take hold of your time here

"Because a jury was asked to decide innocence or guilt on the basis of a badly-written law, and the..."

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:32:51 -0700

“

Because a jury was asked to decide innocence or guilt on the basis of a badly-written law, and the U.S. doesn’t have a Fully Informed Jury act that would have told the jurors what their job, their powers, and their rights are in the legal system. Jurors don’t know about jury nullification, which is clearly what should have happened in this case; there’s some sign the jury would have taken advantage of it if they’d known they could.

It’s likely that, at some point, you’ll be called for jury duty. Before you are, visit the Fully Informed Jury Association’s website. Tell your friends to do the same. Your freedom and mine may depend on it one day.

Innocence won’t keep you safe.

”

- coffeeem: Dr. Peter Watts: Threat, or Menace? (via jaybushman)

The awesomeness of The Hold Steady.

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:14:00 -0700

The awesomeness of The Hold Steady.

"In other words, while Viacom’s lawyers were issuing takedown notices, its marketers were putting..."

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:15:42 -0700

“In other words, while Viacom’s lawyers were issuing takedown notices, its marketers were putting clips up on YouTube to promote Viacom movies and TV shows. You’ve got to wonder what the judge will make of that evidence.”

- YouTube Defense: Viacom “Secretly Uploaded” Content, And They Tried To Buy Us

shananaomi: from the new issue of spin Seriously, I will...

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:25:15 -0700

shananaomi:

from the new issue of spin

Seriously, I will never get tired of this shit. A+

katyisntfunny: textsfromlastnight: (315): im in class. still drunk. wearing one sock. eating a...

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:21:22 -0700

katyisntfunny:

textsfromlastnight:

(315): im in class. still drunk. wearing one sock. eating a breakfast sandwich and trying to make sure this bottle of whiskey doesnt fall out of my purse in front of my professor.

Ke$ha goes to school?!

bazinga.

"I was a young woman in love with American sounds but a little scared of what seemed like a hallowed..."

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:05:56 -0700

“I was a young woman in love with American sounds but a little scared of what seemed like a hallowed history; Chilton was a seasoned knockabout who insisted on showing me — and everyone in the room — that history is simply what people make out of their damage and their rudeness, their lust and their ambitious beating hearts.”

- RIP Alex Chilton, American Music Man | Pop & Hiss | Los Angeles Times

As usual, Ann Powers says it best.

“The band had been active in the 1970s, but they belonged to us, the kids fighting off the shadow of the Baby Boomers who’d been too dumb to realize how great it was”

"Fancy toaster ovens with convection heat have a one-touch “smart cookie” option so that store-bought..."

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:49:54 -0700

“

Fancy toaster ovens with convection heat have a one-touch “smart cookie” option so that store-bought dough can go from refrigerator to plate without a thought. Microwaves have graduated to buttons for pizzas, breakfast sausage and omelets.

That’s not to say that expensive knives, “Top Chef” cookbooks and home canning equipment aren’t popular in some circles. But the big money is made selling appliances designed on the assumption that cooking skill matters less than shopping skill.

Consider that in the $3.8 billion category called small kitchen electrics, sales were up almost 9 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to market research by the NPD Group. Meanwhile, sales of housewares — that includes knives, pots and pans — were down 11.5 percent.

”

- Kitchen Gadgets Take the Fast-Food Mentality Into the Home - NYTimes.com

This article makes me incredibly, incredibly sad.

Alex Chilton was only 16 when he recorded lead vocals on...

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:45:57 -0700

Alex Chilton was only 16 when he recorded lead vocals on “The Letter,” the title track off of the Box Tops’ 1967 album.

I was trying to explain to Bronwyn how this is one of a handful of songs you can drop into a set at a punk dive bar and everyone will get it, respond to it, let the growl of rock ’n’ roll shiver down their spine. How this is a song you might not think you know until you hear it and you know it. How this is a song that helped defined what it means to release a song that changes the world.

RIP Alex. We’ll miss you.

musicismyboyfriend: scissor sisters tomorrow night at the...

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:23:39 -0700

musicismyboyfriend:

scissor sisters tomorrow night at the bowery ballroom. gonna sprinkle on some glitter and dance the night away.

<3<3 ana matronic!

Wtf’s A Bread Plate?: Place Setting Placemats -...

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:05:07 -0700

Wtf’s A Bread Plate?: Place Setting Placemats - Geekologie

This appeals to the hostess AND the design nerd in me.

Lady Gaga - Telephone ft. Beyoncé (Behind the Scenes) Am I the...

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:32:00 -0700

Lady Gaga - Telephone ft. Beyoncé (Behind the Scenes)

Am I the only one who did NOT get that this is a sequel to Paparazzi?

"It’s difficult when they’re making millions of dollars and placating to the masses..."

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:00:33 -0700

“It’s difficult when they’re making millions of dollars and placating to the masses — it’s tricky to maintain that, but I think [Lady Gaga] tries. And even including someone like me is a part of that. The thing that was kind of interesting was that in between takes I was getting kind of annoyed because the camera guys were really kind of drooling and talking about “girl-on-girl action” and I said, “What about boy-on-girl action?” And she turned to me and said “Oh. Do you identify as male?” [Laughs] And I said, “Well, probably more than you do.” And she said “I’ll be sure to tell people that.” We just had this abstracted conversation about gender in the middle of this shoot, which I thought was really weird and pretty interesting: A) that she would take the time and B) that she would even ask me about that.”

- Out.com Features | Heather Cassils: Lady Gaga’s Prison Yard Girlfriend

Clipped to just the part that makes me sigh and say...

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:45:42 -0700

Clipped to just the part that makes me sigh and say “Yup.”

spytap:

More often than not, a “brand” overshadows the “people” who make the brand work, but most people I know prefer interacting with other people online, not with corporate marketing strategies. Newsweek makes me laugh and pay attention because they allow certain personality quirks of the people who work there to shine through; which is such a simple and still underutilized thing.

"fuckyeahme!"

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:15:19 -0700

“fuckyeahme!”

- sometimes you just need to be your own cheerleader.

turnabout: inothernews: switchblades: peterfeld: Young...

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:21:07 -0700

turnabout:

inothernews:

switchblades:

peterfeld:

~~Young Manhattanites, old Manhattanites,~~ EVERYONE be sure to answer the 2010 Census!

Don’t be a lazy cock. It takes all of a minute to fill it out. Your representation in government, your children’s education, SO MUCH SHIT DEPENDS ON YOU FILLING IT OUT.

Correction: EVEN LAZY COCKS SHOULD FILL THIS SHIT OUT.

My roommate and I did it together. And then I come to tumblr, and feel like I’ve liveblogged the Census. Fuckyeahconstitutionalobligations!

The peer pressure is getting INTENSE. It’s not like I was going to skip it but now I want to turn it in EARLY. I’m NEVER early.

"The rest of the nation has a tendency to overstate the troubles of California when it’s doing badly..."

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:29:59 -0700

“The rest of the nation has a tendency to overstate the troubles of California when it’s doing badly and understate its successes when it does well. 13% of the U.S. GDP comes from California. Alone, it would be the world’s 5th largest economy. However, the real sin committed by the other 49 states is a failure to acknowledge the primacy of California in the national economy.”

- Is California Becoming a Third World Nation? - Japhy Grant - California Stars - True/Slant

Japhy has some really smart things to say here. He never gets around to specifically calling out the US’s Northeast bias but I can read between the lines.

factsarenothing: meganwest: I can’t believe I didn’t take a...

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:42:52 -0700

factsarenothing:

meganwest: I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of my Graceland cross stitch before I gave it to @vanishingcity. Best delayed/joke gift ever, right?

YESSSSS! I thought about this again last night as I drove home and listened to Paul Simon’s “Graceland” on repeat. I wasn’t an Elvis fan until I visited Graceland, not really, but as a place and a metaphor it is undoubtedly important, if just as a cultural touchstone.

As an aside: I’ll never get over the line, “And I may be obliged to defend / Every love every ending / Or maybe there’s no obligations now.”

(I meant best delayed/joke gift since I both went to Memphis last May and who expects a cross-stitch from the birthplace of rock and roll?)

The best comments from my NewTeeVee curating intro video.

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:18:32 -0700

lizlet:

Last time I’ll mention this, I promise, but for the sake of posterity, I feel compelled to collect these fond remarks from the YouTube audience. And then I will never look at them ever again.

I am interested in this curvy temptress promoting web crap than the web crap itself. She’s like a living rendition of Velma Dinkley from Scooby Doo. Makin mah dick hard. Not gonna lie….

nice taties

you should do fat bitch porn

I wish to stick me stiffy between your love bags

i bet she gives a meeeeeaaaaaan blow job.

Looks like a plump Maggie Gyllenhaal.

yep, she’s got rockin’ cleave, but also a brain, obviously.

BRB updating official bio.

2/2 people who’ve been in my car today agree: Liz Shannon Miller is fucking grace under fire.

"American Idiot,” the song, is the opening shot of Green Day’s own “Howl.” Much like the poem by..."

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:15:00 -0700

““American Idiot,” the song, is the opening shot of Green Day’s own “Howl.” Much like the poem by queer beatnik Allen Ginsberg, the taut, tense explosion of punk rock politics decries the loss of a generation to drugs, war, hopelessness, and the “sub-liminal mindfuck” of a nation ruled by infomercials and imbeciles.

Fifty-five seconds into the three-minute manifesto, Billie Joe Armstrong delivers a different kind of mindfuck: “Maybe I am the faggot America,” he sings, and for six years every kid at the band’s stadium-sized shows has sung right along, fists in the air.”

- Out.com Features | Billie Joe Armstrong: Idiot Savant

Shana did something sublime here. I highly recommend you check it out.

lizlet: jaybushman: meganwest: This isn’t the Southwest, this...

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:21:38 -0700

lizlet:

jaybushman:

meganwest:

This isn’t the Southwest, this is the West and @MeganWest knows you don’t need to be in Austin to know Interactive.

Join other digital / social media / interactive advocates who aren’t in Austin (for whatever reason) at The Silver Spoon in West Hollywood for an informal evening at the classic bar inside a classic diner.

Suggested panel topic: “Canadian: Fact, Myth or Diabolical Plot?”

Suggested hashtag: #meganiscanadian

Shhhh, you guys! Don’t spoil the surprise.