The Yellow Menace

Happy holidays

theyellowmenace — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:47:29 +0000

Some workplaces throw holiday parties. You just came for the Costco pizza and to see who would get schmammered. Instead, they made you play Pictionary with them. Never fear, these sample drawings will get you on the fast track to success.

Office Pictionary

Overdogs

theyellowmenace — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:22:41 +0000

Steelers vs. Texans. I bet everyone expected the Steelers to take it but Houston held steady nearly the whole time.

What fun is it, I wondered, to root for the Roethlisbergers, Breeses, Bradys, and Mannings of the world?

Well, what about Kobe? my dad asked.

Same thing. You know they’re going to be at the top of the league, so what’s fun about that?

Then what about Tiger Woods?

I could understand that a bit better. Woods got many people who would never be interested in watching golf following the sport. It was less about rooting for a winner and more about how he was such a powerful force that people just couldn’t wait to see what he’d do next!

And that’s why, when he and Rocco Mediate went into sudden death at the 2008 U.S. Open, I was rooting for Mediate.

In all Fairness

theyellowmenace — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 00:47:44 +0000

Earlier this week, the FCC announced it would officially strike 83 “outdated media rules” from its books, including the Fairness Doctrine, which should not be confused with the equal-time rule.

The Fairness Doctrine hasn’t been enforced in over 20 years and that lack of enforcement has been cited for the rise of right-wing talk radio in the late 1980s and 1990s, including Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. If that logic is true, then it has also helped Air America, Fox News, and MSNBC diverge as conservative and liberal voices, as opposed to providing “straight news.”

Was the FCC correct in not enforcing and, ultimately, doing away with this regulation?

As always, your thoughts are welcomed at theyellowmenace1 at gmail dot com.

iPhone “4S” rumors

theyellowmenace — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:09:54 +0000

So many in tech journalism have sounded from guardedly unimpressed to downright deflated over the rumors of the next iPhone. It’s easy to understand why: a mere hardware upgrade with little in the way of major cosmetic changes doesn’t generate much buzz. Consider, though, the 3GS: Released 364 days after the 3G, its increased processor speed and RAM capacity made it far more resistant to the increased demands of iOS 4, allowing 3GS users to take advantage of major changes, including video capture and multitasking, which remain unavailable to non-jailbroken 3G phones. The life cycle of the 3G effectively ended 2 years after its release, where the 3GS has demonstrated itself more resilient and usable with consumer-demanded features, and 3GS users have already shown themselves a little more reluctant to upgrade to the iPhone 4.

Should Apple and AT&T provide support for the HSPA+ protocol, the new phone will be able to download data 5 times faster than the 3GS and 3 times faster than the iPhone 4, making it a subtle but formidable release.

Let us remember

theyellowmenace — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:10:03 +0000

Today I am wearing the only purple garment I own in solidarity with those who choose to remember our young ones who have taken their lives after being bullied over the perception that they are not straight. I don’t know how the numbers have changed but, as of a decade ago, a queer person was twice as likely to have attempted suicide as their straight counterparts. Make that a non-white queer person, and that figure jumped to eleven times as likely.

This is an epidemic.

If anyone has updates to those numbers or knows of any vigils tonight, please let me know at theyellowmenace1 at gmail dot com or leave a comment here.

He’s My Sister

theyellowmenace — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:29:44 +0000

The debut album from Sister Mantos

Listen up, or you could miss it: the single whisper that sets the tone of the entire album.

“Yeah!”

It’s the same kind of “Yeah!” that would likely come before “Sister Mantos, back in effect!” if the ensuing vocals didn’t convey such sullen, indignant resignation.

Sister Mantos, the transgender brainchild of L.A. artist Oscar Santos, has crafted an album that is brooding and dark; that contains political overtures; that embraces long passages of multilayered psychedelics.

But most of it is oh, so danceable.

In that way, it evokes Siouxsie Sioux at the pinnacle of her popularity in the charts. Yes, she recorded deliciously moody stuff with the Banshees, but she also had her side project with then-husband, then-drummer, Budgie. The Creatures was rhythm based, poppy and accessible, because you know what? Even people with powdered faces (and noses) and black eye makeup needed something to dance to. All mood and no hip shake make goth a dull club. Trust me.

So take some classic house stylings, throw in some shout-outs to unicorns, and hammer it home with a call for direct democracy, and you’ve got a future retro party album in Tough Love, or the Fands of Hate.

The album’s upbeat tunes work best when bumping the bass on a P.A. or a decent set of speakers. The mixing is so multilayered, however, that the quieter moments on the album hold a lot that’s only audible through headphones. Don’t skip over them, though; they’re much like the kick-less parts of trance songs that allow you to stop sweating on the dance floor and remember that you are there, in the moment.

Then, there are the songs that feature both. “ASTAROTH” reverses the dance tune-breakdown-outro convention: It begins as a soundscape appropriate for a spaghetti western set in a dystopian urban future. Then, it breaks up into a frenetic shootout before settling back down into a literal whimper: The narrator, presumably the prince of Hell for whom the track is named, takes over, repeating the lines “I don’t think that it’s impossible/ To live in peace.”

Perhaps the album’s greatest success, “WORLDWIDE” is also an unlikely candidate. Its controversial lyrical content forms the album’s best hook, and it’s a catchy one, worthy of earworm status, whether or not you agree with its message. Strawberry 06’s vocals add so much swagger to the tune, especially when she’s just riffing between lines, that it’s just about impossible to picture her not shaking her hips.

That’s exactly what this album is about: Tough Love is a gritty, cerebral trip for thinkers as well as a hot, sweaty dance party for feelers. It’s like Sister Mantos has given us an all-inclusive invite to a get-together at her home. Whether you’re having a salon in the front or shaking it out back, it’s supposed to be fun.

Available digitally on iTunes, Napster, or Amazon, or in limited edition pink vinyl reissue at Sweetheart Society Try it on to see if it fits at SoundCloud.

Your comments are always welcome below or to theyellowmenace1@gmail.com.

RIAA still not upfront about data

theyellowmenace — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:38:21 +0000

The RIAA has never answered questions about the numbers it used to pervert the judicial process and file suits against individuals. This story, written by former colleague Erin James, still holds value today, even though the iTunes Music Store wasn’t launched until June, 2003.

Teen angst, plus a real teen

theyellowmenace — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:27:43 +0000

I have a love-hate relationship with syndication. On the one hand, common newspaper columns and TV shows provide even faraway people with something to discuss over a virtual water cooler. On the other hand, it is killing commercial radio, leaving hordes of on-air talent to scavenge for voiceover work as the content increasingly originates from stations in other cities.

When John Hughes died suddenly last week, it seemed most news outlets carried their own tributes, which seems only fair. The sheer diversity of our country’s media critics — ordinarily a good thing — also revealed some problems in columns that rehashed the same IMDB factoids or were just plain boring. Roger Ebert’s writing is syndicated to over 200 newspapers in the country. A.O. Scott writes for the New York Times and is well-spread in his own right. Both writers excel because their work and wordplay is simply fun to read, even if one has no intention of seeing a particular film or talking about a certain director. Both wrote well crafted Hughes tributes, though Scott touchingly proved that he “got it,” and reminded us that some people just don’t.

None of that matters now. The most important tribute to date came from way outside the media system, which makes me wonder what kind of future media, information and entertainment have. This is the only John Hughes tribute you need to read. Its facts did not come from a hasty IMDB search, they came from someone who knew him. It is just as well written as what came from the big hitters. It should have appeared in every newspaper in the country.

Got something to say? Say it here or send a message to theyellowmenace1@gmail.com

Silence is not always golden

theyellowmenace — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:54:04 +0000

Thank you to New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow for his piece on the self-destruction of the record industry. It’s quite possibly one of the most truthful assessments to come out. It’s fairly well thought-out, and simply put, although he gets one thing wrong and skips one important point.

Piracy’s impact has been fairly minor. The RIAA’s numbers for Napster — the basis for this whole frothy kerfuffle — only applied to brick and mortar album sales, and actually mathematically correspond with the adherence to Amazon. Napster’s user base was too small at the beginning of 1999 to have made a serious dent unless sneaky little college kids somehow made their tiny apartments into mass distros.

The RIAA, as a group. has been so focused on enforcing what’s legal based on 1998 standards that streaming and podcasting from sites other than Last.fm, Radio Paradise, Pandora, etc. have become popular forms of music consumption in lieu of purchasing it on CD. We appear headed, as a world, toward a business model of mostly renting our media — an effort spearheaded by large industry lobbies, including the Authors’ Guild, the Motion Picture Association of America and, you guessed it, the RIAA.

Paying money to bring a CD to the CD player of your choice only grants you the right to play the music and possess the disc it’s stored on; you don’t actually own anything. That’s why I am struggling to find sympathy for the record industry because now, other forms of music rental, like listening on a band’s MySpace page, which the RIAA pushed for, have taken hold. There’s just not a lot of money in it, because this system of info rental is now dependent on dwindling online ad sales. Instead of developing other business models, the book, movie and record industries have tried to force us to comply with a clunky ball and chain that doesn’t make sense in the current decade.

I do think there is cause for some sympathy, though. If our information and entertainment industries tanked, I’m not sure we as a society would take it very well. Imagine a handful of years where very little comes out other than syndicated re-runs and only the top of the pops (I’m looking at you, Britney) hit the airwaves. Many of us would collapse into the insular worlds provided by static playlists on our iPods which, even with 23 days’ worth of tracks, still get old after awhile.

Got something to say? Say it here or shoot a message to theyellowmenace1@gmail.com

We Owe You, California

theyellowmenace — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:17:52 +0000

The worst has come to pass. We voted down everything. Our state began issuing promissory notes yesterday. Those who don’t think very hard about it blame “the legislators.” Really, though, it’s everyone’s fault, the state legislature, the governor and their constituents — us.

I say we call a legislative convention. Here’s how my fantasy works:

(Quietly, no publicity)
1. Redraw the state’s legislative districts into 40 and 20 districts equal by population, no funny shapes except as dictated by topography.

2. Repeal the 1933 two-thirds rule for passing state budgets, and the language from Propositions 13 and 98, all of which strangle our ability to make revenues balance out costs.

(As much publicity as possible now)
3. Either a cage match or a battle royal between legislators. The order of entrance to the ring would be determined either by random number generator or by drawing straws. The last person standing gets to be the Governor. This is to be broadcast on California’s PBS affiliates.

4. Have a statewide election for the new districts.

If only.

Have a happy Independence Day weekend, everyone!