purple censorship

How does one decide what to censor?

Perhaps the most threatening content is the unknown.

Consider the video for the song "Purple Stuff" by Houston singer Big Moe (2002). The song evokes a fun carnival atmosphere celebrating lean and the htown drug culture. The characteristically purple codeine laced cough syrup is euphemistically referred to throughout as "purple stuff".

In the video version, a single line is censored (2:18):

What is this offensive line? What handful of words in the midst of a song about illegally imbibing prescription cough syrup could rise above the rest as demanding censorship?

[Play along at home! (line audible at 2:18)]

Context alone is unhelpful:

[D-Gotti]
...Drank stains on my FUBU and I still feel like a star
Now Ima blow up behind the wheel cause I done woke up
Wrapped around a pol(e) (-ice ?) took a sip from my cup now
Can't slip up,

[censored line]

Catch a playa leanin (impala ?), (wind? one?) up in the trunk now
now hut, two, three to da four
I done slammed up the (floor? four?) wit a crushed pineapple
got it gonna let it on but I ain't sippin wit dat Moe
drinkin wit' the Barre Baby I be way too throwed
And I guess a playa had about enough...

[refrain]
Purple Stuff (etc.)

If the playa "wind up in the trunk", then the previous line may have some violence oriented content. One possible rendering is

My "R"s a clip up

Two possibly offensive sounds in this line are the one rendered above as "R"s, which might also be "whores", in which case something sexual may have been meant; or "clip up" if "clip" is meant in the sense of a bullet dispenser.

Unfortunately, internet sources are unhelpful here. The most common rendering of the offensive line seems to be:

(?) clipper

Some presumably lesser sources omit the "?" leaving the unintelligible (and rhythmically inadequate): Now i can't slip up clipper.

Now, presumably, these transcriptions of the lyrics all originate from the same source, as they are nearly identical in other respects, including, for example, the mistranscription of "drinkin wit' the Barre Baby" (Barre Baby being an old nickname for Big Moe) as "drinkin at the bar baby". This error, simply the result of a lack of familiarity with the singer's previous works, seems to indicate they had no feedback from the actual rappers.

Maybe whoever censored the "Purple Stuff" video did have access to complete and accurate lyrics, discovered there some unsufferable profanity at 2:18, and removed it for our collective public safety. This seems extremely unlikely.

I find it doubtful that the artists provided the TV station with a complete lyrical transcription, OR that the TV station could easily decode said line more definitively than me and the collective internets.

Most likely, it seems to me, is that the line was censored precisely because it could not be understood. And since the censor could not understand the line, he could not discard the possibility that it was profoundly offensive and damaging to the public good.

Of course, I may be mistaken about the theme of the song. Dave Chappelle identifies a (slightly?) less insidious meaning behind "purple stuff":



And, strangely, his analysis is corroborated:

mega radical!
k, mega groceries . . .

However, if Big Moe's Purple Stuff was indeed intended as a song about "grape drink" (and it most certainly was not), then the possibility of a line in it actually worthy of censorship is even less than on the obvious reading.

So, we are left with this: a single, unintelligible line is censored from a song, the entire theme of which is more socially disruptive in its gleeful endorsement of illicit drug consumption than any single line could be. In order to remove this feature of the song by merely silencing isolated phrases, the song as a whole would have to be completely eviscerated and left totally unintelligible.

Much better to just let the unintelligible slide, and trust the wit of the listener clever enough to decipher it to resist whatever profane suggestion it offers.

the day before yesterday

When I have seen by time's fell hand defaced
The rich-proud cost of outworn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;
When I have seen the hungry ocean gain
Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,
And the firm soil win of the watery main,
Increasing store with loss, and loss with store;
When I have seen such interchange of state,
Or state itself confounded to decay,
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate,
That time will come and take my love away.
This thought is as a death, which cannot choose
But weep to have that which it fears to lose.

William Shakespeare, sonnet 64, 159-

lek: jump, leap. Gk lagdon: a leap and kick; hence, some suggest E leg . . . Lacertilia: order of reptiles, lizard, chameleon, etc. polatouche: flying squirrel. Sp (Arab al: the) alligator.

Shipley, The Origins of English Words, 1984

With rue my heart is laden
For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipt maiden
And many a lightfoot lad.

By brooks too broad for leaping
The lightfoot boys are laid;
The rose-lipt girls are sleeping
In fields where roses fade.

A. E. Houseman, With Rue My Heart Is Laden, 1896

lazy colorist

I regularly come across colorist bloopers that make me question if they've really read the product - a background character's hair color changing from one from to another, or even parts of a main character's costume, colors which clash with those mentioned in the narrative, etc. One has to wonder sometime if anybody sits down and reads a comic cover to cover once it's complete, but before it's published.

I suppose these bloopers should be slightly more forgivable if the product was originally B&W and is being recolored for a new release. At least in this case, there's no reason to expect a close scrutiny of every page by the original artist(s). It can be frustrating, however, if the blooper appears to be the result of sheer laziness.

Consider for example the recent single volume rerelease of Brian Michael Bendis' (1999/2000) true Hollywood stories comic, Fortune and Glory.

Much of the story revolves around the endless hell of waiting rooms and pitch meetings which drives the business of Hollywood. As such, repetition in both images and story elements drives much of the humor of the exposé. Unfortunately, the gag on this particular page is sullied by the laziness of the colorist:
Not all the details of the art come across in this scan—in particular, the main character (our little bald friend)'s eyes are shifting back and forth in every frame. Then, in the final full panel on the page, the eccentric holding his pen in the air briefly puts his arm down for a rest. This nuance seems to have been lost on the colorist, who clearly just pasted the exact same colors onto this panel as the previous ones.

The finished product, however, is obviously f-d up—surely once the colors and inks were merged, only a quick glance (or the glance of an actual reader) was needed to spot the error?

space streakings

"Special Karaoke King" off the album 7-Toku, classic Japanese noise rock, amazingly still in print.

rich = free not to work = welfare folk ?

People like me are somewhere on life's ladder, and the people above us do nothing but shit on us, and while we're wiping the shit out of our eyes, the people below us are picking our pockets. That's how I fucking feel. If I could get on a mountain top and scream that, aright, my anger is not just directed up, my anger is equally directed down. aright. We're getting fucking raped in all directions. . . . It's like they're setting us up for the fucking slaughter or something. . . . I guess the only difference between the rich and the poor is the kind of liquor they marinate themselves in, right?

courtesy shallnotbeinfringed

everybody draw mohammed day

south park solidarity, may 20

see also the Everybody Draw Mohammed Day home page

EDMD at Jihad Watch

avant-garde superheroics

The comic book medium made its name with the superhero genre. As such, even "artistic" or "avant-garde" comics owe history and cache to the superhero. One strategy for paying homage to the genre and developing the expressive power at the same time, is to apply cutting-edge narrative and artistic techniques to the superhero genre. Here are three examples.

Eightball #23: The Death Ray by Daniel Clowes

Clowes' The Death Ray follows on the heels of a long (postmodern) tradition of asking what would happen if there were superheroes in the "real" world? Miller's The Dark Knight Returns allowed a famous franchise property to age. Moore's Watchmen allowed a variety of typical superhero-types to influence the course of twentieth century politics and technology. More recently (and certainly undeserved of a mention in the same breath as the previous two monoliths) Millar's Kick-Ass updates the "bring superheroes into reality" strategy by depicting their appearance on youtube and facebook.

Each of these works touches on the moral ambiguity of the superheroic vigilante, the topic which drives Clowes' contribution to the genre. However, in The Death Ray superheroics constitute a brief incident in the lifetime of a man who discovers he possess super powers. More than heroic deeds, we see awkward familial relationships and a potent fable of the dangers of absolute mortal power in the hands of a petty and alienated teenage misfit.


In a surreal commentary on the moral ambiguity inherent in super power itself, the protagonist's powers are triggered by nicotine, imbuing him with superhuman strength (and ultimate power over the existence of objects around him) whenever he smokes a cigarette.

In fact, despite the superhero imagery, its somewhat unclear whether the "hero" Andy ever actually dresses in a costume more than once or twice. Many inserts of superheroics depict his fantasies rather than the actuality of his actions. Significantly, however, Andy wears his Death Ray costume during one of the most morally ambiguous incidents of all, when he uses his powers to zap out of existence the subject of an acquaintance's petty squabble (ostensibly "for America").

Super F*ckers by James Kolchaka

Kolchaka's Super F*ckers undermines the purity of the superhero mythos from an entirely different direction, layering superhero tropes with obscenity, abuse, and moral depravity of a bold and unabashed variety.


Kolchaka's primitive style and dayglow colors radiate drug abuse, sex, and gory violence at the hands of costumed heroes characterized by selfishness, vanity, and cruelty. The universe-saving adventures of this team are referenced but never depicted. Instead, while their leader SUPERDAN is trapped in "Dimension Zero," we witness the drug-addled antics of Jack Krak as he curses at, pisses on, dismembers, and snorts everything around him.

The most significant plot thread throughout the rambling story is the discovery by Jack and his buddies that the slime secreted by their teammate Grotus (who looks like a two pound lump of snot) has hallucinogenic properties. The ensuing orgy of substance abuse accelerates throughout the ups and downs of team politics.


Despite the revolting subject matter, the psychedelic excess of Super F*ckers elevates its humor to the sublime, with the whole panorama of deadbeat teenage cruelty refracted through the funhouse mirror of superheroics.

Powr Mastrs by C.F.

Powr Mastrs is a surreal epic which takes superpowers, secret identities, and the bizarre pseudo-science of which most origin stories are made and transports them to a fantastical environment of conflict and discovery.


A vast cast of characters wander through awkward encounters, psychedelic imagery, and uncomfortable revelations. Sometimes the conversations veer toward mumblecore, at other times we see iconic battles between good and evil. The art ranges from primitive scratches to precise landscapes.

In the second volume, occasional watercolors imbue some scenes with a vivid beauty which contrasts sharply with the stark linework of the rest of the story.


Unlike The Death Ray and Super F*ckers which extend and comment upon the superhero mythos, Powr Mastrs takes the excess of superheroic stories past as license to create an entire world of the superpowered. But within this environment of power and novelty, customs, drama, and flirtations suitable for superbeings emerge as well as the complex familial dramas which characterize any society.

The shifting tone of the emotional landscape in Powr Mastrs is illustrated by a shifting style. Sometimes C.F.'s line borders on the scribbling of a child, just as some characters' interactions are naive and confused. Whenever powers emerge, however, his line coalesces into a smooth, almost moebius-esque, elegance. Consequently, the use of superpowers literally changes the environment and the world these violent urchins inhabit oozes magic and fragility.