bradluen

#TheTenX5

22. Taylor Swift: "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"
USA 2012

The night this came out I was exhilarated, thinking *finally*, this was gonna be her first number one. And it was!

(except in the UK, b/c it's no "Look What You Made Me Do" is it)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4i...

Fourcade & Healy, The Ordinal Society, pp. 207–208 Although McLuhan was writing for the age of television, in retrospect his picture of things accords better with our present than his own. McLuhan’s media landscape was dominated by a relatively tiny number of gatekeepers. Authoritative broadcasters periodically spoke live to a national audience all watching at the same moment. From time to time they drew on a fairly fixed stable of experts. That world is long gone. Now, knowledge never settles. It is provisory and conflicted, a dynamic, gushing, never-ending flow of data and updates. Its distribution is fragmented and disaggregated. Not only are there fewer institutions doing the work of cultural integration—the way national broadcasters may once have been chartered to—but the production and distribution of knowledge is actively dismembered into small islands connected by more lateral flows.

Understanding complex social phenomena requires both better data than academics can afford and the expertise to think through it (for which math is necessary not sufficient.) That leaves a tiny number of people capable of figuring out the big picture, and the bad news is they're all still on Twitter

YouTube video by Le Seigneur Rochereau - Topic Toyota

Rochereau & African Fiesta National: L'Afrique Danse No. 4 (1969)

Allegedly some of Rochereau's best writing, like "Toyota" contrasting a rich lover and witchcraft as paths to a Corona. Lingala non-speakers can focus on Attel Mbumba's guitar, for a couple of years a draw rivaling Tabu Ley himself.

The Best of the Nebulas (ed. Ben Bova)

Reading most of these: okay, remember this story is a product of the Sixties/Seventies and a response to all the SF that came before it both in content and form, ah, that's better, I get it now

Reading a Tiptree: OH GOD OH FJUCK OH GOD FJUCK OH GOD OH FJUCK

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23. DRAM ft. Lil Yachty: "Broccoli"
USA 2016

The most enjoyable vegetable metaphor pop song since Maggie Jones's "Anybody Here Want to Try My Cabbage" (1925)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K44j...

correct answer: movie then trailer

Should I watch the F for Fake trailer before or after the movie?

YouTube video by Cantos Music Franco / L'OK Jazz - Quatre boutons (feat. Vicky & Michaux)

L'Afrique Danse No. 1 (1966)

Eight O.K. Jazz songs, including the infamous "Quatre Boutons" (the amount she unbuttons to get a moped), plus four songs by Conga Succès, who sound more like the platonic ideal of O.K. Jazz than O.K. Jazz do—a reminder of the depth of talent in newly renamed Kinshasa.

#TheTenX5

24. Cardi B, Bad Bunny, J Balvin: "I Like It"
USA/Colombia/Puerto Rico 2018

24th seems right. Bunny's the standout (for a more fitting pro wrestling reference than Balvin), tho I never guessed he'd be one of the world's biggest stars in a couple of years.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTlN...

Manga: spread from Kagurabachi 110 by Takeru Hokazono. Swordmen Samura and Soga face each other. Narration: "The shock of both men sheathing their swords sends rubble flying… Their surrounding pulverized by the Magatsumi's destructive power… and restored by the Tobimune's flames. And now… as both men draw their swords, the rubble begins to melt from the heat… and within that surreal miasma… they meet at the very apex of swordplay."

Winter '26 Shonen Jump rankings:

1. Ichi
2. Kagurabachi (absolute hype boss fight and now a reset with no loss of momentum)
3. Akane-Banashi (God of Death training was a nice cooldown after the epic Kaisei stuff, now for a CRUISE SHIP ARC)
4. Elusive Samurai (RIP)
5. Someone Hertz (so easy to read)

Page from Ichi the Witch 72 (clipped for spoilers), written by Osamu Nishi, drawn by Shiro Usazaki. Kizashi the human-hater Octobomb Magik: "And it's my fault! But… but he was weak. That's why he's gone. It's a weakling's fault for being weak, and no weakling is worthy of being my friend. This is what was supposed to happen. I didn't do anything wrong!"

The Chrono arc is taking Ichi the Witch to the tippy-top—it achieves pathos (without getting too wet) while constantly keeping things moving (there were TWO jumpscare page-turns this week.) Very One Piece Arlong Park vibes in that an extrmeely promising series finally figures out what it can do.

YouTube video by Solomon Ilori - Topic Follow Me To Africa (Remastered)

Solomon Ilori: African High Life (1963)

Well-recorded West African albums were rare in the early '60s. Ilori & his international crew had to go to Blue Note, where they refused to accede to Eurocentric demands like having your sax pay attention to anyone. Ilori's pennywhistle is just as expressive.

Video and Audio: Write a song to save my life Escapes from cheeselessness

Still working thru Other People's Picks (2025), including Māori Lynchianism, making out in the restroom of a Chevron, "Masters of War" weaponized against a loose tongue, and the good? Sombr song. Plus the Ivoirian World Cup anthem I hope in this month's singles:
bradluen.substack.com/p/video-and-...

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25. Girls' Generation: "I Got a Boy"
South Korea 2013

I only recently realized that in each section, the tempo/mood matches the described phase of boy-getting. So the real precedent isn't "Biology" but the Who's "A Quick One". Fortunately, it's better

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq7f...

Enta Omri, by Umm Kulthum - أم كلثوم 2 track album

Umm Kulthum: Enta Omri (1964)

Painstakingly rehearsed and kept to a compact 33 minutes, the studio version is a fine place to start with her if, like me, you know next to nothing about Egyptian music. If you then decide to check out hours of live recordings to find the best one, tell me about it!

#TheTenX5 Honorable Mention 5

Don Omar & Lucenzo: "Danza Kuduro"
Puerto Rico/Portugal/France 2010

Reggaeton and kuduro! Two international dance crazes in one! Who would ever think of such a thing! (Actually the French did a lot, but this one actually worked.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zp1...

it's bad!

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)

This should be Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but I can't listen to its soundtrack without crying, so I've put off watching Rochefort indefinitely. I can't follow the lyrics, but I gather there are young girls and a guy who sounds like Gene Kelly but speaks French?

Manga page from Aliens, Baseball, and Civilization by Teito Heji & Sai Yamagishi. Human: It's interesting how baseball-like the chromosomes of life on this planet are! Yaluru: You often say that, Nana. Human: But the genomes, which are the blueprints for life forms… are surprisingly similar between humans and Yaluru. If we use the gene editing technology I developed… we could make a hybrid between a human and Yaluru. Yaluru: Nana. Sometimes you say such the most ridiculous things. Human: Artona! I want you to be my husband! Let's make a baby! Yaluru: <spurts drink>

RIP Aliens, Baseball, and Civilization, which had one of the great pre-cancellation "that escalated quickly"s—in ~2 chapters it went from a cozy story of teaching aliens baseball to king nerd shit about gene editing, a brain in a jar, and sneaking past the laws of physics like you're stealing home.

#TheTenX5 Honorable Mention 4

Riton & Kah-Lo: "Fake I.D."
UK/Nigeria 2017

I like Riton but remain amazed that *he* was the one who got some kind of stardom out of this collab

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp__...

#TheTenX5 Honorable Mention 3

2NE1: "I Am the Best"
South Korea 2011

Looks like the hopes for not-in-English songs rest on Route 1 Bangers (well, and "Despacito"). Since I love Route 1 Bangers (the Black Eyed Peas are gonna clean up on my '00s), that's fine with me!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7_l...

YouTube video by Polish Jazz Komeda Quintet - Kattorna [Official Audio]

Krzysztof Komeda Quintet: Astigmatic (1966)

Polish-mostly guys do better at taking Kind of Blue's ideas further out than anyone besides Miles and Trane, and you could argue about Miles. Central to the creation of a distinct Eurojazz (the exciting kind, not the "feel the portent of every note" kind)

12 favorite records of 1926 Myths and legends

On #HeebieJeebiesDay, I'm declaring Louis dropping his lyrics to be the moment that African/European/American strands combined in him to give birth to A-Pop As We Know It (and it's not even my fave 26 Louis.) Plus North Africa (via J Bogart) brings us the most sexually explicit song of the Twenties!

#TheTenX5 Hon. Mention 2

Mondo Grosso ft. Hikari Mitsushima: "Labyrinth"
Japan 2017

q: is it the best video of the '10s? a: probably

q: does it retrospectively justify La La Land? a: maybe

q: do it and the Oscars debacle together justify La La Land? a: definitely

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2qu...

#TheTenX5 Honorable Mention 1

Beatrice Eli: "Girls"
Sweden 2014

A botch on my part—this should've been in my 50. My apologies to the LGBT community.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orff...

YouTube video by Afwan Floyd Ravi Shankar at Monterey Pop (June 1967)

Live: Ravi Shankar at the Monterey International Pop Festival (1967)

I'm totally unequipped to judge how this compares to his hundred other albums, but this is the one that mattered, and once it gets going it's transporting. Like all philistines, I like it best when Alla Rakha goes ham on tablas.

Fourcade & Healy, The Ordinal Society, p. 154 John Deere has outfitted new generations of tractors, harvesters, and other agricultural machines with sensors, cellular transmitters, and software that is on by default and cannot be easily turned off or tampered with. In January 2022 it unveiled a tractor that it claimed “can plow fields, avoid obstacles, and plant crops with minimal human intervention.” Again, the core impulse is familiar. Agricultural corporations have long sought to secure the dependence of farmers through the genetic manipulation of seeds, planned obsolescence of machinery, or simply through access to parts for maintenance. Many farmers have pushed back against the computerization of their means of production not by rejecting software as such but by turning the “right to repair” farm equipment into a potent political issue. Others, meanwhile, try their luck in the over-heated market for older, computer-free machinery; or they turn to do-it-yourself videos and websites to learn how to hack their own equipment using third-party code that technically violates the terms of their software license with John Deere. Most people do not resist the datafication of their machines and devices in this way. Regulatory protections against companies’ control of repairability are (so far) rare and hard to enforce. Instead people tend to be more fatalistic in the face of technological upgrades…

The progress of right-to-repair under Biden (and the fact it hasn't been destroyed yet) makes me more optimistic labor can resist tech rent-seeking,. "Sit and code all day" workers, who know they'll be the first to get squeezed, should think about what they can learn. (Wait, I sit and code all day…)

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New stuff, 99 year 364 day old stuff, it's all the same

#TheTenX5

26. Red Velvet: "Ice Cream Cake"
South Korea 2015

Complete list of girl groups that I'm sure have a better body of work than Red Velvet:

the Shirelles
the Supremes I guess

www.youtube.com/watch?v=glXg...