She said she gonna fuck me right, I'm like "fuckin' right"...

- Fuck “Forrest Gump”: I’m currently re-reading one of the most important books of the past several decades: Thomas Frank’s “The Conquest of Cool” (click here for an excerpt). I’ll speak more in-depth about it on tomorrow or Monday, but right now just peep this brief anecdotal blurb on “Forrest Gump.” It’s remarkable: “The exceedingly successful 1994 movie Forrest Gump transformed into archetype the rest of the conservatives’ understanding of [the sixties], depicting the youth movements of the sixties in a particularly malevolent light and their leaders (a demagogue modeled on Abbie Hoffman, a sinister group of Black Panthers, and an SDS commissar who is attired, after Bloom’s interpretation, in a Nazi Tunic) as diabolical charlatans, architects of a national madness from which the movie’s characters only recover under the benevolent presidency of Ronald Reagan.” Whew. Astute analysis all dressed-up in pretty prose is breathtaking.

- Re-Upped Oschino: Finally, the shrimp, I re-upped that Oschino Best of Volume 2 Mixtape. Go get it, dammit because I’m prolly not re-upping it again (that’s a lie).

- Only Built For Lebanese Links: Hot article about Raekwon’s “Only Built For Cuban Links” classic. Not hot article about the same rapper but pitchfork once again gives people a reason to hate on ‘em (I hate on ‘em a lot too, but I actually rather like the site and visit way more than my vocalized distaste for it would suggest). {UPDATE: This pfm link was changed. Originally they had Raekwon spelled as “Rakwan” and dude “hadn’t heard of him.” Hilarious.) And, in still more Wu news, 3 GFK albums in 2005! Dude is the only relevant member of the Wu left and even though he had one of the fucking hottest records out last year, dude still can’t sell records. Blah!

- ”My new CD”: It is my theory that you are officially doing well in this rap game when you stop referring to your new album as “my new record” and start referring to it as “my new CD.” Discuss.

- Hey you!: It half pisses me off and half delights me that last time I was at Max Fish (the MOST hippest of hip bars in the LES) they had Can’s “Vitamin C” up in the jukebox. I dunno if they still do. Nor do I particularly care, but it made my night to request it and never hear it because the jukebox was so fucking backed up. Anyway, interent celeb Rollie Pemberton-- who, I must admit, I’m not exactly sure HOW he became an internet celeb-- just recently discovered the song and for anyone that hasn’t heard it, well you’re a fucking idiot. Get it. It’s phenemonal. Drum heavy. Funky as shit. So fucking real. Yeah the Pharcyde sampled the vocal “HEY YOU!” but this song is just unfuckwittable on so many levels. Shame on Rollie for taking so long to get up on this. Furthermore, shame on him for not liking the Juelz Santana record. Rollie, dog, you missed the point big time on that one!


-e

Watch how you dap me off, the gat might go off, BAP

- Smooth Jazz: Click here for Berube sounding off about the history of the atrocity known as "smooth jazz." Some funny stuff both in his lil’ rant and in the comments section. I fucking hate how Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder pop up on the Smooth Jazz stations occasionally. Ayo, Clear Channel: that shit ain’t fucking smooth jazz you fucking idiots.

- Best Text Message Ever: “Yo, Emil, I took a picture of this fly Jewish waitress. What’s your email address?” emilnassaratyahoodotcizzom, dog! Hit me up!

- Pete Rock never ran, never will… NOT: Ex-shrimper Mr. Byron Crawford is absolutely killing it right now with his “Top 5 gulliest Moments” he experienced while working in the record industry. Highlights include (a) a raunchy RA the rugged man story, (b) P-diddy whoopin’ Positive K’s ass so bad nobody ever heard from him again, and (c) Tragedy Kadafi pissing in an ice bucket at a bougie industry party. But, hands downs, the funniest shit is (d) this shit about Pete Rock. Hilarious.

- Who!: Government names posted this new Jae Millz song which is quite the banger. My buddy Scott Matelic put me up on it. I have been too lazy to rip it and upload it so I’m happy they did it… go get it from dem bols.

- Out of Touch?: I think I’m the only person left on the earth who listens to Modest Mouse but hasn’t read any David Eggers. His new book “How We Are Hungry” is getting praised/jocked like crazy all over the place. I need to get my hip-ness up or some shit and read dude.

- Next 100: And, last but not least, my Minneapolis-based crew of musical-makers Doomtree is featured in the new URB magazine. Buy the magazine—or just go to Tower Books an read the blurb. You will, however, immediately notice upon reading the blurb that I am not mentioned at all and thus the blurb is hardly worth reading… but read it anyway. Doomtree makes good music even though their/our website hasn’t been updated in how long? Get the fuck on that, dudes.

-e

Pound goes BLOCKA, BLOCKA. Mack goes RRRIIINNNGGG...

- Girls Just Wanna Have Fu-un... and be pertty and flirtatious and, ya know, girly: This review of "The Ice Princess" is so utterly ridiculous, I thought it simply HAD to be sarcastic. But, nope. Turns out this lil' lady is serious when she makes ridiculously ridiculous claims like: "While there’s nothing wrong with women pursuing careers in science, there’s a reason most of them don’t: their natural tendencies are toward other things" (my emphasis). Sheesh. Are you serious? "Natural tendencies"? Frontpage Magazine strikes again. She's a MENSA member, by the way. Just don't ask me what I was doing reading a review of "The Ice Princess."

- Capitalism for Art's sake: As Charles over on Through The Looking Glass astutely notes, "record company lobbies that oppose P2P software say they're doing it for the good of their artists, so they can get properly compensated for their work. As a benchmark of their sincerity, consider Fiona Apple's latest album. It's been bootlegged, and is widely available on P2P. Most of her fans would love to pay for it, but they can't -- the album isn't to the taste of the record company's marketing execs, so they're sitting on it." Read about it in detail right here. "For the good of their artists." Pssh!

- Schiavo, Shmiavo: Is it possible to go to a blog where they aren't talking about Terry Schiavo. Got damn, enough already. I'm sure if she was cognizant enough to know about all the political bullshit being thrown all over the place she'd say something simple and yet profound like Mr. Rodney King's "Can't we all just get along?" brilliance.

- America gets a D: Of course, this isn’t the most objective study ever done, but hey, it’s kinda funny nonetheless: China gives us a D on our human rights practices.

- Generational shit and stuff and shit: An interesting article about how cellphones and ipods will inevitably change the concept of “social space.” Obviously technology changes how we interact with each other and often times changes how we understand the world and each other, but, I think dude is a bit on the pessimistic side. Whatever. Interesting nonetheless.

Body warm, heart anemic...

- Roger Wilco!: The singer of Wilco (who the fuck cares, right?) speaking real worlds about file-sharing and intellectual property. It’s about a month and a half old but still interesting. Good quote: ”We are just troubadours…The audience is our collaborator. We should be encouraging their collaboration, not treating them like thieves." Fucking right!

- Frank Miller and Wolverine: A post on soulstrut about "Sin City" got the bol (me) reminiscing about his comic book collecting days. The movie looks pretty treal. But, I can't front-- THIS is what I'm really anticipating. Peep the cast: [i]Beanie Siegel, Victor N.O.R.E. Santiago, Damon Dash, Michael Bentt, Omillio Sparks, Oschino, Chris of Young Gunz, Neef of Young Gunz, Freeway, Duan Grant, Sundy Carter, “Dirt McGirt” Russell Jones, Cam'ron [/i]. No joke, Cam'ron is one of my favorite actors. His performance in "Paid In Full" is fucking priceless: "Throw it back, ma!" and the stonecold, unsympathetic "Niggas get shot in the 'hood everyday." Dude is brilliant on so many levels. I'm just waiting for Juelz's movie career to pop off.

- Wierd Slang Shifts: So, like three months ago, I started saying "That's what's up" in wierdly large amounts. Prior, it was a phrase I used occasionally, but certainly not to the extent that I now use it. I wonder what inspired that. Some momentous event I'm sure. Similarly, I've caught myself using the phrase "...popping off" a ridiculous amount, too. What's up with that? Is this shit just arbitrary? I'm a complicated man.

- The Culture Industry don't care about "quality": Look, I've been reading these articles about M.I.A. for months that basically proclaim she's some sort of god-send pop artist: a miraculous amalgamation of dancable, political, and challenging "world music" who blends, mashes, and thrashes through any "genre" she wants. Fine. I haven't heard the album yet, but I'll take your word for it, honky journalists. But, a lot of these critics seems to think that M.I.A.'s music is good enough on its own to blow-up on some large scale and change the pop music landscape-- which is a fucking bold claim. Especially if you look at the simple truth of the matter: pop stars aren't found by the pop music buying public; they're manufactured by record-labels and marketed to its audience. They're singing, dancing, consumable products-- but with huge advertising and marketing budgets. This isn't a value-judgment on the quality of manufactured pop music. Or, in other words, I'm not trying to say that just because pop music is "manufactured" that don't mean it's necessarily "no good." All I'm saying is that pop music is pop music because of the gross amounts of money putting into exposure and over-exposure of these artists: it's really all about the marketing. And, if there's one thing that years of record collecting has taught me, it's that a lot of good music will inevitably fall by the way-side and become dollar bin fodder, no matter how "good" or "bad" it is. Or, in other words, unfortunately, in today's world, a work's quality doesn't predict its success... After all, if it did, the Black Eyed Peas wouldn't sell any records.

- Regional Hip-Hop is the Present/Future: My fellow shrimper and stylus mag contributor killed it recently with this cute article about the "Death" of hip-hop. It's good. Read it.

- Still Tippin': The fucking "Tipping Point" is still atop some Non-Fiction Best Sellers lists but the book still sucks as far as I'm concerned. This review sums it up nicely: The notion that great effects can spring from tiny causes is no great revelation. There were only two goals worth achieving in this book, and for which I, and undoubtedly most readers, purchased and consumed the book in vain for enlightenment: either (i) tell us how to CATALYZE a tipping point in the actual world (the active option); or, failing that, (ii) tell us how to predict when a tipping point WILL HAPPEN, or at least recognize a tipping point AS IT HAPPENS, not just retrospectively (the passive options). Gladwell's book accomplishes neither of these goals. To be able to look back at the trajectory of some huge phenomenon and say, "Hey, there must have been a tipping point somewhere between the phenomenon's modest, indiscernible beginnings and its current, enormous state," is to state the obvious. Worse, Gladwell's thesis may be nothing more than a sophistical tautology: OF COURSE every large trend begins as something small, the province of the few early adopters, off everyone else's radar screen and indeed not even qualifying AS a trend. Then, at some point (dubbed, unhelpfully if glibly as the tipping point), the trend manifests itself to the larger public as it picks up steam

-e

I Don't Think Like Usual People, Who Think Like Usual People

- Random Factual Anecdote #2,: So, I used to live in Littleton, Colorado. I lived there when I was a young buck skaterboarder dude, Kindergarten to 5th grade. All I would ever dude is skateboard or play basketball with my brother. This was our pathetic, but extremely fun existence: skateboard, basketball; skateboard, basketball; repeat. Oh, and I guess there were computer games, too (Sierra games, stand up!), but mostly skateboarding and basketball. Anyway, we used to skateboard with our neighbors and whoever else we ran into that we thought was cool enough to roll with us. Somehow, we met this kid Byron Kliebold. I dunno how we met him, but we did and we ended up skateboarding with him a lot. We built a ramp outside of his house one day and were doing all sorts of stupid lil' kid I-aint-never-scurred shit off the ramp and having a grand ol' time. Yay, yay. I'm not exactly sure why we built a ramp all the way at Byron's crib, but I suspect it had something to do with the fact that his parents were never around and my parents probably would've been tripping the fuck out if they saw me and my brother jumping off this ramp with no protection (raw doggy for life). Anyway, the parental footnote is only relevant because Byron had a little brother. His name was Dylan. If you don't know where this story is going yet, well, you will in a second. Anyway, only thing I remember about little Dylan was that he was just a fucking little kid. That's all. He was Byron's little brother. Fast forward a decade or so and little Dylan Kliebold is bucking motherfuckers in Columbine Highschool. So, yeah. I used to skateboard with dude's older brother. Silly, huh?

- Emo Hairdryer: Peep this fucking hairdryer. It's so ridiculously, deliciously emo. Pull trigger, out comes warm air. Brilliant.

- Bansky: Most of you have probably heard about this by now, but that dude Bansky is killing it, again. Scroll down a bit to see him "vandalising" museums by hanging his pieces up. Hilarious. Go to his page, too. It's real.

- ...like, Identity and Shit, dude: I'm re-reading Jeffrey T. Nealon's wonderful book "Alterity Politics" at the moment. It's all about reconfiguring a "politics of Identity." The main thesis is that "Identity politics as a project is doomed to fail because every specific identity likewise fails to be complete, falls short of some kind of plenitude" precisely because "any particular identity is actually predicated upon (and thereby inextricable from)" differences and otherness (3). In other words, we can think of identity like a language where-- just as words only obtain meaning through their relationship to each other ("differences without positive terms")-- our current understanding of Identity can only be identified by what it isn't (i.e. "I am a heterosexual white male because I am not homosexual; not female; not black, etc.") But, of course, the "etc" in the previous paranthetical is instructive: as Nealon says, "no discourse of otherness can hope to map the entire conflicted terrain of alterity in the postmodern world(s)"-- there is no way to fully account for what Judith Butler calls "the embarassed 'etc'" that inevitably and necessarily fails to account for every single possible identity. The identity of a heterosexual white male is based on the infinite spectrum of differences that aren't "heterosexual," "white," or "male" [and there's a very interesting chapter about how since identity is currently understood in negative terms-- i.e. i am white because I am not black, yellow, brown, etc-- this reliance on otherness/difference for one's identity often surfaces itself in resentment (think Rush Limbaugh and his angry white males)]. Thus, Nealon's book is all about rethematizing "Identity." Instead of looking at "Identity" as a static effect (a noun) [a process that is doomed to fail because of the "embarassed 'etc.'"], he wants to challenge us to redefine "Identity" instead in terms of "Alterity"-- a constant and performative engagement and re-engagement with "otherness." It's really fucking fascinating stuff.

- Juni-who?: O-Dub's new guest poster on his blog killed it recently with a 50 Facts that are difficult for me to believe list. Shit's hilarious. I dunno who dude is, but peep. In other O-Dub related news, I have to say that I have no idea why smart people like O-Dub and Hua Hsu are wasting their breath talking about the Black Eyed Peas. Those fuckers were NEVER good. NEVER. Even when I was into underground rap I thought those dudes sucked. And, "they're like the fugees. except you don't have to think"? The fuck? I mean, the Fugees are cool and all, but they certainly aren't very "think-y" are they? Am I missing Pras's challenging and nuanced sociopolitical commentary? The Black Eyed Peas are like the Fugees in that they have a girl in their group and that they're not gangsta rap. That's about it. Well, and the fact that the male emcees suck. But, whatever. I'm an idiot for even wasting time telling people that they're wasting time talking about the BEPs. So fuck it.

- Even More Oschino: I posted the entire Oschino mixtape over on the shrimp for you fuckers. Go get it.

-e

I Sold Crack, I Am Crack

- Monobrows: If God wanted me to have two eyebrows, he would’ve given me two. OK? ‘Nuff said.

- Yousendit Shiz: Trying to disable the 25 download limit (file will still only be up for 7 days, though)? Do this: When a file is uploaded to yousendit.com, a url is given upon completion of the upload. This url is where the file is stored and is given to share the file. Once you get this url, simply edit it by adding the following code to the beginning of the link: http://anonym.to/? Thus, the url shall read: http://anonym.to/?http://s8.yousend...8683E2C999DB720 . I like whoever wrote this used the word "shall." Hilarity.

- SXSW: Here’s the only SXSW redux that matters. Not that I was there or anything, but dude Matt is so real. But here’s the funniest redux that matters. Serg is my idol.
He posted some hard ass, murder-death-kill UGK shit over on the shrimp, too. Cop that.

- "The Earth is Only A Couple Thousand Years Old" (i.e. I’m an idiot so don’t even bother listening to anything I have to say): Religion is stupid and so are these people.

- Rekkids: If records come first in your life, you’ll probably gonna be at this sometime in the near future… though I certainly won’t because I’m ridiculously broke and a lot more focused on spending my money on alcohol.

- The Tipping Point: I just finished this book this morning and I'ma make a brief post about it tomorrow after I discuss it with a friend briefly because, truth be told, I think it fucking sucked. Convince me otherwise, friend.

-e

Flow Straight, Dough Straight Like Indian Hair

- Mo’ Oschino: Somebody up on soulstrut was nice enough to post the video of O with his Boston Market doggy bag [REUPPED] on yousendit. Holler at it. I’ll re-up it when the link dies.

- You look like...: So on Friday, my manager and a couple of my co-workers took the new guy (me) out to lunch at some nice Moroccan spot around the corner from the office. Pretty good food. Free lunch always tastes better. One of my co-workers decided to tell a cute little story about her mom. Apparently her mom is quite an attractive woman and often gets compliments like “Did anyone ever tell you that you look like [insert pretty woman’s name here].” I believe “Faye Dunway” was the actress she was told she most resembled. One day, however, while talking to a patient of hers (she is apparently a psychologist), she discovered a somewhat different resemblance. She welcomed the man into her office, introduced herself and attempted to make him feel comfortable. Eventually, the man felt comfortable enough to say “Hey, did anyone ever tell you that you look like...” (I imagine her flipping her hair back confidently, provocatively, yet subtly, preparing herself for the inevitable compliment) “...Ronald McDonald?” I lost it. Ever since Friday, I have been sporadically breaking down at moments throughout the day and cracking up over this shit. Fucking Ronald McDonald. That might be the most hilarious thing I’ve ever heard. Of course, dude was a bit psychologically um challenged or something, but still. Fucking Ronald McDonald. I’m sitting here cracking up hysterically like I just heard it for the first time again. God damn that’s funny.

- Ironic or Ronic?: I think/hope this is an ironic flier. Funny regardless.

- New York, New York, Big City of Dreams: Hey stupid tourists, get out of my way. Why the fuck are you taking pictures of just random buildings in New York? There’s nothing interesting about the fucking buildings you’re taking pictures of. They’re just fucking big corporate building where idiot corporate mother fuckers work. Stop getting in my way when I’m trying to get to my train you fucking idiots. You’re the reason New Yorkers have this “we’re the best shit ever” attitude. If people from all over the world came to our cities to take pictures of absolutely stupid shit, we’d think we were the shit, too. I’m all for touring and seeing shit, but don’t take pictures of stupid shit you stupid people. And, get the fuck out of my way.

- Copyright Criminals: Somebody watch this and let me know if it’s any good. I can’t watch it at work.

- Good News: This is welcome news. And, from the same unmentionable site, a glowing review of M.I.A.’s highly anticipated new disc. I ain’t heard it yet, but I imagine it’s pretty good.

- More McSweeney’s Hilarity: Retarded... but funny nonetheless.

-e

Bang it in the disco...

- Random Factual Anecdote Number One: From now on, I'm starting off these stupid things with what will be called a "Random Factual Anecdote" because, frankly, I don't feel like this thing is worth updating if I don't have like, at least, three or four bulleted things to talk about and now that I've added this "RFA" thing, I can be pretty sure that I'll at least always have three bullets and we all know that three bullets is enough to kill three people... or four very small people that are standing very close together. Anyway, today's "Random Factual Anecdote" is about my favorite word "autochthonous." I used this word once in a short story in some stupid creative writing class I took in college. When my classmates were peer-reviewing it, one kid accused me of using the Microsoft Word Thesaurus to find the word in order to add some pedantic flavor to my piece when in reality I had read it in some Fitzgerald book (either "The Beautiful and the Damned" or "This Side of Paradise." I think it was "TBATD".) I was like "Look, fucko, my version of Microsoft Word didn't even aknowledge that 'autochthonous' was a word that was spelled correctly let alone have it in its puny little Thesaurus so, first of all, fuck you, and second of all, technically speaking, that means I'm smarter than both my computer AND Bill Gates and most likely you. So take that you fucking four-eyed homo." I threw in the "homo" bit because of the fact that his fucking stupid story was about going into the forest and meeting a deer and feeding it and petting it or something. It was, quite frankly, really fucking gay so I felt justified in calling him a "homo." Anyway, then the whole class laughed at the deer-loving gay man, they all commended my perfect word choice, then the gay man committed suicide several days later, and I got a B+ on my story (not necessarily in that order). (If you haven't noticed yet, the "Random Factual Anecdote" section will only be partially "Factual." It will however be 100% "Random" and 100% "Anecdotal". You can decide for yourself what percentage of "Factuality" each and every "RAF" achieves).

- OADF: I was recently having a conversation with a new-found homie of mine about how we are both "over-analytical detail freaks" (or affectionately refered to as "OADF" for short). The conversation went something like this: Her: "I'm an over-analytical detail freak." Me: "I'm MORE of an OADF." Interesting, no? Anyway, here's a funny piece that all OADFs should be able to appreciate from the wonderful wonderful world of McSweeney's.

- Multiple Contusions, Stab Wounds, Abbrasions: I posted some Oschino MP3s over on the shrimp for your listening pleasure. Dude is really real. Any rapper that eats at Boston Market on a regular basis can be down with me. Boston Market on Front and Snyder, stand up!!

- Fuck NJ Transit: I got to work a half hour late today because of stupid train delays. Fuck that shit. This is just a wasted bullet to make this post have four bullets. It's obvious, isn't it? Fuck. Oh well.

-e

All I Spit is Killer Shit

March 21, 2005

- Clock changing: I’ve always hated this daylight savings time bullshit but this time around it’s fixin’ to be even worse than usual. Apparently, according to this website, daylight savings time is all about "making better use of daylight" and the logic of it is basically that "If you live near the equator, day and night are nearly the same length (12 hours). But elsewhere on Earth, there is much more daylight in the Summer than in the Winter" and so Mr. Benjamin Franklin (Philly, stand up!) came up with this fucking brilliant idea to twirl the clocks forward and backward and shit. It’s mostly just fucking annoying to me and it really doesn’t make a great deal of sense. Furthermore, now that I’m waking up at 5:30 every morning before work so I can go for a run, when I put the clocks forward the first weekend of April, that means I’m basically gonna be waking up at 4:30 to run. Fuck. It’s already too fucking cold at 5:30. Fuck this shit. Some random writer I’ve never heard of named Robert Davies sums up my feelings nicely: I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it. At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves. Our buddy Ben has invented a lot of wonderful things but daylight savings time ain’t one o’ them.

- The Autograph Man: I read Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" a few years ago on recommendation from a smart girl I know. I rather liked it. I've gone on to give the book to at least 3 people that I can remember and basically, if I'm giving the book as a gift, it's good. Anyway, I'm reading Zadie's newest book from a couple years back called "The Autograph Man" and it too is fucking good. It's a bit more on the philosophical, high-theory side in its attempt to understand celebrity, fandom, and Walter Benjamin's notions of "the aura of a work of art" and collecting. At the very least, it's funny. I hate how she's like 27 and already got two books under her belt and is smart and all but canonized. Productive and/or overly successful young people make me sick.

- March Madness: I'm in 4 NCAA basketball pools: 3 non-paid online jawns (all of which I am in last or second-to-last place) and 1 $5 work pool which I am surely not doing very well in. I am getting served something surrious. Weak. I felt pretty good about most of my picks going into the thing. Fuck it. Go 'nova! In other news, why the fuck can't Penn State get a half-way decent basketball team? I guess that is asking for a bit much since we can't even have a halfway decent football team anymore. I'm so ready to just quit my life and be a professional basketball player.

- What The Bleep Do We Know?: Critics hated it but fuck 'em. It's a good movie. Well, it's not a "good movie" in an Orson Welles sort've way. It's just on some life-changing and really fucking enlightening shit. Heh. That's a bit of an overstatement, but this fucking movie really changed my outlook on things and how I view the world around me. Quantum Physics meets Spirituality equals New Life Outlook... and/or... "Truth" isn't static. It's a a motley cornucopia of endless possibility. Pretty provocative stuff. Somebody needs to write some shit linking Quantum Physics and the Derridean notion of "the free interplay of signs." I'd do it if I knew a got damn thing about Quantum Physics. Oh, I just googled "quantum physics" and "derrida" and apparently, there's a "a somewhat hackneyed tradition of imagining Derrida's work as being the philosophical equivalent of quantum physics," so I guess I'm not as clever as I thought. Anyway, I think there is still some value in inter-disciplinary, Science-Humanities linking like that. Whatever though, see the movie. It's pretty eye-opening.

- Not Enough Cute Girls at My New Job: Weak.

- My Boy Serg at SXSW in Austin: Posted on the non-prophets messageboard: "I'm still in texas but I just want to say that Chingo Bling fucking KILLED IT on saturday night, Devin the Dude rocked shit, I have the most gangster picture of me and paul wall's teeth, I got too drunk to remember diplo's set, I told elijha wood to take his ass to the back of the pee line, blacked out during diplo's set but that wasn't before I set some miller light promo girl's hair on fire just because I wanted to be more of a dick. I think lighting that girl's hair on fire was the best part but yeah I've been having fun and seeing too much rap music. " This guy is amazing.

- New Diplo: Last but not least is a cutsey diplo remix of some latin Verve shit. It's cute.

-e

Overhaul

So, I think I'ma turn this blog into more of a bulleted sorta "hey, look at this shit" type of deal(taking a page from the catchdubian book of bloggin'). Anyway, that being said, on with the "shit."

- First Appearance and/or Origins of "The Blog": Ever wonder where the term “blog” came from? Well, I have really and truly discovered the very first blog ever! Really! Truly!! Look higgity here! Blogging way back in 1985? Cuhhhraaaazy!

- Blogging and diversity: Speaking of the "first blog" and "blogging,” apparently, this whole "blogging" thing is pretty big now and everyone is doing it (like me) and there are even conferences on the stupid phenomenon (at Harvard no less) about how blogging might eventually replace traditional journalism. At first glance, this doesn't sound like a terribly likely thing to happen (remember when everyone was saying that the internet was eventually gonna replace books? psssh!), nor does it sound like a terribly terrible thing to happen, but honkeys are still running this computer shit so, maybe we need to check ourselves a bit. White people suck.

- David Bowie and Elton John: Speaking of Michael Berube (the apparent inventor of the "blog"), dude has written a fairly hilarious and on-point "rant" (I suppose that's what you'd call it) over at his website Michaelberubedotcizzom(not the actual address) about Bowie and John. Check it out by clicking right here.

- Neal Pollock: I just found out Neal Pollock has a blog. He's funny.

- target=_blank: Bloggers everywhere, learn this html tag. Love it. It is a wonderful, wonderful thing. T’is much easier to close a window than click on that pesky "back" button.

- DJ Paren: My boy from Indianapolis DJ Paren has been holding me down lately with sound advice and wise words of wisdom. The least I can do is link his bitch ass on my site. He’s got a messageboard that could use some trafficking (not like anyone comes here or anything though). You’re a strange one, Clint, but I love you, dog. We gon’ make it.

- Political Music in Postmodernity: Over on Rollie Razorblade’s site, my Newfie-become-Aussie boy Aaron Newell got down with some interesting political impotence commentary that essentially says "hey, your political music isn’t as political as you think, indy conscious rapper!" I agree. Try not to get caught up in the whole who-dunnit nonsense of it all ("Dude, was it Sole, Sage, or Buck who sent that email to him?!" and think about how it is possible (if at all?) to be authentically and effectively political in today’s fucked up Late Capitalist world. To me, it is the MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION we must ask as both artists and social activists if we intend to really have an affect on the world because, quite frankly, it has become blatantly clear that the political tactics and techniques of the past, simply aren’t having the same effects that they had back then. In other words, it’s become clear that things like protesting and protest songs are no longer enough. In fact, maybe they’re not only “not enough.” Maybe they’re downright counterproductive(yeah, I said it), and we need to diligently re-re-and-re-examine and re-re-and-re-evaluate how we go about combating these forces that we so desperately want to change. I respect the passion and motivation of each and every political protestor who is fighting for what they believe in the best way that they know how, but we absolutely MUST seriously consider the possibility that the revolutionary weapons of the past are now obsolete, and we must develop new ones—both within and outside of art. Think about it’ ‘bout it.

-e

State Prop Chain Gang!

The first State Property record is easily one of my favorite records to come out in the last 5 years. Of course, the movie is atrocious, but this is some knockin' headphone music that really made me fall in love with these Philly dudes-- especially Freeway. Of course Beans is killing it, but Oschino and Amilio Sparks also have some moments where they show a great deal of potential. That being said, nobody really knows what's next for any of these dudes and what's gonna end up materializing since all this DefJam and Rocafella wierdness and reshuffling has been popping off. I suspect "State Property" as we know it isn't really gonna be "State Property" as we know it once Beans gets out of jail and everybody signs and resigns or does what they gwan do. But, that's not really worth speculating about right now. These songs below are great and if you don't have this album, you should most certainly pick it up.

- State Property "Got Nowhere..." featuring Beanie Sigel and Freeway

- Miracles "Nowhere To Go" (original sample for the Kanye produced "Got Nowhere..."

- State Property "Hood I Know" featuring Oschino, Beans, Amilio Sparks, Freeway

- State Property "It's Not Right" featuring Freeway, Chris, Amilio Sparks, Beans



And, as an added bonus, here's the fucking hardest song in the world by Mr. Pretty Lips above. It ain't on either of the State Prop albums and is only out on white label right now (and has been for at least a year) but this shit is really that fucking crack.

- Peedi Crack "Fall Back"

Amen.

-e

Bonnie Dobson's Got that Work!

March 13, 2005



So, my main man Tom Servo from my crew Doomtree out in Minneapolis put me up on this record on my recent trip out there. Trusty old allmusic.com describes Miss Bonnie Dobson as "a minor performer of the 1960s folk revival, [who] will be forever known (if she's even known at all) as the author of 'Morning Dew,' a moving ballad about the threat of nuclear devastation." I'm not up on "Morning Dew" and it's not my mission to put any of you up on it but, instead, I've posted a couple song from her "Good Morning Rain" album that came out in 1970. Some of you record nerds might recognize it as some shit that Dan the Automator sampled several times, but fuck it, who cares? To me, it's just some pretty ass music. She's got a lofty voice that really doesn't seem to have much range, but the record is produced quite well with the basslines bumping real loud and her rather limited voice still fits in nicely and seems to sit well in the mix. Yeah, of course, the lyrics are terrible, corny, lovey-dubby crap, Miss Dobson has a bit of an obsession with songs about honey (see titles below), and these tracks are obviously not very drum driven, but all that shit aside, these songs still get banged regularly.

Enjoy.

- Bonnie Dobson "Light of Love"

- Bonnie Dobson "Milk and Honey"

- Bonnie Dobson "Taste of Honey"

And now for something completely different... This has nothing to do with Miss Dobson, but here's a completely random blend of Ramsey Lewis "Julia" vs Ghostface and Jada's "Run." It's silly and certainly not perfect, but fun anyway for those of you who are into that sorta thing.

- Ramsey Lewis "Julia" vs Ghostface "Run"

-emil