hello, typepad

Oscar Goodie Bags

Girlhacker:

Here at last are the results of a week of research. Contents of the coveted official Oscar gift bags are not publicized by the powers that be who run the Oscars. Companies that contribute gifts often put out press releases, though this year the Oscar folks ordered them to stay mum until February 23rd. One good source of discovering the more unique items are local news stories about shops in town who have been asked to contribute items. Case in point, I'm still trying to find the actual gift behind a cryptic Wisconsin TV news teaser advertising an interview with "a Wisconsin man who made a product that will be in all Oscar star's goody bags.

Going Grey for The Cause

DJ Danger Mouse created a remix of Jay-Z's the Black Album and the Beatles White Album, and called it the Grey Album. Jay-Z's record label, Roc-A-Fella, released an a capella version of his Black Album specifically to encourage remixes like this one. But despite praise from music fans and major media outlets like Rolling Stone ("an ingenious hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time") and the Boston Globe (which called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the year), EMI has sent cease and desist letters demanding that stores destroy their copies of the album and websites remove them from their site. EMI claims copyright control of the Beatles 1968 White Album.

Sites all over the Internet are going grey in support of "The Grey Album," an album that remixes of Jay-Z's accapellas with samples from the Beatles. I have to admit I don't love this album, but it's an interesting novelty a great rallying cry for the those defending intellectual property.

Where I'm From

"I forgot that you were part French, that explains a few things." — Adriana Tatum.

The Other Big Trade This Week

I loved Rasheed, but I could grow into Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Theo Ratliff in the front court. The Pistons are title contenders right now, if you ask me.

In my mailbox

We noticed you linked to a story about the Grey Album. It seems like copies of the Grey Album are definitely making their way to people who want them, but we thought it was vitally important that we *insist* on sample-based musicians' right to create, and on the public's right to hear the amazing music they make. EMI wasn't just trying to stop DJ DM from selling the album, they sent cease and desist letters to some websites that were making it available for free. EMI acted to stop people from hearing this piece of fun and inventive music, and that's just not right.

So we're organizing an online-protest of sorts--called "Grey Tuesday"--to take a stand and pretend, even if only for 24 hours, that we don't live in a culture where the legal environment ensnares musicians. The idea is that this Tuesday, February 24th, as many sites as possible mirror the Grey Album and/or turn their page "grayscale" (i.e. no color) for the day. We're also calling for people connected to independent radio stations (college, commercial, internet) to get the entire Grey Album played at some point on Tuesday (possibly along with the Beatles and Jay-Z sources).

We've been pretty successful so far with our attempts to provoke debate about sampling and copyright. Check out this article from Wired that we got going or have a look at our press page. We're pretty confident that, if there's a reasonable level of participation, we can translate this "online event" into some serious coverage in mainstream press that tons of regular people will read.

And what regular people think about sampling and copyright matters, especially when the future of the music industry is almost entirely up for grabs.

So please, check it out and email us to join.

Blogging While (Anti) Black

These sites stand as two towers forming a portcullis that bars the entry for those not of their ilk by rapier wit, snark and innuendo. The tone of post-black humor, when wielded by the non-black for a non-black audience only serves to polarize people. It acts as a catalyst for life imitating art, giving a nudge to those who are influenced by the power of the written word.

We don't expect media-centric blogs about people of power to read like an issue of Final Call, but we don't expect them to sound like National Vanguard either. Nick Denton and his employees have decided that a person's ideas, actions and deeds don't define them, the color of their skin does. Thanks for letting us know where we belong.

A friend of mine once said "I would critique Nick Denton more harshly, but I may want to work for him some day." Over at Africana, John Lee has no such hesitation. (via randomWalks)

UPDATE: 10:30 PST, George clears the names of Choire and Ana through some heretofore un-publicised ritual. My prediction: George may end up being called on again to perform similar exonerations, and that's not a business he wants to be pigeonholed into. All the same, I defer.

Oyez, oyez! I hereby summon my Almighty Powers of Outraged Blackness and declare Choire Sicha and Ana Marie Cox, on this day, hereforth, Free of the Taint of Racism, This Nation's Original Sin (until that utterly unlikely rainy day that you do or say something that even I can't process).

Brooklyn Housing

"Before anybody understood that Williamsburg is the promised land, we knew it," said Rabbi David Niederman, the president of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg. "We have stayed here and held onto it."

The New York Times keeps riding the Housing Boom Bandwagon, with no mention of the Brooklyn Nets' new stadium.

Reclaiming Maine, One Pond at a Time

Indeed, ice in Maine divides not just air from water but class from class. When the state freezes over, Maine is returned to Mainers one pond at a time. The waterfront cottages empty out and the laborers who built them are able to travel unhindered over the snow-covered lawns. "No Trespassing" signs are no match for the colonial-era Great Ponds Act which makes the liquid part of any Maine lake over 10 acres public property."

In today's Boston Globe: Ice fishing in Maine is under fire from property owners, environmentalists, and literary snobs. Why can't hard-water anglers get any respect? Just keep reading it over and over, you may forget the news about A-rod.