Yes, that's Hannah Montana on the list. I didn't have a choice...democracy on team movie day for the high schoolers wins. Other than that, a fantastic month of movies. I always relish the chance to watch Amélie again. If you missed The Ice Storm, I highly recommend it.
1: Real Genius
2: The Ice Storm
7: Monsters v. Aliens 3D
13: Hannah Montana
14: Taking Lives
23: Amélie
26: Fight Club
28: Burn After Reading
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
April iPod Update
{For all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}
For the new music recommended in March, click here.
Hard to believe it, but this is the 1 year anniversary of the "What I'm Hearing" posts. Last April, I embarked on a mission to bring quality music, both mainstream and not, to readers looking to expand their musical vocabulary beyond the monosyllabic songs pumped ad nauseum from radio towers across the nation. As has been the trend, this month is no exception to the rule as I found a good number of fantastic new artists. As always, all of these artists can be found on iTunes for purchase. This month's iPod update consisted of 63 songs spanning hip-hop, DIY and electronic. Enjoy!
Brother Ali, The Truth is Here: Originally introduced to the underground hip-hop scene by Slug of Atmosphere, Brother Ali has worked with producer Ant and had his albums released by hip-hop stalwart Rhymesayers. A converted Muslim and Caucasian albino, Ali frequently faced questions of his race early on due to voice, delivery and moniker. On The Truth is Here, his fourth studio album, Ali uses alternatively jazzy and bumping Ant produced beats to explore issues of race, social and economic divides and his adjustments to life in light of his growing success. While 9 full length tracks, this album is billed as an EP preceeding a full album release to come this fall. One thing is certain, the disc doesn't listen like an EP. Thoughtful, introspective and lyrically deft lyrics keep the listener entertained while Ant's production of top-notch songs outshines the cookie-cutter beats saturating mainstream hip-hop. Ali's style varies from aggressive spitting on tracks like "Philistine David " to laid back delivery on the album's opener, "Real As Can Be." Beyond all of this, Ali's scope encompasses a variety of questions with universal significance. When he asks, "Can you tell me, what language do you laugh in?/The human reaction of smiles and cries/what language are the tears when they're falling from your eyes?" it is not a question intended to divide in the style of Babel, but rather to point out the similarities we share as humans. An intelligent, varied and musical foray into hip-hop. Don't Sleep On: "As Real As Can Be," "The Believers" (feat. Slug) and "Good Lord."
Filastine, Dirty Bomb: Formerly a member of ¡Tchkung! out of Seattle, Grey Filastine, upon the break-up of the group, has gone on to explore global sounds in experimental electronica. On his February release, Dirty Bomb, Filastine mashes glitch, hip-hop and industrial with sounds from Asia, Europe and the Middle East, including cameos from overseas musicians. The textures are dense and layered, sheets of sound that have no one city of origin, making this album a true global citizen. Hand drums, zithers and traditional chants find themselves side by side with throbbing bass lines and electric blips, all finding their places here in the hands of a producer adept at finding harmony between cross-cultural sounds. While some of the tracks can become repetitive, the majority are well fleshed out and driving. In "Singularities," the beat is built up, deconstructed and then slammed back down in grimy fashion, an example of excellent production that runs throughout the album. Don't Sleep On: "Singularities," "Strategy of Tension," and "Bitrate Sneers."
For the rest of what I've been listening to this month, click here.
For the new music recommended in March, click here.
Hard to believe it, but this is the 1 year anniversary of the "What I'm Hearing" posts. Last April, I embarked on a mission to bring quality music, both mainstream and not, to readers looking to expand their musical vocabulary beyond the monosyllabic songs pumped ad nauseum from radio towers across the nation. As has been the trend, this month is no exception to the rule as I found a good number of fantastic new artists. As always, all of these artists can be found on iTunes for purchase. This month's iPod update consisted of 63 songs spanning hip-hop, DIY and electronic. Enjoy!
Brother Ali, The Truth is Here: Originally introduced to the underground hip-hop scene by Slug of Atmosphere, Brother Ali has worked with producer Ant and had his albums released by hip-hop stalwart Rhymesayers. A converted Muslim and Caucasian albino, Ali frequently faced questions of his race early on due to voice, delivery and moniker. On The Truth is Here, his fourth studio album, Ali uses alternatively jazzy and bumping Ant produced beats to explore issues of race, social and economic divides and his adjustments to life in light of his growing success. While 9 full length tracks, this album is billed as an EP preceeding a full album release to come this fall. One thing is certain, the disc doesn't listen like an EP. Thoughtful, introspective and lyrically deft lyrics keep the listener entertained while Ant's production of top-notch songs outshines the cookie-cutter beats saturating mainstream hip-hop. Ali's style varies from aggressive spitting on tracks like "Philistine David " to laid back delivery on the album's opener, "Real As Can Be." Beyond all of this, Ali's scope encompasses a variety of questions with universal significance. When he asks, "Can you tell me, what language do you laugh in?/The human reaction of smiles and cries/what language are the tears when they're falling from your eyes?" it is not a question intended to divide in the style of Babel, but rather to point out the similarities we share as humans. An intelligent, varied and musical foray into hip-hop. Don't Sleep On: "As Real As Can Be," "The Believers" (feat. Slug) and "Good Lord."
Filastine, Dirty Bomb: Formerly a member of ¡Tchkung! out of Seattle, Grey Filastine, upon the break-up of the group, has gone on to explore global sounds in experimental electronica. On his February release, Dirty Bomb, Filastine mashes glitch, hip-hop and industrial with sounds from Asia, Europe and the Middle East, including cameos from overseas musicians. The textures are dense and layered, sheets of sound that have no one city of origin, making this album a true global citizen. Hand drums, zithers and traditional chants find themselves side by side with throbbing bass lines and electric blips, all finding their places here in the hands of a producer adept at finding harmony between cross-cultural sounds. While some of the tracks can become repetitive, the majority are well fleshed out and driving. In "Singularities," the beat is built up, deconstructed and then slammed back down in grimy fashion, an example of excellent production that runs throughout the album. Don't Sleep On: "Singularities," "Strategy of Tension," and "Bitrate Sneers."
For the rest of what I've been listening to this month, click here.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
"Misogynistic" Hip-Hop Lyrics (in Aesop Rock's "Daylight")
[Disclaimer: The following is a lyrical discussion and analysis that looks at gender roles, gender attitudes and diction choice within hip-hop in general and Aesop Rock's song "Daylight" in particular. If you are uncomfortable or in any way close-minded to an honest dialogue about any of these issues, please do not read any further. The full text of the lyrics to the song are at the bottom, and a link to the song is here, should you want to examine and listen for yourself.]
I sent out a quote yesterday and was surprised to see a Twitter follower I had conversed with many times on a variety of subjects unfollow me as a result. As I had blocked out the profanity in the lyric, I was curious as to what prompted the disconnect. Her response when I asked what happened was:
"I didn't want to read misogynistic rap quotes on my Twitter, like I don't get those messages everywhere else. :P"
A pretty harsh thing for me to hear, especially given that I try to take a good deal of care in acknowledging that my audience comes from all backgrounds and walks of life and I like to be, unless consciously trying to be otherwise, non-offensive to the widest cross-section possible. I think what I should start with first, when about to engage in a discussion of this extent, is a simple definition...let's look at the accusation of the quote:
Misogyny: hatred, dislike or mistrust of women
Misogynist: a man who hates women
At this point, you must be wondering what kind of filthy, horrendous, patriarchal and utterly degrading line I must have sent out. Surely something along the lines of the song that I love to hate, "superman dat ho" or the massively inappropriate and inescapable club track "Lollipop." These are songs that show some serious hatred and lack of respect for women. The quote:
"Life's not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman, you only call her a bitch 'cause she wouldn't let you get that p***y." - Aesop Rock
And it got me to thinking...what about this quote is misogynistic? For starters, the quote isn't about a woman or women at all. The lyric is based on the popular metaphor, "Life's a bitch." Now, the argument can certainly be made (and I would agree) that this popular metaphor is misogynistic. It's a colloquialism used to equate the negative parts of life with a derogatory term for women derived from the noun for a female dog. This is, of course, if you choose to take the word literally. Some would argue that the movement to slang of the term (see "bitchin'" as a good thing) softens that blow, but for the purpose of this analysis, we'll assume the harsher meaning is implied.
So to start we have a misogynistic metaphor for life as the basis of the lyric. It's a negative and pessimistic metaphor, but one could argue that in the context it is most often used, it looks more spitefully towards life than towards women. Of course, going back to the "harsher meaning is implied" baseline, the implication would be that the phrase is hateful to both life and women equally.
However, in the quoted lyric, the misogynistic (i.e. hateful) message of the metaphor is flipped. Aesop in this line is not saying life is a bitch, he's saying the exact opposite: that "life is a beautiful woman." In the song, his anger is reserved for those that don't treat life with the respect it deserves, and therefore by extension of the lyric, the respect he feels women deserve. He mentions "the result's a lowlife counting on one hand what he's accomplished," and his greatest disdain comes at the end when he's asked by someone who hasn't seized their life if he has seen their "little lost passions" and he responds, "yeah, but only when I peddle past 'em." In these lyrics, Aesop is hateful not to women, but to those who disrespect their life enough to call it a misogynist term.
Of course, we have to look at the full quote as my reader saw it, and it does end with "she wouldn't let you get that p***y." I'll point out here that in my quotation, I did and continue to block out the majority of that word as I recognize it as one that can be felt and interpreted in a pejorative context. Were I to have no sensitivity to the use of the word, I would have written it out. While it is simply street slang for "vagina," it does have a derogatory connotation that was clearly recognized in the censoring. The intent of the use of the term becomes the question, and for that it is a case of context.
Were the lyrics to be referencing a woman or sex, the word would most certainly be misogynistic in value. However, the word here is tied to the earlier metaphor and in this case used to denote the joys and pleasures of life to someone who is complaining of their failure to achieve and experience them. At this point, it becomes a question of an individual's personal feelings towards the word, but also more importantly their feelings towards the context and how they interpret the author's use. The thought that gnaws at my brain is whether this person read and understood the quote as Aesop Rock meant it, or if simply seeing that word was enough to cloud the meaning of the rest of the quote for her.
It also brings to mind the question of Twitterability. When limited to 140 characters, is it smarter to stray away from something that takes too much explanation? Keep in mind, in order to respond to the accusation of misogyny I had to step far outside 140 so I didn't come off as disrespectful of her concern and opinion. "All due respect, but I think you're wrong," isn't the path to a clear and open communiqué. The quote, especially when coupled with the chorus of "All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day/put the pieces back together my way," has always left me feeling hopeful, respectful and fervently energetic towards life.
Would the quote have made more sense and been therefore less offensive had the entire stanza gone out?
"Life's not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman,
you only call her a bitch 'cause she wouldn't let you get that p***y -
Maybe she didn't feel y'all shared any similar interests,
or maybe you're just an asshole who couldn't sweet talk the princess."
With the next two lines, the before ambiguous intent of the original quote becomes more clear. By addressing the person who is calling life a bitch as an "asshole who couldn't sweet talk the princess," the entire context of the p-word is altered. Not only is life a beautiful woman, but in the second portion life gets upgraded to princess. Revered as such (again - life, not women - must remember we're talking metaphor here), that the asshole would set such a crass, base and lustful goal devoid of any real commitment is in the end disrespectful only to himself because it is the foundation of his personal failure. The lack of commitment is furthered by the "sweet talk" nature employed, rather than a serious and respectful approach. While the metaphor is life as female, if one were to want to examine them in the context of relationships, my analysis would be that Aesop Rock here is promoting a respectful and thoughtful approach rather than the commonly held hip-hop view of women as objects.
Unfortunately, a simple breakdown of that stanza and the reasons why I don't feel it should be taken as misogynistic may only scratch the surface of this reader's reaction. It is a direct interpretation of the words and the way I analyze their meaning within the song, grammatically and metaphorically, as ones that do not promote hatred of women. While this is literal and I believe to be analytically correct, it does not take into account the entirety of my education and therefore the possible reason this quote might have been viewed negatively by my reader. In the larger picture of Feminist theory, it could be the very personification of Life as female, thereby ascribing gender, that my reader read as misogyny.
Within a language construct framed by patriarchy where gender is indoctrinated in the way we learn to speak, delving to the deeper reading of the basic articles can be beyond the thought of some. But it's there, this grammatical gender divide, every day, from the things we teach children to the way we address our possessions. Take for example Mother Nature and Father Time. Or simply the way someone talks about a car saying, "She's a beauty." A car is an object and yet is often referred to as a female object.
I'm not bringing this up to get into a drawn out explanation of how the very influential nature of gender within the English language helps further shape and extend ideas of patriarchy (which it does.) I bring it up merely to demonstrate that even if the quote is taken as a positive description of life and the respect that it deserves in the form of a "beautiful woman" and "princess" as opposed to being viewed as "bitch," another perspective found in Feminist theory would view it as, at the least questionable, and on the other end despicable, that life needed to be tagged with the gender to begin with.
Finally, I'm left to wonder whether, knowing all of this, and recognizing that I had thought it out to such an extent, this particular person would have still unfollowed me. Would the recognition of the censorship and perspective that I take all of these theories into account brought deeper thought about what those 140 characters contained? Who knows. But I'm glad it got me thinking this evening. I hope it did the same for you.
One thing did sting...the passing off of Aesop's lyrics as rap. Of course, while Aesop Rock is certainly of the rap and hip-hop genres, I think most people would agree that his lyrics have more in common with poetry than what you expect to hear on a rap album. Here are the lyrics to "Daylight."
"Put one up for shackle-me-not clean logic procreation.
I did not invent the wheel I was the crooked spoke adjacent,
While the triple sixers lassos keep angels roped in the basement,
I walk the block with a halo on a stick poking your patience.
Y'all catch a 30 second flash visual
Dirty cooperative med platoon bloom head-trip split ridiculous
Fathom the splicing of first generation fuck up with trickle down anti-hero smack. Kraken.
I pace me game for zero hour completion cretin, splash.
Duke of early retirement picket dream,
American nightmare hogging the screen.
I'll hold the door open so you can stumble in if you'd stop following me 'round the jungle gym.
Now it's honor; and I spell it with the 'H' I stole from 'heritage'
Merit crutched on the wretched refuse of my teaming resonance.
I promise,
Tempest tossed bread with a bleeding conscience
See, the creed accents responsive but my spores divorced the wattage.
And I'm sleeping now (Wow!)
Yeah the settlers laugh...
you won't be laughing when your covered wagons crash,
you won't be laughing when the buzzards drag your brother's flag to rags,
you won't be laughing when your front lawn's spangled with epitaphs,
you won't be laughing.
And I'll hang my boots to rest when I'm impressed ,
so I triple knot 'em and forgot 'em,
His origami dream is beautiful but man those wings will never leave the ground,
without a feather and a lottery ticket, now settle down.
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day, put the pieces back together my way.
Slacker bound intimate tabloid headline with a pulse shimmy 'cross the centerfold,
Enter dead time engulfed; divvy crumbs for the better souls,
When 7 deadly stains adhere the blame to crystal conscience,
the result's a lowlife counting on one hand what he's accomplished.
Link me to activism chain, activate street sweep,
Plug deteriorating Zen up in pen dragon
I hock spores coursed by the morbid spreading of madmen (Alley Gospel)
Sinking your Lincoln log cabin and Charlie Chaplin waddle
I could -
Zig, Zag, and Zig 'em again before the badge gleam sparked in my brick wall windows,
Another thick installment of one night in Gotham without the wretched
'Houston we have a problem,'
Attached to the festive batch of city goblins
Who split holiday freaks on a box cut cinema high road bellow;
head gripped watch red bricks turn yellow.
Sorta similar to most backbones at camp Icarus
where all fiddler crabs congregate and get pampered for bickering.
Life's not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman,
you only call her a bitch 'cause she wouldn't let you get that p***y.
Maybe she didn't feel y'all shared any similar interests,
or maybe you're just the asshole who couldn't sweet talk the princess.
Kiss the speaker wire,
Peter pacifism peggin' threshold
Stomach full of halo kibbles,
Wingspan cast black upon vigils,
Here to duck hunt ticker tape vision and pick apart the pixels.
I got a friend of polar nature, and it's all peace
You and I seek similar stars but can't sit at the same feast
Metal captain
This cat is asking if I seen his little lost passions,
I told him 'yeah, but only when I peddled past 'em.'
I sent out a quote yesterday and was surprised to see a Twitter follower I had conversed with many times on a variety of subjects unfollow me as a result. As I had blocked out the profanity in the lyric, I was curious as to what prompted the disconnect. Her response when I asked what happened was:
"I didn't want to read misogynistic rap quotes on my Twitter, like I don't get those messages everywhere else. :P"
A pretty harsh thing for me to hear, especially given that I try to take a good deal of care in acknowledging that my audience comes from all backgrounds and walks of life and I like to be, unless consciously trying to be otherwise, non-offensive to the widest cross-section possible. I think what I should start with first, when about to engage in a discussion of this extent, is a simple definition...let's look at the accusation of the quote:
Misogyny: hatred, dislike or mistrust of women
Misogynist: a man who hates women
At this point, you must be wondering what kind of filthy, horrendous, patriarchal and utterly degrading line I must have sent out. Surely something along the lines of the song that I love to hate, "superman dat ho" or the massively inappropriate and inescapable club track "Lollipop." These are songs that show some serious hatred and lack of respect for women. The quote:
"Life's not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman, you only call her a bitch 'cause she wouldn't let you get that p***y." - Aesop Rock
And it got me to thinking...what about this quote is misogynistic? For starters, the quote isn't about a woman or women at all. The lyric is based on the popular metaphor, "Life's a bitch." Now, the argument can certainly be made (and I would agree) that this popular metaphor is misogynistic. It's a colloquialism used to equate the negative parts of life with a derogatory term for women derived from the noun for a female dog. This is, of course, if you choose to take the word literally. Some would argue that the movement to slang of the term (see "bitchin'" as a good thing) softens that blow, but for the purpose of this analysis, we'll assume the harsher meaning is implied.
So to start we have a misogynistic metaphor for life as the basis of the lyric. It's a negative and pessimistic metaphor, but one could argue that in the context it is most often used, it looks more spitefully towards life than towards women. Of course, going back to the "harsher meaning is implied" baseline, the implication would be that the phrase is hateful to both life and women equally.
However, in the quoted lyric, the misogynistic (i.e. hateful) message of the metaphor is flipped. Aesop in this line is not saying life is a bitch, he's saying the exact opposite: that "life is a beautiful woman." In the song, his anger is reserved for those that don't treat life with the respect it deserves, and therefore by extension of the lyric, the respect he feels women deserve. He mentions "the result's a lowlife counting on one hand what he's accomplished," and his greatest disdain comes at the end when he's asked by someone who hasn't seized their life if he has seen their "little lost passions" and he responds, "yeah, but only when I peddle past 'em." In these lyrics, Aesop is hateful not to women, but to those who disrespect their life enough to call it a misogynist term.
Of course, we have to look at the full quote as my reader saw it, and it does end with "she wouldn't let you get that p***y." I'll point out here that in my quotation, I did and continue to block out the majority of that word as I recognize it as one that can be felt and interpreted in a pejorative context. Were I to have no sensitivity to the use of the word, I would have written it out. While it is simply street slang for "vagina," it does have a derogatory connotation that was clearly recognized in the censoring. The intent of the use of the term becomes the question, and for that it is a case of context.
Were the lyrics to be referencing a woman or sex, the word would most certainly be misogynistic in value. However, the word here is tied to the earlier metaphor and in this case used to denote the joys and pleasures of life to someone who is complaining of their failure to achieve and experience them. At this point, it becomes a question of an individual's personal feelings towards the word, but also more importantly their feelings towards the context and how they interpret the author's use. The thought that gnaws at my brain is whether this person read and understood the quote as Aesop Rock meant it, or if simply seeing that word was enough to cloud the meaning of the rest of the quote for her.
It also brings to mind the question of Twitterability. When limited to 140 characters, is it smarter to stray away from something that takes too much explanation? Keep in mind, in order to respond to the accusation of misogyny I had to step far outside 140 so I didn't come off as disrespectful of her concern and opinion. "All due respect, but I think you're wrong," isn't the path to a clear and open communiqué. The quote, especially when coupled with the chorus of "All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day/put the pieces back together my way," has always left me feeling hopeful, respectful and fervently energetic towards life.
Would the quote have made more sense and been therefore less offensive had the entire stanza gone out?
"Life's not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman,
you only call her a bitch 'cause she wouldn't let you get that p***y -
Maybe she didn't feel y'all shared any similar interests,
or maybe you're just an asshole who couldn't sweet talk the princess."
With the next two lines, the before ambiguous intent of the original quote becomes more clear. By addressing the person who is calling life a bitch as an "asshole who couldn't sweet talk the princess," the entire context of the p-word is altered. Not only is life a beautiful woman, but in the second portion life gets upgraded to princess. Revered as such (again - life, not women - must remember we're talking metaphor here), that the asshole would set such a crass, base and lustful goal devoid of any real commitment is in the end disrespectful only to himself because it is the foundation of his personal failure. The lack of commitment is furthered by the "sweet talk" nature employed, rather than a serious and respectful approach. While the metaphor is life as female, if one were to want to examine them in the context of relationships, my analysis would be that Aesop Rock here is promoting a respectful and thoughtful approach rather than the commonly held hip-hop view of women as objects.
Unfortunately, a simple breakdown of that stanza and the reasons why I don't feel it should be taken as misogynistic may only scratch the surface of this reader's reaction. It is a direct interpretation of the words and the way I analyze their meaning within the song, grammatically and metaphorically, as ones that do not promote hatred of women. While this is literal and I believe to be analytically correct, it does not take into account the entirety of my education and therefore the possible reason this quote might have been viewed negatively by my reader. In the larger picture of Feminist theory, it could be the very personification of Life as female, thereby ascribing gender, that my reader read as misogyny.
Within a language construct framed by patriarchy where gender is indoctrinated in the way we learn to speak, delving to the deeper reading of the basic articles can be beyond the thought of some. But it's there, this grammatical gender divide, every day, from the things we teach children to the way we address our possessions. Take for example Mother Nature and Father Time. Or simply the way someone talks about a car saying, "She's a beauty." A car is an object and yet is often referred to as a female object.
I'm not bringing this up to get into a drawn out explanation of how the very influential nature of gender within the English language helps further shape and extend ideas of patriarchy (which it does.) I bring it up merely to demonstrate that even if the quote is taken as a positive description of life and the respect that it deserves in the form of a "beautiful woman" and "princess" as opposed to being viewed as "bitch," another perspective found in Feminist theory would view it as, at the least questionable, and on the other end despicable, that life needed to be tagged with the gender to begin with.
Finally, I'm left to wonder whether, knowing all of this, and recognizing that I had thought it out to such an extent, this particular person would have still unfollowed me. Would the recognition of the censorship and perspective that I take all of these theories into account brought deeper thought about what those 140 characters contained? Who knows. But I'm glad it got me thinking this evening. I hope it did the same for you.
One thing did sting...the passing off of Aesop's lyrics as rap. Of course, while Aesop Rock is certainly of the rap and hip-hop genres, I think most people would agree that his lyrics have more in common with poetry than what you expect to hear on a rap album. Here are the lyrics to "Daylight."
"Put one up for shackle-me-not clean logic procreation.
I did not invent the wheel I was the crooked spoke adjacent,
While the triple sixers lassos keep angels roped in the basement,
I walk the block with a halo on a stick poking your patience.
Y'all catch a 30 second flash visual
Dirty cooperative med platoon bloom head-trip split ridiculous
Fathom the splicing of first generation fuck up with trickle down anti-hero smack. Kraken.
I pace me game for zero hour completion cretin, splash.
Duke of early retirement picket dream,
American nightmare hogging the screen.
I'll hold the door open so you can stumble in if you'd stop following me 'round the jungle gym.
Now it's honor; and I spell it with the 'H' I stole from 'heritage'
Merit crutched on the wretched refuse of my teaming resonance.
I promise,
Tempest tossed bread with a bleeding conscience
See, the creed accents responsive but my spores divorced the wattage.
And I'm sleeping now (Wow!)
Yeah the settlers laugh...
you won't be laughing when your covered wagons crash,
you won't be laughing when the buzzards drag your brother's flag to rags,
you won't be laughing when your front lawn's spangled with epitaphs,
you won't be laughing.
And I'll hang my boots to rest when I'm impressed ,
so I triple knot 'em and forgot 'em,
His origami dream is beautiful but man those wings will never leave the ground,
without a feather and a lottery ticket, now settle down.
All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day, put the pieces back together my way.
Slacker bound intimate tabloid headline with a pulse shimmy 'cross the centerfold,
Enter dead time engulfed; divvy crumbs for the better souls,
When 7 deadly stains adhere the blame to crystal conscience,
the result's a lowlife counting on one hand what he's accomplished.
Link me to activism chain, activate street sweep,
Plug deteriorating Zen up in pen dragon
I hock spores coursed by the morbid spreading of madmen (Alley Gospel)
Sinking your Lincoln log cabin and Charlie Chaplin waddle
I could -
Zig, Zag, and Zig 'em again before the badge gleam sparked in my brick wall windows,
Another thick installment of one night in Gotham without the wretched
'Houston we have a problem,'
Attached to the festive batch of city goblins
Who split holiday freaks on a box cut cinema high road bellow;
head gripped watch red bricks turn yellow.
Sorta similar to most backbones at camp Icarus
where all fiddler crabs congregate and get pampered for bickering.
Life's not a bitch, life is a beautiful woman,
you only call her a bitch 'cause she wouldn't let you get that p***y.
Maybe she didn't feel y'all shared any similar interests,
or maybe you're just the asshole who couldn't sweet talk the princess.
Kiss the speaker wire,
Peter pacifism peggin' threshold
Stomach full of halo kibbles,
Wingspan cast black upon vigils,
Here to duck hunt ticker tape vision and pick apart the pixels.
I got a friend of polar nature, and it's all peace
You and I seek similar stars but can't sit at the same feast
Metal captain
This cat is asking if I seen his little lost passions,
I told him 'yeah, but only when I peddled past 'em.'
Friday, April 24, 2009
10 Things to Think About on a Friday
Heading into the last week of April, it was a relaxed 4/20 (although I heard that the Skylark was absolutely bananas) and a relatively low key week where I focused on some important administrative duties like looking for a new line of work, renewed my D.RE license and registered for the CSET in May. All slightly less than fun stuff, but if it gets me where I need to go, right? But heading into this last weekend, with no open house, it should be a good one. Definitely two days of Nini's. And as for you? How about 10 things to mull over in your mind before 5pm rolls around?
1) Seinfeld is coming back! Well, kinda. As per earlier reports, filming has now started on the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO, and the multi-episode arc features the entire cast of Seinfeld as themselves. Hilarity is sure to ensue.
2) 4/20, while being a day of glee and happiness for many, is actually a sad reminder for anyone closely tied to the Columbine killings. What I found interesting was this article that discussed the myths surrounding Columbine and how many of those myths have never been debunked in the public's mind. For instance, did you know that neither of the killers were actually a part of the Trench Coat Mafia? For those that would like some less serious 4/20 thoughts, if you missed Stewie and Brian and their musical duet "Everything's Better With a Bag of Weed," check it out.
3) I was just coming to grips with the suicide of David Foster Wallace, the unreal author of Infinite Jest. Sad then to have to now mourn another fantastic author, J.G. Ballard, who died this week. While many of you may not have read any of Ballard's work, my guess is you've watched it...he's responsible for Crash (the Spader/Hunter one about sex and car crashes) and Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (also the movie that launched Christian Bale's acting career.)
4) I couldn't wait any longer than I had, so last night I watched Amélie again. I'm simply floored, every time I see it, by the beauty and wonder in the film. It makes me laugh, smile and cry all at the same time, and just hearing the soundtrack on my iPod makes me want to watch it all over again. I was looking for a reason to write about it, and Audrey Tatou provided that today. Apparently, there's quite a bit of uproar over the movie poster for her most recent release, a biopic of Coco Chanel. Apparently, Chanel was a 50+ cigarette/day person. The poster had Tatou smoking a cigarette and was banned by the major metro ad company. They then replaced it with this much weaker poster. I thought the French liked to smoke?
5) According to this recent British study, Beer Goggles don't exist. That's not what I see happening around 1:45 in the bars when everyone starts pairing off and then slowly backing away when the house lights come up...
6) Here's a genius plot, and yet one more reason why I have always wanted an identical twin...these two get out of every parking ticket because they claim, "I wasn't driving the car, HE was!"
7) I heard once that "the only second chance you get in life is the chance to make the same mistake twice." Not so for these two high school football teams. After leaving the field in 1993 with a 7-7 tie, Gatorade and a bunch of others have geared up to replay the match with the same players on the same field to get a clearcut winner. Guess they won't be making the same tie mistake twice.
8) An interesting look at what CNN considers to be a gradual opening in the door of acceptance for women to date other women. But if it's becoming so socially acceptable and mainstream, why is the mainstream still fighting equal rights for marriage equality? Seems like people want their homosexuality racy, but not legally justified. Shame on them. But, whether homo or hetero sexual, here's an interesting piece on the perceptions, myths and potential truths of redheads (including that they're likely to have more sex per week than blonds or brunettes...)
9) After completing the regular season with the best record, the San Jose Sharks are one game away from completely flopping out of the play-offs to an 8 seed. They got together and thought they'd try to be the New England Patriots of the NHL. How about playing with some fire guys? If they can outfit President Obama's Blackberry with super special NSA encryption technology, you can find a way to win 2 more games to tie the series.
10) I've wondered why I can stay up late, get little sleep and still keep moving. Looks like it has something to do with being a night owl and having a good circadian rhythm. Bam!
That's it folks...remember the Golden Rule...he who has the Gold, makes the rules.
1) Seinfeld is coming back! Well, kinda. As per earlier reports, filming has now started on the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO, and the multi-episode arc features the entire cast of Seinfeld as themselves. Hilarity is sure to ensue.
2) 4/20, while being a day of glee and happiness for many, is actually a sad reminder for anyone closely tied to the Columbine killings. What I found interesting was this article that discussed the myths surrounding Columbine and how many of those myths have never been debunked in the public's mind. For instance, did you know that neither of the killers were actually a part of the Trench Coat Mafia? For those that would like some less serious 4/20 thoughts, if you missed Stewie and Brian and their musical duet "Everything's Better With a Bag of Weed," check it out.
3) I was just coming to grips with the suicide of David Foster Wallace, the unreal author of Infinite Jest. Sad then to have to now mourn another fantastic author, J.G. Ballard, who died this week. While many of you may not have read any of Ballard's work, my guess is you've watched it...he's responsible for Crash (the Spader/Hunter one about sex and car crashes) and Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (also the movie that launched Christian Bale's acting career.)
4) I couldn't wait any longer than I had, so last night I watched Amélie again. I'm simply floored, every time I see it, by the beauty and wonder in the film. It makes me laugh, smile and cry all at the same time, and just hearing the soundtrack on my iPod makes me want to watch it all over again. I was looking for a reason to write about it, and Audrey Tatou provided that today. Apparently, there's quite a bit of uproar over the movie poster for her most recent release, a biopic of Coco Chanel. Apparently, Chanel was a 50+ cigarette/day person. The poster had Tatou smoking a cigarette and was banned by the major metro ad company. They then replaced it with this much weaker poster. I thought the French liked to smoke?
5) According to this recent British study, Beer Goggles don't exist. That's not what I see happening around 1:45 in the bars when everyone starts pairing off and then slowly backing away when the house lights come up...
6) Here's a genius plot, and yet one more reason why I have always wanted an identical twin...these two get out of every parking ticket because they claim, "I wasn't driving the car, HE was!"
7) I heard once that "the only second chance you get in life is the chance to make the same mistake twice." Not so for these two high school football teams. After leaving the field in 1993 with a 7-7 tie, Gatorade and a bunch of others have geared up to replay the match with the same players on the same field to get a clearcut winner. Guess they won't be making the same tie mistake twice.
8) An interesting look at what CNN considers to be a gradual opening in the door of acceptance for women to date other women. But if it's becoming so socially acceptable and mainstream, why is the mainstream still fighting equal rights for marriage equality? Seems like people want their homosexuality racy, but not legally justified. Shame on them. But, whether homo or hetero sexual, here's an interesting piece on the perceptions, myths and potential truths of redheads (including that they're likely to have more sex per week than blonds or brunettes...)
9) After completing the regular season with the best record, the San Jose Sharks are one game away from completely flopping out of the play-offs to an 8 seed. They got together and thought they'd try to be the New England Patriots of the NHL. How about playing with some fire guys? If they can outfit President Obama's Blackberry with super special NSA encryption technology, you can find a way to win 2 more games to tie the series.
10) I've wondered why I can stay up late, get little sleep and still keep moving. Looks like it has something to do with being a night owl and having a good circadian rhythm. Bam!
That's it folks...remember the Golden Rule...he who has the Gold, makes the rules.
Friday, April 17, 2009
10 Things to Think About on a Friday
Good God man! I have no idea why I just started with that, but I liked the sound of it and it kinda came flying out of my fingers, so I'm going to go with it. This week was a mixture of the good and the bad, the pleasure and the pain. On Monday, I felt like scooping my eyes out with a wooden spoon as my team voted to go see Hannah Montana. On Wednesday, I felt like my heart went into the microwave as I paid most of my money to the government. I then tried to ease my sorrows out at the 7 Mile with E and Coach. Yesterday, I was told that my ear ache is from stress, not an ear infection, and then I went to relieve some stress at the Academy of Sciences. Pictures will be up on that soon. Tonight, it's up to the city for a bit for Bini's birthday celebration and then home to get ready for the all day meet tomorrow. But before any of that happens, there's 10 things that I'll propose you ponder before the weekend comes.
1) The voice of our generation and the basis of football video games, John Madden, has retired. This will make Al Michaels unbearable to listen to.
2) Looks like Obama wants to build us a high speed rail system. Question 1: Can we stop it from being the bust that the Taggart line became once the government took ownership? 2: Will this push include more regional transportation growth? 3: Why'd this take so long when Japan, France and Spain all already have this?
3) I knew the fraternity I was in at USC was going downhill when I deactivated from it for moral and ethical reasons. But I really never expected it to go this far downhill with a report of a drugging and sexual assault at a party this week.
4) There's nothing I like quite so much as an argument getting reframed so that other people can be persuaded. Here's an article giving a conservative argument for the legalization of same-sex marriage.
5) If you're a fan of photography, you'll enjoy this new National Geographic toy that creates scalable photo mosaics out of user submitted photography.
6) This woman just had the luckiest day of her life...she gets shot in the head, goes downstairs and makes a cup of tea.
7) This guy, on the other hand, isn't quite so lucky. If you're 27 and you look like you're a toddler, not only will it be hard to meet girls, but even a real ID will probably be passed off as fake.
8) Heard this song out last night and the DJ was kind enough to post it for download. Check out "Chris Isaak vs. Fatboy Slim."
9) I had never read about this before, but apparently the unthinkable is true...Beatles music might just sound better in Mono.
10) Finally, in a sinister dictator question...would you rather be Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez or Ahminejad?
That's it folks...remember that nap time is important.
1) The voice of our generation and the basis of football video games, John Madden, has retired. This will make Al Michaels unbearable to listen to.
2) Looks like Obama wants to build us a high speed rail system. Question 1: Can we stop it from being the bust that the Taggart line became once the government took ownership? 2: Will this push include more regional transportation growth? 3: Why'd this take so long when Japan, France and Spain all already have this?
3) I knew the fraternity I was in at USC was going downhill when I deactivated from it for moral and ethical reasons. But I really never expected it to go this far downhill with a report of a drugging and sexual assault at a party this week.
4) There's nothing I like quite so much as an argument getting reframed so that other people can be persuaded. Here's an article giving a conservative argument for the legalization of same-sex marriage.
5) If you're a fan of photography, you'll enjoy this new National Geographic toy that creates scalable photo mosaics out of user submitted photography.
6) This woman just had the luckiest day of her life...she gets shot in the head, goes downstairs and makes a cup of tea.
7) This guy, on the other hand, isn't quite so lucky. If you're 27 and you look like you're a toddler, not only will it be hard to meet girls, but even a real ID will probably be passed off as fake.
8) Heard this song out last night and the DJ was kind enough to post it for download. Check out "Chris Isaak vs. Fatboy Slim."
9) I had never read about this before, but apparently the unthinkable is true...Beatles music might just sound better in Mono.
10) Finally, in a sinister dictator question...would you rather be Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez or Ahminejad?
That's it folks...remember that nap time is important.
Friday, April 10, 2009
10 Things to Think About on a Friday
So here we are folks, less than 6 days from taxes being due (still working on mine...shit!) and only two days from one of my favorite eating events of the year...Easter. A pretty good week in all...UNC made me 80 bucks by trouncing Michigan State in the title game, I saw Monsters v. Aliens in 3D, I got to go to a Warriors game for free and tonight I'm heading over to catch my first baseball game of the season when the A's take on the Mariners in Oakland. But until I get to go out to the ballgame and the crowd, here's 10 things to have your mind run a few circles around as you treadmill your way to 5pm.
1) If you haven't heard it yet, Eminem has a new song out. If you prefer to catch the music video, it's here. What I love is Kim Kardashian's response to Em's dig at her....she's honored! Jessica Simpson wasn't so pleased (Em is dressed like Tony Romo and throwing hamburgers to her)
2) In other music news, Courtney Love wants money. As in over 700Mil. Why? She's claiming that bad and bogus investments were made in her name using Kurt's money.
3) I've heard of road rage and getting in the other driver's face, but when you're not allowing a vegan to express their opinion of food on their license plate, isn't that taking courtesy just a bit to-far? You decide...Tofu or F-You!?
4) Discouraging news this week when it was announced that rather than conducting a Reggie Bush probe and an O.J. Mayo probe, the NCAA was combining the two into a USC probe. Not good Trojans, not good.
5) Wonder who thought it'd be fun to sabotage internet, cable and phone service for the vast majority of the Silicon Valley on Thursday. The thought that it might be union workers that had expired contracts with AT&T is particularly disheartening. Let's be good to each other folks!
6) I'm pretty sick and tired of John Mayer. It wasn't enough that he made the song "Your Body is a Wonderland" which became the masturbation music of almost every radio listening female between 13 and 45. Then he has to Twitter while giving interviews about how stupid Twitter is. Then he has to continue making stupid ridiculous pop music. Now people are talking about him having a crush on a 16 year old. Here's an idea, let's just STOP talking about John Mayer. He's not worth our time. If he's not famous anymore, maybe he'll go away. Of course, by writing this, I'm partially adding to the very news I hate, but the guy makes me want to watch radio pop music decompose into something very very ugly.
7) I was amazed on Sunday to see how many Mormons are on Twitter when they took over the trending topics with their #ldsconf tweets. Today though, you can get a church to tweet you the entire play of The Passion of the Christ. Huzzah!
8) Here's some scary news...in their cultural love for male children linked with their strict limits on the number of children couples can have, couples in China have been aborting female fetuses. This has led to a gender gap that could have them with 32 million more males than females. Wonder what happens when all these boys grow up and want to get married only to find that every single girl in their country is already married.
9) So you're Saddam Hussein. You've watched power be ripped from your grasp by invading Americans. Your people are tearing your statue down. You're being put on trial for war crimes and will eventually be hung. Are you ecstatic or pissed off that the American troops holding you show you the South Park movie on repeat where you are the main villain?
10) Would you rather be an A or a Giant?
That's it folks. Remember that cold milk and warm cookies are good for you!
1) If you haven't heard it yet, Eminem has a new song out. If you prefer to catch the music video, it's here. What I love is Kim Kardashian's response to Em's dig at her....she's honored! Jessica Simpson wasn't so pleased (Em is dressed like Tony Romo and throwing hamburgers to her)
2) In other music news, Courtney Love wants money. As in over 700Mil. Why? She's claiming that bad and bogus investments were made in her name using Kurt's money.
3) I've heard of road rage and getting in the other driver's face, but when you're not allowing a vegan to express their opinion of food on their license plate, isn't that taking courtesy just a bit to-far? You decide...Tofu or F-You!?
4) Discouraging news this week when it was announced that rather than conducting a Reggie Bush probe and an O.J. Mayo probe, the NCAA was combining the two into a USC probe. Not good Trojans, not good.
5) Wonder who thought it'd be fun to sabotage internet, cable and phone service for the vast majority of the Silicon Valley on Thursday. The thought that it might be union workers that had expired contracts with AT&T is particularly disheartening. Let's be good to each other folks!
6) I'm pretty sick and tired of John Mayer. It wasn't enough that he made the song "Your Body is a Wonderland" which became the masturbation music of almost every radio listening female between 13 and 45. Then he has to Twitter while giving interviews about how stupid Twitter is. Then he has to continue making stupid ridiculous pop music. Now people are talking about him having a crush on a 16 year old. Here's an idea, let's just STOP talking about John Mayer. He's not worth our time. If he's not famous anymore, maybe he'll go away. Of course, by writing this, I'm partially adding to the very news I hate, but the guy makes me want to watch radio pop music decompose into something very very ugly.
7) I was amazed on Sunday to see how many Mormons are on Twitter when they took over the trending topics with their #ldsconf tweets. Today though, you can get a church to tweet you the entire play of The Passion of the Christ. Huzzah!
8) Here's some scary news...in their cultural love for male children linked with their strict limits on the number of children couples can have, couples in China have been aborting female fetuses. This has led to a gender gap that could have them with 32 million more males than females. Wonder what happens when all these boys grow up and want to get married only to find that every single girl in their country is already married.
9) So you're Saddam Hussein. You've watched power be ripped from your grasp by invading Americans. Your people are tearing your statue down. You're being put on trial for war crimes and will eventually be hung. Are you ecstatic or pissed off that the American troops holding you show you the South Park movie on repeat where you are the main villain?
10) Would you rather be an A or a Giant?
That's it folks. Remember that cold milk and warm cookies are good for you!
Friday, April 3, 2009
10 Things to Think About on a Friday
The job hunt continues in earnest and tax season is upon us. April Fool's saw some sick burns (@hosin thought our apartment had been robbed, most of my family thought I had enlisted in the Army), and Lent is almost over, for anyone who buys into that sort of thing. I started building music for the April iPod update last night, so I'm jamming to some exciting new tunes here today. But you? You'll have to wait for the new tunes like everyone else. But I would never leave you hanging on a Friday, so here's 10 things to ponder before you can rid yourself of the shackles of your boss and go running free into the fields of the weekend.
1) Eating fruit is good for you. Drinking fruit juice can be healthy too. Is there an added bonus when your fruit juice comes in a box that feels and looks like the fruit itself?
2) I've heard some pretty creative ways to avoid drinking and driving. This guy just wanted a way to get from his house to the bar to his house again without standing up at all, and he found it in the form of a bar stool attached to an electric mower. Too bad he crashed it and got a DUI.
3) I didn't know there was a program running this long. They talk about the Simpsons going on 20 years as a lengthy run. What about a show that's been on 72 years and nearly 16,000 episodes? That's the run that Guiding Light will have enjoyed when it gets canceled this year.
4) Poor Screech. Not only will Dustin Diamond always be remembered as the hapless geek who could never get a date with Lisa Turtle, now he's resorted to selling t-shirts to save his house and even that hasn't stopped him from not paying his electricity bill.
5) Nothing like a good fight amongst celebrities. These folks manage to dwarf our income, live in ridiculous style, and yet still can't get along. This time, it's Tom Brady's ex Bridget and his current wife Gisele fighting over comments Gisele made about Bridget and Tom's baby. Tom is hoping these two can kiss and make up. Leave it to a guy from Serra high school to make money, win Super Bowls and then create a Springer-like atmosphere with two famous and beautiful women. You can take the guy out of Serra, but you can't take the scum out of the guy.
6) DJs mix records. Mash-ups chop genres up and put them together. What about a DJ who cuts up records, sews them back together and then mixes the result? Talk about chopped, these records have been sliced, diced and spliced.
7) A report out of the UK says that having a sister makes you more optimistic. Guess that explains my state of mind (one sister, two step-sisters). Unfortunately, according to the report, they aren't so lucky to have me as a brother...
8) As much as I like to make fun of the fly-over states and the super conservative, the joke is now on California. After one of the most liberal states in the union couldn't strike down a ban on gay marriage in the latest election, folks out in Iowa struck it down as unconstitutional. Iowa. More power to them, I guess. Or less to us.
9) More and more press is being given over to Twitter and the various uses for it. In the most recent one, Demi Moore, receiving a tweet about a potential suicide, re-posted it and got help for the woman who was unharmed when they found her.
10) AT&T worked hard to get the Apple partnership, and now it seems that it will do anything it can to shit all over its iPhone users. It has now put a cap on 3G streaming data, and, more importantly, changed its TOS to prohibit streaming of 3rd party material (which would include YouTube, SlingBox and others). Not sure why AT&T is so horrendous at customer service and product support, but this is sure to anger a lot of users.
And that's it from this end. Take care of each other and eat some warm cookies and cold milk...it's good for you.
1) Eating fruit is good for you. Drinking fruit juice can be healthy too. Is there an added bonus when your fruit juice comes in a box that feels and looks like the fruit itself?
2) I've heard some pretty creative ways to avoid drinking and driving. This guy just wanted a way to get from his house to the bar to his house again without standing up at all, and he found it in the form of a bar stool attached to an electric mower. Too bad he crashed it and got a DUI.
3) I didn't know there was a program running this long. They talk about the Simpsons going on 20 years as a lengthy run. What about a show that's been on 72 years and nearly 16,000 episodes? That's the run that Guiding Light will have enjoyed when it gets canceled this year.
4) Poor Screech. Not only will Dustin Diamond always be remembered as the hapless geek who could never get a date with Lisa Turtle, now he's resorted to selling t-shirts to save his house and even that hasn't stopped him from not paying his electricity bill.
5) Nothing like a good fight amongst celebrities. These folks manage to dwarf our income, live in ridiculous style, and yet still can't get along. This time, it's Tom Brady's ex Bridget and his current wife Gisele fighting over comments Gisele made about Bridget and Tom's baby. Tom is hoping these two can kiss and make up. Leave it to a guy from Serra high school to make money, win Super Bowls and then create a Springer-like atmosphere with two famous and beautiful women. You can take the guy out of Serra, but you can't take the scum out of the guy.
6) DJs mix records. Mash-ups chop genres up and put them together. What about a DJ who cuts up records, sews them back together and then mixes the result? Talk about chopped, these records have been sliced, diced and spliced.
7) A report out of the UK says that having a sister makes you more optimistic. Guess that explains my state of mind (one sister, two step-sisters). Unfortunately, according to the report, they aren't so lucky to have me as a brother...
8) As much as I like to make fun of the fly-over states and the super conservative, the joke is now on California. After one of the most liberal states in the union couldn't strike down a ban on gay marriage in the latest election, folks out in Iowa struck it down as unconstitutional. Iowa. More power to them, I guess. Or less to us.
9) More and more press is being given over to Twitter and the various uses for it. In the most recent one, Demi Moore, receiving a tweet about a potential suicide, re-posted it and got help for the woman who was unharmed when they found her.
10) AT&T worked hard to get the Apple partnership, and now it seems that it will do anything it can to shit all over its iPhone users. It has now put a cap on 3G streaming data, and, more importantly, changed its TOS to prohibit streaming of 3rd party material (which would include YouTube, SlingBox and others). Not sure why AT&T is so horrendous at customer service and product support, but this is sure to anger a lot of users.
And that's it from this end. Take care of each other and eat some warm cookies and cold milk...it's good for you.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
March Movies of Madness (13)
Pretty good movie month in March, considering how much basketball I watched and what January and February looked like. I need to fix my DVD player...
1: Berkeley in the 60s
2: There Will Be Blood
3: The Diving Bell and Butterfly, Pineapple Express
8: Into the Wild
9: Watchmen
10: Lions for Lambs
13: Be Kind Rewind
15: Blindness
18: The Secretary
24: I'm Not There
25: The Edge of Heaven
29: Hell's Kitchen
1: Berkeley in the 60s
2: There Will Be Blood
3: The Diving Bell and Butterfly, Pineapple Express
8: Into the Wild
9: Watchmen
10: Lions for Lambs
13: Be Kind Rewind
15: Blindness
18: The Secretary
24: I'm Not There
25: The Edge of Heaven
29: Hell's Kitchen
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