I know what you’re thinking. This is some bubblegum, radio-friendly, autotune bullshit. Can’t really argue with you there. But fuck, this is catchy. “Your Love” wasn’t really doing it for me, but if Nicki is trying to make looping up ’80s shit a trademark, “Video Killed the Radio Star” is a good place to start. For the record, will.i.am is a genius. Yeah, his songs are generally about nothing. Yes, you can usually fit the lyrics to an entire Black Eyed Peas song on a small napkin. And yes, his songs are ubiquitous to the point that they make you want to burn down your local radio station. But it’s hardly his fault. The dude knows pop. And pop makes people happy. Don’t be surprised if you end up hearing this more times than you wanted to.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
A symbol is a funny thing. Especially when that symbol is a human being. From everything I know, JFK meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Iconic imagery can transform a group of people into a concept or an idea, or a president and his family into rockstars. If you’ve kept up with Rolling Stone during the Obama era, you know what I mean. Richard Avedon‘s portraits of the Kennedy family, shot in January of ’61, are impressive for their intimacy though. Avedon’s shots are personal, as if to subtly remind you that behind all the media hype, these are actually just people we’re looking at. Pretty inspiring stuff.
Movie premieres are a sight to see. Earlier this week we were invited to the premiere of Machete starring Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, and Jessica Alba. Having only been to one movie premiere before, Tiago and I were juiced for the occasion. Arriving around 5pm we were greeted by a fleet of lowriders, strategically placed to escort each cast member into the theatre once the premiere began. While the first hour was pretty uneventful, things picked up once Jessica Alba arrived.
This song is a movement in itself already. I swear I’ve seen like thirty folks throw it up on Facebook in ten days or so it’s been out. It’s funny though. When songs like this drop, I tend to feel like it’s poetic justice. Cee-Lo is one of those cats that’s written a few dozen amazing songs, and only a few of them ever really get that mainstream ubiquity (“Crazy” being the most obvious example). It’s good though. Max said last night that he’s juiced to see what Mr. Green does next, and I think that’s the mark of a great artist. So here go the visuals for the most viral song on the internet right now. If you don’t crack a smile watching this, you might want to look into these.
I feel like for many of us New York is that elusive destination that we all must get to. It’s like the last level of Mario or something. New York’s like Bowser’s castle, hella ominous at first, but hella fun once you get the hang of it. A.K., Jarron and Amanda are out there now, The rest of us will be there soon. In the meantime we can marinate on these overhead shots. A truly majestic city. New York by 2012.
First off, I gotta thank Alan for putting me up on The Hood Internet. I was snoozing pretty hard, but luckily Alan had folks juiced off the Drizzy/Miike Snow mashup this weekend, so I got my first proper introduction. Also known as DJs Aaron Brink and Steve Reidell, The Hood Internet specializes in the art of the mashup, creating improbable blends between radio-friendly hip-hop and indie pop or electro. Think good times like Girl Talk, but without having to hear Journey and Fergie in the process. “Trey-dio” (Trey’s “Say Aah” + and Radio Dept.’s “Heaven’s On Fire”) is just the inaugural. Please believe there’s more to come.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Success is pretty dope. It’s like you work and work and work and work, for what? For goals, I suppose. But more so it’s about the journey. I think our personal pursuits are in a lot of ways like climbing a mountain. Moments like Reggie’s here, are like the times when you’re climbing a mountain and stumble upon a clearing and happen upon a view. You get a chance to take a deep breath, and see how far you’ve come. They’ll be special moments along the way that’ll make it all worth it. But you’ve gotta climb the mountain to see the pretty views.
Yesterday I had the most delicious melon of my life. It was so good the world stopped with each bite. You know when you taste something so good you just have to stop and give thanks? It was fucking exquisite. It was so good I had to come home and write about it. So here it is. In actuality, what I tasted was an Orange Flesh Melon, a hybrid between a honey dew melon and a cantaloupe. Available at your local farmers market, the orange flesh has the sweetness of a honey dew, while maintaining the creamy orange appearance of a cantaloupe. Better yet, the orange flesh melon is in season from May to October, so there’s no better time than now to hop on board. Anywhere between $1 and $3 you’ll never break the bank copping a melon, and better yet, you can do so much with it. Make sorbet, whip up a fruit salad, or just have it plain. Having a melon in your fridge is like having Jordan on your team. You can’t lose.
They say this is the place
where angels come again
They say that this is the place
where it all can happen for you…”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
When we look back on our era in American history, I think most of us will say we lived in a pretty strange time. I’m not one to judge, and I know these drugs help some people, but damn. With all the luxuries we enjoy, and the advances of modern society, people still just don’t seem happier. Anxiety, depression, panic attacks. Prescriptions by the tens of millions. If I can try to drastically oversimplify the problem, the data suggests to me that folks are left feeling unfulfilled by the society we’re living in.
At the end of the day, the pharmaceutical industry is probably as grimy as any other industry, and they have a product to sell like everyone else. Convince people they need something external to solve an internal problem, and you turn a profit. Just take a look at the numbers above. When medicine becomes a for-profit business, you run into some pretty interesting statistics. Thanks to the folks at Good, as always, for making a complex issue seem relatively simple. Informative as usual.
I like boobs and I like butts, so when Asger Carlsen created these images for S. Magazine I couldn’t help but appreciate. Boobs and butts are so interesting to me though. I feel like there’s a few social paradoxes in relation to these body parts that I still don’t quite understand. For example, it seems like boobies are more than acceptable to be showcased in public, but the nipple is actually the threshold that is not be crossed, because there are some true cleavage busters in Los Angeles county that’ll walk out of the house showing everything but the nip, and then get mad at you for staring. And on another note, aren’t bathing suits essentially water proof bra’s and panties? And even though they are, you can’t just roll to the beach in a bra and panties, because that’s “unacceptable”. Societies funny like that. What do you think?
For the kids like myself that grew up in ’90s, I think most of us remember an era when MTV was the purveyor of all things cool. Beavis & Butthead and Daria aired daily, The Real World wasn’t scripted yet and alternative, electronica, and hip-hop music inspired some of the dopest music videos of all time. The music video was a full-fledged art form, complete with superstar directors (Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry) and full of weird shit an eight year-old kid probably shouldn’t have been watching.
But hey. Now that MTV programming is almost exclusively dedicated to quality, thought-provoking programming like Jersey Shore and The Hills, it’s hard to see why anyone would be nostalgic for a time when these five-minute masterpieces ruled the small screen. In any case, Pitchfork picked 50 of their favorites, and luckily for us nostalgia junkies, Maaria gave me the heads up. Check here for the full list, and hit MORE for a few of my personal favorites.
Unique living spaces are dope to me, especially when they’re in harmony with nature. We showed you the Airplane Resort before, and today we’d like to present this house made of stone. Located in Nas montanhas de Fafe, Portugal, the house was built in between these two giant stones. Props to the architects who built it too. Windows carved out of stone with a shingled roof? Impressive may be an understatement.
I’m not gonna lie, when I heard the title Ghetto Physics I was skeptical. The title and the aesthetic had me questioning if I really wanted to spend a couple hours taking this movie in. However, upon our invitation to the premiere this past week, I was astonished by the tact and poignancy of this film. Highlighting the role of politics in our daily lives, Ghetto Physics uses the relational dynamics of the pimp and the ho to create a framework to analyze some of the more manipulative power dynamics in American culture. From healthcare, to religion, to marriage, the film covers a variety of topics that provoked many conversations after the final credits. Ghetto Physics is one of those movies that makes you think differently after you watch it. And that’s powerful. In addition to L.A., Ghetto Physics will be premiering in select cities across the nation, including Oakland. So stay tuned.
First off, can we just take a minute to consider the fucking lineup on this track? Yeezy, Hov, Rozay and Nicki would be crazy already. But guest vocals from Bon Iver and Uncle Charlie? Fresh off the news that he and Jay are set to drop a five-track album soon, Ye dropped off the first official track tonight, via Twitter. “Monster”, also the first installment of Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music Fridays, is as varied, and maybe even as weird as the guest list looks on paper. It’s six minutes plus, and Ye went in. Nicki too. There’s a lot going on here, but at it’s best moments “Monster”, lives up to it’s name.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I know what you’re thinking. This is some bubblegum, radio-friendly, autotune bullshit. Can’t really argue with you there. But fuck, this is catchy. “Your Love” wasn’t really doing it for me, but if Nicki is trying to make looping up ’80s shit a trademark, “Video Killed the Radio Star” is a good place to start. For the record, will.i.am is a genius. Yeah, his songs are generally about nothing. Yes, you can usually fit the lyrics to an entire Black Eyed Peas song on a small napkin. And yes, his songs are ubiquitous to the point that they make you want to burn down your local radio station. But it’s hardly his fault. The dude knows pop. And pop makes people happy. Don’t be surprised if you end up hearing this more times than you wanted to.
