OriginalSpin

I'm sure I'm not the first person to 'Shop this. But still...fun!

Nick Adler:

"Look, there are a couple factors. First, with Asian Americans you're looking at a demographic that's experiencing massive growth and that's been neglected as an audience for a long time. MTV, that was created for and caters to a certain audience. BET, that was created for and caters to a certain audience. No one ever said, 'Hey, there's this Asian American audience out there, and they speak English, and they were born and raised here, and they listen to music.' So then YouTube came along. And all of a sudden, artists could speak to people directly. Guys like Ryan Higa, he has millions of followers, and when he puts a video up, he gets 10 million hits. You look at that, and you say, 'There's an audience.' There's a clear path there. But Far East Movement, they were the first artists to really break through on the back of that [YouTube] audience — because they weren't like most artists who say, 'Hey, I gotta go do YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, because that's what you do if you're an artist.' That's where they're from. They were doing that from day one."

Speaking on a panel called "From the Blocks to the Blogs," described as follows:

Since the social media burst in 2004, Hip Hop Industry tastemakers and artists have embraced these platforms as an essential tool to connect with fans and to extend their brand. These early adaptors learned to engage fans, disseminate content and create brand awareness. What are the new trends and next steps for Hip Hop and social media?

I've been having a somewhat spirited email conversation with colleagues who've been dismissive about the implications of the New iPad (that's what it's called — no numbers, no letters. Just iPad). 

My take: I think they're missing exactly what kind of a milestone the New iPad represents. 

When I look at the New iPad, I see Apple reaching a point where they're starting to turn off the oxygen taps on the other players in the (non-money-losing) tablet market — I'm absenting Amazon Fire and B&N Nook here, because both companies sell their product at breakeven or loss in the hopes of earning revenues on subsequent media sales. 

The argument for this oxygen deprivation is clear on the consumer-facing side: To paraphrase the always insightful Farhad Manjoo over at Slate, Apple is playing a "just out of reach" game with its rivals, where they're continually introducing product that's a half-generation ahead of the competition, while dropping the price on the parity product to a price the rest of the field can't hope to match. The New iPad does that in spades: iPad 2 was a faster, thinner iPad 1, but the New iPad's Retina Display makes it a unique product in the tablet category, and it's priced at exactly the same as the last generation. Which is now being discounted by roughly 25%. No air.

But it's even more clear on the supply side, where Apple has put billions of dollars down to lock up key components: microprocessors, cameras and especially the Retina Display screens themselves, making it impossible or impractical from a marginal standpoint for its rivals to even build a comparable product at scale. In fact, they might not be able to for intellectual property reasons as well: Display genius and Apple engineering director John Zhong owns the key patent on screens with Super High Aperture pixels — a critical innovation preventing crosstalk and distortion in screens with ultra-high pixel density, like the Retina Display. No air there either. 

What does this mean? Well, from this point, with tablets on course to surpass traditional PC sales in the next few years, we'll need to think of Apple's hold on the coming generation of computing as metaphorically equivalent to Microsoft's dominance of the trad PC...except much, much more potent.

Because Apple designs its own processors. It owns its own online app and media store. It owns its own B&M retail environment. And it owns the world's biggest online payments infrastructure, as defined by number of active credit cards on file. 

No air.

Unless it's Apple-scented air.

Celebrity Apprentice Season 5, Season Premiere Recap (on Wall Street Journal Online)

Celebrity Apprentice Season 5, Episode Two Recap (on Wall Street Journal Online)

[Due to illness, this week's didn't make it in time for the Wall Street Journal's window of freshness. But here it is in full anyway! The Internetz is awesome!]

Your humble recapper was struck down with a bout of the flu this weekend — no, not Linfluenza, although the horror that was the Knicks' ugly OT loss to the hated Men in Green on Sunday did make me sick to my stomach — and so apologies, your weekly dose of Celebprenticillin is a day late.

For the men's team, it's also $20,000 short, since, spoiler alert! Team Unanimous actually tanks a task this time out, giving the women of Team Forte a much-needed win after a pair of crushing defeats. The previous losses have pared Forte down to a svelte six, versus the Team Uni's excessively confident eight; however, it's clear that this has been a case of addition by subtraction, as the termination of low-energy Cheryl Tiegs and glowering gargoyle Victoria Gotti seems to have put a new spring in the ladies' step. Lisa Lampanelli seems particularly buoyant after heaving nemesis Gotti back into the fires of Tartarus from whence she came. "That was fun," she croons. "That was a good time."

Who's on the bubble for a Trump kick in the rump this week? Ironically, the two contestants who step in as project managers for this week's action. For Unanimous, it's George Takei, who's looked distracted and vaguely out of place so far this season, as if he'd accidentally wandered into a weird parallel dimension. OMG, in this universe, Spock has a moustache! And Lisa Lampanelli doesn't! That's a joke, Lisa! 

For Forte, it's Dayana Mendoza, who narrowly escaped being eliminated last time out after complaining about having nothing to do except be incredibly hot, with a sexy little Venezuelan accent, and oh, those lips, those teeth, that smile! Stop complaining, Day-Day!

When this week's mission is announced, it's clearly been hand-crafted to give the girls a chance to get some mojo back: The two teams each have to design, build and populate a pair of "living window displays" to show off Trumpspawn Ivanka's spring 2012 fashion line at the flagship New York branch of department store Lord & Taylor. The girls have an obvious edge, since most of the men's team does not wear women's clothing! But wait, the men's team isn't going into this duel unarmed: They have the gays. And Arsenio Hall, also. Who, as Hall has pointed out himself dozens of times in just the first two episodes, is super-duper-UN-gay, but — as Takei points out — is a "man of elegance and style, but also panache. He's amaaaazing." Don't read between the lines, people. Hall: Panache, yes. Gay? Not even a cinnamon-latte sprinkle!

But hey, Clay A. and Takei? Gay as a day in May! And so, the men have a fighting chance! Aiken declines the offer to project manage, but Takei, vociferously presenting his credentials ("I'm gay! I'm gay! I'd like to think I have good visual sense!") takes up the challenge. Which prompts the Moustache King to breathe a sigh of relief. "Me, I'm definitely in the dark," says American Chopper's Teutel. "I'm not a clothes kind of guy. Pair of boots, underwear and socks, I'm good to go." Arrrgh, the mental image, it burns!

Over on the double-X side of the dime, Dayana Mendoza snags the P.M. tiara from the clutches of Real Housewife Teresa Giudice, who's loudly proclaiming her fitness for the gig. "Fashion is my background," she says. "I went to school for fashion!" The other ladies pretend not to hear! Fortunately for Team Forte, there's no flippable furniture within reach.

The mission itself presents complications for both celebrisquads. First of all, even gayed-up Team Unanimous seems at a loss for ideas. "Our gay teammates weren't much help," grouses Arsenio Hall. "It seems they weren't the right kind of gay."

So leave it to the least gay guy on the show to step up to the fashion plate! "Let me be in the process of choosing clothes — I'm really good at dressing women," Hall says. Bring the panache, dawg! He's joined by Aiken and Takei himself, who look on with awe at the refined taste and kicky aesthetic of their so-straight-you-could-use-him-as-a-ruler colleague.

Adam Carolla, Paul Teutel, Lou Ferrigno and Michael Andretti — whose ninjitsu reality-show strategy seems to involve wearing dark colors and standing very, very still — are assigned the high-testosterone "build" portion of the mission: They'll construct the set on which the living window display will take place.

Dee Snider, meanwhile, is sent to the doctor’s office for a checkup on the finger he ganked in last week’s Dork Ages-themed episode. He frets about being booted because of his gimpiness (rightly so: Arsenio Hall calls Snider the “one-armed guy from The Fugitive” and wonders multiple times whether the heavy metal madman can keep up with his arm in a sling, or if he should just be taken out and shot).

Anyway, the guys’ take on the assignment is pretty much the reflexive response of any (straight) guy to a situation involving wimmenstuff: Sexy twins! Can’t go wrong with Doublemint, amirite? (Maybe if we pretend we’re not looking, they’ll, like, start making out!) The guys decide that the two windows will show the versatility of the Ivanka Trump line, leveraging their cloned assets by creating identical tableaux, one by day and one by night.

The girls, led by an energized Aubrey O’Day, imagine an elaborate setup in which an army of models will represent every hour of the day (O’the Day?) to form a “clock of empowered womanhood.” O’Day’s bogarting of the mission leads a snappish Debbie Gibson to say the exercise, and maybe the whole series, is becoming “The Aubrey Show.” However, she also acknowledges that O’Day has been kicking serious butt – and proves herself the contestant to beat once again this episode, when multiple crises strike in sequence. The original idea (also engineered by O’Day) collapses due to the realization that a 13 by 10 retail window can’t possibly hold the fashion equivalent of the Tournament of Roses Parade. Their backup plan, suggested by O’Day, is to use Ivanka’s original sketches in one window and photographs of finished designs in the other. But after a day of painstaking shooting of product, with minutes to go before the grand unveiling, the photos (which O’Day was responsible for bringing down from the studio) are nowhere to be found! Totes not her fault – the box was mysteriously empty! So O’Day springs into action again, proposing a backup backup plan involving something something something smoke and mirrors. Hey, at this point they have five minutes left!

Fortunately, the lollapalooza of unforced errors on the part of the ladies is nothing compared to the leaden, lackadaisical work of the dudes. Our Man George wanders through scenes, letting his deputies – Carolla and Hall – pretty much do as they like. It’s clear from jump street that, as Trumpspawn Eric notes, this project will be a “referendum on George.” So when the curtains pull back on Team Unanimous’s windows, and the clothes on the twinsie models look like they were randomly selected from a hobo’s ragbag, it’s not Arsenio Hall’s fault, it’s George’s. And when the background color of one of the scenes is so dark that the setting looks like London during the Blitz, it’s not Adam Carolla’s fault, it’s George’s.

And when everybody ends up in the boardroom and the ladies are finally announced as the winners, George decides to take one for the team, with the dignity and grace of a samurai falling on his sword. “Ultimately, the leader has to take the responsibility,” he says, his voice even.

“You know who has the most respect for you, George?” says Donald Trump. “Donald Trump. But George, you’re fired. And you’re a terrific man.”

George is gone! “I only regret I couldn't do more for the Japanese American National Museum,” he says as he heads to the Loser’s Limo. Hey, but the show’s two mentions of the Japanese American National Museum are approximately two mentions more than JANM has ever had on primetime TV! So even if he’s lost the game, he’s won a moral victory?

And with that, Takei is loaded into a photon torpedo bay and shot into the icy vacuum of reality show also-ran-hood. Do “Dancing With the Stars” next, George!

That’s it for this week. Tune in next Monday for another madcap recap of Celebrity Apprentice – now with 100% less Sulu!

***

Takei wasn’t available for comment – he was appearing in a nonprofit fundraiser called Broadway Backwards last night – but his husband, Brad Takei, was quick to note that his firing didn’t represent the end of the story: “George and Donald are scheduled to get together to discuss marriage equality!” says Brad. (“Think of it this way: More Victoria’s Secret models for the straight guys, Don….”)

Takei also appeared on yesterday’s Today show and on Ellen DeGeneres, who hired George to hawk show merchandise to the studio audience. Takei raised a hot $335 for an animal rescue charity. But that’s hardly where Takei’s fundraising chops have shown up most: He put a project he’s been developing for years, a musical about the Japanese American internment called “Allegiance,” on IndieGoGo looking for $50,000 in production funds, which will go toward the show’s world premiere at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, Ca. With 17 hours left, “Allegiance” has raised over $150,000! Eat your heart out, Celebrity Apprentice. Check it out (and donate what you can, if you can).

Here's the link. And a quote:

There are dozens of initiatives President Obama could undertake to strengthen our economic security. Here is one: He should enter into closed-door negotiations with Chinese leaders to write off the $1.14 trillion of American debt currently held by China in exchange for a deal to end American military assistance and arms sales to Taiwan and terminate the current United States-Taiwan defense arrangement by 2015. 

This would be a most precious prize to the cautious men in Beijing, one they would give dearly to achieve. After all, our relationship with Taiwan, as revised in 1979, is a vestige of the cold war.

Wow. As if abandoning our allies and strategic commitments without cause or explanation weren't abhorrent enough, to suggest doing so in exchange for cash fundamentally demeans our country's values and ideals. (Imagine if he'd suggested selling Israel in exchange for a trillion in free oil?)

Ironically, the writer, Paul Kane, is an Iraq War vet. Thanks for your service, Mr. Kane, but you learned the wrong lesson from that misguided adventure....which will have cost us three times your bargain-label price for Taiwan by the time we finally leave.

James Fallows's equally aghast take here: Is This NYT Op-Ed a Joke? Selling Taiwan to the Bankers of Beijing—The Atlantic

And, of course, the Taiwanese animators of NMA:

(It should be noted that this conversation occurred after Schugel had sent his undercover "I-Team" crew to New York, where they investigated the premises with a hidden camera and, naturally, found no trace of dogs being consumed, butchered or sold.)

Now, those of you who are familiar with Chinese accents already know what's going on here. Yep, the worker was saying that they sold "duck" meat — ducks, "not for pets, but for eating." Because what kind of an idiot would go to a butcher shop to buy a pet? 

But that didn't stop Schugel and WCCO from highlighting the piece as a major story both on broadcast and on the web — until the real story came out and the station hastily pulled the online stream. The Asian American Journalists Association's Minnesota chapter has asked the station and reporter for an apology and explanation; none has so far been forthcoming. 

As usual, there's a much bigger concern here than just a single erroneous report. This is a case of a journalist going into a story with a clear agenda in mind: He wanted to uncover proof of dogs being eaten by Chinese people. Probably not because of any desire to slander Chinese; to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was likely motivated by the desire to "break" a big and shocking story. But the rationale for Schugel's lack of appropriate journalistic skepticism is moot. The fact is, when an initial — and expensive — foray didn't obtain the evidence he wanted, he pushed until he got support for the conclusion that would generate the most reaction.

Did he consult with experts in Chinese culture, cuisine or immigrant communities? Doesn't seem like it. And given the obvious probability that a language barrier would exist between the Kansas City, MO-raised Schugel and his prospective source, did he seek out the services of a translator to communicate in his over-the-phone interview? Nope. 

It's a no-brainer to point out that a station with reasonable diversity at all levels of the newsroom would probably have an Asian American individual capable of raising questions about both Schugel's reporting and conclusions before he and the station embarrassed themselves so badly.

But really, all it would have taken here is for a news director to engage a garden-variety B.S. detector: Even assuming a Chinese market were illegally importing dogs from another state to sell as meat, would they be idiotic enough to admit it, matter of factly, over the phone to a non-Chinese stranger? 

(It should be noted that, despite numerous rumors and unfounded allegations, no one's ever found a legit case of dogs being butchered and sold or served in the U.S. as meat. Really. Never. Here's a column I wrote about it, years ago: Putting On the Dog)

Schugel needs to be suspended from the investigative beat, and WCCO news director Mike Caputa — who was promoted to that position just this June — needs to go on the record explaining why the decision was made to air this story, given its massive holes. And let me be clear — this isn't a race thing, it's a journalism thing. Bad reporting needs to be censured, regardless of what its subject is.

That said, when bad reporting contributes to racial slanders that have (ahem) dogged a community since the dawn of immigration, and when it threatens the livelihood of innocent immigrant businessmen and workers (not just in New York, but in every Chinatown in the nation), the repercussions need to be real, and they need to be redressed quickly and publicly.

WCCO's failure to do so is the biggest embarrassment of all. 

Sidenote: While WCCO's fast fingers have pulled the original report off the web, the Taiwanese animators over at NMA-TV have been equally quick to fill the hole. Here's their take on the debacle:

So you may or may not know that I've been liveblogging the GOP Debates for WNYC's "It's a Free Country" as their Pop & Politics correspondent. In practice, this has meant pounding beers while watching the cavalcade of insanity that passes for the GOP candidates slate, and doing my best to simultaneously peck out snide commentary.

Anyway, with just a few thousand more debates left in this cycle, I've decided to start posting transcripts of my posts (here's a transcript of the actual debate itself, which was hosted by CNBC and titled "Your Money, Your Vote" — hilarious that CNBC misspelled its own anchor's name as "John Hardwood," you totes know that's his porn name, right people?) The highlights of last night's debate: 1. Jon Huntsman's back, did anyone miss him? 2. Herman Cain calling Nancy Pelosi "Princess Nancy" 3. Rick Perry #epicfail. 

And now, your debate, in 60 seconds. 

The debate's about to begin! My fearless predictions on the top three GOP debate ideas to fix the economy: 1—Cut taxes 2—End Medicare/Social Security 3—Ban abortion. 

Oops—the numbering got messed up. Should be 9—Cut taxes 9—End Medicare/Social Security 9—Ban abortion

Uh...was that Food Network's Alton Brown being interviewed as an expert for this debate?

Ha! @BorowitzReport GOP Debate Preview: Michele Bachmann will say that from the moment an egg is fertilized, it has the right to own a gun

Huntsman's back! I totally feel like he should be standing there behind a cardboard box

"Just like 60 minutes is an hour, a dollar is a dollar." #CainsFirmGraspOnObvious

Romney takes a sideswipe at Newt? "I've been married to the same woman for 42 years"

Rick Perry looks intensely focused on the five inches in front of his forehead.

Did Perry just call for the breakup of the banks? Like Newt did, earlier today?

The 40% corporate tax rate is driving jobs out of the country? How does Bachmann explain the huge percentage of companies that pay 0% taxes?

Santorum's 0% taxes for manufacturing makes zero sense. Banks will start setting up basketweaving divisions.

Whoa—the question. Maria B. raises Cain's lady problems: "Why should the U.S. people hire a president with character issues?"

Cain: "And if you'd like to talk about this later, Maria, in private..."

Now a question on Occupy Wall Street. 76% of Americans believe that the economy tilts toward the wealthy.

And Huntsman gets his first question, and answers: I want to be president of the 99%. And the 1%.

Newt: "Occupy Wall Street doesn't have a clue about history". Unlike the Tea Party, which is at least costume-appropriate.

Santorum wants to drill the Marcellus Shale while training coal miners how to program in C++. Or something.

Cain says 999! Everybody drink.

Bachmann: "Freedom should cost at least $10 for every taxpayer, the cost of 2 Happy Meals." It's tax policy via Groupon!

Romney: "Allow this economy to reboot." Romney to America: CTRL ALT DELETE

Newt plays the DeNiro card: You askin' me?

All of a sudden, all the GOP candidates are in favor of breaking up the big banks. Did a check not clear?

Perry's solution to the healthcare crisis: "I guarantee we'll solve it, and we'll save a ton of money."

Calling Minority Leader Pelosi "Princess Nancy," huh? Cain's just really racking up the gender credibility here 

Uh, Newt—Romney said MEDICARE, not MEDICAID should be sent to the states. Medicaid is already run by the states.

Michelle wondering where promised cost savings are from "Obamacare," which will not exist until 2014. #JustgohomealreadyMichelle

I really, really wish Romney would just say "we need to repeal Obamacare and replace it with Romneycare"

Romney stumbles like a drunken sailor all around question related to individual mandate.

RT @benschwartzy: Cain campaign now issuing statement that Pelosi is a "troubled woman" who asked to be called "Princess Nancy."”

Tied for face you most just feel like slapping: Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich 

Romney did not want to remind audience that he collaborated with Ted Kennedy on his healthcare plan. Ha.

"We must have a president who puts the country in front of getting elected" And Romney disqualifies entire Republican field in one swoop

Perry forgets what department he's going to eliminate. "Education, Commerce...uh..." Wow. #EndofLineforPerry

Props to Ron Paul for trying to give Perry hints, though. "EPA?" "No...it's not the EPA."

Gingrich calls for privatizing Social Security, e.g. putting it in the hands of the same people who brought us the global economic meltdown 

Bachmann has no idea what she's talking about, demographically OR economically, when she's talking about SocSecurity.

Huntsman: Obama sucks as a leader. See, a good leader wouldn't hire backstabbing weasels for key positions in his administration

Paul: "Pay for college the way you pay for cellphones!" Um...have the provider give it to you for free with a 2-year subscription?

Perry will "stand up for the young people" by getting rid of the federal student loan program. Our hero, saving kids from debt 

Oh here's the "China sucks" portion of the debate.

And Cain's answer to winning! vs. China? 999. Like it is to everything. #NounVerband999 

Romney: I'll crack down on China—those cheaters! I'll label them. And then they'll copy the labels and sell 'em at half price.

Newt cites Boston Consulting while standing right next to Bain alum Romney. Getting him back for his wife remark.

Romney's position on China is reminiscent of Reagan's joke "I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever."

And now pit boss Jim Cramer is reading a quote about the markets being a casino....

I think that if Jim Cramer traded some of his medication for some of Rick Perry's, both would be better off.

If I'm running the GOP debates, it's 3 frontrunners I'd reduce the field to: Romney, Cain & the um, who's the third one there? Um...oops.

That's it! Until the next one...good night, everyone!

Right-wing blogger Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit is getting a lot of traffic for his posting of a list of the 18 countries whose Standard & Poor's credit rating is now equal to or higher than that of the U.S. — from Australia to the Swiss Confederation — with the simple, one-line caption: "Thank you, Obama. Thank you, Democrats."

Just...wow. It's hard to get surprised by the irresponsibility and dishonesty of the modern Right these days, but this effort to pin the downgrade on the President and the Left is particularly staggering — given that the debt-limit deal that led to the drop included "98%" of what Speaker of the House John Boehner wanted, leading S&P to specifically call out the adamant unwillingness of the Right to compromise on raising revenues as a primary reason for its decision. (God knows where our credit rating would be today if the Speaker got 100% of what he wanted.)

That said, the blogging Right generally trips over its own intellectual shallowness, and this is no exception. A closer look at the 18 countries called out by Hoft reveals a story that the Right probably doesn't want people to hear, which is that these 18 countries:

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