ahhhahhaha, this rules more than anything evar

send a link for Edwards

On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 2:09 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

Notes from Bushwick

One would probably not expect much drama to arise from a site which concerns
itself largely with restaurants, art exhibitions, and community gardens.
Nonetheless, BushwickBK has the most drama-prone readership of any outlet
with which I have ever been associated. There is no way to discern what this
means for Bushwick itself; our audience is obviously self-selecting, and our
commenters even more so, and matters are confused further by non-residents
who post as well. But to the extent that a regional outlet's commenters
reflects the nature of the region, a good number of our neighbors clearly
need to calm the fuck down.

A few months ago, I wrote a piece to the effect that Life Cafe charged too
much and was aesthetically irritating to boot; this prompted a 72-comment
fight concerning Life's desirability as a local staple and my abilities as a
writer. Likewise, it prompted the owner to reduce prices on some items. This
was probably the only thing I've ever written that has resulted in some
actual positive effect on the world. And for the most part, the comments
were understandable.

Later, though, Hrag Vartanian, one of this site's more thoughtful critics,
provided a fine overview of the most recent Bushwick Biennel. But he
neglected to mention a certain installation, this being a mobile trailer
filled with plants and park landscaping, and he consequently drew the wrath
of the artist herself. The piece, noted creator Kim Holleman, was so
"cutting-edge" and local as to merit a mention. "It was also built in
bushwick over the course of one year, ON THE STREET by a bushwick artist who
is TEN YEARS strong in bushwick proper," noted the deranged harpy. As
Holleman notes on her website, "Trailer Park is a site of paradox. It is
nonfunctional, yet completely functional in its repurpose... By going
inside, you will be able to go outside. A mobile metaphor and transcendent
experience." Oh, absolutely! Likewise, Vartanian's stated desire to see
street art in a gallery was clearly that of "the typical white guy who wants
graff[iti] to somehow be 'counted' inside a world where it doesn't belong,"
at least according to a white female who presumably did a stint with the
Latin Kings before moving on to conceptual art.

Then there was, of course, the bike affair, whereby contributor Diego
Cupolo's account of his beating at the hands of some would-be thief prompted
more than 450 comments, most of which were insane. These fell into several
categories: racists who held this up as proof that the local blacks are
animals and that liberal whites will all soon be torn to shred in an ironic
uprising of violent natives; non-racists who thought otherwise; anti-cop
sentiment; pro-cop sentiment; fascist comments by anonymous NYPD officers;
apologies from other anonymous NYPD officers for the fascist sentiments of
their colleagues; debate over who perpetrated 9/11; challenges to fight;
attacks on The New York Times; unhinged advice to Diego to the effect that
he ought to launch a punitive strike against the pair of neighbors who
failed to render aid (from me); and comments to the effect that muggings are
bad.

Most recently, a generally positive review of The Hibachi Tiki Hut, also by
Diego, prompted a somewhat more critical comment by Bushwickitywack to the
effect that the place was still rough around the edges; co-owner Lorien
Flinn responded with a comment of her own to the effect that several of the
problems would be addressed soon and further suggested that bushwickitywack
might be too poor to appreciate the menu's better offerings and too fat to
have been comfortable in the resident booths. She later apologized.

The point of all of this is that I demand more comments. Also, lol, clip
show.


Notes from the Outside World

* It amazed me that there were actually people within the fold of the
Democratic Party who looked at John Edwards and said, "That's the guy. Let's
make him president." Yet the populist douchebag was always hovering around
12 percent during the primary, which just goes to show how easy it is to
fool southerners. One of Edward's supporters whom he happened to be fucking
as well seems fairly representative of the rest; it is now reported that he
told the ugly woman with whom he had the affair that, just as soon as his
cancer-stricken wife died, the two would be wed in a rooftop ceremony
presided over in part by The Dave Matthews Band. What a stupid bitch.

* Watch this whole thing.