Pitchfork: Staff Lists: The Top 50 Albums of 2010

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Bearing witness to Kanye West's very public 2010 has featured many joys, none greater than watching everyone unspool his myriad updates, achievements, and indiscretions into piles of meaning. His persona went to cataclysmic places this year-- there were times when he deserved his own cable news ticker. But, somehow, West managed to transcend the preposterous talk show appearances, the too-good-to-be-true Twitter account, the live breakdowns, the Horus chain, the free-MP3 stunt(ing), the press blitz, the breakups, the make-ups, the dick pics, the furniture pornography, the Rosewood movement, the NO NEGATIVE BLOG VIEWING, the living paintings, the short film, and the rest of the lot. Through all that noise, we obsessed first and most deeply over the eye of the storm: the album. --Sean Fennessey

Filed under  //   Design of Decade   Music   hyperrealism  

THE PLATFORM | the blog of Union Station Magazine

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I taught myself how to use GarageBand in 60 minutes as part of developing this new feature for Union Station Magazine's blog, The Platform. It's not that I have a lot of time on my hands. Quite the contrary. But if you suspect that I've always wanted to be a DJ, then you're not off the mark here. GarageBand can make any novice believe they're holed up in 'the lab', mixing beats, blending vocals, mashing up awesome tracks.

Whatevs. I love it. You love it too. In the future, we hope to invite other writers, artists, past contributors to share tracks with us monthly. We'll be talking about music a lot in the coming weeks here and on The Platform, while we begin reading for Issue nO.4 for Union Station Magazine.

when the boston globe tries to remind everyone of our shared humanity...

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Ramadan 2010 - The Big Picture. These pictures are stunning.

the beautiful game...

I'm trying to be a better world citizen.

One of the blessings of living in a city like New York are the small reminders that I do live in an international city. There are shared cultural moments that bring us all together, even in competition. So for day one of World Cup, I wandered to Madiba, the South African restaurant in my neighbood and walked into a standing room only mixed crowd of South African expats, Mexicans, Americans of all shades and ages. The game brings out the whole range of humanity --joy, agony, ecstasy-- or in a word, ebuillience. So here are some scenes from World Cup watchers and revellers for day one and day two. I'll likely try to get more scenes from around the city as we near the finals.

(download)

In other news, the 2010 official song for the World Cup is growing on me.

When I get older, I will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag
And then it goes back, and then it goes back
And then it goes back

They'll call me freedom.  That line tugged at my heartstrings :)

Ricky Martin - The Cup Of Life

Forgive me football fans... but I *still* love this theme song from '98 World Cup. It's what makes me excited about watching this year's matches.

Hate me. Allez. Allez. Allez.

the touchstone of our judgement.

via @memali: "When power leads a man toward arrogancy, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.” —John F. Kennedy

PUP Barks: Scenes from the Garden... PUP @ NY Botanical Gardens

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Pictured: Ed Menchavez, John Murillo, Marilyn Nelson, Bob Holman, Samantha Thornhill, Elana Bell at the Emily Dickinson Festival at the New York Botanical Gardens, Saturday, May 22, 2010.

 

Filed under  //   photos  

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assorted brain farts.
writer. photographer. idiot savant.

home plate - http://bellewetherstate.com

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