Poplicola

New York Times Columnist Line of the Day

If you’re one of the three people who reads this here premier “web log ,” you may once in a blue moon have checked out the New York Times op-ed page. You might even recognize the names of the columnists, who every day spout the most conventionally wise of the conventional wisdom. This is a feature that is dedicated to these folks, highlighting one line that is either funny, ridiculous, strange, or actually intelligent or well-written. Today’s is from Thomas Friedman, who in his column today “What to do with the Twin?” writes: The post-Saddam generation of...

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Pepe Has a Case of the Mondays: Day Five Review/ Day Six Preview

An eventful Monday began just 10 minutes after noon, when João Pereira brought down Mario Götze in the Portuguese 18 yard box, conceding a penalty and drawing a yellow card for his troubles. A little over fifteen minutes later, Portugal’s striker Hugo Almeida grabbed his hamstring and exited the match, swiftly followed by another German goal — this tally from Mats Hummels — and then, well, Pop covered this yesterday: What you can’t see from that angle is the referee staring directly at them as it occurs, nor the incident that preceded it, for which this was...

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Quick Take: Portugal’s Pepe Gets Himself Red Carded for Being Stupid

Portguese midfielder Pepe just got himself red-carded for head-butting German attacking midfielder Thomas Muller. https://vine.co/v/MIdTOXbzzTe DID PORTUGAL\’S PEPE HEADBUTT THOMAS MÜLLER OR FORCE HIM TO JOIN THE ILLUMINATI? #WorldCup2014 pic.twitter.com/3Lnh2Io5Lz — STOP THE ILLUMINATI (@Illuminati_Stop) June 16, 2014 That makes three remarkably stupid red cards so far in this tournament, but this one might be the dumbest. That said, this is good for Team USA, as Portugal were favorites before, but no longer.

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V+V 2014 Summer Jams Party in the Back Time Chapter V is for Victory

Welcome back to the V+V 2014 Summer Jams party. It has not gone unnoticed that this years’ contenders have been, for a lack of a better term, not as bad-ass as they could be. Sure, there’s some good tracks, performed by some talented musicians, and sure, some of them have been bad-ass to an extent. But, let’s throw one out there especially rocks. I’ve always said that if you like guitars you like Mastadon, so here’s one that just came out (off their upcoming album “Once More Around the Sun,” dropping 6/24), and I’ll even say, it’s for the nerds...

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Watch: President Bush gets older, falls from the sky

For his 90th birthday, President George H. W. Bush was more bad-ass than any of you pip-squeaks, in that he once again went sky-diving. His landing, though, wasn\’t the best: Mr President, you’re going to need to do better if you want to get your Pilotwings A License. Just kidding. I’m in no position to give advice. I certainly ain’t jumping out of the sky anytime soon. You know, on account of how I’m a big wuss.

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What we learned from Cantor’s loss and what it means

Yesterday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost the Republican primary in his district in Virginia. It’s the first time since 1899 that a sitting House majority leader lost reelection, and probably the firs time ever it was because of a primary. That’s mostly because primaries as the democratic vehicles we know them as us a relatively new invention of the past few decades. So, you’d think with such a newsy event that seems historical, there would be a lot to write about it. What lessons have we learned? How does this “titanic” political shift change the landscape? OMG WHAT DOES...

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V+V 2014 Summer Jam Party Time Excellent Episode IV A New Hope

Welcome back to the V+V 2014 Summer Jam Party. For our fourth installment, here are a couple more songs vying for 2014 Official V+V Summer Jam. First, here’s Sia, who you may recognize from her having written a ton of huge hits for all kinds of pop artists, with her new single “Chandelier.” This one you could swear was one of those, until you realize it’s her singing, and her performance especially in the chorus weighs similar to getting hit by an out-of-control semi. Next is “Reflections” from MisterWives, which is so catchy I feel like I must have heard it before....

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Today in History: The Sex Pistols play a poorly-attended show in Manchester

Today (June 4) marks the date in 1976 that the Sex Pistols played a show at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. There were only about 35-40 people there (the space was big enough to hold hundreds), but it’s considered still one of the most important concerts in music history. Why? Well, there’s this: “We know that Morrissey was there, who went on to form the Smiths. We know that the lads who went on to form the Buzzcocks were there because they organised the gig. We know that two lads from Lower Broughton were there...

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V+V Summer Jam Super Fun Time Party Part Three3Three

Here we are, back again for another installment of our V+V Summer Jam Party. I just noticed that our first episode’s star, Fancy, is now at the top of the charts, so we’re doing some good work here. It just got super dark outside, and looks like some weather is going to fall, so I have to admit that it’s a little strange to be right now picking out what Summer Jams™ you guys are going to be rocking out to this summer. But never fear; I’m sure we can do it. Today’s track is “Rather Be” by Clean...

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V+V 2014 Summer Jam Party Part Deux

Here we are back again, trying to figure out which of this year’s super summer jams can be the Official V+V 2014 Summer Jam. In this installment, we’ll bring another couple jams that most people wouldn’t listen to together. Just a note: I heard “Fancy” on the radio at the liquor store yesterday, so either I’m really good at this or really bad at this. Anyways, first off, here’s Lily Allen, who apparently is now back to making music. Sure, the young woman sort-of-alternative pop scene’s a little crowded, with Azealia Banks, Lorde and Lana Del Ray...

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