NEW YORK TIMES: With the mournful gong of a Buddhist temple bell and the release of a flock of doves, a crowd of 55,000 on Friday solemnly marked the moment 65 years ago when the world’s first atomic attack incinerated this city under a towering mushroom cloud. For first time, a representative of the United States, Ambassador John V. Roos, participated in the annual ceremony, raising hopes here of a visit soon by a more prominent guest, President Obama, who is scheduled to be in Japan in November. Mr. Obama has become a popular figure here since his speech in […]
TEABAGGERY: Neocon Cyber Coven Has Been Secretly Censoring Digg For Right Wing Purity Since 2009
ALTERNET: A group of influential conservative members of the behemoth social media site Digg.com have just been caught red-handed in a widespread campaign of censorship, having multiple accounts, upvote padding, and deliberately trying to ban progressives. An undercover investigation has exposed this effort, which has been in action for more than one year. Digg.com is the powerhouse of social media websites. It is ranked 50th among US websites by Alexa (117th in the world), by far the most influential social media site. It reached one million users in 2007 and likely has more than tripled that by this point. Digg […]
TECH: The End Of The Internet As We Know It?
NEW YORK TIMES: Google and Verizon, two leading players in Internet service and content, are nearing an agreement that could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege. The charges could be paid by companies, like YouTube, owned by Google, for example, to Verizon, one of the nation’s leading Internet service providers, to ensure that its content received priority as it made its way to consumers. The agreement could eventually lead to higher charges for Internet users. Such an agreement could overthrow a once-sacred tenet […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
DOGMA: The Revolution Will Be Narcotized
NEW YORKER: Gil Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron is frequently called the “godfather of rap,” which is an epithet he doesn’t really care for. In 1968, when he was nineteen, he wrote a satirical, spoken-word piece called “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” It was released on a very small label in 1970. It is the species of classic that sounds as subversive and intelligent now as it did when it was new. Scott-Heron calls himself a bluesologist. He is sixty-one, tall and scrawny. Writer visits Scott-Heron at his apartment where he was watching a tape of the Rumble in the Jungle fight […]
EARLY WORD: Reconstruction Of The Fables
RELATED: Recording outside of the American South for the first time, R.E.M. imbued Fables of the Reconstruction with the spirit of its place of origin. What largely set early alt-rock bands like R.E.M. apart from the punk and post-punk movements with which they coexisted was how they rebelled against the present by signifying sounds and iconography from the pre-punk past, albeit in a recontexualized, postmodern fashion. In R.E.M.’s case, this tendency had been manifested in its early work by Peter Buck’s Byrdsian guitar jangle and in the band’s vague rural mystique, one that was provincial without being cliché. Fables of […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Arcade Fire At The Mann
[Photo by INCANDENZA] BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER In a more accurate world, if you looked up anthemic in the dictionary, you would invariably find a picture of the Arcade Fire. Rousing, heartfelt and everyone-can-sing-along have been, heretofore, the hallmarks of the Montreal band’s recorded output. The just-released The Suburbs, which largely eschews the fist-pumping chorales of previous outings in favor of low-boil brooding, may well change all that. But Monday night at the Mann Music Center The Arcade Fire got back to what they do best: passionately pounding out sweeping, densely-layered, stadium-shaking soundtracks for people who have long […]
THE DAY THE OIL STOOD STILL: ‘Static Kill’ Worked
THE BBC: BP says the “static kill” of its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well has worked, a big step towards sealing it. In the procedure, special drilling fluid known as mud is pumped in the well, forcing the oil back down. BP said well pressure was being controlled by the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling mud, which was “the desired outcome”. The well is being monitored, and further pumping of mud could be necessary, it added. BP began pumping mud into the well from vessels on the surface at 2000 GMT on Tuesday, in order to counter the pressure […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Brian May, the lead guitarist in the British glam-rock band Queen, is a modern-day renaissance man. Eighteen of his albums with Queen have topped the charts, selling more than 300 million copies worldwide. May, who played the guitar solo in “We Are the Champions,” also sang the bass parts in Queen’s rock opera “Bohemian Rhapsody” and penned the classic anthem “We Will Rock You.” He’s on Rolling Stone‘s list of the Top 100 guitarists ever. But May’s interests aren’t limited to the rock world. Before Queen made it big, May was studying astrophysics at Imperial College in London. […]
STEAKASAURUS: Ass-Kicked Man Alleges That Joey Vento’s Meat Is Old And Un-American
DAN GROSS: Many people have taken issue with the sticker at Geno’s Steaks instructing customers to order in English, but Jose Oviedo says his beef started over Geno’s beef. Oviedo, 39, who was arrested about 7 a.m. yesterday after scratching the passenger- side door of Geno’s owner Joey Vento’ s Cadillac Escalade, says he passed a truck unloading meat about 4:30 a.m. yesterday and noticed the boxes were from Uruguay and stamped November 2009. He asked the workers why the restaurant used frozen meats and then a few minutes later a police car approached him and friends and an officer […]
IT’S OFFICIAL: BP Gulf Spill Worst EVER
CNN: The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has become the largest accidental release of oil into water in history, according to figures from the federal government. Federal scientific teams estimated Monday that the ruptured BP well has spewed about 4.9 million barrels — or 205.8 million gallons — of oil. About 800,000 barrels, or 3.3 million gallons, of that were collected by vessels hired by BP to recover the oil. That would rank it as the worst accidental oil spill in marine waters, surpassing the 1979 Ixtoc 1 blow-out in the Bay of Campeche, off the coast of […]
TONIGHT: Next Stop, The Suburbs
You can stream The Surburbs, the new Arcade Fire album, HERE.
CONTEST: Win Two Tix To See Rufus Wainright
[Photo by TIFFANY YOON] We have two tickets to give away for Rufus Wainright at the Mann on Wednesday (Aug. 4th). First person to email us at FEED@PHAWKER.COM with the correct answer to the following question wins: Who wrote “Rufus Is A Tit Man?” Please include a phone number for confirmation, good luck and godspeed. PREVIOUSLY: Five Things You Should Know About Rufus Wainright At The Kimmel Last Night (2/4/09) 1. He’s Got Miles And Miles of Style Dressed in clingy cranberry trousers, brown sparkly shoes tied up in bows and a cream blazer with a ruby flower broach on […]