I came across an interesting story in Editor& Publisher, the web site that keeps track of the newspaper business. It seems a little free alternative weekly, CityBeat” published every Thursday in Cincinnati, Ohio (circulation about 323,000 each month) has filed suit in Federal Court alleging a right-wing political/religious conspiracy to restrain trade and violate the paper’s freedom of speech, committed by 39 defendants acting under the coordination of the “Citizens for Community Values” (“Protecting Families since 1983”). It looks likely to turn into quite the little legal contretemps.
- On Looking Back, Or, A Jerry Springer Administration--Why Not?- I bring to you today a story that is eight years old and as recent as today’s headlines.
A foolish tale of mirth and merriment it is indeed--and for those who want a real all-American Fourth of July story, well...this one fits better than a glass slipper on Cinderella’s foot.
The story, as you might have guessed from the headline, starts with a simple premise and ends by paraphrasing Ronald Reagan’s famous question:
Had we elected Jerry Springer in 2000 instead of George Bush the Younger, would we be better off today than we were eight years ago?
Come along for the ride, Esteemed Reader, and we shall see...
- Something New Under the Sun-
I will be celebrating the fourth of July, our nation’s birthday. But this year I will also be celebrating the fifth of July because on the fifth of July in 1883 the U.S. government granted patent #278967 for a formula that changed the world. The patent was for an invention that every one reading this has probably used at least once in the past year, and if you haven’t used it in the past year, you really ought to. It was the brainchild of an energetic young marketing genius with some help from his brother, and the invention made them both rich – even though their original idea was pretty much a bust.
- Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat-
I believe it is the most famous magic story of all time, assuming any of it is true. It’s the source of a dozen movie plots and even if it’s a lie, it’s still a pretty good story. Ching Ling Foo, “The Original Chinese Conjurer” was the most famous magician to ever come out of China. In 1898, when he brought his show to America, he offered $1,000 to any magician who could duplicate his act. Much to his surprise, shortly thereafter, another magician, under the name Ching Ling Soo, appeared and began doing just that: and also billing him self as the “Original Chinese Conjurer”. Then in January of 1905 Soo began headlining at the Hippodrome Theatre in London. One month later, at the Empire Theatre, just across the street, Foo opened his identical show, advertised with identical posters and the matching tag line, “The Original Chinese Conjurer”. The two began campaigns of trash talk, accusing each other of fraud and name calling that kept the theatre critics working their pencils to the nub, until Foo offered Soo $2,000 for a trick off in front of the press. But on the appointed day Foo was there but, alas, Soo was not. The Weekly Dispatch asked, “Did Foo fool Soo? And can Soo sue Foo?” Alas, those questions were never answered.
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- Till Death Us Do Part-
I blame the Romans for what happened in New Hampshire last September, and the nearly fatal disaster last weekend at Dante’s in Queens, and, in fact, for all of the shattered expectations and bruised hearts and broken knuckles over the last 3,000 years. True, it was the ancient Egyptians who invented the wedding feast, with the music and the dancing and the drinking, and it was the Greeks who used to chant a prayer to the Goddess Hera as the wedding party left for their honeymoon; “Ho, Hymen! Ho, Hymen! Hymen Alous! Ho!” And that is not a prayer designed to lower expectations. But it was the Romans who put it all together into a full day potent with rising tensions, distant relations, recriminations, pretensions and hypertension that, by evening, whips everybody, including the bride and groom, into a frenzied drunken breakdown of all civilized behavior. This is the joining of man and women in holy matrimony. And you should always remember that the word woman comes down to us from the old German “yifmann” meaning a wife, and the old Norse “hus” (meaning a house) and “buandi” (meaning to dwell in) being the schmuck that she marries, from the Old French “maritus” (meaning to be martyred). Allow me to give you an example or two from recent history.
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- Reading is not Dead, its Just Sick-
- April Fools, 2008-
- Time After Time After Time -
- Feminists 1, Biblethumpers 0- Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing
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- rastafarian confusion- This summer while in Ghana, I befriended a group of Rastafarian drum makers and performers. The Rastafarians became the good friends and highlight of my study abroad group's time in Ghana, but I remained skeptical. The day that I first met the Rastas was a day in the market. I am an avid (extreme amateur) hand drummer and was drawn to their drum stand in the National Market for Art and Culture in the capital of Accra. Well these Rastas became our good friends and guides around the city we were constantly warned by others to be wary because Rastas are known to steal your things and women. I remained wary as the talks of their beliefs did not match up with their actions. I began to wonder what exactly were the beliefs of a Rastafarian and why? Why did they always seem high with happiness and love? "One love" was their favorite phrase. They would always tell us that we were all brothers ans sisters, no matter the color of our skin because we bleed the same underneath and we had the same color pupils. While many told us to be wary others revered the Rastas for the skills that they shared and the knowledge they imparted. With the great rhetoric they spoke, there always seemed to be an underlying end goal.
- death by moderization- According to National Geographic, "Every 14 days a language dies. By the year 2100, over half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth — many of them never yet recorded — will likely disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and how the human brain works."
It has always been my opinion that language is free and language is fluid, but those two conditions cannot be met if a language dies. But why are languages dying? Both a difficult and nearly obvious answer exists. Earth is slowly developing into a single civilization. Traditional societies and languages are dying; disappearing and waves of rapid modernization aid in the erosion of tradition. The answer cannot be left at just that however, because there are many reasons, effects, and causes intertwined in the death of a language.
- Culture Crashing-
"Culture Crashing" - (C) Brad Michael Moore 1996-2007
- Long, Needless Words-
paused last Thursday, to take note of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first man-made 
I've Seen This Movie Before-
woke up from a nap Monday afternoon to a Faux News report 
that the FBI had labeled Britney Spears as a “person of interest” in their investigation of the conspiracy to hire O.J. Simpson to murder Kevin Federline. Okay, maybe I got that a little mixed up but…did somebody set off a daja vu bomb while I was sleeping or am I just a little late in developing my long anticipated schizophrenia? This O.J thing is like the ultimate re-run of a re-make of “The Press Frenzy that Ate Reality”. Good God, somebody put out a contract on Kevin Federline? Why? Like the puddles unde
r the soft serve dispenser at Burger King, eventually Kevin will evaporate on his own leaving behind merely a floor stain. Why go to all the trouble of killing him? But in the meantime, assuming somebody was interested enough to plan a rubbing out the Fed-ex, was it Britney or just some music lovers? Or maybe it was some teenagers from the mall, looking to eliminate the one celebrity who makes them look committed by comparison. Or maybe The Juice was hired to remove that insipid smirk off The Fed’s face. I’m telling you, it’s been a hell of a week according to Faux News, and the week has barely started.
- What Hurts Us Today... A Dying Earth, and GWBush the Anti-Leader, etc...- (Partially excerpted from a recent blog at AbsolutArts.com)
- On The Fringe- I have always wanted to attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a three week pandemonium of theatre and performance art held each August in the Scottish capital. Its original intent in 1947 was to take advantage of the audiences drawn to the cities’ official arts festivals, but by 1960 it had grown to 2,000 separate shows, ranging from the legendary “Hole in the Meadow”, a literal hole dug in a city park in which a naked man gave a 45 minute performance (each audience limited to one because of the size of the hole) to this year’s ‘The Container” by Clare Bayler, a play about “asylum, racial and religious persecution”, staged in an actual shipping container (audiences limited to 20 per performance).
- Bonds is a Piece of Shit: He deserves a WWF Belt, not the Home Run Record- Barry Bonds is a symbol of our times. Barry approached this hallowed position, the Home Run Title, and becoming a symbol of our times, because Barry has always been an exceptional athlete.
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"Culture Crashing" - (C) Brad Michael Moore 1996-2007 paused last Thursday, to take note of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first man-made woke up from a nap Monday afternoon to a Faux News report 
click to enlarge
that the FBI had labeled Britney Spears as a “person of interest” in their investigation of the conspiracy to hire O.J. Simpson to murder Kevin Federline. Okay, maybe I got that a little mixed up but…did somebody set off a daja vu bomb while I was sleeping or am I just a little late in developing my long anticipated schizophrenia? This O.J thing is like the ultimate re-run of a re-make of “The Press Frenzy that Ate Reality”. Good God, somebody put out a contract on Kevin Federline? Why? Like the puddles under the soft serve dispenser at Burger King, eventually Kevin will evaporate on his own leaving behind merely a floor stain. Why go to all the trouble of killing him? But in the meantime, assuming somebody was interested enough to plan a rubbing out the Fed-ex, was it Britney or just some music lovers? Or maybe it was some teenagers from the mall, looking to eliminate the one celebrity who makes them look committed by comparison. Or maybe The Juice was hired to remove that insipid smirk off The Fed’s face. I’m telling you, it’s been a hell of a week according to Faux News, and the week has barely started.
