Joe Bernstein, writing for Buzzfeed:
In August, after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville ended in murder, Steve Bannon insisted that “there’s no room in American society” for neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates, and the KKK.
But an explosive cache of documents obtained by BuzzFeed News proves that there was plenty of room for those voices on his website.
Holy shit.
Netflix will be raising prices in the new future:
To fund that spending, Netflix will now charge $10.99 per month instead of $9.99 for a plan that allows two people to simultaneously watch programs on different devices. Another plan that streams ultra-high definition, or 4K, video, will rise 17 percent, to $13.99, from $11.99 a month. The lowest-cost plan, at $7.99, which doesn’t include HD and does not allow for simultaneous streaming, will not increase in price.
Fine, just give me more Stranger Things.
Roger Lima of Less Than Jake and Cam Baines of Bodyjar took turns interviewing each other for MusicFeeds:
I’m not sure, to be honest, we had a massive break-up that lasted 3 years until Descendents asked us to tour, so we got back together and made ‘Role Model’, which did well. Then for some reason, we decided to have more time off when we really should have maybe done another album quickly, but we never seem to do anything the right way; we prefer the hard and weird way of doing things. Besides, that having kids thing has been popular in our band, also I opened a skate shop called Locality Store in Melbourne.
Crooked Media has launched a new website, podcast, and network of contributors:
That’s us and that’s it. We’re proud of what we’ve built so far and excited for what’s next. Truth is, none of us expected to be doing this. Crooked wasn’t born of some master plan or a slick PowerPoint presentation with a battle-tested business model. We bet there were people like us who were frustrated and looking for something more. That people have responded has meant the world to us. And we couldn’t get through this roiling clusterfuck of a presidency without all of you.
The website looks good and the contributor network is full of great voices.
The Republic of Wolves have launched an Indiegogo campaign for their third album.
Brandon Flowers of The Killers has released a statement about the Las Vegas shooting:
I’m a Vegas boy. I always have been and — even though I just moved my wife and kids to Utah — I always will be. This past Sunday on a flight home from Australia, I flew over my hometown. Forehead to the window I looked down on Las Vegas and felt a prick of nostalgia. I thought about my mother buried below, I thought about my friends in Henderson, and I even traced Flamingo road down to where it meets the 95 and pin pointed my high school, Chaparral. I could see the city as a whole, but I couldn’t look close enough to see what was about to unfold. It’s hard to believe it’s real. My prayers go out to those whose lives were taken and to everyone else affected by this nightmare. I’m devastated for my community and for all of the people who gather together to see live music. Some of the happiest moments of my life have happened at concerts. They are a rite of passage, a holy communion, or just the kind of escape from the stress and the grind of daily life that so many people need. My heart swells when I hear the stories of people putting their lives on the line to help each other — defying the stereotypes of what people say Las Vegas is all about. We’re all long lost brothers and sisters. I miss my town, I miss my mom, I miss these victims I didn’t even know, but I look forward to getting together with you real soon to keep their memory alive.
In the spring of 2012, Donald Trump’s two eldest children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., found themselves in a precarious legal position. For two years, prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had been building a criminal case against them for misleading prospective buyers of units in the Trump SoHo, a hotel and condo development that was failing to sell. Despite the best efforts of the siblings’ defense team, the case had not gone away. An indictment seemed like a real possibility. The evidence included emails from the Trumps making clear that they were aware they were using inflated figures about how well the condos were selling to lure buyers.
This country is being run by the the worst people.
Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy has teamed up with some friends to open a new coffee shop here in Portland, Oregon. I guess I’ll have to go check it out.
Dropbox have announced a new logo and “brand” (and the website feels like it was written by hipster Don Draper):
Our old logo was a blue box that implied, “Dropbox is a great place to store stuff.” The new one is cleaner and simpler. And we’ve evolved it from a literal box, to a collection of surfaces to show that Dropbox is an open platform, and a place for creation.
Armin, over at Brand New (no, not that one), has a good run-down on the changes:
While there is something exciting about all the individual identity elements, concepts, and executions of each, perhaps there is too much to each of them and when they come together, it’s hard to tell what we are supposed to take away from it. Right now, you can see the new identity on this Dropbox area of their website and it all feels kind of random, from the color of the logo to the background colors to the co-creation image. I feel like I should like this more than I do and perhaps it’s my hesitation to accept Dropbox not just as file-storage but as a tool that enables and empowers me to be more creative… because it is not. It would be like saying that my portable 1 terabyte hard drive allows me to come up with ideas. It does not. The same way Dropbox does not. Which is fine as I am not expecting or looking for a product like Dropbox to inspire me.
The logo looks fine, the type looks great, but I don’t know why all the other stuff is needed. I still love me some basic Dropbox though. A folder that syncs. That’s all I want.
The NBA All-Star game is getting an overhaul. Paolo Uggetti, writing at The Ringer, describes the changes:
Instead of an East vs. West matchup, teams will be picked based on playground rules, with two captains selecting from the remaining pool of players, according to an announcement by the NBA on Tuesday.
The initial All-Star voting process will remain the same as last season: five players (two guards and three frontcourt players) from each conference will be selected by votes from fans, players, and media, and the remaining 14 players will be chosen by NBA head coaches. But now the top fan-vote-getters in each conference will be enlisted to choose, fantasy-draft style, who among the remaining 22 gets to play for which team.
Seems like a needed fix when most of the All-Stars are now in the western conference. Hopefully it makes the games a little more fun as well.
Hayley Williams’s hair product company, goodDYEyoung, has launched a new styling gel called “Poser Paste.” The company describes the product:
Poser Paste is an obnoxiously beautiful styling paste in the brightest, boldest colors. Poser Paste is wear and wash – express yourself!
Poser Paste’s colors are buildable and mixable to create custom shades. Crafted with high-quality pigments, the colors will stand out on even the darkest hair colors.
Some re-pressings of Saves the Day’s Ups And Downs, Under The Boards, and Stay What You Are are up for sale.
Gerard Way recently talked with iNews:
“It’s a tricky thing, because you have four guys that really get along, and I think we all fully understand each other now and love each other,” he says.
“We all got together recently and it was wonderful – we didn’t even talk about the band or playing shows again. I don’t know if anything will happen in the future, but what I do know is everyone has a really great life right now.”
Davey Havok of AFI has been named this year’s “hottest vegetarian celebrity” by PETA.