Commerce

Pussy as in The Pussycat Dolls.

Do y'all remember this bit of madness? Well, this is the first time I agree with those crazy fundamentalist groups.

Girls already have to contend with the incredibly screwed up messages of Barbie and the Bratz dolls. Why would anybody think it's OK to sell dolls of strippers to six year-olds?

[via MTV News - Hasbro Decides Not To Stickwit Pussycat Dolls Toy Line]:

On Wednesday, less than a month after first announcing plans for a line of dolls based on the sexy sirens, Hasbro has announced its decision to shelve the figures indefinitely, declaring them "inappropriate" for young consumers because the act is targeted toward a more mature audience.

"Hasbro will not move forward with the line of dolls based on the Pussycat Dolls," a statement from the toy manufacturer reads. "[PCD's label] Interscope's current creative direction and images for the group are focused on a much older target than we had anticipated at the time of our original discussions, thereby making a doll line inappropriate for Hasbro."

A spokesperson for Hasbro declined further comment.

Maybe I got it wrong before, and moving school nurses to mega-grocery stores is a good idea?

I didn't see the disaster-preparedness angle when I wrote:

We're getting one of these fancy food-clinic combos in my state, right in Miami where school corruption is a more popular sport than football and jai alai put together. Miami is the perfect place to play around with anything that disadvantages schoolkids to generate ill-gotten profits for greedy grownups.

So now I'm thinking, what's best for kids if their school can't be accessed, maybe isn't there at all?

Where are we wiser to place expensive institutional electric generators, to avoid Katrina-scale misery -- in schools or grocery stores?

It could be that South Florida culture is doing something smart for survival preparedness even if they didn't exactly plan it that way, haven't recognized it and never admit it.

HURRICANE SEASON
By Elaine Walker

The next time a major hurricane strikes South Florida, shoppers should be able to find their local Publix stocked with milk, cheese and ice even before the power returns.

I've been on one of those procrastinating funks this past week, not looking forward to the pain and misery of the possible Alito non-debate on the Senate over his nomination/confirmation. That's why I've been voogling and trolling the net for some good ol'mashups. I was hoping to find a lot of stuff with Lisa Stansfield since she is so discoey.

Jesusfruggingskipes in a handbasket.

It looks she has unleashed her attack lawyers on most of what is on the net. Thankfully, she hasn't come across Steve Lima ... or, if she has, seems his message of Shame on hold got through. It's a Lisa Stansfield and Evelyn Champagne mashup like none other.

This is why exclusivity copyrights are so damaging to building our humanity. They take away a part of our bodies and souls, our ideas, from the soft currency of culture and turns them into hard currency of capital; turning us, the producers, instead into commodities that in turn can be owned and traded as well.

Getting paid for one's fair share of labor is one thing. Turning ideas and expressions into cash with closed down copyrights is bad for not just for cultural production, but for our own souls as well.

Steve shows with his Futuro Mashups page what a soul warrior sounds like. Some notables:

Stoned Floyd
This one ought to be considered a masterpiece.
Conceptually, it's flawless.

What's Goin On(Unfinished)
What Cindy Sheehan has done for the anti-war
movement, Steve has done for the ultimate
anti-war song.

Free Love Child
Diana Ross and Nate? You don't have to be
a dancing queen to love how seemless they
sound here.

Born to Vertigo
The most perfectly illegal use of U2's music;
Negativland be damned.

Not only have these songs been given a new life, but they've gained a cultural significance that was not there until these mashups were created. Stoned Floyd is the perfect example of how two seemingly disparate songs from the same era come together stylistically when circulated for their enjoyment by people like me, hungry for the old to be new again.

In other words, there is nothing, and I mean, nothing like giving some things away for free and with no strings attached. Prestige but more importantly cultural currency are some things that money can't truly buy.