This must be a joke.

Society on a whole is on the out & out, and Kanye West is the pied piper for the all too near apocalypse. Evidence one? The following video.



The eighties were possibly the most horrendous in American history (let's just stick to culture-wise for now). The fashion consisted of gold lame, bad geometry and hiliters gone awfully wrong. Hip-hop has been dead for quite some time, save the occasional decent underground emergence. Kanye West is a prime example of our modern atrocity. To consider this music, let alone "rap", is a travesty of sound. His rhymes consist of meaningless repetition, his voice manipulated and dubbed over by a computer program. The beats could have easily been ripped from Drew's Dance Party Mix!, a 99 cent bastardization of club hits. Please, music industry, cease with this prank and release us from this eardrum trauma.

Constructive Criticism of an Old Friend

The New York Times is one of the things I look forward to each day. A bastion of truth, relevance, and honor, I believe the old gray lady is one of our country's greatest assets (especially during this traumatizing period of industry collapse).

However, an item in today's edition piqued my attention due its unwonted disregard for good taste.



I understand that the editor is in control of developing headlines, but the headline "On Tour of New York, Paterson Gets an Earful"(online), "On Statewide Tour, the Governor's Ears get a Workout"(print headline) is slightly inappropriate. After the fanfare of SNL's skit harping on Paterson's disability, the Times should proceed with caution when covering the governor. I'm sure it was a harmless mistake, but I can't be the only way to make the association between Paterson's lack of sight and the reference to him getting an "earful". The pull quote also emphasized the same point, declaring
"Amid many angry voices, a willingness to listen, and listen."

Cmon.

With the nature of the disability, hearing and all other senses would be heightened. He, of course, could not "get an eyeful" on the tour due to his inability to see. The headline was trite and in poor taste.

The Sad State of Affairs

Not even Bobby Jindal's bizarre yet comical republican response to Obama's "non-state of the union" address could lighten the mood of the nation. Obama's speech was eloquent yet grave; harsh yet hopeful. Rather than glaze over the recession, he presented our nation's problems and the sacrifices that we all must make in the upcoming months.

But back to the Republican Response.

Points of Interest:

* the entrance.
Bobby, where are you coming from? Are you aware that you are live in front of the nation? Is that your version of a dramatic entrance, because it looked like you were tying your shoe or grabbing a bite to eat in the dining room. Timing is important, according to Demetri Martin, and timing made you its bitch.

*The foyer
Um, whose house are you in? Are you lost? Who puts a flag on the end of their staircase? Described by other blogs and commentators as "antebellum", I half expected a Union soldier to waltz on down the stairs to join you.

*The Presentation
The Daily Show said it best. Note alarming resemblance to Kenneth the Page.
Just Creepy, awkward, and absurdly distracting.

*The Message
Oddly threatening and disapproving in an old Southern belle way. "Now Jimmy, we all know what happened last time you disobeyed. How about some pancakes?".


I thought Chris Matthew's response was dead-on, uttering "Oh,god," before he even opened his mouth to tell us about the mean ol' Democrats and big bad Katrina.

Politics are media circus, and last night Bobby Jindal's speech was the side show.