Opening Sat. Sept. 27: James Adelman

O P E N I N G   S A T U R D A Y   S E P T.   2 7  C H A M P A G N E    S E R V E D   5 - 1 0 P M  JamesAdelman: UnResolved   * 3 above images are oil on board  48" x 48" James Adelman possesses astonishing illustrative skills and a technique that is all his own. His second solo exhibition at Gallery 51 Opens Saturday September 27. This exhibition will feature large scale oil paintings as well as works on paper, sketches and studies. To see more work by James Adelman please visit www.Gallery51.org Watch a time-lapse of the August 9th Photography Opening on YouTube!                              Click HERE, or copy and paste the link below:  http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=9PHBAgEvr-U 51 Church Street | Montclair, NJ 07042 | 973.744.4484 | info@gallery51.org

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A Beginner's Guide to "No Homo"

Lawlz! I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this. Expect to see more videos from Jay Smooth posted here in the future. -HR

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Sinking to New Depths

You knew that McCain and the GOP were in trouble this year when Karl Rove started criticizing them for putting out ads, "that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent-truth test." Think about how low you have to sink to have your integrity and the veracity of your statements questioned by Turd Blossom. The mind boggles.

But apparently the McCain campaign decided that running false ads, choosing an unqualified VP, and creating lame distractions isn't going to be enough to carry the day. It looks like the GOP is jumping in their wayback machine for a "what's old is new again" dirty trick: voter disenfranchisement.

There's been a lot of talk about disenfranchisement in Florida during the 2000 election, but the GOP seems to have decided to expand their program. Naturally, after the Michigan GOP got cold busted in the cynical and, dare I say, downright unAmerican attempt to stifle voting rights; they immediately started backpedaling but still admitted to using other tactics and techniques to suppress voter turnout.

Thankfully our man in the field, Senator Obama, has directed his campaign to file suit over the disgusting practice of using foreclosure lists to keep people from voting. It also looks like slightly more mainstream media outlets are starting to pick up on the story as well.

When the GOP wonders why there aren't more Black Republicans, they would do well to remember this kind of shit and how it looks to us African-Americans.

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Steampunk is Dead?

Who knew Steampunk was even alive? I had heard of Steampunk a while back and had even seen some examples via TechRepublic and the like. Still, steampunk struck me as one of those esoteric trends that gets endlessly jocked by the hipsterati only to be dissed minutes later by someone trying to burnish their too cool for this universe credentials. In this particular case, at least the folks declaring the trend dead did it with a wink and a nod.

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The Beautiful Struggle

I've been in the tank for Ta-Nehisi Coates since the first time I read his blog a few months ago. In addition to bringing a strong voice new voice to the Blogosphere, TC is the only blogger (that I'm aware of) that has seen fit to bless me with a link. I hold tight to that link as a soupçon of legitimacy for my blogging. Herr Coates just published his first book earlier this year, The Beautiful Struggle and I finally got a chance to read it.

I'm gonna try not to get too caught up in a bunch of superlatives here, but the book is damn good. Even though I'm a few years older than TC and we had vastly different upbringings, I knew that as a Black man and an aspiring writer this book was going to have something to say to me. I read the book in two sittings; after I woke up from a nap today I read the first half while enjoying a couple of hours home alone and then after I put BabyRat to bed I finished it off. I think the last book I devoured like this was the Godfather.

What struck me about this book was that it seems like a spiritual companion to so many other great coming of age stories, both real and fictional. Even though I want every Black man and boy in America to read this book, I hope that others who didn't grow up Black or in an urban environment will read this book and find some reflection of themselves and their life in TC's words.

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Friday Night Links

On the music front, I'm all about Santogold right now. Here's a video for the song L.E.S. Artistes, totally badass.

Interested in Google Chrome? Via Twitter, I found a guy named Matt Cutts who seems to have a lot of good background information if you're interested.

Are you ready for some football? I sure as hell am.

How does a Playboy Playmate allow herself to get impregnated by David Spade?

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