Category: 3-SometimeCommentary

Hello,

Today we have something a bit different for you. TTSG goes a bit Melvyn Bragg with a history episode about Bay Area Filipino DJ culture. Our guest today is Oliver Wang, professor of sociology at Cal State Long Beach, one of the co-hosts of the Heat Rocks podcast, and the author of Legions of Boom, a fascinating book which tracks the history of Filipino immigrants into the Bay Area after the 1965 Hart-Celler Act — first into San Francisco and then out into suburbs like Daly City, Fremont, and Vallejo.

If you’ve ever wondered why so many of the top DJs in the word are Filipino and want to know the creation story behind legends like DJ QBert and the Invizibl Scratch Piklz, this is well worth your time. We discuss the mobile DJ scene in the 90s, the class dynamics of post-1965 Filipino immigrants versus the manongs who came over in the early 20th century and settled in San Francisco, and how music and a party scene can create a sense of cohesion and true identity.

Here’s some of the music these DJ crews created so you can play it as you listen along. Enjoy!

Spintronix Imagine #8

X-Men vs the Invizibl Skratch Piklz set in 1996

Generations: a 25 minute documentary about Spintronix and the mobile DJ scene.

In 1798 James Madison wrote of the press: "To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression." In 2020, if Madison was correct then reason and humanity could be in for an even rougher ride, with hometown newspapers collapsing across the country. But to think of this threat to hometown journalism as being just a local story is to miss the bigger story.

No longer represented by local shoe leather reporting done by a journalist you knew and saw at town meetings, many American communities now only think of the media as distant strangers who can't be trusted. So the scarcity of hometown newspapers doesn't just make it so some communities are dark on local news, but it's actively feeding our lack of trust and the partisan divide at a national level. Add this together with the rise of multimedia conglomerates and partisan news sources and it's obvious why our problems in journalism are Big Wicked Problems, and time might be short to stop the most profound consequences that lie ahead. And if we lose our paper, just who can we blame but ourselves?

In keeping with our theme for the year - that it's in our hometown where we ultimately decide who we are to each other and (in this case) what we know about our government, our community and our neighbors. So we also talk specifically about how we keep our local journalism healthy and alive for the decades ahead.

Our conversation begins with former Tallahassee Democrat publisher Skip Foster and Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau Chief Mary Ellen Klas, both of whom have copious wisdom to share on our topic. Mary Ellen spent a year as a Harvard Niemen fellow studying the deep connectedness between the health of local journalism and the health of democracy. Read "Less Local News Means Less Democracy" here.

In part 2 of this program, we expand the circle of wisdom and experience with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Bob Sanchez and local nonprofit startup Tallahassee Reports' Steve Stewart.

The program is facilitated by Jennifer Portman, Enterprise Editor for USA Today.

Paris Marx is joined by Daniel Joseph to discuss the relationship between video games and capitalism, how the gaming experience has become increasingly commercialized, and what the new consoles — Xbox Series X|S and Playstation 5 — herald for the future of the industry.

Daniel Joseph is a Senior Lecturer of Digital Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University. Read his articles for Real Life about video games and capitalism and platformization, and for Briarpatch about what better platforms might look like. Follow Daniel on Twitter as @DanjoKaz00ie.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter.

** Support the show on Patreon and read the plan for the future.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network and follow it on Twitter as @harbingertweets.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• “If Xbox is Netflix, then Playstation is cinema” by Christopher Dring at GamesIndustry.biz
• How PS4 better positioned itself against Xbox One, including a short video about trading games
• Nintendo was charged with price fixing in the 1990s in the United States and Europe
• In 2015, Valve and Bethesda had to backtrack on plans to commercialize modding
• 53% of PS4 game sales were digital in 2019. That grew to 74% in the early part of 2020.
• David Nieborg and Thomas Poell’s work on platforms; Sarah Grimes’ work on commercialization of children’s gaming; the App Studies Initiative; and T.L. Taylor’s “Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming”

Support the show

On the Gist, Trump tries a coup.

In the interview, former federal prosecutor, legal scholar and law professor Mark Osler joins Mike to talk about the presidential power of pardoning, granting clemency, a benign prerogative that is slanted towards mercy and not retribution. They discuss what might happen in the next few months with Trump’s final days in office.

In the spiel, who elected Biden?

Email us at thegist@slate.com

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Could this be a light at the end of the tunnel? Andy evaluates the remarkable news that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine proved more than 90% effective with physician, scientist and author Eric Topol. How excited should you be? What do we know and what don’t we know? What’s the timing and what comes next? Plus, a look at President-Elect Biden's COVID-19 task force.

Keep up with Andy on Twitter @ASlavitt and Instagram @andyslavitt.

Follow Eric Topol on Twitter @EricTopol. 

In the Bubble is supported in part by listeners like you. Become a member, get exclusive bonus content, ask Andy questions, and get discounted merch at https://www.lemonadamedia.com/inthebubble/ 

Support the show by checking out our sponsors!

• Livinguard masks have the potential to deactivate COVID-19 based on the testing they have conducted from leading universities such as the University of Arizona and the Free University in Berlin, Germany. Go to shop.livinguard.com and use the code BUBBLE10 for 10% off.

Check out these resources from today’s episode: 

• Watch Eric Topol’s interview with FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/938705 
• Read more about what Pfizer's landmark COVID-19 vaccine results mean for the pandemic: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03166-8 
• Check out the newly announced Biden-Harris COVID-19 advisory board: https://buildbackbetter.com/press-releases/biden-harris-transition-announces-covid-19-advisory-board/ 
• Learn more about how smartwatches can help detect COVID-19 from Nature Medicine and the Scripps Research Translational Institute: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-1123-x 

• Pre-order Andy’s book, Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response, here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250770165 

To follow along with a transcript and/or take notes for friends and family, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/in-the-bubble shortly after the air date.

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. For additional resources, information, and a transcript of the episode, visit lemonadamedia.com.

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On the Gist, brokered by Russia.

In the interview, Claire McNear joins Mike to talk about her new book Answers in the Form of Questions: A Definitive History and Insider's Guide to Jeopardy! In it, McNear explains the history of the game, what it takes to be a contestant and maintain a storied winning streak, and how so much of Jeopardy’s DNA came from its late host - Alex Trebek. Claire is a staff writer at The Ringer.

In the spiel, former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe testifies.

Email us at thegist@slate.com

Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley.

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