The Dump: Free Gucci, fuck sexting and knowing when you’re going to die
Posted on 12. Dec, 2009 by theashcan in media, Politics, Pop Culture, Rappers
Whether you’re on a post-gym high or post-partying low spend this Saturday morning catching up on some of the week’s best stories.
New York Times Magazine’s Ninth Annual Year in Ideas
Everybody loves lists. The New York Times has compiled more than a bunch of links however. Rather, this is a bullet point presentation of the year’s best ideas; conveniently summarized and organized from augmented reality advertising to zombie attack science. Sure, aggregate articles may be played out ’round this time of year, but looking backwards can be extra enjoyable when it reminds us just how far we’ve come. -Simon
Hope Witsell’s Sexting Suicide & Can Anyone Stop Facebook?
Slate currently has an article up about the suicide of a Florida 13-year old who committed suicide after a botched attempt at sexting with a schoolmate. It basically decries the rising trend in cyber bullying, exacerbated by how easy it is to do behind the anonymity of the internet, coupled with the viral nature and fibre optic speed of online gossip. Over in the tech section, Slate also has a column up describing how Facebook continues to gain users, becoming increasingly ubiquitous in our lives. I can’t help but feel as if the two articles are somewhat related. -Simon
Waxing poetic about lakes, mountains, and oh ya, terminal lung cancer
There is nothing funny about terminal lung cancer, obviously, but when award winning novelist/humourist Paul Quarrington takes a shot at it in this ongoing series for the National Post, it definitely brings a few smiles. Diagnosed with type four lung cancer (so bad that doctors actually tried to convince him to just give up after he suffered a seizure, kidney failure and heart attack, all at the same time), Quarrington decided to go on tour with his band across Canada. His endearing and beautifully crafted account of what goes through your mind when you’re told you are going to die should win a national newspaper award. I truly hope he’s still around to accept it.-Jesse
Obama, where art thou? | (Right behind you boo! Ah dude shoulda seen your face lols!)
Everybody wants to know, Who is this guy accepting peace awards and ordering troops, and where did Obama go? Which is funny, because he ran on the promise of a war in Afghanistan, but not funny ha-ha. But hey, with all of us struggling to buy Christmas presents for loved ones this year, let’s not forget the economy issue either. So what the dill? If you take all the recent accounts of Obama and spread them on your floor and squint your eyes and do a really-fast neck-roll, yeah, like that (you weirdo), you end up with the impression that Obama is still a principled prez who weighs decisions carefully after considering all intel, but too bad he’s gone and surrounded himself with a grip of douchebags. Which I mean, yeah, sure. Right? -Jef
“Free Gucci, Fuck Diplo and the history of ‘Free _____’”
Popular club DJ/producer Diplo wasn’t the happiest about an article written this week by Brandon Soderberg for the Village Voice, one of America’s largest free weeklies. In it, Soderberg discusses the implications of a “Free Gucci” shirt that Diplo is selling coinciding with the release of remixes of recently-jailed rapper Gucci Mane’s Cold War Series mixtapes (whoa, meta). I’ve been a longtime Diplo fan, but was always curious about his choice to incorporate (or latch on to, as Soderberg might argue) largely marginalized themes and forms of music (baile funk, cumbia, B-more), and turn them into seemingly-underground-but-really-not hipster trends. He extends this theme to the T-shirts. Diplo responded via Soderberg’s blog and, in the end, it comes down to one person ascribing less-than-admirable motives to another person without really knowing anything about those motives. But if you’re curious about the political side of music, it’s a great read. -Anupa
nahtnanA
Dec 12th, 2009
I was gonna say diplo won after reading his “i dont really have an agenda and I dont care about authenticity” line but the stuff that followed about vocab and class makes me wonder. I do think his skin colour is really what motivated the writer’s hurt feelings though. When a minority appropriates some culture it’s inventive or whatever, when a majority(c) does it it’s colonialism or profiteering or something else heinous and disrespectful.
Anupa
Dec 14th, 2009
You think it’s his skin colour? The author is white himself. Not that that exempts him from feeling hurt, but it’s a bigger reach. Clearly Diplo doesn’t care about authenticity, but the writer does, so maybe it’s more about having problems with appropriation-that I get. Obviously appropriation can get tangled up in socio-economic-racial arguments as well, but maybe this is just a hip-hop writer annoyed at the fact that some hipster DJ is latching on to “his” music.