with 'Masha' and 'Nadya' about film, vegetarianism, and what happened to them at the Olympics. We got to shoot about half a roll of film (I let my son finish the roll on our way to school monday) and a couple of snaps with my digital point and shoot as well. I think i got one for the book, but you'll have to wait and see that one in September. Here are a few of the cool left overs:











checkout out their channel on YouTube Гараджа Матвеева







p.s. one of my sons' photos from the last half of the roll...

Book Domino Chain World Record

The Seattle Public Library launched the 2013 Summer Reading Program by setting a new world record for the longest book domino chain!

The books used to make this domino chain were either donated or are out of date and no longer in the library's collection. They are now being sold by the Friends of Seattle Public Library to help raise money for library programs and services.

No books were harmed during the filming of this video.

Filmed by Playfish Media: http://www.playfishmedia.com

Eyes on the PrizeAin't Gonna Shuffle No More, 1964-1972

Episode 11

An awareness and sense of pride emerged through the struggle of World Heavyweight Champion Cassius Clay to be called by his new Islamic name, Muhammad Ali. No longer content to use the mainstream culture as their standard and rejecting images which traditionally stereotyped them as servile and inferior, a new generation of African Americans began to redefine itself. Propelled by the Black Consciousness Movement, they celebrated black values and culture and their African roots. Howard University students demanded a more black-oriented curriculum, and African-Americans of every persuasion met to forge a new unity at the Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana.

Dirty Old New York aka Fun City part 1

Another installment in a continuing project that aims to document the life and times of New York City--on film--from the Lindsay years through the first two Koch terms. As indicated, this piece will likely be revised / supplemented with additional footage. The project will continue with a second installment, which will pick up in some way from where Part I ends. All shots are connected by at least one of the following: location, film, character, actor, signage, repeating object, or recurring motif. I've tried to source everything from 16x9 DVDs, but have had to compromise this standard in some cases.

knifeinthehead.blogspot.com/2013/06/dirty-old-new-york-aka-fun-city.html

The Lost Art of Surf Movie Tickets

from Dangerous Minds:

 

Movie tickets are not something to which we give a lot of thought from an aesthetic point of view, and really why should we?  They exist to be torn in half within minutes of purchase. The generic, bluish, thermally printed and perfectly utilitarian stubs we’re used to today were preceded in my youth by the classic red “ADMIT ONE” tabs that did the job just fine in the days when most cinemas had only one or two theaters.

So it was a truly pleasant surprise to find The Gallery of Surf Classics’ trove of 1960s surf movie ticket stubs. Many are very plain, but some of the graphic tickets are marvelous. Now, apart from breakouts like Bruce Brown’s classic The Endless Summer, surf movies weren’t nearly as mainstream as the Frankie & Annette beach party movies that simplified the culture for America’s landlocked. (As a Cleveland kid and a great indoorsman who doesn’t doesn’t tend to much get hung up on the whole So-Cal vibe, movies formed the basis of my knowledge of surf culture, to which I’m a consummate outsider.) These were essentially niche sports documentaries that screened in high school auditoria and civic rec centers, so I find it pretty amazing that anyone would have taken the time and expense to craft such elaborate tickets for these films.

 



The Endless Summer, 1964

 



Walt Phillips’ Once Upon a Wave, 1963

 



Grant Rohloff’s Too Hot To Handle, 1963

 



Peter Clifton/DES Films’ A Fluid Journey, 1969

MacGillivray Freeman Films moved on from surfer flicks in the ‘60s and ‘70s to retool as an IMax production company, whose body of work includes the massive success Everest, but their Five Summer Stories is a surf genre classic.

 



Five Summer Stories, 1972

 



Free and Easy, 1967

 



The Sunshine Sea, 1970

 



A Cool Wave of Color, 1964

The following stubs are quite special—they’re designed by director/artist/surfer John Severson. Severson began filming surf documentaries in 1957, founded Surfer magazine in 1959, and remains to this day a gifted graphic artist celebrating surf. His block prints are especially awesome, but all his artwork is worth a peek.

 



Surf Fever, 1960

 



Big Wednesday, 1961, related only by title to the 1978 Jan-Michael Vincent/Gary Busey surf film.

 



Going My Wave, 1962

 



The Angry Sea, 1963

I could hardly show you surf movie ticket art without showing you a surf movie, right? Here’s a fantastic looking and sounding upload of the Citizen Kane of surf movies, The Endless Summer. The premise is tantalizingly wishful—if one had the time and resources, one could continually travel the globe so as to always be in a part of the world where it’s summertime, and thus live a life of neverending surfing. It’s all at once a helpful primer about surf culture basics (as of 1964), a fantastic travelogue, and a collection of beautiful footage.

 

BAD BRAINS - Black Dots 1978 [FULL ALBUM]

why not?




fucking incredible.

The best (serious) April Fools' Day video (seriously!)

from our friend Richard Metzger over at Dangerous Minds:

“Introducing Anti-Unional, a new, long-lasting anti-worker suppository…”

The anti-union push by the wealthy elites, the corporations and the reichwing politicians who do the bidding of the highest bidders is shameful. As someone raised in a union household, what went down in Tennessee recently made me feel heartsick. Mike Elk’s epic article “The Battle for Chattanooga: Southern Masculinity and the Anti-Union Campaign at Volkswagen” is a must-read if you want to understand the depths these middle-management class-traitor assholes will sink to and the psychological warfare they engaged in vs. the workers. One word for it: Shameful. (This is an important piece of journalism, absolutely worth your time.)

Why not ask the Germans how they feel about union membership? They have a strong economy. They have LOTS of union members. Their unions prevent them from getting screwed over by the oligarchs. They have good wages and can raise their families without struggling. They even get a month or more of vacation. Coincidence? I should think not.

Can’t have that here, now, can we? The wealthy might not like it. Look at this chart, it tells the story of what’s happened in America rather succinctly and as the saying goes, numbers don’t lie.

 



 

Utterly brilliant work, this video speaks for itself, so I’m just going to get out of its way:

Ten out of ten CEOs recommend Anti-Unional to their workers!

Time-released effects ensure that the 1% continue to take in a greater share of the nation’s wealth!

Fast-acting formula decimates wages and benefits and a secure retirement!

Certified and approved by Koch Brothers Laboratories.

If you approve of this satire, SHARE IT. So far they’ve only had a handful of views, this needs to go viral stat.

 

 

Via AFSCME

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