We are the World Haiti 25 — whose presence at the top of the singles chart is as damning a refutation of democracy’s plausibility as you’ll ever see — is so awful that it nearly prompted Jay Smooth to shutter his website. Jon Pareles reviews the song, and notes the chasm in vocal ability between Read More
In the wake of Mayer -gate,Tracy Clark-Flory expounds some more on race and dating practices. Typically, we don’t bat an eye when a white guy says he has a thing for Asian women or a white woman professes a love for Latin men. We thought nothing of Tiger Woods’ preference for white women (until we discovered he Read More
An early candidate for understatement of 2010? Since having his jaw removed by cancer treatments, Roger Ebert, the prolific film critic, has become a prolific tweeter, and has written some truly beautiful essays about life without food and drink, as well as the simple pleasures of making out without sex. Esquire‘s Chris Jones has a Read More
Cross-posted from TAPPED. Megan McArdle has been questioning the benefits of health insurance and has been attacked for some pretty lazy reasoning. The basis of her argument is that one study showed there wasn’t a big difference in mortality when 64-year-olds go on Medicare — and that somehow shows having health insurance doesn’t provide much Read More
A few summers ago, I was keeping company with a lovely young lady who let it slip that she had never seen love jones, the moody 1997 romance starring Nia Long and Larenz Tate. Among young, aspirational creative class Negroes, the film had taken on mythical dimensions as a portrait of the kind of lives Read More
Please excuse the tardiness. I’m pinch-hittting for my estimable ace, blackink, who is out being journalist-y and productive. Hope y’all had a grand President’s Day, and that you poured out some liquor for George Washington, Abe Lincoln, et al., ‘cuz they were gully as hell: The New York Times is reporting that Mullah Abdul Ghani Read More
This doesn’t make any sense (via LA Times): As President Obama’s approval ratings sag and the mood of voters sours, some Democratic congressional candidates are distancing themselves from the White House, with the back-channel blessing of party officials. The candidates are positioning themselves as independent voices no less frustrated with the Obama administration than people Read More
In a guest post over at TNC‘s place, Adam Serwer points to a problematic little paragraph tucked in the middle of Tracy Clark-Flory‘s takedown of John Mayer‘s assholery. And what of Meyer calling his Johnson a racist? (Insert here: Tasteless joke about hooded Klansman.) Look, as a general idea, I don’t object to people having Read More
