January 5, 2017
Hail to musical adaptation: how a lusty boat song became presidential
The upcoming transfer of power in the United States will be a time with much pomp and music, with people singing along to "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America," but "Hail to the Chief" remains instrumental, even though there are lyrics, as sung by the Mormon Tabernacle. And if we sang those lyrics, we'd be missing its origin as a song to celebrate Roderick Dhu, or Black Roderick, a fictional medieval Scottish outlaw, which was re-written a number of times before becoming the song that Julia Tyler, wife of President John Tyler, requested for presidential entrances. [more inside]
“There is nothing hip and cool happening in Brooklyn. It’s a war”
Activist Imani Henry discusses gentrification with the blog Brokelyn. Previously: An excerpt from D.W. Gibson's The Edge Becomes the Center: An Oral History of Gentrification in the Twenty-First Century.
More: "Everything is going to become another Park Slope because that’s the way that this works.” Gentrification in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
And for your listening pleasure, WNYC and The Nation's "There Goes the Neighborhood."
From ProPublica: is your apartment rent stabilized? and one of the mechanisms that got us here.
Plus, your guide to New York State tenants' rights.
It is by my hand you will rise from the ashes of this world
From the director of Mad Max, The Road Warrior, Beyond Thunderdome, and Babe: Pig in the City comes a new masterpiece.
MAD FEET: FURY ROAD
“Criminal justice reform has been a focus of my entire career”
In a first for a sitting President, Barack Obama has published a 56-page paper/commentary in the Harvard Law Review: “The President’s Role in Advancing Criminal Justice Reform” [more inside]
Children Against Wizards
Cr1tikal/Penguinz0 and fellow The Official Podcast member Kaya Orsan (previously) have riffed on the recent terrible Russian children's film Children Against Wizards, made with support from the Russian government (parts 1, 2, 3). They don't understand a word of it, but understanding it can't possibly make it worse, right? ...Right? (English subtitles available for latter video. Contains references to drugs, suicide, religion and politics.)
A Slight Return
"Everyone thought I was just a crazy kid,” Casher said. "I mean, here I was with a 60-piece orchestra playing wah-wah guitar. All the first-call players like Bob Bain and Tommy Tedesco were saying, ‘What is this kid doing playing first chair?’ Well, it was because I had the wah."50 Years Ago, the Wah-Wah Pedal Was Born in a Hollywood Hills Garage (previously)
Still, the K-On movie was robbed
To celebrate Hayao Miyazaki's 76th birthday today, why not take a look at the 100 best anime movies of all time according to Paste Magazine and discover some of anime's other great directors?
May all that have life be delivered from suffering
Shelters have a hard time finding adoptive families for elderly pets, animals with disabilities or chronic medical conditions, large animals that need special facilities, and working animals who have outlived their usefulness. Some people have stepped up to provide permanent care for these animals, so that they can live out their lives in comfort and security: 10 Animal Retirement Homes [more inside]
Is progress inevitable? Is it natural? Is it fragile? Is it possible?
[I]n the middle of so many discussions of the causes of this year’s events (economics, backlash, media, the not-so-sleeping dragon bigotry), and of how to respond to them (petitions, debate, fundraising, art, despair) I hope people will find it useful to zoom out with me, to talk about the causes of historical events and change in general.
Historian Ada Palmer writes about the history of the idea of progress, the role of individuals in history, the (simulated) Papal election of 2016, and what it all means for us here in 2017. [more inside]
In My Mind, and In My Car, We Can't Rewind, We've Gone Too Far...
Faced with a declining listener-ship, in the wake of competing formats like streaming media, Norway announced that it will cease broadcasting on the FM bandwidth in 2017, in favor of the DAB+ standard, which employs AAC-based encoding at 48kbps. [more inside]
Not now. Not ever.
Queen Elizabeth II cannot die. You might be wondering what happens when the Queen dies. It's simple: we don't really know, but there are plans afoot.
Comic Book Squirrel Monkeys
I grabbed it by its tail, and it came down on, starting literally up by my shoulder, like a drill press it landed on my arm, and every bite was breaking flesh. It was literally like an unsewing machine. It was literally unsewing my arm coming down, and I was pouring blood. The testimony of someone who actually bought one of those little monkeys advertised in the back of comic books. [more inside]
Daydreaming
Originally from Afropunk: Coachella , the über-fest hailed by music's intelligentsia and many progressives, set to take place in April has been making headlines (but not at music's most revered places) for its owner Philip Anschutz, "a climate change denier ... who has donated some of his billions to anti-gay organizations."
12/10 h*ckin good story
The best meme of 2016 — and let’s be real, probably any year — should be the one that was born from people arguing about dogs on the Internet. The Washington Post talks to @dog_rates and Brent Brant Walker , who had one of the best Twitter exchanges of the year.
The Detective of Northern Oddities
When a creature mysteriously turns up dead in Alaska—be it a sea otter, polar bear, or humpback whale—veterinary pathologist Kathy Burek gets the call. (contains some descriptions of animal gore) [more inside]
"Personally, it's not been worth it."
Nine months later, Lucy DeCoutere talks with CBC Radio about her experiences since the end of the Jian Ghomeshi trial (previously). [more inside]
What's Up Fellow Kids?
Millennial Dan Nainan has been the go-to millennial in a whole lot of news stories in the past year. He was 35 in an AP story that appeared in the Chicago Tribune about undecided voters on Nov. 6, two days before the election. A few weeks later, he was 35 in a Vocativ story about Obama voters who wound up voting for Donald Trump. There he was again in Cosmopolitan in July. This time he was a millennial who swore off porn... Dan Nainan is known as a 35-year-old former Intel engineer who now makes millions as a comedian. The fact that he’s 20 years older is the least weird part of his story.
Ice Minarets!
Check out the awesome snow and ice sculptures at the 2016 Harbin Ice and Snow Festival! [more inside]
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