janestreet 13 photos · 43 followers “My soap is bigger than your soap.” Likes · 1 anastasia47 Continue reading →

"My love is bigger than your loveWe take more drugs than a touring funk bandSing itMy love is bigger than your loveSing itMy love is bigger than your loveSing itMy band is better than your bandWe've got more songs than a song conventionSing itMy love is bigger than your loveSing itMy love is bigger than your loveSing itAnd we're all going straight to hellMy dad is bigger than your dadHe's got eight cars and a house in IrelandSing itMy love is bigger than your loveSing itMy love is bigger than your loveSing itWhen we gonna torch the restaurant?Sing itWhen we gonna pay the guide dog?Sing itMy love is bigger than your loveSing itMy love is bigger than your loveSing itAnd we're all going straight to ... Continue reading →

By Vanessa Mock As Azerbaijan prepares to host the glitzy Eurovision final this weekend, an anti-corruption watchdog has issued a sobering reminder of the country’s chronic problems with graft. The ex-Soviet country has dazzled millions of fans with its lavish staging of the annual song competition, which ends this Saturday, but gets ‘nul points’ for its efforts to root out endemic corruption. The country was classed 143rd among 183 in the 2011 Global Corruption Perception Index, a measure of public-sector corruption that is compiled annually by Transparency International, a Berlin-based organization. The Central Asian nation, which continuously hovers near the bottom of the barrel in the graft index, scored just 2.4 in 2012, where 0 means ‘highly corrupt’ and 10 means ‘very clean’. Compare that ... Continue reading →

At the rate these Chinese beer commercials featuring All-Stars from the mid-2000s who once played for the Orlando Magic are multiplying, Steve Francis’ phone should be ringing any time now. He could use the image rehab, so pick up the phone, man. (via I Am a GM) Follow @treykerby Continue reading →

Over the last 30 years, wealth in the United States has been steadily concentrating in the upper economic echelons. Whereas the top 1 percent used to control a little over 30 percent of the wealth, they now control 40 percent. It’s a trend that was for decades brushed under the rug but is now on the tops of minds and at the tips of tongues. Since too much inequality can foment revolt and instability, the CIA regularly updates statistics on income distribution for countries around the world, including the U.S. Between 1997 and 2007, inequality in the U.S. grew by almost 10 percent, making it more unequal than Russia, infamous for its powerful oligarchs. The U.S. is not faring well historically, either. Even the Roman ... Continue reading →

Less than two years ago, Torey Baker was an 18-year-old high-school dropout facing prison time for robbery. When a judge in the Bronx sentenced him instead to six months in an alternative program, plus probation, he considered himself lucky. But he didn’t know the half of it.On his first day, the counselor who administered his drug test asked Mr. Baker if he had any interest in hip-hop. Because if he did, there was a recording studio right down the hall.“My mind was blown,” Mr. Baker said one recent evening as he hunched over a laptop in a conference room, fiddling with beats. “I showed up at the studio the first day, and then I just kept showing up.”The studio belonged to One Mic, a project ... Continue reading →

mclusky - 'whiteliberalonwhiteliberalaction' off their 2000 debut lp 'my pain and sadness is more sad and painful than yours'Liberals on skates.Pass through park gates.Zeroes and threes.Pass right...Stick together.Save me altavista they've got cauliflower ears.Still I haven't seen the sun or moon for twenty-seven years.She wants to dance on burning bridges.Making patterns in the snow.I want to move to Mexico where everyone's a hero.Goddammit 'cause everyone's a heroHail Allah 'cause everyone's a heroPraise Buddha 'cause everyone's a heroWash daily 'cause everyone's a heroLiberals on skates.Pass through park gates.Zeroes and threes.Pass right...Stick together.Save me altavista they've got cauliflower ears.Still I haven't seen the sun or moon for twenty-seven years.She wants to dance on burning bridges.Making patterns in the snow.I want to move to Mexico where everyone's a ... Continue reading →

Andy Falkous is something of a personal hero, and if he ever decides to give up on music, I just hope an institution of higher learning allows him an emeritus professorship based on the philosophical principles set forth by Mclusky's Do Dallas. Our children deserve it. I say all of this because the corporate-slick production on Future of the Left's third album makes me wonder if this is still the guy who made the music of "To Hell With Good Intentions" and "You Need Satan More Than He Needs You" as sharp as their wit. And what about the cover and the goddamn title of The Plot Against Common Sense? What in god's name is the author of "Fuck This Band" doing stealing ideas from ... Continue reading →

David Taintor May 25, 2012, 8:07 AM David Carr, media columnist and culture reporter for The New York Times, talked recently to TPM about the future of news, the “glorious” view of the Port Authority Bus Terminal from his desk and what would happen if Twitter went dark tomorrow. What is your writing/reporting day like? Today, I spent far too much time on email and Twitter, and far too little time reporting a story I’m working on. I stayed up until 2 o’clock last night. I did sort of a personal elegiac post about Netflix, comparing it to my experience with AOL. I like to write at night. I’m kind of a vampire, and I have trouble writing in the newsroom. When I was first ... Continue reading →

By Samuel RubenfeldA 37-year-old woman was arrested Friday in the probe into corrupt payments made to public officials by employees of the News Corp. U.K. newspaper unit. Luke MacGregor/Reuters Police officers walk outside an entrance to News International in London in this July 10, 2011, file photo. The woman, who was not named by police, was detained at 9 a.m. local time. She was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt, suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office and suspicion of bribery under the U.K. Bribery Act, police said. A BBC report identified her as a current employee of News International, the U.K. tabloid arm of News Corp. More coverage of the arrest is available here, here and here. Her arrest, the ... Continue reading →

Linsanity isn't what it was, but it's all Jeremy Lin's now. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected the remaining applicants for the Linsanity trademark, leaving Lin as the sole candidate, his lawyer, Pamela Deese, told The Huffington Post Thursday night. While the Knicks guard has not officially been granted the trademark yet, there's no one left to oppose him. So that means anyone using Linsanity without his permission likely will soon be violating trademark law -- and also would owe the NBA's overnight star a cut of the revenue. "We're delighted," said Deese, of the Arent Fox firm in Washington. "This is the right result." Lin's ascent from Harvard-schooled benchwarmer flopping on his brother's couch, to leading scorer and pop culture phenom in February ... Continue reading →