Clarion Content: Pop Culture

We have moved

2011-10-13T20:44:00.003-04:00

This blog is now an archival stub. New Clarion Content posts will be available on our main page here. For Pop Culture posts, link directly here.

Food train advice for Food Trucks

2011-09-30T20:12:00.003-04:00

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus has been providing a mobile feast on a train since 1872, when the P.T. Barnum first put his circus entertainment on the rails. According to the Nation's Restaurant News, Ringling Brothers has two railroad routed shows, each running a mile-long train with about forty passenger cars and twenty freight cars. The train's mobile food car is responsible for feeding at any given time between 270 and 350 performers, from areas as far-flung and disparate as Morocco and China.

Michael Vaughn, the head chef, has to feed them 24/7 when the show is on the road. His train based operation has recently split-off its own food truck, Pie Car Jr., that moves to the tent for staff food service before, during and after circuses. They serve in excess of 2,500 meals a week.

He has some advice from his years of mobile operations experience for food truck operators, check it out here at the Nation's Restaurant News.

Twitter wisdom

2011-09-29T10:04:00.003-04:00

Little shouts out of Twitter wisdom.

Firstly, from a music blogger we like, Lydia Simmons, "You must master your rage, or rage will become your master."

Ms. Simmons runs Sunset in the Rearview.

The other is from a Twitter feed called Eastern Health citing Carl Jung, "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."

The Early Morning

2011-09-16T12:04:00.002-04:00

Does anything bad ever happen in the early morning?

Birds crowd on droopy telephone wires and sing towards your window replacing the radio from your alarm clock. Go ahead, yell. The birds are too happy to stop squawking. That black cable is their water cooler.

Drug dealers enter the paint-peeled squares as the worms burrow into the mud.

Bed monsters rub that weird shit out of their eyes, and sleeping beauties snore until their wives kiss them on the cheek.

Some wake up on the right side of the bed. Others, lie there and will continue to do so, until found days later.

Some wake up with wings, because last night after the party, they flipped from their backs, crawled over the tile floor, inched up to their blanket cocoons, and waited to become better. Much like it makes what was cold into warm, morning makes disgrace into opportunity.

The magical elves hide in the bushes, only leaving their morning dew as evidence of their presence. The stars take five to refuel their tanks, and end their opening act. Sunrise is soon. Turn off all cellphones so as not to disturb the audience.

It’s time for the eagers to feel the wooden floor with their toes and catch the cold water from the shower head. A shaving razor clinks against the side of a sink to lose the whiskers and cream. Cast off high heel shoes, cover the shag carpet, as a woman hops on one leg to slip on another likely rejection.

House doors are closed by night-shift workers and opened by diploma recipients. Joggers break their mothers’ backs and mommies reach into microwaves for the warm bottles. Two hands carry a bike out of a backyard and a car cranks from slumber.

Tires massage the highway’s back and vehicles honk good morning to one another. Middle fingers are shoved out of windows while peace signs are shown right back.

No, nothing bad happens in the morning.

Because too much is already going on.

Durham freestylers

2011-09-15T15:45:00.001-04:00

A freestyle session filmed on Clarendon Street, Durham, 27705.

Funny ha-ha

2011-09-14T16:08:00.001-04:00

Saw this funny photo on the Twitter feed of one Courtney Roskop.

Bittersweet

2011-09-08T17:27:00.005-04:00

We saw this one on the Bill Simmons vehicle, Grantland, and had to repost it here on the Clarion Content. As Grantland contributor Katie Baker put it, "When life gives you lemons, feed them to an unsuspecting baby.

Adults will do that, and proceed to laugh about it.

A text from last night

2011-09-02T14:22:00.003-04:00

The Clarion Content is an avid follower of the bemusing and outlandish smut that is published over at Texts from Last Night...

The best one we have seen in a while appeared yesterday, from the 678 area code.

I'm sorry. But when a stripper driving a Bentley tells me I have potential..... I gotta at least listen to her proposal. God did not mean for me to waste these tits on law school.

Whoa.

Sweet Tweets

2011-09-02T11:05:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple of the funny tweets we saw yesterday on Twitter.

From Nikon is Love...the internal query, "Into me or into getting into me? #singlegirlproblems"

From Canadian Andrew Classon a youthful political perspective, “California aint a state its a army” [sic]

For those who don't speak the Twitter jargon a # is a hashtag, which indicates a subject or topic of the tweet.

It is a tough job...

2011-09-01T15:54:00.003-04:00

but somebody has got to do it.

First of all, you have to spend all day around Hooters girls...

Terrance Marks was named the CEO of Hooters last week. Mr. Marks had previously served as the chief executive of The Pantry Inc., a convenience store chain which has more than 1,650 units in thirteen states. Before The Pantry, he had done twenty-one years at Coca-Cola.

Marks was quoted in the Nation's Restaurant News, "I am thrilled to be returning to Atlanta and am very excited to be joining the Hooters team. The opportunity to contribute to the growth of a great brand like Hooters is extremely energizing to me. In just a little over two decades Hooters has become known around the world for great American food, a fun environment, and, of course, the iconic Hooters Girls."

Yeah, it is a tough job...

Read more here.

Durham is dank…

2011-08-30T08:00:00.001-04:00

Any fair-minded Durhamanian has to say that is, in part, because Duke is dank. The thought can’t help but pop into mind driving across the dirty D at 7.30am this second to last day of August. The Dukies are out and about, moving and shaking, getting more done before 9am and so on. Durham is charged with their energy. These peeps, many of them still young, shiny and new, were smart and driven enough to get into an institution that is billed in some corners as the Harvard of the South. Elsewhere the Dukies t-shirts proclaim Harvard to be the Duke of the North. The bottom-line for the denizens of Durham is that Duke brings swarms of talented, ambitious people to our town. Some of them end up loving it as much as we do and stay. After all, Durham is dank.

Tweet of the weekend

2011-08-29T11:10:00.005-04:00

The tweet of the weekend^* comes to us from the Twitter account of one Abbey Robinson.

Everything tempting in my life comes wrapped in either a bow tie or a bojangles box. #southerngirlswagger

^*Caution this tweet may only be funny south of the Mason-Dixon line.

What they are watching... Episode XXII

2011-08-20T23:40:00.001-04:00

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. We peer into their world through the lens of Youtube or in this case Vimeo. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link [and scroll down past this post].

Here DJ sensation Girl Talk has inspired some of his fans to make their own video. Personally, we love Girl Talk's mixology at the Clarion Content. He rocks.

Girl Walk // All Day from jacob krupnick.

Girl Talk played Wolfstock at the Raleigh Amphitheater last week with Clarion Content fave, LiLa

Office Music

2011-08-17T16:00:00.002-04:00

What has been jamming in the Clarion Content offices all day?

This...

Special thanks to the Cota Flota channel for publishing this live video. Word is that LiLa's latest video is dropping Thursday, as in tomorrow. They are playing NC State's Wolfstock, opening for Girl Talk.

Desire and conquest

2011-08-16T02:00:00.004-04:00

You met her with stone eyes, even though your insecurities tried to melt them into wax. She looked down, smiled, and the rest went to rest. Now, with her legs, she envelopes you like a pearl in an oyster. Her soft cheek hugging your hard shoulder and it's woman and man. In the dark, her eyes are holes that you've learned to recognize. You know her by the sound of her breathing, by the weight of her hand on your happy trail, and by how her hair tickles your nose, but doesn't make you want to sneeze. You try to imprint on your brain how the pressure from her feels on your stomach, chest, and knees so you can call her to mind, physically, when you're alone. But you're disappointing yourself, because now you'll never be alone. Comfortable loneliness is not having any Body around and no thought of one either, and with her, that will never be actual . But right now, you're brazen. You're selfish. And don't know how and don't want to be satisfied. So, you explore her back with knuckles and callous fingers, nearly crying to God to turn the dead tips of them pink so you could feel her winding road. You realize how much of her thigh fits in your palm and how far up your hand can go until her breathing halts. Which inch makes her sigh, which centimeter makes her stretch out, and which itch she dies for you to get. As you skate on her skin up her neck, she reels back and her hair hits your face making a splash. Almost arrogantly, you move up further into her field of a black mane, and make a fist to pull it back. She looks at you and spaces out completely gone. Completely gone. Because she's found the man to pull her reins.

...by That Solid Old Man

9th Street loses its comic book store

2011-08-04T16:07:00.000-04:00

Durham's 9th Street, the heart of Duke's East Campus drag, has lost its comic book store. While we are accustom to the high turnover of the storefronts along 9th Street, Dogstar Tattoo for example recently decamped for Golden Belt, it was still sad to see Ultimate Comics go. The word is that Ultimate Comics moving to the Falconbridge Shopping Center on NC 54 near Mardi Gras Bowling. The 9th Street store has already shuttered its doors.

Disney characters breaking it down

2011-08-04T16:03:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Courtney Roskop for tweeting about this bemusing video. We like, we like. It shows just because one wears a furry Disney character get up, it doesn't mean one has to jettison one's hipness.

Something new every day

2011-07-31T11:07:00.002-04:00

Doesn't it feel like something new and potentially cool is opening in Durham every day? Now! In the middle of the Great Recession! Durham is vibrantly alive, bursting with energy and creative enthusiasm.

Three new(-ish) things opening in Durham that we heard about today.

First: Runaway Clothing, their website says they are a Southern lifestyle brand, created to answer the call for Southern style with urban appeal. They literally recommend that you run from convention and confinement. It is thus a little ironic that their shirts are available at the tony Morgan Imports on Gregson Street. But hey, the shirts are tight. Check them out here.

Second: The Bar, at #711 Rigsbee Street, whose soft opening is already underway. The grand opening is this Saturday, August 6th. Part of a Durham Central Park neighborhood renaissance that is already well underway, the bar is advertising weekly dance parties on its site and billing itself as the Triangle's neighborhood LGBTQ bar. Their self-declared goal, a place that melds a "corner bar" feel during the week, with a popular club attitude on Friday and Saturday nights. We say: Rock on! Check them out here.

Third: The Chirba Chirba Dumpling truck, apparently a canary yellow color and hitting the road next month according to the Durham-Herald Sun. The truck is a co-venture between four UNC-Chapel Hill alumni, note they are coming to Durham to make it happen. DHS says that chirba chirba" means "eat eat" in Mandarin, and is a common phrase that a host might say to a guest before a meal. Read the whole story here.

Durhamania!

Cute, Creative Airline Safety

2011-07-30T11:27:00.000-04:00

Talk about four words not often seen together: cute, creative, airline and safety are an atypical set.

Here is where they meet up, in a video from Thomson Airways of the United Kingdom.

A dose of Poetry

2011-07-29T15:09:00.001-04:00

Sometimes the internet kicks up a beauty. Scouring YouTube for something else entirely, we found this gem.

Evel Knievel's mantle

2011-07-29T10:20:00.003-04:00

There was only one Evel Knievel. He did things that will not be done again. People won't even try them.

But like they say in Star Wars, there is another. Not a clone, not a copy, but an aspirant with mad skills.

Have you heard of Robbie Maddison?

Smurfette? On no she didn't...

2011-07-25T13:50:00.003-04:00

Uh, yes. Yes, actually, she did.

Ahhhh Katy Perry, is there any childhood meme that she can't make hot?

You will recall her plunging neckline Elmo t-shirt on Saturday Night Live.

Read more about Katy as Smurfette here.

How long?

2011-07-24T20:33:00.007-04:00

As in, she laid there, how long?

Although calls to the Los Angeles County Coroners office went unreturned Reuters is reporting Playboy's Miss July 1959 was found dead at her Beverly Hills home after evidently being undiscovered for up to a year. Neighbors grew suspicious when they noticed cobwebs on the mailbox. She was in her bed, dead of what was said to be natural causes, the space heater in the room was still running, a year later, alongside her dry, mummified corpse.

Yvette Vickers,would have been eighty-two when her body was found April 27th, 2011. In the 1950's her film credits included "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" and "Attack of the Giant Leeches."

Her last role was twenty-one long years ago in a 1990 horror flick called "Evil Spirits."

Creepy.

Planking

2011-07-24T20:07:00.001-04:00

As yet, there is no reason, far as we can see here at the Clarion Content, to believe things are getting more rational. Have you heard about planking?

The Wikipedia entry for planking reads in part, "The planking game is an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. The hands must touch the sides of the body and a photograph of the participant [must be] taken and posted on the Internet...Players compete to find the most unusual and original location in which to play."

It came to our attention, in a manner which perhaps says more about the morbid, gruesome conception in our news media about what stories sell, than it says about the planking fad. A twenty year-old Australian named Acton Beale rolled to his death off of the seventh story balcony of a hotel, planking. Naturally, that made CNN and we saw it on Google the News. CNN reports, "Photos posted on the "Planking Australia" page show people lying across bookshelves, in front of the Eiffel Tower and on top of fences...and has even spread to Australia's rugby field, where popular player David "Wolfman" Williams appeared to "plank" after scoring during a game in March."

Read more here.

Google

2011-07-24T20:03:00.002-04:00

Wondering what a job at Google might look like? Well, here is what it looks like when the interns organize a flash mob while you are eating lunch outside.

Replacing the Down Under

2011-07-19T10:29:00.001-04:00

What is replacing the legendary Durham dive bar, the Down Under, or as it was more commonly known along Main Street, the Dunder?

Sandwiched between Toreros Mexican restaurant and Fishmonger's will be The Roxy. The Roxy is slated to be a private club with a decor and theme that harkens back to Prohibition Era of speakeasies, glamour, and gangsters. We like the look from the outside. We hope to meet the ownership and follow-up with a longer piece soon.

20 years late to the party

2011-07-19T08:00:00.003-04:00

How did we never see the whole video to U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name?" How did we miss the story behind it? The band performed an eight song set on the roof of a Los Angeles liquor store before the LAPD came in and shut things down?!? What? Wow!

U2 and the video's director Meiert Avis had stashed a back-up generator on the roof in case cops cut the power to the main generator powering the filming and sound crews. The conceit was to reference The Beatles final live performance, which was on a rooftop in a public place.

Check out the marvelous music video here, with the audio of the cops and a couple of local radio DJ's who were on-air in that day in LA dubbed in over the song. The video won Grammy Award for Best Performance Music Video in 1989. So welcome the Clarion Content to the party two decades late...

Borders to close

2011-07-18T11:09:00.000-04:00

Not long ago it was America's second largest bookstore chain behind Barnes and Noble, but the times they are a changing, Borders is closing its doors. In proceeding into liquidation Borders is shuttering 399 stores and laying off 10,700 people. Read more here.

Mystery Magnet Maze Magic: A competition

2011-07-18T09:00:00.002-04:00

This piece special to the Clarion Content from local artist, intellectual and bon vivant, Jeff Israel.

Mystery Magnet Maze Magic: A competition
By: Jeff Israel

What a great title, right? Who would not be intrigued by those four words? I certainly was more than curious and overly enthusiastic when my friend called me and asked me to be on his team. I love puzzles, games and competition. This event has it all.

How does it work? The Mystery Magnet Maze is based around teams of four people selected at random to compete by one of the organizers of the event. There were thirteen teams interested in participating, through a bingo type selection only eight were chosen to compete. My team was lucky enough to be involved in the festivities. The event was free and it was televised at 2am on some network I cannot remember.

What and where is this event? The games where held at King’s Barcade in Raleigh on Martin Street in the heart of downtown. They have an eccentric MC, to narrate and keep the event moving, as well as, a small crew to make the event logistics happen. The idea of the competition is thus: each team of four players has 20 to 30 minutes (depending on the round) to build a labyrinth style maze out of thin wooden pieces. Each piece has an individual magnet to secure it to the metal game board. The board is slightly larger than your average Monopoly board and has walls. You can determine a start and end point at your discretion, and each team is given a small wooden ball to test their maze. Our team tried to create pitfalls and dead-ends to spoil our opponent’s chances of victory.

Once the team has built the maze and the allotted time is up, two teams compete on stage to see whose maze is superior. The mazes are placed on platforms that tilt and swivel. The platform has handles in which the competitors maneuver the wooden ball through the maze. We were taken back stage where each team chooses one representative to challenge the other team’s maze. First, each representative has to go through their own maze to make sure it is solvable and they are timed. Once these baselines are established then the participants tackle their opponent's maze. At this point you are allowed one other member of your team on stage to act as a guide. The audience stands silent as they watch the teams on two opposing flat screens that show the maze with camera mounted on the ceiling.

What are the prizes? For a free event the prizes are quite generous. $500 bucks for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third. Our team did not place, but we had a lot of fun. The group, Mystery Build, has a larger nationwide competition where you pay thirty dollars to get a mystery box where you have to build a sculpture solely out of the items in that box. I am guessing the popularity of the Mystery Build is why they can afford to have such nice prizes for the Mystery Magnet Maze Magic winners.

Participatory games of this ilk are increasing popular. Two of our teammates who played in the previous Raleigh tournament and told us that the number of teams doubled from the last time. It was scads of fun, a unique and different night. I will be back for another round next time they are held and I hope you will be there too.

Kelly Oxford, not pictured

2011-07-15T13:34:00.003-04:00

Canadian Kelly Oxford is a droll, biting observer of the life and the world around her. Hilarious tweet she posted recently, "Sometimes it feels people who love Jesus forget he was a liberal Jew who hung out with a bunch of bros and a whore and gave people wine."

One more reason to love Mila

2011-07-12T11:00:00.001-04:00

As if we need another reason to love the gorgeous and charming Mila Kunis...

Nonetheless she found one, in the process probably making some Marine's month or year.

What happened? Marine Sergeant Scott Moore took the advice we frequently proffer around here at the Clarion Content. Don't be afraid to ask out the prettiest girl in the room! She is a person like everybody else, and because she is such a hottie, many dudes are too intimidated to say, boo. Missing out, in Mila's case, on a kind, sweet, caring person, who when Sgt. Moore posted a video on YouTube asking Mila go to the Marine Corps Ball with him next month, said, what else, YES.

Gentleman, it never hurts to ask.

Sgt. Moore who is serving with the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines in Afghanistan, posted a plea titled "Go With Me Mila" last week. Word spread and before long, Justin Timberlake was asking Mila about it.

In his video, filmed outside a bunker in Afghanistan, Sgt. Moore says, "Hey Mila, Sgt. Moore, but you can call me Scotty. I just want to take a moment out of my day to invite you to the Marine Corps Ball with yours truly. So take a second to think about it and get back to me. All right, bye now."

Mila will be there showing her support for the troops November 18 in Greensville, North Carolina.

You go, girl!

Read more here.

Spotted in Durham (2)

2011-07-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

One of our crack staff spotted another sweet car in Durham.

Durham expansion

2011-07-01T10:00:00.003-04:00

Sometimes revitalizing old buildings is better than making new ones.

King's Sandwich shop was a nearly hollow, open to the elements, un-air conditioned shell until less than two years ago...Now it is gorgeous and busy.

The News & Observer has a story about big plans for expansion in downtown Durham, courtesy of Measurement Inc. and founder Henry Scherich. The company owns huge chunks of the Morris Street blocks between Geer Street and the downtown loop. According to the N&O the first project will be a 74,000 square foot office building on a half-acre lot just southwest of the Historic Durham Athletic Park, less than two blocks from the recently condemned Liberty Warehouse in Durham's thriving Central Park district.

The initial proposal had included condos, but the sliding housing market put the kibosh on that idea. In fact, as things stand the project only has one tenant beyond Measurement Inc. However, that tenant is a nifty little tech start-up, Urban Planet Mobile. They specialize in distance learning via text message, as we all know the best way to reach America's youth. Urban Planet Mobile has programs for S.A.T. vocabulary and foreign language learning among other things. It is an idea that we believe has great potential.

As for the Measurement Inc. development project? Time will tell. We do not root for growth for growth's sake alone. The N&O quotes Durham's Mayor Bill Bill, "...new buildings is good news for the area..." It may be a little more nuanced than that, Mr. Mayor, we hope you have your eye on the long view. Groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for this July.

Ford Galaxie spotted in Durham

2011-06-30T11:45:00.001-04:00

Check out the cool old Ford Galaxie one of our photogs spotted in Durham.

According to Wikipedia the Ford Galaxie 500 was made from 1965 through 1974.

Kia spoof?

2011-06-27T10:50:00.006-04:00

Is this Kia advert a spoof?

Side one

It reminds of us of an even more racy fake Puma ad we posted about a while back. The Cleveland Leader says it is not a spoof. And that in fact, it won Kia an award at advertising's Cannes Lions Festival. We wonder. Really with the obvious sexual implications here? France, qui sait?

Side two

Follow this link to see the panels shown side by side.

Internalizing

2011-06-27T09:03:00.002-04:00

A fascinating little video clip here via the Twitter of Courtney Roskop.

Not at all clear on the context, but love the premise.

It would appear that the video game's characters are being played by actors who are musing on the morality of giving this kind of über-violent game to intelligent people. How would those people react? But before they can give an answer, they are interrupted by the squirrel and have to go back into shoot'em up mode. No time for thinking!

What a wonderful little Möbius strip of thought.

Billboards

2011-06-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

Californian parents are apparently upset about billboards advertising the video game, "Duke Nukem Forever," a first-person shooter game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The reason for their angst supposedly resides in the salacious nature of the game rather than in the locations of said billboards, one is across from elementary school, the other near a church.

The Clarion Content would have preferred these folks fought the initial construction of an advertising platform near these important places, as opposed waiting to object to particular subject matter. This smacks of a First Amendment issue. The Clarion Content is loathe to use the Constitution to defend businesses right to advertise. We would prefer to argue that if corporations were not treated as persons under the law, no such right would exist.

"Duke Nukem Forever" is labeled "Mature" by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, suitable for those 17 and older. Read more about the game and the debate here.

Apparently luckily for the parents, the gameplay isn't all that good, so the kids may hate it, of their own volition, for an entirely more utilitarian reason.

How about the use of the American flag here if you want to talk about salacious degradation? Backwards, at that.

Charlie Smarts; Tony Robbins

2011-06-24T21:38:00.007-04:00

This man dresses like he speaks the language of excellence...

A new to the office hip-hop act has been getting some air play in the Clarion Content's back rooms, Charlie Smarts aka Kooley High. Check him out here musing on amongst other things, NLP guru Tony Robbins.

Reality Rumor

2011-06-24T21:08:00.001-04:00

Before leaving for Italy

Word is they are breaking up the Jersey Shore gang. This season, number five, currently being filmed in Italy, will be the last one for Pauly D, The Sitch, Ronnie, Sammi, J-Woww, Snookie and the rest of the cast. From Hollywood, CA to Belmar, NJ, beware! We have no idea where they are heading off to. Readers, your thoughts, on what's next for them?

Calm down, calm down, reality junkies! There are no plans to end the show, the Jersey Shore endures, a whole new crew of Jersey peeps are going to be cast to replace them. We can only pray they tape the auditions.

Breakout talent?

2011-06-22T10:40:00.003-04:00

Keep an eye out for this kid!

The Clarion Content does not have a staff member assigned to watch America's Got Talent, but even we heard about eleven year-old Anna Graceman's stunning rendition of Alicia Keys hit, "If I Ain't Got You." We had to go to AOL of all places to dig up a link to the video. Check it out here... The B listers who are serving as celebrity judges obviously passed her along to the next round of their competition in Las Vegas.

Tweet of the Day

2011-06-20T11:28:00.000-04:00

Only in math problems can you buy 60 cantaloupes and nobody asks what the hell is wrong with you... heard from lyneka little

Spotted in Durham

2011-06-20T11:06:00.001-04:00

How about this precarious load?

We hear you can get $5.00 a pallet.

Klosterman IV

2011-06-14T12:14:00.003-04:00

Cultural insight from Chuck Klosterman from his book Klosterman IV

American culture is... obsessed with health. We are obsessed with pleasure. We are obsessed with speed. We are obsessed with efficiency. In simplest terms, we are obsessed by the desire to accelerate every element of our existence in a futile attempt to experience as much life as we can in the shortest possible time. We have all entered in a race to devour the largest volume of gratification before it kills us.

Durham success story

2011-06-13T15:05:00.001-04:00

The Clarion Content is happy to report on the success story that is taking place at #916 Lamond Avenue under the roof of the Reality Center. Full disclosure, one of our editors teaches a Saturday morning SAT Prep class at the Reality Center. But that is not the reason for this post.

No.

Here we want to note the success of the New Horizons Academy of Excellence (an alternative high school) that is operating out of the same facility as the Reality Center. New Horizons is an independent alternative school for at-risk youth. They take in kids that have been permanently expelled from the Durham Public School system. These are students with nowhere else left to go. Many are difficult, high maintenance students who need devotion and dedication to counter the influences they have already felt, who need strong love to know they are wanted and cared for.

The head of the school,Martina "Coach D" Dunford stood by her students, in good times and in bad. Last week she, the teachers, along with parents, family and friends were able to celebrate their first graduating class. Read more of the heartwarming story here in the Durham Herald Sun.

John Cryer

2011-06-12T20:54:00.001-04:00

If all you know of John Cryer is the CBS sitcom and Charlie Sheen vehicle "Two and a Half Men", here is where the previous generation met Mr. Cryer in his immortal role as Duckie in the John Hughes joint, Pretty in Pink. Dude was crazier than we ever thought Charlie Sheen would get.

Wave!!!

2011-06-09T12:00:00.002-04:00

Say goodbye to the legendary Kacey Jordan aka Courtney Nicole. One woman who ruled the porn business rather than letting it rule her. She has deleted her Twitter feed, which was post-post modern reality genius to the Nth degree. She went out with one last wild two weeks f*cking her fans and devotees at a Nevada prostitution ranch.

Says here she is a star who will be heard from again...

Facebook loves you

2011-06-08T07:20:00.000-04:00

But maybe a little too much... As the Clarion Content has warned for some time, Facebook has no respect, nor interest in the privacy of its users. We were once again reminded of that basic postulate today by an article in the New York Times about Facebook's auto-enabled facial recognition software.

It is called Tag Suggestions. And it highlights, once again, how Facebook users give the company control of their personal image. Tag Suggestions uses auto-deployed facial recognition software that users must opt out of to disable. The facial recognition software means when anyone else uploads a photo of you (Facebook user) to Facebook, the company's servers search their database to see what faces it recognizes. If it recognizes (or thinks it recognizes) yours it prompts the uploader of the picture to tag it with your name and identity.

Nice.

Enjoy.

Silly human race

2011-06-07T11:25:00.003-04:00

Much like the watched pot, the too closely observed upload never finishes.

Distance deconstructed

2011-06-06T10:02:00.000-04:00

Her wish list is on-line...

We recently published an article on the front page of the Clarion Content about an Indian teenager who sold his kidney on the internet. We wanted in it an anecdote to provoke thought about the collapsing of distance and temporal barriers to global transactions.

How is about this for another one?

Remember those distant stars of silver screen from days of yore? No, we are not about to tell you about how you can follow their every thought and musing on their Twitter feeds. Better.

How about you can look up your starlet's wish list on Amazon and buy her a present off of it. For reals.

Facebook is sleazy, no way!

2011-05-20T14:29:00.000-04:00

We imagine, dear readers, that most of you had the same reaction we did when this story broke a couple of weeks back. What Facebook? One can hardly believe it! (Tongue firmly in cheek.)

The story is that Facebook was hiring a sleazy P.R. firm to dig up and/or plant dirt on Google. The Public Relations firm in question, Burson-Marsteller, has admitted as much, "Now that Facebook has come forward, we can confirm that we undertook an assignment for that client...Whatever the rationale, this was not at all standard operating procedure and is against our policies, and the assignment on those terms should have been declined."

Nice of the P.R. firm to bury the Facebook creeps alongside themselves. Play with dirty, get dirty.

Read more here at TechCrunch.com

Rocking our world

2011-05-16T17:45:00.002-04:00

This is the song that has been rocking our offices for the last week.

F*cking commercials.

Advice

2011-05-16T17:39:00.002-04:00

Get gas when you're not late.

Get your suit dry-cleaned right after you wear it. Leave it hanging in the closet cleaned and pressed in case of emergencies.

Durham Graffiti

2011-05-10T14:12:00.003-04:00

One of our photogs spotted this graffiti in Durham...

Central Park District rolling

2011-05-10T13:00:00.002-04:00

The Clarion Content has been most excited to read about the opening of the Geer Street Beer Garden in Durham's Central Park District. Andy Magowan has been doing good things on the Durham restaurant scene for a long time. He cut his teeth at a Durham institution, Foster's Market. He was also the first chef, and allegedly the guy who wrote the menu, at the place with the most consistently high quality bar food in Durham, The Federal.

One of our correspondents attended the Future Kings of Nowhere and Hammer No More the Fingers double billing at MotorCo the other night. The Geer Street Garden was hopping when he arrived and still going long and strong into the late evening.

By the by, Durham's Hammer No More the Fingers was tremendous. The polished wall of sound they produced damn near blew the doors off of the MotorCo. It was clear evidence of the band's prowess on the heels of a recent extended tour, first of the northeastern United States and then jolly old England. These guys stepped their game up to even another level!

Check out a couple of pics of the Geer Street Garden on the last days before opening. Read about what the situation was for this old gas station property as little as two years ago here.

Go, Durham!

On the corner of Foster and Geer Streets catty-corner from the also wonderfully resurrected King's Sandwich shop.

Thoughts and Prayers from the Dog

2011-05-07T18:18:00.003-04:00

We spotted this wonderful piece on the blog, "Seens from the Backs of my Eyelids.

Dear God...Its the Dog

Dear God: Is it on purpose our names are the same, only reversed?

Dear God: Why do humans smell the flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another?

Dear God: When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it still the same story as down here?

Dear God: Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE named for a Dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We love a nice car ride! Would it be so hard for someone to rename the 'Chrysler Eagle' the 'Chrysler Beagle'?

Dear God: If a Dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears him, is he still a bad Dog?

Dear God: We Dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent ID's, electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths. What language do humans understand?

Dear God: More meatballs, less spaghetti, please.

Dear God: Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, do we have to apologize?

Dear God:

Let's discuss the list of just some of the rules I must remember to be a good Dog. Do all Dogs go to heaven? Are some of these commandments more important than others?

1. I will not eat the cats' food before they eat it or after they throw it up.

2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc., just because I like the way they smell.

3. The litter box is not a cookie jar.

4. The sofa is not a 'face towel.'

5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.

6. I musn't suddenly stand straight up when I'm under the coffee table.

7. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house - not after.

8. The cat is not a 'squeaky toy' so when I play with him and he makes that noise, it's usually not a good thing.

9. Shoes are not food.

A wild ride seen...

2011-05-06T16:07:00.006-04:00

This hot rod was photographed in Durham...

Custom!

Cool car spotted in Durham

2011-05-03T15:00:00.001-04:00

What a beauty...

Sweet ride...

From behind...

Nice dash...

Taste

2011-05-02T09:00:00.000-04:00

It is not that there is no accounting for taste, it is that there is no holding anyone to account for their taste.

What they are watching... Episode XXI

2011-04-27T11:42:00.003-04:00

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. We peer into their world through the lens of Youtube. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link [and scroll down past this post].

This video from Yung Humma is blowing up. He introduces the portmanteau "smang." We can't decide if Yung and his buddy, Flynt Flossy, are being facetious in the manner of the Steam Punk movement, ala Professor Elemental, or keeping it real.

Girl survives fall from Golden Gate Bridge

2011-04-18T14:32:00.003-04:00

Witnesses reported seeing a sixteen year-old girl, who has not been publicly identified, go over the side of the bridge at 10:56 a.m. Sunday morning. It has not been clarified whether she fell or jumped from the popular suicide spot. According to ABC News the girl survived the 220 foot fall off of the bridge span into the river making her the second teenager to survive the trauma this year. In March, a sixteen year-old male leaped, only to survive the experience unharmed when he was fished from the San Francisco Bay by a surfer.

Flip-flops are bad for your feet

2011-04-18T11:18:00.004-04:00

This is something we long suspected at the Clarion Content, and not just because we find it offensive to look at men's hairy toes all Summer long.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, there has been a lot of research conducted regarding flip-flops. Recent studies have found that flip-flop wearers tend to grip their footwear tightly with their toes, which causes shorter stride length and improper force when their feet hit the ground. This transfers stress up the leg. Overcompensation to fight against this trend can lead to painful plantar fasciitis.

The key, choosing flip-flops with good arch support, don't buy the cheapest ones you can. And don't wear them all Summer long, mix it up a little.

Read more here from Dr. John Whyte, Chief Medical Expert and VP, Health and Medical Education at Discovery Channel, writing for the Huffington Post.

Seen on Twitter today

2011-04-17T19:57:00.005-04:00

Here are a couple of the fun and funny things that have crossed our Twitterscape today.

"Housewives experience the highest rate of sexual harassment in the workplace."

---Kelly Oxford

"If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of payments."

"Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman."

"Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake a whole relationship."

---Al Bergette

"To be hated for what I am is better than to be loved for something I am not."

---Girls & Her Deals of NYC

What they are watching...Episode XX

2011-04-11T20:33:00.001-04:00

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. We peer into their world through the lens of Youtube. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link and [scroll down].

This fascinating video was filmed by students at East Chapel Hill High School. It tracks cultural recognition. It is an eye-opening look, don't get to caught up on the youthful respondents, ask yourself how much better your friends would do.

Charity

2011-04-10T20:30:00.001-04:00

The famous 12th century Spanish Jew pictured above, Moses ben-Maimon, is more commonly known as Maimonides. The Clarion Content's editor has long been fond of the code of charitable giving that he wrote. Maimonides wrote a lot of things in his time, Abraham J. Heschel once said, "If one did not know that Maimonides was the name of a man, one would assume it was the name of a university."

The Clarion Content likes the code of charitable conduct because the by-laws of dignity imply there is a grace to giving charity properly. We like this guidance.

Maimonides on Charitable Giving (paraphrased)

The highest degree of charity, exceeded by none, is that of finding a person a job, gainful employment, a business or a craft, an opportunity to provide for him or herself, that leaves them henceforth no longer dependent on the aid of others.

The next step beneath that is anonymous charitable giving where the giver does not know whom the recipient is going to be (only that the cause is good) and the donor remains anonymous, that is, he or she does not take credit for the charitable giving done publicly, anywhere. It is anonymous charity.

The next step beneath that is anonymous charitable giving where the giver does know whom the recipient is going to be. The identity of the donor is still anonymous, but the donor has direct how, where, and/or to whom the charity is to be distributed.

The next step beneath that is where the recipient of the aid knows where it is coming from, that is to say the giver proclaims somewhere publicly that they are giving the charity, but they are not told the exact how, where, and/or to whom the charity is to be distributed.

The next level is a where the giver and the receiver both know each other, but the giver gives the charity, help, aid or assistance before the recipient even has to ask for it.

The next degree lower is the giver who gives charitably only after the poor person asks directly, e.g., they are shamed into it.

Maimonides says the next degree lower than that is the person who gives less than can really afford to or should give, less than charitably, but at least they do not begrudge what they give.

Finally, the lowest degree is those who give less than they can afford to give, and give that begrudgingly and morosely.

Of course, below that would be those who give not all.

Food for thought.

Passover, a fresh take

2011-04-08T09:00:00.003-04:00

Check out this bemusing modern take on how the exodus from Egypt would have gone down in our era of social networking revolts.

Hey Jews, recognize that Passover ditty playing in the background?

Credit to a denzien of Riverdale, NY for sending this our way.

Twain masters meeting

2011-04-07T09:00:00.002-04:00

They say never the twain shall meet. Are they right? Or can we close this energetic web that is our time defiant singularity?

Charlie Sheen in motion

2011-04-03T13:05:00.005-04:00

Charlie Sheen is not standing still. He has yet to recover his "Two and a Half Men" gig, and at the Clarion Content we like Bill Simmons suggestion that Rob Lowe would be a near seamless replacement.

Meanwhile Charlie and team #tigerblood had their first live show last night. It was widely panned by the critics and apparently booed in Detroit. Tough crowd in a downtrodden city, Bree Olsen and Natalie Kenly making out to open the show was applauded, somewhere shortly after that Charlie lost his way. At the Clarion Content we do not see this is a reflection of Sheen's lack of talent. Rather, the way we read the review s, Sheen was punished for his lack of investment in good writers. People did not like his impromptu rants and Sheen admitted too much of his material was unscripted. Reshowing clips from his interviews, sounds and feels stale.

Sheen needs a good team of writers to channel his neurosis. He should be free flowing in an unremittingly self-parodying way. If he is going to get up on stage, he cannot be Sean Penn ranting his opinions at people. The masses are far more delighted by the Reality show paradigm, from Jersey Shore to someone like Kacey Jordan publishing her life and adventures on Twitter. When Charlie was #winning he was a firehose of moments, events, and adventures, the culture was participating in the Sheen experience. What was he going to do next? Society just couldn't look away, we had to know.

Can he recapture that? Probably not. But could a team of good writers do him up a brilliant self-parodyingly funny one man show that he could do every night? Definitely. Sheen can act. Team #tigerblood just needs to find the right sharp pens and it will be #winning again.

Can I help you with that?

2011-04-03T13:00:00.002-04:00

Seven New York State IT (information technology) workers had asked that question many, many times in the course of doing their jobs. Now after revealing that the seven of them are who bought the $319 million dollar winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, the question will be put to them. All their friends, neighbors, acquaintances, co-workers and relatives will now be asking them, "Can I help you with that?" referring to the $19.1 million checks the state employees will each receive after taxes. Anyone in Wisconsin jealous?

The winners range in age from twenty-nine to sixty-three. The ticket was bought in Albany, New York.

Read more here, including the crazy side story about the man who almost purchased the winning ticket.

Rebecca Black sets new cultural speed record

2011-03-27T11:05:00.004-04:00

Rebecca Black has set the new cultural landspeed record from nowhere-dom to superstardom. Andy Wharol's fifteen minutes are officially obsolete. As the thirteen year-old Ms. Black told Jay Leno, on the Tonight Show, [paraphrasing] "One day I am coming home from school and it is 4,000 views, the next day its four million, six weeks later I am on network television." Ms. Black rise was unprecedentedly meteoric, even in the age of viral video, yet, in her Leno interview she seems remarkable well-adjusted, even wholesome. Although, perhaps it has all happened so fast that she hasn't yet had the opportunity to become jaded.

She has debuted stronger on i-Tunes than Justin Bieber's latest single.

The feeling here is that Rebecca Black does not so much signal the coming of a new paradigm, she symbolizes the triumph of new modes of cultural transmission that have already quite securely taken hold. From American Idol to Twitter to Google's sponsorship of the World's First Online Science Fair, direct routes to the top of the Q ratings and a global platform have appeared where no such passages previously existed.

And really, just how different is Rebecca Black's single from say that of a Miley Cyrus who took a more traditional route to global superstardom (nepotism).

Taryn Manning

2011-03-23T13:05:00.003-04:00

Taryn Manning was not a household name in our office as of last week. But our executive editor has been a Playboy subscriber nearly twenty years, and once in a while an issue arrives, and the cover just knocks socks off. Taryn Manning was one such cover.

She showed up this month in the mailbox and when we threw the mag down on the coffee table, it caught fire.

Who is she?

As an actress; she has starred in Crazy/Beautiful, the Clarion Content favorite, Crossroads, as well as, Hustle & Flow, and she played Eminem's ex-girlfriend in 8 Mile. She has her own rock and roll band, a solo career, and no less of a star than Katey Sagal, of Married with Children fame, says she rocks. Can she sing like Katey? The jury is still out.

We have no doubt she is smoking.

Amusement park nightmare

2011-03-23T12:04:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, all those sad, old carny jokes came true in the most awful of ways last week in Spartanburg, South Carolina at Cleveland Park. A miniature train called "Sparky" left the rails after flying around the tracks at too fast of a speed, out of control. A six year-old boy was killed in the accident and twenty others were injured including his parents and siblings. The South Carolina State Inspector from the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation later admitted he falsified his inspection report. The ride was not tested at all. Witness reported the train appeared to accelerate faster and faster until it jumped the rails. The inspector was subsequently fired.

Read more here.

You Tube

2011-03-22T16:50:00.000-04:00

Charlie Sheen to direct a porno?

2011-03-13T10:04:00.001-04:00

Director?

Vivid Entertainment, one of the biggest mainstream porn studious and its boss, Steven Hirsch, sent a letter to Charlie Sheen last week, proposing that they work together on the porn parody. The letter says, among other things, "We think it would be great if you would come in and direct the movie. You pick the scenarios, positions etc... Based on all the publicity you have been getting, I am sure the sales will be outrageous."

The proposed flick is set to star three women who have ostensibly had carnal relations with Sheen in the recent past, Melanie Rios, Cassandra Cruz and Elizabeth Ann.

Read more here.

A slick robbery

2011-03-07T20:12:00.003-05:00

A sneaky and creative thief stole $238,000 from the hold of the Air Antilles plane while it was in flight. The ingenious thief had clearly planned ahead. He crawled through the plane's bathroom toilet and into the cargo hold. He must have known that a Brink's security employee had placed three sacks of cash containing a total $1.6 million in there just before takeoff. The thief feigned illness and spent nearly the entire flight in the bathroom, ostensibly getting sick.

Fox News reports that, "[The fellow] asked a flight attendant for an ambulance to meet him on the tarmac. When the ambulance arrived, the man said he felt suddenly better and walked out of the airport without having to go through the normal security checks and disappeared."

The milk tweet was free

2011-03-07T18:14:00.004-05:00

Charlie Sheen posted a Twitter photo last week, with the only slightly less famous Bree Olson, wearing a sh*t eating grin and holding a bottle of chocolate milk from Broguiere's Dairy in Montebello, California. Despite Sheen's massive publicity, he did not attempt to cash in from the dairy owner. Some celebs are getting up to $10,000 per endorsement tweet. Sheen, who is winning, did it strictly for the love of the milk.

Gaming company stunt flops

2011-03-07T17:34:00.003-05:00

The game is called Homefront.

THQ, a Southern California video gaming company, was in San Franscisco to promote its hyperviolent video game, it ended up instead garnering far more publicity for its pollution of San Francisco Bay. The company staged an event in downtown San Francisco that included the release of 10,000 red balloons with an offer from the massive chain, GameStop, allowing gamers to "receive the resistance multi-player pack, featuring an exclusive weapon."

The game is set in a near-future where the United States has been invaded by nuclear-armed troops from North Korea. Beautiful. For the children, you know. Unfortunately, the balloons and the coupons, not so beautiful. Wind and rain combined to push the balloons toward, and then into San Francisco Bay, by the thousands, almost immediately after their release. Unsurprisingly, in an environmentally conscious city like San Francisco, local denizens were not pleased with the free pollution caused by THQ and GameStop.

Read more here.

Record Lows

2011-02-27T09:53:00.005-05:00

As long time readers know, the Clarion Content is not a believer that global warming will destroy the world. Our initial frame of reference was the Club of Rome Report and Ehrlich & Ehrlich. We have pretty much passed the panic stage and moved on to a serene, well, these things happen over geological scales of time. We do believe to the extent global warming manifests itself in our lifetime it will be in the form of weather turbulence and extreme events. (These are real, with human and economic costs, and are not to be taken lightly.)

We are, indeed, fond of chronicling those extraordinary weather events here at the Clarion Content. The latest such moment in time we have read about took place in the San Francisco Bay Area last week. There was snow, at least in the Twin Peaks area of the city of San Francisco, where elevations are about 900 feet above sea level. It was only a dusting though, so it won't count as the first measurable snowfall in the city in thirty-five years.

There were record low temperatures recorded throughout the area. San Francisco got down to 37 degrees, which tied the previous cold weather record for the date set in 1962. Oakland got down to 34 degrees, breaking a record set in 1987 and San Jose tied a record low of 33 degrees, set way back in 1897. Read the whole story here.

15-501 Durham to Chapel Hill

2011-02-27T07:00:00.001-05:00

This piece was submitted by someone very close to the Clarion Content's editorial board. And you know how, dear readers, in our efforts to emulate dear old Uncle Ben we like some practical advice here at the Clarion Content.

The key to making good time driving from Durham to Chapel Hill on the 15-501 is put the hammer down, pedal to the metal. An old friend told me the deal a long ago time. How long ago you ask; so long ago that Darryl's was still open at 15-501 and Garrett Road, so long ago that there was isn't even a hint of Kroger's in Witherspoon Rose Culture's backyard, let alone the tower now out in front of it...

My buddy had a small, old, blue truck with a manual transmission. Some joker from the North Carolina Department of Transportation must of thought it a real funny to pace the lights from Durham to Chapel Hill so that if catch but one you have to slam on it to get back on pace. My buddy, he would pounce on it the little truck, leaping out of the blocks, up through the gears, taking off, shooting out of the area where the long since demolished Southsquare Mall used to be.

And, oh, it is possible to make every light, from the ugly "Blue Skyscraper," where 15-501 Business and 15-501 proper merge, rejoining to make the Jefferson Davis Highway run to Chapel Hill, at which point, Franklin Street cuts off to make the trek up the hill that gives the town the latter half of its name.

How many lights is that in all? Can't say I have ever counted, I have only driven it half a million times since then. What makes you think that even once in all those trips I was any less than Lomaned out, drifting over the scape unable to do anything as linear as count. However many lights there are, rest assured, the only way to make'em is to floor it. And if you get caught at any one of them, the only way you are making the next one is to really push it to the floor. It can be done. I have seen it done. In crappy cars, with terrible acceleration. But of course, the speed limit on 15-501 is only 45 miles-an-hour! MF-ing prankster at NCDOT, because you have to go at least 60mph, out of the chute, to make all the lights. If you get caught at one, say like at I-40, even at 5.30am on Sunday, unless you hit it, accelerating as fast as you can to on the plus side 60mph, you are bound to catch the next light, too.

You must come out of the blocks fast. Whether you are coming from Durham or Chapel Hill. Punch it. Make that first light. Slam on it further from there. If necessary, slide right. That third lane goes almost all the way through now. The right lane is the new fast lane these days anyway. No one will mind. You can make tracks.

What they are watching...Episode XIX

2011-02-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

Ahhh the 70's

2011-02-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

While reading a fascinating tale of about the excess, speculation and greed of the 1980's, the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat, we were struck by the way that it is possible to relate the decade to more recent experiences. There are a litany of parallels between the 1980's and 2000 aughts. The ethos of each decade had so much in common that Ollie felt compelled to remake Wall Street.

The 1970's feel much more distant and mysterious, harder to explain, not so easily pigeonholed.

For example, what the f*ck was this about?

Grisly tale

2011-02-23T17:30:00.003-05:00

From the files of the truth trumps fiction every time: a fifty-one year old woman died in her cubicle last Friday in Los Angeles County while working for Department of Internal Services and was not discovered until the following afternoon. This the ultimate modern office automons nightmare.

The woman in question was an auditor who was not working at her normal office. In the course of conducting the audit, she was using a cubicle on a largely vacant floor of the office she was auditing. She called a family member and mentioned she was working late. She was not discovered until the following afternoon, when she was found slumped over a desk. Read the whole story here.

Fun Chart

2011-02-21T18:49:00.003-05:00

What day of the month is your birthday? 1 thru 31... Check out this fun numerological analysis here of what the number of your birthday means. Don't take it too seriously. From Tarot.com.

Regina Spektor

2011-02-12T16:34:00.002-05:00

The music of Regina Spektor shatters the glass cage that is want to drop round my soul.

No way!?!

2011-01-31T01:16:00.001-05:00

Google the News: Egyptian tsunami

2011-01-29T17:56:00.005-05:00

To understand just how big the events taking place in Egypt are on a global scale, examine Google the News. Normally a leading news event of the day: Elizabeth Edwards passing, the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster to give but a few recent examples, has five-thousand or six-thousand articles about them as a Google News feed topic. A really big story like the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords might crest at 10,000 or 11,000 articles. Egypt might be the single largest Google the News story we have seen since the Asian tsunami seven years ago. There are currently 19,000 articles on the Google the News thread for Egypt.

The Wisdom of Kelly Oxford

2011-01-27T18:42:00.000-05:00

"Adulthood is the moment you switch from taking the occasional drug to trip out, to taking the occasional drug to feel normal."---Kelly Oxford

What they are watching...Episode XVIII

2011-01-27T17:12:00.001-05:00

Cops hits pedestrian

2011-01-27T17:04:00.003-05:00

A Raleigh police officer hit a pedestrian last night on Glenwood Avenue near Brier Creek. Unsurprisingly, the cop blamed the civilian, who was taken to the hospital, treated for an injury to his arm and released. The section of Glenwood Avenue in question has no sidewalks. The man said he was walking in the median. The cop says he was in the travel line.

Police refused to share the police cruiser's dashboard video saying it was evidence in the case. The pedestrian will be charged with impeding the flow of traffic.

Michael, Michael, Michael

2011-01-19T10:34:00.005-05:00

How badly did Michael Douglas want to be in this picture?

Many thanks to Clarion Content fave Kelly Oxford for the steer to the shot.

Snooki on Southpark

2011-01-19T10:02:00.004-05:00

One of our loyal readers from Hillsborough, NC sent this internet meme our way. The Jersey Shore's Snooki is satirized in cartoon form on Southpark. We were drawn to the physical depiction of Snooki. What crazy ass shit Cartman and the boys are doing with her hardly matters, because they cannot debase her more than she has herself on the Jersey Shore. In Southern parlance, she has shown her ass. Of note, she has also literally shown her ass and been arrested in the last two shows. Yet throughout it all, Snooks remains human and sympathetic. She is just a kid.

What's My Line? Reset

2011-01-18T13:43:00.006-05:00

You may, dear readers, remember this author and Clarion Content guest columnist, one of Durham's own, from his on-going work of meta-fiction. The hilarious and wildly popular, The Unauthorized Autobiography of G.Ia.M'Rock. Read the old chapters here. Today he muses on memory and fame. Check out this piece and accompanying clip from the old television show, "What's My Line?"

It's a curious thing, fame. How someone who is well known to the nation or even the world at one time can be completely anonymous at another time, or vice versa. I doubt many of my compatriots could identify Humphrey Bogart, even in his trademark fedora and trenchcoat. And yet my grandfather would be at a loss to pick out Justin Bieber from any sort of lineup.

I don't know if you're familiar with the old panel show "What's my Line", but it's a guessing game where a panel of four famous contestants try to identify the occupation of someone of less renown. When the guest has a famous face, the panelists are blind folded, but in this particularly amusing section, someone whose face is now legendary, sits calmly in front of a group of people who have no idea who he is. At the end of the clip, he describes how big his fame has spread, and it makes you sort of wonder about the effects of advertising on our consciousness.

Bill Cosby tries to find North, SC

2011-01-10T10:55:00.003-05:00

A grateful thank you to one of our oldest readers for sending this clip our way from PA. And while the little old lady Mr. Cosby is speaking to is living in Pennsylvania, she is actually from South Carolina. North, South Carolina. Which is ninety miles southeast of Due West, South Carolina. Funny ha-ha.

What they are watching...Episode XVII

2010-12-30T11:00:00.002-05:00

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. We peer into their world through the lens of Youtube. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link and [scroll down].

The kids they still love the physical comedy and the slapstick humor. The message is in the action, not some highfalutin reference or irony. Check out the satirization of country singer Kenny Rogers below doing "Jackass", the eighth graders who sent this video our way had no idea who Kenny Rogers was, nor had they ever seen him. They still found this video utterly hilarious.

What are they watching... Episode XVI

2010-12-23T17:07:00.004-05:00

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link and [scroll down].

The kids they love the Auto-tune, Christina Aguilera's opinion not withstanding. Likely, we are witnessing the first Auto-tune generation, people who do not remember before it was possible to bend pitch to the nearest true tone. Of course, those are not the only fun and games that you can play with Auto-tune, see the witness below for evidence.

Dumas to come to the screen

2010-12-21T21:15:00.003-05:00

The works of Alexandre Dumas, particularly the Three Musketeers, have been favorites of the silver screen. Now the renowed French actor, Gerard Depardieu, wants to bring the life of Dumas, himself, to the cinema. Depardieu hopes to develop a joint film project with Azerbaijan. Dumas traveled throughout the Karabakh in the 19th century and stayed with a poet, who was a daughter of the last Khan of Karabakh Natavan.

In the modern era this area has been a flashpoint of tension between Armenians, Azerbaijanis and an imperialistic Russia.

Depardieu will have to work very carefully around the literal and proverbial minefields, if he is to bring Dumas's life to the screen.

Think your office is getting smaller?

2010-12-21T20:54:00.002-05:00

It is probably because it is.

The Los Angeles Times reports that in the 1970s, American companies typically believed that they needed 500 to 700 square feet per employee to build an effectively functioning office. Today, the average is barely more than 200 square feet per person, and the space allocated could hit a mere 50 square feet per by the year 2015. The Times cites several long-term trends that are converging to crunch office space. Technologies like laptops over desktop computers, cellphones over landlines and outsourced data back-up over in-house servers are finally beginning to affect the way offices are laid out. Younger employees are more used to working in communal spaces and as part of a team. Part of the reason too is economic, cubicles have shrunk from an average of 64 sq.ft. to 49 sq.ft. in recent years, and companies continue to look for more ways to stretch their real estate dollar.

Imagine what the office will look like when the Facebook generation arrives.

The LA Times predicts a revolution in the commercial real estate market quoting Peter Miscovich, who studies workplace trends as a managing director at brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle, "We're at a very interesting inflection point in real estate history. The next 10 years will be very different than the last 30."

Read the whole article here.

New Wal-Mart coming to Durham

2010-12-13T22:33:00.006-05:00

More of Wal-Mart in Durham

Have you have ever wondered why the parking lot for the Lowe's hardware store at Martin Luther King and Fayetteville Road always seemed too big? After all, Durham is filled with ridiculous parking lots with spots jammed in at the most illogical of angles, just to meet code.

Of course, there is a reason. It had long been rumored that there would be a Wal-Mart on that site. Today the Triangle Business Journal is reporting it will indeed happen,

"The retailer will begin construction soon on a new Wal-Mart store on land it purchased in 2006 on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Durham... The new Durham store, which will be at 1010 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, will not carry the supercenter title, but the 109,180-square-foot building will be a full-service store with extended grocery selections, a deli section, a meats department and a pharmacy."

There is probably an interesting debate

2010-12-10T22:07:00.001-05:00

Auto-tune is a fascinating ethical conundrum.

But it is hard to argue with Ms. Aguilera's position...

Dogs

2010-12-09T22:01:00.006-05:00

Dogs Playing Poker is a classic piece of American Pop Art.

It was originally a series of sixteen oil paintings by C. M. Coolidge.

Commissioned in 1903 to advertise cigars...

It has spawned numerous beguiling imitators. Check out a few here.

These dogs inspired this piece.

They like they just won a poker game...

More Gaian evidence

2010-12-09T21:18:00.004-05:00

The Clarion Content is an unabashed support of the Gaia theory. We read several years back about work being done on parasitic worms, the human digestive tract and autoimmune disorders. The basic premise being that when human's used to spend a lot less time and energy sanitizing our food, we were a lot less susceptible to autoimmune disorders.

Naturally, this struck our Gaian heart as a likely candidate for a symbiotic relationship. Research has increasing born this theory out, although it is still highly controversial in the United States. Parasitic worms (likely worms in general) carry connotations far beyond the more common archetypes of natural healing; we are not talking wheat grass shots, yoga or even acupuncture here. We are talking extracting roundworm eggs from the stool of an eleven year-old infected girl, cleaning them and eating them. Or putting hookworm larva on a patient's arm so they burrow through the skin enter the bloodstream and make their way into one's intestines.

Yet the results have been compelling. Many of the Man's pigeons pooh-pooh evidence found on blogs. Read then an amazing tale on CNN backing the theories originally popularized by Dr. Joel Weinstock, chief of gastroenterology at Tufts University Medical School.

Humans lived with worms in our intestines for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. Is it really so odd that our bodies and theirs learned to work together?