It's Halloween! One of the better holidays of the year, though it seems somehow a lot less EVIL than it did last year. There's no lingering feeling of death and decay in the air. There are no zombies. Yet.

This is what I will look like tonight. Almost exactly. I think I'm going to need to gargle with some gravel, though, if I want to be able to incessantly scream "Whaaat!" and "Oookaaaaaayyyy!"

brett at 10:02 AM on October 31, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Finally! The Game's album leaked today! Finally. Finally. Finally.

Yesterday I had the promo, today I've got the full album. No Dr. Dre, but this thing is, as Jim Jones might say, "Baaaallllinnnnn!" I'm impressed and I've only heard about half of it so far.

I'll have more thoughts on this later.

Update: OK. This is good. This is really, really good.

No Dre production on this, and yet somehow Game has put together an album that sounds very 1992 G-funk. It's like a fusion of today's rap motifs with yesterday's sound--but not exactly. The beats are solidly 2006, it's just that they resonate with the same feeling I got after listening to Ice Cube's Death Certificate or Dr. Dre's The Chronic for the first time. Especially the first half of the album.

The sound sort of hits a roadblock about halfway through the album when Kanye West shows up to produce a mediocre track that throws the entire vibe of the album off. Leave it up to Kanye to let his ego get in the way of a cohesive creative process. It's not that the song is bad, just that it has his stink all over it.

But forget Kanye for a second.

Game is carrying the soul of Eazy-E, the voice of Dre, Ice Cube's intensity and the entire idea of what the West Coast should mean in rap music. He's the ghost of all the dead gangsta rappers from the early 90s. It's fun. It's real.

See I'm the gun-cocker, one shotter, lift em off the ground chop 'em down like a cantaloupe, my flow the antidote /
Sick flow, it's so mother fucking six-four your bitch know, hop in the back when you see Swizz ho.

Not one of his more profound lyrics. But man, can he switch his style up. This is great stuff.

brett at 08:47 AM on October 31, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK. I have a sampler copy of the album I've been waiting all year for, The Doctor's Advocate. It has 8 tracks on it, most of which are quite good, however one of them reveals something troubling: Dr. Dre isn't showing up on an album that is basically named after him.

I had heard the rumors, the Dre was going to avoid producing anything, but I thought that it was just hype--just talk to get more people chatting about the album before it hits streets. Apparently I was wrong.

The track titled "Doctor's Advocate" on the sampler is a long lament by The Game, basically detailing his separation from the good doctor, and apologizing for "walking away." We've all heard about the tension between Dre and Game--most of it stemming from Game's constant beefing with others in the industry--but this is really unfortunate. The fact that Dr. Dre isn't producing a damn thing on this album moves this release from "certified classic" into the "potential flop" category.

I've still got my fingers crossed for something fantastic, but judging by the sampler I've listened to, this thing is barely above average, though the track "Doctor's Advocate" is one of the more introspective and honest rap songs I've heard in a while. Game almost sounds like he's crying on it, no joke.

Too bad he had to blow things with Dre. Let's just hope he can keep his shit together so that the NWA tattoo on his chest doesn't start to look more ironic than it already is.

brett at 10:52 AM on October 30, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

This week I finished reading Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, a fascinating, fast read that left me sort of wanting to cry by the time I had finished it.

It's an atmospheric trip into the lives of a tight group of children--apparently orphaned--all raised together at a "boarding school" in rural England. Through the eyes of Kathy, we look back at just what growing up meant to them, and the events that shaped who they were and how they would deal with their collectively bleak futures.

It's a desperate look at the small things, and a sad statement about innocence and the nature of humanity. Painfully beautiful.

brett at 10:41 AM on October 30, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few days ago I wrote that the laugh of the week was Keak Da Sneak's new album. I admit, I was wrong. I have come across something that makes Keak's album seem brilliant: the new Ron Artest CD, "My World."

This thing is bad. Bad, bad, bad.

Diddy shows up for the intro track, which I have typed up for you to read:

For all ya'll motherfuckers that don't know, the definition of a true warrior--in Webster's dictionary of course--is a person that shows great vigor and courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics. Now this is your boy Diddy, and you know for a fact that I'm a true motherfuckin' warrior. But a lot has been said, about my man Ron Artest. But one of the most important things that you can say about this man, is that he is a man; a true warrior. A shining example of what any of us should be. He's always down for his people, never forgets where he comes from, and if you throw somethin' at that motherfucker, he'll whip your motherfuckin ass.

Hmm, I wonder what Diddy is referring to?

The comedy continues on the second track, "Haterz," which Artest self-produced. Artest explains a lot about what happened during 2004's melee, where he attacked a fan who threw beer on him. Throughout "Haterz," Artest lets us in on many of his secrets: he smokes a joint before very basketball game, and he likes to go to the liquor store at halftime.

RIght, Ron.

From the same song, we get these two brilliant lyrics:

David Stern, Damn David Stern! / I gotta teach you bout the ghetto, some things you should learn

Matt Lauer on NBC / you look like a girl don't talk to me!

Also, still during the same track, he manages to compare himself to Jesus, suggesting that the "Malice at the Palice" wasn't his fault, that he was a victim, and that people should treat him like they treated Jesus. I admit, I don't really follow his logic. But, whatever.

So that's only two songs out of what, 21? Yes, your stomach will be hurting by the time your done with this. Forget buying a ticket to Dave Chapelle's stand up tour, just go spend 20 bucks on this thing if you want a laugh you'll feel the next day.

Artest tries to get a bit of credibility on this piece of garbage by recruiting mainstream rappers, but I've got news for him: getting Mike Jones to drool the same tired flow all over a track hardly counts as a guest appearance. Maybe if Artest wasn't recruiting B-list rap stars to show up for a verse we could take him seriously.

OK, who am I kidding. Even if he has A-listers on this thing, it would still be hilarious. Not even the ghost of Biggie Smalls could do anything for this turd. File "My World" in the comedy section.

A final thought, from the track "I Like My Song":

Hey Yo! It's ya boy Artest once again. People say I can't rap. YOU THINK I GIVE A FUCK? I could care less, ya heard! I said it! Yeah!

Not funny enough? Well, that track was produced by "The Black Russian Squad."

brett at 08:33 AM on October 27, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Somehow this article fell under my radar yesterday. From the DN, Game day drinking a heated issue on campus, is an article that looks at gameday drinking and tailgating on campus, which seems contrary to UNL's dry-campus policy.

One way is asking university-wide officials to provide more specific enforcement of the open-container policies on campus, he said.

Sometimes, Workman said, it seems as though there's a fairness and consistency problem when it comes to drinking on campus.

Ha! Fairness and consistency problem when it comes to drinking on campus?? You must be joking! Police looking the otherway when Husker fans come to town to drink at UNL, but busting the balls of everyone else who even tries to walk through campus carrying a 6-pack? You must be joking? Oh, ha, ha.

Right.

This comment really highlights the discrepancy when it comes to drinking enforcement on campus during gameday versus anyday:

Capt. Charlotte Evans of University Police said the department had zero citations of consuming alcohol on state property during Saturday's football game, although they normally have only two or three.

Christ. Did they even walk through campus? No citations? I mean, hello, police, have you ever noticed the little red cups that most of the boosters are holding when they are tailgating out in the parking lot behind Memorial Stadium? Those aren't filled with Ginger Ale, guys.

To be honest, I don't really care that it's not enforced.

I enjoy drinking before games, at tailgate parties or at home--but let's be honest, if you look up "preferential treatment" in the Encyclopedia, there's a picture of UNL campus police officers holding hands with Husker boosters. Doesn't take a genius to figure this one out.

ASUN has suggested changing UNL to a wet campus for gamedays. I'm all for it, but would take it a step further and make it wet all year round. Why not? As one student says in the article, "I think kids are going to drink no matter what."

No shit.

If UNL doesn't want kids to drink they need to formulate a coherent policy on banning alcohol from campus, or they need to allow it. When they look the other way as Husker fans sip from their keg cups on gameday, they are sending a message to UNL's students, and the message is it's OK to drink, just don't get caught. This kind of policy completely undermines everything that NU Directions is working for.

UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said officials aren't planning on changing UNL to a wet campus.

Got news for you Perls, it already is, baby, because you enable it.

The elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about is this:

Texas-Nebraska game on Saturday by the numbers

0 - Citations for consuming alcohol on state property

Again: ha, ha, ha. Nice joke, this one.

brett at 09:01 AM on October 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

You could get the impression from much of what I write about hip-hop that I don't listen to the underground anymore. Well, that's somewhat true, as the entire spectrum of underground hip-hop has been stagnant for years, however, I still keep an ear to the street, as it were.

And I came across something stellar, from super old-school hero A.G. It's a little album he calls, Get Dirty Radio:

This is a pretty good album. I need to give it a few more lessons, but it definitely has some bangers on it, and A.G. is at his finest lyrically. Great stuff here. (I know some people are going to criticize me, suggesting that A.G. isn't underground. Whatever. He is too. The guy is grimy and has Stonesthrow production all over this thing. Just because he doesn't fit your expectation of a backpacking pussy doesn't mean he isn't underground.)

Also, from the laugh-of-the-week-department, Keak Da Sneak's new disc, "Thizz Iz Allndadoe," is garbage. The first track is titled "Who Started Hyphy," but the hyphy beats are suspiciously absent. In fact, the first track sounds like something off a Mac Mall album circa 1992--that is to say, Keak's album is anything but hyphy, it's tired Oakland funk that is in this case done incredibly poorly.

Before listening to his album, I had assumed it was E-40 in conjunction with Keak Da Sneak who started that hyphy thing, but now I see it was E-40 himself. Keak Da Sneak's album has maybe two hyphy joints on it, and one of them was already released on DJ Shadow's "The Outsider."

This album is garbo.

Update: For a taste of A.G.'s Get Dirty Radio, check out this track, Take a Ride, produced by Madlib. This is what the streets have been waiting for.

brett at 07:58 AM on October 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's headline over at Yahoo! News, College degree worth extra $23,000/year, got me slightly depressed.

College graduates made an average of $51,554 in 2004, the most recent figures available, compared with $28,645 for adults with a high school diploma. High school dropouts earned an average of $19,169 and those with advanced college degrees made an average of $78,093.

Wow. This makes me way, way below average. LIke, way. Like, even below the high school diploma average and barely above the dropout average. Depressing.

brett at 07:17 AM on October 26, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have a book recommendation for everyone. It's The Middle Mind by Curtis White.

I've recommended this before, in an earlier post, but now that I have finished reading it once, and have started from the beginning again, I think it's time to truly throw my weight behind this, one of the more profound books I have read in at least a decade.

It's about the lack of imagination in America, and precisely what is causing it. His writing is phenomenal.

Go get it. Forget what you think you know and just read it, cover to cover. Read it twice. I am. I plan to read it a third time.

brett at 08:17 AM on October 25, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

America is finally ready for the UK Garage sound. Nearly four years after Dizzee Rascal came onto the scene, it seems like the grime sound is going to have some mainstream success in America via the 5'1" Lady Sovereign.

Fine with me. I'm incredibly excited about her debut album which will be dropping in a few weeks. She's unbelievably talented for a 20-year-old, is the first UK artist signed to Def Jam, and brings just enough chav charm to the table to keep her credible. Did I mention she's female? You could say I have a crush.

But seriously, the SOV is going to top the charts, and I really can't wait to see who she gets to working with. Kid is hot.

The other album I'm salivating for (as I mentioned about a thousand times) is hitting shelves in almost exactly one month. November 28th is the date, though hopefully I'll have a promo of the Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury in hand a few weeks before then. Malice and Pusha are going to bring it like nobody's business. Unless the Game somehow comes harder on The Doctor's Advocate, these guys are a lock for album of the year.

Lookin' good fellas.

As for things I could care less about, Jay-Z's new album definitely tops the list. The guy is old. Hov is tired. Cam'ron laced him on Killa Season and Jigga definitely doesn't have it in him for another album (let alone a comeback album). He went out on top with the Black Album (though we all knew he'd come back), and for him to produce something that lives up to the majesty of that classic will be impossible.

He's too rich. Too comfortable. He's got no anger, no hunger. His flow is soft and I will be surprised if he brings anything new to the table whatsoever. Look for Nas to massacre him.

I mean, you've seen Hov in the Budweiser Select commercials, right? Enough said. I haven't heard a track off the album yet, and you can mark it down--it won't flop, simply because everyone wants to hear it, but it's going to get no critical acclaim and will probably be considered one of his worst efforts to date. You heard it here first.

Update: I almost forgot to mention, if you haven't heard it yet, go check out Lady Sovereign's single, Love Me or Hate Me (Fuck You), and if you can get your hands on it, her EP Vertically Challenged is stellar.

Update 2: One more thing. Go get the Birdman & Lil Wayne album. Don't laugh. Just go get it. It's phenomenal, and if Weezy manages to sneak his new album The Carter III in before New Years, he will certainly be in contention for the top spot this year. His flow has improved dramatically since The Carter II.

brett at 01:14 PM on October 24, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

And by best, I mean saddest.

How many of us are familiar with the street corner preacher who hangs out by the Grand downtown? You might not know him by name, Brian Hammer, but you have certainly seen his 10-foot cross adorned with homophobic statements. The guy has been a fixture of downtown nightlife for years, carrying that massive crucifix over his should for blocks in order to perch outside of the movie theater and spew hate at people.

This guy is almost universally considered an annoyance, even among Christians. Anyway, the Journal Star ran a pretty interestgin article abou thim the other week, which prompted some letters to the editor, the best of which I have cited in its entirety below.

I think the article “Controversial cross bearer makes downtown his pulpit” (LJS, Oct. 15) was great! It is neat that Brian Hammer had so much courage to go out into the downtown streets of Lincoln and preach like he does.

It’s cool that the Lincoln Journal Star wrote something nice about Christians. The Journal Star should keep writing Christian articles about brave godly men.

I’m glad I’m a Christian because God blesses me for that. He has given me meaning in life, not just for this short time here on earth, but for eternity. We all need to know this fact.

So thank you for printing such a fantastic article about such a fantastic godly man!

Keep up the good work!

Ok, that's fine.Someone supports him, no big deal. But here's my favorite part about this letter, the signature at the bottom:

Maggie Moore, Lincoln

12 years old

Man. I guess he is getting at the kids with all his preaching outside the Grand. This letter is pretty sad, considering how hateful Hammer is. Too bad.

brett at 08:23 AM on October 23, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last night I finally watched Memento, something I've been meaning to do for quite a long time. No real need to review it, except to say that I didn't find it complex, rather I found it beautiful because of its simplicity.

"Find him and kill him."

brett at 10:07 AM on October 19, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's been forever since I have read a non-fiction book that is actually imaginative and has something new to say. Finally, I have found one.

Though it's interesting and fresh, I'm pretty sure this book is slamming people like me. Oh well.

brett at 10:34 AM on October 18, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know it's a bit early, but time flies. Next September seems so far away, yet nearly here. I think I've secured a roommate for my return to Japan.

I mailed off some graduate school applications today, in fact. The clock is ticking, I guess.

For the curious, I'm applying to a few different graduate schools around and in Tokyo, and hopefully I'll get accepted into one of the international relations programs. But I'm not holding my breath.

brett at 10:11 AM on October 18, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last night Jess and I started reading Finnegans Wake, but not before cracking a few beers. We had been sort of shouting bits and pieces of it at one another for a few hours, but hadn't actually delved into the "novel" at length. Around midnight, however, we took the plunge.

I think we made it about ten pages, reading aloud. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I laughed a lot, and hopefully with a little dedication we can make it to one hundred pages, and then to six hundred. Then it will be done. It's pretty good.

As for the bad? Well, not much of a surprise here:

Diddy's new album, Press Play isn't much to brag about. He sort of went off in a new direction, trying to sing or whatever. It works on a few tracks, bombs on the rest, and sort of comes across as a conceptual mishmash. It's not that it was a bad idea, it's just that Diddy wasn't the guy to pull off this kind of album. Let J. Timberlake do the singing, and Diddy can stick to running marathons for charity and dissing 50 Cent in ghostwritten battle raps such as last month's "I'm Richer, Bitch!" which appears on the album under the title "I Am."

Pretty weak, Diddy. Now if only Chapelle were around to make some fun of the duet you and Jamie Foxx did at the end of the album, though I suppose the track speaks for itself.

Update: One last thought about Diddy. I'm no Photoshop expert, but aren't the little neon reflections in his sunglasses just a really poorly designed brush stroke? Someone fill me in here, because I swear I've seen that effect done before by a no-talent freshman in a vis lit class.

Update 2: This one is from the master, and sort of sums things up:

(13:43:07) quenluen: heh. before i even read what you wrote about it or anything, i thought "that's the worst photoshop job i've seen on a major album in a long time"

(13:45:12) quenluen: it looks like a bad late 80s cover, when they were first able to do stuff like that, so people went way overboard and fucked things up all the time.

C'mon Diddy. If you're so rich you should probably pay a professional to do your cover, not some kid from the local community college.

brett at 08:47 AM on October 16, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

My apartment is full of lovely plants. They keep me happy. I love my plants.

My mom gave me this cactus. I have a feeling that it will do quite well at my apartment. I'm cooking a curry and leek soup tonight.

brett at 03:37 PM on October 15, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday is the new day. We always seem to come hard on Thursday.

There's of course a few more pics at Flickr, but not many. Had to keep the X-Rated ones on my harddrive. The three I posted to Flickr hardly do justice to what has truly become the best night of the week, Thursday.

brett at 11:26 AM on October 14, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Neal Obermyer basically nailed the issue about a grant to prevent gay suicide in his cartoon today. Take a peek:

Pretty much got it dead on. Cheers to Neal for that one. Buy him a beer next time you see him (not for the cartoon, but just because he's a cool dude).

brett at 11:06 AM on October 12, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I've been salivating over the forthcoming Clipse album for quite a few months now (actually, maybe years... ever since We Got It 4 Cheap Vol I & II came out). This album CAN'T get here soon enough. The release date that I'm hearing tossed around is October 31st, and as Malice says, "It's going to be the album of the decade."

To be honest I don't doubt it. But if you're like me, Halloween can't get here soon enough and you need your Clipse fix now. Lucky for us, there's a new mixtape out.

So Serious Vol. 5, hosted by DJ Rascal and the Clipse is one of the best mixtapes of 2006. It's not entirely made up of Cliipse material, which is fine, because there are some solid tracks from Lil Wayne and other southerners to fill in the gaps.

This torrent link should work if you want to hook it up.

Also, this reminds me that there is a new documentary out dealing about the underground mixtape industry and the huge influence that street distributors have on rap consumption and who's hot. Unfortunately, the documentary won't be coming within 1,000 miles of Lincoln. Bummer.

brett at 09:38 AM on October 12, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I came across this little blurb on Slate today. Kind of crazy, but I suppose it sort of makes sense, in some kind of instinctual way:

Thirty college students were photographed and urine-tested twice during a month. Without their knowledge, the tests were used to determine on which days they were ovulating, and the photos, with faces hidden, were used by 42 male and female judges to decide, "In what photo is the person trying to look more attractive?" Without knowing which was which, the judges picked outfits worn on ovulating days over those worn on non-ovulating days 60 percent of the time.

So I guess you can make a relatively educated guess as to when a woman is ovulating? Maybe not. Full article from the Human Nature column is here.

brett at 08:44 AM on October 12, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just when you think (and when I said) Lincoln is stuck in the stone age, you come across some big city-ish news, like this (second heading in article):

Lincoln’s first urban park, which recently opened at the corner of 10th and O streets, is also the city’s first park to have wireless Internet access.

This is just sweet. Too bad that it's soon to be winter and I doubt many will be doing much computing out in the freezing cold. But still, just the fact that it's there and that someone had the foresight to set this up is a good sign.

brett at 07:31 AM on October 12, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

After all the heavy stuff, here's a little something to lighten the mood.

The debut cover of Benzino's new magazine, Hip Hop Weekly. You've got to be shitting me. Props, guys.

brett at 11:24 AM on October 11, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

The City Council had a $1,500 suicide grant proposal come to the table this week. It was for suicide prevention among gay and lesbien teenagers, who proven to have an extremely high rate of suicide compared to heterosexuals. $1,500 ain't much, but was apparently enough to stir up a shitstorm in the council, and on the pages of the Journal Star.

The grant passed, but not after a couple councilmen made certain that the gay rights group be left out.

Councilwoman Robin Eschliman and County Commissioner Bob Workman disagreed, and even removing PFLAG as the grant recipient was not enough to garner their support..

Eschliman voted against the resolution Monday, saying it was controversial and “causes grief” to use tax dollars to fund gay and lesbian issues..

She said she’d rather give the money to something less controversial because people with “deeply held traditional family values” don’t want their tax dollars used for such causes, and she suggested the UNL Health Center could raise money to create the program.

Nice. Her "deeply held traditional family values" don't want tax dollars going to suicide prevention. What a bigot. We're talking about teenagers who have a high propensity for suicide, and her "deeply held traditional family values" don't want money going to them... because they are gay. Why is Lincoln still in the stone age? When will we finally embrace modernity?

During the debate, Workman got served with a little bit of the facts, and yet it didn't mitigate his bigotry even slightly:

“I believe this type of government funding can undermine traditional family values,” he said.

When told by a fellow board member the grant did not come from tax dollars but from money spent on keno, Workman angrily responded that there is no difference.

“These are government funds,” he said.

What a guy. Just keep telling yourself it undermines "traditional family values" or whatever the hell today's rhetoric says. It's just a smokescreen for your intolerance and bigotry.

brett at 11:09 AM on October 11, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was reading the Journal Star today, and came across another article about a school break in. These usually are pretty boring crime stories, but I read it because one of my former principals was quoted in the article.

Then I came across this:

Then late Monday or early Tuesday, someone broke in the same door, with the intent of doing as much damage as possible.

They vandalized two classrooms, breaking a fish aquarium and killing a guinea pig on loan from a student, Van Horn said.

They popped cans of food collected for a food drive and flung the contents around the room. They pulled books off shelves in the library and dumped a desktop computer. They wrecked a paper towel dispenser, busted a florescent light and poked holes in ceiling tiles.

I mean, you have to be fucking joking, right? That is just reprehensible. Full story here. I still can't believe they killed a guinea pig and opened canned food for the homeless. It's one thing to steal something but Jesus... that was someone's loved pet.

brett at 10:58 AM on October 11, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Read the following quote, and ask yourself just what it's referring to.

"In the beginning it was about a need to express ourselves on a greater plane," says K'wan. "But now it's such a money thing. It affects how the genre is perceived by the public, and it affects [others] coming in. They look at this like it's Hollywood. They don't understand that to endure this game, you have to love this game." But as he well knows, to play it, you've got to make the numbers.

So you'd probably say this has something to do with music. Rap music. Wrong. This quote is from K'wan, a so-called "street lit" author that Time Magazine interviewed in a piece they did about the burgeoning genre. K'wan is talking about selling books. He's a drug dealer turned author.

Pretty interesting stuff, actually. I've never read any "street lit" novels, and I'm not sure if they have any merit (many contemporary black writers have been blasting the genre), but I suppose it would be neat to pickup something like K'wan's "Gangsta" and flip through it.

Street lit profiles the black underworld in graphic detail. Like gangsta rap, street lit often has thieves, pushers and prostitutes as protagonists. And like gangsta rap in its heyday, street lit is hot business. In an industry that considers sales of 20,000 copies of a typical novel a success, gritty street-lit authors like K'wan are routinely doubling that number.

I mean, they appear to be selling quite well.

brett at 10:44 AM on October 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

I know how cliched and lame it is to be a Charles Bukowski fan, but I can't really help it. Something about his terse, honest slob-ishness appeals to me. It speaks to me. Last night I finally got around to watchin the documentary about his life, made in 2004.

When you first hear him talk, and watch him drunkenly read poetry, it sort of seems like he's a homeless alcoholic who has been given a platform. There's so much more to the guy, though. His most amazing quality is his honesty, and the way he bared his soul with little regard for the consequences.

Perhaps the most intersting part of the documentary is when he breaks down in tears after reading a poem, saying to the journalist interviewing him, "Shit, see. Now look I've gotten sentimental."

The light is getting dim, old boy.

brett at 10:23 AM on October 09, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Douglas 3 is gone!

A lot of interesting memories stem from that place. Crazy that it's destroyed. I guess they want to put a civic center there, but for now it will be a parking lot.

brett at 09:43 AM on October 05, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (6)

So I'm looking for information on Halloween parties.

Where are they? When are they? Who is having them? If there are none I will throw a small Halloween party at my apartment, but I'd much rather go somewhere else.

PS: I've changed my Halloween costume. Let's just say that it's going to be "Okkaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!!!!"

brett at 09:04 AM on October 04, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK, so I wrote about the DN yesterday, but I have even more to write today (and this time it's actually defending my former employer). Let me bring you up to speed.

On Monday, Brent Meier, a friend of mine, drew a cartoon for the Daily Nebraskan depicting a scene from the Kansas-NU football game on Saturday. If you recall, a Kansas player suffered a horrible neck injury and was laid out on the field for well over 10 minutes as paramedics attended to him.

A dire situation indeed, and scary, too.

Well, during that 10 minutes, Nebraska fans started the wave inside the stadium. I hate the wave to begin with, but this was just disgusting--there was a real potential that the guy on the field wouldn't survive, and it looked to everyone in the audience that he would certainly never walk, let alone play football again.

Yet the wave went on.

So Brent put together a cartoon that was highly critical of the Nebraska fans, the so-called "Greatest fans in all of college football." Let's take a look:

So there it is. A bit tasteless, yes, but an insult to the Nebraska fans, a critique of their ridiculous, callous and insensitive behavior during a moment of incredible tension and worry. Let's think about this again. A guy could be paralyzed, he could die. The stadium of 80,000 starts the wave. WTF? You must be kidding me, right?

I was in the stadium, and it was some of the most embarrassing, telling behavior I've ever been unfortunate enough to witness.

Well, the cartoon didn't just get recycled. It made the 7 'o' clock news here in Lincoln and the horribly biased report from KETV stirred up a shitstorm at the university and in Kansas. Their shoddy reporters managed to interview Brent as well as the editor of the opinion section, Collin, yet KETV cut out both Colin and Brent's explanatory comments in favor of their own editorializing. They shaped the story to their liking, creating the news that most Nebraskan's love to see: some liberal college kid makes a tasteless joke at the expense of a poor football player. The university is stupid! The paper is full of idiots!

Awful cartoonist, for shame! Don't you realize we are the greatest fans in all of college football?! It's one of those pat-yourself-on-the-back-and-take-the-moral-highground types of stories. All of the moralists in Nebraska can jerk off about how wrong this kid is and make themselves feel just that much better.

But they've missed the damn point of the cartoon. Entirely.

So anyway I don't have much more to say about this, other than the following: if you really think that cartoon is offensive you need to realign your head, because this is a cartoon that bashes Nebraska. This is a cartoon that defends the dignity of the player. But it's hard to expect much of Nebraska to understand that, especially after the piece of garbage that KETV called a news report. How do liars like that sleep at night?

The cartoon includes one fat joke in the panel (dealing with KU's coach), but it's really besdie the point. Fat jokes are ubiquitous and getting riled over this one is pointless.

For your reading pleasure I have linked the Letters to the editor, the editor (Jenna's) response and also the editorial board's response.

All in all, pretty ridiculous, but not unexpected. People are just too dumb to pull their heads out of their asses and realize what's really going on. You are not the greatest fans in all of college football. You did the wave because you were bored while paramedics were saving a man's life.

brett at 07:56 AM on October 04, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (4)

I came across an opinion article in the Daily Nebraskan from last week with the title Extremism not necessary or appreciated in religion, which is probably one of the least informed, most prejudiced and borderline-racist articles I've ever come across (in the DN), and I've been reading it for 6 years now.

In the opinion piece, inspired by the Muslim world's reaction to a set of Danish cartoons as well as Pope Benedict's recent comments, the author calls Islam the "youngest child" in terms of religion, and suggests they do some "growing up." He blankets all Muslims as reactionary and finishes his article with this gem:

In a sense, it is time for these Muslims to grow up and go to college, to finally realize that there is a big world out there, and they are a small part of it.

Bravo. I can't believe that this piece of garbage was printed. I know the guy can express his opinion, but man, what the hell is this dross doing in a university paper, of all places?

I particularly like this line:

Muslims need to realize the role they play in the world and act accordingly.

This kind of talk just smacks of the Jim Crow era propaganda printed in newspapers nationwide. "Know your role, darkie," or some other such nonsense. I hope this guy, Jacob Euteneuer, gets slaughtered in the letters section.

brett at 09:25 AM on October 03, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)