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Thinking about Michael

Andrew Sullivan skips past the hagiograpy and gives his nuanced thoughts on the pop legend's passing:

I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.

I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.

Read rest here.

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Commentary on Mark Sanford Scandal

From a Gawker commenter:

In all fairness to his aides, "I'm getting some Argentinian tail" sounds a lot like "I'm hiking the Appalachian trail" when you're on a fuzzy satelite phone connection. Who hasn't had that kind of innocent misunderstanding?

Also, as Moye notes that he writes like a girl, and Kate's tweet on the subject is pretty much how I feel about it all. Of course Fox News covered the story in their typical "Fair and Balanced" manner by switching this Republican governor's party affiliation.

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Kenny Scharf, Cosmic Cavern

After a 20 year hiatus raising a couple daughters, pop artist Kenny Scharf, a former Eighties club kid who ran with the likes of Keith Haring, is back with this new psychedelic orgy of colors in Brooklyn: "Set in the basement of the Bushwick warehouse where Mr. Scharf has been living and working for about a year and a half, the Cavern is alive with the spirit of the early ’80s, lined in the Day-Glo-painted trash-bedecked panels he once deployed in nightclubs and galleries."

I don't think he'll get his security deposit back after the landlord sees this.

[Via]

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The Alternative Guinness World Records

A competitor to the established Guinness World Records has popped up with the Universal Record Database, "an open, participatory database for world records" where creativity is encouraged. Examples of submitted standing records so far (unless YOU break it) include "Longest Two-Person Comment Thread On A Facebook Status Update" (150 comments), "Most Whoopee Cushions Sat On In 30 Seconds Without Smiling Or Laughing" (18 cushions), "Fastest Consumption Of Six Cupcakes" (11 min 20 secs), "Most Images Of 'Uncle Jesse' Viewed On A Web Browser At Once" (63), and lastly "Most Binder Clips Attached To Face" (34).

I was at a party on Saturday night where Mary mentioned this feat after which she just happened to coincidentally "discover" a binder clip nearby. It got passed around for the contest: How long can you keep a binder clip attached to your cheek and eyebrow? I think the record at the party was around 25 seconds. I really wish I had my camera then.

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Bikini Rollercoaster

This video of bikini wearing models riding a roller coaster for a promo collaboration between Alton Towers Resort and delicates brand, Ultimo is for my good buddy and long time reader Nick. He just got over a cold in the middle of his bar exam studies. Hope this video cheers you up, bud! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX6QBOcSur0&fmt=18]

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Umbrella Gun

The Critic reminded me to bring an umbrella this week because sharing isn't in their vocabulary. I think this water gun-umbrella hybrid might suffice. Relatedly, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed in 1978 by what many believe to be with an umbrella gun of sorts carried by a KGB assassin.

[Via]

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A Capella Africa

After that previous disgusting entry with the Nintendo controller carved into someone's arm, here's something a little lighter: An a capella cover by Perpetuum Jazzile of Toto's "Africa" including the intro thunderstorm, which I thought was pretty cool. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw&fmt=18]

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