Parsing the Palin Parodies

Y’know, comedy is hard and political satire is even harder. It has to feel true at its heart or we don’t buy it. That’s why people love that expression: It’s funny because it’s true. It doesn’t have to be true, mind you. The popular image of Bill Clinton is that’s he’s slick and smart and [...]

How to tell a big story on TV.

Art and commerce so frequently conflict with each other. For the artist, the object is to create of work of beauty and meaning: A painting, a novel, a song. You create the work; but from the business standpoint, you want to re-create. Do it again. Write the sequel, Drag it out for years. Turn the [...]

8track Mix of French Hip-Hop

You may recall that I wrote about the Muxtape service back in April. That streaming audio service got shut down by The Man, but it hardly comes as a surprise that replacements would come along. A friend recommended I check out 8tracks as an alternative. It has some differences that purportedly allow it to be [...]