via phonecam

George Eastman House – Photo Collection – Andreas Feininger – New York City:

Found via Mike Dietsch’s blog.

Again, because it amuses me to do so — 2004 presidential candidates try and figure out this whole internet thing:

• George Bush
  
• Howard Dean
  
• John Kerry
  
• Dick Gephardt
  
• Joe Lieberman
  
• John Edwards
  
• Al Sharpton
  
• Dennis Kucinich
  
• Wes Clark

Sharpton gets style points for not jumping on the blog bandwagon. Gephardt’s site also has this little gem, which makes me laugh:

Because it amuses me:

Marvel Comics has followed up the cancellation of Daniel Way’s GUN THEORY book for the now-stillborn Epic line and the cancellation of Daniel Way’s DEATHLOK: DETOUR book for the Marvel MAX line with the cancellation of Daniel Way’s ANT-MAN miniseries for the same. This probably is in no way related to Way’s obscene-but-hilarious response to comic book site The Pulse’s impersonally cookie-cutter email interview questions — happens all the time in the land of the superhero comic book — but it’s still a shame. I actually was curious to take a look at the ANT-MAN book after reading that interview…

From Signal to Noise:

Music Industry Puts Troops in the Streets

Quasi-legal squads raid street vendors

Though no guns were brandished, the bust from a distance looked like classic LAPD, DEA or FBI work, right down to the black “raid” vests the unit members wore. The fact that their yellow stenciled lettering read “RIAA” instead of something from an official law-enforcement agency was lost on 55-year-old parking-lot attendant Ceasar Borrayo.

The Recording Industry Association of America is taking it to the streets.

…”They said they were police from the recording industry or something, and next time they’d take me away in handcuffs,” he said through an interpreter. Borrayo says he has no way of knowing if the records, with titles like Como Te Extraño Vol. IV — Musica de los 70’s y 80’s, are illegal, but he thought better of arguing the point.

The RIAA acknowledges it all — except the notion that its staff presents itself as police. Yes, they may all be ex-P.D. Yes, they wear cop-style clothes and carry official-looking IDs. But if they leave people like Borrayo with the impression that they’re actual law enforcement, that’s a mistake.

Okay. While the RIAA ought to be combatting bootlegging, I don’t think using goon-squad tatics like this is exactly kosher. And the reason they’re getting away with it is because

[t]he pink incident sheets and photos that Langley’s teams take of vendors are meant to establish a paper trail, particularly for repeat offenders.

“A large percentage [of the vendors] are of a Hispanic nature,” Langley said. “Today he’s Jose Rodriguez, tomorrow he’s Raul something or other, and tomorrow after that he’s something else. These people change their identity all the time. A picture’s worth a thousand words.”

Because you figure that “Jose Rodriguez” or “Raul something or other” probably isn’t going to complain to the real police or file a lawsuit against you.

Pardon the comic geekery of the following, but HOLY CRAP:

DC FORMS ALLIANCE WITH HUMANOIDS

“In a move that will increase its bookstore presence and direct market share, DC and Humanoids have today jointly announced an agreement which will see DC act as the English language publisher for Humanoids. The agreement calls for the publication of 36 books per year.”

…

Humanoids Publishing is the American arm of Les Humanoides Associes, a juggernaut of European comics, probably best known here in the States as the publisher of French comics artist Moebius and HEAVY METAL (or METAL HURLANT, as it was originally known. Yes, that HEAVY METAL — the inspiration for that bizarro cartoon flick.) Comics in Europe are more than a little different than they are in America; more serious, more varied, more adult. Superheroes don’t have a hold on the medium in the same way as the American direct market, and so as a result, you get more things like THE METABARONS, an outlandish and over-the-top generational sci-fi action saga; THE HUNTING PARTY, a political thriller set in the last days of the Soviet Union; or SON OF THE GUN, a twisted take on westerns, killers, biblical metaphors, and redemption. They’ve suffered a bit with the current form of the western direct market for comics, as most American comics readers don’t typically buy their books because (no surprise here) American comics companies and American comics specialty retailers tend to focus the majority of their time and efforts on the superhero franchises of American comics.

So, needless to say, putting the weight and power of DC Comics, a subsidiary of megamediaconglomerate AOL/Time Warner, behind Humanoids’s books makes the future a lot brighter for one of the best comics companies around. And probably means that the average Barnes & Noble customer might chance upon a Humanoids book in the near future…

Found at Rob Duffy’s donewaiting.com: San Francisco Bay Guardian‘s Jeff Chang takes on what he believes is the overwhelmingly white / New York / rock’n’roll bias of the Da Capo Best Music Writing series and its attempts to summarize and encapsulate the state of music criticism and journalism.

(Disclaimer: I have a rock-geek love for these books, but even I have to admit that Chang’s not wrong — there definitely is an emphasis on rock over hip hop, which given the state of album and single sales today would seem to be more than a little bass-ackward.)

Best part:

“Now, as then, a generation of old white males has become comfortable in its floating world ? in this case, the one bounded by the Hudson and the East Rivers. And now, as then, a new generation of writers is creating a critical mass of writing that cries out to be read, enjoyed, and debated. Only problem is, they aren’t doing that debating in the New Yorker (nine citations of the publication in the series in the past four years), the New York Times (nine citations also), or even the Village Voice (seven citations). In the case of the latter two publications, they just aren’t being read. (And by the way, when did the New Yorker and the Times, outlets hardly bursting with alt cred, become the gold standard of music criticism anyway?) In any case, a new generation of writers goes unnoticed by white dudes lost in space (Manhattan) or time (ye olde rock paradigm).”

Go read more.

In other news, the photo gallery is starting to take some shape…