CBS: “West apparently was so disappointed at not winning for Best Video that he crashed the stage Thursday in Copenhagen when the award was being presented to Justice and Simian for ‘We Are Your Friends.’ In a tirade riddled with expletives, West said he should have won the prize for his video ‘Touch The Sky,’ because it ‘cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons.’”
MTV Doesn’t Care About Black People (Black People Jumping Across Canyons, That Is)
– November 3, 2006Posted in: Celebrities, Music
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell: This marvelous collection of essays chronicles everything from film shoots to novelists rescued from oblivion. (The essay on the Underground Literary Alliance, with its portrait of raucous factions, unexpectedly reveals how soft today's literary world has become.) But if you peer between the cracks of these smart pieces, you may very well see how cultural lives are formed from the most unexpected life choices. And as we follow Bissell's development as a writer over the years, that goes for Bissell as well. (
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway: Harkaway's latest novel greatly improves on his previous book, The Gone-Away World, which I'm already on record as praising. Angelmaker adopts genre elements without ever feeling like a genre book, and it leads me to believe that Harkaway is well on his way to a narrative grace close to China Miéville's. Yet inexplicably this very fun book, which includes an eightysomething badass named Edie Banister, a mysterious mechanical object that may destroy the world, farcical scenarios involving lawyers and the police, and some unexpectedly moving moments about fatherhood, doesn't appear to be getting much attention in American newspapers. Nothing from the snobs at The New York Times Book Review, nothing from The Washington Post. And since I can't get Harkaway on Bat Segundo, I hope this Jump Up and Down mention gets you hopping as well.
The Age of Insight by Eric Kandel: Unless you're really pressed for time, forget Jonah Lehrer. If you want to understand creativity and its relationship to neuroscience, then the bowtie-wearing Nobel laureate is your man. In addition to being a physically beautiful book (you will drool over many of the paintings), there are helpful overviews on optical illusions, science, biographical backgrounds, and many vital figures from the Vienna Secession. Kandel's enthusiasm (and his call for greater unity between the humanities and science) is contagious.
Kanye West is both a racist and a hack.
Any true hip hop fan knew from the start that Kanye couldn’t rap for a damn. Yes, he makes some hot beats, one of the best producers around, but he is a horrible emcee.
the Justice and Simian video was awesome and funny. The Kanye West video was cliche and boring.
Hip hop braggadocio can be fun and exhilarating, but when West does it he comes across as a petulant, insecure, whiny, spoiled brat. That’s his greatest contribution to hip hop culture. Bravo, Kanye!