Get Cynical

From In These Times:

Simon shows us how we really live, and it ain’t pretty. There was a time, not so long ago, Simon reminds us, that many of us wondered why people would pay so much money for a cup of coffee—even as we were edging closer in line to place our own order. Starbucks, writes Simon, “had little to do with coffee, and everything to do with style, status, identity and aspiration. … Starbucks delivered more than a stiff shot of caffeine. It pinpointed, packaged, and made easily available, if only through smoke and mirrors, the things that the broad American middle class wanted and thought it needed to make its public and private lives better.” Starbucks fed our emotional needs for status. It became our little “self-gift,” an emotional pick-me-up. It allowed us to feel successful.

(via Monochrome)

Nice concept but I think the technical word for what these people seem to be doing is called ‘walking backwards’.

A blog dedicated to, well:

Goths, I love ‘em! I even used to be one for a bit (well, I was a Didi-Goth for at least 6 months). But there’s one thing that troubles me about our cheery friends: what to do they do in summer? All that makeup, long black leather and rubber must get very sticky. I think we should show our respect for these poor unfortunates, struggling to stand out from the vanilla crowd despite blazing temperatures and sunshine that puts the rest of us in shorts and vest tops. Join me in celebrating the majesty of the Goth, who, eschewing any practicality whatever, still has the commitment to don a full length leather trenchcoat, stupid New Rock boots, and half a Superdrug counter of makeup. All hail the Hot Goth!

Yeah, I had no idea what Polari was either. To Wikipedia!:

Polari (or alternatively Parlare, Parlary, Palare, Palarie, Palari, Parlyaree,[1] from Italian parlare, “to talk”) was a form of cant slang used in the gay subculture in Britain. It was revived in the 1950s and 1960s by its use by camp characters Julian and Sandy in the popular BBC radio show Round the Horne, but its origins can be traced back to at least the 19th century. There is some debate about how it originated.

The Polari bible is difficult to read and makes no sense whatsoever. So it’s an improvement.

A genealogy project:

Everything I Know is a repository for information about the life of my late great grandfather Hyman Victor, a Jewish immigrant who came to America in 1913. The exhibits at left tell the story of his life, through the vital records, photos, and oral history he left behind.

(via Kottke)

From AfterEllen:

Let’s face it: Maxim doesn’t cater to lesbians. In fact, you could say it flies in the face of all that we hold dear, especially when it declares Lindsay Lohan the hottest of them all, as it did when it published The Maxim Hot 100 List last month. So we asked you, our readers, to create your own list of hotties, and you came out in droves to nominate the women you think deserve to be on the AfterEllen.com Hot 100 List. Thousands of votes later, we have the results.

(via Kottke)

From SFGate:

The locals come down from the mountains drunk, dancing and ready to fight. The police come to make sure no one dies. And the tourists, reporters, and documentary filmmakers come for the blood.

The outside world has discovered Tinku, an ancient ritual in which indigenous Quechua communities gather each year in a remote corner of the Bolivian Andes to dance, sing and settle old scores in staggering and bloody street fights.

The largest Tinku takes place early each May in Macha, about 210 miles southeast of La Paz, where this year’s festival provided a stunning and sometimes uneasy combination of culture, spectacle and violence.

Relatively unknown outside the Andes for centuries, Tinku remains on the fringe of Bolivia’s growing tourism industry. But its heavily asterisked listing in the guidebooks (Lonely Planet calls it “a violent and often grisly spectacle”) is beginning to draw both backpackers and media curious to witness the peculiar event firsthand.

(via Danger Room)

Related:
Wikipedia’s entry on Tinku
A Narrated Slideshow on Tinku

The Asian Canadian Centre says:

“A Chink in the Armour is a hilarious look into the notion of stereotypes while revealing what it means to be Chinese-Canadian in today’s society. Gathering a large group of volunteers from Toronto, five of the major stereotypes will be tested to see if they are true. Do Chinese really know kung fu? Are they all good at math? The results are comical, always informative, and offer a unique glimpse into Chinese-Canadian culture.”

They’re right.
The documentary is great!

You should watch the whole documentary here.

Part 1 of 4 of the Documentary “Animated Soviet Propaganda” From 1924 to perestroika the USSR produced more than 4 dozen animated propaganda films. They weren’t for export. Their target was the new nation and their goal was to win over the hearts and minds of the Soviet people. Anti-American, Anti-British, Anti-German, Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Fascist, some of these films are as artistically beautiful as the great political posters made after the 1917 revolution which inspired Soviet animation. A unique series. With a unique perspective. Includes interviews with the directors of the animated films which are still alive and commentary by a leading Soviet film scholar. Two hours of documentary and six hours of animated films.

A chart which shows the country, percentage of women and girls who undergo genital mutilation, and the type of genital mutilation practiced.

(via Linkfilter)