only when i'm in NYC!

Jet lag is a b-i, seriously because 8 pm feels like 3 am etc. it's killing me though i'm tiredly happy that I'm in the greatest city period. mental note though, my swedish train pass may not quite work on the new york system (learned that today btw). i'm too sleepy to stick to a semi-coherent stee here but thought i'd lace my love cyberly for my NYC.

Geek speak

I don't know if it was the 6 plus hours standing in line for the PASV with 'unique' people or the fact that Chris and I had to gulp geek juice to understand the geek speak while trying to figure out our PASV (doing quite well I might add, thanks Chris) or if the sudden need to cyber share my thoughts via this nice bloc or everything together. Regardless of the reason I've dusted off my firebug and started using RSI feeds more seriously in the last 24 hours and catching up with everything that I stopped paying attention to. Regardless here are some of the great things that I've figured out.

- firebug is releasing it's new version today (1.5) though it might not support all of your plug-ins, right now.

- PASV has a new firmware release that no one is rushing to get, though it has cool as features on it like RSI feeds. After hearing about their feature that allows you to get TV to your PASV I might end up taking the plunge soon because the concept of my us stations sounds quite nice to me.


oh.. Kay

u.. *fumbling around an clearing throat*

that's all from me.

oh the CEO-lo danger mouse joint is getting at me right now.

New York, New York

finally! on my way back home to the beautifulness that is harlem in all it's grandeur. from the west indian spot with it's healthy proportions and loooong list of west indian 'remedy' drinks which claim to cure everything from hangovers to cancer. to the cats that hold down blocks harder than you'd hold down a job -- i'm saying dudes are at their locked spots at 5 in the morning till -- i can't friggin wait. minus the fact that i will be wifey-less throughout this experience.

lately things have been more than hectic, to say the least, and i've been in between inspired and burned out (which honestly would work better if a side were chosen), but still pushing through. in celebration for thanksgiving i went to an american spot and watched the game while 'diss-cussing' the "FACT" that swedish isn't a race. long story but eh. following that enlightening experience i got home at twelve and decided to do one of the nerdiest things of all time and head to a store opening which promised 50 PSP's for a third of the regular price. stood outside so long that my legs hurt for 24 hours after it but walked away with my brand new psp, mentioned below, and have been trying to figure this ish out since. it has a lot of possibilities but quite annoying (at times) to deal with since i've grown used to the simplicity of macs.

other things... oh, i've been neglecting my blog since it hasn't truly fit into the timeframe of my other-ness though those thoughts of 'i've got to put this on my blog' are starting to reenter my head. wifey is doing fine, though scarily influenced by the upcoming procreation product of our friends (due april) and talking more baby talk than i'd like to deal with. eh. i'll be okay. welp, i'll be keeping the blog-ism up as of now and will try and update it with my new york trip. not looking forward to the flight but i will kiss the ground, and random people, once there.

i've got to get my hands on the cee-lo joint and am rocking the ghost face quite hard right now, on the music side. co flow was dusted off and has had me feeling hoodie-headphones-walkman lately.

welp i'm out

l

posting from my new psp

stood in line all night to get a psp for a super cheap price and have started to learn a few things, though help would be.. helpful

when redoing a song please listen people

saw this video of the 'new' Biggie song with Bob Marley and it's the worst rehash of a song ever. How did they think that 'Suicidal Thoughts' would work in this fashion? they obviously didn't friggin listen to the song.

courtesy of spinemagaine.com

disassociated thoughts mangled together in my mind

- i hope i get this Public Enemy interview today (who are performing here tonight), though the dream is starting to get deferred... julianne and kris warned me about this

- the poor GOP and it's sagging poll numbers *sniff*

- 60 gig video ipod, PSP.. *writing* dear santa...

- the cookie spot on my block will be rather happy to see me after all this time, the warm chocolate cookie jihadist

this weeks dumbest headline goes to:

"Hotel in Choas after blast"

really?! now who'dda thunk?

verge

with my "going, going, back, back to.." countdown at full speed ahead with red marks crossed carefully over the iCal i'm starting to feel a little better and just a little more focused. though the focus was there it was missing something...

black people in nyc be prepared for a 6'4 dude giving you random hugs.

france is on fire and i'm happy that it's spotlighting the serious issues that europe has with ignoring immigrants. sometimes you have to burn it to the ground to build it. of course to not mislead the millions of ldef readers we'd like to state that we don't believe in violent unrest, for the most part (seeing that nat turner is our blogwide hero).

oh! if you haven't heard my girl hope yet then you'll thank me now.

a jealous guy (c) john lennon

what a beautiful piece of eloquent insecurity/domestic abuse!

things worth commenting on: wifey's WHOLE family was here for the weekend though decibel levels were raised but an overall a nice moment and great breakfast.

- dem's with nuts? who knew

- nbc irks me right now because they came up with the perfect solution for me not being able to watch news but thanks to their fuck buddy microminisupersoft (who says size doesn't matter? have an apple) it doesn't work with macs :-(

- clockwork orange, yeah i know i was all late an ish but hey better than never. dope twisted masterpiece.

- countdown to nyc. i. can. not. wait.

time

found out yesterday that a classmate of mine from high school, who i actually would keep periodically in touch with, died. car accident saturday night and at just 30 she's gone. it's friggin sad, so sad. not in that corny way i tend to see where someone dies and the people who never uttered a word to them all of a sudden realize (seemingly for the first time) the fragility of life and speak of them like they were ace friend -- something i've always hated. dunno, i know death well but it has a tendency to surprise me and hurt in different ways each time. i could validate this post with memories of her etc but that's pointless the point is that time called another young soul.

*sigh*

produce

today i lounged doing not much while wifey found a phone booth and put an S on her chest doing pre-parents-coming-down-for-the-weekend cleaning. me? i didn't accomplish much but figured out a few things on garageband and did a quick track over my own beatboxing. besides neglecting my blog i've been rocking ish hard trying to get that 15 cent to turn into a dollar and didn't go out of town as planned this weekend. started figuring out how to use my Rokr phone though the sound is kinda tinny and i'm not quite sure as to how i feel about my tanya morgan being interrupted by business calls but we'll see.

got new glasses today and am adjusting to not having to look through scratches.


fun huh?

ventriloquist dummy incorporated

i fell off, this i state in the same manner that it is: a fact. i have been meaning to head over here and bless the millions and millions of ldef's faithful readers with something, anything but alas time and i haven't been working together. in fact today will be like all of the other days where minutes are indistinguishable from hours and days so here's a quicky version.


- wifey: cool peoples still though i doubt that she loves football and know she doesn't like björk (Vespertine in fall/winter is a must)

- the hurricane relief concert: amazingly pulled off and probably the hardest work i've ever done period. the concert was sick! and we're still not finished because we're having a charity auction next week (?) on the swedish version of ebay. more on that soon.

- i am coming back to the harlem soon! cookies, the A train -- how come no one told me they raised the price again??

- i forgot fellow ldef's oft less than sometime blue writer carress' bday and would like to apologize, soooo sorry.


welp that's the quicky version and if i didn't have so much to it wouldn't have been so quick... i can't help being a man!



l

I Got Beef With Radio If I Don't Play Their Show

Soundwave: Strictly Laserbeak Status.

I don't like listening to the radio. I mean, if I wanted to hear the same eight songs over and over, I'd install ringtones on my phone. I usually wind up listening to the radio under two circumstances. The first is in a cab, which in New York City means that I can be listening to anything from country to talk radio to African chants, which is fine, as this is the type of shit I listen to all day anyway. The other way I get stuck listening to the radio is when I'm riding with one of my peeps and they misplaced, broke or sold the iPod cassette adapter for crack or something like that ("Nah, sun, what had happened was . . ."). This is not good as their CD collections routinely consist of nothing but mixtapes.

Sun, I can't listen to this shit.

Nah, we good. I got both kinds: talking and no talking.

So what is really being said is that we have a choice bewteen DJ's talking over random smatterings of songs that record labels apparently thought weren't good enough to put on an album (which is saying a lot these days), JR Writer vs. Papoose vs. Grafh: Who Got Next? hosted by The Mixtape Prince or the Hot 97 playlist on CD (with Reggaeton bonus tracks!).

At this point, I opt for the radio, which means that as we violate a few state laws (riding dirty, pastic cups, choking leaves--but, please, put on your seatbealt), we get to listen to the local Loudmouth Insecure Cockriding DJ (LICDJ) refer to himself in the third person, talk over songs and plug where he's playing that night: "We gonna do it real big at Club Ass Smackers. LICDJ on the ones and two. First 50 bitches to get they assess smacked get a free bottle of champagne. So get there early and wear yo' tightest ish!"

Best part is when the Hometown Famous Rapper (HFR) shows up and the cockriding begins in earnest:

LICDJ: I see you got the 2008 Monthy Python XL78 on 35's! You killin' them!

HFR: Yeah. You know how we do. Dalai Lama status.

LICDJ: Release! [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: No more 34's.

LICDJ: You hear that Hometown? 34's are finished! 35's and up! Step your game up or get off the road!

HFR: Spend that cheese, spend that cheese. You gotta spend that cheese.

LICDJ: Release! [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: I'ma be real with you, LICDJ. I'ma be real. I'm home, I'm in Hometown, my hometown, I can't lie. Last year, before I signed my deal and got the promise of getting 70 trillion dollars--because you know they don't give it to you all at once; they just promise to give it you you, and shit--can I say "shit" on the radio?

LICDJ: Oh no! You're causing problems. Sexy Jewish Lady Who Runs the Station is gonna call now! The red phone is gonna be ringing!

HFR: Sorry, SJLWRS. I ain't know I can't say "shit."

LICDJ: Oh no!

HFR: Shit.

LICDJ: Release! [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: Oh fuck. Anyway . . .

LICDJ: Release! [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: . . . I'ma keep it real with Hometown!

LICDJ: He's about to release y'all! [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: Laserbeak status.

LICDJ: Hoo-hoo-hoo!! He said "Laserbeak status!" You heard that Hometown? No more Starscream. Strictly Leserbeak! [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: Yeah. Dalai Lama status. I'ma keep it Laserbeak.

LICDJ: Speak on it. I'm just here to suck your dick.

[red phone rings]

BOTH: Oh shit.

LICDJ: Sorry, SJLWRS.

HFR: It's my fault, SJLWRS.

LICDJ: Release.

HFR: I'ma speak on it. I used to have the XL77. This was before I got that promise of 70 trillion. When I got that promise, because I have no concept of financial planning, I went right to the dealer and got a $600,000 car.

LICDJ: Whoo-hoo-hoo! $600,000! You hear that Hometown?! If you pushing anything less than half-a-mil, pull over when you see him. Tithe!

HFR: Yeah, man. I ain't even deal with the 77 no more--that's only $450,000. I'm a baller now. I gave it to my babymama. You know, donate that bit of change to Katrina victims or something.

LICDJ: Speaking of which . . .

HFR: Uh-huh.

LICDJ: . . . Hurricane Katrina . . .

HFR: Uh-huh.

LICDJ: . . devastated a lot of people . . .

HFR: Uh-huh.

LICDJ: . . .you're not part of the benefit concert.

HFR: Uh-huh.

LICDJ: Why is that?

HFR: Ummm, well, you know it's like this: I'm no hypocrite. You hear my album, it's all bitches and guns and money, yunnowhutI'msayn? Yeah, I threw on the one song about my moms and the other about my dead homies, but seriously, no one wants to listen to that. They just forward over that on the CD. The label made me put those songs on there.

LICDJ: This is real talk, Hometown.

HFR: I ain't gon' do no show where I'm performing no songs that no one want to hear. And I ain't gonna feel right doing songs like "More Ice Than You," "Shorty Wanna Pop" or "Kill You Twice" at no benefit concert, man. I can't be no hypocrite. I keep it Laserbeak.

LICDJ: Laserbeak status! He's releasing! [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: Transform and roll out.

LICDJ: So, how does it feel when you rolling, you got no money in your pocket, but you get drinks free at the bar 'cause you a rapper--

FR: Don't forget the credit card.

LICDJ: The credit card?

HFR: Yeah. It goes against my budget. I gotta pay it back if my record doesn't do well.

LICDJ: Yes! They always get you with that! But we won't talk about that. Talk more about the car!

HFR: Well, it's the 2008. They ain't even mass produce them yet. Me, Robert Dinero and Bill Gates the only ones that got one.

LICDJ: That is so Laserbeak.

HFR: Baby African ostrich seats.

LICDJ: [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: Genetically modified virgin muskrat fur on the floor.

LICDJ: [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: Nuclear bomb-proof stained-glass crystal windows.

LICDJ: [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: 48 karat gold steering wheel.

LICDJ: I'm not even talking. I'm just gonna say: [Lets off space shuttle sound effect] Release! [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: The dash is pure Sycamore. Only cut from trees over 40,000 years old.

LICDJ: Whoo-hoo! Now let's talk about the album.

HFR: Oh man, it's heat. I got like 14,000 songs done, but I'm trying to pick the best 900. It's gonna be a quadruple BD. Strictly Blu-ray.

LICDJ: 14,000 songs. He's released, y'all!

HFR: Yeah. Cause, you know, I'm not a rapper. I'm a talker. I just talk to people. Any thing that rhymes, I say it. If I can spit it, you can get wit it.

LICDJ: Release! [Lets off space shuttle sound effect]

HFR: Laserbeak.

LICDJ: Whoo-hoo! We gotta pay some bills right now, but we'll be back with Hometown Famous Rapper after this commercial for our upcoming Party at Club Rape. Hometown Famous Rapper will be there. LICDJ on the wheels. It's gonna be so Dalai Lama.

HFR: Truly.

LICDJ: When we come back, I wanna talk to you about all the overused producers and features you have on your album, 'cause you know, no one makes an album by themselves anymore.

HFR: Laserbeak.

LICDJ: Pull over when you see him. Homage due.

HFR: Stay off the road.

--------------------------------------------

True this: The streets schooled us to spend our money foolish.

Do Something

being so far away from home has it's problems especially when something like katrina happens. before this i was frustrated that i couldn't have those bar conversations with during the elections, not there with my new york when the power was out and a plethora of other things that make it seem like i. should. have. been. there. nothing has made me feel like the past week, frustrated and far away, in a place so foreign so out of context. so not home. so sitting here combing through the news stores and watching internet feeds something snapped in me and i knew that i need, shit had to, do something!

so i started working on a Hurricane Relief Concert here in Sweden and pulled all stops, flicked through my address book and started making calls, hella calls. no more working-semi-patience-within-this-bullshit-swedish-system this was war, i hit up the hip hop community first with the thought that if they are going to use my music it's time for them to at least give back to this. luckly only one person i talked to tried to throw me off to which i explained that it was black music that fed their family and the south is where it was birthed so this isn't really a call 'asking'... anyway fuck 'em. the concert is starting to take shape and a lot of people want to give back, help, shit DO SOMETHING so i promise that i'll keep you all posted with the what's happening and hopefully someone hurt by the hurricane (and the inaction) can get a little help from sweden.

a suggestion: if your sitting around feeling frustrated and having watercooler convos about how fucking horrible it was stop and take the time to try to give back. fuck talk.

l

Reasonable Doubt

They shootin' -- nobody dyin'
Somebody better put somebody body on somebody iron
Sometime soon or somebody lyin'

I ain't buyin' that shit y'all shovelin'.

from cbs news this morning's Nancy Giles

(CBS) The fact that many of those suffering most in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are poor, and black, has outraged a lot of people. Justifiably so, in the opinion of CBS News Sunday Morning Contributor Nancy Giles. Here is her commentary from Sept. 4, 2005:
After meeting with Louisiana officials last week, Rev. Jesse Jackson said: "Many black people feel that their race, their property conditions and their voting patterns have been a factor in the response." He continued: "I'm not saying that myself."

Then I'll say it.

If the majority of the hardest hit victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were white people, they would not have gone for days without food and water, forcing many to steal for mere survival.

Their bodies would not have been left to float in putrid water.

They would have been rescued and relocated a hell of a lot faster than this. Period.

I mean, reporters and crews are getting to stranded people, and government and military agencies can't? Why doesn't CNN run FEMA?

When I saw pictures of black people taking things from stores, my first thought was: "How are those Air Jordans necessary for your survival?"

Then it hit me: People needed shoes and clothing. Some escaped the floods with just the clothing on their backs

We have American citizens, not "refugees" from an underdeveloped country, still waiting for shelter.

Waiting.

Waiting.

You leave children, pregnant women, the elderly, even the able-bodied, in a city destroyed with no help, no food, no water, no electricity for three, four, five days? What would you do if your family was starving, and you saw people dying in the street?

And why didn't the stores in the disaster areas simply make their goods available to these desperate folks? Surely, they've got insurance.

Love thy neighbor. Didn't I read that somewhere?

The real war is not in Iraq, but right here in America. It's the War on Poverty, and it's a war that's been ignored and lost. An estimated 37 million Americans are living in poverty. New Orleans is one of the poorest cities in the country, with 40 percent of its children living in poverty. Mississippi has the highest poverty rate of any state. We've repeatedly given tax cuts to the wealthiest, and left our most vulnerable American citizens to basically fend for themselves.

The whole world is watching. And once again, a day late and a dollar short, words of wisdom from our president: "This is a huge task that we're dealing with." "These are tough times." "Give cash."

Once again, he finds the photo op: Some black folks to hug, some white men in Mississippi to bond with. He flies over the messy parts of New Orleans, waves and leaves.

The president has put himself at risk by visiting the troops in Iraq, but didn't venture anywhere near the Superdome or the Convention Center, where thousands of victims, mostly black and poor, needed to see that he gave a damn.

katrina links

N.O's mayor Ray Nagin is the truth personified, my first ever favorite politician.


kanye put his career on the line for this. that's some grown man ish.


i'm proud of my people right now.

Racism Still Alive

They just concealin' it.

Loiusiana, Loiusiana, they're trying to wash us away.

Loiusiana, Loiusiana, they're trying to wash us away.

Loiusiana, Loiusiana, they're trying to wash us away.

Loiusiana, Loiusiana, they're trying to wash us away.

Loiusiana, Loiusiana, they're trying to wash us away.

Loiusiana, Loiusiana, they're trying to wash us away.

I see right through you, Judas.

Allow Me To Retort

What good is the Rid without the comb?

I've already said it, but I guess it needs to be said again.

It's like this, little boy: Your delusions of grandeur are not even annoying, let alone upsetting. You don't know me well enough to question my levels of sincerity, and your stating otherwise just shows how underdeveloped your mind truly is. But you do know well enough that I don't care. Your whole style is fake. So I won't even address you anymore. If I happen to bump into you at one of these little industry book-signing panels that I hardly ever attend, we'll deal with it however it needs to be dealt with. But, for everyone else . . .

When the chips fell down, the little boy holla'd at me asking for an apology. I was like, "For what? You did you, I did me. Period." He tried to clarify: "I think you have some assumptions about what I'm trying to do with my career, yadda, yadda, ya, rah, rah, ray-ray and a blahzay blah." I was like, "If that's what you're trying to do with your career, you're going about it wrong. Writing one-sentence barbs is not criticism." I pointed out that he wrote some shit about the book, which, basically served no purpose--it wasn't making me a better writer; it wasn't informing anyone who read the piece. I also pointed out that, having made my money off the book, understanding that all publicity is good publicity (NYT Bestseller list first week out -- thank you), and the fact that it's not my book, but 50's, means that my level of emotional attachment to it is not the same as if it were actually my book. [Shameless plugs: How To Draw Hip-Hop and Strapped For Cash, coming sooner than you think.] But, all that aside, I appreciate any and everyone who's ever given me constructive feedback about anything I write. His shit? Well, it was just--to use one of his words--"salty." That was about the gist of that exchange. This was not by any means a long part of the conversation and I've only covered it here to clear the lies.

Honestly, I'm embarrassed to be part of this whole thing. And I really, really have much better things to do with my time. For real. I have deadlines for real projects, friends and family to be with, bars to go to, hearts to break--all that type of shit. But there is a train of thought that has been floating around blogville that the boy touched upon with his post. He'd probably call it a "meme," but he'd be wrong, because, well, that's just not the definition of the word meme.

At any rate, let me address the blogger/journalist thing from my humble point of view:

I don't consider myself a journalist. Never have. And I've stated this publicly time and time again. I don't have journalistic training, nor do I hold myself to whatever ideals journalists supposedly hold themselves to. If I did, marriages would end and there'd be more hip-hop beefs than a little bit because, frankly, some of these rappers are wild boys, they say some wild shit, do some wild things. And besides, I've fucked up many times in my quest to be a professional. You can read all about it here.

I'm a writer. I write. Everyday. In notebooks, on the computer, on the backs of press releases, on envelopes, on napkins, on receipts; at bars, in cabs, at home, at clubs; in the middle of the night, in the morning, after having sex, when I'm angry, when I'm confused, when I'm feeling clear-minded. You can get it twisted, because you have free will and it's your right to think whatever it is that you want to think. But, truth is, I write because it's what I do. It gives my thoughts definition and space the same way that cleaning your crib clears your mind or balancing your checkbook lets you know if you can afford a new pair of kicks. For me, blogging is just an extension of all that; it allows me to experiment with voice, texture, emotion, style, wordplay, imagery and so forth. I don't need the hits, the comments or the linkage. If I did, I wouldn't be keeping a bunch of blogs that no one knows about. I won't say that I don't enjoy the community it offers, because I do. I've met some good people through this medium. Hell, I'm on one dude's blog now. Motherfucker lives in Sweden. But me and him, we cool. Shit like that happens with less frequency out in the real world.

Now, as for whether bloggers want to be journalists or journalists want to be bloggers, I guess each individual would have to answer that for themselves. Yet, I will say this: for the most part, when you pick up a magazine or newspaper, there's some sort of guarantee that you'll get a certain caliber of writing. There's a slew of editors who have to be accountable for the quality of the publication, another gang of people responsible for the dollars that the magazine spends and, usually, a managing editor that bridges these two worlds. Of course, there are going to be differences in budget, staff size and quality of writing as you explore different publications, but that's pretty much the template. Basically, print rags have keepers at the gate. These keepers have a lot of control over what is read by the reader. And, depending upon the individuals involved, the process can be an aid or a hindrance to quality reading and writing. But, by-and-large, it means that you have some idea of what you're getting before you sit down to read.

I'd be fraudulent if I didn't say that I've learned a lot from many great editors. They've definitely made me a stronger writer. I've argued with them, hated them, called them all types of idiots (most times to their faces), but I've been blessed by these men and women and I am thankful to have learned from the constraints which they placed upon me as a writer. Without a doubt, there are pros and cons to writing hundred-word album reviews. One of the cons is that they're limited in their ability to inform the reader as to whether or not the joint in question is worth 15 bucks. But one of the indispensable pros is that they teach the writer to make every word count. At this point, I can write 100, 350, 500, 800, 1500, 2000 and 3000 words in my head, without a pen--paragraph breaks, quotes, transitions and everything. Of course, I still have to sit down and fine tune with the pen and paper, or keyboard and screen, but I can get a pretty decent first draft done before I ever hit my brick and mortar tools. The reason being, the aforementioned are very common word counts in the game, and if you are forced to turn in copy at those lengths for over a decade, I'm sure that you'll mentally know what they feel like as well.

I'm not perfect, though. I usually come in over. Most editors will allow you a 5-10% overage that they can squeeze in. I tend to come in around 15-20%. Then we gotsa get to cutting. That shit hurts. Sometimes it damages the piece, sometimes it makes it tighter. But when I see it in print, it's always--always--different from the last thing I saw. Why? The art/design guy who can't (or refuses to) shrink a picture or fuss with his layout, the copy editor who misunderstood a bit of slang or a reference, the legal department that thinks that something may be libel. Shit happens. You get used to it.

With blogs, there's none of this give and take. Once again, pros and cons. Pro is that you can get unfiltered, unadulterated writing. Con is that it may not be any good. Seriously, some of these dudes lack original thought and they're devoid of any style when saying something we've all heard a million times before. This would never happen at any good magazine because a competent editor will tell you that you're not bringing anything to the table and send you back to the blank page or, at the very least, help you find something new to say that hasn't been said. Of course it doesn't work out this way 10 times out of 10, and you may wind up reading the same piece more than once. Still, most editors try to make sure that there is some new observation, some new understanding, some new bit of information involved. Even if the revelation isn't novel to you, a proper editor will aspire to make sure it's something that will be fresh to at least the majority of the publication's readers. Better bloggers will do the same for themselves--they'll self-censor in order to ensure that they are advancing a conversation. But too many bloggers just want to be heard, regardless of the discussion that has taken place before. It's their turn to speak and that's all that's on their mind. As far as I'm concerned, these types will remain worthless until they step their game up.

Another thing is that the overwhelmingly vast majority of blogs lack primary sources. The authors are simply picking over other people's research and commenting on that. They don't go out and find the news stories, interview the politicians, build with the artists or talk to the victims of crimes. They just play peanut gallery to someone else's findings. This is fine when the peanut gallery has something of interest to say, but when they don't, well, then no one is there to tell them to stop. They just post away. Sometimes this results in getting put on to new artists, debunking media/government lies, exposing plants in the White House press corps and much more. More often, however, what happens is that people who can't gain an audience in their own livingrooms attempt to pose as experts on a subject and, unfortunately, some unwitting souls will follow along.

I think you have to take the good with the bad and use your discernment. There are engaging writers, people and thinkers in all forms of media; but there are also a bunch of dim nitwits. It's just a microcosm of real life. The same rules apply. You have to know what works for you and be careful whom you follow.

Ed. Note: In its furthest definition, I may be wrong on the "meme" thing. But, I'm cool with being wrong. Shit happens.

P.S.-- This a bit under 1800 words. Just like I thought.

If you can't respect that, your whole perspective is wack.

even when disasters strike

it still exists. please tell me the difference between


http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/480/ladm10208301530


and this one


http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/photos_ts_afp/050830071810_shxwaoma_photo1


maybe it's just me...