Muddy Mississippi Waters (crazy good)

Noam Cohen on the impact of Twitter:

When Mr. Starr awoke the day after his suicidal posts and began reading the messages left on his cellphone that night, he felt simultaneously touched and mortified. Many Twitter users who knew him personally were frantic to speak with him. Some he had never met were frantic to have him type something, anything, to confirm that he was alive.

It’s actually a very useful design concept. The New York Times Magazine uses it in its layout quite often.

Milissa Tarquini:

Stop worrying about the fold. Don’t throw your best practices out the window, but stop cramming stuff above a certain pixel point. You’re not helping anyone. Open up your designs and give your users some visual breathing room. If your content is compelling enough your users will read it to the end.

Brett Johnson:

“American Gangster,” his tenth studio album, represents Jay’s comeback from that comeback — his chance to reassert himself as hip-hop’s pre-eminent wordsmith and hustler-gone-legal chronicler. This time, he unquestionably delivers the goods — showcasing deft metaphors about his own ghetto ascension and an uncanny ear for dramatic sonic backdrops.

Greg Kot’s “Jay-Z gets his mojo back by riffing on ‘Gangster’ tales“:

The rhymes sound fresher than they have in years because Jay-Z is once again vividly sketching characters and scenes instead of just pounding his chest. He weaves together metaphors about the drug trade, music-making, and relationships that can be read on several levels, the type of multi-tiered rhymes that define great hip-hop.

Glenn Gamboa:

For as much as people want to root for the underdog and knock off those at the top of their game, sometimes you also have to appreciate greatness when it comes.

An enjoyable short film on Paul Rand by Imaginary Forces

“Using multiple classes within selectors” is useful for CMS-generated HTML.

Jay-Z sort of gave away the movie in his rhymes: “Like Frank Lucas is cool but I ain’t trying to snitch.” Based on a real story, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster is built and fictionalized around the rise and fall of Frank Lucas, CEO of a brand-name dope called “Blue Magic.” Denzel Washington is indeed cool, slick and ruthless in control as Mr. Lucas while Russell Crowe is quiet, nervous and aggressive as the good cop Richie Roberts. Like most mobster flick, this one is laced with bloods, needles, cash, powder, profanities and naked ladies. Listening to Jay-Z’s new album with the same title after having watched the film, references creep up everywhere in his songs.

Kelefa Sanneh on Jay-z:

By contrast “American Gangster” gives him a chance to get out of his head. The story of Mr. Lucas — a real-life gangster turned informant who is still alive — gives him license to return to the subjects that really inspire him: crime, punishment and the dope trade.

Rob Sheffield reviews American Gangster:

Forget Frank Lucas: The real black superhero here is Jay, and with American Gangster, Gray-Hova is back in black.