when the east is in the house!

i've always wanted to go to UK. i figure... i love ricky gervais, tea, fish and chips and have been digging the hell out of some dub-step.



yeah. the brits are cool.

critical minds at critical mass....

this one is for my man sufi.



he would have dug this.... i miss you man.

jay elect and roc nation... uh... suspect?

don't know how i feel about jay electronica signing to roc nation. sure, jigga 'runs' the label, but they also signed willow smith... suspect.

Jay Electronica featuring Jay-Z, The-Dream & Charlotte Gainsbourg - Shiny Suit Theory by Hypetrak

what you think... not really feeling the sample ("i got the love" was a classic tune of mecca and the soul brother. it would be like using the we want efx beat for a song... again, suspect.) plus dude's set at the highline over the summer was... suspect. again.

doing a video blog

Watch live video from blis_the_dawn on Justin.tv

i call it workshopping, but what it boils down to is creating songs. they come from somewhere, right. and what about hip-hop... i know, i know. for most its a fifth of henny or whatever beverage is popular (patron, ciroc, etc), couple dubs and dutchies and boom you got a verse. but how can you claim somethings is art when there no effort put into its creation. so what i'm doing here is providing a glimpse into the creative process of "your mom's favorite emcee".... me.

i'm not an exhibitionist... just a rhyme junkie. i'm not that good, but i WILL get better. believe that. my hope is that doing this will provide motivation and clarity. and perhaps a good song or two. cheers

"all of them look good"

now that's what i'm talking bout. geeks. we go hard!

lyrics with a bang

i'm feeeeeeeeeeeeeelin this!

"...got 5 hype men doing the show...if ain't the roots, i don't go...."

hang in there people. hip-hop is still here!

holy bioshock batman??

the bioshock was the first game i played on the old xboxeroonie. the sequel sits neatly between the orange box and LD24 (oh valve!).
i'm doing my zombie apocalypse thing. then i saw this.


tossing horses. i'm in!

death to zombies...ultraMegaRaw

i'm gaga over left 4 dead. i recommend you get your hands on a copy and get to shooting.

and some vid to get the mood right...

the killer hero

because tv sucks and netflix is awesome, i've started watcing dexter. i heard about the show via a podcast (doug loves movies). briefly, it is about a serial killer who works as a forensic expert (blood spatter). he was raised by his adoptive cop father to only kill 'killers.' there's an angry black guy, a cuban lady that looks like a man, another cuban dude and the skinniest actress alive. blah, blah, blah.

i'm really enjoying the show, even though i am getting sick of the ex-druggie, abused housewife. i encourage you to check the show... here's a great synopsis.

my heart flutters

can't wait....!!!

RIP Fat Beats

just wanted to say some words about Fat Beats closing their last store fronts.

when i came to ny, i never ever thought that i would be relegated to buying music from some dude in a sneaker store or downloading it (mostly legals). turntable lab is ok, if you can actually find what your looking for. but only if your into stuff a little left (or right) of center or some trash they would run a savalas on the weekend. a-1 is for producers and other music only stocks hipster-hip-hop (def jux, anticon, stones throw). fat beats was where i went to get a new jadakiss single, or pick up an onld beatnuts single. yo never knew, one day you could see digable planets vinyl, other days, you might get a sunz of man lp. they stocked hip-hop. they stocked classics and everything else. where else could you get epmd 12s, or "do the right thing" by the redhead kingpin. fat beats... you'll be missed.

happy happy cosplay

put cosplay on my 'things to do' list. i only get a taste of it, usually at a the nycc. put checking these videos out got me excited about the whole concept.



almost makes the katy perry song tolerable. almost. ah-woah-ah-woah. ah ah-woah-ah-woah. damn it. catchy.



just really fun!!



"...we live on fascination..." ah. true.

if you like the videos, check out acksonl's thingy... that came out wrong. eh.

oh that poppin

not sure how i came across this piece of wonderful, but man. thems that got it...



another shining example of international hip-hop

this is a test

my wife doesn't read this blog. even though her name precedes mine in the title. let's see how long it takes for her to see this.

new star wars... sorta

my friend chris would appreciate this....

Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

now if there was only a following like this to give the beastmaster a remake....

not no more...

brothers don't dance like this no more... note how they style out towards the end.



who knew that the kid n' play kick step was just a version of the charleston.

the hotness

my wife loves some jon hamm. he plays don draper on mad men, if you don't know. he's pretty sharp, so much so it inspired a line from brooks brothers. i've heard hamm on the doug benson podcast before (recommended) and thought his bit on SNL was hilarious (sergio!!!!). he's a funny dude. here is an 'interview' with zach g.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Jon Hamm from Between Two Ferns

deydey post script

wow. i talk about hip-hop culture progressing. this is an example. again. wow.



props to deydey

the hotness

so this is delphine nguyen, aka deydey. last year she took the UK popping championships and has gathered up an impressive list of wins. these clips are wonderful on so many levels, but its the last clip that really gets me. mommy i want one!



rocking more traditional


this is art!

fresh moves

a friend told me to check this out and i thought i'd share it...



out west they call that hella fresh!

now waaay out west... they get down like this.



an excerpt form the Floor the Love battle in singapore. yes. singapore. and yes, that was a papoose verse you heard. rep. hard.

yes please

i've never cosplayed. i'd like to, but the number of black male characters in sci-fi/fantasy/comic/game world is limited. with my hair, the possibilities dwindle. thus far i've come up with: shephard from firefly; bishop from x-men; maybe a guy from the crackdown game; a predator; t'challa (aka the black panther)... then there is my own concoction, rasta vince neil.

anyway. gamescom was this weekend. gamescom makes the new york comic con look like a yard sale. the biggest and baddest of them all. needless to say, the cosplayers were out in force. check it.

and. link cosplay is mega-hot!!!


totally unrelated but banging. .watching that nike vid got me hype on these kids here's a clip from the nike am vid feat. shane and theotis... theotis. got to be the coolest name in skateboarding...

nike getting it in!

Go Girl!

Pokemon world champions crowned

pop files

there is an objective measure of pop, the height of an ollie. luis tolentino either tied or broke that record a couple of years back. i don't really follow 'records' because it makes skating more jockish. counting stairs is the most jock-boy i will get about skating. regardless, dude is little with very deceptive pop.

dude has got some kareem campbell pop, all of a sudden there over it.



crazy right. with pop like that, almost anything is possible..

better than hollywood

so games. i play them, there the future of entertainment and have the most earning potential for any form of IP outside of pharmaceuticals. in short, they rule. when i got my xbox 360 (june 2010) the first game, i mean the absolute first game i played on it was bioshock. arguably, the greatest game created, it was an experience. more engaging than a movie, more interactive than a theme park. i highly recommend if you haven't played. i have the sequel, but haven't gotten into it yet. back to the point. here is the trailer for bioshock infinite. if your into steampunk, then you should probably sit because this is emmin-effin awesome..



see what a creative community can create without constant interference from marketing teams and financial backers. take that hollywood...

Pop Files

pop. an intangible quantity when it comes to skating. at a minimum, pop is the height you get on ollies or whenever you pop your board. but pop doesn't necessarily mean how high you can get, it can also translate to distance, that up and out that gets you over a fire hydrant or across a hip. there is also the 'floaty' quality of pop, where the board seems to be glued to shoes and keeps rising.

i like pop. a consistent floaty ollie is all i want (that a nollie heels and/or some type of variel flip). these posts will be dedicated to pop. i'm not some grom concerned with how many stairs, how high or how long. i'm looking for that gorilla snap. case in point, check out my man, stevie. tricks on flat are the best determinate of pop. the switch heels is INSANE (2nd trick). that is what we call gorilla snap...



gangsta!

since we started with stevie, i think it is only reasonable to put in a word about his DGK teammate darren harper. dude is from dc and has some inhuman pop. when i went to dc, i went to this block. kind of like going to love park, just to see the gap, it was a spot i'd seen in plenty vids and wanted to see if it was the fisheye or if it was really diesal. i can saw.... spots legit. the block is alot wider than it appears and is a little over shin high. the difficulty is the drop off. the front is about 2 feet but the back is like 4 feet, so you got to float over, level out to land. it'd take me three weeks just to clear it with an ollie, much less the destruction mr. harper puts down. so, let's get to it. pop files presents.... darren harper. crazy snap on them shuvs....

WIWW - Walt is all Grown

LOST spoilers.....

ok. so the Lost boxset comes out August 24th. although the commentary will likely be the 'meat' fans have been seeking, its the 12 minute epilogue that has the interweb a buzz. i've seen it and..... WTF!. i won't go into too many details, but there's a warehouse, ben with a file, hurley in the back of a van and walt. its old garage-nose walt. he talks with ben and ben eludes that walt may become the new caretaker for the island. not the resolution i wanted but... at least dude got some screen time. (spoiler)



personally, i don't think it is something to lust after. frankly, if that epilogue was the motivating factor behind purchasing a $200 boxset day-of, i would shoot jj abrams. i would crouch down, put my knee on his chest, put the gun barrel in his mouth, the end of the gun on the bridge of his jaw, then squeeze until the trigger goes......

Dos Equis by Kaws

now i can get behind this....

fashawn can skate

so fashawn got on my radar last year, with his boy meets world mixtape. i was taught to follow production. instead of dre, just blaze or pow low the don, i follow j. rawls, el-p, marco polo, and... exile. soulful samples and knock. so, when i heard that exile was producing another album, i was curious. exile produced blu and blu is the sh&t (please get the album if you haven't)! back to fashawn. so "boy meets world" was pleasant. i liked the song with planet asia. nothing noteworthy, but it was one of those albums that you want to listen to again but never do.

fast forward to last month. i follow mixtape djs, like i follow production. i like mixtapes and still listen to them. why? well... watch.

Real G's Rock Tapes from richdirection on Vimeo.

currently my dudes are statik selektah, don cannon and green lantern. "the champ is here" was my reintroduction into mixtape shopping. i remember hearing from a car and remembering the green lantern drop. see. growing up, i had a barbershop and older cousins, so getting new mixtapes wasn't a problem. then in college, well you know the hustle. wednesdays in the union at FSU, then fridays on FAM, then there was always phaze one. and if all else fails you could just get your trade on with the someone from the tri-state. leaving school, things got weird. the internet went BOOM and a move to the midwest and killed my tape access. sure, dj drama was in full effect, but if your taste ran closer to NY you were stuck. then came the move to brooklyn, the home of the mixtape. and i moved down the block from where this happened.



nice.

how it works in brooklyn is, just walk down a street. keep walking and you will eventually run into someone selling mixes. 1 for 5 or 5 for 20. simple. most of my lil wayne collection came from empire mixes, so much so that i think dj drops are a part of songs. point being. i'm back in the tape game. saw that fashawn was coming with a new tape dedicated to illmatic. i got it last week and its DOPE!. he re-did all the songs. the genius is that he kept the same cadences and changed the lyrics to update the content and make it more 'cali.' it bangs.



what's more impressive then that is this.....



dude started with a switch back three. tuff!

just cause

i like music. it gets me hype. this gets me hype. cheers.

mind powers

i think i made this happen. with my mind grapes.

My mind grapes sound bite

minorities in space

carl weathers, danny glover and billy dee williams. it's a shame i can't name anymore black actors that have played prominent roles in sci-fi movies (shots to the original-- Duane Jones). sam jackson as mace windu doesn't count because i do not recognize the last 3 star wars movies as part of the star wars canon or science fiction, more cartoony fantasy. then there is blade. vampires always give me trouble, because historically, monsters are science fiction (dr. frakenstein IS science fiction), but this vampire trend is really screwing the monster hierarchy up. the twillight vampires are more magic than myth. any monster worth its claws has an origins story, which dictates whether it is science fiction or fantasy. reanimating dead flesh, classic. just being from a really pale and old family, (don't forget rich).... cheesy fantasy. why are vampires always wealthy. you'd think that bloodlust and no daylight hours would put a damper on your income stream. i know vampires live forever,and one could smartly invest and over time accumulate moo-lah, but it is never shown, never considered, just assumed. lame. and that is why vampires suck (wow, that is a bad pun)

anyways. i'd take a black monster. i saw candyman recently, and was excited because the antagonist was black. wow. worst villain ever. well, in more than a decade since candyman hit the theaters, wesley turned blade into WWF and sam jackson keeps getting roles that make no sense.. (nick fury... really) we haven't had a decent sci-fi film featuring a black actor (unless you count Vin Diesal, then.... Chronicles of Riddick must get a nod!), i have to present this trailer. wish it really happened...

and props to Joss Whedon and The wachowski brothers for doing their thing as well...

generation next

dances in hip-hop go hand in hand. growing up, it was the traditional b-boying. then by the mid to late eighties we were doing the prep, the cabbage patch, the wop, the running man, the roger rabbit, the kid n' play, and a bunch of others. i was so into the movement, that my brother and i even developed a routine to Lean on Me (a la Scoob and Scrap Lover). Needless to say, i've tried to remain atleast aware of new dances (as means to relate and interact with pop culture and hip-hop). on my recent trip to DC, i was exposed to the Dougie. i heard the song prior, but failed to realize it was referencing a dance. i thought it was some type of drug or sex reference. well, what i found out was, like the Reject was a version of the Running Man, the Dougie is just the old Doug E Fresh dance. if you've seen Paid in Full you know exactly what i mean.
i guess it was inevitable, first they take the same hooks and breaks, then they take the fashion and the slang, now its the dances. hopefully, high-tops and processed fades won't make a comeback.....






and just because it's a fly song!!!!

welcome back

wow. got the computer back. sorry apple, but you will have to wait to overcharge me. maybe next year or until the hp dies again. well, well, well. why don't we just set it off. check out the freshness below. i like it cause he's big....

JABARI "POWERHOUSE" PENDLETON from BIGPAULYFILMS on Vimeo.

Damn this blog via phone.... Anyway. Just got the hipstamatic thing for the iPhone. I lime shooting pics, bu can't afford a decent camera. So I make do with a point and shoot, but have recently bee trying to see what I can do with the iPhone. I like being limited by cheap cameras. Not a lomo person, but. Had a polaroid as a kid.
I guess I'll start putting up some iPhone shots in the future... Cheers

I just got the hipstamatic app or extension (depending on your perspective) f

Day 7 without the computer. it feels cold....

it's on

just got back for the old guitar center with a new digital 8-track. for those unfamiliar, it is like a VCR for audio, but instead of recording on a tape it is digital. the 8 tracks stands for how many different tracks you can record on one song. for example, you can use one track for vocals, another for back-up vocals, another for a drum track, another for a sample track, put a bass line on another, etc.

because i'm saavy and only suckas pay full price in BK, i got a hell of a deal on this tascam. i remember when for i couldn't buy an hour of studio time for the price i paid for this machine. man times have changed. what is significant, is that this is the final (fingers crossed) piece for the home studio. it took me almost three years to save and get all the pieces, but its mostly done. (pat on back)

no more excuses. its time to get some music made. good timing, as well, since i am going to be collaborating with buendia productions. i work with one of the founders/producers/artists and the hope to set-up a weekly - biweekly thing with them to get some music done. its real laid back, record some freestyles, do a couple of tapes maybe, then get into some serious song work. feels good getting back into the hip-hop thing, not that i left, but its different when your listening to the new Little Brother in your headphones, phonte says a dope line and your look around enthusiastically in hopes someone else might react similarly, then you remember, your listening to music via headphones, sandwiched between a Hasidic family and an old Dominican women in the middle of the 3 train. i love sharing music, especially hip-hop and its great to have another network of people to build with ("....yo son, you ain't heard that cannibal ox. my dude. wtf! you doing. you best get that itunes up and get to downloading...." yes, even in my hypotheticals i support BUYING music).

so. i'd like you blog about my music, but i'm still on the fence. i'm not a typical hip-hop writer, meaning i don't just get high and freestlye some stuff into a blackberry until its memorized (unless necessary). i workshop ideas, draft, edit, draft... the writing is serious. i would like to post and ask for comments, assuming anyone is reading (4th wall).

so here's an idea... the song is called BETTY DRAPER. i'd like to comment on the double standard when it comes to men having illicit affairs versus women. why it exists (men are congratulated; women vilified) and why the differences. we'll see how it goes...

on another note, this is funny. the bit on mexican laborers is what i call paul mooney funny, meaning your laughing but its a bittersweet truth....

that's what's up!

k. so this is going to be my will-try-to-be-as-regular-as-possible "music" series. i'm a music person, vehemently passionate about what i'm feeling and couldn't give a gnat's ass about what you like. what qualifies me... well you can't teach taste, so it must be genetics. or maybe the growing up with my dad's 45s and lps, a decade of music lesson, about a decade on the radio, and time on the stage, behind the stage and writing the check that paid for the stage. not bragging. i believe it is important to understand the POV of a music reviewer or endorser. you can't teach taste, but you can develop it through diverse, focused experiences.

so. shots to K. Leon for the title inspiration. i'll be posting music i'm playing at the moment. not some contrived PR push, i'm not trying to creating promotion synergy by only talking about new releases or putting up obscure or invalid look-how-indy-i-am post either. hell. i was listening to motley crue two hours ago (yeah that's right motley crue at 7 on a saturday morn....!!!!).

my hope is that by sharing the music i can share more of myself. i've been trying to be more social but damn this xbox!!!!!!

so here. Diamond District. streets won't let me chill. right from the jump, i bet your heads bobbin, foots tappin or something. if vinyl was relevant, i'd get doubles. oh and soccer.. something something.

why is walt wet? (wiww)

if you haven't seen lost, please stop reading. if you have, then, please continue...

this is the inaugural Why is Walt Wet (shouts to Chan for the idea!. rather than compete with the thousands of other lost blogs/pages, i've decided to focus in on one thing. why is walt wet?


the wifey and i are rewatching lost, and we just finished the first season, which draws so many paralells to the conflicts of the last season it... makes you appreciate good writing and story telling. anyway. we just saw the walt-snatching. i finally made the connection that the others weren't after aaron, they were after walt, which begs the questions, when did they become aware of him? did ethan inform them? how could they tell he was special or did they know? how could they know he was special? did they watch him beat hurley in backgammon or throw the knife with locke?

hmmmmmmmm..

game on!

yeah. i'm into the trilogy. screw hayden and jar-jar can rot in hell. i still play battlefront and my favorite things include yoda and at-ats. i'm writing new songs and am really trying to make "hoth" happen, like "we so hoth" (translates to so cold because hoth is an ice planet.... yeah, i know). long story short, these are the reasons the trailer below has got me geeked up!

Star Wars: Knights of the old republic from Teknovole on Vimeo.

wow. on top of my list of all time buzz kills... having to use the toilet, only to discover that someone's butt wanted to do a jackson pollock piece. i'm thankful they didn't flush, otherwise I would have missed such a great example of post modern poopery.

i hate cable

i remember when hbo first started. i did not know what the big deal was, mainly because i did not recognize any of the movies (firefox anyone?). well, enter the turner family, nickelodeon, and all the other channels. now you have some entertainment for those weekend doldrums. then something happend. news channels and multiple channel entities (espn2, mtv3, etc).

content expoloded. at a rate, i believe, the public was not ready to except. was someone really yearning for FX in HD? univision i can understand, but espn classic. like there is a market for 'classic' games. its like that channel that plays those 'classic' game shows. i mean... that isn't even reality. you'd be committed if you watched reruns of the lottery machine numbers, but watching press your luck... that's kitschy. i feel like we are conditioned to accept this swill as entertainment, simply by presenting it as an option.

i've been there. rainy day, hungover or on vacation. flipping through the channels, just looking. what! you never know. the channel stops as an image of a chiseled chest dashes across the screen. oh, that's a px90 commercial. fifteen minutes later, your really contemplating ordering it. then you when you realize that you've never ordered anything from tv, you return to the remote, but forget what you were actually looking for. my guess is that most of us, when we are channel surfing, have no idea what we are looking for. going to the grocery store and taking a bite out of all the fruit would be crazy, but spending half hour or an hour channel surfing... that's just normal. and i've done it before. waiting for laundry or a delivery, just clicking channels. watch 5 minutes of the dog whisperer, catch the end of a criminal minds, then highlights from the celtic game, then a preview of the next season of jersey shore, then .......

well, it must stop. my wife and i unplugged years ago and have recently got hooked back in. mainly because of basketball (and torrenting became a pain with our slow as snails computer). admittedly, watching lost day-of, was great. not having to search for a half hour to find a copy of mad men, cool. having community and 30 rock on the dvr, awesome. and the sports, ah, the sports. nfl and nba, passion i lost touch with, but without the old cable box, i would have missed out on brett favres epic game versus the 49ers. i would have missed pitsburghs ncaa tourney run last year or butlers run this year. and the celtics, oh, the celtics. but the season ending this week, that only leaves sports i care little for (no offense) and a empty space on my dvr.

three months ago, the dvr stayed above 50%, now, it barely gets past 30%. i doubt that it will get past 30% this summer (even with mad men, friday night lights and burn notice). so i've been thinking outside of the box (the cablebox). which brings me to the point of this post. espn coming to the xbox live marketplace. hells yes. end game. this plus hulu means FU cablevision/optimum with your weird fees (dvr insurance, installation maintenance). the bigger picture is that the fcc will have to begin redefining terms and language to allow for either, equal entrance into the entertainment market (tv) or tiered development of the information market (phone, internet). very interesting, but what does it have to do with the consumer. well, wouldn't it be cool if you could simply subscribe to shows a la itunes, but your subscription would be with a network, the content provider, instead of a third party. cable is currently the third party with networks, and cable providers are third party carriers for cable tv shows (mad men, breaking bad, dexter). it'd be awesome if i could just subscribe to nbc, like i subscribe to the skateboarder mag, allowing me access to shows, back catalog and all. everyone wins except the cable companies. networks won't have to worry about angling for prime time spots, shows can develop because you could accurately determine production costs based on subscription services (remember trauma and their million dollar pilot?...). moreover, once you get outside the stilted advertising structure of cable, you can explore more creative funding approaches (a la direct tv and friday night lights or grant work like the BBC).

the hope is that once you step away from the content-to-sell-advertising model, to a content that sells content model, you get better choices. we are starting to see that in the music industry. as labels scramble to find their cash cows (ke$ha), consumers are becoming the new a&rs (uffie), as itunes/amazon reviews are carrying more weight than ....huh..... i can't even think of a relevant music publication. i doubt that cable companies will wise up. i mean they are still advertising plug in home phones. who the f*ck uses a plug-in phone anymore. to be honest, my xbox has been kicking my dvr's ass this past month. and with 241 episodes of comedy central presents, fraggle rock, the guild and lost on netflix. my dvr is not going to see much action this summer.

all in all, i think we are gonna give it a year (that's when the contract is up). if hulu and espn work well on the xbox, kiss this cable crap goodbye.

check out this montage from the show arrested development, the best thing to happen on cable since the simpsons. if you haven't seen the show, don't speak to me. ever.

bad tummy

it's the pressure, right below the navel. a tightening, then a sharp poke. you shift your bottom a bit, exhale deeply, but the pain doesn't subside. you stand and feel something rise in your stomach, then the hunger pain. after a moment, that pain passes and the cramps begin.

this has been my life since saturday. i think its a minor case of food poisoning, but you never know. this is the second time this years something like this has happend, the first being extremely debilitating (requiring doctor care). i am at my wits end. i'm hungry as all get out, but every time i eat something normal (not crackers or instant mash potatoes) i brings out the bowel gremlins. so what to do.

homeopathic rememdies suck. eat apples, drink water. and doctors, well they just tell you to ride it out, unless, like me, you become so dehydrated from the expulsion of fluids that you hallucinate (awesome!!). so it's me and my old standby, yoo-hoo.

i wouldn't mind it so much, except my access to the bathroom is severely limited at work because the faculty bathrooms are under repair. so hopefully the yoo-hoo works....

questions

if you can answer 4 of these questions, we should have a drink or four.

1) Gary Gygax help create what game?
2) EPMD stands for?
3) FRAK is word used on which television show?
4) True or false, stevie williams got pop?
5) before nike, eric koston shoe sponsor was?
6) before djing for the beastie boys, mixmaster mike was a member of a dj group called?
7) crab, flare, chirp. these are different types of _______ ?
8) name one video game featuring a female lead character?
9) name 3 players from the detroit pistons (former or current)?
10) complete this sentence from a famous movie: "it's the ship that made the _____ run in less than 12 parsecs"

if you can answer 6 out of 10, i'll buy you a drink
if you get 7, i might ask you to go to comic con with me
if you get 8 or 9, then we should just stop messing around and buy some property together
if you get 10... then i will have to exterminate you because there can only be just one!!!!!

can't wait!

Video Games | Marvel vs Capcom 3: FTW | E3 2010: Exclusive New Character Teaser

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

afterwork, i popped by my new favorite skateshop (sorry kcdc!), park deli skateshop, located in the crown heights (much cooler than saying prospect heights... word). i first went to the shop for a naysayer bbq. naysayer skateboards is a company my friend eby started. that is cooler than a polar bear's toenails (big boi!).

first impressions are a big deal for me, especially during a retail experience. i've had such shitty luck from nyc skateshops. there's that time i was in autumn and was shouting "hey! can i buy this!" to an empty store. i'm certain they were skating the bowl or something, but still, i mean your a store, someone, anyone should be on a register during business hours. i'm not one of those pissy yelp reviewers that over-exaggerates their bad experiences. i was literally walking around the store calling out for help for a good minute. i probably should have just walked out with the shirt. then there's supreme, whose employees are notorious for being aloof, unless your japanese, then its like they can't help but take your money. i don't know even know why i go into that store. they never have anything in stock that is my size. unless your getting flow, fuck the boards. and why do hoodies cost $200 bucks! really. for that logo. really. then there's blades. i know, i know. one-step above modell's, but when i see sale, i motor (plus when i first moved to ny, i came up on some ipaths there hella cheap). blades is your run of the mill, corporate skateshop. they stock the Dow Jones companies, like zoo york, element, world. little kid shit. also have to mention homage, which i was initially psyched on, but i get this weird vibe when i go in there. can't really put my finger on it. plus one of the sales people tried to sell me some vans. i took it as some retail numbers bullshit, because i don't believe myself to look like a "vans" skater, even though i love their team (chris pfanner is the TRUTH!!!!!!!).

so, park deli. that's my joint. check them out...

and yeah. i think i figured out this video shit, so check out the steeziest white boy skatin... (skip to about 1:20) .

i think i am going to get a new board today, depending on the weather. ah. nothing like fresh pop to start the summer off. my dilemma is that i can't decide which deck to get. there's my friends company Naysayer, good wood, love the graphics BUT i can only find 8" decks , nothing smaller. so it's either support your boy and keep mobbing kickflips or switch brands and get all Kelly Hart ( yeah right). maybe I'll get lucky and they'll have a 7.8 or 7.7.

speaking of skating, I'm feeling Levi Brown. im gonna call it and say he's the steeziest white boy skating. sorry lizard, wade, kalis, stefan and smolik. i wish I knew how to post vid clips. put that on the summer list of things to do.

blogging from your phone. convenient or conceited.... we shall see!

it begins

where to begin, where to begin. first things. i don't capitalize because i'm lazy (but i punctuate... go figure). i could use some snazzy analogy, or some pedantic prose, such as, "capitalization detracts from the energy of the writing, or cite a pro-feminist bent, a la bell hooks, but in reality, it is simply something i do. maybe to be different.... and i am huge fan of ellipses (used properly and improperly...).


the basics, i'm a math teacher, but that does not define me. i'm really, really into hip-hop and hope to somehow find a way to make a (decent) living off this love ... (we can dream can't we!!!!). but the teaching gig is good, because i get time-off to write, record, etc. never really pictured myself as a lawyer and having the amount free-time i get as a teacher. i guess making less money isn't always a bad thing. plus, i am certain that more than 3 years in the legal profession turn anyone into a douche.

about the blog, in terms of content, i read, listen to music and game. i am a fan of the popularly obscure, meaning, if it is something that is large enough to have a convention but not so popular to be featured on a morning talk show or appear in gossip girl, then i'm probably in to it. i collect music (hip-hop), love buying used books and have recently go into point and shoot digital photography (what i call "i can't afford a fancy dslr so i'm shooting with this...). i'm into geek/nerd culture, so yeah, i've read comics, can't wait to cosplay, will pick up the occasional graphic novel and am a bad bourbon night-out from getting HOTH or the BSG logo tattooed on my forearm ("so say we all"). i guess if you decide to continue to read, you can also expect the occasional product review, movie or music review and maybe a synopsis of a tv show. (watch Friday Night Lights...)

so.... let's talk games

i am finally a next-gen gamer. may not be a big deal to you, but i am a child of the home video game console. it was different when i was growing up. today, video games are popular; popular kids play them, popular kids obsess over them. video games are popular. however, decades prior, it was a really, really bad social move to continue to play video games after 7th grade, much less spend hours trying to navigate a blue hedgehog around a screen in high school. but hell, i've never shied away from geek-culture (while he eyes his Battle Star Galactica poster and stuffed yoda doll).

so after five years of being last-gen, i finally got me an xbox and am steadily finding new ways to procrastinate. there was some introductory friction when i first got the "box." i guess the better half believed we could have put the money to better use. wrong answer! of course there are better things you can buy with $300, but all the legal options are LAME. now, the wife is using it for netflix (can you say LOST rewatch) and with hulu coming, it may replace this piece of shit optimum cable box.

so there you have it. i've been next-gen gaming for just under 3 weeks and am already obsessing over my achievement score. What really, really, really sucks. if i had started when the box first came out, i would have an epic score because I AM EPIC (in games).

enough of that.

why don't we do a summer goal list and see how many i can not do by september:

1) break 2000 achievement score
2) beat bioshock 2, batman:arkham asylum, half-life 2 and borderlands
3) start fallout 3
4) finish writing e.p.
5) learn my mpc from sample to beat
6) buy a digital 4 track to do some home-recording
7) install windows 7
8) hang-up pictures in the living room
9) buy a new foot-stool cover
10) learn spanish
11) draft and storyboard Teacher PSA
12) become a runner (again!)
13) welcome my abs back from a 4 year food vacation
14) buy the LOST boxset
15) learn a knew flip trick (frontside flips, heelflips or kickflip-shuv)
16) master half-cabs and fakie 360s
17) pop shuv the 4 stair at the park near my house
18) 5-0/feeble/smith a bench
19) knee high nollies
20) visit one family member (bro, cousin or moms/pops)

and there you have. the blog has begun. comment, follow...... whatever