My Innervisions

Heavy Rotation

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:42:00 +0000

Over the past few days, I have had a few songs on heavy rotation. Most are remixes that I got from some blog or the other, many from okayplayer. Check em out:

KiD CuDi ft Kanye & Common - I Poker Face (Lady Gaga sample)
I don't really know anything about KiD CuDi, but I have been hearing a lot of chatter around him on the internet. Common and Kanye guest spots made this track a good candidate of somewhere to start. More than anything, I really like the production and the Lady Gaga sample. Those things make this song, in my opinion. I don't know anything about Lady Gaga either, but after this song, I'd be interested in finding out more. One of my friends said, "This song locks Lady Gaga as the MIA for 2009." I've had this song on constant repeat.

Focus ft. Royce Da 5'9", Phonte of Little Brother, and Stat Quo of D12 - Homage to Premier
A song like this has been a long time in the making and long overdue. Focus scratches in samples of a bunch of songs that Premier produced. Stat Quo's verse takes the titles from songs Premier has worked on and incorporates them into his rhymes, a la GZA's Labels. He does it so seamlessly (much better than GZA) that if you weren't familiar with Premier's discography, you'd probably miss most of the references. Despite that, my favorite verse on the track goes to Phonte. Here's a snippet:

I understand we ain't back in the old days,
but youngins be looking at my n#%&@ Preem funny like he's one of the OJs
No sense of history, see Chris Martin in the credits, they be thinkin it's the n#%&@ from Coldplay
so I gotta school em and remind these toddlers that hip hop started in the days of yonder
any fool with an S950 can make beats but this man took it and redefined a genre
who else can make the Group Home sound like pros
then make Christina Aguilera sound like soul

Mos Def - Life in Marvelous Times
Mos Def hasn't been the same since Black on Both Sides or his Black Star days. I still like his new stuff, but it's not the same (I can't wait for the Black Star concert at the end of May). Unfortunately, this song is not a return to those days, but it does make me look forward to his next album. He obviously still knows what it takes to make a good song: good production and good lyrcis. This song has both. He thinks he can beat anyone in the game, including Jay-Z and Lil Wayne; this next album is his chance to prove it.

Mos Def - Brooklyn (Go Hard) ft MIA
From "Brookly, we go hard" to "Swagger like us" to "Paper planes," it seems like MIA is being sampled all over the place. These are some of my favorites.

See Also: MIA ft. Jay-Z and Kanye - Swagger Like Paper (Mick Boogie remix)
See Also: MIA ft. Jay-Z, Notorious BIG, Kanye - Brooklyn (Go Hard)

J.Dilla ft. Black Thought - Reality Check
Certain rhyme styles work better with certain production styles. Particular MCs work better with particular producers. Black Thought was meant to rock this beat. This song is a teaser from a new album called Jay $tay Paid, which will also feature DOOM, Raekwon, etc over Dilla beats. The project is mixed and arranged by Pete Rock. I CANNOT wait!

See Also: Common - Pimpin' (prod. by Dilla)

Royce Da 5'9" - Shake This
I like songs where the production builds up in tempo and intensity before reaching a climax, and then starting all over again. Nas did this the best on his "One Mic," but Royce does it well here too. After the last couple songs that have hit the internet, I'm looking forward to his next album Bar Exam 3.

See Also: Royce Da 5'9" - Slaughter

Zion I ft. Talib Kweli - Gotsta Chill (Temperature remix)
Two of my favorites from both coasts get together on this one. I really like the production, and both MCs spit hard lyrics.

See Also: Zion I ft. The Grouch - One (Santogold Starstruck remix)

Street Sweeper - Clap for the Killers
Established MC Boots Riley of The Coup and guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine are joining together to form the group Street Sweeper. The first two tracks make me anticipate more.

See Also: Street Sweeper - The Oath

UPDATE: KiD CuDi just released a new mixtape tape. Check it out here. Mine's downloading now.

Modern Marvel

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:28:00 +0000

This post is going to be about many things which I enjoy and the convergence of them all. Those things are trading in the stock market, social media, and ...

Marvel Entertainment

My infatuation with Marvel began early in my childhood. I loved reading Marvel comics. In particular, I was a big fan of the X-Men, but I also read Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and some others. Like many other kids, I enjoyed the fantasy land which the comics would let me discover. I had the toys (and maybe still do?). I watched the X-Men cartoon show religiously on Saturday mornings. The X-Men arcade game was always a favorite with my cousins and me whenever we went to Chuck E Cheese or Pistol Pete's Pizza, especially since it was a six player game. I remember wasting all my quarters playing that game alongside Terence, Shawn, Angelo, and Gilbert. Damn you, Sidney, for coming along so late ... we needed a sixth! I even began to collect Marvel trading cards. Whenever I want over to Shawn and Gilbert's house, you could find me in front of their TV playing X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse on their SNES. Yeah, I loved X-Men and Marvel.

However, sometime in the late 90s, I all but forget about all that. Then again, I think for most of that period, the company went dormant too.

That all changed in 2000 though. Even though they released Blade in 1998, it was in 2000 with the release of X-Men when they truly started making moves in the movie industry. That movie got my love for Marvel going again. Fortunately, they didn't stop there and released many more blockbusters, including the sequels to X-Men, Spiderman and its sequel, and the two Fantastic Four movies. Now don't get me wrong, not all of the movies that Marvel has released have been good, but I believe most of them have been.

Let's pause for a second and switch topics. Around mid 2005, I was making money and no longer saving aggressively for a condo downpayment. I had to do something with the little money I was saving. I decided to enter the stock market. Since this whole investment thing was new to me, I asked my brother for some advice. He recommended I invest in companies and industries, which I knew, and he offered a few suggestions. I believe Marvel (MVL) was one of those. I knew nothing about the company's financials or fundamentals, but I bought some shares anyway. Not really knowing what I was doing, I sold them about a year later at a slight loss.

I began reading a lot of books on investing and was learning a ton. Unfortunately, during that learning period, I lost a buncha money, like with my initial shares of MVL. I was now picking stocks with more understanding and actual reasons to justify my selections. Marvel came up in a stock screen I use often. I did a lot of research and bought shares of MVL again in February 2008 around $25. Currently just under 40% of Marvel's outstanding shares are owned by people at the company (that is not normal for a public company). That fact makes me feel comfortable that the executives at the company have motives (at least somewhat) in line with my interests as a stockholder since they are stockholders too.

This was also around the time that Marvel announced they would start producing their own films. All of the movies mentioned above were not produced by Marvel, but instead the company licensed the characters to companies like 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures. While these movies posed little financial risk to Marvel, they did not receive the majority of the profits for them either. Producing their own movies would allow them to keep most of the profits from blockbuster movies for themselves, but then again, they would have to foot the bill for the failed ones too. In addition to the risks/rewards associated with producing films themselves, Marvel would have to put up a lot of money upfront while the movies were being made.

This is when, in my opinion, Marvel made a brilliant move financially. They secured a $525 million loan to finance the production of their first ten movies. Here's the good part: they used, as collateral for that loan, the theatrical rights to the characters used in those ten films. Basically, what that means is if a film flops and they can't repay the loan, they lose the theatrical rights that character. Let me say that again, if the movie fails, the only thing Marvel loses is the rights to make more movies of that character ... whose film already failed. Sounds like a win-win to me. The second Hulk movie showed that it's difficult to take a character from a failed movie and do it all over again. That's only the downside (if you can call if that): if the film does well, they reap all the profits.

Marvel first independently produced movie Iron Man was a huge success. Their second independently produced film Hulk was released in June, and though it didn't do nearly as well as Iron Man, it was still considered a relative success. Investors whole-heartedly agreed with the success of the two films. A few month after its release, the stock price was around $35. I couldn't complain about a good 40% gain in around 6 months and sold most of my shares of MVL.

Despite the fact that they are not releasing another movie themselves until 2010, there's a lot to be excited about. More importantly, I feel they are doing building the excitement. A new movie based on Wolverine is coming out soon. This is not produced directly by Marvel, but it's enough to fill the void for now because in 2010 the real stuff gets going. In 2010, they will be releasing a sequel to Iron Man and a Thor movie. 2011 will give us a Captain America film and an Avengers film. If you know anything about Marvel, you know that Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America are all part of the superhero super group Avengers. See where this is going? Building upon the success of Iron Man and Hulk, and the hoped-for success of Thor and Captain America, Avengers will be monumental. They're already doing a spectacular job tying the movies together.

After the credits of Iron Man, Nick Fury tries to recruit Iron Man. Nick Fury commands S.H.I.E.L.D. which often allies with the Avengers.
Also in Iron Man, there is a scene in which you can briefly see Captain America's famed shield on Tony Stark's work bench.
In Hulk, they passingly mention the super soldier serum. The super soldier serum is what gave Captain America his powers.
Also, in the director's cut of Hulk, there is a glimpse of Captain America frozen in the ice in the Arctic.

For casual fans, these may not mean much, but for someone like me, it's makes me long for the new movies NOW!

These new movies and antipation of movies to come has renewed my infatuation with Marvel. Back to MVL ... the recent economic conditions has sunken the stock price back to around $25. At that price, I scooped up some more shares. My thinking is if it was able to reach $35 on just Iron Man and Hulk, I think in these times, it could do that again with Iron Man 2 and Thor (hopefully more). I know I will probably have wait till mid 2010 to see those numbers again, but I think the patience will pay off.

On a different note, as many of you know, I am getting more and more into Twitter these days (you can follow me here). I may be a little biased, but I honestly believe that Marvel is one of the best brands making use of twitter. They are both informative and engaging. If you shoot them a tweet, they will usually reply. They also keep you up to date with what's going on with Marvel from new comics to new trailers to interviews with writers. All that aside, the main reason I think they are doing well is being they have succeeded in convincing me to purchase their product. I like following Zappos tweets, but I haven't bought any shoes from them yet nor do I have any plans to.

At some point this weekend, I am going to sign up for Marvel's Digital Subscription. The subscription will basically give me access to thousands of past issues of Marvel comics. The first appearances of Hulk and Iron Man, the first X-Men comic ever, the death of Captain America, or Spiderman meeting Obama will all be at my disposable. At $5 a month, you can't complain either. Plus I justify the cost to myself by saying it's helping my investment in MVL.

I have a new problem though. In line with my last post, Marvel, with their digital subscriptions, has created a long tail of comics. Where do I begin? Well, I'm going to begin with X-Men ... but where to go from there?

the death of Captain America?
the New Avengers?
the Civil War?
Iron Man's Demon in a Bottle?
something else entirely?

I'm open to suggestions. What do you think I should I read next?

Unfortuately for all of you (and me), we have to wait a few months before any new Marvel movies come out, but until then, you can read the issue of Spiderman when he meets Barack Obama here as a free preview (for now, at least) of their digital subscription (I recommend Smart Panels). When you're done with, here's something else to keep you going.

Disclaimer: None of the above should be interpreted as a recommendation for action in the stock market.
Disclosure: The author is long Marvel (MVL).

Much Too Much

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:52:00 +0000

I just started reading The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, and the book got me thinking more of something that has been simmering in my head for awhile now. I am a big fan of the direction in which the world is moving right now. Information flows freely and to anyone. Distribution channels are everywhere. People can get at any and everything ...

... but why would you want to? I sometimes wonder if it's all beginning to be too much. I've been thinking about this more lately with how it relates to music distribution. I have infinitely more access to different and new music. There are numerous sites and blogs, which have mixtapes and albums of a bunch of different artists. The numbers are staggering ... to the point where it's almost paralyzing. What's the difference between a Charles Hamilton and a Kid Cudi? Who's Drake? Termanology? 88-Keys? What about 6th Sense or Jay Electronica?

Sadly, I don't have the time or patience to listen to all those artists and evaluate for myself. So what do I do? Normally, I rely on the recommendations of people whose taste I know is like my own. Unfortunately, I think many of those people are in the same boat as I am.

I'm a huge fan of Pandora as a music recommendation engine, and since it's release, the similar iTunes Genius has been impressive. Unfortunately, I don't think either handles emerging artists like the ones mentioned above well. So what's a music fan to do? I don't really have an answer.

Do you?

As for the artists above, I've heard at least some songs of all of them but don't think I would recommend every one ... mostly because the jury is still out for me. There are also a bunch of other artists who I've heard of but haven't yet listened to. I'm really impressed with Jay Electronica so far. I really enjoyed 88-Key's The Death of Adam. There are a few tracks by 6th Sense and Termanology that I really like.

I guess for now, I'll just keep listening and hope for the recommendations of others ... ohh, and of course, eagerly await new releases by old favorites (new Roots and Ozomatli coming out).

I Do It For Hip Hop

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:09:00 +0000

Around 2000, Common had recently dropped Like Water For Chocolate. Ludacris was topping the charts with singles from his Back for the First Time album. Kanye was producing songs for the likes of Jay-Z and Talib Kweli but was also showing signs that he wanted to rap as well.

Like Water For Chocolate was one of my favorite albums of the year and is still one of my favorite Common albums. On the other hand, I would almost cringe whenever I heard songs like "Southern Hospitality." I was not a fan of the southern rap sound and grouped Ludacris together with Masta P and the No Limit family. I also dreaded the thought of Kanye rapping. I didn't have anything against his flows. I didn't think they were bad, but they were nothing great. I thought Kanye was a great producer, and I felt that rapping would detract from his producing.

Fast forward to today. All three artists have released new albums in the past few weeks. Kanye released his 808s and Heartbreak. Ludacris put out Theater of the Mind, and Common just dropped Universal Mind Control. I think all three are good albums, but back in 2000, I never would have guessed that Luda's new album would (at least on first listen) be my favorite of the three.

A few quick thoughts about the albums:
Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreaks:
My first reaction to this album was disappointment. I really like the production on most of the songs, but the entire album is Kanye singing (or auto-tuning?). The album has grown on me a lot since. Awhile back, I didn't think Kanye should rap. He's proved me wrong and turned into a good MC. In a few years, will I feel the same about his singing?

Ludacris' Theater of the Mind:
I really like a lot of the songs on this album. He has a lot of good guest spots on the album, but at the same time he showcases his skills too. His style and flow has really evolved since the "Southern Hospitality" days, and I've liked his last few albums. His track "Do the Right Thang" with Common sounds more like a Common track than many (most?) of the songs off Universal Mind Control. My favorite DJ Premier produces a hot track "MVP," and both Jay-Z and Nas spit verses on "I Do It for Hip Hop." Does anyone else thinks it's odd to hear both Nas and Jay-Z on the same song saying that they are the best MC out, given their history?

Common's Universal Mind Control:
I probably don't hold any other MC out right now to higher standards than I do for Common. Maybe that means I think he is the best MC still making music ... maybe not. He's definitely up there on that list. Off the top of my head, Black Thought and MURS would be toward the top of that list too. That being sad, I was hoping for more from this album. Right now, I don't think Universal Mind Control is as good as Finding Forever, and it's definitely not as good as Be, but I still think it's a good album. There are a lot of tracks ("Changes," "Gladiator," and "What a World") on the album that I really like, but on a whole I think there is a little too much of the Neptunes synth sound for me.

Now I got to go give Q-Tip's new The Renaissance a listen. I've been hearing good things about this one.

Jackin' for Beats

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:49:00 +0000

For all of you who know your hip hop history, you know that hip hop was born with samples. Hip hop started with DJs flipping back and forth between the "break" section of disco, funk, and soul records. Back then, hip hop was more mixing different music, and no one was calling it their own original work.

Eventually the samples became a little more subtle, and there were rhymes on top of them. DJs and producers would take small snippets of multiple songs and put them together to make their own musical arrangement. Sometimes the samples were recognizable, but often they weren't. I remember DJ Premier talking about using Jimi Hendrix in his production. He said taking a guitar riff would be too obvious, and instead, he would take an obscure drum beat and make it his own.

Of course, there is (and probably will always be) producers like Puffy (or P Diddy or Sean Combs or Diddy or whatever he is called today) who will take other people's music and use it unchanged, calling it his own.

The best producers will get you digging in the crates trying to figure out what they used to get a particular little piece of sound. There have been countless times I have been with Terence or Shawn or Jay and hear something on the radio. Our ears will perk up, and we'll be like, "Who used that?" If I can't figure it out right away, it will eat at me ... and eat at me ... and eat at me ... until I figure it out.

Anyway, I recently came across this article listing out what the author thinks are the 8 most over-used samples in hip hop. Before I read the article, I tried my guess at what I thought would be on the list. I only got James Brown's Funky President right. I thought that Apache would be on the list and am REALLY surprised that it's not.

What do you guys think?

Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:20:00 +0000

For all you guys out there with girlfriends (or trying to get one), here's an easy tip to score some major points.

Make them chocolate cake. Check out this recipe I came across at Wired. It's super easy ... I mean, come on, I did it. It turned out well too. For added bonus, make sure to get some ice cream to go on top.

Arch loved it.

Cheat on you

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:24:00 +0000

I am not sure what the most ridiculous part of this article is, but there are plenty worthy candidates to chose from.

Make sure you read the Apple Support thread.

Straight comedy (well except for the ruined marriage part).

The Next Movement

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:18:00 +0000

Say it ain't so.

UPDATE: The youtube video was taken down. I guess you will actually have to read the article now.

UPDATE 2: I guess someone really does not want this news getting out because the article has now been taken down from okayplayer. You can now read about it here.

If I were president

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:49:00 +0000

I have really been impressed with the way Barack Obama has used the internet to his advantage.

By using the internet, he was able to launch a grass roots campaign and raised him a lot of money, giving him the upper hand over McCain.

His campaign setup and maintained a good website connecting him with the people, keeping them informed of his stance on issues, and keeping them up to date with his current campaign events.

Likewise, he utilized twitter as a good complement to that website. I really hope he keeps tweeting during his presidency, though I doubt that will happen.

After the election, he revealed a flickr album making him look more like one of us.

It is rumored he will create the nation's first Secretary of Technology. I do not know why a position like that has not already been created.

After he won the election, he created another website to aide his transition into the White House and keep the people aware of what's happening

And now, building on President Franklin Roosevelt's "fireside chats" in the 1930s, his weekly addresses to the nation will not only be broadcast over the air to radios but also be filmed and put on youtube.

Good job President-elect Obama.

January 20, 2009 cannot come fast enough.

UPDATE: Here is the first of his youtube videos.

UPDATE 2: Apparently he will have to retire his blackberry though.

Culture

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:04:00 +0000

One of the best parts about New York, in my opinion, is its culture. There are just so many different things you can do here. Whatever it is that you're into, you can find it here. Lately, I have done/seen some pretty cool stuff and thought I would share.

Avenue Q and Spring Awakening:
My friends Krithi and Vineet decided to make a trip to NYC during some time off. We ended up seeing two different shows on Broadway with them. We saw Avenue Q and Spring Awakening, and Arch describes them as the two shows we would not be able to see with our parents. Avenue Q was very funny. Think Sesame Street for adults, and I am serious about the "for adults" part (there was puppet sex involved). Spring Awakening was every single after school special you could think of, rolled into one. Set in 18th century Germany, it featured bad grades, teenage pregnancy, gays, teenage suicide, and more. I liked the music and choreography but thought they tried to cram way to much into one show.

The Village Pet Store:
I am not exactly sure where or when I had first heard about graffiti artist Banksy, but he had made some news relatively recently with some of his work in New Orleans on the anniversary of Katrina. I'm also not sure how or when, but I heard he had an exhibit opening in the city. I slept on it for awhile, but after my boss mentioned it to me and that it was closing soon, I decided to check it out. The exhibit is called the Village Pet Store, located in small shop in the west village. The place has no mention of Banksy at all, and actually if it weren't for some people gathered around the place, a person could easily walk by thinking it was an actual pet store. Upon closer inspection, it's FAR from a regular pet store. Arch and I walked up and saw a display with a chicken in a hen house and chicks feeding ... except when we got closer, we realized the chicks were not chicks at all but rather chicken nuggets. To go along with those, there was a family of security cam birds, a leo pard coat leopard, a monkey watching monkey porn, fish stick fish, and hot dog hamsters (I think). If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's because the exhibit is hard to describe. Just check out the pictures. Really bizarre stuff but very interesting too.

The Roots with Gym Class Heroes and Estelle:
I already told you about the Roots concert, but like I said before, it was AMAZING.

First Friday at the Guggenheim:
Every first Friday the Guggenheim opens its doors at nights, hosts a DJ, and serves alcohol. Luckily, we got there early enough to avoid the long lines. It was good times, despite the current exhibit not being that great. The exhibit featured some photography but the main section basically had random sayings in random places throughout the museum. At times, I felt like I was on an Easter egg hunt, searching for the next saying, stuff like "I've been watching you", "It's not you, it's me", and "The right hand does not know what the left hand is doing." A lot of the walls were left completely bare. It was a fun experience, but I don't think I'd do it again.

NYC Chocolate Show:
Saturday night, we caught wind of the NYC Chocolate Show being around this weekend. We went Sunday, and for those of you who've been, it's basically the chocolate version of Beerfest. The show featured chocolatiers from all over the world, and exhibiting, and, more importantly, sampling their products. There were some booths showing how chocolate is made, some cooking shows, and some art exhibits with the art made almost completely of chocolate, but for the most part, we spent our time walking around, trying different types of chocolate. Halfway through the show, both Arch and I were basically sick of chocolate, but we powered through it. One of our favorite booths ended up being the SerendipiTEA booth because the tea was a nice change of pace from the chocolate and helped clear our palettes. Unfortunately, they ran out of chocolate-covered bacon before I could try any. In any case, I'm not eating any more chocolate for awhile.

Click any of the headings for links to albums on flickr.

Who am I?

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:10:00 +0000

Who am I?

I like basketball.
My dad grew up in Kenya.
I like listening to the Fugees.
I like playing Scrabble.

If you say me, you'd be correct ... but if you had a different answer, you'd also be right.

Ignite the People like OBAMA!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:03:00 +0000

Congrats, America! Congrats, World!

Oh, and for my readers who live in the Marvel Universe, congrats to you too.

UPDATE: nevermind

The Legendary Roots Crew

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Now this is why I moved to NYC. Ok ok, I moved to NYC for another reason but things like this are icing on the cake.

Last night, I saw the Roots with Gym Class Heroes and Estelle. I have been to a few concerts since I moved to New York, and all were good, but this is what I expected from a concert in New York.

When I got there, Estelle was already on. Now I hadn't heard much of her stuff, aside from her "American Boy" song, but I had heard a lot of good things about her, mostly from the folks over at okayplayer. She put on a good performance and served her purpose as an opening act: get the crowd warmed up. I'll definitely have to check out more of her stuff. Gym Class Heroes came on and got the crowd more hyped for the Roots to come on. I was a little more familiar with their stuff, like "Cupid's Chokehold" and "The Queen and I", than I was with Estelle's. They came out with a buncha energy, got the crowd growing, and were active on stage.

Finally the Roots came on and rocked a LIVE show. They did a good mix of old and new. Of course, ?uestlove worked his magic on the drums. At some point, they brought out Q-tip to spit a few verses (and hype his album set to drop next week). Kamal on the keys, Tuba Gooding Jr, and the bassist all did some sweet solo stuff. I don't know who the new bassist is, but as good as he was, I miss Hub on the bass. That guy was ridiculous. Then they started up with probably my favorite Roots track, "You Got Me". They started with Captain Kirk singing the hook, but to no surprise, Estelle came back out and took over. As the song was ending, she headed back stage and Captain Kirk proceeded to do his solo thing on the guitar. He started off with some usual guitar riffs, but then he went into a sick rendition of "Sweet Child O’ Mine". From there, he somehow smoothly transitioned into "Bad to the Bone". Eventually it all melted back into "You Got Me" with Captain Kirk singing again once again. They kept playing some more songs and soon got going with the title track off their latest album Rising Down. To the crowds delight, the mighty Mos Def came out and spit his verse on the song. He helped out with a couple other songs, including the "Next Movement", before heading back off stage. This exactly the type of stuff I expected/hoped for from a concert in NY: random people showing up and performing.

Another great Roots show. I wonder when they'll be back in NY.

Head over here for some live footage (not mine) of the show.

UPDATE: Read a review of the concert by the NY Times here.

it's still the economy stupid

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:05:00 +0000

most people who know me know that i enjoy gambling in the stock market. i may even be slightly obsessed. of course, it helps that i've been doing well lately ... well at least relatively.

i have two goals while investing: 1) make money and 2) do better than the s&p 500 index. the first goal is obvious. the second is in place because even if i make money while investing in stocks, if i do not do better than the s&p, i would have been better off investing in an index fund (i don't believe in mutual funds). it would have been easier and a lot less time consuming. up until three weeks ago, i was succeeding with both those goals; unfortunately, the market tanked, and now i'm only succeeding at one of those. it makes me feel better though that "according to Morningstar (MORN), the average U.S. stock mutual fund is down 28.5%." that article is now two days old, and i would guess that those losses has increased since.

for the most part, i primarily invest in small cap companies. with that territory comes a lot of risk. you have to have the stomach for large swings up and down, and boy has my resolve been tested in the past few weeks. i've seen the price in some of my stocks be cut in half in the matter of weeks ... sometimes cut more than that. fortunately, i think my selection process is at least doing a bit right. i currently own stock in 3 of the top 10 small businesses, according to forbes.

saying the economy sucks right now is both pointing out the obvious and a huge understatement.

a week or so ago, when the market dropped a record-breaking 777 points, i thought maybe we had seen the worst. i took some cash, which i had set aside for non-investment purposes, and poured into a few stocks that i felt were greatly undervalued. i never intended to invest with that money, but i couldn't pass up the bargains (or at least what i thought were bargains). of course, the market has fallen a lot more since. there are some people that think now may be a good time to cautiously put some more money back into the market.

was it a bad decision? maybe. i definitely could have been more patient. if i had wait a few days, i would have been much better off. do i regret it? no. i'd probably make the same decision today. only time will tell whether it was the right thing to do or not. i'm hoping large gains with that money in the future . when? who knows. maybe a two years? a year? 6 months? sooner? i guess that's part of the reason for this post. sometime in the future, i'll be able to look back at this and decide whether or not i made the right choice.

all i know is that i'm glad i wasn't planning on retiring anytime in the near future.

hey nas

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:53:00 +0000

nas has always been one of my favorite mcs. at this point, he may be my favorite mc that i have not yet seen live. i tried seeing him perform a year or so ago, but that did not turn out too well. a couple days ago, a friend of mine told me about a free concert coming up with nas headlining. i signed up on the guestlist and thought i'd finally get my chance to see nas perform.

we got there relatively early and had a decent spot in line (it went around the block behind us). unfortunately the line did not remain a line for much longer. there was only one security guard managing the line, and even then he wasn't doing much. the line in front of us just started getting wider and wider. doors were supposed to open at 9 (website said 8), but you could sense the unrest when 9 rolled around and nothing happened. things got worse when two large luxury buses rolled up, filled with people who did not look like they belonged at a nas concert. the buses just sat there for awhile, but eventually they rolled up to the front, and all the passengers got off and walked straight into to venue. people started chanting, "tip - the - bus." eventually the line turned into a mob surrounding the club, spilling over into the street blocking a lane of traffic. around 10, they started letting people in, but even then, they were selectively picking people from the crowd. at that point we gave up and went to a nearby bar.

0 for 2 for nas concerts. third times a charm?

what's the word

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:27:00 +0000

i came across the website wordle recently. wordle let's you create cool illustrations of word usage in just about anything. you can give it some words or point it to an rss feed, like i did. it's pretty easy to use and shoots out some cool looking word clouds.

let's go to sleep in paris

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:02:00 +0000

with archana having a rare 4 day break, we decided to make the most of it. after a bunch of deliberating, we passed up the caribbean, vermont, and miami for a short hop over the lake to paris (not sure why it took so much consideration). 4 days was more than enough time to see all of what we wanted to see. sure we could have seen more, but we got to what we wanted. it was pretty awesome seeing such beauty and history all over the place.

the highlights for me were:
- seeing the amazing architecture of notre dame and the view from the top
- all the famous artwork at the lourve and musee d'orsay, especially the winged victory of samothrace and all the great impressionist pieces
- the paris night lit up by the blue lights of the eiffel tower
- hanging out at cafes, eating crepes and drinking wine or beer
- hearing arch converse with locals in french

you can find pictures on my flickr and two smaller highlight sets on facebook, or you can just check out the brief slideshow below, courtesy of animoto.

the twist

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:33:00 +0000

billboard just released the top 100 songs of the billboard hot 100 chart era, and the song at the top may not be what you would expect. according to them, the hottest song of the past 50 years is chubby checker's "the twist." while i like the song, i'm not sure i think it should be at the top. i definitely do not agree with the rest of the top 5, which are:

2. Santana's "Smooth," featuring Rob Thomas,
3. Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife"
4. Leann Rimes' "How Do I Live"
5. Los Del Rio's "The Macarena"

the artists/groups who appear most often on the list at least restore some order to things.

The Beatles do top Billboard's all-time Hot 100 artists, followed by Madonna, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and the Rolling Stones.

anyway, what do you guys think?

ms. hill

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:28:00 +0000

the folks over at okayplayer put it best:

Anyone else miss the old Lauryn Hill? Well this is as good as it gets for now, an unreleased song titled "World is a Hustle"

rolling stones wrote an article commemorating the 10th anniversary of the miseducation of lauryn hill, and i've been meaning to read it for awhile now.

ny state of mind

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:38:00 +0000

it's been about 6 months (already?) since i moved to new york. i've been meaning to jot down some thoughts for awhile now but had been putting it off. this article, which was tweeted to me by my old roommate michael, finally got me going.

inevitably when i see or talk to family or friends again for the first time since i moved to new york, i get a barrage of questions of what it's like to be living in new york now. one thing that almost always comes up is the pace of the city. new york city comes with a perception that it's bustling fast-moving city, and to survive, you better keep up. but you know, i don't really see it. well ... i do see it, but i don't really feel it. i actually feel quite the opposite. since i live so close to work, i walk to and from work everyday, and there's something about walking, which just slows everything down (and i don't mean that literally). walking around with my pandora on blast usually gets me into my own world, filtering out the hustle and bustle of the streets, and allowing me to enjoy the walk. as far as i can tell, i'm not walking faster and rushing everywhere, but i do notice myself weaving in and out of people sometimes ... but then again, that's how i used to drive.

speaking of driving, i don't have a car here and thought i would miss my car a whole lot more than i actually do. that has nothing to do with high gas prices either. i enjoy walking around and taking the subway everywhere. the only time i really did miss my car and driving was on a long drive for our camping trip on long stretches of highway (though part of that may have been because of the driver of the car i was in). i'm getting familiar with the subway system; however, i occasionally make mistakes here and there, like thinking the D stops at 14th St. my iphone and the city transit app help for those moments. i still think it's cool seeing people of all races, walks of life, and social status crammed together in one train.

my apartment is in a great part of town. i don't think i could be anymore in the middle of manhattan. my apartment is easily accessible to four different subway lines. there are a bunch of good restaurants nearby, including an awesome chicken and rice cart right downstairs (i swear i grab food there at least twice a week). things are open late. best of all, i'm REALLY close to columbus circle and central park. i had an epiphany a few months ago: it would be a sad sad thing if when i eventually leave new york, i realized that i lived so close to central park and didn't make the most of it. now, i sometimes grab lunch and sit under a tree in the park. if i have nothing to do on the weekends, i often grab a book or my laptop with a blanket and sit in the park for a few hours. just being to chill in the park like that also contributes to the fact that i think my life has slowed down since i moved here. columbus circle has also become a hang out of mine. it's like my new sproul. sometimes on my way home from my work on a nice sunny day, i'll just sit in the circle and just watch people go by.

in terms of social life, mine hasn't been the greatest but not that bad either. i also expect it to improve. a couple friends were gone for the summer but are now back. ol' dirty is moving to brooklyn soon, which should make for good times as well. i've seen a couple hip hop shows, and the fact that they were new yorkers (immortal technique and talib kweli) made them even better.

i do have a few gripes. first, it's not even winter yet, and i'm still adjusting to the weather. in my 6 months here, i've probably seen more rain than i did in my 3 plus years in sd (maybe that's why we had fires so often). i'm sure by the time january rolls around, i'll be crying ... but i'll get used to it. second, watching sports since i've been here is tough (and not even because of the way boston took out the lakers in the finals). i usually have to be awake till about 1am watching lakers games. now with the start of football season, i'll probably complain some more. in cali, i was used to waking up around 10am on a sunday morning, rolling out of bed to the couch, and sitting there watching football all day. here, i'll have to wait till 1 before any games start. oh well.

but if the weather, which i expected, and having to adjust my routine for watching sports are my two biggest complaints, i guess you can say i'm enjoying it here. i used to think that the window of opportunity for me to live outside of california sometime in my life had long closed. of course, things changed, and i'm glad they did. i know i will eventually move back to california, but for now, i'm very happy that i'm living in ny.

the rotten apple

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:56:00 +0000

whoops. the guys over at bloomberg accidentally published steve jobs' obituary. i think someone forgot to mention to them that he's not quite dead yet. good job guys. reminds me of that scene in monty python and the holy grail.

The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead.
[a man puts a body on the cart]
Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.
The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: What?
Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.
Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.

baby got back

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:00:00 +0000

i recently came across this article on wired.com about a couple of visual artists, who break down musical genres and the parts of the body they mention most.

Across all of the categories, the eyes are most frequently mentioned body part (Hall & Oates, "Private Eyes"), with the exceptions of hip hop, which places a firm emphasis on the posterior (Sir Mix a Lot, "Baby Got Back") and blues (Louisiana Red, "Keep Your Hands Off My Woman") and gospel music (The Gospel, "Put Your Hands Together"), which are respectively focused on the keeping off of one's hands and the clapping or raising of one's hands.

i thought it was kinda interesting. check it out.

never can say goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:43:00 +0000

i recently picked the new game album LAX. the album has some good names in terms of collabos (common, raekwon, nas, ice cube) and producers (kanye, hi-tek, scott storch). i haven't given the album a whole lot of listen yet and won't comment on it overall, but one particular song did stand out on first listen.

the song is called "never can say goodbye" and begins with la radio personalities yo yo and julio g from kday reportings on the deaths of tupac, biggie, and eazy e. the game then goes on to flow as each of those MCs in the first person, recounting their last moments alive. interesting concept, and i think he pulls it off well. he even gets into each of their styles during the three verses.

check it out.

watch out

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:50:00 +0000

if you live in san francisco, watch out

mash out posse

noreply@blogger.com (Brian) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:12:00 +0000

for some reason last night, archana started singing that silly barney song. it reminded me of a barney video that i actually like. i quickly grabbed my iphone, pulled up the video on youtube, and showed it to her (the iphone has surprisingly good speakers btw).

here's the video:

and while this barney video is the first i can remember in the hip hop/kids' show mash up vein, my cousin shawn recently put me on to this video, which i think is much better and done incredibly well. i love both these songs.

enjoy!