Adriel Luis: Blog

This is absolutely fantastic.

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:10:43 -0500

This is absolutely fantastic.

i’m reblogging this as i watch phatrick toss a booger from...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:18:08 -0500

i’m reblogging this as i watch phatrick toss a booger from his couch.

djphatrick:

Betty Chung - “Bang Bang” (Nancy Sinatra Cover)

Thank you O-Dub!

The GRAMMY's Shadow of Domestic Violence

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:45:00 -0500

On Saturday night the nation mourned the loss of one of its greatest musical legends, Whitney Houston. Even before her cause of death was investigated, her passing was already deemed a tragedy – not only because of the ripe age of 48 in which she left us, but because of her equally tragic life which began with tremendous potential, and decayed with tales of drug abuse and domestic violence. Only hours after Houston’s death, Rolling Stone reported that her ex-husband Bobby Brown broke down onstage in Mississippi. As he blew a kiss to the sky and proclaimed, “I love you Whitney,” one had to wonder if any of his tears were out of regret for pummeling her throughout their marriage.

The next night, Chris Brown opened the Grammy Awards to flashing lights and applause. Fans everywhere gyrated their Twitter feeds, ogling over his sexiness and impressive dance moves. “CHRIS BROWN IS BACK!” some tweeted. And then ten minutes later Rihanna and Coldplay did something everyone agreed was kind of lame.

I don’t know which is more offensively distasteful of the Grammys – pitting Brown against Rihanna back to back on the infamous third anniversary their high-profile violence case – or that a perpetrator of domestic abuse was chosen to open a show which would later pay tribute to a victim of it. For those whose attention spans are able to stretch past the media-sponsored 24 hours, the elephant in the room was a snarling behemoth. Talks of “moving on with the show for the sake of Whitney,” mixed with the flailing of Brown’s arms (Chris, not Bobby) to usher us out of mourning, created the perfect formula for a conversation that we knew would never quite bubble up. Who would mention it? Who would run onstage, grab the mic, and scream something that was actually more important than which Kanye award would beat the other Kanye award? But interrupt an awards show for something like that? Unrealistic.

To understand why some of us can’t “get over” the Chris Brown and Rihanna affair after all these years, we need to revisit why music is important in the first place – and particularly, why music is more important than the Grammys. We must ask ourselves why Houston’s music was transcendent. It wasn’t just her voice – it was what her music meant for our generations. From “How Will I Know” to “The Greatest Love of All,” Houston led a musical narrative of caring for oneself and for how others love us. For young women, her discography was a manifesto for empowerment through enjoyment of life. For young men, she introduced us to a framework for how to love well. She even made a movie to signify all of this, and her eventual downfall served as a cautionary tale against toxic relationships. As Brown performed and later received his awards, the loudest message wasn’t in any of the lone tweets that dared to bring up 2009’s dated incident. Instead, it was written in the Grammy production schedule – that one can emerge as a harbinger of violence against women and be forgiven – nay – awarded, handed reality shows, and signed to experimental country music deals.

No matter how many singers they haphazardly stacked for the Whitney tribute, don’t ever be fooled that this year’s Grammy Awards was about remembering. Rather, it was about forgetting – for sweeping under the rug, burying in PR campaigns, and distracting with backflips and shuffling feet. This week, with Whitney’s blood still fresh in her veins and her music still ripe in our hearts, let us remember why her music displays a strength that will always conquer the weakness that leads to violence against those we love. If we don’t, there’s simply no reason to make songs like that anymore.

“Teach them well and let them lead the way.” – Whitney Houston

“TEAM FUCKING BREEZY!” – Chris Brown

so emotional.

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:55:10 -0500

so emotional.

There’s a hole in my soul.

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:51:12 -0500

There’s a hole in my soul.

"He’s a minimum, inexpensive asset. You need to look at him as a developing asset. Is he going to be..."

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:22:00 -0500

““He’s a minimum, inexpensive asset. You need to look at him as a developing asset. Is he going to be a superstar? No.””

- Warriors owner Joe Lacob on Jeremy Lin, January 2011

Speculation FAIL

WTF??

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:32:43 -0500

WTF??

// Staggering Through Stagnation // I’ve been not...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:35:26 -0500

// Staggering Through Stagnation //

I’ve been not developing my new music project BeastReality for almost a year now. I conceptualized it in March, and since then have only managed to squeeze out the skeletons of four beats, and the writing to accompany two of them. In my heart of hearts, I know I’m passionate about this – it’s not about being scared that it won’t be good enough, or that if I sat down to work on it that I wouldn’t be able to create something wonderful. It’s getting myself to sit down in the first place.

The unfortunate blessing about my particular breed of creativity is that it thrives on inspiration. I love films, and music, and amazing museum exhibits. Archived deep in my brain are countless tidbits of the world that I’ve internally recorded – mental stickynotes that perpetually reblog themselves into each other. At times, the world can be so overwhelmingly captivating that I can put down my pen for months on end and just play the audience member. During these moments of digestion, am I doing my own productivity a disservice? Are these periods in which the universe is my muse the reasons why I’m not Drake? I don’t really want to be Drake. Forget I said that. Moving on.

And then there’s life itself – family, income, love, rent, shitting, and sleeping. And chewing slowly. And remembering to breathe. And remembering to activate the extended warranties for your electronics. True, freelancing for a living affords me the freedom to own my time – to mold, twist, and spread it out however I theoretically please. But when you never have to clock in, you never can clock out. There’s no boss breathing down your neck – no job to limp home from, untie your tie after, and escape into your own world and passions beyond. Essentially, anytime I’m not working on my own creativity feels like another opportunity lost. It’s the most awesome yet daunting responsibility. It’s a life lesson I’m still trying to learn.

How meta is this?? A Kickstarter project about Kickstarters. My...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:18:19 -0500

How meta is this?? A Kickstarter project about Kickstarters.

My homie JJ Casas (the photographer responsible for my neoKato shot on my website) has launched “You Kickstarted Me,” a very fresh project where he hunts down past Kickstarter successes and extracts information about what made their campaigns work out for them. For those of you who are planning a fundraising campaign, this is behind-the-scenes GOLD!!! For everyone else, it’s an excellent chance to witness JJ’s fantastic photography chops.

More about YOU KICKSTARTED ME here.

Rick Perry vs. 2011 Executions Here’s a video I produced...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:00:05 -0500

Rick Perry vs. 2011 Executions

Here’s a video I produced back in November for Off the Wall, the National Gallery in DC’s tribute to Andy Warhol. Off the heels of Troy Davis’ execution, my hope is to bring a jarring showcase of faces and names for our nation’s capital punishment policy.

In 2011, 43 executions were carried out, with 1/3 of them occurring in Texas. Hopefully Texas Governor Rick Perry’s exit from the presidential race demonstrates that popularity for archaic policies like the death penalty are waning.

Enjoy!

L.I.T.: for you.

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:31:53 -0500

L.I.T.: for you.:

despite my goals to journal more, alas, life. in the meantime, here is something fantastic by my homie aja.

loveisthicker:

Let them tell it—I’ve never been one for choosing lovers. Kinda like I was always discovering myself with them, like I was waiting to see what I could give with no return, what I could want with no shame. If the few lovers I’ve had live to tell of my loving, let it be unregrettable…

// Manual Focus a.k.a. The Artisan Internetling // When I began...

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:25:00 -0500

// Manual Focus a.k.a. The Artisan Internetling //

When I began web consulting in 2008, it was all about the Art of Sync. With new media in its toddler years, social networks were just a moshpit of status update apparatuses. As a fledgling web guru, I had a Rube-Goldberg stylee web automation schemed perfectly.

I could take a picture with my phone,
which I’d publish on Wordpress,
which would update my Twitter feed,
which would forward to my Facebook status,
which dispersed like guppies into the Myspaces, Friendsters, ReverbNations, and other Ghosts of Internets Past. It was extremely efficient, and twice as ineffective.

Throughout the years as social networks become increasingly important to us, I’ve been as guilty of dispersing nothingness as I am of consuming it. Looking back at my online history, I feel like a digital hoarder – a compulsive uploader leaving cyber-spacejunk in an abstract ozone.

The beautiful thing about this new shared space we humans have created is its ability to simultaneous topple empires as well as showcase shitloads of kitten photos. Which side anyone falls on is beyond my jurisdiction, but at some point we must all understand the weight of intention (or non-intention).

As much as I resist this process self-indexing, I’ve begun lining up my online identities like henchmen for my digital imprint. No more tweeting for the sake of tweeting, and no more bots to automate what’s already been 90% automated. If I’m going to sit in front of this damned screen for so much of my life, I might as well do it with conviction.

Further Reading:
NPR: Where Twitter is Taking Us
Cee Lo Green “Robot Sex”

// M’kai’s World // Throughout my four years living...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:00:00 -0500

// M’kai’s World //

Throughout my four years living in Oakland, I had the distinct pleasure of living with M’kai, who was five when I first moved in. So much of my belief in the power of imagination comes from my experiences with him in the house. It’s nothing short of magical to see a person discover the vastness of the world around him, and the power within.

Since moving to New York, missing from my life has been the energy and creativity that only young people can exhibit. Watching M’kai’s coming of age was a catalyst for my own.

He’s 10 now, and is making films. Prepare to get your mind blown.

//Routine Check// I’m among those who have taken the...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:10:10 -0500

//Routine Check//

I’m among those who have taken the “oh, I don’t do new year’s resolutions” path. In my mind, it’s a high road that indicates that I’m above scheduling my life commitments around the imperialist’s gregorian calendar. In actuality, it probably speaks more to my inability to commit.

It’s incredibly difficult to avoid falling into some species of reset on January 1. It’s the one time per year when human society universally agrees that certain things can be let go, redone, or begun. Who can refuse to seize such a moment?

Take, for example, this blog – which I got a certain gusto to suddenly start updating again. It happens every January. Of course, by June it withers away until this feed becomes nothing but trippy Youtube videos and reblogs of Janelle Monáe pictures.

May it be writing more, or reading more, working out more, or mending ties with family, we as a civilization maintain the archaic 365-day cycle primarily to have a finish/start line every once in awhile. Days like this allow us the first powerful strokes after the dive, when your lungs are filled with oxygen and your eye is on the prize – before your goggles fog up, your arms melt to limpness, and you realize you’re suspended with no firm surface around you. It’s thrilling and beautiful, as long as you know you’ll have a ledge to grasp at some point.

So fuck a commitment. Hardly anyone will know whether you keep your resolutions through the year, and if you’re like me, you’ll forget about them quickly enough to avoid feeling bad. While you’re still at the ledge, push as hard and find out where you end up later.

Here’s a dope report I heard today about making and breaking habits. απολαμβάνω!

The End. I believe the world will end one day, but it...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:14:00 -0500

The End.

I believe the world will end one day, but it won’t happen in 2012. The end of the world won’t be anticipated like an album release, or a movie premiere, or the arriving flight of a long distance lover. The end of the world will be sudden, and silent, like watching a car accident from the inside. But the end of the world won’t necessarily equate to death. It could just as likely be an escape.

By the end of this year, I plan to be many things - in another country, madly in love, immersed in creation processes. One thing I don’t plan to be is done. But still, people will shake their heads to untimely weather patterns, and point human civilization’s perpetual irrations to Mayan prophecy. What better way to explain what we don’t understand than with what we don’t understand? Not to say that the cryptic end to the cosmic calendar was arbitrary. But if all my unfinished projects were one day equated to the end times – may the earth be paraded with armageddons.

Live this year like it’s your last – not out of urgency, but rather the appreciated awe that we are but a clusterfuck of molecules literally holding onto each other for dear life. Here’s to new beginnings and ancient endings.

Please do me a favor and donate to LA Sessions, a fantastic org...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:14:00 -0500

Please do me a favor and donate to LA Sessions, a fantastic org that empowers youth through music. Consider it a Christmas present to me and a birthday present to DJ Phatrick! (plus the perks are doooope)

Welcome to America (Taken with Instagram at Kingdom City...

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:55:24 -0500

Welcome to America (Taken with Instagram at Kingdom City Missouri)

WHAT. Busby Berkeley.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:02:00 -0400

WHAT. Busby Berkeley.

Japan Olympics Synchronized Swimming Team 2000

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:56:49 -0400

Japan Olympics Synchronized Swimming Team 2000

Erykah Badu’s “Out My Mind, Just In Time.” So...

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 02:41:46 -0400

Erykah Badu’s “Out My Mind, Just In Time.” So simple, beautiful, and trippy!