SOPA and PIPA day

More here, here, here, here, here, etc. This is actually truly important.

If you have local initiatives along these lines where you live, please, please beat on policy makers to stop creating idiotic policy that wont solve the problem they claim to be solving and in the process will deeply harm the wonderful and important source of creative energy that is the internet. Please.

Plaid

Today’s fashion advice

I’m a stripes guy myself, but this just might convince me to try something new

For the serious plaid fans,  you can even get the song on iTunes, get more from composer Josh Johnson, including a how it was made video,  or see more videos from actor Joe Cummings.

And, yeah – it’s personal marketing & branding, but it makes me happy that the internet is still a channel for creative silliness; it’s good to see that people continue to take advantage of a global media with no real control.

(via joe.my.god)

Birthday Hit Music Meme

OK, so there’s a music meme going around – it’s all over Facebook, so you’ve probably seen it. Goes like this:

Challenge: Find out the song that was #1 the week you were born.

1.  Go to this site to find out which song: http://www.joshhosler.biz
2.  Find that song on YouTube.
3.  Post that video on your wall without shame

Now, since I was born in Denmark, I found the Danish hitlists to be more appropriate than Billboard; it’s what was on the radio where you were born that matters, right?’ So, I get Elvis Presley Devil in Disguise. Is that supposed to be a subliminal message?

I love the false starts and the studio banter on this one (“You sound like a bird…”).  Gives usa glimpse of what Elvis was like. Things like this is what make me love youtube. If you just want to hear the song, go to about 2:50.

I kinda like this song, even though John Lennon nixed it with his famous “Elvis sounds like Bing Crosby now”.  It’s not Elvis of ’56, it’s not Hound Dog or Don’t Be Cruel, but I like the ease and confidence in the voice, and the effortless rhythm. And, well, I like that the man can just sing.

For comparison, UK hitlist gives me Beatles (She Loves You), and Billboard has Bobby Vinton (Blue Velvet). Not a bad week, not a bad week at all.

House for sale

You know, I’m a sucker for good marketing. I’m not at all a marketing person, not even bye a long shot, but communication is crucial in any endeavor, and when done right it’s just plain fun. Good marketing is like good broth – the good stuff, condensed.

Wanna buy a house yet?

(No – no ulterior motive. No other reason than “this is great marketing” for posting this or watching it again. Thanks for asking)

(via Joe.My.God)

Harry Potter – Gendered?

Today, a girl in my daughters class asked my daughter “Why are you reading Harry Potter – that’s a boy’s book”.  My daughter doesn’t care – she reads Harry Potter because she likes the story.  But I’m confused – is Harry Potter really considered a boy’s book?  If so, why?

The only thing I can really think of is that the gendering madness has reached a point where everything children do must be gendered, and hence a gender choice must be made for HP. It’s absurd, of course – why would HP be considered gendered?  Sure, like so many children’s books it tends to cast boys as active and girls as passive, but it’s far from uniform (HP has a refreshing number of examples of girls in the active role), and anyway that’s such a cliché that it’s hardly specific to boy’s books.

Either way – it’s annoying  that 10 year old children worry about this rather than just reading the books they like.

Gender Everything!

I’m constantly confused by this idea that things, all things, must be gendered. That gender should somehow be the one parameter that directs our preference in all things. Yes, yes, men and women are different, unisex is boring, etc. etc. But, really – there’s still a bunch of things where I can’t see gender having much importance, or a role at all.

Like beer. “Chick beer”? WTF?

What’s next – a masculine white wine?

Can we please stop with thins nonsense already.

Nina Hagen – Rockpalast, 1978

I remember watching this show on TV, all those years ago; it was like having the door kicked in. The lyrics, the music, and omg the voice. I fell right in love with her first album, but this song was always a particular favorite. I should have posted this one on 8 March, of course; it’s such a great song about (breaking with) normative gender roles. 30 years on, and if anything it seems more relevant.

For some it was Sex Pistols, the Saints, or Ramones, or maybe Clash, Sham 69 or Buzzcocks who gave Punk a body, made you feel you belonged there. For me it was Nina Hagen. She had the abundance of energy, the complete lack of respect, the in-your-face attitude, and the secret longing for simple pop that all good punk has – and then she mixes it with humour, disregard of commercial potential, and stunt vocals.

And of course it doesn’t hurt that Nina Hagen Band was basically a great straight-out rock band with a vocalist to rival the very best in rock.

I was a huge fan of the Rockpalast show at the time. They broadcast real bands, playing live, to a real audience. I was still in school at the time and didn’t have much opportunity to go see the bands I was listening to. I think these shows played a major role in wetting my appetite for the live experience; I blame them for all the money I spent on concerts in the following years. Since I got in the habit of watching every show, no matter the band(s), they also opened my eyes to plenty of bands.

I got to see Nina Hagen several times live in the years that followed. I always enjoyed her larger-than-life on-stage persona and the playfulness of her act, the way she used and expressed gender, and her non-conformance. To me, she will always be linked to the Berlin scene I came to love in the years that followed.

To me, Nina Hagen 1978-1979 is a stellar moment in rock. Nina Hagen of course continued on a rampage through pop music styles and performances, taking her vocal, hairstyle, and fashion sense where no woman had gone before – but that’s (maybe) for another post.

Sony: The colour of good and bad

So, in this PS3 game, the player has a good side – a desire to do good, help, work for the benefit of all, etc- and a bad side – a desire to be selfish, go for instant gratification, etc. And like with Pluto in one of those old Disney animations, the good and bad side is animated as an actual person or personality, someone you can see, hear, and maybe even have a conversation with. Let’s ignore the externalization of desire, responsibility, etc, or the schizoid view of human personality, the idea that I must chose between my good and evil side rather than try to be a whole person, troubled as all that is. Let’s look instead at how the good and evil side is presented.

So, what do learn here? We learn here that good is white and sexually modest, while evil is black and sexually daring. That’s a nice piece of stereotype enforcement right there, Sony. Well done.

(via sociological images)

(White) Privilege

This so so neatly captures the essence of white privilege. What’s especially good about the video is how it demonstrates how blatant it has to be for us to even notice. It’s always there – for race, for gender, etc. etc. And mostly we’re not aware, unless we’re really careful.

It’s also a, btw, a really, hard and sad video to watch. Man.

(via feministe)

Update: there’s another version, with a similar experiment:

Science – brief and to the point with charts

Over at Indexed, Jessica Hagy is using hand-drawn charts to comment on and post analysis of all kinds of topics that is both funny, wonderfully imaginative, and precise. She’s been doing this for close to five years now, and it has really evolved into an artform.

It’s one of the blogs I like so much, because it at the same time brightens my days and make me think. All in just a few minutes. I especially like when the charts go scientific, like the one above.