February 2012
27 posts
The Trouble with Chinese
Which is the Best Language to Learn?:
“With less and less need to recall the characters cold, the Chinese are forgetting them. David Moser, a Sinologist, recalls asking three native Chinese graduate students at Peking University how to write “sneeze”:
To my surprise, all three of them simply shrugged in sheepish embarrassment. Not one of them could correctly produce the character. Now,...
On Lil B, Confession
Jonathan Bradley (Singles Jukebox):
The whole based steez is a bit of a scam, really. Lil B’s style isn’t confessional: rather, he performs the act of confession. Where traditional rappers, ones supposedly unburdened by Lil B’s unfiltered honesty, bare their selves on record, they do so in service of imparting actual emotion: see, for instance, Scarface expressing the mute emptiness of...
“Errol Morris believes there are no relative truths, only true truths. Maybe...”
– Arts & Letters Daily - ideas, criticism, debate
2012, So Far
In no particular order:
Spaceghostpurpp, GOD OF BLACK EP Vol 1
Schoolboy Q, Habits & Contradictions
Chairlift, Something
Gucci Mane, Trap Back
Ice Choir, Afar
“Since Shortz took over editing the crossword in 1993, he has seen fit to include...”
– Culture Desk: Crossword Scandal! The Times’ Mid-Ass Touch : The New Yorker
“He squoze it in there,” said Manningham, using imperfect grammar to...”
– Unreal.
“Before he got far, though, Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan — possibly intoxicated,...”
– Jon Caramanica (via maxxaxe)
