This post originally appeared on my blog in 2017. But with the growing influence of Latin artists like Bad Bunny and Maluma, it is as good a time as any to revisit the 2010 breakout single. Pharrell was featured on a song by Colombian Reggaeton artist J. Balvin. The song, “Safari” is produced entirely by the Virginia native and has him singing in Spanish. Unfortunately, Pharrell’s verse isn’t long enough for me to properly assess his fluency in my mother tongue (he does sound better than Kendrick though).
The Curious Language of VCs
2024-12-03
Everyone wants investment from venture capitalists.
It’s the validation that catapults you onto the cover of Forbes. Your seat at the pantheon of famed tech bros like Adam Neumann, Elizabeth Holmes, and Sam Bankman-Fried. VCs can be a curious bunch, however. They have a special secret language—a dialect that’s borderline incomprehensible to the uninitiated.
For instance, much like the Inuit people, who have many words for snow, were you aware that venture capitalists have more than 400 words for “no”?
The Curious Return of 2000s Music
2024-12-03
At some point in the last year I looked around and realized… 2000s music was EVERYWHERE. Nelly Furtado. Timbaland. Eminem. 50 Cent. MGMT. In Bama Rush videos. At sports games. In the background of TikToks of teens plaintively yearning to be 2000s teens. In weird animation videos meant for seven-year-old boys. Why THIS music, and why RIGHT NOW? Musicologist Nate Sloan — co-host of one of my favorite podcasts, Switched on Pop — has all the answers, or at least most of them.
I planted a curry leaf tree in my backyard to recreate the week I spent every summer with my grandmother, Dolly Mumma, at her bungalow in Borivali. A part of Mumbai, that in the mid-90s was a village coming of age. Chickens roaming the street near shiny Maruti 800 cars.
When the concrete porch turned blistering hot, Mumma would send me out to her lusciously green curry leaf tree to pick out eighteen curry leaves.
The Cursed Privilege of the Tenderqueer
2024-12-03
I don’t remember the first time I heard the word “tenderqueer” but as soon as I did, I knew who they were, and I knew that I wasn’t one. In fact, I’m pretty certain that it would be just about impossible for a Black woman to get away with tenderqueer behavior at all.
In tenderqueer discourse, much is often made of their sartorial choices—overalls, cozy sweaters, primary colors, bowl cuts… jokes are made about their craft fairs, daytime dance parties, and birdwatching clubs, but I believe it’s important to state that the tenderqueer can present themself in many forms.
The Dagger Of Amon Ra (1992)
2024-12-03
Studio: Sierra On-Line
Designer(s): Bruce J. Balfour / Roberta Williams
Part of series: Laura Bow Mysteries
Release: 1992; 1993 (CD version)
St. George’s Games: Complete Playlist Parts 1-10 (620 mins.)
Up until 1992, all of Sierra’s franchises had remained the exclusive brainchildren of their respective parents. Roberta Williams worked on King’s Quest; Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy continued to humiliate Space Quest’s Roger Wilco in more ways than the galaxy ever thought possible; Al Lowe kept digging into the bottomless pit of dirty jokes for Leisure Suit Larry.
*Warning: this post has details about sexual exploitation*
I was sent an Instagram video of Michelle Wolf interviewing Dr. Stuart James Fischbein on The Daily Show about the supposed fear-based model of medical obstetrics. The clip was cringe, and no, we OB/GYNs are not trained to fear pregnancy and delivery. So I went to the full video on their YouTube channel as I have been off work and quite sick and looking for something to energize me (I’m improving now, so don't worry).
Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at davidlat@substack.com. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking on the button below. Thanks!
More than nine years after the horrific murder of law professor Dan Markel on July 18, 2014, one of the people who actually orchestrated and paid for the killing has finally been brought to justice.
Many of the most powerful mentors in my life cite The Dance of Anger as one of the most important in their own becoming, simply because the brilliant Harriet Lerner put language to an experience that had previously been ignored: Women's anger, and its suppression. (It's also worth noting that Lerner spent YEARS trying to find a publisher; it now has som…
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