Aziz Ansari: Why Trump Makes Me Scared for My Family

Aziz Ansari, writing for The New York Times:

The vitriolic and hate-filled rhetoric coming from Mr. Trump isn’t so far off from cursing at strangers from a car window. He has said that people in the American Muslim community “know who the bad ones are,” implying that millions of innocent people are somehow complicit in awful attacks. Not only is this wrongheaded; but it also does nothing to address the real problems posed by terrorist attacks. By Mr. Trump’s logic, after the huge financial crisis of 2007-08, the best way to protect the American economy would have been to ban white males.

30 Minute Guide To Getting More Fans

Jesse Cannon, from Noise Creators/Off the Record, has released a free ebook breaking down his guide to getting into the music business:

After four annual editions of Get More Fans: The DIY Guide To The New Music Business, and being added to a dozen University programs, and tons of praise from the music world, the one complaint I would always get is that it took too long to read. So I decided to make a free version that contains all the information a musician needs to get their music off the ground. The 30 Minute Guide To Getting More Fans is the most concise way to learn how to promote you music and it’s free over at Noise Creators.

The Complicated Genius of Morrissey

Morrissey

Sean Nelson, writing for MTV, all about Morrissey:

If you were born after 1990 or didn’t grow up in London, Manchester, or Los Angeles, there’s an excellent chance your only knowledge of Morrissey consists of music blog news dispatches about cranky statements he’s made on the subject of animal rights or British immigration policies or the music business. Or perhaps you’ve seen the odd mention of an aging English singer with a reputation for being a “miserablist” whose robust cult audience would happily follow him into hell while the rest of the world cheered their departure. This is unfortunate, because, while all those things are true, Morrissey and his former band The Smiths have a legitimate claim to having transformed the culture and sound of indie rock and pop in far-reaching ways.

Dieter Rams Documentary Kickstarter

Kickstarter

Gary Hustwit, director of Helvetica and Objectified, is Kickstarting a movie on legendary product designer Dieter Rams:

This Kickstarter campaign will fund the film and also help to preserve Dieter’s incredible design archive for the future. There’s a trove of drawings, photographs, and other material spanning Dieter’s fifty plus years of work, and it needs to be properly conserved.

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Descendents Interviewed in Rolling Stone

Descendents

Hank Shteamer interviews the Descendents for Rolling Stone:

During Descendents’ June visit to RS, it quickly became apparent that the band is much more than an escapist outlet for these four men in their early fifties. “I think there’s quite a bit on the record that’s kind of unflinchingly looking at getting older,” the heavily tattooed, gruff-voiced Alvarez says of Hypercaffium. “And it’s nice because I think a lot of rock bands aren’t very honest about that; they all want to exist in some universe where they’re perpetually between the ages of 21 and 35. We’re codgers; we’re not afraid to admit it.”

HBO Cancel ‘Vinyl’

HBO

HBO have canceled the series Vinyl after only one season.

Vinyl, which starred Bobby Cannavale as a 1970s record executive trying to save his company, opened to disappointing ratings for HBO. The two-hour series premiere averaged just 760,000 viewers in live-plus-same-day numbers. However, the show was quickly renewed for a second season no doubt due to its impressive auspices and hefty price tag. The two-hour Vinyl opener is said to have cost about $30 million and the first season $100 million.

Dashboard Confessional “Deep” Into Recording

Dashboard Confessional

Chris Carrabba confirms with Miami New Times that Dashboard Confessional are deep into recording their new album.

“Our set list will run the gamut,” Carrabba says. “We’re going to play songs from all the albums.” He promises fans will hear a new track too, a hint of what’s to come as Dashboard Confessional works on its first new batch of songs since 2009’s Alter the Ending. “We’re deep in the recording now, but I want to get a little deeper before we announce when and how we release it.”

Why LaCroix is Suddenly Everywhere

LaCroix

Libby Nelson and Javier Zarracina, writing for Vox:

LaCroix isn’t the only brand to benefit from the sparkling water boom. But it’s the one that’s risen to the coveted status of lifestyle brand, not just generating loyalty but becoming part of how we define ourselves. The secret behind LaCroix’s rise is a mix of old-fashioned business strategy and cutting-edge social marketing. When Americans wanted carbonated water, LaCroix was positioned to give them them fizzy water. Then, sometimes by accident, LaCroix developed fans among mommy bloggers, Paleo eaters, and Los Angeles writers who together pushed LaCroix into the zeitgeist.

When I’m working on the computer I need something to drink nearby.1 About a year ago, I made it a priority to remove (as much as I could) sugar from my diet, and picked up the habit of drinking sparkling water almost every day. I didn’t know it had become a trend. I feel so fashionable.


  1. I’ve long joked I can tell what time of day it is by what I am drinking; progressing from coffee to sparkling water to beer.

Next iPhone to See More Subtle Changes

Daisuke Wakabayashi and Eva Dou, writing for the Wall Street Journal:

Apple Inc. plans to break with its recent pattern of overhauling the design of its flagship iPhone every two years and make only subtle changes in the models it will release this fall, according to people familiar with the matter….

The biggest planned change in this year’s phones is the removal of the headphone plug, which will make the phone thinner and improve its water resistance… Apple plans bigger design changes for 2017, the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone.

The “like the 6S but without a headphone jack” is going to get beat to death by the tech press. I’m willing to bet the internals are a nice upgrade. At this point Apple should just introduce new colors since the outside appearance is what seems to matter the most to some people. But, it definitely looks like it’s time to prepare for our 3.5mm jack-less world.

Apple E-Books Antitrust Settlement

amazon

From Amazon:

In November 2014, a federal court approved a Settlement of antitrust lawsuits brought against Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) by State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs about the price of electronic books (“eBooks”). Those settlements resulted in credits for qualifying Kindle books purchased between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. These credits are funded by Apple.

Head on over to Amazon to see if you’ve got any credit.

Frank Ocean Releases Statement on Orlando Tragedy

Frank Ocean

Frank Ocean has written a statement on the Orlando tragedy.

I read in the paper that my brothers are being thrown from rooftops blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs for violating sharia law. I heard the crowds stone these fallen men if they move after they hit the ground. I heard it’s in the name of God. I heard my pastor speak for God too, quoting scripture from his book. Words like abomination popped off my skin like hot grease as he went on to describe a lake of fire that God wanted me in. I heard on the news that the aftermath of a hate crime left piles of bodies on a dance floor this month. I heard the gunman feigned dead among all the people he killed.

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Drake Continues Run at Top of the Charts

Drakespends his seventh week at number one on the Billboard charts. Nick Jonas debuts at number two and the Hamilton soundtrack rises up to number three.

At No. 3 on the Billboard 200 is the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton, which zooms from No. 13 to No. 3 following its huge night at the Tony Awards on June 12. (The set earned 62,000 units — up 119 percent, with 45,000 of that in traditional album sales — up 164 percent). This is Hamilton’s first week in the top 10, as it had previously topped out at No. 11. It debuted at No. 12.

Blink-182 Talk the Scrapped Songs

Blink-182 talk with Gigwise about the songs they scrapped from California:

“It’s not that we scrapped the other 30, we just forgot about them. They’re still on a hard drive, there are some great ideas in there, but I feel like they’re sketches – they’re us practising, throwing ideas around and getting comfortable playing music with one another.”