Robert Sorokanich at Gizmodo:
If you’re wondering about the rain and storms in Memphis, you might have gotten a big surprise in your Twitter feed today. WREG News Channel 3 briefly directed its Twitter followers to a link that not only had zero radar information about the #memstorm — it was a PornHub user’s profile.
Whoops. And I totally don’t buy the “we were hacked” excuse.
Brian Phillips at Grantland:
So that’s the first lesson I take from Memphis: Memphis will always, and instantly, be weirder than whatever rubric you’re using to help you understand it.
As a life-long, native Memphian I can say that Phillips got the city exactly right after just four days here.
The maker community here is thriving, and it’s great to see some of my friends and coworkers in the press.
Hooray!
HACKmemphis is a community-run event focused on bringing together the Memphis tech community — developers, coders and designers alike — to formulate amazing ideas, creative code, and awesome hardware hacks.
If you’re in the Mid-South and a nerd, you need to check this out.
Impressive work being done here in Memphis.
I’m not a big Elvis fan, but as a Memphian, this sums up my thoughts pretty well.
Last night, our son Josiah participated in an interview/dance party with The Wiggles on behalf of St. Jude. It was a blast.
Here’s the Hustle & Flow writer and director:
There’s always been this feeling in Memphis that we’re a little bit worried about what people think about us. And even when you kind of have an attitude like, “Man, I don’t care what people think about me,” you can just smell the bullshit. They really do. They worry. Hustle & Flow got caught up in that. “What are we saying about our city?” “What are we saying about the people?” Well, first of all I’m not saying everybody is like the people in this movie, and also, what’s wrong with the people in this movie? So there’s that thing. And so, when the Grizzles and the whole “Whoop That Trick” thing happened, I think there was an attitude shift where nobody wanted to apologize for being Memphis anymore. And instead of being like, “Well, if only we could take you to a Peabody brunch you would see that we’re not rude or caustic or animals, we’re civilized,” now it’s like, “Oh, you’re saying something bad about my city, well, fuck you.”
Over the past few years, I’ve been rather vague about my place of employment when talking or writing on the Internet. Not that my boss doesn’t know about 512 — he does — but I just felt that my life would be easier if people at work (locally and beyond) didn’t know about my online braaaaaaand.
As I recently announced that I’ve taken a position with a different company, I felt like I was finally able to write about what I’ve been up to for the last four years.
My pal Kevin Lipe, in the best thing he’s ever published for SBNation:
The fight of the Grizzlies has rekindled the fight of Memphis. Yeah, yeah, people were proud of Memphis before 2011. But it’s spreading. It’s building. It’s a strong uniting force, and it’s something I don’t think could happen in any other NBA city.
Our city needed this Grizzlies team. Just like they needed us.
The Grizzlies probably aren’t going to be able to rally and come back against the Spurs, but at this point, I’m not even sure it matters to many Memphians. This city is electric, and that’s a good thing.
“Memphis is in the United States. You’ve got this idol over here it’s huge. They’ve turned this guy into an idol. They worship and serve him more than they do the living God,” said Westboro member Shirley Phelps-Roper.
Hm.
