In 1997, Todd Phillips and Andrew Gurland created a film documenting the savagely brutal hazing rituals that take place during Hell Week at U.S. college fraternities. Frat House was completed and won the Grand Jury Prize for documentaries at 1998's Sundance Film Festival, an award that was later rescinded. HBO was slated to air it later that year, but pulled it for reasons that remain debatable to this day. It has never seen an official release.

Frat House (60 minutes, Google video, ) [more inside]
posted by item on Nov 8, 2007 - 66 comments

How to Market a Deadly Disease: Ten provocative examples of AIDS awareness campaigns from around the world. Here are some more [YouTube]. NSFW. Via. [Previously/related: 1, 2]
posted by veronica sawyer on Aug 17, 2007 - 5 comments

Ward Churchill fired. The Colorado Board of Regents made a point to say that he was not fired for the infamous essay in which he called financial workers killed in the World Trade Center attack to "little Eichmanns" for their role in facilitating US corporate financial interests. They insist that he was fired for "serious, repeated and deliberate research misconduct that falls below the minimum standard of professional integrity, including fabrication, falsification, improper citation and plagiarism," allegations made against Churchill even before his controversial post-9/11 remarks. While others warned that the firing signaled a breach of academic freedom and assault on the idea of tenure itself, Churchill announced he is suing the university. (previously)
posted by inoculatedcities on Jul 25, 2007 - 156 comments

Adidas earns the love of the masses once again, this time with racist shoes! The most offensive part of the design is taken from original work by Barry McGee. Yeah, maybe it's taken out of context (of, say, other work dealing with racism), or is it some kind of inevitable comic artist attraction to stereotypical imagery of the past? At any rate, those wily Asians at Giant Robot seem to like it, and his fans don't seem that offended.

Whether you love or hate that particularly inscrutable mascot, McGee is actually an experienced, prolific, and talented guy. (He was also married to artist Margaret Kilgallen until her death in 2001, and is now the single father of their daughter Asha.) McGee once said, "Sometimes a rock soaring through a plate of glass can be the most beautiful, compelling work of art I have ever seen". Oh, and p.s.--he's half-Chinese, you cry-babies ;-) More on the controversy: 1, 2, 3.
posted by ibeji on Apr 10, 2006 - 48 comments