I’d dial 911, but it’s still a joke

We’ll say it—Glenn Beck is an asshole:
This wasn’t your everyday undergraduate lecture seminar. To begin with, Public Enemy’s Chuck D was the speaker, a lot more engaging and motivating than your typical lower-division T.A. Working off a pile of paper notes but more or less casually riffing on various topics—President Barack Obama (free pass) to Glenn Beck (says he can’t wait to call Obama the “N” word; Chuck dared mainstream media to call Beck an “asshole”)—Chuck urged the crowd of mostly students to forget about image and appearance and start focusing more on their guts, their insides.

The night ended with a bizarre, somewhat out-of-control Q-and-A session, featuring a crazy guy (Chuck called him “passionate”) blathering about a coin. But the packed Union Ballroom hung in there through most of the two-hour event.

As my friend pointed out, Chuck’s most poignant observation was on how, here in America, college graduates are stuck in the middle insofar as jobs and employment. There are the nerds—which he urged everyone to become; “be a nerd in your major”—who grow up and become the science and health professionals, and then there are the people who do the shit jobs none of us want to do. The rest? That’s the average American college graduate, embracing mediocrity and hanging onto the empty promise that a job and wealth soon will be handed over on a silver, WiFi-ready platter.

This has to change, Chuck contended. China and Europe and the rest of the world’s graduates are kicking our asses.

There wasn’t a lot of music chat but in the end, we still all found a common ground: Glenn Beck is definitely an asshole. (Nick Miller)

Facebook presents Playlists!:
What would advertising schmucks and lazy editors do without Facebook? For starters, we’d never be able to know what hot jams the masses were bumping. And so, here’s a peek at people’s favorite songs of the moment, as per SN&R’s “friends” on Facebook:

Jesse Jones: “Let’s Ride Bikes” by Justin Farren.

Stephanie Michelle: “So You Drinking” by Illogicalbeats.

Richard Holguin: “Easy That Way” by Shakedown.

Ben Walker: “Wonderful” by the Beta Band.

Biscuit SaudRay Barrios: “All the Little Pieces” by Louis XIV.

Ryan McKillop: “Speechless” by Lady Gaga.

Alysa Hollis: “Trouble Sleeping” by Corinne Bailey Rae.

Terilyn Lopes Sanchez: “Something Kinda Ooooh” by Girls Aloud.

Boomer Barbosa: Anything being played on www.eX1065.com. Great Sacramento-based Internet-radio station.

David Mohr: “One Life Stand” by Hot Chip.

Carly DuHain: “Peach, Plum, Pear” by Joanna Newsom.

Terra Lopez: “Burgandy” by Warpaint.

Tracie Rice-Bailey: “Gotta Stand Up!” by G.P. Bailey.

Lovelle Harris: “Lotus” by Minus the Bear.

Rebeka Newbold: “Time to Pretend” by MGMT.

Adam Varona: “Behavior” by Stomacher.

Bianca Maarie: “Pain” by Three Days Grace.

Kodac Visualz: “Return of Shinobi” by Kodac Visualz.

Moises Castillo: “Black October” by Sadat X.

Steve Weinel: “2000 Motel Rooms” by the Brodys.

Cody Terry: “Pass the Plugs” by De La Soul.

Jared Konopitski: “Hard Knock Life” from the Annie soundtrack.

Richard Hansen: “Still Raining, Still Dreaming” by Jimi Hendrix.

Alex Benson: “1901” by Phoenix.

Roderick Mar Carpio: “When They Come to Murder Me” by Black Francis, “Wade in the Water” by Marlena Shaw, “Clear Spot” by Captain Beefheart.

Will Comstock: “My Little Japanese Cigarette Case” by Spoon.

Jessica Ashleigh Brown: “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procol Harum.

Tony King: “Ghost Punch” by Mayyors, “Road Song” by Desolation Wilderness, “Rising” by Lhasa de Sela.