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Lemonade was a popular drink, and it still is.

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passive harassment is Tyler Adams' second blog. He hopes you enjoy it. Subscribe, why don't you. This blog is hosted by Squarespace, yours should be too.

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    Thursday
    25Feb2010

    a little reading comprehension would prevent stuff like this

    Have you seen Linkbait Generator? It's pretty brilliant. I think HuffPo may actually be using it. The reason it's so clever is because blogs with authority - stuff cosigned by legit web outlets - keep running headlines like this:

    'Twilight Star' Robert Pattinson a Racist?

    Oh, it's a shameful thing. Come on, Black Spin headline editor, haven't you seen the 'How To Tell People They Sound Racist' video?

    Here's the Details piece, which looks interesting, though unbutton that blazer, fam.

    What seems like the obvious interpretation of this:

    Rob, did you know that every time you say actor or acting you lower your voice to a whisper?
    He's genuinely startled. "I do?"
    Yes, so quietly it's like you're saying Negro.
    He laughs, lightens up. "What if we were 'acting' like 'Negroes'? Then we'd be fucked—we couldn't hear anything. . . ."

    Pattinson is posing a hypothetical sentence or conversation where he uses the word that he lowers his voice to a whisper to say, and a word many people lower their voices to say. Then you couldn't hear anything because his voice would be so low. It's a pretty clever response. Nontroversy.

    Seriously, Boyd Watkins and whoever wrote the headline, pick on John Mayer or something.

    At BV, folks are picking on interviewer Jenny Lumet for using 'Negro', which does seem a little outdated and an odd choice, but Pattinson's British, maybe it's still in whispervogue across the pond.

    Embedding 'How To Tell People They Sound Racist' after the jump just because I'm that much of a Jay Smooth stan.

    Click to read more ...

    Saturday
    20Feb2010

    supersonics, oh yeah

    Saw The Presidents of the United States of America at the Showbox on the 12th. I had my money's worth after the opener, so the fact that the Presidents killed and played 'Supersonics' was gravy upon gravy.

    Guitbassist Dave Dederer - who was playing with them for the first time in five years - is the one doing the speech at the beginning, which I managed to catch all of on my 3GS from the VIP...and then completely forget I was filming it. Hence the distortion, shaking, and me yelling 'Blackburn!' ten seconds in. PUSA instantly became one of my favorite live bands, see them if you have the slightest opportunity.

    This version of 'Supersonics' is slightly different from the one I own and many know because Sarunas Marciulonis gets namedropped [joyously] here and he wasn't on the '96 Finals team that the Sonics ran off a bunch of singles of this for. I'm glad PUSA loved Sarunas. He's awesome.

    Here's that version:

    Presidents of the United States of America - Supersonics

    The song they charge into at the end of the video's is 'We Are Not Going To Make It' from their '94 self-titled.

    Friday
    19Feb2010

    sky blu is what's wrong with politics today

    The LMFAO-Mitt Romney story is a remarkable confluence of my interests: hiphop in mainstream media, flight security, rich folks interaction. Of course, what ends up fascinating me is a one-off comment about politics. Hate is a strong word. I almost hate politics. But peep this, towards the end of this video:

    Sky Blu: I have no hard feelings for him, I'm sure he's a good dude.

    Redfoo: Will you vote for him?

    Sky Blu: [matter-of-factly] No. 'Cause I'm a democrat, he's a repub.

    Can it all be so simple? This is what I read on Newsvine with far too much frequency. I would never vote for ______ because I am ______. That 'gang mentality' bit Chris Rock did six years ago is relevant as ever. Sky Blu looks like he's explaining something to an alien. 'Look, this is how it works.' SMH.

    Other thoughts:

    • As a frequent rap apologist, I have no defense for LMFAO, who are truly lowest common denominator club music, but it's shortsighted to get all reactionary and claim that this guy will 'end up in prison or murdered'. He's a rich kid, Berry Gordy's grandson. Not a gangsta.
    • Good gravy I forgot how bad LMFAO is. Have you heard 'Shots'? Gack. Lil Jon is slumming.
    • You can lean your seat back in first class. It's never occurred to me, but I feel confident that flight attendants do not roll up on first-class folks and ask them to return their seat to upright and locked. That's where the money's at. And that's why Romney was prodding Sky Blu in the first place.
    • I wonder if Blu is cringing at this the way I do whenever I remember House of Payne is still on.
    • LMFAO actually come off really, really well in this. It's good PR, and anyone who will dismiss it because they're in their underwear would probably dismiss it in suits at a press conference anyway.
    • If you're on that plane, who do you recognize first, LMFAO or Mitt Romney? Do you feel good about recognizing either?
    Friday
    15Jan2010

    this is pretty much how the ATL feels re: pepsi

    I'm having a good time [though there's a brambly meta issue on the green site I need to comment on.] Atlanta is awesome.

    The Vortex will put you in a food coma and serve you Coke in what seems like a bucket; stopping to get gas afterward and peeping the pallets of Pepsi seemingly guarding the pumps was pretty hilarious.

    Viva SS's iPhone app.

    Thursday
    14Jan2010

    it's iphone's world, we just live in it

    Disembarking in ATL and here's what I see.