Disco Inferno

Oh Kanye!

Dude, I so love your music but mostly your vulnerability. You have such passion and such angst, it makes your art. And you know that a good row makes for good sales. I remember when you and 50cent went at it. That day you both dropped your records in the background of a shitstorm bet. Likely you both sold way better because of the noise. Actually we know you both sold better.

So today there was a cacophony about your new joint. Looks like you're dissing Taylor Swift--hate to say this, but--again. The lyric in question

"I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. / Why? I made that bitch famous."

Then you go through some B.S. rigamarole about calling a woman a bitch is okay, even "endearing" in hip hop.  It's a term affection just like you call folks "Ns".

Did you see what I just did there, Kanye? I didn't call anyone an "N", because I am white. So, you get to do that and I don't. And I'm fine with that.

But one other thing, you don't get to call me, or Taylor, a bitch, either. You can call 50 a bitch. And you can call Luda a bitch. I don't care. But don't you call a woman a bitch, because it's not the same. At all.

Bad friggin' blood.

Another thing I know. More folks are listening to this song. This is likely what you're going for. And your art.

Oh Taylor!

Tay Tay has her people out on this.  You've been one of my guilty pleasures. You have that manufactured vulnerability, too. And I am a sucker for it. And your catchy pop tunes.

But where did your little bro come from? I didn't know he spoke on your behalf until today. I didn't know he existed until today. I guess he was so mad at Kanye that he threw out a pair of his Kanye West branded sneakers. We know this because he did this via a post on Instagram.

I hope someone did a dumpster dive and grabbed those $200 kicks and resold them on eBay. I hear they're going for $800-900 on the resale market. Hmmmm. I wonder if Kanye gave them to the Swift family.

Speaking of resale, all this noise continues to make Taylor Swift famous. #justsayin

Curtis knew. So did I. So do I.

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What Are People Looking For?

I was poking through Google's toolset and stumbled on Google Trends. Google says that their Trends (in beta) can let you "see what the world is searching for." Among the cool features, you can compare trends on different search terms over time and by region.

So, you can see that U.S. users had a spike in searches for Amy Winehouse, and that Amy tracks higher than Britney. Across the pond, Brits were generally less interested in learning about Amy, and more in Britney.

You can also track the relative popularity of Kanye West and 50 Cent. Fitty famously promised to retire from music if Kanye's CD outsold his on the day they were both released. 50 had more searches than Kanye through most of 2007--until the release of the CDs. Kanye queries killed him on that day, and has been a bit ahead ever since.

So, what about the Democratic contenders?

Well, Hillary Clinton (red line above) was ahead of Barack Obama (blue line) during the long pre-primary season. Interest in both candidates picked up at the end of December, going into the Iowa caucuses. Since then, people have been looking for information about Obama more than info about Clinton--and on some days by much more.

Even more interesting (at least to me) is the regional trending.

By December 2007, Obama (blue) was ahead of Clinton in Iowa, which he won. Clinton (red) was more interesting to people in New Hampshire, and she won there. And South Carolina queries at the end of the year were pretty even for our intrepid candidates. [Obama ended up winning S.C. handily at the end of January.]

Anybody picking up a trend here? It looks like people might be looking for stuff that they are interested in. This can be troubling for the Clinton campaign if you take a look at what people are looking for now in Texas and Ohio.

The Google Trend for the past 30 days sees a large gap between searches for Obama (still the Blue Line) and Clinton (Red Line) in these two key upcoming primary states. Tuesday will tell, but as far as people looking for candidate information, it appears that they are more likely to be seeking information about Obama. Or maybe how to contribute to his campaign. Or how to volunteer. Or who knows. Maybe they already know enough about Clinton.

This Google Trends stuff is so cool. And despite the fact it skews to Internet users--more educated, more white, more wealthy-- it's now the Doc's zeitgeist poll.

Making Fun of Yourself--If You Can

I really liked Kanye poking fun of himself--liked it really alot--on Saturday Night Live on Saturday.



I like Kanye anyway. When people talk about his oversized ego, I don't think that they have sat through any of his CD's. The man has alot of big feelings, is passionate about his art, and, he can really make a beat. In all of his big-head phoniness, he comes off to me as a real person.

Contrast that with another Chi-town transplant, Ms. Hil. Jon Stewart had a time with her, and her very squirrely laughing.

I know, as Kanye says, it's the media that makes it bad--cutting and splicing. Heck she might not have really even been there.

But when Hil is being touted as perhaps the next Al Gore--I get the shivers.

"Like the former vice president, she often came across as a pontificator and an automaton — in contrast to the personable and humorous person she is known to be off-camera. And she seemed especially evasive when dealing with questions requiring human reflection instead of wonkery." (Frank Rich, NYT)

Here is some important data points for all potential presidents:

1. Remember that the wonky Al Gore LOST. Becoming real after the election is simply too late.
   
2. Be more like Kanye. He makes mistakes, but for all his Louis Vuitton-isms, he seems more real than the whole lot put together. (Get that Barack?)