3.11.2012

Austin: SXSW: Xroads of culture



It’s maybe the one thing that could bring together Biz Stone and Bruce Springsteen, Norah Jones and LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman (in the video below). South by Southwest, the annual collision of music, technology and pop culture that’s on through next Sunday. The objective for many: to find the Next Big Thing, or be the Next Big Thing. Mike Snider of USA Today reports on “a mash-up of extreme proportions.”


Image: SXSW Logo: © 2012 SXSW Inc.

Iranian and American, in L.A.



Does Ahmedinajad know about this? The flashy, gold-plated antics of Iranian-American families in Los Angeles is the foundation for Shahs of Sunset, a new reality series debuting tonight on Bravo. The show offers a fresh look at Iranian culture that’s a long way from mullahs and ayatollahs, but does it trade one stereotype for another? Roshanak Taghavi of The Christian Science Monitor reports. In Television

Photo: Colleen Hayes/Bravo

Channels of diversity



Magic Johnson and Sean (Diddy) Combs are setting the pace for a spate of new television channels aimed at African American viewers who, according to Nielsen, watch more TV than just about anyone else. With these new outlets of black life set to explode in the next few years, how will they change perceptions of black America? Anthonia Akitunde of The Root gets the lowdown. See Television

Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

3.10.2012

Notorious: Life after death



It’s been 15 years since the Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace), perhaps the most lyrically, rhythmically gifted rapper in the game, was slain in a hail of gunfire outside the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. His killer remains at large to this day. Rachel Shapiro of The Hollywood Reporter looks back at a life of genius and potential cut short.


Photo: Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

3.01.2012

Monkees’ Davy Jones dies at 66



The diminutive British heartthrob, a singer for the made-for-TV rock band that defied expectations, achieved chart-topping success and survived a Beatles-besotted public in the mid 1960’s, succumbed to a heart attack early Wednesday morning near his home in Florida. The Huffington Post reports.

Photo: Splash, via The Huffington Post