Five Things You Had to See Online This Week
This week in “Thanks, Internet” — Michael Jackson like we’ve never seen him; rapping over cats; Groundskeeper Willie fights for freedom; octopuses on vice-presidents; U2 dj vu.
1. The King Is Back
We already loved Blank on Blank, and this week we were reminded why. David Gerlach and Patrick Smith unearthed a wonderfully candid 1980 interview in which King of Pop uses his teenage sister Janet as a go-between for the interviewer, John Pidgeon. The results might melt your heart.
2. Meow The Jewels
Last year, rappers Killer Mike and El-P put out a universallyacclaimed record called Run The Jewels. This year they promised a follow-up and have released promisingpreviewsand a slew of insane premium packages. One of them involves cats, and now there’s aKickstarter campaign for it: if $40,000 is raised, the rappers have pledged to replace all of the album’s beats with cat meows. Hip-hop has (almost) never been more in touch with its softer side.
3. Prime Minister Willie?
It was a very big week for Scotland and a verylonglineof celebritieswere on hand to remind us. One stood out in particular, perhaps because he was the only one yelling. John Oliver, you’ve got some competition.
4. VPOTUS & OCTOPUS
The men who have stood in the very long shadow of the president fascinate artist Jonathan Crow so much that he started a blogand beganuploading portraits of every veep in the nation’s history. Oh, and he draws an octopus on each of their heads. He sort of explains why onOpen Culture:
Though the position bestows on it all of the authority and pomp of the U.S. Government, vice presidents throughout history have struggled to find purpose in a poorly defined role, all the while waiting for death. It’s a bit like life itself.A few, through ambition, talent and a lot of luck, ascended to the top job. Most moldered in obscurity. No wonder then thatJohn Nance Garner, one of FDR’s three VPs,calledthe job “not worth a bucket of warm piss.” I added the octopuses because I thought they were funny. It takes a rare person to pull off an air of dignity with a cephalopod on his head. It seems to fit with the absurdity of the job.
Actually, he didn’t explain that at all.
5. They Move In Mysterious Ways
UPDATE: Turns out this image is a fake. U2 did not distribute free cassettes of its 1983 album, “War”. If only.