Hua Hsu

What's still interesting and valid in futurism is just a desire to make and hear something, and combine and synthesize things that will produce new sensations, new feelings, new rhythms. That's the core of futurism for me, not some fantasy of how the future is going to be. The minute you hear someone trying to get squiggly with a guitar, you can't help but see a fucking guitarist doing it. But a synth, because the sound is more abstract, because it's not made by…… More »

When Francis Fukuyama declared an end to history, he inexplicably failed to foresee that from the rubble of the Soviet Union would emerge Roman Abramovich, whose entrenchment of the absolute dominance of money over football would one day cause us to ask again, as we often did before history's death was greatly exaggerated, whether it is fair that some are vastly richer and more powerful than others.A thoughtful and delightfully verbose op-ed from the Evening…… More »

Some random links (many of which are probably days, weeks, even months old):-For many it is a time of austerity. For Monocole, it's an opportunity to rethink retail. (The Monocole issue is subscriber-only; this link takes you to PSFK's excellent marketing/ideas blog.)-Also at Monocole, and related to my earlier post on limited edition culture: a limited edition book (by Alain de Botton) on the pleasures/sorrows of work.-Finally: a worldwide platform for those who…… More »

Each Thursday, we'll highlight some of our favorite mixes and podcasts. Our first installment:(Maybe Manny just found out about steroids? It's possible.)-Jared Boxx of Big City/Bumpshop brings you the "Fillmore Remixes"-Kid Inquisitive of the Soul Persuasion blog with some of the finest cuts in the history of Bay Area soul: "The Bay is Deep" … More »

For me the sight of the red London buses is what my first thoughts of England were. My nieces and nephews would love to play on one, so I'm going to buy one for them.- Cristiano Ronaldo (from yesterday's Fiver)We tolerate the enigmatic when they leave us the option to condescend in their general direction. That's just "Manny being Manny." Even arrogance leaves us stunned, the guard with "no conscience" or the batter who grins and winks at the opposing hurler. But…… More »

I recently bought a copy of Anthony Grafton's Codex in Crisis for no reason other than the fact that the binding was hand-sewn and the colophon indicated that I was holding copy number 285 out appeared to be a very limited run. I had little intention of actually reading the thing.… More »

Exactly who you thought it would be.… More »

Hi. Still un-bubblewrapping things over here. Until the official launch, a preview of next week: Jeff Chang on the "Creativity Stimulus" A novel way to get people to buy books: The Crumpled Press Monday is a very important date in the history of modern China. Replies to Mark Taylor's call to "end the universe as we know it." I mean university. How many copies did Asher Roth sell again? Happy May Day.… More »

The Election of Barack Obama is just the most startling manifestation of a larger trend: the gradual erosion of “whiteness” as the touchstone of what it means to be American. If the end of white America is a cultural and demographic inevitability, what will the new mainstream look like—and how will white Americans fit into it? What will it mean to be white when whiteness is no longer the norm? And will a post-white America be less racially…… More »