Monthly Archives: September 2010
Eulogy For A Pair of Chuck Taylors (2003-2010)
As a teenager, I never even considered purchasing a pair of Chuck Taylors. To me, they were the footwear equivalent of a Green Day album — overrated and embarrassing, part of a hastily fashioned anti-establishment uniform I had no interest in wearing. Instead I favored a pair of classic black Vans, or in my hardcore days, any variety of running…
Reagan Era Remix: Night Flight’s War On Drugs
Night Flight was the Internet before the Internet existed. Videos, like this remix of Ronald and Nancy professing their love of drugs, were standard fare on the program. It’s when cable television was populated by a bizarrely enthralling mix of content, the pioneer days.
MTV Lifts the Ban on Rapper Invincible’s ‘Ropes’ Video
In May 2009, I wrote a piece for True/Slant about how MTV banned Detroit rapper Invincible’s video for her song “Ropes” — which examines the topic of suicide in the hip-hop community. MTV’s standard’s department informed Invincible that the station would not air her video, citing that “its suicidal undertones would be problematic on the channel it was…
No More Amusement: Six Flags New Orleans
The five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina has passed. But there were a few things I missed during all the media reflections of the Gulf Coast disaster. One thing I overlooked was Melissa Golden’s photo essay for Time — “The Surreal Remains of Six Flags New Orleans” — that looked at the abandoned amusement park and its rapid decay post-Katrina. According…
Out In The Cold: Surfing Lake Erie
Last week I discovered¬†Billy Delfs’ portraits of surfers in Cleveland, Ohio.¬†Rust Wire ran a photo essay featuring Delfs’ shots, which drew me in. But with little background given in the essay, I was curious about these surfers, their community, where exactly they catch waves on the shores of Lake Erie, and how…
Black Album Redux: Enter You
Metallica’s Black Album was never good. It just took several hundred listens for me to accept such a harsh reality as a devout tween metalhead. And I would like to say the band redeemed itself since then, but they haven’t. If anything, they’ve only sunken further into a pool of shit, money, and bad haircuts. The Black Album would…
