February 22, 2003

Jazz and Gay Culture

Are Jazz And Gay Culture Antithetical? When an American friend of mine told me recently that gay men hate jazz, although that's not my experience in my part of the world, it got me thinking. But the article I found, by Francis Davis, only added to the mystery. Is the audience for Jazz overwhelmingly and creepily white, bourgeois, straight, macho and middle-aged (which, embarrassingly, just about describes this Jazz fan...)? If it is, why the hell is it? Why are there so few outed gay Afro-American musicians, for instance? Is there still a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" mentality? Or, more interestingly, does it have something to do with Jazz itself? Or even being gay? And what about the other musical stereotypes (Garland, Streisand et al.) used in caricatures of gay men? Is there anything in them? [NYT reg. required for main link; atrocious text garbling in the second.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:43 PM PST - 31 comments

Unmitigated gall.

Unmitigated gall. The illegal aliens who got two hearts and two lungs for their daughter REFUSED to have any of her organs donated when it was clear she was brain-dead...
posted by MattD at 5:35 PM PST - 240 comments

Evan Williams could not be reached for comment.

Evan Williams could not be reached for comment. "Evan Williams, Pyra's co-founder, blogged his day-to-day life for the last three years right up until it got interesting. Williams pulled his blog offline earlier this week." Leander Kahney at Wired asks Why Did Google Want Blogger? and thinks it might have something to do with that slippery idea of a semantic Web.
posted by tranquileye at 1:52 PM PST - 22 comments

My friend, I have an important message for you...

A reporter's quest to get to the bottom of the Nigerian email money scam. An amusing read.
posted by psmealey at 1:07 PM PST - 9 comments

Mystery ships

Three giant cargo ships are being tracked by US and British intelligence on suspicion that they might be carrying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The ships have been sailing around the world's oceans for the past three months while maintaining radio silence in clear violation of international maritime law.
posted by stbalbach at 12:06 PM PST - 59 comments

Pianist Looks for Justice After Losing Finger

Pianist Looks for Justice After Losing Finger I'm sure there is a Cable TV movie in this somewhere. Expect dodgy accents and Prague passing itself off as Russia as usual. And Brian Dennehy as the head of customs.
posted by feelinglistless at 12:03 PM PST - 6 comments

"Killing Goliath: Life During Wartime":

"Killing Goliath: Life During Wartime": New agit-prop weblog. Founder Tom Dolan writes: I'm hoping killing Goliath can be a voice of sane lunacy in the midst of insane rationalism... I hope to provoke some thought, among ourselves, and among the modest (or just perhaps not so modest) circle of visitors we may reach. The web can be an amazing beast.

Plus, Jennifer from Sharpeworld is an editor. Roar!!
posted by sparky at 10:46 AM PST - 10 comments

"I imagine this is the last we will hear of this."

"I imagine this is the last we will hear of this." Or not. NASA releases email between NASA engineers leading up to the Columbia disaster documenting significant concerns regarding damage done to the shuttle on takeoff. Engineers calculated the likelihood of a 7" x 30" gouge in the heat shields, but when they let management know of their concerns, they weren't taken seriously, were forced to work "at night" to do simulations, and found that requests for additional information were "treated like the plague."
posted by insomnia_lj at 8:22 AM PST - 33 comments

Oren BenTov

Saturday diversion. Oren BenTov is a young Israeli animator whose touching story of Bernie the windowcleaner has brightened my weekend. Not for dial-up users, I'm afraid, these are meaty downloads, unless you have lots of patience.
posted by essexjan at 8:17 AM PST - 2 comments

Mix it with the best

Look out disc spinners. Why are they paying those DJs so much? How about a Mefi theme song? Maybe too late for Friday but still some flash fun.
posted by johnny7 at 6:57 AM PST - 8 comments

Hounen Matsuri et cetera

Hounen Matsuri is Japanese and means Festival for a prosperous year.
There are many festivals in Japan. But this one is quite different. Not many Japanese know about this Matsuri, and they are very surprized [QuickTime video] when they hear about it for the first time. Well, what is it?
posted by hama7 at 5:56 AM PST - 11 comments

rock on, baby!

The Indie Rock of Dawson's Creek If you're in a rock band and desperatly wanna get famous, then you might consider selling your songs to the devil. Err, i meant to teenagers TV shows.
posted by Sijeka at 5:50 AM PST - 6 comments

Subway franchise

Subway franchise "CBS) Plans for a Baghdad subway were used instead to build underground tunnels to hide Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, says one of the Iraqi dictator’s former top scientists. Dr. Hussein Shahristani, once Iraq’s top nuclear scientist, speaks to Steve Kroft for a 60 Minutes report to be broadcast " This Suday [note: title mine}
posted by Postroad at 5:31 AM PST - 12 comments

Early comic anthology.

An anthology of early comics from the 9th century till the early 20th. Includes early examples of speechballons in sequential images, ranging from the 13th century to the 19th. Andy Konkykru's "Dachshund Homepage" is filled with such gems.
posted by riffola at 12:39 AM PST - 13 comments

Powered by Blogger & gamma rays.

HULK SMASH!!! Now check out Hulk's wish list!! In advance of his upcoming summer movie, the Incredible Hulk has taken the time out of his busy smashing/crushing schedule to jump on the blog bandwagon. Note for the sarcasm impaired: Blog not actually written by The Incredible Hulk, who is, in fact, fictional.
posted by jonson at 12:07 AM PST - 10 comments

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