culture

The Hurt Locker is not a great war film. It doesn’t glorify combat or condemn battle. It does not try to explain why conflict exists. It does not salute the dead or mourn their deaths. It’s an explosive and honest rendering of what happens in war zones. The film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, focuses on…

From NPR: “It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white” may have been one of Michael Jackson most famous musical lines, but since his death, it still seems to matter to many of his fans. The late King of Pop claimed he suffered from vitiligo, a skin disease that causes depigmentation, resulting in patches of…

From Melissa Harris-Lacewell at The Nation: “For my daughter the moment came in kindergarten. Even though she was the only African American girl in her classroom, she made friends easily, adored her teacher, and was growing in confidence as a student. Then in May, just a few weeks from the year’s end it happened. She…

From NewsOne (via the AP) “A man put an 8-year-old girl in a headlock Wednesday and shot her to death, then shot himself in the stomach, authorities said. The girl’s father is dating Ricky Lee Blackwell’s estranged wife. Spartanburg County deputies said Blackwellshot the girl twice in the driveway of a home where he had taken her…

Ahem. In case you didn’t notice, the cold-blooded killers behind two of the worst, most shocking shooting rampages in recent times—Jiverly Wong, responsible for the lives of 13 at an immigrant services center in Binghamton, N.Y., and Seung-Hui Cho, who took down 32 at Virginia Tech—had something in common. And let’s not forget Haiyang Zhu,…

Back in the day, baseball statistician and writer Bill James wrote that it’s better to spend money on new publicity instead of on old publicity. Clubs were better spending money for players who have most of their highlight clips in their future rather than in their past. It has taken baseball personnel bosses a decade…

From Washington CityPaper: “In mid-June, Donna Watts-Brighthaupt had an encounter with Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry. Watts was driving around, taking care of some personal business, when Barry caught sight of her. He made a point of getting her to pull over, and the two quickly got involved in an intense discussion. The exchange hinged…

Outta Philly: “I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?’ She’s like, ‘I’m scared they might do something to my child,'” said camper Dymire Baylor. The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club…

From Deadspin (via CBS Sports): “Turns out, there were at least two cameras rolling Monday night when Crawford dunked on James during a pick-up game here at the LeBron James Skills Academy. It was a two-handed jam, the kind that would’ve circulated quickly on YouTube. But Nike officials eliminated that possibility shortly after the dunk…

From NewsOne (via the AP): “A new study of 401(k) plans has revealed that black and Hispanic workers save significantly less for retirement and tap into their accounts more frequently than white and Asian employees. The study of 3 million 401(k) plans at more than 50 large companies concludes that unless some changes are made…