I got this forwarded to me today:
Be Green, Go To Kokua
The ‘BCO Morning Show wants to know how you are working to save the planet, and if you’re picked we’ll send you to see Jack Johnson at Red Rocks and you could be going to see him play at the Kokua Festival in Hawaii!
Send us a description of what you’re doing to be green… have you taken recycling to the next level? Do you make your own biodiesel? Does your roof have more solar panels than a space station? Let us know! If Bret interviews you on the air about how you’ve changed your life to better the environment, we’ll be sending you to Red Rocks to see Jack Johnson. Then, this Friday we will be selecting one green ‘BCO Listener and sending them to Hawaii to see Jack Johnson at the Kokua Festival! (Site)
Um, excuse me? You can’t really be sending the winner of a green contest to Hawaii, can you? Full story »
Ever since I started writing professionally, my friends have asked me why I don’t go into journalism full-time. “You’d be great at it, they say–you’re a natural!” Now, maybe that’s true and maybe it isn’t. But even if it were, there’re a million reasons why I don’t want to enmesh myself in the modern media unless it’s on my terms. Shitty pay. Humiliating rituals of “dues paying” for newbies. Long hours. The utter vitriol and hatred of pretty much the entire free world and much of the not-so-free world. Full story »
For months we in the US of A have been watching candidates for our presidency speak at rallies and the apparently endless debates hosted by, it seems, everybody but fast-food chains.
We know that candidates dicker with presidential debate sponsors on everything: sitting or standing, size of lectern if standing, boosters for the short of stature, position on the podium with respect to other candidates, favorable lighting, what television cameras may or may not shoot, and so on. Candidates negotiate for every possible advantage. They demand control. We expect this at debates.
But what about those loud, noisy, seemingly chaotic political rallies? Candidates stroll onto stage surrounded by cheering supporters (handpicked, I bet), American flags waving and red, white and blue confetti swirling in the air. We see these scenes repeatedly on CNN or Fox or MSNBC or the broadcast networks, especially during CNN’s “Ballot Bowl” —which offers “unfiltered views of the candidates.” (Ballot Bowl is usually bereft of reporting that challenges candidates’ messaging, which I detest.)
Regarding these campaign rallies: Who decides what the TV cameras show?
Full story »
Joe Brewer and George Lakoff have published a new analysis that looks at the importance of “cognitive policy” – the process of constructing the assumptions that underlie actual material policy decisions.
For instance:
Conservative cognitive policy over many years has resulted in the following ideas being promulgated to the public:
- Successful wealthy people merit their success. Those who are not successful and wealthy don’t deserve to be. Full story »
Who are the most influential bands and artists in the history of rock? Well, start with The Beatles and Elvis, I guess, and for good reason. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, The Stones, of course, The Who and David Bowie. The big names. All of them signed their names on our culture with a fat permanent marker, and in doing so insured that just about all future artists would have to navigate their legacies in one way or another.
The funny thing, though, is just how influential some far, far lesser known artists became. Many people have heard of Velvet Underground, although comparatively few have actually listened to them, but if you factor VU’s overwhelming influence out of our collective cultural history would we have had Bauhaus, Echo & the Bunnymen, Lenny Kravitz, Sonic Youth, Jesus & Mary Chain (and subsequently Black Rebel Motorcycle Club), Galaxie 500 (and the army of bands that followed their lead) and REM?
How about Big Star? Full story »
