IDOL PUNCH Violence Pop 1999
19 minutes ago
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
The Tech Industry: Revenge of the Nerds?
Facebook's recent antics have tested the faith of its users; wireless carriers are posting massive profits (no doubt, due in large part to Blacks and Latinos out-indexing each month in expenditures); statistical reports demonstrate "surprising" facts that young, hip users of color are also out-indexing in Twitter usage; there are emerging reports of questionable practices concerning how companies like Apple strip Africa's coltan mineral for its power-products; New York Magazine did not include a single digital female entrepreneur of color in its recent issue lauding start-ups-to-watch; and there is a profound lack of diversity inside most Silicon Valley offices, as recently reported in the San Jose Mercury News. Given all of this, legendary rap artist Chuck D and I decided to press pause a minute, look at the elephant in the room and chop it up a bit about today's pop-tech situation as it pertains both to diverse users of digital tech and digital entrepreneurs of color.
Here are the highlights from my talk with Chuck D.
If I had to say one way or the other I'd say that most tech-related companies today are pretty arrogant. It's almost like revenge of the nerds.
Do they see an importance in reaching out to diverse markets in this country? For me, it's like they've decided "buy it/use it or don't", it doesn't really matter that Black Americans spend millions on these gadgets and stuff and tons of time (on their social platforms). Who cares about statistics? They know we're going to buy/use these tech products, phones and more; so it seems they could care less.
And the way it's all set up; it's encouraged to be like another appendage and (for those platforms that have a monthly invoice for usage) don't miss a payment; then it gets gangsta.
The only way I see more diversity happening both inside of these companies and with their strategies is for a collective push to happen like in Montgomery, Alabama back in the day. But I'm really wondering how likely that is to happen. So many people are apathetic these days. In fact, technology may even encourage it. While there's the social aspect of what's happening, a lot of the trends in technology actually reinforce individualism, to me. It's all about self-promotion on these social pages. It's like 'I'm good', so there is not a lot of focus on the whole. But it's funny. You never know what can happen. Just look at the volcano in Iceland. It affected so many people at once that the airline companies actually had the European Union changing up policy because they all pushed back at once. It was like, 'Wait a minute. We're losing too much money. Something has got change up.' So I say you never know.
But here's the thing, there's also just a lot of dumb people now in our society. For example, so many Black males disengage from school at a very early age (not necessarily at fault of their own). Larger business knows it so they're like, 'yeah, here's something for your dumb a**: a new phone, a new game.' It's like everyone's got a Wii, but they have no idea how it works. That's, like, the big secret. Why aren't more young people trying to figure that out and more?
But yeah, these tech companies definitely should have more accountability with the (balance of dollars and deals) -- especially at the high tech level when we start talking about chips that scan for pancreatic cancer or something, let alone just making sure you get your (recording artist) Nicki Minaj download (LOL).
We really need to look at what's happening because for me, hip hop is technology -- from the two turntables and a microphone it's all about the combination of technology to express a lifestyle and creative vision. So for me, it was just a natural transition to get deeper into this tech game. I started early because for me it symbolized freedom and independence in an industry that was not really offering that. I thought, 'This is great.' That's one of the reason's why Public Enemy has the position of having the first-ever hip hop site from years and years ago.
Now it's about expanding. That's why I started SlamJamz.com. It's all about the creativity. We also work to provide avenues to other creatives of color. We've also scaled back the original budget for the Sellaband.com concept and are looking forward to the release of a new Public Enemy album soon. I also started hiphopgoods.com to provide an avenue for female MC's to have a greater platform because that's really been lacking lately.
It's really all about trying to get an edge in something you know is right."
And while Chuck D and others both create and consume, flooding the tech industry with their hard-earned dollars, trend-setting entertainment content and surpassing frequency usage (the latter, which will no doubt impact digital advertising dollars to be reaped by various companies); the question will remain -- just when, how and if a good portion of this sleeping giant demographic will awake one day and perhaps boisterously demand deeper business inclusion and consumer recognition as this new digital frontier expands with each and every click?
Chuck D and Lauren DeLisa Coleman @'HuffPo'
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders on Dennis Hopper
Photo (c)Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, all rights reserved
On February 22nd, 1995, Dennis Hopper sat for this portrait. Artist/filmmaker David Salle brought him by the studio. Hopper had just starred in Salle's film, "Search and Destroy." What I remember most about the afternoon was Dennis' extraordinary love for art. As we toured my studio and home, he pointed at each work of art and named the artist, even the most obscure ones. That's a Resnick, that's Taaffe, that's Rick Prol, that's a Joop Sanders, that's Martin Wong, that's Judy Glantzman, that's The Starn Twins, that's Richard Hambleton.
Two years ago, I saw Dennis at Cinevegas, the Las Vegas film festival into which Robin and Danny Greenspun had put so much love and energy. One evening, just before a Steve and Elaine Wynn dinner honoring Takashi Murikami, Dennis and I were invited by Wynn to see some of his art collection. As we strolled past a lovely Turner and then the Picasso that Steve's elbow had made so famous, we came upon an especially difficult Marisol. Dennis turned to Steve and said, "that's a really great Marisol." Wynn stopped in his tracks and replied with awe, "You're the first person who's ever known the sculptor's name."
RIP Dennis Hopper.
Plastician – Sound That Speaks Volumes 2010
Tracklisting:
1. Youthman & Luce – Brother Don’t Cry
2. Redlight – MDMA
3. D Double E – Woo Riddim
4. Flux Pavillion – Got To Know
5. Boogaloo Crew – Days Go BY
6. Skream – Raw Dogz
7. Joker – Tron (Kromestar Remix)
8. Chew Lips – Salt Air (Plastician Remix)
9. Trolley Snatcha – We Rock The Forest
10. G Tank – Electronic Era
++ Tempa T – Boy Off Da Ting Acapella
11. Rude Kid – Electric
12. Plastician & 12th Planet – West Croydon
13. 12th Planet Feat. Juakali – Reasons (Doctor P Remix)
14. D Double E – Streetfighter
15. Joker & TC – It Aint Got A Name
16. Om Unit – Searching
17. Benga – Transform
18. Drumsound & Bassline Smith – R U Ready (Dubstep Mix)
19. Simian Mobile Disco – Cruel Intentions (Joker Remix)
20. Doctor P – Sweet Shop
21. P Money – Left The Room (Skreamix)
22. Teddy & G Tank – Ghanaian Fire
23. Distance – No Warning
24. Paul Harris – I Want You (Bar9 Remix)
25. Flux Pavillion – Normalize
26. Stinkahbell – Stalker
27. Mr Virgo – Cinema
28. Joker – Digidesign (Om Unit’s Pop Lock Remix)
29. Om Unit – The Corridor
2. Redlight – MDMA
3. D Double E – Woo Riddim
4. Flux Pavillion – Got To Know
5. Boogaloo Crew – Days Go BY
6. Skream – Raw Dogz
7. Joker – Tron (Kromestar Remix)
8. Chew Lips – Salt Air (Plastician Remix)
9. Trolley Snatcha – We Rock The Forest
10. G Tank – Electronic Era
++ Tempa T – Boy Off Da Ting Acapella
11. Rude Kid – Electric
12. Plastician & 12th Planet – West Croydon
13. 12th Planet Feat. Juakali – Reasons (Doctor P Remix)
14. D Double E – Streetfighter
15. Joker & TC – It Aint Got A Name
16. Om Unit – Searching
17. Benga – Transform
18. Drumsound & Bassline Smith – R U Ready (Dubstep Mix)
19. Simian Mobile Disco – Cruel Intentions (Joker Remix)
20. Doctor P – Sweet Shop
21. P Money – Left The Room (Skreamix)
22. Teddy & G Tank – Ghanaian Fire
23. Distance – No Warning
24. Paul Harris – I Want You (Bar9 Remix)
25. Flux Pavillion – Normalize
26. Stinkahbell – Stalker
27. Mr Virgo – Cinema
28. Joker – Digidesign (Om Unit’s Pop Lock Remix)
29. Om Unit – The Corridor
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(mixed or unmixed)
"one on one" "terrorists"?
"I was the second to be lowered in by rope," said Captain R. "My comrade who had already been dropped in was surrounded by a bunch of people. It started off as a one-on-one fight, but then more and more people started jumping us. I had to fight against quite a few terrorists who were armed with knives and batons."
Currently reading looking at the pictures...
Dennis Hopper, one of Hollywood's last great cult figures, is best known for his depiction of social outcasts in films such as "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Apocalypse Now", as well as for directing classic films like "Easy Rider". Hopper has also, however, made a name for himself as an artist and a photographer. His photographic chronicle of America in the 1960s, a decade marked by awakening and rebellion and documented by Hopper in forceful black-and-white pictures, has now become legendary. "A System of Moments", published on the occasion of a major retrospective exhibition at the MAK, Vienna, is a kaleidoscopic documentation of painting, photography, film, and life. It is the first comprehensive publication that takes in to account all of the diverse artistic activities in Hopper's nearly 50-year career, and it examines particularly the subtle connection between genres that is a hallmark of his work. For the first time, recent photographic works, which emerged after a long hiatus from the medium in the 1990s, are also presented. A major retrospective that will be the definitive statement on Hopper's career
I picked this up second hand years ago, unfortunately (for me) it is the German language edition.
Nonetheless a great collection of Hopper's photographs and artwork.
Meet the Last Generation of Typewriter Repairmen
It’s easy to forget how much time computer word-processing programs have saved the writing public. Before computers, any typewritten document that needed revision had to be retyped again and again. And that’s hardly the end of it. Total up all the hours that people spent whiting out errors before the Delete key … how many zeroes would the final figure have? Combine the surface area of every lumpy smudge of liquid paper: Would it cover the country? The world?
Despite these inefficiencies, there are a few places where typewriters still clack away. New York City police stations, the desks of a few stubborn hangers-on, and, increasingly, the apartments of hip young people who have a fetish for the retro. Mechanical devices with a lot of moving parts, typewriters require maintenance by technicians with specialized knowledge and years of experience. A surprising number of people still make their living meeting that demand.
Wired.com takes a look back at these charming machines and visits three Bay Area workshops whose proprietors keep hearse-colored Remingtons and Underwoods from disappearing into the grave...
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I am trying SO hard NOT to think about the 1916 Remington that I used to have that I came home one day only to find that my partner of the time had got rid of...
Exploring Music’s Hold on the Mind
Three years ago, when Oxford University Press published “Music, Language, and the Brain,” Oliver Sacks described it as “a major synthesis that will be indispensable to neuroscientists.” The author of that volume, Aniruddh D. Patel, a 44-year-old senior fellow at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, was in New York City in May. We spoke over coffee for more than an hour and later by telephone. An edited and condensed version of the conversations follows.
Q. YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF AS A NEUROSCIENTIST OF MUSIC. THIS HAS TO BE A NEW PROFESSION. HOW DID YOU COME TO IT?
A. I’ve been passionate about two things since childhood — science and music. At graduate school, Harvard, I hoped to combine the two.
But studying with E.O. Wilson, I quite naturally got caught up with ants. In 1990, I found myself in Australia doing fieldwork on ants for a Ph.D. thesis. And there, I had this epiphany: the only thing I really wanted to do was study the biology of how humans make and process music.
I wondered if the drive to make it was innate, a product of our evolution, as Darwin had speculated. Did we have a special neurobiological capacity for music, as we do for language and grammar? So from Australia, I wrote Wilson that there was no way I could continue with ants. Amazingly, he wrote: “You must follow your passion. Come back to Harvard, and we’ll give it a shot.”
Wilson and Evan Balaban, a birdsong biologist who taught me about the neurobiology of auditory communication, mentored me through my thesis, which was called “A Biological Study of the Relationship Between Language and Music.” When I defended it in 1996, this was unusual scholarship. The neurobiology of music wasn’t yet a recognized field.
Q. WHEN DID IT GO MAINSTREAM?
A. Not too long after that. By the late 1990s, all of neuroscience was being transformed by the widespread use of imaging technologies.
Because it became possible to learn how the brain was affected when people engaged in certain activities, it became acceptable to study things previously considered fringy. Today you have the neuroscience of economics, of music, of everything.
I published a paper in 1998 that really surprised people. It was the first imaging study showing what happens when the brain processes musical grammar as compared with what happens when it processes language. From what we learned, this was occurring in an overlapping way within the brain. And this was a clue that the neurobiology of music could give us a new path to access and perhaps even heal some language disabilities.
Q. HOW WOULD THAT WORK?
A. One example. There’s a neurologist in Boston, Gottfried Schlaug, who uses music therapy to return some language to stroke victims. He has them learn simple phrases by singing them. This has proved more effective than having them repeat spoken phrases, the traditional therapy. Schlaug’s work suggests that when the language part of the brain has been damaged, you can sometimes recruit the part that processes music to take over.
Music neuroscience is also helping us understand Alzheimer’s. There are Alzheimer’s patients who cannot remember their spouse. But they can remember every word of a song they learned as a kid. By studying this, we’re learning about how memory works.
Q. RECENTLY, YOU’VE BEEN WORKING WITH A SULFUR-CRESTED COCKATOO NAMED SNOWBALL. WHAT PROMPTED THE COLLABORATION?
A. Before I encountered Snowball, I wondered whether human music had been shaped for our brains by evolution — meaning, it helped us survive at some point. Well, in 2008, a colleague asked me to view a YouTube video of a cockatoo who appeared to be dancing to the beat of “Everybody” by the Backstreet Boys!
My jaw hit the floor. If you saw a video of a dog reading a newspaper out loud, you’d be pretty impressed, right? To people in the music community, a cockatoo dancing to a beat was like that. This was supposed to be, some said, a uniquely human behavior! If this was real, it meant that the bird might have circuits in its brain for processing beat similar to ours.
Q. WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THIS INSIGHT?
A. I phoned up the bird shelter in Indiana where Snowball lived and talked to the director who told me his story. A man had dropped him off with a CD and the comment, “Snowball likes to dance to this.” One day, Irena Schulz, the proprietor, played “Everybody” to amuse the abandoned creature. And Snowball began to move. Irena then made the YouTube video, which immediately went viral. Millions saw it.
“Let’s design an experiment to see if this is real,” I proposed to Irena, who had a science background herself. We took the Backstreet Boys song, sped it up and slowed it down at 11 different tempos, then videoed what Snowball did to each. For 9 out of the 11 variations, the bird moved to the beat, which meant that he’d processed the music in his brain and his muscles had responded. So now we had the first documented case of a nonhuman animal who, without training, could sense a beat out of music and move to it.
Q. YOU SAY THAT SNOWBALL CHANGED YOUR THINKING. HOW?
A. Before Snowball, I wondered if moving to a musical beat was uniquely human. Snowball doesn’t need to dance to survive, and yet, he did. Perhaps, this was true of humans, too?
Since working with Snowball, I’ve come to think we could learn more music neuroscience by studying the behaviors of not just parrots, but perhaps dolphins, seals, songbirds — also vocal learners.
We eventually published the Snowball research in Current Biology. A group at Harvard published a paper right alongside ours in which they surveyed thousands of YouTube videos to see if there were other animals spontaneously moving to a beat. They found about 12 or 13 parrots. No dogs. No cats. No horses.
What do humans have in common with parrots? Both species are vocal learners, with the ability to imitate sounds. We share that rare skill with parrots. In that one respect, our brains are more like those of parrots than chimpanzees. Since vocal learning creates links between the hearing and movement centers of the brain, I hypothesized that this is what you need to be able to move to beat of music.
Q. IS IT DIFFICULT TO FIND MONEY FOR THIS TYPE OF RESEARCH?
A. It easier than it used to be. One of the founders of this field, Dr. Robert Zatorre, before 2000, he never used the word music in a grant application. He knew it would get turned down automatically because people thought this was not scientific. Instead, he used terms like “complex nonlinguistic auditory processing.”
But in recent years, it’s become O.K. to say: I study music and the brain.
Claudia Dreifus @'NY Times'
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