Grad school

I’ve decided to make this my home blog for the PRODUCING INTERACTIVE MEDIA class. Why? Because the banner I made for this page years ago still makes me laugh, LOL.

THE HOOKUP! Every last JET and EBONY magazine from 1950-2000 (Google = no joke)

The next time somebody asks something like “Man, do we REALLY need Ebony and Jet?’…

Send them here and here.

What you will find is more than just a collection of magazines.

You will discover a half a century of black life, chronicled on paper, in a way that is more authentic than any collection of rap songs, hollywood movies or television shows has ever been or ever will be.

Hip hop (that’s my generation) takes for granted that black folks will always have control over our self-depictin in the media – somewhere. We grew up with BET and these magazines readily available and came of age watching them become MAINSTREAM. That kind of comfort and familiarity allowed us to clown them, in the same children kids clown their dads when they cut grass in church socks and dress shoes. It’s pre-emptive clowning, done to let folks know WE are way cooler than that.

You should hear us:

‘EVERY WEEK! Another story about FAMU’s new president!’

‘Man, another issue with these bootleg black college homecoming queens? Dawg, why they can’t get hotter women?’

‘Is GM the only company buying ads for EBONY?!’

‘Don’t we have more IMPORTANT things to discuss than a JET BEAUTY?!’

But here’s the thing. These magazines are not perfect, but they represent the first, radical steps we took in presenting our own lives in our own way.

So, if you wanna know what’s been on our minds since 1950, holla at these links.

You got a problem with Ebony and Jet?

You got a problem with us. (And that goes for some of ‘us’, too.)

The Making of ‘Ready to Die’

Ready to Die pic

Huffingtonpost contributor Barry Michael Cooper interviews Puffy (known to his new fans as P.Diddy) about the making of Ready to Die, which many rap fans see as one of the best hip hop albums ever.

In this three part interview, Diddy discusses when he first new Biggie was the truth, the cinematic style of his music making and the nuances of producing. After the last clip plays, you realize not only how incredibly talented this dude is, but how under appreciated he is as a producer, artist and business man.

Oh yeah, check the third clip to get the official answer on the notorious ‘fellatio skit.’

Puffy: “I wanted my sound and my music to be competitive with Dr. Dre because I was such a fan…But you got to play to your strengths…see, Doctor Dre had funk that was unique for the west coast and I had a soul that was unique for Harlem .” – On his motivation for making Ready to Die

“Every director needs a great actor…The guy who directed Godfather didn’t tell Brando to put the cotton in his mouth, the director didn’t tell Pacino to put his face in the mound of cocaine….the director and the actor gotta be one, and I found the actor I could be one with…” – On his working relationship with Biggie

“I would sample stuff people was afraid to touch…Everybody else’s thing was finding an obscure sample, but i wanted to find that sample that gave you that memory…Juicy Fruit was the kind of sample that made you think of when everything was all right.” – On his thinking behind making ‘Juicy’

Read more from the great Barry Michael Cooper at Huffingtonpost.com

SoCal, Vegas, Phoenix and Miami broke the economy…

So, we’ve come to find out that the super-hyped FORECLOSURE ARMAGEDDON that might END LIFE AS WE KNOW IT is actually a regional problem, most painful for the same housing markets that always get lit up behind housing speculation:

1.) Southern California – you know, the place where any real estate located in the earthquake prone sliver of land between the Pacific ocean and San Gabriel mountains will cost you both arms, both legs and a tooth.

2.) The Vegas area – were speculation on everything from the tumble of a die to the over under on who wins the next Dancing With The Stars is a religion and a way of life.

3.) Phoenix – old people who’s retirement cash can barely get them a seat at the local BINGO tournament

and of course

4.) Miami – the sexiest city in America, a spot that has obviously decided being family friendly is for Orlando and has banked its entire future on foreign investment turning it into the American Riviera.

According to a study by USA TODAY More than half of the nation’s foreclosures last year took place in 35 counties, a sign that the financial crisis devastating the national economy may have begun with collapsing home loans in only a few corners of the country.

All I have to say to this? Thanks a TON, second string big cities. You don’t see stuff like this happening out of New York city, do you? Know why – OLD MONEY DON’T FADE and NEW YORK HATES ON THE NEW RICH. I used to think that was bad, you know, having snooty Chip in the Hamptons look down his nose at the RABBLE trying to buy their way into the country club with their new DOTCOM money.

Now I see the wisdom of hoity toity snobbery. While financial Ragnarok unfolds across Miami, leaving gigantic condo towers completely empty despite the orange and blue paint on the outside, Central Park West carries on, secure in the knowledge that even if a building is empty, New York can absorb the blow and keep it moving.

Meanwhile, Orange county should be renamed BLOOD ORANGE COUNTY for all the red flowing through the real estate game, and Phoenix might have to  tax folks into oblivion to keep the city lights on.

So God bless Blue Blood Country Club Money. Apparently, its the only wealth that can withstand a depression.

Rebuilding Detroit – cop a house for $100

There is an opportunity in the middle of this economic collapse for places like Detroit to ‘reset.’

Imagine all the bombed out, raggedy, derelict neighborhoods in Motown converted to urban farms and artist enclaves. In fact, blow it out – imagine the entire broken down rust belt re-created as a life belt?

Sounds nutty?

It’s not. Detroit is leading the way, selling old, dilapidated homes for as little as $100.

So what did $1,900 buy? The run-down bungalow had already been stripped of its appliances and wiring by the city’s voracious scrappers. But for Mitch that only added to its appeal, because he now had the opportunity to renovate it with solar heating, solar electricity and low-cost, high-efficiency appliances.

Buying that first house had a snowball effect. Almost immediately, Mitch and Gina bought two adjacent lots for even less and, with the help of friends and local youngsters, dug in a garden. Then they bought the house next door for $500, reselling it to a pair of local artists for a $50 profit. When they heard about the $100 place down the street, they called their friends Jon and Sarah.

Admittedly, the $100 home needed some work, a hole patched, some windows replaced. But Mitch plans to connect their home to his mini-green grid and a neighborhood is slowly coming together.

Artists stay broke, and as the world economy gets wacker, more and more may be enticed into staying somewhere like this, if they can be sold on the idea of becoming part of a ‘new movement.’

Another trend in Detroit – urban gardening. Folks in the hood are looking around and realizing that instead of getting ganked for nine bucks for a bushel of collards from the local grocery store, they can turn some of the abandoned land around the way into urban gardens.

“Visiting one of the largest allotments, on a site that had been derelict since Detroit’s infamous 1967 riots, locals spoke about an astonishing transformation.
“There is something that every hand in this area can do,” said Rose Stallard, who is keen to enlist as many volunteers as possible to help tend the garden and its precious crops. As she organises a band of eager helpers to pull greens from the rich top-soil, Ms Stallard says food is more expensive than ever and neighbourhood shops are scarce. “That’s one cucumber you didn’t have to pay 69 cents for,” she adds, with a smile.”

More on ‘Bringing back the Rust Belt’:

Kunstler on Peak Suburbia; Harpers Magazine on Detroit

Taking Back the City, One Building at a Time

How Long Until The Rust Belt Becomes The Life Belt?

Drunk uncle is out of the basement again

Your boy Rush got loose in front of the C-Pac home crowd. If this lasts until Monday – doubtful, but we’ll see – it will be interesting to see how the party spins this. They keep letting the old, drunk uncle up out of the basement, man.At some point, you either put that guy out of everybody thinks you’re just as much a hater as Crazy Uncle.

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Marlon Jackson backing a SLAVERY THEM PARK and RESORT?

In Nigeria of all places?

Uhhhh…WTF?

Michael Jackson’s brother has come under fire for plans to invest in a £2.4 billion plan to build a luxury resort and slavery theme park in Badagry, Nigeria, a historic port town that was the last departure point for thousands of slaves leaving Africa at the height of the transatlantic trade in humans.

Full story

Look, I love Thriller and Destiny as much as the rest of y’all, but this family has official JUMPED THE WHOLE SHARK TANK, man.

Whoa.

What the FRAK?! Last night’s BSG explained…

Ellen Tight is GOD? Cavil is Lucifer? Anders is St. John? Confused? Peep the video.

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MIT kids move us one step closer to TRON…

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Obama still winning (don’t believe the HYPE!)

The pundits, haters and prognosticators have spoken. Their take:

Obama blew it! His bi-partisanship gambit FAILED! Republicans outflanked him AND – in the words of new RNC head Michael Steele – laid a goose egg on his desk.

That’s the report from in Cable News Land. In the real world, things are a little different. From Gallup*

PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama had to face tough questioning from the media this week over his process for choosing his top advisers after Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer withdrew their nominations for failing to pay back taxes. But Americans’ support for Obama is hardly shaken, with fewer than one in five saying they are less confident now in Obama’s ethical standards and his ability to manage the government than they were before he took office. A majority say they are “more confident” in both regards.

Most of those who say they now have less confidence in Obama are Republican identifiers. Thus, a great number of those who claim to be affected in a negative way probably did not have a great deal of confidence in Obama to begin with.

“Oh,” a hater might say, squarely from the sidelines. “Well, what about how Obama totally fumbled the Daschle situation? He even admitted he screwed up!”

Again, back in the real world, we see:

Specifically, the poll finds 58% of Americans describing the controversies as “a normal part of the process of filling high-level government positions in any new administration.” Only half that number — 29% — think they reflect poorly on the Obama administration, saying the administration “appears to be having more problems filling high government positions than is typical for new administrations.” The remaining 12% have no opinion.

The last hate dart? ‘Well, look how far his approval has dropped. It was in the 80′s! Now its way down near 50%!! He’s totally TANKING!’

The realness:

That 80% approval rating was pre-inauguration. Since he’s been in office, his approval has hovered in the mid 60′s, pretty high for a President. Slamming a president in the middle of a recession who has a 65% approval rating by saying ‘it USED TO BE 80%’ is like turning to your STILL HOT wife who’s had three kids and saying something like:

“God, your butt used to be SO TIGHT.”

Who does that, but a hater? Especially when YOUR gut is crazy swole and you’re working on your third chin. (I see you Mitch McConnell, with your 23% favorable rating.)

Oh yeah, one more nugget: American support for the stimulus/spending/whatever spun up name you wanna use…It’s still quite steady:

Obama went black preacher mode last night:

more about “Daily Kos: Barack Opens Can of Whup-A…“, posted with vodpod

But despite all this Republicans continue to hate. What’s worse, they are being led by the Immortal John McCain, who apparently is unaware he lost the election….

and Rush Limbaugh who continues to not be slick and is seen unfavorably by most Democrats and Independents.

From the Gallup poll:

I see history repeating itself, as another government shut down battle looms, but this time over the American economy.

And we know how that ended, right?

* = and Gallup is not even my favorite poller, as I find them a touch right-leaning. But since they are seen as mainstream and legit, I felt cool using them to make the point.