In Praise of Love

It's easy to be cynical about love which is why it's so heart warming to come across this story. My vote for the most romantic couple of 2008.

Saatchi Gallery Online

The London based Saatchi Gallery has one of the ugliest user unfriendly websites I've seen in a while but they have some really great stuff lurking under the 1998 html. The Showdown section showcases 10 or so artists and allows you to rate them from 1-10. They pick the winners after a certain time period and the winners go on to compete against each other. The Stuart section allows students to upload their artwork(video, photography, all kinds of visual work) and get exposure and criticism from all over the place. I don't know how many artists have posted there but suffice to say you couldn't review them all in a year and keep a job. These are just two sections of a very extensive web site, enjoy!

Saatchi Gallery

GET ON TARGET AND GO WITH IT!

Next time you are walking your dog late at night, and you need a flashlight... and a defense against a squad of armed guerrillas, this might come in handy.

High Ike Takes Hike

No need to beat yourself up over the senseless cocaine induced death of legendary bad boy Ike Turner. He lived the exciting and fun(too much?) filled life of a music superstar. Who wouldn't trade a little of that for a couple extra years? What you should be freaking out over is that somebody out there is selling blow to 76 year old men! Selling twenties at the local elementary school looks positively righteous in comparison. So let me be the first to propose a mandatory minimum sentencing guideline of 12 years for trying to explode some old person's heart. Law enforcement, if we could get a van outside the homes of Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Keith Richards and Jerry Brown we may be able to prevent another celebrity aortal blowout.

Never, Never, Ever Sheikh A Bank?

TBP is back from winter holiday rested and ready to blow my reader away with ideas NPR will cover with extreme prejudice later this year.
One of the most significant developments in the flow international capital the last year has been the increasingly public behavior of Sovereign Wealth Funds. Hardly a week goes by without a multi-billion dollar oily cash injection to a major U.S. bank from some Arabian peninsular nation. In addition, some Asian nations, Singapore, China and Korea have also begun opening their hoards to a smaller degree. How will all this play out? The protectionist contingents are naturally/confusedly against investment by Arab nations on the grounds they, (a) are terrorists trying to destroy the companies from within or use them to launder money or blow us up, (b) are hairy, (c) will take control of our nation and turn our women into slavs, (d) are only in it for the money, (e) will somehow corrupt our beautiful economic system, (f) all of the above. Choice (a) seems odd because why would someone sink tens of billions of dollars into an economy just to blow it up? (b) is a legitimate concern and should be examined with an extremely fine tooth comb. (c), well from time to time gene pools just need to diversify themselves. (d), duh. (e), I really welcome all coherent arguments that by increasing the base of capital in our markets be it by a non-capitalist regime or some old Japanese lady who has been stuffing her mattress for the past 4 decades will affect the sanctity of our financial oceans. (f), I would not accept beer from someone making all of these arguments before midnight on a weekday. So how is this actually going to play out? Despite the money, our markets continue to falter due to a recession that lasts for an uncomfortable amount of time. This would mean that the value of the SWF's investments decreases, as they did not correctly choose the market bottom and will have to wait a while to recoup their money. No harm no foul, they knew the risks, hate the game not the player,we win, etc. Another possibility is that we are at or near the bottom and as markets recover their actions are rewarded handsomely with wealth and insight into how healthy financial institutions operate. The belated point I am trying to make here is how should this affect our discourse over investing Social Security into the markets? The arguments being made by protectionists, while not as loud have similar substance to those made by the left after Bush floated the idea of private accounts. I have a hard time imaging that these investments will not beat the return of our Social Security fund over the long run. Should we sit on the sidelines while others profit from our stability and transparency? Is it moral to do so? Were such a plan to be implemented, there would have to be the most stringent investigation of any possible fraud and subsequent indictment if found. We have to accept some fraud would creep in, though not prohibitively due to the large number of actors in the plan. Some individuals would be able to profit from relationships or bailouts as cronyism is a natural effect of life. But if Social Security is able to return market or near market results for the long run doesn't that greatly outweigh a minimal graft occurring? As we meander into the future let's try and not let stale ideologies dictate our beliefs but incorporate them with lessons unfolding right now.

1990 Get Looptid

This is a three post showcase of popular hip hop, rap and R&B videos from 1990, give or take a few months.


Yo-Yo, You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo feat. Ice Cube


Boogie Down Productions, Love's Gonna Getcha(Material Love)

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

Digital Underground, Freaks of the Industry


LL Cool J, Around the Way Girls


Soul II Soul, Back to Life

1990 cont.

Bel Biv Devoe, Poison


Public Enemy, Fight the Power


Salt-N-Pepa, Let's Talk About Sex


A Tribe Called Quest, I left My Wallet In El Segundo


2 Live Crew, Banned In The USA


Gang Starr, Just To Get A Rep


De La Soul, Me, Myself and I

1990 Cont.

N.W.A, 100 Miles and Runnin'


Too Short, The Ghetto


LL Cool J, Boomin' System


The Geto Boys, Do It Like a G.O.


Brand Nubian, Wake Up


Kool G Rap and Dj Polo, Streets of New York

Hahnest Tah Gahd

English speaking politics is littered with funny names such as England's, Ed Balls, America's, Dick Swett and Canada's, Inky Mark. But this week a name was revealed to me that overshadows the lot. South African Sketchball/Politician Jacob Zuma ousted current President Thabo Mbeki as leader of the African National Congress in a highly contentious party meeting. While Zuma and Mbeki recieved the most votes, there was a dark horse in the mix, South African businessman politician, Tokyo Sexwale. Mr. Sexwale (pictured right) is a Soviet military trained former anti-apartheid freedom fighter who is now a mining and commodities centimillionaire. Unfortunately not much is known about his private life except that he is the real father of Jamie Lynn Spears' baby.

While I'm on the subject...electing Jacob Zuma to a national leadership post is a bad idea. While the best one hears about Mbeki's personality is that he is "aloof", the country has made strides towards meeting the majority of its UN Millennium Development Goals for 2015 (shown here in a format even a Kucinich supporter could understand). But as usually happens in developing countries(and even developed countries), as the economy grows, some at the top get very wealthy while those at the bottom,while earning more, don't see their individual rewards expand as quickly as those nouveau riche bastards covered ad nauseam in the media. So I may be better off but some dude is waaayyy better off, so Mbeki must be corrupt Q.E.D., hence the election of populist semi-literate Zuma. During his trial for rape last year, for which he was acquitted, Zuma revealed his true colors by claiming on the stand, "I can tell when a woman wants to have sex with me by the way she is sitting" and "you won't get AIDS as long as you have a shower after sex". These are idiotic if not dangerous sentiments from a man whose own home province has a population that is 30% HIV positive. Luckily for the people of South Africa, the National Prosecuting Authority is expected to bring corruption charges against Zuma after the first of the year. This should loosen the ANC leadership, easing Sexwale's insertion into a top ministry position.

If this guy survived his coke heart attack of 1986 I am pretty sure he is singularly responsible for the STD epidemic among the elderly.