Oedipal Beatdown » Respecting Other Cultures

Tinkering with The Bard

Peter — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:36:15 +0000

Ethan Hawke to Liev Schreiber: “Thine countenance is that of a Hebrew, yet thou hast the hair of a Moor.”

Is there anything funnier than house music and french dancing?

Ty — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:46:58 +0000

At 10.37 on Tuesday night, the answer is no.

The roll call of politeness:

Dude in the suit: Frenchman, please.
Breakdancers: come on.
Black woman: oh, really.
Other woman: you need help. (said with a rise in tone at the end of the sentence to communicate sympathy and concern.)

The track is, as they say, a club banger, but the lo-fi typographic aesthetic, married to the “Dancing With the Stars” as produced by De Anza JC staging, leaves one with the faint whiff of oh-come-on-you-can’t-really-be-serious.

If you see this on Jay Leno’s new 10pm gig, you should start stocking up on gold bullion, because it is an indicator that the variety show is dead and that the decline of Western Civilization has reached hugging distance with zero, asymptotically speaking.

Is God so powerful that He can create a rat so big that even He cannot destroy it?

Peter — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:20:49 +0000

Two NYC power centers go toe-to-toe on the Upper East Side.

The Renewed Mind is the Key to not Losing Your Money in a Dice Game.

Peter — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:10:31 +0000

The New Knoxville dancers get down to the immortal Mr. Strawberry. Don’t miss the breakdown at 1:55.

Caucasians Reifying Earnestness As Meme

Peter — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:26:36 +0000

NPR gets on the ethnomusicological tip and traces the origins of C.R.E.A.M. by The Wu-Tang Clan.

Money quote:

…may seem like an unabashed celebration of materialism, but the words of Raekwon, Method Man and Inspectah Deck paint a complex picture of hustling as a matter of urban survival rather than conspicuous consumption.

The jazzification of hip-hop is complete…

On the ins and outs of linguistic complacency

Ty — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:37:45 +0000

To wit: it is not just the medium. but also the message.

This cartoon wrote a sweary word on your toilet wall. « the rut..

Memo to Times Square Tourists

Peter — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:31:57 +0000

Your right to wear open-toe laceup boots ends where they meet my eye.

An Etymological Mystery for the Ages

Tom — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:42:32 +0000

Exactly why the Pennsylvania Dutch culture evolved in such a way as to require this word is unknowable…

From the “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins”

Arschgnoddle (n) (Pennsylvania German) Scads of dung collected among the hairs proximate to the anus.

“Yes, I’d Like to Order Three Pallets of the Rastafarian Vellum, Please”

Tom — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:18:01 +0000

In a warehouse somewhere deep in Brooklyn the ghost of John Candy lazily scrawls orders on a battered clipboard.