Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Subterranean Homesick Booty
Posted by Claire Suddath on Tue, Mar 29, 2005 at 1:03 PM
There are certain things in life that I will never understand. For instance, why is there sorrow and suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people? And, most importantly, why would anyone cast Beyonce in a movie about Bob Dylan?. It may be an April Fool’s joke, and if so, it’s a very god one. But other news outlets picked up on it, so I hope it isn’t.
Let’s look at the similarities between Bob Dylan and Beyonce:
Both Bob Dylan and Beyonce have been called poets of their generation. Well, at least Dylan has. And now that I’ve written the first sentence, I suppose Beyonce has too.
While Dylan spoke out against war, religion and society with songs like "Masters of War" and "Highway 61 Revisted," Beyonce tackled the subjects of hot boys, annoying ex-boyfriends and partying in songs like "Crazy in Love," "Bug-A-Boo," and "Jumpin’ Jumpin’". Her Destiny’s Child song, "Survivor" has many meanings – is it about overcoming a bad break-up/unhealthy relationship, or about winning the reality television series? – just as Bob Dylan’s "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" uses the word "stoned" as a double entendre. And then of course there is the much publicized Dylan-Li’l Kim and Beyonce-Jay-Z love affairs, which keep the tabloid world buzzing. And did you know that Bob Dylan looks really good in gold hot pants? His face my look pallid and corpselike these days, but he has a butt that just won’t quit.
But perhaps the most Dylanesque song sung by Beyonce is "Bootylicious" from the 2001 album Survivor. "I don't think you ready for this jelly," Beyonce sings, and her words really hit me hard. I feel like she's talking right to me. No, Beyonce, I'm NOT ready for this jelly. This world, this war, these sorrows and sufferings. Life is jelly, Beyonce is saying, and we are not ready. But life is also bootylicious, and in a way, we want to be ready for this jelly, we want to badly to smear it all over the toast of our souls and eat it up, even though we're not and can never truly be, in the most literal sense of the word, ready. And for that alone, Beyonce should be the next Bob Dylan.
And if they ever make a movie about Michelangelo, I hearby nominate Thomas Kinkade to play the part.
Let’s look at the similarities between Bob Dylan and Beyonce:
Both Bob Dylan and Beyonce have been called poets of their generation. Well, at least Dylan has. And now that I’ve written the first sentence, I suppose Beyonce has too.
While Dylan spoke out against war, religion and society with songs like "Masters of War" and "Highway 61 Revisted," Beyonce tackled the subjects of hot boys, annoying ex-boyfriends and partying in songs like "Crazy in Love," "Bug-A-Boo," and "Jumpin’ Jumpin’". Her Destiny’s Child song, "Survivor" has many meanings – is it about overcoming a bad break-up/unhealthy relationship, or about winning the reality television series? – just as Bob Dylan’s "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" uses the word "stoned" as a double entendre. And then of course there is the much publicized Dylan-Li’l Kim and Beyonce-Jay-Z love affairs, which keep the tabloid world buzzing. And did you know that Bob Dylan looks really good in gold hot pants? His face my look pallid and corpselike these days, but he has a butt that just won’t quit.
But perhaps the most Dylanesque song sung by Beyonce is "Bootylicious" from the 2001 album Survivor. "I don't think you ready for this jelly," Beyonce sings, and her words really hit me hard. I feel like she's talking right to me. No, Beyonce, I'm NOT ready for this jelly. This world, this war, these sorrows and sufferings. Life is jelly, Beyonce is saying, and we are not ready. But life is also bootylicious, and in a way, we want to be ready for this jelly, we want to badly to smear it all over the toast of our souls and eat it up, even though we're not and can never truly be, in the most literal sense of the word, ready. And for that alone, Beyonce should be the next Bob Dylan.
And if they ever make a movie about Michelangelo, I hearby nominate Thomas Kinkade to play the part.
George and Arnold and Rick and Tom
Posted by Bruce Barry on Tue, Mar 29, 2005 at 7:21 AM
Via Dan Gillmore, check out this litany of brazen GOP hypocrisy on tort reform, compliled on Dwight Meredith's blog Wampum. As Meredith writes, "Perhaps lawsuit abuse would not be holding back our economy and costing us so many jobs if Republican politicians did not file so many of those suits they deplore." At some point our reservoir of disgust will surely overflow.
Monday, March 28, 2005
National Insecurity Democrats
Posted by John Spragens on Mon, Mar 28, 2005 at 5:28 PM
Matt Taibbi sticks it to the most recent incarnation of the finger-in-the-wind spineless Democrat:
Go for the political analysis, but stay for the reference to Sen. Joe Biden as a "revolting hair-plug survivor."
It is impossible to imagine a Newt Gingrich responding, say, to LBJ's Great Society by concocting its own expensive plan to feed the poor black man—but we fully expect that a Democrat who loses an election will suddenly start to reconsider his opposition to preemtpive invasion and Reaganomics.
Go for the political analysis, but stay for the reference to Sen. Joe Biden as a "revolting hair-plug survivor."
File Sharing On Trial, Supremely
Posted by Bruce Barry on Mon, Mar 28, 2005 at 8:33 AM
The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments Tuesday on what may be the most significant intellectual property copyright case in decades. At the heart of it: sharing music on the Internet. More than two dozen entertainment companies sued the makers of three peer-to-peer file sharing software applications (Morpheus, Grokster, and KaZaA) seeking to stop copyright infringement. A good overview of the case can be found here (at the most excellent SCOTUSblog).
This case is not primarily about whether file sharing itself is good or bad, legal or illegal, but about whether those who create file-sharing software are responsible when people use their software in ways that violate copyrights. In legalese, the question before the Supreme Court is this (rephrasing by SCOTUSblog):
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which represents one of the firms sued in this case (the makers of Morpheus), translates:
For the P2P software firms, the key precedent is the famous 1984 Sony Betamax case, in which the film industry argued (unsuccessfully) that VCRs, by allowing people to store and copy movies, would bring down the industry. As MPAA president Jack Valenti (in)famously said in 1982 at a Congressional hearing, "the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." The P2P firms won in the Ninth Circuit, which said they cannot be held liable for copyright violations of software users.
EFF has an amazingly thorough set of links on the current case -- briefs by the litigating parties, dozens of amicus briefs, motions, media releases, and transcripts and streaming audio of lower court proceedings.
This case is not primarily about whether file sharing itself is good or bad, legal or illegal, but about whether those who create file-sharing software are responsible when people use their software in ways that violate copyrights. In legalese, the question before the Supreme Court is this (rephrasing by SCOTUSblog):
Whether the Internet-based "file sharing" services Grokster and StreamCast are contributorily or vicariously liable for the massive copyright infringement that constitutes roughly 90% of the total use of their services.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which represents one of the firms sued in this case (the makers of Morpheus), translates:
When should the distributor of a multi-purpose tool be held liable for the infringements that may be committed by end-users of the tool?
For the P2P software firms, the key precedent is the famous 1984 Sony Betamax case, in which the film industry argued (unsuccessfully) that VCRs, by allowing people to store and copy movies, would bring down the industry. As MPAA president Jack Valenti (in)famously said in 1982 at a Congressional hearing, "the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." The P2P firms won in the Ninth Circuit, which said they cannot be held liable for copyright violations of software users.
EFF has an amazingly thorough set of links on the current case -- briefs by the litigating parties, dozens of amicus briefs, motions, media releases, and transcripts and streaming audio of lower court proceedings.
Special Bulletin
Posted by Roger Abramson on Mon, Mar 28, 2005 at 8:26 AM
***START***
We interrupt this blog to bring you the following Special Bulletin:
The Scene blog gathering scheduled for tomorrow night (Tuesday) has been postponed to a date to be named later due to a scheduling conflict.
Also, there is a thunderstorm about to hit Bumpus Mills, Tennessee at 8:46 this morning, so take cover if you're out that way.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
***END***
We interrupt this blog to bring you the following Special Bulletin:
The Scene blog gathering scheduled for tomorrow night (Tuesday) has been postponed to a date to be named later due to a scheduling conflict.
Also, there is a thunderstorm about to hit Bumpus Mills, Tennessee at 8:46 this morning, so take cover if you're out that way.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
***END***
Saturday, March 26, 2005
BlogNashville in May
Posted by Bruce Barry on Sat, Mar 26, 2005 at 9:15 AM
BlogNashville opened registration Friday for its three-day event at Belmont University on May 5-7 sponsored by the Media Bloggers Association. BlogNashville describes itself as three days of "blogging discussions, training sessions, and informal social gatherings." The web site has a schedule of specific events and other information.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Schiavo Redux
Posted by Bruce Barry on Fri, Mar 25, 2005 at 12:15 PM
For those like me who are interested in but perplexed by the medical/scientific issues raised in the last day or so by the neurologist who came onto the scene asserting that Shiavo was misdiagnosed, this AP story (via ABC) does a nice job sorting it out.
Another neurologist and medical ethicist, Ronald Cranford, did a nice job earlier this week sorting out the inanity of Bill Frist's attempt to diagnose Schiavo from afar: "Tomorrow I will do a transplant surgery if [Frist] starts doing neurology. I have as much competence in transplant surgery as he is competent to do a neurological diagnosis on a videotape. He has no clue." (via the Washington Post)
Another neurologist and medical ethicist, Ronald Cranford, did a nice job earlier this week sorting out the inanity of Bill Frist's attempt to diagnose Schiavo from afar: "Tomorrow I will do a transplant surgery if [Frist] starts doing neurology. I have as much competence in transplant surgery as he is competent to do a neurological diagnosis on a videotape. He has no clue." (via the Washington Post)
Gumming Up the Works
Posted by Bruce Barry on Fri, Mar 25, 2005 at 7:57 AM
Blogging can easily mix the personal with the professional, but I hope my fellow bloggers here at PITW will join me in pledging never to inject matters of intimate dentistry into what we are doing here.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
The Old School Speaks
Posted by Roger Abramson on Wed, Mar 23, 2005 at 8:01 PM
One of the few real conservatives left speaks out on Schiavo. I feel like I'm in good company.
Dubya's Baldy Fetish
Posted by John Spragens on Wed, Mar 23, 2005 at 12:12 PM
We always knew he was a bald-faced liar, and now this.
