Clarion Content

Thanks to Storey Clayton, and "Duck & Cover" for a great August!

Check out his other projects at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

Storey Clayton, and "Duck & Cover"

Check out his other projects at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

Any fair-minded Durhamanian has to say that is, in part, because Duke is dank. The thought can’t help but pop into mind driving across the dirty D at 7.30am this second to last day of August. The Dukies are out and about, moving and shaking, getting more done before 9am and so on. Durham is charged with their energy. These peeps, many of them still young, shiny and new, were smart and driven enough to get into an institution that is billed in some corners as the Harvard of the South. Elsewhere the Dukies t-shirts proclaim Harvard to be the Duke of the North. The bottom-line for the denizens of Durham is that Duke brings swarms of talented, ambitious people to our town. Some of them end up loving it as much as we do and stay. After all, Durham is dank.

Labels: Durham

The tweet of the weekend^* comes to us from the Twitter account of one Abbey Robinson.

Everything tempting in my life comes wrapped in either a bow tie or a bojangles box. #southerngirlswagger

^*Caution this tweet may only be funny south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Labels: humor, twitter

Storey Clayton, and "Duck & Cover"

Check out his other projects at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

Enjoying are third week of our new syndicated political cartoonist, Storey Clayton, and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover," hope you are too!

Check out his other projects at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

// posted by Clarion Content @ 9:07 AM (0) comments

Enjoying are third week of our new syndicated political cartoonist, Storey Clayton, and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover," hope you are too!

Check out his other projects at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

// posted by Clarion Content @ 7:50 AM (0) comments

We are delighted to be heading into a third week of our new syndicated political cartoonist, Storey Clayton, and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover."

Check out his other projects at the Blue Pyramid here, including the nationally renown Book Quiz.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

North Anna Power Station



Among the scariest elements of yesterday's East Coast earthquake, which was felt from Durham, NC to Boston, Mass., was how closely it occurred to the North Anna Power Station, a nuclear reactor complex, located about 10 miles from the quake's epicenter. As yet, the facility's reactors show no signs of cracks in their concrete containment centers. The nuclear facility is located 92 miles southwest of downtown Washington, D.C. An estimated 1.9 million people live within 50 miles of the plant's nuclear reactors.



The quake knocked out the plant's off-site power source. One of the four back-up diesel generators powering the auxiliary safety systems died within hours of the quake. Sound like Japan anyone?



The North Anna Power Station is designed to withstand quakes of a maximum of 5.9 to 6.1 on the infamous Richter Scale. Yesterday's quake was a 5.9. The North Anna power plant is notorious already. It has accumulated one of the largest concentrations of radioactivity in the United States. The L.A. Times reports that Robert Alvarez, a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and a former assistant Energy secretary during the Clinton administration noted, the plant’s spent fuel pools contain four to five times more radioactive material than their original designs intended. The plant's reactors are thirty-one and thirty-three years old respectively.



Ahhh, nuclear power. What a country!

Labels: energy policy, infrastructure, nuclear issues

Is Bank of America, one of the two or three largest banks in the country, wobbling? By all accounts, we may have another too big to fail institution that needs bailing out by the federal government, lest it drag the banking system and the Western world down with it.



The bank is facing cash shortfalls of at least $50 billion related to mortgage lending disasters of recent years. The bank has petitioned regulators to give it until 2019 to straighten itself and its balance sheet out, so that it might come into compliance with new capital requirements rules. The bank is now said to be as much as $100 or $200 billion in the hole.



Bank of America's stock has fallen by 50% this year. Fresh sources of capital are drying up. The bank may have to be temporarily nationalized to survive. It took $50 billion in federal TARP loans to get Bank of America through the Lehman Brothers--AIG collapse. This looks worse.



A bad wobble indeed.

Labels: economics, Politics

We are delighted to be heading into a third week of our new syndicated political cartoonist, Storey Clayton, and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover."

Check out his other projects at the Blue Pyramid here, including the nationally renown Book Quiz.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

We are delighted to have enjoyed a second week of our new syndicated political cartoonist, Storey Clayton, and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover."

Check out his other projects at the Blue Pyramid here, including the nationally renown Book Quiz.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

Kansas



Those of you who poo-poo the dangers of electing moral authoritarians to office would do well to read and remember this story. The State of North Carolina involuntarily, against their will and without their consent, sterilized more than 7,500 people, the last one as recently as 1974. This was done under the auspices of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina, one of many such state authorities across the country. The state sterilized the mentally handicapped and epileptics, along with those judged too promiscuous or hard to control.



So be careful before you say, nothing like that could ever happen in America.

Labels: constitutional issues

We must beware the powerful Clarion Content jinx. We are noted for our ability to make the diametric opposite of what we predict come true. Thus it is always dangerous for the sports editor to predict things we wish will happen, but in this case we have to put it out there, despite the fact it is both our prediction and our desire.



The Boston Red Sox look awfully vulnerable to being caught by the Tampa Bay Rays in the race for the American League Wild Card. While Boston would appear to have a comfortable 7 and 1/2 game lead over Tampa, just last week they were ahead by 11 and 1/2 games. The Sox are increasingly banged up. Star third baseman, Kevin Youkilis has been dinged up all season and was recently put on the disabled list. Prized free agent outfielder Carl Crawford is barely hitting .250 and has a miserable 39 RBIs. The Sox offense is so meek right now, last night's line-up featured rookie Josh Reddick, he of the career 288 at-bats and 9 lifetime homers, hitting 5th. Line-ups that are that thin are more commonly associated with the Rays, than the Sox or Yanks.



However, it is not just the offense of the Red Sox that looks wobbly. The pitching staff has been battered as well, and that, pitching, is not an area either the Rays or the Yanks are vulnerable. The Rays with their pipeline to Durham have a seemingly endless supply of quality young arms. The Yanks have five solid starters and an extra $180 million dollar man, A.J. Burnett. The Red Sox conversely are trying to get by with forty-five year old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, free agent flop John Lackey and castoff Eric Bedard holding down the back end of their rotation.



As their limp start showed, the Red Sox have holes. Those failings maybe exposed the possibility of the kind of epic Red Sox stretch collapse that hearkens back to the days of yore.

Labels: baseball, Predictions, sports

Our look at what the teens and tweens of America are watching. We peer into their world through the lens of Youtube or in this case Vimeo. You may have caught some of our earlier episodes, if not, follow this link [and scroll down past this post].



Here DJ sensation Girl Talk has inspired some of his fans to make their own video. Personally, we love Girl Talk's mixology at the Clarion Content. He rocks.

Girl Walk // All Day from jacob krupnick.

Girl Talk played Wolfstock at the Raleigh Amphitheater last week with Clarion Content fave, LiLa

Labels: music, Pop Culture, what they are watching

From the band's press release...


Durham born and bred Hip-Hop group LiLa is proud to announce the debut of their latest video “Group Therapy” off their album “II”.

Big things are afoot for this independent, community representing, organic, straight outta Durham crew! A viral, bottom-up phenomenon, they were playing basements and on the steps of the post office only a year ago. Now MC Eli “Li” McDuffie and lead vocalist and keyboarder extraordinaire Jonathan “J-La” LeSueur, along with Mikey Peterson on trombone, Griffin Wade hitting the drums, Kyle Cox strumming guitar, and Rosean Alexander probing the deepest of baselines, are exploding!!! If you check ’em out now, you can say you heard ’em when…

LiLa is opening this week for nationally renowned act Girl Talk at Wolfstock, North Carolina State’s annual student kick-off party held at the 5,500 seat Raleigh Amphitheater. This is just the first of many appearances required to satiate the demands of the screaming hordes of their college fans. Devils and Heels are clamoring for what the Wolfpackers are getting this week: LiLa energy. As the Secret Carrboro Ninja Patrol put it "[they are]..so brightly lit that LiLa is not on the radar, the radar is on LiLa."

LiLa has been blowing the doors off the ever expanding Durham music scene, packing fans into the newest, hottest Durham venues, MotorCo and Casbah. If you have ever stood there, witnessed, and felt the walls shake and reverberate as their fans chanted, “One more song! One more song!”, eyes gleaming with joy, oblivious to the sweat dripping off of their brows, you’d know the feeling. It verges on the religious, brushes up against the spiritual...

Their sounds have been heard on WXDU, WXYC and WKNC, as well as numerous other stations.

The video of LiLa’s new single, “Group Therapy” was produced by a cutting edge Chicago group headed by Sam Hensen and Eva Grace.

“Group Therapy’s” message embodies the LiLa’s ethic: togetherness, unity, and strength in numbers. We are all in it together. The band’s refreshing sound spreads hip-hop energy across every genre. It focuses on the therapeutic, the relaxing, and the uplifting that is collectively achieved when rhythms align.

Check out the band’s new website filled with music, video footage, backstage photos, behind the scene highlights, biographical insights, and Faygo links. No fakeouts. Stay tuned for more news at the LiLa website and on the bands Twitter feed.

Their new Album drops December 2011. Pre-ordering starts November 1st.


Check out LiLa’s website here.

Check out LiLa’s Facebook page here.

Follow LiLa’s Twitter feed here.

Labels: Durham, music, Pop Culture

We are delighted to have enjoyed a second week of our new syndicated political cartoonist, Storey Clayton, and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover."

Check out his other works at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

We caught this strange and ugly scene on Bill Simmons vehicle, Grantland. Georgetown University and a local Chinese team, against whom they are playing an exhibition game, got in an ugly bench clearing brawl. It lasted less than a minute, but the visuals are disturbing. The crowd boos and throws plastic water bottles when the Georgetown team exits the court. Grantland links to the Washington Post's article here, which reads like a wire report: making no attempt at explanation or understanding. Just the facts ma'am.



Was there anything else going on beyond a roughly contested basketball game here? Anything regionally or locally that was relevant? Was their a strain of anti-Americanism here?



America ought be very careful about pissing off the Chinese holders of almost all of our sovereign debt.

Labels: college basketball, Ethically questionable, Politics, sports

photo courtesy of Durham Tweet-up

The recent Durham Food Truck Rodeo at the Farmer's Market was a rousing success. In fact, it was almost too much of a success. The trucks were mobbed.

Lines, in many cases, were thirty minutes or more for food. The trucks were not well spread out, so it was difficult to discern which line was for what truck. Also, some of the trucks were not prepared for such crowds and quickly ran out of their stock, though that was not so for Clarion Content faves, the Pie Pushers and Only Burger.

The food was fantastically diverse and delicious. The variety of offerings at a food truck rodeo is all but untoppable. The Durhamanians we spoke with were, by-in-large, pleased with the event, despite the crowds, a good time was had and the vibrant, happy, communitarian mood reflected it. And our sources say, that some of the truck owner-operators are meeting with Durham officials to discuss the issues that this rodeo faced organizationally and logistically due to the crowds.

There are more Durham food truck rodeos to come...and they will be even better.

Labels: Durham, food

This is the second week of our new syndicated political cartoonist. We are delighted to welcome Storey Clayton and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover." Check out his work at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

Silicon Valley billionaire and PayPal founder, Peter Thiel, has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create oil rig emulating, floating, libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine.



The idea is to create floating independent quasi-states beyond the reach of any one country's jurisdiction because they are in international waters. There is no information on how these colonies would cope with the growing movement toward international maritime law. This has been a hot button issue as the Empire has continued to have to combat marauding and piracy.



The prospective colonists hope to get around building codes, minimum wage laws and weapons restrictions according to Yahoo. No word on if they will be trying to circumvent tax codes, too, a racket perfected in island countries like Bermuda, the Caymans and Switzerland.¹



Stay tuned.



Read more here.



¹Also no word on how they would repel marauding bands of buccaneers should they appear over the horizon.

Labels: economics, Politics

What has been jamming in the Clarion Content offices all day?



This...









Special thanks to the Cota Flota channel for publishing this live video. Word is that LiLa's latest video is dropping Thursday, as in tomorrow. They are playing NC State's Wolfstock, opening for Girl Talk.

Labels: Durham, music, Pop Culture

This is the second week of our new syndicated political cartoonist. We are delighted to welcome Storey Clayton and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover." Check out his work at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

This is the second week of our new syndicated political cartoonist. We are delighted to welcome Storey Clayton and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover." Check out his work at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

You met her with stone eyes, even though your insecurities tried to melt them into wax. She looked down, smiled, and the rest went to rest. Now, with her legs, she envelopes you like a pearl in an oyster. Her soft cheek hugging your hard shoulder and it's woman and man. In the dark, her eyes are holes that you've learned to recognize. You know her by the sound of her breathing, by the weight of her hand on your happy trail, and by how her hair tickles your nose, but doesn't make you want to sneeze. You try to imprint on your brain how the pressure from her feels on your stomach, chest, and knees so you can call her to mind, physically, when you're alone. But you're disappointing yourself, because now you'll never be alone. Comfortable loneliness is not having any Body around and no thought of one either, and with her, that will never be actual . But right now, you're brazen. You're selfish. And don't know how and don't want to be satisfied. So, you explore her back with knuckles and callous fingers, nearly crying to God to turn the dead tips of them pink so you could feel her winding road. You realize how much of her thigh fits in your palm and how far up your hand can go until her breathing halts. Which inch makes her sigh, which centimeter makes her stretch out, and which itch she dies for you to get. As you skate on her skin up her neck, she reels back and her hair hits your face making a splash. Almost arrogantly, you move up further into her field of a black mane, and make a fist to pull it back. She looks at you and spaces out completely gone. Completely gone. Because she's found the man to pull her reins.

...by That Solid Old Man

Labels: fiction, Guest columns, That solid old Man

This is the second week of our new syndicated political cartoonist. We are delighted to welcome Storey Clayton and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover." Check out his work at the Blue Pyramid here.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

This is the first week of our new syndicated political cartoonist. We welcome Storey Clayton and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover." Check out his Clarion Content debut here.

We are please to introduce Duck (a duck) and Cover (a turtle) and their friends Rabbit and Dolphin (three guesses what they are). Laugh and weep as they discuss politics, economics, and the state of our State while making far too many obstreperous puns. Duck and Cover started in 2005 and has over 1,400 archived strips. Check out the last weeks' worth here in the Clarion Content's Politics section or read them all here at the Blue Pyramid.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

This is the first week of our new syndicated political cartoonist. We welcome Storey Clayton and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover." Check out his Clarion Content debut here.

We are please to introduce Duck (a duck) and Cover (a turtle) and their friends Rabbit and Dolphin (three guesses what they are). Laugh and weep as they discuss politics, economics, and the state of our State while making far too many obstreperous puns. Duck and Cover started in 2005 and has over 1,400 archived strips. Check out the last weeks' worth here in the Clarion Content's Politics section or read them all here at the Blue Pyramid.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

I remember watching The Craft with my older brother, when I was still too young to see Naomi Campbell manifest murder, rodents and insects with glee. Put simply, I was horrified, but insanely entranced. These girls were seriously cool.

Now, I will admit to being a victim of the teddy bear backpack as a child, thanks to the stylings of Alicia Silverstone and her girlfriends in the pop culture treasure that is "Clueless." (I know, I know, whatever.) I didn’t appreciate The Craft and the way these girls made goth look so cutting edge and stylish until now. This movie was made the same year Hot Topic went public---coincidence? I don’t think so.

Apparently some popular designers re-watched this cult classic recently as well. Low Luv X Erin Wasson, the jewelry line by the supermodel turned designer (and a favorite of high-profile designer Alexander Wang), laid out a summer 2011 collection featuring a focus on gold-leafed miniature bone charms that just screamed for a plaid skirt and white button down. In February, bondage, studded leather, and Courtney Love worthy mesh cut-outs took over runways from names such as Prabal Gurung, Thierry Mugler, Alexander McQueen, and Emanuel Ungaro.

Clearly this modern day goth couture is all a little more oversexed, but the fun cross between innocent and looking for trouble, that The Craft wardrobe crew pulled off over a decade ago, is how every day trendsetters are taking to the streets. Here are a few key pieces for your personal remake:


Full size image here.

Links clockwise, from top left (black blouse)

Black Lace Yoke Blouse, $15

Jeffrey Campbell Stardust Stud Boot, $188

Sideways Cross Necklace by Leviticus, $35

LoneDoveDress, $48

Low Luv X Erin Wasson Bone Hand Cuff, $125

House of Harlow Evil Eye Necklace, $70

Blank NYC Runyon Leather Shorts, $188

Aboot Town pale pink combat boots, $67

Crochet Away Thigh Highs in Gray, $18

Labels: Cady Childs columns, Fashion, Pop Culture

This is the first week of our new syndicated political cartoonist. We welcome Storey Clayton and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover." Check out his Clarion Content debut here.

We are please to introduce Duck (a duck) and Cover (a turtle) and their friends Rabbit and Dolphin (three guesses what they are). Laugh and weep as they discuss politics, economics, and the state of our State while making far too many obstreperous puns. Duck and Cover started in 2005 and has over 1,400 archived strips. Check out the last weeks' worth here in the Clarion Content's Politics section or read them all here at the Blue Pyramid.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor

This is the first week of our new syndicated political cartoonist. We welcome Storey Clayton and his comic strip, "Duck & Cover." Check out his Clarion Content debut here.

We are please to introduce Duck (a duck) and Cover (a turtle) and their friends Rabbit and Dolphin (three guesses what they are). Laugh and weep as they discuss politics, economics, and the state of our State while making far too many obstreperous puns. Duck and Cover started in 2005 and has over 1,400 archived strips. Check out the last weeks' worth here in the Clarion Content's Politics section or read them all here at the Blue Pyramid.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor, Middle East, Politics

We have spent years reading Duck & Cover at the Blue Pyramid, where it is still published by Storey Clayton, creator of The Blue Pyramid and its sophisticated, fascinating personality quizzes (e.g. The Book Quiz---a must click, don't miss out.) The Clarion Content is proud to be the first syndicator of this hilarious and insightful meta-political strip.

We are please to introduce Duck (a duck) and Cover (a turtle) and their friends Rabbit and Dolphin (three guesses what they are). Laugh and weep as they discuss politics, economics, and the state of our State while making far too many obstreperous puns. Duck and Cover started in 2005 and has over 1,400 archived strips. Check out the last weeks' worth here in the Clarion Content's Politics section or read them all here at the Blue Pyramid.

If for any reason the text is too small for you to read. Hit "ctrl" and "+" to expand it.

Labels: Duck and Cover, Economy, humor

Numbers cruncher extraordinaire, Nate Silver, made quite the statement on his blog, the 538, today, "Anti-incumbent sentiment is probably stronger now than at any point since polling began. We don’t know exactly how that is going to play out, and to some extent we are in uncharted territory."

We had not read anyone saying that this electoral season. We agree. What comes next?

Labels: 2012 presidential election, Politics, Predictions

Transformed

In a case out of the stuff of nightmare, five New Orleans cops were convicted in the killing of unarmed civilians in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One of the most amazing parts of the story is that the shooting spree, that left two unarmed victims dead and four others wounded (one of whom ultimate lost her arm), took place six days after city flooded. Six days! What does that say about the conditions in the area and the authorities? Law and order were clearly on the run, the cops were told that they were responding to a radio call of officers down and under fire at the Danziger Bridge.

Another detail that tells one just how far off of the civic rails things were at that moment in Louisiana, the 5-0 was rolling to the call in a Budget Rental truck. Literally. One of the officers was riding in the back of the box truck carrying his personal AK-47.¹ They jumped from the truck firing. According to reports, a family walking in search of food and supplies, the Bartholomews, ended up on the bridge that September day heading to a supermarket on the other side of the Industrial Canal that bifurcates the 9th Ward. The hail of New Orleans Police Department bullets killed seventeen year-old family friend James Brissette and wounded four other family members.²

Moments later, the cops open fire on two brothers, Lance and Ronald Madison, according to a Justice Department summary, one officer shot the mentally disabled Ronald Madison in the back as he ran away, another cop stomped and kicked him as he was lying on the ground before he died.

This is the small "c" conservative's nightmare, the state, who has its constituent citizens massively outgunned with its governmental arsenal, incidentally, paid for with tax dollars, turns its guns on the people in a climate of fear. This is the case for repealing the Patriot Act and eliminating the Department of Homeland Security. Guns in the hands of the state, while scary, is likely inevitable in a globalized society. Impunity to open fire on the citizenry, the presumption of guilt, is what must be fought at all costs.

In this federal courtroom, the officers ultimately lost when their fellow cops started to go state's evidence on them. As is so often the case, it was the cover-up that got them. Initially, it was not at all clear that the policemen were going to pay for this heinous incident. State of Louisiana murder and attempted murder charges were thrown out against the cops when the Criminal District Court ruled that the state had misused grand jury testimony. In a racially charged case and city, they were greeted by a cheering throng of supporters when they beat the rap.

The Clarion Content does not have enough information to make a definitive stand on one side or the other of this case on the basis of the facts. In a federal court, in front of juror of their peers these men were found guilty. We can only say that we are heartened that justice did not automatically pardon the powerful and armed against the dispossessed and unarmed. The presumption so often goes the other way.

¹Brady Bill anyone?

²After an initial cover-up, in later testimony it was revealed that the officers kept firing at the unarmed family as they cowered behind a bridge abutment. "The police just kept shooting and I just kept feeling myself being hit," testified Susan Bartholomew who lost her right arm.

Labels: cop stories, corruption, public protest

Picture credit to the kickass folks at Carpe Durham

The Clarion Content is delighted to introduce to you, dear readers, a new series by our culture columnist, Cady Childs, "Searching for Ringside." It is a fictional tale that follows the lives of four hip Durhamanians as they crisscross the Bull City, slipping in and out of its familiar haunts. The metamythical characters, Andrew, Vita, John and Megan, and their sordid but bemusing stories will resonate with those of you who carouse in Durham. We have been around and about and seen you out. Without further adieu, let Cady introduce to you the cast of "Searching for Ringside."


**********************************


Chapter I, "Introductions"

Typical southern July day- sticky, sticky hot, air so dense it made your eyes feel the way they do when they’re opened underwater too long, exposed to too much outside moisture. A baby skyline vies for attention toward the center of town, surrounded by old, impressive, stately architecture stretched between new parking decks, a minor league baseball stadium, and widened sidewalks. Bright boys in dark corners smirk at girls in strapless dresses walking the streets, their v-neck tees and tapered jeans wincing with them at the ladies lack of interest, and the cross-body purses bouncing back and forth on their hips, swaying in amusement and mockery of their bruised egos. Horn rimmed glasses squinted out at the newest and hottest bands, judging and listening with refined ears and money hungry eyes. Business professional loafers and pumps stampeded the streets from noon to one, one hour to reach one of four lunch spots, each pair patting itself on the back for grabbing a daily bite in the place nationally syndicated publications had just called ‘an undiscovered treasure.’ In the past five years, this little metropolis had gone from quaint and quirky to nuevo cool, big names writing about its amazing style, music, food, and uniqueness, good enough to rival any West Village corner.

Andrew is outside, drinking a steaming French press on the street tables at the café, alone in one hundred degree heat (he likes to make a point). He was too tall and lanky, but with big lips and light eyes, causing all the girls to peer over his shoulder to try and read what he was writing in the little black weathered notebook in his hands whenever they walked by (don’t tell anyone we told you this, but when he first bought the notebook, he got wine drunk and hit the leather cover with the empty bottle over and over, until it looked like his grandfather had given it to him, a family heirloom to train the best poets of their time, ensuring the girls who walked by him would see the cover and assume he was an undiscovered literary god. He assured himself it was really quite brilliant). He sat, contemplating life, and puffed on a Lucky Strike. A little boy crouching in front of the Mediterranean restaurant a few storefronts down stuck his tongue out at Andrew, who had waved his hand in front of his face to fan the smoke away from his pudgy, rosy visage. Andrew stuck his tongue back out at him, and tugged his white and navy striped v-neck tee down while he stood up, leaving his old cigarette butts in a neat little star-shape for the waitress to clean up instead of throwing them in the trash like a normal person would have. He thought she’d appreciate the irony of it.

Vita sat in the city’s hottest lunch spot, cruising the daily Gilt Groupe sales and making sure to take the daintiest sips possible of the chilled melon soup in front of her, a perfect contrast to the 90s punk inspired Leather+Pyramid Noir bracelet looped around her left wrist. She really just wanted to go home, get stoned and watch ‘Charmed’, but she had to make an appearance in at least one ‘place to be’ a day (and night, if it was Thursday, Friday, or Saturday) to maintain her air of unintentional elegance. Plus, there was a certain twenty-five to thirty something that kept coming in here on Wednesdays, and this happened to be a Wednesday, and she wanted him to notice her in the window, alone, in a very pretty pair of silk shorts and acid wash racerback tank, and think to himself, “That’s it. That’s what I’ve been anxious about all day- asking this girl out.” She pulled out a little lavender, hardcover journal, and unwrapped the wide white satin ribbon she tied around it to keep the magazine clippings neatly tucked away inside. Vita drank down her iced coffee, the last bit all water and vanilla syrup, and stood up for another refill, glancing out the window before ducking to the bar to make sure she didn’t miss the opportunity for him to see her framed in the glass.

John slid his tortoise shell ray-ban wayfarers over his nose, squinted at his phone while he looked through last night’s outgoing calls, and wondered who Eliza was, and why he called her for forty-five seconds at 1:47 A.M. Coffee. He needed Coffee. It was mid-morning, but it felt like dawn to his poor, dehydrated eyes. He walked out of his downtown apartment, an old converted factory made into hip, almost-like-you’re-in-Brooklyn, $1100 a month one bedrooms with lofted ceilings and walls so thin you could hear your neighbor’s every move. But it was a cool place, and he had even covered one wall in his bathroom with chalkboard paint. He liked to write really artsy, depressing quotes on it in big, scrawled cursive when he knew he was having company, so they could see his damaged soul. It was all very expressive. He grabbed that day’s New York Times out of his mailbox on his way out- he read it every morning, cover to cover. The whole process took about forty-five minutes, but he knew it made him look and sound a lot smarter than he actually was. With the paper under his arm, John turned on the new Arcade Fire album on his iPhone, it’s imitation bamboo case sticking to his fingertips in the velvet thick summer air. He stuck in his earbuds, and strutted down Main St., headed for the coffee & sandwich place in the center of town, checking out his daily twitter feed as he went.

Megan looked in the reflection of her review mirror- it was too early in the summer to be unhappy with her hair. She had the day off, and in a burst of spontaneity (not exactly a burst-she didn’t make plans, so one could say her life was a world of spontaneity, but she did squeal her tires to make a quick sharp right), headed for the top salon in town, praying they had a cancellation that day she could squeeze into. She had an assymetrical cut that looked badass three months ago, but now it was way past her shoulders and just made it look like her head was permanently cocked to one side. She lit a Marlboro Light and grabbed some scratched aviators out of her handbag as she sped down the side streets, marking her favorite shortcuts. She was from this place- she didn’t have to deal with all this new traffic in the center of town. She knew every secret turn in the county. Her head hurt. She’d spent the night before drinking whiskey with her guy friends, and they were hard to keep up with. Plus, her throat was soar from singing (screaming) along to The Naked and Famous while sketching in a small, spiral-bound red Mead notebook she kept by her bed. She could go back to her original intent of grocery shopping later (maybe), but she’d rather be hungry than bearing split ends.

Labels: Cady Childs columns, Durham, Pop Culture, Searching for Ringside

Durham's 9th Street, the heart of Duke's East Campus drag, has lost its comic book store. While we are accustom to the high turnover of the storefronts along 9th Street, Dogstar Tattoo for example recently decamped for Golden Belt, it was still sad to see Ultimate Comics go. The word is that Ultimate Comics moving to the Falconbridge Shopping Center on NC 54 near Mardi Gras Bowling. The 9th Street store has already shuttered its doors.

Labels: Durham

Thanks to Courtney Roskop for tweeting about this bemusing video. We like, we like. It shows just because one wears a furry Disney character get up, it doesn't mean one has to jettison one's hipness.

Labels: humor, music, Pop Culture

How do the Democrats feel about the debt deal and President Obama? These quotes are from Maureen Dowd's column in the New York Times...

Democratic lawmakers worry that the Tea Party freshmen have already “neutered” the president, as one told me. They fret that Obama is an inept negotiator. They worry that he should have been out in the country selling a concrete plan, rather than once more kowtowing to Republicans and, as with the stimulus plan, health care and Libya, leading from behind.

As one Democratic senator complained: “The president veers between talking like a peevish professor and a scolding parent.” (Not to mention a jilted lover.) Another moaned: “We are watching him turn into Jimmy Carter right before our eyes.”

Ouch!

Labels: 2012 presidential election, Politics

It has been eons since the Clarion Content has hit you, dear readers, with one of our Interesting Links columns, to check out the old ones, click here and scroll down.



The Clarion Content has been quite taken with Twitter since we signed on last year. We have found oodles of interesting links through the folks we follow on Twitter. You can check out the Clarion Content's Twitter feed here. One of the streams of thought that appeals to us on Twitter is small business people sharing their advice and experience with others. Twitter is an invaluable resource in this regard. Here are two interesting links from that realm.

The first is by Stella Fayman. It came to us from a Chicago twitterer named Caity Moran. Fayman's article delineates several core principles for building a personal brand. Far too many weighty and serious business tomes inveighing on this concept make the assumption that one intends to end up being Honda, Gucci or Yahoo. Fayman's analysis is much more personal and appropriate for the real world of the local businessperson. Build an identity centered around being consistent and true to your self, be helpful and kind, effort to make an impact on the community. Cogent and on the money, read the whole article here.

The second article came to us from a Durham twitterer who goes by the handle Quick Brown Foxes. It is an amazing analysis about the globalization and comodification of design and logo making. The Clarion Content is an avid follower of the debate raging over costs and benefits of the globalized economy. This isn't a Naomi Klein, No Logo, kind of screed. It is closer to the kind of thing Jeremy Rifkin predicted in his book The End of Work. He anticipated a world where Facebook is a multibillion dollar company, yet it need only employ 2,500 people. This article has yet another nuance on this debate, how crowdsourcers can commodify the work of formerly independent producers. It is written from ground level, rather than an academic perspective. In fact, the core of this essay was written as letter by a logo designer to a disgruntled customer. Read this excellent piece on here on Laurel's Design Deli.

Now much as we liked both of those pieces, we don't want to be all business here, so we had to decide where to next, sports or gore? Based on Oreo Cookie theory, we are going with gore.¹ Regular readers know that the Clarion Content's editors take special pleasure in truth trumping make-believe. How about a man who decapitated himself with a chainsaw? No, we are not kidding. Who kids about shit like that? Seriously?? It required engineering, exquisite timing, and a snooker table. Not to make light, but you gotta figure the dude who can pull all that together would have a lot to live for... Read the whole story here.

Okay, okay, happy thoughts, happy thoughts. How about the basketball crazy nation of the Philippines getting to see world-class NBA hoops? You didn't know the Philippines was basketball crazy? Why even in Durham you can find verification of that, we have a thriving Filipino community here: and they have their own Filipino basketball league. This article crossed our path thanks to Clarion Content fave Bill Simmons's new project Grantland. Rafe Bartholomew got the lowdown on a game that involved an international financier, Kobe, Durant, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, Derek Fisher, Tyreke Evans, James Harden, JaVale McGee, #2 pick Derrick Williams AND thousands and thousands Filipinos who paid only $8 per ticket. What a terrific story! Read it here on Grantland.

Th-th-th-thats all for now folks!!! We promise not to wait so long for our next installment of Interesting Links and Links of Interest.

¹Oreo Cookie theory states start with something positive and end with something positive. Herein: two positive articles about entrepreneurship, one article about beheading and a cool, upbeat story about bringing world class basketball to the Philippines.

Labels: interesting links, NBA, Pop Culture, sports, technology

Read Duck and Cover

at the Blue Pyramid.

Labels: 2012 presidential election, Duck and Cover, economics, humor, Politics, Pop Culture

Read Duck and Cover

at the Blue Pyramid.

Labels: Duck and Cover, humor, Politics, thought

Read Duck and Cover

at the Blue Pyramid.

Labels: Central Asia, Duck and Cover, humor

Read Duck and Cover

at the Blue Pyramid.

Labels: 2012 presidential election, constitutional issues, corruption, Duck and Cover, economics, humor, Politics

What, me, worry?

The Clarion Content could not disagree more with the assertion of the New York Times editorial page this morning that President Obama should have used the 14th Amendment to make an end run around Congressional obstructionists and unilaterally raise the debt ceiling. It is a suggestion straight out of the Dick Cheney playbook. It advocates that when checked by a legitimate institutional disagreement, presidential power should be expanded so that the executive can still get his or her way. It is the methodology of Empire and dictatorship, the road to ruin.¹

We are glad President Obama did not pursue this course.

We do not think that he made a great deal on the compromise to raise the debt ceiling. We disagree with kicking the problem further on down the road, by appointing a bogus, super-committee to make the hard decisions Congress has been putting off for a generation.² President Obama already ignored the recommendations of his own deficit committee.

We are in no way impressed by President Obama's facetious claim that the Bush II tax cuts for the uber-rich will go away in 2013. Firstly, Obama would have to get re-elected, his prospects look pretty dismal right now. Secondly, he would have to keep his promise to let the tax cuts end, something he has not managed to do in his first term.

Bottomline on the debt deal, typical Washington, an ugly boiler room compromise that solves nothing and only delays the reckoning. It highlights the desperate need for a third party to break the political gridlock.

Obama was right about one thing change is coming, the only question left is the agent. If not Obama...this month has highlighted some of the more extreme alternatives.


¹President Obama has already showed his willingness to follow the Bush II-Cheney guide to concentrating power in the Executive Branch. Signing statements, extraordinary Presidential Czars, Afghan policy, etc.

²Nothing stops progress from happening like a committee.

Labels: 2008 presidential election, 2012 presidential election, constitutional issues, economics, Politics

Last month we wrote about and photographed the leveling of two houses on Chapel Hill Road. We expressed our concern about what the site was going to be used for next. A local reader picked up the Yates Baptist Church bulletin and alerted us to the plan to expand the church parking lot. We were grateful. And while we are generally not, "pro-blacktop," we at least believe the church's intentions to be honorable. In fact, their newsletter specifically mentions their desire to be good stewards and good neighbors,

"Being good neighbors in our community is an important witness for Jesus Christ. The House and Grounds Committee met last night to make plans to clear the property of unsightly and overgrown brush. This fall, when the weather isn’t so hot, they will begin to plant shrubs to create a privacy line between our property and our new next door neighbor. I can envision a beautiful space that reminds people of a park where children can play, families can have picnics, and the congregation can enjoy on days like Homecoming...once the House and Grounds Committee creates a plan for converting this space into something we can be proud of, I want to encourage the church to support their recommendation and approve the necessary funding to do the work. Allowing this space to remain and become even more overgrown with weeds, brush, and volunteer trees will lure people to be engaged in all kinds of illegal activity. We don’t want to be known in a neighborhood as the neighbor that has the most unkempt space on the street. Rather, we should take this as an opportunity to be good neighbors prompting those who live on our street to have a favorable impression of us."

Labels: Durham

The NFL's free agency flurry like many rushed decision-making processes is filled with gaffes.

We think that the Cardinals are out of their collective gourds to give up a good cover corner for the unproven Kevin Kolb, a guy who has had exactly one, big success in a meaningful game in his career to-date. Why were the Eagles and offensive guru Andy Reid so ready and willing to part with guy?

And what is up with everyone fawning of the Patriots and Belichek's swooping in and grabbing aging past their prime, big name guys? How well did that work for them with Junior Seau? In fact, what are they the new Raiders? Not only are they going old, but they are going with old dudes who are known to have bad or disruptive attitudes. When was the last time they had success doing following this route? Corey Dillon in 2004? Guess, one could argue that it worked with Randy Moss...

Anyway, we are not buying it this time.

Labels: NFL, sports

The New York Times killed President Obama for his compromise on raising the debt ceiling. While we do not view it in the apocalyptic terms of the NY Times editorialists, we do think it was a bad deal, typical Washington, a messy compromise that solves nothing and postpones addressing the real issues and root causes.

The NY Times sees it even more harshly than that, "

...the deal itself, given the available information, is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America’s long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status. ...It is, of course, a political catastrophe for Democrats, who just a few weeks ago seemed to have Republicans on the run over their plan to dismantle Medicare; now Mr. Obama has thrown all that away. And the damage isn’t over: there will be more choke points where Republicans can threaten to create a crisis unless the president surrenders, and they can now act with the confident expectation that he will.

In the long run, however, Democrats won’t be the only losers. What Republicans have just gotten away with calls our whole system of government into question. After all, how can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless, to threaten the nation’s economic security, gets to dictate policy? And the answer is, maybe it can’t."

Labels: 2012 presidential election, media, Politics