Filed by Bil at 9:10 pm under Fightin' Words
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The Olympics are going to Rio De Janeiro in 2016. This news was met with mixed emoticons here in Chicago last week. By the time they finally made the announcement, the latest polls were showing roughly half of the city still wanted the Olympics and roughly half the city did not – in fact, I think the nay-sayers even had a slight edge in that poll. Personally, I wanted them. I won’t lie. But I wasn’t exactly devastated by the loss.

A lot of people were so worried that the city would lose money on it. News flash: the city has been losing money on far stupider ideas than hosting the Olympics for years now, and guess what? I’m still alive with a roof over my head and I’ve still got cable TV.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 10:54 pm under Damn Hippies, Fightin' Words, GOP, Politics
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http://benonymous.tumblr.com/post/198803171/divorce

Please, everybody go and read this blog post. It is a divorce of right and left proposed by the right, and a supremely clever response from the left. I’m enamored with the reply, it sums up just about everything about the strife we find ourselves with these days, and while it stands firm, it is not a mean-spirited reply. The wink comes with open arms; or, the open arms come with a wink. One of the two.

While you’re at it, check out the rest of the blog. This is one interesting mind.

Filed by Bil at 10:46 pm under Fightin' Words, Stuff to Read
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Returning to the sentiment that journalism in the iPhone age is a constant battle between quality and quantity, I would like to point out sports journalism hasn’t suffered any, because it’s pretty much always sucked, and there has always been too much of it.

Florida HS football team defends 83-0 rout
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 1:54 pm under Fightin' Words
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In addition to my handful of anecdotes about random strangers declaring their lust for me, I now have one about a random stranger spewing his hatred towards me. That’s what I love about city life. The variety.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 2:27 pm under Fightin' Words, Politics, Social Issues
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Now that “Reading Rainbow” is done, what does the future look like? I’m worried because it wasn’t one of those things that fulfilled a specific basic human need. It’s not like it was the only pizza delivery company around; but if it was, you know damn well somebody else would pick up the torch. If there’s one thing that binds us all, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, it’s the same — we all want our pizza brought right to our front door.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Lance at 2:53 pm under Fightin' Words, General, Pop Culture, Stuff to Read, The Arts
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This is, of course, the only appropriate music to accompany this post:

Thanks to all the time I have riding the ‘L,’ I recently finished Homer’s Illiad for the first time (I didn’t actually read it in high school when I was supposed to… did you?) I kept being impressed by Diomedes’ epithet: “Diomedes of the great war-cry.” In ancient warfare, when it wasn’t just click-and-dead, you had to really want to kill the other guy, that is, had to really want to take a piece of bronze or iron and cut the other guy’s skin off his bones. A war-cry was an essential part of keeping the veterans focused, and the young guys from wetting themselves and running. Or at least from running.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 1:17 pm under Fightin' Words, The Arts
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I have a sneaking suspicion that, just as a person can’t choose who to fall in love with (you just do), neither can a company predict who its audience will be (they just will).

But must a company make concessions from time to time to please its audience as their relationship progresses? I would grant that no company should make concessions ALL the time, but is it ever a good idea? In the interest of maintaining a healthy relationship, people must make the occasional sacrifice; should a performing arts company do the same? For example - hypothetically - if an audience base asks for a remount of a popular show and the company has the resources for only one show, do they acquiesce and remount the show the audience asked for, or do they challenge the audience with a new work and hope for the best response?

I guess the question boils down to: does the artist trust his/her audience more than his/her own instincts?

Now that I ask it, it seems like a stupid question. The obvious answer is that artists must trust their own instincts. It’s those very instincts and sensibilities, presumably, that built the audience to begin with. And no artist or arts company should ever be lazy and take its audience for granted. But where is the line that once you cross the mantra becomes “fuck you, audience, I know best, I’m awesome, I don’t need you?”

Filed by Bil at 4:21 pm under Environmentality, Fightin' Words, Politics
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I know Michael Moore is a polarizing figure, and there are probably more folks on the side of “I can’t stand that guy” than on the side of “this guy knows what he’s talking about.” However, I do strongly encourage anyone and everyone, even if you despise the man, to read his article from today’s Huffington Post.

Michael Moore: Goodbye, GM

Moore talks about the idea of repurposing GM factories not just for GM cars, which we need to let go of, but for other modes of clean, energy-efficient transportation, like cross-country bullet trains and clean buses for rural areas. Read up.

** Later that day…

I found this photo in an article from the Boston Globe:

I can’t tell if it’s on purpose or if it’s a telling sign of some kind, but the three vehicles we see here driving in front of the GM headquarters in Detroit are all made by Ford.

Hm.

Filed by Bil at 10:06 pm under Fightin' Words, Politics
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I hate to talk about the economy – we all know it’s crappy, and I’m sure I don’t have much to say about it that hasn’t already been said five million times – and I wasn’t even worried about my own day job…until I read this news story:

GM to force more than 1,000 dealers to close (April 28, 2009)
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Trevor at 11:08 pm under Fightin' Words, The Arts
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“Damn colonists! Ignore their patronizing! Tear off their blindfolds! Open your eyes!”

I think this speaks quite well on its own without any help from me.