Andy Hutchins

“Treasure,” Bruno Mars (prod. by The Smeezingtons)...

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:28:27 -0400

“Treasure,” Bruno Mars (prod. by The Smeezingtons) (Unorthodox Jukebox, Atlantic, 2012)

While I’m posting songs that feature inferior copies of previous pop stars: Bruno had me thinking there was a Michael Jackson single I was unfamiliar with for about a verse-chorus-verse span when I heard this on the radio the other night. If you’re going to ape, ape the best.

“The Way (Spanglish Version),” Ariana Grande feat....

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:23:40 -0400

“The Way (Spanglish Version),” Ariana Grande feat. Mac Miller (prod. by Harmony Samuels) (Daydreamin’, Republic, 2013)

I like this slightly better than the original, in the same way that I kinda like “Dices” better than “Who Says,” but Wikipedia suggests Grande is Italian by descent, not Latin@, and though she grew up in Boca Raton, “Spanglish Version” is not the only problematic thing here.

"Still, Jeff Gomez, CEO of the transmedia consulting firm Starlight Runner Entertainment, says there..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:22:00 -0400

“

Still, Jeff Gomez, CEO of the transmedia consulting firm Starlight Runner Entertainment, says there could have been so many more lucrative tie-ins. He contends that the rebooted franchise has enormous potential outside the multiplex.

‘Right now the ‘Star Trek’ movies are movies,’ Gomez said. ‘There is no apparent ongoing transmedia strategy behind them, just a handful of licensing opportunities around the release of ‘Into Darkness.’

‘Why would that be attractive to an artist who sees beyond the boundaries of the silver screen to envision a true multi-platform narrative all based on a global franchise?’

”

- This is how super-rich people talk about getting richer: “See(ing) beyond the boundaries of the silver screen to envision a true multi-platform narrative all based on a global franchise.” (Via.)

basedandbiased: missturman: kiyannasquotebook: forgetpolitics:...

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:10:58 -0400

basedandbiased:

missturman:

kiyannasquotebook:

forgetpolitics:

bookishfeministash:

tbgptumbles:

After an awesome year which saw The Black Girl Project do some great work, we’re looking forward to doing even more in 2012 and beyond, so basically, buy a shirt. Inspired by spectacular Black women, both real and fictionalized, they come in all types of colors and all of the proceeds go to The Black Girl Project.

Buy one for yourself, your cousins and your mama and ‘em!

<3

I really really REALLY want the one that says Khadijah & Synclaire & Max & Regine. Living Single, y’all! <3

I want the Zora & Toni & Alice & Octavia one so bad!!!

Love these so much! Can you still buy these? I guess I’ll click the link and find out.

Yes, you can still purchase them!

YES! This is where the original idea for that bogus “Goddess Shirt” came from. Support these folks!

parklakespeakers: thesinglesjukebox: KE$HA FT. WILL.I.AM -...

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:27:58 -0400

parklakespeakers:

thesinglesjukebox:

KE$HA FT. WILL.I.AM - CRAZY KIDS (REMIX)
[4.58]

Album sales in the toilet? Buy a will.i.am verse and your score will be too. Limited time only!

Anthony Easton: Ke$ha as always flirted with earnestness, and positioned her partying as a kind of self-actualization. It was hinted at, never quite made explicit, but it was kind of a road-of-excess, Blakean thing. The interesting bit about that is that she never let the inspirational process fall over the genuinely pleasurable bits. It was a bonus. Making it the main course — and adding will.i.am — kind of ruins the meal.
[4]

Will Adams: When will his reign of terror end? Never mind the whistling (I’d rather not talk about it), someone please explain to me who decided it was a good idea to replace one of Ke$ha’s sharp-tongued verses for will.i.am’s dribble. He loses a point for “boobies” alone (though to be fair he gains it back with the mumbling bit, which is genuinely funny). The song itself is mediocre, another in a line of Ke$ha’s mission statement and another in a line of a build-drop template composed of two disparate parts held together by Scotch tape. It’s not nearly as crazy as the title wants it to be.
[3]

Alfred Soto: Her career fading a bit, she turns to the track with a redundant will.i.am bit and revs up the riffage. Who needs this when “Die Young” and “We R Who We R” exist?
[4]

Rebecca A. Gowns: I’m one of those people that adored Warriorwhen it was released — it’s just a fun set of songs. So I’ve heard this song several times by this point (and yeah, this is super close to the album version; as is typical lately, the “remix” just consists of a VERY lazy will.i.am. verse being shoved into the middle for 25 seconds). My seasoned review of “Crazy Kids” is as follows: the whistling sounds as if it’s being performed by an asthmatic, the guitar parts are dreary, it’s full of that “youth!!” marketing flavor that’s all over the radio, and the song is not NEARLY crazy enough. The verses are fine enough to dance to, but even then, it’s still warmed-over Far East Movement. The song as a whole has too many sleepy parts to really get a crowd moving; frankly, those parts are not even rousing enough for people to pull out their lighters (or cell phones) and sway them slowly. 1 point for being dull but serviceable, 2 points for being a Ke$ha song, after all.
[3]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Despite the successes of “We R Who We R”, the underlined Up With People approach in Ke$ha’s music has never successfully aligned with her most famed aesthetic - the spirit-drenched mix of goofy rapping and standardized four-on-the-floor beats. Her optimism isn’t at odds with her flippant club persona, but rarely have they clicked successfully, with one overpowering the other. But suddenly on the “Crazy Kids” remix, everything makes sense. The verses’ muffled techno programming allows Ke$ha and guest will.i.am to enjoy the spoils of their silliness, the latter seeming more human than he has in years. This gives way to the chorus’s mix of strumalong guitars and appropriately tribalistic drums, the setting for the artist to build a community out of the clubhoppers, make-out kids and weekend warriors: “We are! We are we are!” The repetition of ‘we’ above all else makes it a mantra, a charmingly naive message of inclusion topped off with a whisper: “WE ARE THE CRAZY PEOPLE.” The whisper, straight from a theatre-kid playbook but undoubtedly effective, seals the deal of inclusion. The bridge (returning to her apocalyptic imagery from “Die Young” and “Out Alive”) acknowledges that there may be little more to her politics than to gather people together for celebrations, but even that is enough in a world spinning out of control: “This is all we’ve got/And then it’s gone.”
[8]

Brad Shoup: I’d like to add a point to my Mariah/Miguel score, please. I forgot the no-whistling curve.
[4]

Jer Fairall: Ke$ha remains, to me, a one-trick pony whose one trick I never cared much for in the first place, though I’ll give it up a bit for will.i.am’s “speaking in a mumble” bit—the only time he’s ever made me laugh on purpose.
[4]

Katherine St Asaph: Lots of pop stars start or moonlight as session writers, but it’s only ever brought up on two occasions: when they’re trying to break out, the “she’s written for Britney!” script; or when pundits want to prove their authenticity with the trusty Procrustean rubric “she writes her own songs!” (As always, always she.) Everything else is just assumed to be part of the artist’s grand 360-deal vision — which can be misleading. The chorus to “Crazy Kids” is so clearly a Kesha Sebert work for hire: a pretty, melodic clarion call to whoever you are, singable by whoever you’ve got: Avril, Selena, Britney, Katy, Amy out of Karmin had she not reached her “hello” limit. Ke$ha took this one herself — maybe under duress — and because Ke$ha can’t yet release a single that’s entirely fluttery plaint, it’s awkwardly grafted onto a dirty bit, with a will.i.am verse grafted onto that for the single. (Give Will this: that muffled shutting-up of an ending is probably fanservice for lots of people, and he knows it.) Session writing isn’t inherently bad, and Sebert’s very good at it; that intro “hello” is some Lionel Richie shit, but to a kid alone with the airwaves, it probably sounds like her fairy godmother. The verses are identikit$ha, but they fill their time. It’s just that none of this, content or construction, is crazy.
[5]

David Lee: will.i.am is definitely one of those assholes who likes making Roller Coaster Tycoon POV videos in which unfinished roller coasters pull their passengers to thrilling heights only to fling them into the air and kill them. It wouldn’t be an endeavor all that different from his work of late. Like “Scream and Shout,” this presents a buildup that never achieves any kind of recognizable, cathartic chorus. I shouldn’t be surprised, though, since will.i.am seems to have a knack for making bland party anthems. Only the Ke$ha parts of “Crazy Kids” - no, not the rapped bits that are covered in will.i.am’s fingerprints - redeem it from total failure. They make up about 40% of this remix so it gets a
[4]

Crystal Xia: The original without will.i.am is one of my favorite songs of last year, probably my favorite album cut off of Warrior. It features a lot of things that I am really into: dumb and probably needless whistling; acoustic guitar serving more of a rhythm role; Ke$ha faux-rapping about her coochie in her perfect bratty intonation; and that grounded “Like a G6”-esque beat in the verses. Those things are all still here, except now we’re down one Ke$ha verse where she gives us a bratty “booty paahp” and more vagina talk (coded as “kitty kat”). It’s been replaced by a giant, awkward pause from the fun when will.i.am verse comes in. It is impossible to describe how bad he is; all I can say is that there are un-fun boob jokes and there is actually part where he just goo-goo-gah-gahs like a child. What a shame the original wasn’t released as the single.
[6]

Ian Mathers: I mean, there are obviously ways, musically and not, that Ke$ha is admirable, and her songs are often quite good, but she can’t elevate will.i.am (no matter how hard the production tries), she can’t quite make whispering “we are the crazy ones” in a song at least partly about partying any less dodgy, and she can’t make this one feel much less distinctive than her great songs.
[5]

Sabina Tang: Ke$ha has the intonation and the laugh of a high school cool girl; not a bully so much as someone whose gaze would have raked me with contemptuous mild amusement in the locker room. Such girls will always be a different species. Find a specimen who’s in school now: no matter how old you are and how much you’ve changed, she’ll look at you and see that you weren’t a cool girl then, and fail to respect you accordingly. That frisson of… native enmity?… is what makes me pay attention to Ke$ha; even in moments like this one, when her surroundings vie to render her anonymous.
[5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

Oh my god, the start of David’s review here.

will.i.am is definitely one of those assholes who likes making Roller Coaster Tycoon POV videos in which unfinished roller coasters pull their passengers to thrilling heights only to fling them into the air and kill them. It wouldn’t be an endeavor all that different from his work of late.

!!!

The “remix” parts of this that are not will.i.am saying a bar’s worth of gibberish things that end in “blumble” are awful. I really like that bar.

myloveinthug: langer: :/ Single Screenshot That Makes Me Feel...

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:16:21 -0400

myloveinthug:

langer:

:/

Single Screenshot That Makes Me Feel Old

Nostalgia is a drug that we’ve taken too much of
But we never ever trip, just peace, happiness and love

barthel: myloveinthug: feelgoodtogether: drylandisnotamyth: k...

Sun, 12 May 2013 12:40:56 -0400

barthel:

myloveinthug:

feelgoodtogether:

drylandisnotamyth:

kevinchurch:

Just watch.

:O

Man, life is fucking beautiful.

oh my GOD :’)

For real tho.

Yes, this is pretty cool, until you realize this is probably totally staged by Jay Leno’s crack team and features at least one actor with enough prominent work for an IMDB page, and thus is probably not a spontaneous response to a thing, but a skit, or a re-enactment of something that was spontaneous. (HT: Pete Gaines.)

I still think the skit’s funny, except for the idea that it’s being filmed from too many angles to be being filmed covertly. Sorry for my cynicism!

"feel like theres a real correlation between millennials raised in an overly positive renforcement..."

Sat, 11 May 2013 12:05:22 -0400

““feel like theres a real correlation between millennials raised in an overly positive renforcement style environment and and the hi hater sentiment - like theres a whole cohort of people who are incapable of understanding how wack they are… i know that sounds all grumpy old man but its like some peoples self loathing is so far sublimated it can only manifest itself in being drake””

- Today in Real Talk With Joe Schoech (via celebraterickysargulesh)

Well, why do you think Drake’s so popular?

rembertbrowne: why am i not in this movie, wait am i in this...

Fri, 10 May 2013 19:30:55 -0400

rembertbrowne:

why am i not in this movie, wait am i in this movie, i might be in this movie

…Adam Brody?

Also in Baggage Claim: Terrence J, Christina Milian, Lauren London, and Affion Crockett.

Those who have followed this Tumblr for more than a year may remember Our Gee, my former weed dealer...

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:01:00 -0400

Those who have followed this Tumblr for more than a year may remember Our Gee, my former weed dealer roommate’s girlfriend. She still lives in the same apartment complex I live in, and I just ran into her while getting my mail — which, amusingly, had a piece of misdirected mail for that former roommate, about the ferret they have together.

She’s still not doing a great job of being a college student, still hunting for a job, still talking mostly about herself. But she’s still more pleasant to talk to than either of my non-immigrant roommates (the Venezuelan/Miamian is pleasant to talk to, but never here, so … he’s smarter than me, I guess?), and it was nice to catch up. She also looks better as a brunette than a blond, but I didn’t get a chance to say that.

Killer Mike Says "New White Rappers" Brought "Self-Pity" To Hip Hop | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales | HipHop DX

Fri, 10 May 2013 10:54:16 -0400

Killer Mike Says "New White Rappers" Brought "Self-Pity" To Hip Hop | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales | HipHop DX:

satanic2chainz:

Killer Mike also explains why he has equal love and respect for Talib Kweli, Gunplay, Trinidad Jame$ and Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

go read the comments, all these butthurt whiteboys

The second comment right now (HHDX’s comments aren’t reverse-chron, because HHDX is dumb) is literally this:

What’s with all the racism in hip hop? I respect Killer Mike’s abilities, but this is never a good look pulling the race card. Scarface made himself look like a fucking idiot. So did Lauryn Hill, and now we can add Killer Mike to the list. There are plenty of rappers of all colors that suck and feel sorry for themselves. Man up and quit pulling the race card. It’s 2013.

As a white person who also listens to rap: The race card does not exist, feeling sorry for yourself mixes poorly with privilege, “man up” is a moronic and patriarchal phrase, and shut the fuck up.

Alas, this is not what Willow actually wore, but I haven’t...

Wed, 08 May 2013 21:52:00 -0400

Alas, this is not what Willow actually wore, but I haven’t wanted an Internet thing that is fake to be real in quite some time.

Finally, A Competency-Based College Gets Approved

Tue, 07 May 2013 14:30:18 -0400

Finally, A Competency-Based College Gets Approved:

Days are numbered for colleges that award degrees based on the amount of time students sit in a classroom. The U.S. Department Of Educationapproved financial aid for a new self-paced, online learning college, where students demonstrate competence, rather than earn credit hours in a semester-long class.

From the Chronicle Of Higher Education Wired Campus Blog:

“Unlike the typical experience in which students advance by completing semester-long, multicredit courses, students in College for America have no courses or traditional professors. These working-adult students make progress toward an associate degree by demonstrating mastery of 120 competencies. Competencies are phrased as “can do” statements, such as “can use logic, reasoning, and analysis to address a business problem” or “can analyze works of art in terms of their historical and cultural contexts.”

For instance, instead of signing up for an arts class, students are directed to online resources and are awarded the equivalent of arts credit by demonstrating mastery of the material through a presentation of a museum exhibit.

Southern New Hampshire college boasts that its Gates Foundation-funded College For America Program is “the first degree program to completely decouple from the credit hour.”

“Days are numbered” is techbro hogwash, but it bears noting that this, like many other online and non-traditional schooling options, will be used to try to make an end run around teachers’ unions to produce options that few can afford and water down public education in a way that we, as a people, cannot afford.

The College for America team seems like good people, but, even as someone who skipped a grade and would have chosen competency-based education for myself in a heartbeat, I am very, very leery of anything that wants to “decouple” from teachers teaching students.

occupythedisco: toinfinityandbeyonce: oh my god what oh my...

Thu, 02 May 2013 23:06:30 -0400

occupythedisco:

toinfinityandbeyonce:

oh my god what

oh my god what?!

Holy fucking shit.

"Then again, I look at it from his perspective. He’s an older black man. It’s a..."

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:56:31 -0400

“Then again, I look at it from his perspective. He’s an older black man. It’s a generation gap. He’s older than me. So the things that he had to experience with racism and stereotypes and being a black man in this country, is different from mine. I grew up in a generation where there’s white kids listening to rap and black kids playing hockey, breaking the norms and everything. He comes from a whole different state of mind when he sees that stuff. He probably was getting f—-ed with by white people when he was my age. So for him to always have to break the [stereotype] of being a “black thug” when he was growing up, and for him to see that in a commercial, it probably hurts him. But he has to realize that it’s a different generation now. He’s way older than me; he’s old enough to be my father. So I totally get why he would think that, but I also don’t understand why in life are you trying to point out the negatives. It’s a young black man who got out of the ‘hood and made something of himself, who’s now working with big, white-owned corporations. Not even in front of the camera acting silly, but directing it. I’m trying to be one of the directors. But instead of looking at the positivity from that, he’s trying to boycott Mountain Dew. Now that he’s doing that, not only is it messing up opportunities for me, but also maybe opportunities for another young black male who maybe looks up to me and wants to do that in the future. It’s ludicrous.”

- Tyler, to Julianne, at Billboard.com.

"There will come a time when a sports star comes out of the closet and no one will care. Not the..."

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:44:00 -0400

“There will come a time when a sports star comes out of the closet and no one will care. Not the media. Not the internet. Not teammates. Nobody. But that will be a different kind of indifference. An accepting indifference.”

- Drew Magary (via gq)

Um, wasn’t that athlete Brittney Griner?

(via markcoatney)

Why, yes, the WNBA has had many gay players, and women’s college basketball has had many gay players, and it might just be that the women (many of whom are women of color) of women’s basketball were and are generally cool about sexuality.

kingjaffejoffer replied to your post: is calling the Kings “the queens” really anti-gay? It seems...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:46:00 -0400

kingjaffejoffer replied to your post:

is calling the Kings “the queens” really anti-gay? It seems like a pretty juvenile play on their team name at best.

I always thought that Shaq’s intent in calling the Kings “the Queens” was to paint them (and especially Vlade Divac) as soft. It was, at the very least, othering — and that it was juvenile made it more so, not less.

The Choreography of Coming Out

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:42:04 -0400

Questions I have about Jason Collins announcing he is gay and Sports Illustrated covering it not answered by the story or the behind-the-scenes explanation:

Would SI have given final approval to the subjects of any of its other cover stories like it says it did to Collins and his family? If not, how is this journalism and not public relations?
Why did Collins and his PR team choose now? Because his season was over and this was a soft spot in the media cycle when he could get tons of coverage? Because he was no longer bound to a team that would moderate how he could tell his story? Both, and also some other reasons?
Collins explains that his coming out is partly preemptive. DidKerry Rhodes’ very public gay rumors affect his decision to come out?
What are the best and worst things Collins’ teammates have done to create fraternal or anti-gay environments in the locker room? What can be done in the future to foster the former and prevent the latter?
Does Collins think that his stature (both figurative and literal, at seven feet) helped him in his journey?
How did his background (college at Stanford, which connected him to the Clintons and the Kennedys) help Collins with his journey, and with his planning for this announcement?
Is Collins’ shot at Shaq (“Note to Shaq: My flopping has nothing to do with being gay.”) going to open a dialogue about how Shaq has routinely been anti-gay and anti-queer? (TW: Complex link, but it’s also at 2:14 of this video.)
Does having Bill Clinton on the side of the first openly gay active Big Four (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) athlete trip out anyone else after DADT?

I have literally had a conversation about what racism doesn’t exist and a conversation about...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:08:00 -0400

I have literally had a conversation about what racism doesn’t exist and a conversation about why ghosts exist with the same person tonight.

I give up.

isabelthespy: dtownsteez: Am I the only one who low-key likes...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 11:31:36 -0400

isabelthespy:

dtownsteez:

Am I the only one who low-key likes this song

DEFINITELY NOT, I DEFINITELY GOT THIS STUCK IN MY HEAD THE OTHER DAY AND WASN’T EVEN MAD ABOUT IT

also one katherine pointed out that the opening synths of this and the opening synths of schoolin life are verrrrry similar and i have never been able to hear either one the same way sine (not a complaint)

Just for the record, it’s Tevin Campbell singing it.