From Uncle Ben To Aunt Jemima:A History of Racist Spokescharacters [Slides]

Click to see a slide show...it's worth a look.



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The 10 Greatest Mother*#@$ing Cursers in Movie History

"Anyone can utter a string of obscenities that could make Kevin Smith ask them to stick a quarter in the cuss jar, but it takes talent and the right touch to make a curse word funny, scary or dramatic. So get your soap and cover your kids’ ears because here are 10 of the finest filthy-mouthed film stars."



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29 Predictions For The Year 2000 (Written in 1900)

The Ladies Home Journal from December 1900, which contained a fascinating article by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr. “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years”.This is actually pretty cool. I know some of these you have to stretch a bit, but they more or less come true, ie the one about being able to see a beating heart and about transportation in large cities. I just don't know what the obession is in this article about huge fruit.



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Nintendo Funhouse; the attention to detail is magnificent!

Check out this sweet funhouse. I would so love to have this in my backyard, if I had a backyard. Check it out geeks.



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25 years murder-free in 'Gun Town USA'

This is a tale of two cities. Kennesaw, GA, requires every head of household to own a firearm and watches its crime rate plunge. Morton Grove, IL, bans all firearms (except for police officers) and watches its crime rate skyrocket. In light of recent events it's interesting to see how this social experiment has worked out. Hmm..firearms that actually keep the peace.



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Xbox360 Backwards Compatibility Updated

The list of Xbox games that you can play on the Xbox360 keeps growing and growing. Here is a list of the new games that have been updated. The new games have a new tag next to them. Notice there are several Xbox games that have a next gen equivalent, but are still playable. Full list of new and updated games inside.



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A Whale Dies In Brooklyn

Welcome to Brooklyn Sludgie the Whale. A Whale has died a day after becoming stranded in the murky polluted waters of Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal.



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Give Snoop Dogg His Xbox - Almost Cancels Charity Digg Because No XBOX

Snoop Dogg reportedly almost pulled out of a charity concert – because organisers hadn't provided him with an Xbox games console.



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Rolling Thunder Review

Rolling Thunder Review

In the fall of 1975 Bob Dylan and company set out on tour to save Rubin Carter. Part traveling caravan and part minstrel show, Dylan sought to bring an eclectic assortment of characters to a theater near you. Hot off the heels of recording his new album Desire, Dylan assembled his session musicians (Bob Neuwirth, Rob Stoner, T-Bone Burnett, Scarlet Rivera, etc...) and friends Roger McGuinn, Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell to join him on tour through North America until his grand finale at Madison Square Garden in spring of 1976. Larry Sloman, a reporter for Rolling Stone at the time was along for the ride.
Originally intended as an intimate affair played at club venues, with recitations by Allen Ginsberg this concept was quickly abandoned in favor of larger arenas with higher ticket prices and double performances. Sloman, under pressure from his editors at Rolling Stone, attempted to address these issues with the Dylan Camp resulting in his exile from the tour by Dylan's handlers. Ultimately Sloman would discover that it was the seventy-plus person film crew that was documenting the tour and shooting a scripted movie with Dylan, that was driving up the cost of the tour.

Accused of not having enough access to the tour by Rolling Stone and of having too much access by Dylan's tour manager Lou Kemp, Sloman severs ties with Rolling Stone, goes awol and joins the tour on his own dime and this serves as the basis for his novel. This, of course, is after many humorous attempts made by Dylan's people to sabotage Sloman's car, destroy his articles, ban him from shows and kick him out of hotels.
While Slomans book lacks the trashed hotel rooms and half dead hookers of other tour books in the rock and roll canon you get the sense he's searching for some deeper meaning to the rock and roll lifestyle. His interviews with Dylan, Baez, McGuinn and Cohen are intimate, and often over breakfast, over a cup of coffee or after a dinner party. Sloman perhaps best captures the revue's original intention of intimated encounters with the artists. Often playing it loose (for which one can criticize) Sloman at times prods his subjects to address larger issues - even at the expense of making himself a nuisance. But the reason this books works is because Sloman also talks to the man on the streets. A 20 year old kid waiting for tickets to the show in the cold, a struggling guitar player's take on Dylan, a groupie, and some proto hipsters in an all night cafe are all interviewed in this books. It sets up a nice juxtaposition to hear Dylan's own roadies say "the sound of the Rolling Thunder Review is the sound of cash registers ringing."
As for the music, when the tour gets rolling, the show becomes an all star jam. Dylan is at times angry and fierce and at others calm and floaty. Many of Sloman's subjects, which includes performers and fans, say that Dylan was 'loose' and more comfortable that his tours in pervious years. Released only as a bootleg, the recordings from the tour got a proper release in 2002. Below are some video clips of the tour.

Tangled Up In Blue

Isis

It Ain't Me Babe