A bit of a long-shot but does anyone know of a decent Ethnographic or Sociological account of Otaku?  I have a pet idea I'm rolling around and need some brain fuel.

Best use of a Pulp song in cartoons.

I didn't know the Cronenberg props department was making iPhone chargers...

Some things never change.

The image of "Beach Rats" throwing potatoes is too priceless for words.

For those who may not be familiar with the neighborhood:

http://www.impolitesociety.com/2007/11/gerritsen-beach-brooklyn-urban-trailer.html

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within @ IFC 11/17

Any takers?

http://www.songkick.com/concerts/5608426-legendary-pink-dots-at-le-poisson-rouge

Just play agitator, but a friend of mine did make an observation in the form of a question worth passing on.

How do you think creating a Japanese Cultural Center/Shinto Shrine next to Pearl Harbor would have gone over in 1950?

You underestimate the Nerds in the Hood factor my good man. The biggest Star Wars nerd I've known come from places like Harlem. Biggest comic and anime nuts too come to think of it. They just don't look like the folks you likely interact with on such topics.

I tend to mark the success or failure of bits like that more on the response of the people there for it than for the after-event video.  Still this was clearly being done for distribution so that alone doesn't count.

Why a new thread?

It's a ploy to get dhex's attention.

Furthermore, I also find it throughly depressing that the Crips and the Bloods are still around. Good God.

Until a better business model comes around they're going o be the McDonald's and Burger King of American unregulated street commerce.

Second: Certainly I'm not the first to notice that everyone in those photos is holding the phone in his/her left hand. Is that a "thou shalt worship Steve Jobs" thing, or is it "we're the right brained crowd thing? "

Leave it to the Right Man to point out our media advancement as mere tokenism.

For the most part I think they will rebound from this.  There may be some game playing in terms of their assets but too much of their stock basis is connected with British retirement funds for the entire company to be allowed to collapse. The 12 buy in seems like a reasonable move, but if they do get that low don't be surprised if it goes as low as 9 before heading back up.

I doubt they'll have the backbone to do it but this incident would be a perfect time for them to start trying to implement that "We're an Energy provider not an Oil Company" switch that was begun under John Browne. Browne was kind of a wackjob in many ways but he was on the right track as far as what a company like BP will need to become across the century.

I wonder what it is like being picketed by people chanting "What are your crimes?"

It gets weirder considering Anne Archer's past association with Planned Parenthood as well as Ron DeWolf's statement's about L. Ron's abortion practices. In some ways the whole Org-plex seems like a remanifestation of He of the Ascot's personality, with all the craziness intact.

having your own little marathon of the show is probably the best way to watch it. i went through seasons 1-5 during the holiday season and i dont think i would have had the patience for it otherwise.

I tend to prefer shows in big chunks rather than having the narrative broken up over long gaps of time.

It's the same reason I tend to buy Trade Paperbacks over issues of comics or only read discontinued titles/author runs that I can get in bulk.