Greenwich Village or Logan’s Run?

The mighty Fran Lebowitz takes on Mayor Bloomberg and New York University with the righteous indignation of someone who loves the city passionately and hates the steady shift away from a metropolis known for its cultural, racial and architectural diversity to one of homogeneity, privilege and wealth. She kicks ass and I think she’s absolutely brilliant. Lebowitz IS New York. She’d make a great mayor.

What Lebowitz and many New Yorkers are specifically upset about is NYU’s plan to construct four new buildings in Greenwich Village which will radically alter the area’s landscape by creating six city blocks (1.6 million square feet) comprised of massive concrete structures. The Village is one of the last neighborhoods in Manhattan that has maintained its human scale and these “superblocks” would destroy one of the great cultural communities on the planet, replacing gardens with stone and flooding the area with more people, more bars and more noise - an urban Disneyland for academics and alcoholics.

Anyone who has recently visited the East Village knows just how bad things can get when a neighborhood is overrun by suburban asswipes whose idea of a groovy night out is finding the bar with the cheapest Jagermeister shots. The site of puke-slathered Lana Del Rays wobbling down Avenue B on their Jimmy Choo’s will make you long for the days of garbage strikes and man-eating rats.

You can read more about the struggle to keep the Village safe from the marauding armies of greed who are so arrogantly and wantonly hellbent on turning an historic neighborhood into a Bloombergian hellpit here.

Bravo Fran!
 

 
Hard-of-hearing cowboy Slim (Harry Dean Stanton) encounters an alien spy - or maybe not - in this goofy short film from David Lynch.

From Lynch’s website:

After the international success of Blue Velvet, Lynch was approached by Fiagaro Magazine and Erato Films to create a film as a part of their “The French as Seen by…” TV series. At first Lynch turned them down, but then he caught some ideas and agreed. The Cowboy and the Frenchman was the first time Lynch worked with veteran actor Harry Dean Stanton, who would later be featured in several other Lynch projects.

Stanton is a real hoot.
 

 
Last week I posted about a Velvet Underground eye test chart modeled after “the classic eye chart developed by Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen in 1862” from Etsy shop Waste and Wounded.

Well, there’s a new addition (or maybe I missed it because my eyesight sucks?): A terrific Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds eye test chart.

It’s selling for $65.00 + shipping at Waste and Wounded.

The Nick Cave Eye Test Chart. Limited Edition Canvas Print Artwork.

 
A big collection of Doctor Who action figures “sing” Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.”

This version of Reed’s “Perfect Day” was originally done for a BBC charity promotion in 2008 which included a vast array of singers including “David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, Bono among many others.”

Unfortunately, the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory are not included in the video.
 

 
Thanks you, Edward Ludvigsen!

 
Planet Hiltron, responsible for turning the fab into “meh.”

I’m pretty sure some of these ‘shopped images were making the rounds on the Internet a few years ago. For whatever reason, they’re making a come back. So share again, I shall.

Via Nerdcore

 
This performance by Santana in 1970 is a percussionist’s wet dream. Drummers Michael Shrieve, Jose Areas, Coke Escovedo and Michael Carabello catch fire as David Brown’s hard-driving bass keeps everything anchored to a groove as deep as the Grand Canyon.

Carlos Santana - guitar, vocals
Gregg Rolie - keyboards, piano, lead vocals
David Brown - bass
Michael Shrieve - drums
Jose “Chepito” Areas - percussion, conga, timbales
Mike Carabello - percussion, conga, vocals
Thomas “Coke” Escovedo - percussion

Lenox, Massachusetts. Santana’s opening act was Miles Davis!
 

 
As seen on the “Truth Has a Liberal Bias” Tumblr blog:

“If Sarah Palin were black, her daughter’s out of wedlock, “baby daddy drama” would have been presented as an example of both pathological behavior and a dysfunctional family that is symbolic of the social problems in that community.

If Sarah Palin were black, never would the poor decision making by the Palin family be marked off as challenges overcome, or deeds to be valorized.

If Sarah Palin were black, her neo-secessionist husband would have been the death knell for her political career, because as we all know you can’t trust “those people.”

If Sarah Palin were black, her lack of intellectual curiosity, willful and cultivated ignorance, and lack of grace both written and spoken, would not be taken as “folksy.” Instead, Palin would be viewed as unqualified for any public office.

If Sarah Palin were black she would be tarred and feathered as an “affirmative action baby.”

If Sarah Palin were Black, she’d be Sweet Brown!

Liberals Are Cool added this for good measure:

Just goes to show how far Palin’s whiteness can take her. Zero intellect, two high school drop-outs, an unwed teen mother, a quitter of the one major job she had. Master of hateful coded language targeting opponents as not “real Americans”. Belongs to a church outside of the mainstream. Still a top GOP candidate.

 
Well this explains everything!
 
Via Christian Nightmares

 
Here’s a groovy extended dance mix of Kraftwerk Orange’s “Electro Boy” from the fabulous The Mighty Boosh comedy series.

Driving along on the plastic dream
Heart beats fast like a tiny machine
I am electro boy
I am electro girl
Skating along on the perspex scene
Crystal moccasins, bionic cheese
I am electro boy
I am electro girl”

Featuring Neon, Ultra and Johnny Two Hats.

And don’t forget, The Human League invented music.
 

 
This video left me speechless. Talk about ripping everyone a new asshole and doing it in style. Vicious invective courtesy of YouTube hip-hop superstar Hopsin. It’s blunt to the point of pain.

This is going to be the most crazily viral video of the week that doesn’t have anything to do with what Mitt Romney’s hiding in his tax returns. In the space of time that it takes you to watch this (and do watch it from start to finish) check out how many new comments get left on YouTube. It’s also trending worldwide on Twitter and on the homepage of reddit today.

I don’t want to be a middle-aged guy commenting on “the youth,” but for fuck’s sake does Hopsin’s rap take no prisoners. And I can’t comment either on if this is some sort of ironic thing, or semi-ironic thing that he’s doing. Is there a level of “Stephen Colbert-ness” to Hopsin’s shtick? I can’t really tell to be honest, but the sheer ferociousness of his message did cause me to sit up, pay attention and to listen until the very end (which, again, I recommend doing here).

Fascinating stuff. “The Ill Mind of Hopsin 5” really knocked me for a loop. Today is the guy’s birthday, too. Follow Hopsin on Twitter.