i am emily. » politics

Sunday Reading: The Car Bomb is to Times Square what Greece is to Europe

Ems — Sun, 02 May 2010 20:21:26 +0000

There was a car bomb in Times Square last night. Greece officially asked for a €110 billion loan. On Tuesday and Wednesday there was snow; today it’s 84º. If your head hasn’t exploded yet from one of these malfunctions…then congratulations! you can read these:

Krugman is now a Euro-skeptic. Would he be as critical if the map of Europe could be redrawn?
Higher education is going to melt faster than the Wicked Witch of the West.
Steve Jobs has officially killed Flash.
In fashion, culture and your neighbor determine price, not production costs or traditional supply & demand.
Remember that 20-something Brown grad you campaigned for Obama with in New Hampshire? He’s now probably getting dating advice from the First Lady.
Google might not dominate the next decade, thanks to foursquare and Facebook.
Is the oil spill in the Gulf the final straw for America’s dependence on oil?
The mere existence of Twitter has thrown modern philosophy for a loop. [Long, but fascinating.]

Video of the Week: Last night was the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner at which President Obama managed to make a couple funnies. Here are the full speeches by Obama and Leno. You only have to watch the first five minutes to get the idea.

Sunday Reading: The Power of the Unpronounceable

Ems — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 12:54:34 +0000

I view the eruprtion of Iceland’s volcano and the ensuing chaos as a metaphor for all things difficult this week. Here are a few of them:

If only solving the problem of the ash cloud over Europe were as easy as learning how to pronounce Eyjafjallajokull.
If you’re going to Israel in the near future, don’t take your iPad.
James Shapiro settles “the Shakespeare authorship question” in his new book, Contested Will, but forgets to ask why he’s the most doubted genius in history.
Plot-twist: The members of the Donner Party weren’t cannibals.
American parents hate books about sexuality.
Goldman Sachs, America’s poster child of financial success, should be reasons #1-100 why financial reform is needed because of they in which it defrauded America.
It’s pretty difficult to deny evolution when you find the remains of hominids who used to eat raw meat and swing and treesbut looked like humans.
The UK will have a new prime minister by the end of this year, and it may not be who you expect.

Video of the Week: “Fiesta de Locos,” by Calle 13. Calle 13 was one of the many bands highlighted this past week at Coachella as part of the rising popularity of rap-rock bands that are as feisty as they are high-impact.

Sunday Reading: Unraveling

Ems — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:54:53 +0000

The production and subsequent popularity of the “Midd Kid” song shows there is an interest in unraveling the layers, peeking behind closed doors and glossy magazine pages to catch a glimpse of what life is really like. Here are a few articles worth reading this week that peer deeper into issues like poverty, big business and politics. But caution, as the “Midd Kid” song also shows, what is revealed is likely just one perspective, not the entirety, of the truth.

DAVID & GOLIATH: Damian Kulash of OK GO finally explains why you can’t embed some YouTube videos on your blog, roughly how much money his band makes per stream and exactly how idiotic major record labels are in reality.
TABLOIDS: John Edwards may not have helped the Democratic Party with his little affair, but he did help The National Enquirer, which is now in the running for a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the scandal.
POVERTY: Speaking of Edwards, it looks like his message of the poor and “two Americas” may not have been off-base given that the recession has given a whole new meaning to being poor.
CRIME: Poverty may be increasing, but crime is not. Is it because of abortion, Democrats, Republicans or jail?
POLITICS: Senator Evan Bayh of Indian is leaving the Senate because it’s rampant partisanship makes it dysfunctional, but Arianna Huffinton says only the best changes are made under times that are “too partisan”. Who’s right and who has the extra agenda?
CONSERVATIVES: It was easy to say that the Tea Party movement is just a fleeting political phenomenon, but the incendiary remarks of Glen Beck, caustic attacks on the Democratic Party by Ann Coulter, and presidential straw poll win of Ron Paul, all at CPAC this weekend, make one think that activism in the Republican Party is here to stay.
FASHION: Sometimes, in the fashion world, there are geniuses like the late Alexander McQueen, but, for the most part, the fashion industry is shaped by women like Anna Dello Russo of VOGUE Japan and Li Edelkoort who have worked 15+ years not just predicting trends, but setting them as well.

Video of the Week: The Big Green Screen. Prepare yourself. I bet you had no idea just how many outdoor scenes were filled against a green screen.