[Illustration by ALEX FINE] WILLIAM GIBSON: We never imagined that artificial intelligence would be like this. We imagined discrete entities. Genies. We also seldom imagined (in spite of ample evidence) that emergent technologies would leave legislation in the dust, yet they do. In a world characterized by technologically driven change, we necessarily legislate after the fact, perpetually scrambling to catch up, while the core architectures of the future, increasingly, are erected by entities like Google. Cyberspace, not so long ago, was a specific elsewhere, one we visited periodically, peering into it from the familiar physical world. Now cyberspace has everted. […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Willie Nelson brought his guitar to the Fresh Air studios in 1996 for an interview and in-studio performance. During his visit, the country-music icon told host Terry Gross about the genesis of songs like “The Family Bible” and “Crazy” — the song Patsy Cline turned into a country classic — and took his timeworn Martin guitar out for intimate, idiosyncratic performances of several tunes, including a soulful rendition of “Amazing Grace.” Nelson first established himself as a songwriter in the 1960s, with songs like “Hello Walls,” “Crazy” and “Night Life.” In the 1970s, he broke through as a […]
ALBUM REVIEW: Count Bass D & DJ Pocket Activity
BY MATTHEW HENGEVELD Count Bass D has been dope since 1995, and in the interim has only become more experimental and more intensely dedicated to his work. Perhaps that’s because his initial “hunger” never subsided— he isn’t ashamed to admit that he hasn’t made much money from his music, or that he’s forced to make music “every weekend” because he has to hold a job on the weekdays. The veteran Tennessee-based producer-rapper has been working alongside ATL-based producer-rapper DJ Pocket for years, but only released his first full-length collaboration with him last December, In The Loop. DJ Pocket brings a […]
BANKSY PRESENTS: BP Oil Spill — The Ride
FLAVORWIRE: Banksy recently installed a new work at Brighton Pier in England entitled Pier Pressure, which is best described as a “reconditioned dolphin ride with crude oil and a tuna net.” While it’s clearly a social commentary on the BP oil spill — the company’s logo clearly displayed — we see children gleefully riding the dolphin while their seemingly oblivious parents snap photos. Watch video of the ride in action, and check out more photos of Banksy’s latest outdoor work after the jump. MORE
OBAMA: Elvis Has Left The Building
WASHINGTON POST: Saying it is “time to turn the page” on one of the most divisive chapters in American history, President Obama declared the U.S. war in Iraq over Tuesday night, telling the nation that he was fulfilling his campaign pledge to stop a war he had opposed from the start. “Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended,” Obama said in his second prime-time address from the Oval Office. He heralded his belief “that out of the ashes of war, a new beginning could be born in this cradle of civilization.” In his speech, […]
MY LIFE IN THE GHOST OF BUSH: Life In A Madrassa
BY AARON STELLA About a year and a half ago, I began chronicling my stranger-than-fiction life story here on Phawker. Admittedly, much of it is hard to believe, but let me assure you that everything I have shared thus far really did happen. Since almost all of these events occurred during the presidency of G.W. Bush, I am calling this MY LIFE IN THE GHOST OF BUSH, a play on the David Byrne/Brian Eno album MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS. This is the 13th chapter, and for the benefit of newcomers, here’s a quick recap of the preceding […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR “There’s no one in contemporary popular music who has created a more impressive legacy — or one that spans a wider variety of styles — than Merle Haggard,” music critic Peter Guralnick once said. Haggard, who helped create the famous Bakersfield Sound, has recorded 38 No. 1 hits, including “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive,” “Mama Tried” and “You Take Me For Granted.” In 1994, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Five years later, he would receive a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for “Mama Tried,” his famous honky-tonk tune about a mother’s suffering after her […]
WORTH REPEATING: Fear Of An Off-White Planet
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: One crucial element of the American subconscious is about to become salient and explicit and highly volatile. It is the realization that white America is within thinkable distance of a moment when it will no longer be the majority. This awareness already exists in places like New York and Texas and California, and there have even been projections of the time(s) at which it will occur and when different nonwhite populations will collectively outnumber the former white majority. But it also exerts a strong subliminal effect in states like Alaska that have an overwhelming white preponderance. Until recently, […]
COMING ATTRACTION: Q&A With Black Francis
[Illustration by JAY BEVENOUR] In honor of the Pixies kicking off their Doolittle tour at the Tower next Tuesday, we got Black Francis/Frank Black/Charles Kittredge Thompson III on the horn to break down the 21-year-old classic for us track by track. Look for it later this week on a Phawker near you! RELATED: Burying The Hatchet With Black Francis
HOT DOCUMENT: The Offer Of A Reward For A Glenn Beck Sextape That Was Banned By The Huffington Post
EDITOR’S NOTE: Huffington Post blogger Beau Friedlander posted a largely thoughtful summation of the culture wars and ended with a modest proposal: $100,000 for a sex tape that would end Glenn Beck’s career. HuffPo editors spiked the post after a few hours, and after and initial round of indignation, he issued an apology to Beck. Friedlander is no stranger to controversey, previously he helmed failed liberal talk radio network Air America and back in the 90s published the manifesto of Ted Kaczynski, aka The Unabomber. In the interest of free speech and people being able to read the post en […]
SIDEWALKING: Snooki & The Situation In 50 Years
Atlantic City, 5:59 PM Saturday Night by JEFF FUSCO DAILY RECORD: SEASIDE HEIGHTS — A woman allegedly assaulted by private security employed by MTV’s “Jersey Shore” is suing MTV’s parent company, Viacom, the reality show’s production company, 495 Productions, and the entire cast for the assault and on racketeering charges, according to court papers.The documents allege that four private security guards tossed J.P. to the ground last September after she and several friends got in a heated verbal argument with Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi. During the course of the argument, four unidentified bodyguards pushed J.P. to the ground, according to the […]
MUST SEE TV: New Arcade Fire ‘Video’
“The Wilderness Downtown,” an interactive film by Chris Milk featuring “We Used To Wait” from Arcade Fire’s new album The Suburbs can be experienced now at HERE. Taking its name from a lyric from the aforementioned song–“so when the lights cut out, I was lost, standing in the wilderness downtown”–“The Wilderness Downtown” exemplifies the Google “Chrome Experience” and HTML5 technology, cueing the opening of multiple browser windows, visually incorporating viewers’ childhood addresses (if they are available via Google Street View) , allowing the viewers to write and share messages to their younger selves and more. Choreographed windows, interactive flocking, custom […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR “[Jimmie Dale Gilmore‘s] voice would make even Hank Williams cry,” Nicholas Dawidoff once wrote in The New York Times Magazine. Gilmore, a singer from West Texas, writes songs that would be described as alternative country. But he sings honky-tonk country classics on his album Come on Back , which he discussed in a 2005 interview with Terry Gross. The album, a tribute to Gilmore’s late father, contains versions of his father’s favorite songs like “Walkin’ the Floor Over You” and “Pick Me Up on Your Way Down.” “[Pick Me Up] represents an entire style that I really associate […]