On Kanye

First things first, I believe that Kanye West is one of the most gifted artists of our generation. I must confess that I own all of his albums, and his latest 808s & Heartbreak is one of the best albums I've ever heard. Oftentimes on the subway going home from work at night, I listen to the songs "Heartless" and "See You in My Nightmares" over and over again. If you don't have the album yet, minimize this window, go to iTunes and download the damn thing, you won't regret it. While you're doing that, get College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation while you're at it. Also, the death of his mother last year following cosmetic surgery was unbelievably sad, so it can be understood that Kanye West has had a lot of shit to deal with.
However, Kanye West as you all probably know, is a complete toolbag. The absolute egomania that infects this guy is agonizing to witness. Whenever the guy doesn't win an award, he makes a public scene at the ceremony. Pretty much the only outburst of his, that I enjoyed, and for that matter agreed with, was during a televised fundraiser for Katrina victims in which he stated next to a befuddled Mike Myers that, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." That was brilliant, he should have won something for that, I think that brought to bear the utter incompetence and indifference of Bush's response to the catastrophe for a lot of people that may never have bothered otherwise. That, however, is pretty much where my sympathy for Mr. West ends. When he said earlier this year that he envisions himself "the voice of this generation, of this decade" I promptly puked all over myself. Being dubbed the "voice of a generation" is a label that another party bestows upon you, like 30 years later. Rolling Stone can do that, or TIME, hell even the Enquirer, but not Kanye West.
You might be asking yourself, why the hell is he writing about this? Well the answer is here, dear friends. Stephen Colbert's Christmas album has surpassed Kanye West's on the iTunes best-seller's chart. Apparently, Colbert (whom I haven't watched in ages, shame shame) asked his viewers to mass purchase his album at 5pm EST on Wednesday, and the ploy worked. After hearing of this plan, Kanye West Twittered (or Tweeted, whatever the fuck you Twitter people call it) "who the fuck is Stephen Colbert?" Seriously, grow up Kanye! Here's hoping that "Operation Humble Kanye" did, in fact, humble Kanye West. I want this, if for no other purpose than to spend my money on artists that I actually like and respect as individuals.
In closing, it's important to remember that whether you like his music or not, Kanye West is a gifted musician and probably a decent guy in private. However, he needs to tamper down on the Dangerfield-Ali "I get no respect, yet I'm the greatest" combo. Also, you should probably purchase Stephen Colbert's Christmas album, I will do so this weekend!

Why Pirates are NOT Funny

One of the running conversations I've been having at work involves the reemergence of Piracy off the coast of Somalia. These pirates have hijacked a number of ships, including a Saudi tanker with over $100 million of oil on it. The recent cultural obsession with Pirates has caused many in the media to joke about these guys. The truth is, while I'll admit I chuckled when I first heard about the Somali Pirates maybe a month or so ago, the more I've read about them, the less funny it becomes. The shipping industry is now avoiding the Somali coast, and the Gulf of Aden, in order to avoid engaging the Pirates. As I'm sure most of you are no doubt aware, Somalia is a desperately impoverished nation. As the helpful video in the Yglesias post I linked to above points out, the food aid that comes into Somalia, does so largely from the sea. These selfish Pirates could jeopardize the livelyhood of hundreds of thousands of people. This is no laughing matter. Some form of action really needs to be considered, I hope the international community concurs.

Honey Ryder - Numb

I'm trying to figure out if I like this song. It's certainly catchy, and the band name is a clear reference to Honey Rider from Dr. No. Both of these things work in their favor. Frankly, I just have an illogical fear that all these female fronted hard rock bands are Christian rock bands. I mean Evanescence, Flyleaf, and Paramore all turned out to be Christian. Why is that? In all honesty, I'm not really sure why I was ever into Evanescence, because on further inspection, they totally sucked. Anyways, it's kind of a cool video, and she's very attractive in a refreshing sort of way. Here's their MySpace page. They remind me of late 90's alt-rock, and that's a very good thing. I've frequently said that I can't wait until the 90's become the new 80's, because I still haven't gotten over the previous decade. I will be the guy at the party that actually knows all the songs! Matt Yglesias has written frequently about the coming 90's rock renaissance and how awesome it's going to be (I'm to lazy/busy with work to look for a link, but he has mentioned it).

Spitzer on the Economy

In Sunday's Washington Post, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has an excellent rundown of the current economic crisis (brought to my attention via Noam Scheiber at the Plank). Spitzer also details a helpful framework that would correct many of the root causes that led to the current situation. I think my favorite passage from Spitzer's piece, is this disarming explanation of government's role in free markets:

Those who truly understand economics, as did Adam Smith, do not preach an absence of government participation. A market doesn't exist in a vacuum. Rather, a market is a product of laws, rules and enforcement. It needs transparency, capital requirements and fidelity to fiduciary duty. The alternative, as we are seeing, is anarchy.

It's unfortunate that Eliot Spitzer's personal problems have prevented him from taking an active role in correcting our current economic ills. However, it is good to see that his ideas are receiving a platform, if only for a day, at the Post.

Dan Savage on Prop 8

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

While Tuesday, November 4 was certainly a day of celebration for many a cause, one of the black marks on that day was the passage of Proposition 8 in California. It's passage marked the end (hopefully, temporarily) of legalized same-sex marraige. It has since been revealed that the Mormons provided much of the funding for the campaign in support of Proposition 8. Consequently, over the past week there have been numerous protests outside of Mormon churches across the country. Many in the Mormon church, and the Christian Right in general, see this as a violation of their rights. I don't have the time nor the energy to lay out why that is complete bullshit, so in short, cry me a fucking river. One of the benefits of Proposition 8's passage however, has been the emergence of Dan Savage. Savage is not only incredibly funny and extraoridnarily intelligent, but he's a passionate advocate for LGBT issues. He's certainly made a fan and supporter (though I've always favored same-sex marraige) out of me!

Why Bush is Still Dangerous

Last night, Rachel Maddow touched on an issue that has been extremely underreported. I assume that she was informed by this great article by Matthew Blake in the Washington Independent. Watch the clip and read the article, because this is important stuff that could have devastating consequences.

Good Crazy

(Note: Poor Picture Quality)

The more material of Ta-Nehisi Coates I read, the more I kick myself for not having discovered him in a more timely fashion. In yesterday's Post, Coates has a lovely essay referencing the Rev. Joseph Lowery's introduction of Barack Obama at an event in Selma, Alabama in March of 2007. Rev. Lowery speaks of the difference between "good crazy" and "bad crazy." He likens the good craziness of Barack Obama's historic run for the presidency with that of Harriet Tubman's efforts on the Underground Railroad.

Coates' piece is particularly interesting because it documents his journey from an Obama skeptic, to one embracing the promise of the nation's first African-American president. As a white American, while I am certainly thrilled with Obama's victory, I don't think it's possible for me to entirely realize the historic nature of his ascendancy into our nation's highest office. Only black eyes and ears can fully realize what this election really means. Ta-Nehisi Coates' essay is the closest I've come to fully experiencing the joy of Obama's victory. Please take 5 minutes and read this moving piece. After that, do yourself a favor and become a regular reader of Coates' blog.