I wonder if there's a hidden, symbolic meaning to the Iranian government selecting that trilogy. Or, maybe the translation provided will provide one.

A song which was last played live in '93.

And if the Fewture had heard 808 sooner, that may be different.

To that Chronicle reporter dude on KFOG this AM who wrote that Pop is Dead: Sure, pop is dead. Because there is no more pop. Everything is too fractionated to have that type of all engrossing, hypnotic, musical hold over the majority of a national or global audience--but that doesn't mean that there isn't music happening. These three artists are moving music forward. No doubt.

We live in a disposal culture, true. Yet innovation still exists.

According to Philly.com's Carrie Rickey:

In 1950, as the blues, gospel and jazz cross-pollinated but before Detroit's Motown, before Memphis' Sun and Stax - and well before Philadelphia International Records - there was Chicago's Chess label. Those of a certain age fondly remember its logo, a silhouette of a king chess piece flanked by those of bishop and knight.

Cadillac Records, Darnell Martin's boisterous, if not always factual, account of the house that Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Chuck Berry and Etta James built, is a variety show of the personalities and music that spawned the urbanization of the blues and midwifed the birth of rock-and-roll.

The cast includes Columbus Short, Mos Def, Tammy Blanchard, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Adrien Brody, Gabrielle Union, Jeffrey Wright, Beyoncé Knowles, Cedric the Entertainer, and Norman Reedus.

Now, you'll never guess what's happened! MTV has launched MTvM--mtvmusic.com.

As many people are noting, the design seems to bite off of Hulu's design. But hey, Avenue A | Razorfish does great design work, so I can't fault any intentional imitation.

Here's one of my favorite songs and one of the weirdest videos from the old school (obviously file formats and compression of older videos don't translate to great visual quality):

And hopefully inspiring.

Obama Buying Half-Hour Block of Prime-time Broadcast - Advertising Age - Campaign Trail: "WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- In what is likely become biggest network-TV buy of the presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama is buying 30 minutes of time on major TV networks for a program to air from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 29."