Blowing Up

Lots of referring traffic today now that the AZ is out and about as the other JB.

Good times.

One more on MJ

I've been most struck by the youtube videos I've seen of that period between 1977-1981 as he transitioned from the Jackson Five to the Jacksons to Michael Jackson the solo superstar. That time when he emerged from adolescence but before he started to mutilate himself.

I'm not always happy about the way these kinds of pop culture stories get overdone but in the case of Michael Jackson, his character has come to mean so many different things to so many different people. And he represents so much that is wonderful and tragic in American society.

These two videos are great.

Here's Michael at 18 with the Jacksons. What I like about this clip aside from the disco spacesuit is seeing him separate himself from the family. His microphone stand is lined up in line with his brothers but his energy carries him to the front of the stage, in front of and apart from his band.



And here is a 20/20 report about Michael at 21 that seems to foreshadow his struggles over the next decades. I can't embed it but I highly recommend it.

Ahead of the story

Don't know if you read the Times-Pic over the weekend but you didn't have to if you'd been keeping up on your trusty We Could Be Famous.

This is why you should cancel your subscription to the Times-Picayune and instead:

1. The weekly Saturday politics column totally bit off WCBF's Thursday post on the difference between Chicago's vanguard integrated crime camera system and New Orleans' reckless camera contract funnel scheme, down to one of the articles I cited as evidence. All the T-P did was get a spokeswoman from the City of Chicago to say that Mayor Daley was out of the office.

2. Bill Barrow's Saturday look at the LSU/VA latest cites a FEMA report which WCBF discussed extensively all the way back on Monday.


That's right, you've got your own one man news team right here at We Could Be Famous - ya know - dot blogspot dot com.

They killed trees for THIS?

The founder and CEO of WCBF sounds like an idiot in your Saturday edition of the Times-Picayune. Man, that soundbite shit is hard. It took a lot of negotiation to get them not to print what I said about mouth-breathers. Yeah, you know the type.

I almost shut down the blog today to throw any would-be new readers off of my scent, but I know that's only for the yellah.

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If you've come to sign the petition to dismiss Veronica White, you can find it here. According to analyst calculations, it is 63% complete.

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Here's an uncomfortable interview between Norman Robinson and Mayor Nagin over the Veronica White fracas. Mayor Nagin refuses to defend the actual assertions he made to Council about the event in an email. My favorite question was:

"You don't feel, as the elected leader of this city, are exacerbating this by throwing this out there without offering any clarification, any real clarity?"

Nagin's answer:

"...we'll see where the legal procedures go from here."

Ugh.

Why I'm so ugly

I'm clearly the lovechild of this socially unacceptable pairing.

WCBF Contributes To Naming of Phenomenon Thingie

Remember when I told y'all about the Philly neighborhood of Fishtown after Ben Smith wrote about an anecdote from a canvasser in that neighborhood even though I wrote at much greater length about the same phenomenon in this post about racist union coworkers deciding to back Obama despite their disturbing prejudices.

Well now it's called the Fishtown Effect.
Atrios has already given it his official blog post of approval.

Don't worry, it's okay if I don't get any credit...

I'll take it my self.

.>jerks>/span>jerks

Eight Weeks Left

Oh thank god this election is almost over. It is time for the nation and the media to move on toward more substantive issues -
Let's kick it to the election center for speculation on who's hot and who's not for the 2012 nominations...

It's been an extremely frustrating two weeks here in New Orleans and all along the Gulf Coast.

I'd like to apologize on my neighbors' behalf for distracting everyone from important matters like the difference between an artificially contrived demographic classification and a pitbull.

All of this is a non-story.


The ratings came in and it's bad news for Louisiana. Our show performed poorly during sweeps.

Loving New Orleans Means Loving Corrupt and Ineffective Politicians

Jeffrey noticed a very special Katrina Anniversary message from Mayor Nagin:

"The most important work we need to do this third anniversary, in spite of the challenges we face this hurricane season, is to learn, ladies and gentlemen, to respect and honor each other -- our diverse culture that is unique to New Orleans. I don't know exactly who is in those coffins, you don't know who is in those coffins, but I will bet you they represent every aspect of this great city. . . .

"So when people talk about their love for this great city, and then you go to a blog, or you read something and it is divisive, it is hateful, it is mean-spirited, my question to you is: How you can you love New Orleans if you don't love all of us?"

I love this logic: You don't love where you live if you're trying to make it better. You see, if you don't love it just as it is with its litany of social emergencies that your Mayor exacerbates with his policies, you must be hateful, divisive, and mean-spirited.


The fact is that with an approval rating hovering at around 30%, each time the Mayor tells someone where it is people can read the truth about him, he's finishing off the last of his dismal reputation. So keep up the good work Mr. Mayor, I love ya.

We'll Talk a Little NOAH, a Little Prezzy Campaign, No Big Whoop

For those of you with Syrius Satellite Radio, I'll be a guest on The Blog Bunker on Indie Talk channel 110 at 4:30 Central.

You can call in at 866-99-INDIE.

But don't you dare embarrass me on obscure national satellite radio indie talk channels.

UPDATE:

The one caller wanted to talk in support of the NRA's objection to gun confiscation during the storm, neither the host nor I responded.

No Worse Way to Start Sunday Morning

Not only did he fail to mention yours truly for being the first to disclose the bamboo-derived fabrics element of this whole NOAH fracas but I had to read through a graphic description of Chris Rose's underwear acquisition process to find out.

Unacceptable.


I have been very content to stick to my supporting role on this NOAH script but the Him Store was my moment. MY MOMENT TO SHINE! Chris Rose you bastard. Jeffrey help, you've been slighted yourself.

Has Nobody Noticed How Famous I Am?

You guyzzzz, I won this award and nobody even gave a care. Waaaaa!

Celebrities = Evil

Currently, Talking Points Memo is covering the release of the latest anti-Obama ad from the McCain campaign. The new effort sticks with the line that Obama is "the biggest celebrity in the world" that was used in the much-discussed recent ad that spliced in clips of Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears.

Greg Sargent at TPM notes:

As I reported here the other day, the McCain team was devoting a third of its ad budget to the first celeb ad. That, combined with the fact that they're sticking with the "celeb" theme, suggests that internal polling shows it may be working.

The "celeb" epithet is all about cheapening the mass political support for Obama and redefining the Obama movement as one that's less about politics and issues and more about cult of personality. By asking whether this "celebrity" is prepared to help your family, the McCain team is trying to get people to see whatever temptation they may have to support Obama as somehow fundamentally misguided and not rooted in what's really important.

Sargent's first observation is dead-on. The McCain campaign obviously likes what it sees from this attack strategy. It is interjecting the Obama-as-celebrity theme into a second news cycle, funding the crap out of previous efforts, and hitting the airwaves with related talking points like retired generals fresh from Rumsfeld's yacht.

The second observation, that the "epithet" is about "redefining the Obama movement as one that's less about politics and issues and more about cult of personality," is somehow both oversimplifies and overestimates that thought that goes into the new ads.

It is an overestimation in that this isn't about redefining Obama's movement as a cult of personality unattached to issues or politics, it's about loading the word "celebrity" as a powerful epithet. When the ad leads with "Is the biggest celebrity in the world ready to help your family," it's about both painting celebrities as uncaring, out-of-touch, and phony at their core as much as it is about labeling Obama as a celebrity.

I don't think it's so much about snapping up would-be Obama supporters tempted to join the popular crowd as much as it is about bludgeoning Obama and the enthusiasm around his campaign as unAmerican insofar as celebrities and fame are seen as corrosive to traditional culture whereever the "real" American "heartland" is. It is about finding a way to derogatorally refer to Obama and his campaign, a way to ridicule and minimize, a way for McCain surrogates and supporters to "go negative" without being flagged for out-and-out racism. The first 'celebrity' ad, the one with Hilton and Spears, pushed that envelope in a way that allowed the McCain campaign to test what they can and cannot get away with.

Because of that, we may also be oversimplifying the intent of the new effort in another way.

This and subsequent ads from McCain's celebrity-as-epithet series don't need to have images of blonde women to conjure up the same memes, associations, and emotions because the style and theme of the campaign will be constant.

Here, the McCain campaign has set another trap for Obama and his supporters. When the left called the McCain team out for the images of white women in the last ad, it backfired (as demonstrated by McCain's decision to press on) with a counter attack related to inappropriate use of the race card. With this new ad, the McCain campaign is hitting on the same themes and associations, this time using a white woman narrator to mash together a fearful drum beat, chants of Obama, and images of the candidate's face with an overall emphasis on the word celebrity. If Obama supporters go after the McCain campaign on the narrator and on the racial overtones that remain in the celebrity meme, they'll again open themselves up to charges of 'playing the race card.' Indeed, it sounds ridiculous to suggest the McCain campaign bar the use of female voices in their attack ads. On the other hand, the Obama campaign must find a way to castrate the power of 'celebrity' as an epithet or the McCain campaign will continue to stockpile different ways to use the term like Obama is Y2K.

The first link at the top of the post can get you to the video. I'd rather not embed it because I'd like to see it as little as possible.

Shot in the Dark

Anybody have ideas as to how I might be able to get myself to either the DNC or RNC? Anybody know anybody that can get credentials? Or does anybody know anybody interested in buying me a plane ticket?

Congrats to Cliff, Kudos to the Gambit

The Gambit's internet platform is finally stepping up to the plate as a resource for local bloggers.

They paid Cliff cash money for a guest post - and it's a great one with a dynamite discussion.

Super Awesome Guest Post

Watch blogosphere-style vertical mobility LIVE as I guest post today over at the Rude Pundit.

Sitemeter Referring URL of the Day

I know I've made an impact when...

Me On TV

Here's a video hosted by hilarious comedienne Katie Halper.
Watch out for the handsome man refusing to acknowledge he's white.





Later on, I got to do some beer consuming with Katie Halper, the host of Saturday night's keynote and she's awesome.

Appearing with me and my misspelled last name is Baratunde Thurston, aka Jack Turner of Jack and Jill Politics who is also very funny and a pleasure to drink beers with. Baratunde explained as the host of Friday night's keynote, Baratunde is an old Nigerian name that means 'he with no nickname' and Thurston is a British name for 'he who his owned by Massa Thurston.'

I'm still looking to see where our NOLA panel's footage is archived.

Going to Austin: Netroots '08

Alan Gutierrez has allowed me to fly to Austin for Netroots Nation '08 in his place. I'd like to thank and congratulate Alan on putting a great panel together. There's nothing worse than negotiating conference logistics.

I've come to this opportunity at the last minute but I have given it a great deal of thought.

The Netroots Nation conference is an important yearly gathering, formerly known as Yearly Kos, of influential stakeholders within the netroots community and the world of progressive online politics.

Many in New Orleans have protested as our city has been repeatedly bypassed for national political gatherings. I specifically remember some well-expressed ire toward the organizers of this conference in particular. Additionally and unfortunately, it appears likely that Hurricane season will pass us by without a Presidential debate.

To me, and I say this as a resident of this city, as an American citizen not born here, and as a regular human being, the situation in New Orleans demands national attention.

It is not enough that politicians pay lip service in favor of category 5 levees; the federal government must deliver category five levees. It is not enough for HUD to promise affordable housing; thousands upon thousands of our neighbors need a place to live in order to return home. It is not enough for Howard Dean, the DNC, Barack Obama, and his campaign to tout the 50-state strategy; local progressives need substantive help in reforming an entrenched system of corruption and waste.

To detail the last point, the Obama campaign has not yet opened or staffed a field office in New Orleans.

One of my goals in Austin, in addition to ensuring that our panel runs smoothly, is to speak to other influential bloggers, Obama representatives, DNC organizers, in order to push for better attention to be paid to local progressive reform efforts in New Orleans and to the recovery process in general. That the right wing routinely attempts to rewrite the story of Hurricane Katrina to reduce Bush administration culpability often without immediate and forceful rebuke from the Obama campaign, the DNC, and many progressive bloggers troubles me. Rebuilding New Orleans must be a staple campaign issue in 2008, not a peripheral talking point.

Friends of New Orleans and regular readers of New Orleans blogs can assist me in this effort by closely following news from Austin, covering our panel, and commenting vigilantly on other blogs and news sites that discuss the Netroots conference.

I am hoping to provide updates from Austin as often as I can and will post links for those interested in watching our Saturday afternoon panel live as soon as possible.

Please feel free to advise me how best to advocate for New Orleans.

It would be much easier if Netroots organizers had just held the conference here like they should have all along.

Exhausted Blogger Presses Onward

NEW ORLEANS- Some call him the next Jon Stewart, others call him an ideal Mayoral candidate. Yet when reached at his new apartment, Famous blogger E considers himself a regular guy. "I like cold drinks and fireworks just like everybody else," he explains as he reads the Saturday paper, eats a bagel and prepares a paint roller - all while practicing his sword juggling routine.

After an entire three day weekend with absolutely no posts to his increasingly influential website, New Orleans much-hyped 311 service was inundated with calls from concerned readers.

E explained that he's been away from his online duties as he prepares his new living space, a state-of-the-art second floor apartment that art and design critics are salivating over. Now that the bulk of the work has been completed, E's readers won't be waiting for his next earth-shattering revelation or side-splitting remark much longer.

"Can you BELIEVE Blakely still has a job," E yelps as a sword he's juggling takes off the last two toes of his right foot. Sometimes he gets so passionate about discussing municipal recovery efforts that he loses track of the seemingly obvious dangers staring him in the face.

As he meticulously sews his digits back onto his foot he explains further, "I think it's interesting that Ezra Rapport has jumped ship so suddenly. There's definitely more than meets the eye in that situation."

Quickly jumping to his feet after the last stitch was sewn, E ushered me to the door. "You're going to get in the way of my gymnastics routine, I don't want you to catch a heel to the teeth," he chuckled.

Perhaps there are a slate of local officials that should heed that same advice.