Music has often been a way for people to address complex issues or work through painful topics, with protest songs and songs about war often exposing people to new thoughts and ideas. But sometimes an idea fails so profoundly in its execution of cultural criticism that you literally cannot believe anyone thought this was a good idea. The Hairpin calls this song a “lyrical disgrace,” and they’re honestly correct. But the most appalling part is the idea that these issues are all things that happened a long time ago, and those of us today bear no responsibility for racism in our society. Continue reading
tunamelt
44 posts
If you’ve spent a lot of time drinking, you know that you sometimes succumb to the craving for terrible food. (OMG guys, we HAVE to go through the Jack in the Box drive-thru and get funnel cakes!)
Every region has their own special variation on late-night drunk food. Sure, there are things that are pretty consistent (and terrible) across the country (have you ever been in a Denny’s at 3:00 am?) But there are also foods that are really indicative of a neighborhood. Continue reading
You’ve probably heard a lot about Jeremy Lin lately. From sports writers with some terrible puns, sports fans, and from a lot of racial issues blogs who were annoyed with some terrible, skirting the edges of racist puns. However, someone at ESPN screwed up big time, and whether it was an accident, or intentional, there are a few lessons we can all take away from this. Continue reading
As part of the City of Los Angeles’ Office of Historic Resources SurveyLA project, they’ve created several online services to get information and input from Angelenos. The SurveyLA project is designed to identify historic resources in Los Angeles. Continue reading
Like many young Americans, most of what I learned about Canadian pop culture came from an extraordinarily uneven combination of Anne of Green Gables books and watching Degrassi: The Next Generation.
I watched D:TNG on The N for most of middle and high school, and came away with the belief that most people in Canada were extremely slutty aspiring pop musicians who got “social diseases” and eventually moved away to star in shows on The CW (or show their boobs in terrible Lifetime Network movies. NSFW.)
A few years ago, I heard of something called “Artist Trading Cards.” These are little cards that are 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches (63 mm X 89 mm for the Canadians) that are decorated with some kind of “Art.” I’m not an artist, but I do love coloring and painting for fun, and these tiny cards were the perfect small canvas on which to work. The purpose of artist trading cards is right there in the name–you’re supposed to trade your tiny works of art. Continue reading
I’d like to direct your attention to Refinery 29. Currently, they have a slide show with illustrations giving a few key milestones in the history of nail art, from ancient Egyptians dying their fingertips with henna to 15th century Incas painting eagles on their fingernails.
Modern nail polish as we know it would not be possible without the automobile, as nail polish is modeled after car paint. Continue reading
Let’s talk about make-up! Quick. Empty out your purse. Run to your bathroom/closet/desk drawers. Your jacket pocket. Your nightstand.
How many lip products do you own?
I did this the other day to take a quick inventory of all of the lip products I owned and managed to find 15 different types of lip gloss/lipstick/lip balm and “enhancing” products. Continue reading
If you have a casual interest in how cities develop, KCET’s “Laws that Shaped LA” series is a fantastic read. Articles are posted every Monday on KCET’s website and highlight a law that had a major impact in developing how the city of Los Angeles developed.
So far, this series by Jeremy Rosenberg has answered questions like:
“Why are all of the skyscrapers flat on top?” You might say this makes the LA skyline bland in comparison to Chicago or New York, but I prefer to think there’s no point in skyscrapers attempting to compete with the natural beauty of the San Gabriel Mountains which provide the backdrop and contrast to Los Angeles’s skyline. Continue reading
So apparently there’s a Twitter feed that publishes selections of overheard conversations from the Goldman Sachs elevator and it’s been around for a while, although it was only recently brought to my attention. The New York Times actually featured an anonymous interview with the person behind it back in August 2011.
But because I hate myself, and apparently, you guys, I scrolled all the way back to August and pulled out some of the more horrifying tweets for your judgement and tears. Seriously, this twitter feed has everything. Real or not real, it kind of made me want to invest in some pitchforks and torches. Continue reading