If you logged onto MyAccess not too long ago, you were prompted to fill out a survey that contained two short questions, one about your “ethnicity” and one about your “race.” According to an email we received from the Registrar in March, the US Department of Education required this survey, which used a “newly prescribed format.” The two questions were as follows:
(1) Ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino; Not Hispanic or Latino
(2) Race: American Indian or Alaska native; Asian; Black or African American; Native hawaiian or Other Pacific islander; White
Over the weekend I participated in a Habitat for Humanity build. By midday we noticed tinkly Christmas music wafting over the neighborhood and into the work site, so we looked up from our digging and saw that the sound was emanating from a mostly unmarked white van making the rounds. “An ice cream truck playing Christmas music? In March? That’s random,” we mused.
Later, while scrolling through a newly-Friended Friend’s profile pictures on Facebook, I came upon a photo of my new Friend cradling a guinea pig in his arms. Someone had commented, “you are so random and I love it.” And, in Honduras over spring break, I recall overhearing another volunteer saying disgustedly, “What a rando…”
A totally like random dog
As Urban Dictionary user Pip writes, “random is the latest buzzword” among teenagers. There truly is an infinite number of different situations that demand the label “random.” Wore two different-colored socks? Random! Ate cottage pie for dinner? Random! Wrote a column about the word random? Random! “Random” can even have a positive connotation, as the enthused Facebook comment suggests. Or it can have a negative connotation, as the volunteer’s statement showed.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel created a stir back in February when it was reported that the foul-mouthed politician had referred to certain political activists as “fucking retarded.” Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin called for Emanuel’s resignation over the offensive outburst, and not because he said the f-word; Palin, whose son has Down’s syndrome, claimed to be offended by his use of the r-word.
It was around this time that I began to notice flyers posted on campus: large capital R’s crossed out in bright colored paint. It turns out that these are part of the Spread the Word to End the Word, a campaign that pledges to “eliminate the use of the R-word in everyday speech.”
Special Olympics spokeswoman Kristen Seckler commented, “We aren’t trying to ban a word, but the pejorative in casual use–especially used by kids in schools and in the classroom–is isolating and it hurts.” The movement seems to be gaining support; as of today, there are 123,878 pledges on r-word.org.
“So many huge celebs stanning for Pink, they must know better who has the talent.”
“It doesn’t matter who has more stans or celebrity stans, they’re all putting work into performing, recording, and pleasing their fans.”
Who is Stan? And why has his name become a noun and a verb?
Stan, as it turns out, was a man who adored Eminem to the point of insanity, obsessively writing fan letters to the Grammy-award-winning American rapper, record producer, and songwriter. But when Eminem failed to respond to the letters, Stan became crazed, eventually driving himself–and his pregnant girlfriend–off a bridge. Soon after, sitting down to answer some fan mail, the prolific rapper realized that if he had responded to the letters only a week earlier, he would have prevented the sensational suicide that was blaring on every news station. Read Full Post
I love it. But I can’t find a goof place to get it. Anyone have any suggestions where I could get good authentic Mexican food in DC? B Palmer, the Editor-in-Cheef of the Georgetown Indy is willing to pay for your dinner and cabfare if you can name the best Mexican restaurant in DC. She’s a terrible date, but I guess she’s easy on the eyes
I think Nicolas Cage is one of the greatest actors of our generation. He gets mad props for Face/Off, Con Air, Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation. He gets some props for The Weather Man, National Treasure and Lord of War. And, he has baffled us with the atrocities that are Snake Eyes, Ghost Rider and The Wicker Man. That being said, I think it’s about time The Daily Monthly celebrates Cage’s lesser known acting career: Japanese commercials.
Nic Cage, selling something (?) to Japanese people (?)…
Nic Cage selling three(?) more things to more Japanese people (?).
Sometimes, well most of the time, two songs from the opposite end of the cultural spectrum make the best mashup. First offf we have “Cult Logic Forever”, a mashup of Miike Snow and Drake that surely could unite U Street hipsters and Rhino’s Rhine-hoes.
Now for a classic, Toto’s “Africa,” which you may recognize from the Georgetown Phantom’s a capella repertoire, gets the royal treatment of Jay-Z and Beyonce’s “Me and My Girlfriend.”
Ron Artest is my favorite basketball player of all time. From his jersey number 91 (wtf?) to his ridiculous hairdo to his penchant for knocking out fans mid-game, I think there’s little not to love about Mr. Artest. Now, being a hoya, there’s even more: The first single from his newly blossoming rap career is entitled “GeorgTown Girl.”Artest cranks the fuck out of his auto-tune (which is probably for the best), and he spits lines like “touch, touch touch her” and “Artest likes to pop bottles/You don’t even got to be the next top model.” Bear in mind that Artest went to St. John’s, not Georgetown, he’s from Queens, and he’s never even played for a team in the D.C. area.
Sometimes I forget how tightly the Internet has become woven into all of our lives. You’ve heard it a thousand times before: Social networking, the death of journalism, online TV content and google’s expanding big-brotherishness are just factual parts of our cultural landscape by now. But, there was a time when the Internet was this ambiguous entity no one quite understood or quite knew what to do with (READ: Pets.com).
It was a time when a twelve year old Julia Stiles could explore the world of hacking where “curiosity and imagination equals power,” where you were judged by what you “say and think, not by what you look like.” Hope you like the vid…
Notorious BIG is no doubt rolling in his grave with this mashup with Miley Cyrus “Party (And Bullshit) in the USA.” But gangster rap and adolescent pop just sound so good together while your dancing on the table at a Village B party.
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Without the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, we would never be able to enjoy the wonders of McDonald’s, baseball, cheese grits, The Hills, “Back to the Future” part I and II or even this very blog. So, here’s The Daily Monthly’s celebration of Chrissy Columbus. Forever we’ll be in your debt, C-bone.
Just because you wear thick rimmed classes, flannel, converses, doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate some good rhyme spitting every now and then. Indie darlings Grizzly Bears join forces with Dead Prez in this mashup.
Also, Old Dirty Bastard and Rhymefest reach back into their childhood in this mashup with “Build Me Up Buttercup.”
Despite my taste in music that is typically pretty far on the snobbish end of the spectrum, I’ve been defending Lady Gaga’s songwriting prowess since I first sunk my teeth into “Just Dance.” There’s no doubt she knows how to produce a good track, and there’s no doubt that she always makes for a good interview. But, I’m never quite sure if Gaga is a base, fame-obsessed musician who just happens to know how to produce a solid dance track, or if she is a genuine artist who has created a persona that truly taps into the ethos of our self-obsessed myspace-ing/facebook-ing/twitter-ing generation.
This video is just fodder for my difficulties in pinning down what Lady Gaga is really about. Her rapport with Paris Hilton seems completely genuine, but it’s hard to believe that the chick who has been churning out hit after hit could actually think that Hilton’s debut album was even listenable. I’m not sure if this video horrifically shows us who we Americans really choose to adore, or if this is a rare artifact of one of our most insightful celebrities playing off of one of our decidedly dumbest ones.
Either way, here’s the vid so you can decide for yourself.
Narrowly, The Daily Monthly avoided destruction last night. The enigmatic forces called “iPower” notified us yesterday that our domain would be de-activated by midnight if we did not renew our subscription. Fortunately, our august Editor-In-Chief, Bee Paulmer, was able to fend off the blighting potency of iPower before she went out and got rejected from The Tombs. As editor of The Daily Monthly, I’d like to personally send out thanks to Bhee for her inscrutable tact.
The Daily Monthly is the blog of The Georgetown Independent. The views and opinions expressed in The Daily Monthly are of the writers and do not reflect the opinion of the editorial board or publication at large.
