Editorial
Gym Patrol Gary: White Man Loses Office Lease After Calling Police On Black Entrepreneurs Using Gym
Source: @teamtopfigure / Instagram A white man in Minnesota woke up feeling dumb after losing his office space for not minding his business. On Wednesday (May 28), the owners of Top Figure, a Black-owned Minneapolis-based social media and branding agency, were exercising in the gym of their co-opted professional building. That’s when they were approached by Tom Austin, the managing partner of F2 Group, who threatened to call the police on the group because he didn’t feel “they belonged.” The exchange, which was caught on video and posted by Top Figure to Instagram, shows Austin questioning the three men about their office location before pulling out his phone to call the police. in the caption, the men explain in further detail why the questioning was asinine pointing out that the office s...
White Dog Choker Amy Cooper Who Falsely Reported Black Man In Central Park Gives Weak Apology
Source: @melodyMcooper / Twitter Amy Cooper, the white woman who attempted to falsely accuse a Black man of physically harming her after he checked her on dog walking rules, is now speaking out. In her first public statement since the viral video of her endangering the life of Christian Cooper and her dog as well, Cooper gave a rather thin apology for her actions. As reported by CNN, Ms. Cooper, who was filmed on Memorial Day walking her dog in an area of New York’s Central Park known as the Ramble, Mr. Cooper (no relation) informed the woman that she should observe the park’s rules and properly leash her pet. What ensued is Ms. Cooper pulling out her phone and calling 911 stating that she was taking a photo of Mr. Cooper and calling the cops while adding the false claim that Mr. Cooper wa...
A Perfect Circle’s Mer de Noms Escaped Tool’s Shadow 20 Years Ago
Outside of a few major examples — such as Dashboard Confessional, Audioslave, CSNY, Foo Fighters, Gorillaz, The Mars Volta, Cream, and Led Zeppelin — side projects, supergroups, and spin-offs are rarely as triumphant as the bands from which they originate. Of course, Californian troupe A Perfect Circle — founded by Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel — must be added to that list. Over the past 20 years, and through four studio albums and numerous major tours, they’ve amassed a following that rivals those of any of the members’ outside endeavors. (Some fans even prefer APC to Tool, and for understandable reasons.) True, their subsequent records offer stronger hooks, more decorative instrumentation, and a greater emphasis on overtly political and/or ...
What’s the Scariest Scene in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining?
It’s been 40 years since Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining axed its way into theaters on May 23, 1980. Since then, the Stephen King adaptation has haunted multiple generations, who have all made their way through the Overlook Hotel doors, be it through repertory screenings, video store rentals, Saturday night sleepovers, or simply cable. Today, The Shining is a fixture of pop culture, having spawned countless memes, GIFs, homages, figurines, you name it, it’s been done. And yet, most would agree it’s still one of the most terrifying films of all time — if not the most terrifying. Of course, as with anything, fear is entirely subjective, and what’s scary to one person may be hilarious to another. Editors’ Picks That’s why we polled our staff and contributors to see what they think is the ...
40 Years Later, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining Is a State of Mind
The Overlook Hotel will never close. It’s been burned down, shuddered up, and even burned down again, but there’s no moving on. The walls, halls, and spooky rooms of the ghoulish institution are as obdurate as the spirits within, and they’ll remain that way forever. Point being, the Overlook Hotel isn’t just a setting in a story or a movie. It’s no longer just a name Stephen King gave to his own vision of The Stanley Hotel. And it’s not just the prismatic hell that Stanley Kubrick dreamed up a few years later. It’s been absorbed by the public consciousness; no different than Jack Torrance at the very end of the 1980 film. Of course, none of this would have happened without said film. Thanks to its labyrinthine qualities and MoMa-ready aesthetics, Kubrick’s chilling masterpiece has spawned ...
Petty Prez: President Trump May Block Unveiling Of Obama Presidential Portrait
Source: The Washington Post / Getty Political observers have long noted that President Donald Trump and his rise to power came on the heels of his freewheeling and often contentious stances against his political opposition. In recent weeks, the divide has grown as chatter is brewing that Trump may elect not to unveil his predecessor President Barack Obama‘s presidential portrait, which would disrupt a decades-log tradition. A report from NBC News highlights the potential for Trump to bypass the ceremonial display of the portrait inside the White House, an act Obama himself partook of when unveiling his predecessor President George W. Bush’s portrait. However, Trump has made it clear that he is no friend of Obama or his past policies, and has adopted stances from conservative pundits and gr...
Old Footage Of White Cops Harassing Ahmaud Arbery Surfaces
Source: Sean Rayford / Getty Ahmaud Arbery was apparently a target of Glynn County Police for some time, this after older video footage was unearthed and shared publicly. In the clip, Arbery is seen being cooperative and had his hands up but police still attempted to fire a taser gun at him. The Guardian shared the clip of the 2017 incident in where Glynn County cops approached Arbery’s vehicle as he sat in a Brunswick, Ga. park rapping to instrumental beats and enjoying a day off from work. Police claim that they approached Arbery because the area was known for drug activity and ordered him out of the car. Naturally, Arbery attempted to defend his actions and why he was there and even told the officers that he worked at a local truck washing facility. The video was obtained through a publ...
While You Watch: How to Work Out at Home
While You Watch is a new health and wellness series that outlines a range of activities you can do at home. Today, to quote Olivia Newton-John, we’re getting physical. Your health doesn’t have to suffer just because you’ve been glued to the television. Low or moderate-intensity workouts can be done from the comfort of your living room. But, let’s be honest, distraction is key when it comes to less-than-desirable activities, which is why we often need something short and easy to stay motivated. We want results, though, so in order to find the most effective workouts, we consulted with personal trainer Viggo Clausen for all the right moves. Below, you can start doing any number of these exercises, all without buying any new equipment. Just pop on your favorite 20-minute show … and act accord...
Pearl Jam’s “Present Tense” Was Always the Perfect Swan Song for Michael Jordan’s Last Dance
Pearl Jam is no stranger to Chicago sports. They’ve performed at Wrigley Field multiple times. They’ve brought out a rolodex of athletes on stage. Hell, they’ve even written a song for the Cubs. In a sense, they’re as much a Chicago band as they are a Seattle export, and all of this has to do with the Midwestern blood that pumps through frontman Eddie Vedder. So, it’s not just poetic, but rather fitting that Vedder and co. would close down shop on ESPN’s The Last Dance, the fantastic 10-episode docuseries on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls that have kept us sane these past five weeks. “Time to go,” a now-grey Phil Jackson says of his Chicago Bulls. Soon after, the soft strings of Pearl Jam’s “Present Tense” begin — and with it the emotions. Slowly, we float around Chicago’s United Cen...
The Complicated Legacy of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis
As we think back on 40 years without Ian Curtis, Dan Weiss examines the sad nature of the young frontman and Joy Division’s music, especially as we collectively experience these strange times of isolation in quarantine. “Surrendered to self-preservation/ From others who care for themselves” — Joy Division, “Isolation” I know I’m beholden to the perpetual motion machine of anniversary cycles because I’m the press, but what’s your excuse? Yes, it’s the 40th anniversary of a day that was particularly grim long before there was any pandemic. On May 17, 1980, Ian Curtis died by suicide, possibly the most “famous” hanging in rock history, a morbid martyrdom that secured his legacy as the accidental inventor of just about anything goth. But that doesn’t mean you have to do something stupid like l...
The Who’s Live at Leeds Remains a Peerless Document of Rock and Roll Power
Today, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of arguably the greatest live rock and roll album of all time. June 1969. Back from the brink, The Who are bigger than they ever imagined possible. With Tommy selling 200,000 copies in the first two weeks in the US alone, it was a remarkable turnaround for a band who, only a few months earlier, neared bankruptcy and calling it a day. In what must have seemed like the blink of an eye, the rock opera was born, and, with it, Pete Townshend ascended to his throne, the last high king of 1960s counterculture. With FM-friendly Tommy A-sides “Pinball Wizard” and “I’m Free” refining their “maximum R&B” down to proto prog-inflected rock, The Who found themselves zig-zagging across the world, topping major festival bills and — full testament to their expan...
Center Stage Gave Us Zoe Saldana, Mandy Moore, and the Dance Film of a Generation
On May 12, 2000 many lives were changed forever. But most of us didn’t know it, because we were too young to get ourselves to a movie theater without a ride from our parents. On May 12, 2000, the motion picture Center Stage came to theaters. The teen movie focuses on Jody Sawyer and her fellow students at the American Ballet Academy (ABA). Only the best of the best get in, and every student is fighting for a spot in the company. Unfortunately Jody has bad feet, but is reluctantly accepted into the school because of her stage presence. Along the way, Jody discovers jazz, and has a romantic relationship with Cooper Nielsen, the male star of the company and teacher. In that a man helps a woman discover jazz, it’s sort of like La La Land, but more deserving of accidentally being announced as t...