February 2012
3 posts
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“I lived in Philadelphia for five years. The Rocky stuff is great, as is the...”
– Beyond Blue Collar - The Classical | Bethlehem Shoals
This is related to that.
(Coincidentally, I just moved to D.C. It’s been a hell of a day for wistful paeans to the two former cities I hold dearest.)
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“But because its death spiral has been slow — unlike Katrina’s short, sharp...”
– 79 Things We Can Agree On: Baltimore… is America’s next great underdog city - Esquire | Chris Jones
This is pretty real.
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“Rooting for the Sixers back then really meant rooting for Allen Iverson.
With...”
– 2 Sixers Fans React to Beating the Bulls - by Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan | Grantland
January 2012
1 post
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Apple Unveils E-Textbook Strategy for K-12 →
I wrote this, which means I’ve got a new job! I’m the new business and innovation reporter for Education Week, the national magazine covering K-12 education. Ever since my mom, a longtime school board member, engaged me (whether I wanted it or not) in all of the debates and discussions she had over policy for her district, I’ve had an interest in education. It’s a vibrant...
December 2011
4 posts
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“As a basketball player it confuses you as to what your focus should be. If your...”
– That’s the L.A. Lakers Derek Fisher on his teammate Lamar Odom getting traded. In the same piece, Kobe Bryant says basically as much about the deal, which sent the 6th Man of the Year to Dallas for a draft pick.
Things are getting weird in the NBA. These players are rich as all hell but it...
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November 2011
3 posts
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October 2011
4 posts
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“I called a guy and I said, “I want a ramp on my roof.” I have a...”
– Lil Wayne: GQ Music Issue 2011: The Survivors - interview by Claire Hoffman
This was a weirdly skateboarding-centric Weezy interview, but very much enjoying the GQ Survivors thing.
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Here Are The Things I’ve Read Recently | Oct. 17
NY Times photo
“Does Anyone Have a Grip on the G.O.P.?” by Matt Bai | New York Times Magazine
“Rick Perry Needs A Miracle” by Joshua Green | Businessweek
Bai explores the real rift within the Republican party as most of the mainstream media covers Obama’s plummeting approval ratings plummet and the seemingly secured presidential nomination of Mitt Romney. Within,...
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September 2011
11 posts
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Here Are The Things I’ve Read Recently | Sept. 30
“Mic Check” by Vivek Menezes | The Caravan
My friend Krishn works at The Caravan and also attended, with me, the Das Racist/Snoop Dogg show at Columbia in the lede to this piece. The Internet loves to write about Das Racist and their inside-joke rap but most music journalists fail to ask seemingly obvious questions like: How do two Indian-Americans grow up and become not only...
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WatchFuture Islands - Before the Bridge
Baltimore’s own, from upcoming album “On the Water”
download
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Here Are The Things I’ve Read Recently | Sept. 27
“Louis C.K. walks us through Louie’s second season Parts (1 2 3 4)” interview by Nathan Rabin | Onion A/V Club
This is an enormous interview and requires about an hour of your time to get through all four parts and you definitely should do that. Louie has surprised people in that it doesn’t aim to be funny all the time. And this interview is the best insight yet into...
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“I’ve never understood musicians who don’t enjoy doing promotional...”
– Chuck Klosterman on Noel Gallagher - Grantland
Thanks, Noel Gallagher!
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Here Are The Things I've Read Recently | Sept. 16
Dakota Meyer, getting a medal of honor.
I read a lot of things. Recently, I read about Rick Perry, “extreme schooling,” underground rap and other stuff that I liked. Links:
“How Dick Cheney Reined in Presidential Power” by Jack Goldsmith | The New York Times
This is written by the DOJ head of legal counsel under George W. Bush and basically outlines the secrecy and...
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“I honestly never sat down and said “OK, here’s my style,” because my whole thing...”
– Interview with Bun B - The Believer
From one of the best artist interviews I’ve ever read—UGK’s Bun B with Jon Caramanica, the amazing pop critic now of The New York Times—this doubles as just about the best advice any journalist, writer or creative type can ever get.
...
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“That’s what’s so cool about hip-hop— this unseemly spectacle...”
– Atlanta | New Yorker scribe Kelefa Sanneh on his essays for the hip-hop book Atlanta - Pitchfork
“Pitchfork: There’s a song on 1977 called “Wedding Crasher”...”
– The-Dream Talks New Album, Relationships, Label Drama - Pitchfork
August 2011
4 posts
3 tags
“He’s on message, he’s smooth, and when someone disagrees with him,...”
– Understanding Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney - GQ
My short list is similar, also includes Marty Funkhouser.
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“Onward with the point about generational gaps: The world is being transformed by...”
– “New York Times on shale gas: Can an intern be an ‘official’?” - Erik Wemple - Washington Post
Been coming across a lot of Erik Wemple’s stuff lately on his excellent media criticism blog. A great hire for The Post.
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July 2011
3 posts
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“The people making this stuff always seem like the high priests of some...”
– Why We Fight: Chillin In Plain Sight - Pitchfork
Not the most effusive line in a solid column by Nitsuh Abebe that mostly praises chillwave, but it’s an effective and descriptive one. Abebe’s point is that chillwave, often mocked for being hyper self-aware or associated with hipsters,...
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“For Hornsby, it was a chance to play one-on-one against the best basketball...”
– “Allen Iverson and Bruce Hornsby: 1993” (via)
This.
June 2011
4 posts
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Brave Old World: Our Future Selves: The Blind Golf... →
cunews21:
One of our lasting observations of the Escapees Care Center, the assisted-living RV park in Livingston, TX, that we leave today, is how present the residents’ emotions are. These are people who sold their possessions, lived in an RV and could, on a whim, drive to some unseen wonder and…
From my trip to Houston for News21.
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“In the guise of Paula Brooks, Graber corresponded online with Tom MacMaster,...”
– Paula Brooks,’ editor of ‘Lez Get Real,’ also a man - Washington Post
This is the same Paula Brooks quoted at-length in the Washington Post’s story on the hoax behind Amina Arraf, the supposed lesbian Syrian blogger, who was supposedly kidnapped but definitely ended up being a man. Brooks...
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“Covering baseball was like seeing how your favorite sneakers are made: The...”
– Chris Jones: Back Into the Belly of the Beast - Grantland.com
This is an extremely important quote and explains exactly why I love sports but stopped covering it as a journalist. Most people don’t understand this. They think making things you like your job are always awesome. These people are...
May 2011
1 post
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“Mr. Ferrell said he had no plans for or interest in a permanent return to...”
– Will Ferrell Follows Steve Carell in ‘The Office’- NY Times
This article happened a million years ago, but I’m now just reading this and anticipating the above-mentioned movie will be the greatest ever.
April 2011
5 posts
2 tags
Watch
This video contains footage from the upcoming documentary by Village Beat titled Tough Bond — a film about kids sniffing glue to survive street life in Kenya’s disappearing villages and exploding urban slums. Original documentary score was provided by Shabazz Palaces. Learn more about the film and cause on the Village Beat Non-Profit Company page on Facebook...
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“While OKC might have been a buzz team in Durant’s first two years, having...”
– All-Star Cameo! Carles of Hipster Runoff Joins the Blog to Discuss NBA Buzz Teams - GQ.com
This cannot be better, more correct. And, for the record, I’m totally in on the Pacers and Grizzlies for this exact reason. Related: Anthony Randolph.
And, for the record, I think the Warriors 2007...
March 2011
1 post
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WatchHere’s a documentary short I produced with Jason Alcorn on bicycle delivery workers in New York City. It’s part of a six-month digital media master’s project for Columbia University on the lives of bicycle delivery workers and how they fit into New York City’s debate over bike lanes.
The entire project, Delivery City, is hopefully a new take on longform feature writing. We...
February 2011
3 posts
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“I think its goals were to be a regional site that had hyperlocal elements to it,...”
– Q&A: Jim Brady on the Death of TBD | Columbia Journalism Review
It was discouraging to hear that TBD.com, the new, innovative site covering the DC area, is essentially dead, at least in its original, you know, exciting form. But Brady, the site’s main (and departed) architect, makes a...
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“But let’s be honest. If those songs were autobiographical, I...”
– Atmosphere’s Slug Talks New Album- Pitchfork
I’ve left a lot of music from my adolescence behind, but I will never give up on Slug. Never.
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“I gave a Christmas party last year— well, two Christmases ago— where...”
– R. Kelly Interviewed By Will Oldham | Interview Magazine
The best dude.
(via Pitchfork)
January 2011
15 posts
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“The news media too often gets it wrong. Too much internet journalism follows the...”
– Understanding Web Design by Jeffrey Zeldman | A List Apart
I’m taking this interactive web design course with some pretty sharp teachers from the NY Times web team and this is part of the curriculum. This entire article is awesomely crusty and curmudgeonly, but also really, really smart. I...
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“Of course, my Mom and Dad like that the book cover gets to loiter right by the...”
– Dan Charnas on where his book The Big Payback landed on the New York Mag Approval Matrix. (via tumblinerb)
I saw Charnas speak at Columbia J-School’s spring semester kickoff day or whatever (he’s a grad). This book, essentially a complete oral history of the business of hip-hop, looks...
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“Asked about his folk hero role in the film, Carr said, “I don’t see anything...”
– “Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times” Review | Daily Beast
The great David Carr (who, it’s interesting to note, was the sole original subject for this film) on the latest documentary about The Times, plus journalism and life in general.