Negro Please

Conspicuous Consumption: Los Angeles Blogs

"I'm from L-dot A-dot Californ-I-A hot" - Murs &  9th Wonder, L.A.

I'm not really excited about anything I consumed or attempted to consume last week (I said about all I want to say about The L Word in it's brief mention here) and I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about how, after about 3 or 4 years of not watching, I'm all hooked on pro wresting again (although, talking about how the WWE has segmented segregated it's stars likely in response to UPN's demographics would probably make for an interesting piece). So, after about 3 months away from the daily grind of blogging about Los Angeles in our glutted city-blog landscape, I thought I'd take a look at what's going on in LA and who is doing it well. I've barely read most of these sites since I retired completely so it's almost a whole new world.

I hope I don't hurt anybody's feelings.

I'm focusing on the 6 major group blogs. I'm not including defamer or la.comfidential or curbed la, all of whom have highly specialized interests in the city. It also means I'm ignoring my favorite solo run blogs with LA bents, Franklin Avenue, Lotería Chicana and Caroline on Crack.

Losanjealous
If I were to start a local group blog all my own, it would probably be closest in tone and focus to Losanjealous. Attractively designed (the most attractive of the local city sites) and obsessed with the local pop arts and the weird, they take a very wry look at our city but lovingly so and I am regularly amused by their stories. With the glut of foodie blogs in LA, their dining out coverage is the most fun and as someone obsessed with macaroni & cheese, their quest to find the best in town is most appreciated. I would say they are doing the city the best but...

LA Observed
Kevin Roderick went and made LAObserved.com the official blog of record for Los Angeles last week. The site went group and the "insider" and "first-on-the-scene" (or is it "first-with-the-link") feel to the site jumped exponentially. Roderick has always had the access to drop the bombs about local media but now he's able to focus pretty solidly on the news that matters. I have the tendency to feel like Joseph Mailander that the LA that is observed here is pretty white bread but with the tendency for group blogs to have lots of like-minded folks on hand, it's hard to cover all things from all people. I struggled with those issues constantly at LAist. That said, when I want to know what's going on in the city and what people are likely talking about, I start here.

Blogging.la
I think they've really found their stride. In full disclosure mode, during most of my tenure with LAist, I thought we were the better local site. I always felt blogging.la was scatterbrained and not really about LA. Often it was like reading the message board a bunch of friends shared to give tips or anecdotes that only those friends would care about. But in reading today, they were chock full of interesting information. Still anecdotal but much more oriented towards the audience at large instead of the contributors within. I don't quite get ruth666 (and never have) but it probably wouldn't be blogging.la without at least one totally random poster.

Angeleno
Martini Republic's LA focused blog probably doesn't get enough daily attention from the Joseph, Alex and the gang over there to warrant a more involved look here but when they put on the gloves and go after an issue (or a local blog/blogger) they are surgical with their rancor and criticism. They play watchdog. I think their commentary would hold more weight with the local blogging community if they posted more often themselves about the issues and people that they generally accuse the local blogosphere of ignoring but I always appreciate when they turn their critical eyes on the less discussed stories of the day.

FishbowlLA
The mediabistro blog probably should be thrown in the mix with the other specialized blogs that I took out of consideration but I particularly like the way they cover the media industries of this town and that they do it in conjunction with other local news of interest. They've run through more editors in the last year than even laist has but the quality of content has never wavered.

LAist
And then there's my old stomping grounds. My baby. Although never quite my baby. It always felt a bit like a foster child who I loved but who I knew wouldn't be in my house long enough. I think Tony's doing a great job as editor. It feels a lot more like the busblog than it does -ist and I admire him for putting his stamp on it. I think most -Ist editors struggle with finding their own voice within the style guidelines of the network. I'm having a hard time reviewing the site because I don't know if I'm just nostalgic for my time as editor or if I'm convinced my vision of the site is just the way it should be done. I think it should be a little more newsy. I think it has a lot of the issues right now that blogging.la had. There's a lot more "cool factor" and a little less "news you can use." It's a little bit "busblog gone wild" and people unfamiliar might have a hard time feeling the site is accessible. I'm probably most critical of LAist because it used to be "mine" and I think it has the best model in place for trying to cover this behemoth of a city. My suggestions? a little more news, a little more events, a little more targeted neighborhood coverage, a little more food. A little more of everything.

If I was a casual reader of local stuff, right now I'd put losanjealous, laobserved and fishbowlla in my google reader and dump the rest.

The rest need to give me just a little bit more LA.

Update: As Sean Bonner and Joseph both pointed out, I missed LA Voice. I explained on blogging.la...

I did totally overlook LA Voice. I'm not exactly sure why. Probably because Mack doesn't do full posts in his rss feed and I've never been a fan of the design so I have a tendency to not visit the site on it's own.

If I had written that piece on laist, I'd be beating myself up for not including the site but on Negro Please, it's just one man's opinion.

Where You At?! - 07.30.06 - 08.06.06

"Twist your head around. It's all around you" - Björk, All is Full of Love

Considering my track record lately, I shouldn't even do any sure things outside of catching Deadwood and So You Think You Can Dance (Dance, by the way, is featured in Calendar today) every week. You can bank on that shit. Last week, I only made it to two of the sure things and one of them, Oral Surgery, was just a consult so I get to make that a sure thing again in two weeks.

I also missed out on things I didn't put on that list like a House Cooling party, Nortec Collective and Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra with Daara J.

Before we get into this week's possibilities, let's look at what I won't be doing:

Corinne Bailey Rae @ House of Blues Sunset Strip
This show was originally going to be at the Roxy and I had originally planned to go for the Tuesday, August 1st show but one of my absolute must sure things this week has gotten in the way and now I'll not be seeing her at all. It's fine, really. It's been so long since I've gone to HOB, I've convinced myself it sucks as a music venue. Well, at least the parking sucks.

Garth Trinidad 10th Anniversary Show: Bilal @ Temple Bar
One of the original reasons I wasn't going to see Corinne Bailey Rae on the 31st at the Roxy was because of this show but, alas and alack, I'm going to be here either.

Tina Dico @ Largo
Another August 1st show. Another No-Go

Bloc Party & Broken Social Scene @ The Greek
I'd really like to see Broken Social Scene but I only want to sit up close at The Greek and that's not really possible with the tickets still available for this show.

Street Scene @ San Diego
I'm on the fence about this still being a possibility. The saturday line-up is a lot of fun. We'll see...

Sure Thing:

Disney Teacher Awards Webcast
I'm producing this so I damn well better be there and by there I mean at my desk at work stressing out to 5 different people over IM about whether or not the video feed is coming through clean and with no audio problems for about 2 hours.

Very likely Things:

Zealousy @ The Gig-Hollywood
Your favorite blogger's favorite Vermont bar-back is doing a one year anniversary show with his band and I might actually finally show up at one of his shows like I've promised to do for the last 6 months.

The Section Quartet with Special Guests @ Largo
I want to try something new on a Friday night and what's newer than hot string instrumentalists doing covers of songs you love in an intimate setting?

Amandarin's birthday/Bootie LA @ the echo
I still haven't been to Bootie even though I plan to go every month and what's more fun than a real live blogger's birthday? If I don't end up in SD on Saturday, i'm killing both these birds with one stone.

Little Miss Sunshine & The Night Listener
Both movies look excellent and might make a great Sunday double feature next weekend.

Sunday Random Ten: Feather Crest Edition

"No other sound is quite the same as your name" - Marvin Gaye, Ain't Nothing Like That The Real Thing

The plan a month ago was to crash Blogher this weekend. Lynne and Tiffany and George and a ton of bloggers writers I admire are all in one place having some incredible conversations that Lynne has been live blogging all weekend.

But moving is expensive and dental work comes unexpectedly and contract consultants hate non-paid holidays and the shortened work days that come with them and pain killers make me useless and my eyes aren't acting right and I'm worried that this is what getting older is all about and and and and...

And I'm full of excuses.

What real excuse is there for missing out on the internet version of Lesbo Island? Or perhaps it is the real version. One of my favorite funny people, Jill Soloway, explains in Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants, she imagines Lesbo Island is somewhere in Northern California. It is "an all-female state, with a big ol' newfounded land, sort of a gigantic honeycomb hideout...until the patriarchy is toppled and a global matriarchy...is installed."

Now I'm no Lesbian-Identified Man named Lisa but I can get with that. So I created my own Island this weekend filled with a whole lot of the first season of The L Word (which I'm giving up on because I can't take much more of Mia Kirshner's Crazy Jenny. Just go read Michelle's recaps), reading lots of interesting women both online and off and enjoying very much the cover story of today's Calendar section on strumming brown girls.

Oh, and a music soundtrack that looks a lot like this:

Out of 3553 songs in my Best Of folder, these are the first random ten performed by women.

1. Rise Up With Fists!!! - Jenny Lewis With The Watson Twins
2. Fever (Adam Freeland Remix) - Sarah Vaughan
3. Sinnerman (Felix Da Housecat's Heavenly House Mix)[Extended Vocal] - Nina Simone
4. Just A Little Bit - Liz Densmore
5. Hidden Place - Björk
6. Off With Your Head - Sleater-Kinney
7. One Minute Man (Remix) - Missy Elliott
8. I Can Deal With That - Dee Edwards
9. Salt - Lizz Wright
10. Wonderwall - Cat Power

Hot Links & Gumbo

"It's so bad lasting far, but love yourself" - Gorillaz, Demon Days

And on the 29th day, God said let their be high speed internets in your home and it was good.

Dancing Brave: Inspiring Words

"It's not whether you get knocked up, it's whether you get DOWN"

Press The Buttons: Donkey Kong's Pauline Set To Return

They know not that Princess Toadstool and Princess Peach are the same woman.  They also know not of Pauline, Mario's original damsel in distress.  The brunette in the red dress was kidnapped by Donkey Kong in 1981's arcade smash, Donkey Kong.  What little we knew about her at the time came from the arcade game's cabinet and not the actual game itself.  Over a decade later she made her second appearance in 1994's Donkey Kong expansion for the Game Boy, playing the same role as the kidnapped woman.  Once again her character was neither expanded nor featured.

   

Now Nintendo has reached back into the vault and pulled Pauline into the twenty-first century.  The original monkey magnet will appear in the upcoming Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis for the Nintendo DS.

Welcome to The Museum of Black Superheroes

AlterNet: EnviroHealth: Brave New Enviros

For the first time, an African-American is at the helm of a major green group. Is environmentalism finally breaking free of its wealthy, white confines?

The Closer: Head Over Heels - TV Squad

I love the way they portray Los Angeles. It feels about right.

thebrotherlove.com {Who Is Jimi Izrael, Anyway?}    

Gay black bloggers blew Jimi's dreads back by using their influence to shut down the Lifebeat concert. And he can't wrap his head around that. Since then he has ranted about it in several more posts, even going as far as stupidly and erroneously acussing Keith of "promot(ing) a raw sex party". That was foul and Jimi should know better than that. Not content on keeping his own shit at home he's left rambling comments on Keith's site and Donald's blog. Donald pretty much laid it out proper, causing Jimi to revert to using fag insults (a good sign he ran out of shit to say).

   

Now here's the kicker; sometimes (even on this issue) Jimi makes good points. But you have to wade through his hipper-than-thou mumbo jumbo to uncover it; and lets' face it, who has the time? I have no problem with opposing Keith, Jasmyne or anyone else. I don't agree with them half the time, either. But don't act like you on some inside-track-of-gay-intelligence when your simplified logic reads otherwise, homie.

Poplicks.com: QUESTION OF THE WEEK #66

Perhaps the most notorious homophobe in the world, Rev. Fred Phelps and his church followers (largely comprised of his family members) believe that 9/11, the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq, and Hurricane Katrina are all a result of God's hatred of gays and lebsians and America's alleged tolerance of homosexuality and adultery.

Phelps and his clan are currently spending most of their time attending the funerals of American soldiers. They typically stand immediately outside the cemetery, hold signs (see photo above), and yell that the soldier is in hell.

Hollywood Big Blasts Lohan - July 28, 2006

Robinson notes that while Lohan's aides have chalked up her lateness and absences to illness, he is "well aware that your ongoing all night heavy partying is the real reason for your so called 'exhaustion.'" Noting that Morgan Creek refuses to "accept bogus excuses for your behavior," Robinson warns Lohan that she will be held "personally accountable" for losses caused by her actions. Claiming that Lohan's behavior has already "resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage," Robinson hints at possible legal action against the actress unless she begins honoring her production commitments. He concludes, "I urge you to take this letter seriously and conduct yourself professionally."

Prefixblog.com: Kids + Rap + Sufjan

"First Ladies Anthem" by the Rapper's Delight Club, a Maryland-based after-school group that teaches kids how to rhyme in the traditional sense: talkin' trash, giving shout-outs, and referencing their bling bling, all over Sufjan's "There are Zombies!! There are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Run for Your Lives!! Ahhhhhh!".

Steven Hargrove: How to redirect a web page, the smart way

How do you redirect using html you ask? Here is how: DONT!

Over the past 4-6 years, use of meta tag refresh redirection has been abused for uses in relation to SPAM. The result of this and other scenarios of mis-uses of it, is that when using it, that page WILL be de-indexed from every search engine.

NOTE: This also applies to javascript redirection. Search engines can easily detect javascript and meta tag redirection, so just dont do it, use the 301 redirect.

Stones Throw Records

Peanut Butter Wolf presents
Adult Swim & Stones Throw's
CHROME CHILDREN
CD & DVD to be released OCTOBER 3RD

The CD: music from Madvillain, J Dilla, Madlib, and many others - this will also be released on 2/LP. The DVD: a full-length live hip hop show headlined by MF DOOM and Madlib. The concert was filmed at this year's SXSW in a tent. That's how we do it. Filmed & edited by the Adult Swim crew.

Saturn | Future Vehicles & Concept Cars: Saturn Aura & Outlook

A disaster to take everyone's breath away - 24 Jul 2006 - World News

The consequences would be awesome. The wet Amazon Basin would turn to dry savannah at best, desert at worst. This would cause much of the world to become hotter and drier.

In the long term, it could send global warming out of control, eventually making the world uninhabitable.

Cute Over-Rode

"B-boys rock with me. Come by the bar with me." - Yo Gotti, Gangsta Party

I've been feeling a little über-shmooped and cute overloaded lately so this guest Diesel Sweeties cartoon made me bellow with testosterone-filled glee.

Nevermind that it was drawn by two chicks*. That's some he-man humor.

*John Allison is not two chicks.

9 in 52: The Known World

"How did we make it, I don't know" - Kelis, Glow (featuring Raphael Saadiq)

The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad, 2003) Manchester County, Virginia doesn't exist. Never has. After reading The Known World, however, you'd be forgiven if you thought you could take a tour of it's plantations and slave cemetaries on your vacation to colonial Williamsburg. The complicated pre-civil war Southern society that Edward P. Jones creates feels as real and surreal as any factual history of slavery you've read. It was not so much the story of Henry Townsend, a black slave owner, and all the people that his death allows us to meet that engaged me. It was the world, a world where I could taste the soil I might till and the women I might marry and the terrible choices I might be faced with, that put it's claws in me and refused to let go.

It took me nearly 2 months to finish the book's 388 pages. It should've been a quick read. It is a fascinating place with peculiar problems and characters I cried for on more than one occasion. It should've been a quick read but I kept asking myself this question: who would I have been? The slave, toiling away in the field? The overseer, unable to see the world for what it truly was? The freed man, working desperately to free the rest of his family? The smart child, taken under the wing of the rich white slave owner and convinced that there was nothing wrong with owning another human being? The broken black man tortured by his family's wealth built on the backs of men and women that look just like me? The slave too proud, too strong, too powerful to let another take his freedom? Who would I have been?

Who am I now?

In matters of race, there is always that fool's point, usually made by a white person (though not always) that asks,"why aren't you over it, already? Can't we just let it go?" It is a way to end an uncomfortable conversation. The reasons don't matter. I know many a person for which the sticky tar baby of race in America is simply a discussion they can't stick their hands in. It is too difficult. Too raw. Too cloudy to be sure that people will remain friends after an honest chat. The way I feel when I read books like The Known World is my answer. No matter how well-adjusted, how integrated, how loving of my fellow man, how multiculti kumbayah I am, I'm not over it. I can't let it go.

This fictional world was very real not all that long ago. It's effects still ripple through our every day. The world I know doesn't exist without it.

Highly highly recommended.

tags: 52 in 52 | the known world | edward p jones

Sunday Not-So-Random Ten: Busted Mouth Edition

"nnn-Girrrl-uh." - Al B. Sure, Nite and Day

The only thing on my mind today is my swollen face, the hole where a tooth was and how much of all this dental work insurance is not going to cover so this week you get my trip to the dentist soundtrack.

1. Bad Mouth Kid (skit) - Ghostface Killah
2. Don't Worry About My Mouth O (African Message) - Fela Kuti/Monoaural
3. Mr. Tooth Decay - Muhammad Ali
4. Potty Mouth - Ugly Duckling
5. Make The Music With Your Mouth - Biz Markie
6. Dollar In The Teeth - Upsetters
7. Mouth's Cradle - Björk
8. Crooked Teeth - Death Cab for Cutie
9. Sun in My Mouth - Björk
10. Tenement Teeth 2 - Pela

Where You At (And Where I Been)?! - The Like

"Walking from the past but I don't think I've said my goodbyes" - the like, What I Say and What I Mean

From Jen's Daily Candy, we ended up at MOCA for Night Vision After Dark and a high society love-in for Nine Black Alps and the like. Despite getting lost in the confusing one-way no-way streets of downtown as I always do when I don't Google Maps my journey, we made it just in time for the oppressive heat, the arts & crafts and the much younger than usual crowd. When the oldest member of the featured band can't even buy beer yet, that's par for the course.

But I didn't mind. I didn't mind anything at all. You see, my daily candy was vicodin. After spending nearly 2 hours in a dentist's chair while he went to war with a mean molar in the back of my mouth, I was given a prescription for some high powered pain medication to go with my antibiotics and the nubbin of a tooth root that refused to leave my head. Until I popped that beautiful little pill -- the first time I have ever had vicodin -- I felt like I had accidentally walked into a UFC match. I felt like I had accused Mike Tyson of rape. To his face. And didn't run afterwards. But by the time I got to Jen's place, She could've stabbed me with a knitting needle as I walked through the door and I would have been just fine.

I was still on easy street when the like took the stage. Feedback, wind and heat attempted to derail their set, mostly of songs off of Are You Thinking What I Am Thinking, but they powered through like the miniature veterans they are. By the time they closed the set with my favorite track, So I'll Sit Here Waiting, my heart was pounding.

And my face was throbbing.

It was time to go home.

The sure things:

My Super Ex-Girlfriend
I like Uma. The trailer makes me laugh. That's all I need from a summer movie.

San Diego Padres @ Los Angeles Dodgers
Hopefully I won't die from heat stroke at the game.

Jake Leg and the Dixie Itch
Finally we'll see what our favorite bar back can do with a musical instrument in his hands. Country music in Burbank? I guess so.

Oral Surgery
Because what's more fun than getting a tooth extracted? Getting 4 wisdom teeth and the remnants of your partially extracted tooth taken out at the same time.

It's a party in my mouth, y'all.

tags: the like | moca | dentist

Conspicuous Consumption: One Sentence Reviews

"Library cards, rented faces, lying on the naked train" - Broken Social Scene, Backyards

alternate title: Making Up For Lost Time

Anywhere But Here - This glorified after school special proves I'll watch Natalie Portman in just about anything.

Batman Beyond - The Complete First Season (DC Comics Classic Collection) - The current Batman cartoon can't hold a candle to Bruce Timm/Paul Dini rooted work like this.

The Devil Wears Prada  - The best thing about this movie is the one hour they spent on it on The View the day before Star Jones walked.

Greetings From Michigan - Not as good as Illinois but still pretty darn good.

Post Live and Homogenic Live - With these two albums, Björk joins Mary J. Blige, A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu and Zero 7 as the artists whose entire official catalogs I own from b-sides to remixes.

Four Tet: DJ Kicks - I love four tet remixes but this compilation of music they like is bullshit.

Kings of Diggin' - Kon & Amir are nice but this might take the rare grooves aesthetic too far even for me.

Marvel of Marvin  - Now, 4Hero knows how to put together a remix record.

Death Certificate - The album that finally quenched my gangsta rap thirst this summer.

Juke Joint, Vol. 2 - This might be my favorite record of the summer.

Superman Returns - Read the review.

16 Blocks - Nothing special but a surprisingly satisfying twist on the buddy cop genre.

L.A. Confidential - I finally sat through it from start to finish and enjoyed it immensely.

Trees Lounge - A little plodding but I think this is the role that has made me decide that I like Chloe Sevigny as an actress.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Bloom is still boring but Jack Sparrow still rules and Keira Knightly is having great fun in the role.

The Avalanche - Because apparently there can never be enough Sufjan Stevens.

Blue Collar - A really nice album that is probably a year too late to make Rhymefest a star.

Gave up on: The Corporation and The Office (UK): The Complete First Series.

tag: all consuming

Thursday TV Hodgepodge

"Hey baby, let's get away. Let's go somewhere, ahhhh. Baby, can we?" - Aretha Franklin, Day Dreaming

So You Think You Can Dance
The two most impressive dancers last night were Travis and Heidi. I'm not a Heidi fan -- it's the scrunchy face and the distracting chin zit -- but they killed both of their couple performances and probably had the best solo dances. Donyelle and Benjy were a close 2nd and I still think Benjy is the favorite to win but Donny was really able to shine last night. Dmitry was finally able to showcase his skills because he had an amazing partner. I don't know what Donny wants to do with her career but she could work in any Broadway musical revue show right now. If there's justice tonight, we'll say goodbye to Ryan and Martha, neither of whom seems willing to let go or get better in the competition. They've peaked. Once they are gone, I honestly have no clue who will win out of the top 4 girls. They are all very solid. Natalie is probably the weakest of the four but she was excellent this week. I think it's a foot race for the guys between Travis and Benjy.

Solitary
Is anybody watching Solitary besides me? It is kind of the next step in competitive reality. The one that gets us closer to The Running Man.  Nine individuals in solitary submitted to torturous "treatments," manipulated and experimented on by a HAL-like overseer called "Val." The finale is Monday when they will get down to one. It's compelling as hell. I never thought I'd dig this kind of shock tv but...damn. I'm hooked.

Chappelle's Show
The Lost Episodes is wack. Moving on.

Deadwood
I can't believe this is going to be the last season of the show. It has been the best dramatic hour of television on TV this summer. I'm calling out Swearengen as one of the finest TV characters ever created.

The Wire
Your favorite blogger's favorite tv show is returning in September. I've only actually seen the promo once but lots of familiar faces return, although McNulty and the Barksdale crew are all noticeably absent. When last we heard, David Simon wanted to focus on the school system and local politics and both seem front and center as the final shot of the commercial is of four young black boys. Anybody who has read The Corner knows that Simon has great familiarity with the failures of our urban public schools. I cannot wait.

The World Series of Pop Culture
How do I not have a team in this event?

Blade
The series is wack. I fell asleep several times during the pilot and couldn't bring myself to care to watch the second episode. How you gonna make vampire hunting boring?

Buffy and Angel
I just watched The Gift this morning and cried at the end. I don't think I had that reaction when I watched it the first time. I'm telling you, those later seasons of Buffy stand up better and better over time. The third season of Angel is still the best of that series.

I watch too much TV. Curse you, Tivo.