While we've discussed Ian McShane, Corey Feldman and Milla Jovovich, this series on vanity projects has so far not addressed any album responsible for a major cultural scandal, academic controversy or employment change. This time, though, we're talking about Sketches of My Culture, the first album by legendary academic and all-around super-genius Cornel West. Released in 2001, it became one of the major points of contention in a dispute between West and then-Harvard President Larry Summers that eventually grew so heated West left the university for Princeton. As a concept, the album is appealing: maybe we should make pop music that also educates people about socialist perspectives [...]

Anti-war activists Code Pink got a lot more interesting when they started attacking the financial titans, as they did this afternoon when they bumrushed the stage in D.C. while unemployable idiot money-grabber and "White House National Economic Council Director" Larry Summers was speaking. This we can get behind!