Butterfly Stories http://periqueblend.posterous.com wandering across the universe posterous.com Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:34:25 -0800 Super fast, super slow. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/QXl5mu7i5Yk/super-fast-super-slow http://periqueblend.posterous.com/super-fast-super-slow

This whole youtube channel is just things that normally happen quickly, being showed slowly. It's one of those inverse harmonious truths. Like how things that are normally big are cute when they're small, and how awesome it is to see super sized version of small things. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/super-fast-super-slow Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:29:02 -0800 The 5% Nation http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/WA3RtH5MlLQ/the-5-nation http://periqueblend.posterous.com/the-5-nation
This song just popped into my head today and I couldn't shake it loose. Isn't it amazing in this age of Rick Ross,  Throne Watching, and rap being used by billionaire silicon valley capitalists to teach business lessons, that rap used to be a recruitment tool fro the NOGE? 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/the-5-nation Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:30:34 -0800 Death to America, mane! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/6Zewn-RNGNs/death-to-america-mane http://periqueblend.posterous.com/death-to-america-mane
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/death-to-america-mane Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:43:49 -0800 Kew Gardens West http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/SSrgpPuoIgk/kew-gardens-west http://periqueblend.posterous.com/kew-gardens-west
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This is the photo that accompanies the article. An article about a man stabbed to death. I just don't even.* 

This article is heart breaking. The level of detail that people can provide the reporter about the man's condition as he bled out on the sidewalk is another indictment on the alienation that is peculiar to cities. And whether or not the actual event that prompted this phenomenon to be named really happened, it is clear that the bystander effect is real. 

The article however, also raises more questions than it even attempts to answer. For instance, isn't it weird that people wouldn't call the police, but they have no problem telling a reporter, that they didn't call the police??? 

“He was laying there and people were walking right by him,” he said. He added that he also did not call the police because ”I see people passed out all the time.” “I feel bad. He must have been there a while.”

Also

From what witnesses said, it was a slow, agonizing death.

“He was yelling ‘Help,’ ‘Help,’ ‘I can’t breathe’….he ran out of air,” said a neighbor who heard him scream early Sunday morning.  He also said, “please, call the police.”

Oh Mission Local. I love you, but you're killing me*. They were able to get on the scene, and record first hand accounts, but they never asked why neighbors could know that the man was "robbed then stabbed", but they couldn't place a call to the cops? 

Maybe the witnesses' legal status was uncertain? Maybe they come from a country where the police were worse than the criminals? Who knows? Not ML's readers, because they couldn't be arsed to ask.

But, there is something they really want their readers to know. Something so important that it gets its own paragraph. 

Neighbors in the area said it is common to see people doing drugs on this block

I've seen junkies, seen people fixing, people in various stages of drug induced euphoria, depression, anxiety, and I've never confused it for being beaten and stabbed. But then again I'm extremely urbane. 
(I mean, come on with this shit. That is the most non sequitorial non sequitor that ever sequitored. This is the Mission. And like most urban areas, the only thing that separates drug users is their respective access to indoor spaces.) 

Anyway. So this piece of mis en scene gets dropped in the readers lap...... And then we're back down the rabbit hole because the last line was clearly written first. Despite its feeling of finality, the way it crescendos nicely after the semicolon, it actually concludes that maybe our reporter needs to get his ass back out there and ask a follow-up question or two. 

On Monday afternoon residents in the area were upset about the incident; upset that no one had called for the police or an ambulance.

**Notice that you still can't even find a parking spot on that street? 

**I razz them, a lot, but they're doing the lord's work out there. I'm happy that there is a news source that does more than just applaud each new step on the road to the ethnic cleansing of my neighborhood, but still... they gotta do better than this. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/kew-gardens-west Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:31:12 -0800 A House Divided http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/o1eFyAnyEgE/a-house-divided http://periqueblend.posterous.com/a-house-divided
This is who google thinks I am, on my laptop.  Which is actually pretty good, except I don't understand the World Localities at all. 

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However, on my phone, my penchant for reading gossip blogs when I'm hungover skew my results somewhat:

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In fact, the whole thing is really embarrassing.  

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/a-house-divided Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:34:00 -0800 Reprise http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/vj_wJs67LZA/reprise http://periqueblend.posterous.com/reprise
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This won't end except in tears.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/reprise Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:35:06 -0800 Job Creators http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/vcmyujllntM/job-creators http://periqueblend.posterous.com/job-creators
Photo
This person has been getting up all over the neighborhood. This is painted in the exact same spot as the duck. Each new tag is painted over quickly so at least it's creating work for someone. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/job-creators Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:49:33 -0800 The imagined nostalgia of practice that never was http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/fnpWjIylR1o/the-imagined-nostalgia-of-practice-that-never http://periqueblend.posterous.com/the-imagined-nostalgia-of-practice-that-never

"Mission resident Andrea Olson and her Australian shepherd, Sasha, both sampled Andrea’s placenta after the birth of her son Kaiva on Nov. 20, 2010. The day after Andrea's home birth, her apprentice midwife arrived on her doorstep armed with a food dehydrator. She boiled the afterbirth in water seasoned with jalapeño and lemon, then dehydrated the organ at 100 degrees. The result?  

“It was spongy. It tasted like chicken or seitan,” says Andrea, who sampled a French fry–sized piece. Sasha was more enthusiastic, inhaling the human flesh after drooling throughout its preparation. Andrea also drank tea made from the concoction, which she found spicy and delicious. The remaining tissue was encapsulated as well as made into a tincture for medicinal purposes." (via)

I just can't with this City. 

We're feeding human organs to dogs now? 

At some point in that afterbirth of an article, it alleges that the medicinal abilities are "passed down through cultures" but is deliciously vague about just which cultures those are. While there is some record that maybe sometimes it used in some rare Chinese medicine, that's about it. 
Usually the placenta is eaten, by animals, to hide traces of birth from predators. Humans are born and live among their only real predators. 

Everything is not okay. Not all things in nature are natural. They just aren't. 

I just can't. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/the-imagined-nostalgia-of-practice-that-never Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:07:05 -0800 The full 360 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/yElbGuB_Reo/the-full-360 http://periqueblend.posterous.com/the-full-360
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I guess I remember this song, when it was "popular", but I really know it more for the commercial, which is apparently a true life making of a (millionaire) brand new rich person. But this little duckie cracks me up every time I see him on the way home, as I do often, since it's around the corner from my house.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/the-full-360 Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:22:27 -0800 Ima laugh about this all day http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/NZUnHjeYMIQ/ima-laugh-about-this-all-day http://periqueblend.posterous.com/ima-laugh-about-this-all-day
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/ima-laugh-about-this-all-day Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:47:00 -0800 Some artists are more equal than others. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/yIgDEMm8QmM/some-artists-are-more-equal-than-others http://periqueblend.posterous.com/some-artists-are-more-equal-than-others
A society free to borrow and build upon the past is culturally richer than a controlled one. - Lawrence Lessing

Why would I post an 18 minute video? And one from 2004 (which is like a different era in internet years).  I mean no one of the no one that reads this blog is going to sit through a whole video about a drum break. 

But. But! 

This is about the Amen break. 

And it is SOPA related. In a sense. Squint your eyes. 

Have you ever seen that video about how all of modern popular music uses the same same chord progression? This is like that, but for music with a groove. You know, that you can dance to. (Black people music and derivatives of such).

This video is an ontological walk through modern music since the advent of digital sampling. Instead of being a boon to new types of music and wonderful combinations, it was stifled by the greedy, greedy, record industry. To make his point he uses the Amen break which has been around more than Lindsay Lohan. Everyone from 3rd Bass*, to  NWA- Straight out of Compton used this beat. It was also the foundation of British Rave/Jungle/Drum and Bass. They tore apart the six second break, and manipulated it to make new (and sometimes awful) patterns. Music for people doing (party) drugs. 

He goes on to make a really good point though. A point that I think about all the time. Everything is a remix. This is accepted as read now. Artists in all genres use existing forms, and other existing works and make new things from them. Have been for a while. And it's always considered creative reuse except in one case. 

When those artists are rappers**. Then it's all "Fuck you. Pay Me."

Remix culture is (now) well established but in the meantime, in the in between time, artists haven't been able to profit from hundreds of great works. It's taken as gospel that the mix tapes released by hip hop artists have been better than albums for years now. Those years coinciding with the rise in litigiousness of the MPAA. 

And it's especially sad that an artist** like Quentin Tarantino is able to visually sample as much or more than what DJs were doing, but still walk around smelling his own farts, and calling himself an auteur. If only there were Black Lawrence Lessing around in the 80s and early 90s to protect the Prince Pauls, and Terminator Xs, and Eric B's. 

*Ha Ha. I'm like Prince. Or a high school girl. I use numbers for words. And for the record, I was and reamain a big fan of MC Serch. 

**Euphemism alert. 

***I resisted scare quotes around the word artist and settled for a footnote aside. Tarantino is of course a hack. Like Wes Anderson, and Paul Thomas Anderson. They've all made enjoyable films, but so has Sam Raimi and nobody is running around lighting candles for him. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/some-artists-are-more-equal-than-others Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:28:42 -0800 Creeper http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/gQ75knxJL8E/creeper http://periqueblend.posterous.com/creeper
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From the department of "this guy is exactly who you think he is":

"STREETSBORO, Ohio— The Streetsboro Police Department announced Monday that a man was arrested for child pornography.
David Peters, 66, was indicted on 20 counts of possessing sexually oriented material involving a minor and 20 counts of disseminating sexually oriented material involving a minor." (via deadspin)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/creeper Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:09:38 -0800 No Logo http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/AjnJEhxROew/no-logo http://periqueblend.posterous.com/no-logo
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See the full gallery on Posterous

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/no-logo Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:01:24 -0800 And also an art gallery http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/IBIXXeeJYZ4/and-also-an-art-gallery http://periqueblend.posterous.com/and-also-an-art-gallery
Valencia_is_twee

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/and-also-an-art-gallery Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:00:07 -0800 Let the Sun Shine http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/VSUazjxbpac/let-the-sun-shine http://periqueblend.posterous.com/let-the-sun-shine
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And here you will find Old Dirty Bastard's FBI File. Ain't democracy great?  The whole thing is 90-some odd pages long and apparently treats the Wu Tang Clang (WTC) as if they were criminal organization (C.R.E.A.M y'all). Along with investigating them for alleged contract hits, and a car-jacking to rob a dealer of some angel dust (!?!), apparently the NYPD enlisted the aid of the FBI and US Attorney's office to bring RICO charges against the group whose logo is readily available on T-shirts at Hot Topics across the country. 

I love this page, I'm sure the redacted info is quite priceless as well, but the the whole things reads like Raymond Chandler. The last line is poignant.  Also, what poor, low level, FBI desk jockey had to manually redact all of this 'sensitive' information. What a weird day serving your country that must have been for her. 
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/let-the-sun-shine Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:45:00 -0800 Shit San Francisco Hippies Sing http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/fXzOza_KGLs/shit-san-francisco-hippies-sing http://periqueblend.posterous.com/shit-san-francisco-hippies-sing

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/shit-san-francisco-hippies-sing Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:08:05 -0800 Careful with this joke, it's an antique http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/LXictJEfazs/careful-with-this-joke-its-an-antique http://periqueblend.posterous.com/careful-with-this-joke-its-an-antique
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/careful-with-this-joke-its-an-antique Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:11:48 -0800 What We Talk About When We Talk About Sports http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/A8AEsyb7NcI/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-sports http://periqueblend.posterous.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-sports

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If you go to Grantland from espn.com, they warn you that shit's about to get literate. 

tl;ldr version (with a nod to the Believer): Sports writing has improved a lot.

Mentioned in article: This excellent article from the The Classical (.org) on concussions in sports and how they aren't manly to acknowledge. Fire Joe Morgan , SbNation and their baseball coverage in particular, and of course Grantland where amongst the sports coverage you can also find hilarious articles like this one about Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri.

It's 2012 in declinist America and we have apocalyptic messages coming from the Right with every debate and primary, and also from the left with every exhortation to Remember the Maya! But lest you think it is all bad, fear not. According to almost everyone who writes on either the culture, or lifestyle pages of a website/newspaper: we are in the golden age of TV. 

Which? Probably.

But less mentioned (never) is that we are undeniably in the golden age of sports writing. Rather than recap the history of sports writing (because I'm sure someone would insist that I include descriptions of the first Olympics) let's just take as received wisdom that it used to be bad and now it's good. Don't get me wrong, the New Journalists would occasionally enter into amusing size competitions by testing themselves against their  athletic ideal. And yes, sure, some inventive and clever writing came from this time. Just look at George Plimpton.

But then the internet happened (some sequences have been shortened) and then Fire Joe Morgan happened. 

FJM is the exemplar of a new genre and is throughly internet dependent not just because it allows for cheap distribution, but mainly for the easy access to available statistics-- and just as important, the ability to use hyperlinks to complete a joke. Once upon a time, sports writing was a hagiography, a perpetual Ken Burns effect on grown men playing kids games. But then the jealous writers turned on the athletes  and starting publishing about their bad sides. They no longer venerated the gladiators on the field, instead they were showing off how well they could form opinions. 

FJM came along and armed with facts found those opinions to be laughably empty. They wanted the mediator out of the way and for them to take their racial wolf whistles like gritty (white athletes), or natural talent (black ones), with them.  (Where are they now? The founders quit blogging, and left their mom's basement to go show-run Parks and Recreation.)

On a regular basis, some of the best writing I read on the web is sports related. I read about sports way more than I watch them, because the writing is so lovely. The Classical, Grantland, SBNation, McCovey Chronicles, Deadspin, to name a few. The writers on these publications are clearly the children of post modern, highly referential writers like DFW and Jonathan Lethem. They are young(ish), and their writing is reference filled and highly resemebles the shows they probably watch like 30 Rock, Family Guy, and The Office (aka Reaction Shot Theater).  This article from The Classical is a perfect example. It has a jokes per minute count that would make a sitcom writer envious but instead of overwrought punchlines about dated topics it makes references to universal themes. Cleverly. 

If they weren't writing about sports they'd be writing about pop culture in general, (oh look, Carles writes for Grantland).  This is clear in their allusions to a narrow and well defined subset of knowing and ironic references. (For example, Voltron, Excite Bike, and Coleco- you get the point.) 

This is yet another hipster culture derived from Geekery. I think this is why Baseball writers were amongst the first to settle this land. But as the Slate/Deadspin football roundtable proves, the land rush is in effect. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-sports Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:46:08 -0800 Mesmerizing http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/upYzub8BgHA/mesmerizing http://periqueblend.posterous.com/mesmerizing
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"Would it be possible to drop me off near there, I live right near there, my roommate just dropped me off"

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/mesmerizing Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:20:00 -0800 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ButterflyStories/~3/MrzQhruFHt8/merry-christmas-and-happy-holidays http://periqueblend.posterous.com/merry-christmas-and-happy-holidays

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/309189/tirehopping.JPG http://posterous.com/users/37lqbIyEbExr Olu Johnson periqueblend Olu Johnson http://periqueblend.posterous.com/merry-christmas-and-happy-holidays