Loud music magically remixes your entire being in a combination of random and patterned physical gyrations and undulations.

Random Gyrations

It seems likely that the fluid and mobile parts of the body on the atomic level are governed most powerfully from the tide of blood coursing through our bodies. But [what I imagine to be] the Brownian motion of those particles within systems is probably some completely randomish pattern? Let’s just accept that as true. Why not.

Patterned Undulations

All sound is made by the shaping and pushing of air molecules by force. In music, that force is exerted on the listener in consistently spaced, rhythmic efforts. To hear the sound of music, that pressure has to reach a person’s eardrum, for example, and make it vibrate. In an environment with loud music, the force of the music coming out of instruments and [more typically] big-ass speakers is powerful enough to both vibrate our ear drums and also every other cell and atom that makes us our body. These vibrations of musical force interact, interfere, and even augment the random gyrations and heart-beat tide of cellular rhythms that our bodies normally experience.

Loud music fundamentally remixes your body while you’re experiencing it; rendering you a different person.

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One

The first time I was ever exposed to the martial art of Capoeira was in the 16-bit environment of Tekken: Eddie Gordo. Lots of spinning and up and down. I was never the Tekken champ that some of my friends were, but when I did play, I preferred to play with the other characters. Little did I know then that I would spend so much time trying to actually move like Eddie Gordo. Lot’s of spinning and up and down.

The first time I played Capoeira was in NYC 2002-ish. I was in a relationship with someone who had fallen in love with Capoeira many years before meeting me. Quite skilled and enthusiastic about Capoeira, there was actually no way our romance would have survived if I didn’t show at least some effort at becoming a Capoeirsta.

I wanted my relationship to survive, but I initially resisted Capoeira. Without knowing much about it, my immature thinking led me to believe that it was simply some dance form that didn’t deserve the title of martial art. Once my partner convinced me of its potential lethality, my immature thoughts made way for my machismo which made me willing to give Capoeira a chance. Training with Groupo Capoeira Brasil (Contra Mestre Jo) I began to learn about the origin and culture of Capoeira. Then I began to be able to see the symmetry, balance, and beauty of the movements of Capoeira (and consequently ALL dance forms). It wasn’t long before I too fell in love with it.

Always trying to connect with a world of culture that I associate with my origins, the world of Capoeira represented a promising way for me to continue to learn about what it means to be an African – as well as a way to learn how to beat someone’s ass – with style. And maybe to music. The ancestor worship, griotism, spiritualism, music, and style of Capoeira with its roots in Angolan tradition and Brasilian remixing struck a fantastically resonant chord inside of me.

At the height of my prioritization of Capoeira, I traveled to Salvador do Bahia for two weeks exclusively to train with Brasilian masters and students. I got a little sharper in the roda, and gained more of an appreciation for the historical and social meaning of being a Capoeirista.

I’m no longer in the relationship that was responsible for truly introducing me to Capoeira, but I still have a love and fascination for it. I plan to train as much as possible until my body can no longer support me, no matter where I am on Earth.

I have traveled a little bit in the northern hemisphere and everywhere I’ve been Capoeira has been a consistent element of community connection. No matter where I go, it’s pretty much guaranteed that I can find a warm and welcoming group of Capoeiristas of varied skill levels that will welcome me into their roda and smile at me as they try to kick my head.

Two

Amsterdam is no exception to this rule. Shortly after moving here and getting settled, I began to wonder where I could find the Capoeiristas. The web helped a bit, but it was word of mouth that led me to the group that best suited my style and expectations: Malungos Amsterdam. A huge bonus about this group: they offer weekly classes for children! What kind of parent would I be if I didn’t offer my child a chance to love the same things that I love? If you disagree,please keep your refined parenting-skills opinions to yourselves

Even before trying to see how my toddler Sekani would respond to a structured Capoeira class environment, I showed him some movements at home and some Youtube videos of Capoeira. (More than my own demonstration of moves it was probably the Youtube videos that got him really interested.) Regardless, he knows that Capoeira is something that his father does too. He’s into it! Like deeply into it. He constantly talks about Capoeira. Practices his moves almost everyday and is hopeful that every time we’re leaving the house, we’re going to Capoeira.

It’s great to see him so enthusiastic about something that I think is healthy and beautiful. (I’m sure this is fate setting my expectations up for a fall when he gets to that stage where he is only interested in things that I find horribly objectionable because I’m old and out of touch.) It’s made me reflect on the idea opiate of seeing the positive attributes of yourself in your children. More deeply, it makes me think about fatherhood and being a role model for my child and – inextricably – my own father and my relationship to him. Capoeira is a beautiful thing and a powerful teaching/learning tool.

Capoeira has taught me flexibility, balance, rhythm, culture, dance, and self-defense. On some levels, Capoeira is fighting. I want Sekani to know about fighting and how to do it well. As a male with brown skin on planet Earth, he’s going to have to fight in his life. I don’t want him to just know how to beat someone’s ass; I want his thinking about confrontation to be flexible and to extend beyond physical violence and to encompass ideas of rhythm, of the presence of spirits, and forces beyond what we can see and touch in the moment. This is also Capoeira and what I love.

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Recent and unplanned events have left me in my new city, Amsterdam, with some free time. It was disorienting at first since TIME has always been in short supply. Who has time? What do you even do with time? What is that exotic thing? I’m a new parent, a committed partner, and steady grinder. As soon as I moved here, I jumped right into the 9-to-5 routine and only had weekends for anything other than work. I didn’t even have time to get to know the intricacies of this old and famous capitol.

All of the sudden it was overwhelming to think that I had the whole day to myself with access to all things Amsterdam has to offer. So I made a plan.

I decided that as a designer and commercial artist in the western tradition, there was probably no better place to be. (I must note that as a designer borne of the African diaspora I endeavor to create in that tradition as well. In that sense, there are plenty of better places to be. But that’s a whole other conversation.) The history of visual art is rich and deep in Amsterdam. I became determined to allow this artistic DNA to inspire and graduate my level of artistry.

MY EXCURSIONS

There are countless museums and galleries in Amsterdam. I’m going to visit them all. On my way to and from these places, I will be using my DSLR to capture things that capture my attention. When I get to my destination, I will wander, sketch, question, take pictures (when allowed) and stare. No boundaries. This will be unstructured play.

THE TOOLS

• Hardware: Pentax K100D. Simple, but solid, sturdy, and flexible. I wish it performed a little better in lower light without a tripod (which I don’t have here in AMS).
• Hardware: iPad Mini and Stylus. It’s been great for taking written notes, photos, and sketching.
• App: Evernote: collecting the images and notes taken into private, date-organized groups. Total recall.
• App: Fifty Three’s Paper: There are few iOS apps in which I enjoy creating more than Paper.
• App: VSCOcam: adding some interesting tonal characteristics to the photos for sharing on …
• App: Instagram: where I catch myself showing off.

SO FAR

To date I’ve had three excursions and they have each been fantastic experiences for me. Those cobwebbed tidbits of undergrad art history light up as I stroll from piece to piece and place to place. I ride around on my bike with my #eyeswideopen, taking in as much as I can and never hesitating to stop and stare at something or snap a shot. I leave in the morning and come back in the afternoon with so much to archive and marinate on. The break from routine has freed up or jostled some great ideas for projects and ventures and I’m feeling quite inspired.

Sadly, this won’t be able to go on indefinitely: unless something even more magical happens, eventually I’ll have to focus more of my time on other [paying] peoples’ needs. But for the time being, I’m sketching with Gauguin, day dreaming with van Gogh, and structuring my ambitions with Mondrian.

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In preparation for spinning at Joya Mooi’s (@joyamooi) latest album release party, I put together a crop of tunes that have been inspiring my moments at the time.

1. Can’t Be the Way – Heavy – heardandfelt.com/track/cant-be-the-way

2. Bank Head (Extended) – Kelela (@kelelam) – Fadetomind – Kelela-bank-head-extended-prod

3. Oblivion – The Seshen (@theseshen) – theseshen.bandcamp.com/track/oblivion

4. ** Clip: bell hooks dropping science www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OmgqXao1ng **

5. Matt’s Apartment – The Internet (@internet-band) – Internet-band – Matts-apartment

6. Come Thru (James Black remix) – Drake (@octobersveryown) – Octobersveryown – Drake-come-thru-james-blake

7. That Girl Part II – Ikaz – giantstepnyc.bandcamp.com/album/sonic-boom-vol-3

8. S F T B Dub – Shi Wisdom (@shi-wisdom-music) – shiwisdommusic.bandcamp.com

9. Numbers and Steel – Electric Wire Hustle (@electricwirehustle) – Electricwirehustle – Numbers-and-steel

10. Treat Me Like Fire – Lion Babe (@lionbabe) – Lionbabe – Treat-me-like-fire

11. Something About Those Days – Wildcookie – Tru-thoughts – Wildcookie-something-about

12. I Stand Alone – Robert Glasper Experiment (@robertglasper) –www.robertglasper.com

13. Lotus and the Jondy – Thundercat – Brainfeeder – Thundercat-lotus-and-the-jondy

14. ** Clip: Amari Cheatom in Newlyweeds (www.facebook.com/Newlyweeds) **

15. Perfect Stranger – Seravince feat. Renee Neufville (@seravince) – Seravince – Seravince-perfect-stranger

16. Pieces – The Seshen (@theseshen) – theseshen.bandcamp.com/track/pieces

17. Levitate – GTA Hoffmann – Jazzandmilk – Levitate

18. Dontcha – The Internet (@internet-band) – Internet-band – Dontcha

19. I’ll Always Be In Your Heart – Blum – heardandfelt.com/track/ill-always-be-in-your-heart

20. Spacebound – Adham Zahran – Neovinyl-recordings – Adham-zahran-spacebound

21. Say That – Toro y Moi (@toroymoi) – Toroymoi – Say-that

22. From An Other World – Boddhi Satva feat. Vikter Duplaix – Bbemusic – From-an-other-world-feat

23. Stop Black Magie (Koro’s Tantric Soul Mix) – Boddhi Satva –www.beatport.com/track/stop-black…soul-mix/3317978

24. The Language (D-Malice Afro Expression) – D-Malice (@d-malice) / Drake – D-malice – Drake-the-language-d-malice

25. Airglow Fires – Lone (@lone-1) – Lone-1 – Lone-airglow-fires

26. Cira, Regina e Nana (M. Takara 3 remix) – Lucas Santtana –maisumdiscos.bandcamp.com/track/cira-r…kara-3-remix

27. Coming Back to Me – Magic Number – www.traxsource.com/title/248284/co…back-to-me-pt-1

28. Udlalile Ngami – Original Mix – DJ Fale, Thantaswa –www.beatport.com/track/udlalile-n…inal-mix/4796270

29. Overshadowed (Jullian Gomes Perspective) – Atjazz feat. Jullian Gomes – Atjazz – A1-overshadowed-jullian-gomes

30. Be (Atjazz & Jullian Gomes Remix) – Zaki Ibrahim, Kid Fonque & DJ Whisky –Atjazz – Be-atjazz-jullian-gomes-remix

31. No Contest – Culoe De Song (@prostevey) – Prostevey – Culoe-de-song-no-contest

32. Bitch Dont Kill My Vibe (DM & PM AfroDose) – Kendrick Lamar Feat Emeli Sandé –D-malice – Kendrick-lamar-bitch-dont-kill

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We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.

~ Nikki Giovani

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Ten years ago I read a story, “Food of Paradise,” about a person who was trying to find ultimate truth. What a notion! An ancient notion: the story was written in the 12th century. (I don’t know many of us who are currently questing for such things in the 21st century.) I loved the story and always wanted to tell it to others, but I could never get the details consistently correct to the degree that re-telling the story would be consistently entertaining.

I decided to commit myself to memorizing the story verbatim, but it was so long that proved difficult. Guessing that I’m more of an auditory learner (given my passion for music) and a thorough hip hop head, I thought it would be strategic to re-create the story in rhyme and then memorize that. I set about the task and ended up having a great time re-writing this tale. The original story was 1,934 words; my re-created version is 6,604 words! So much for making it easier to memorize (even given the rhyming verses).

Although my original goal of rendering the story easier to memorize wasn’t achieved, in the process of trying I created a literary work that I’m really proud of. It’s a great story with interesting twists and turns and a surprise ending. It’s also a whole chunk of data that I can now use as a basis for all kinds of interesting web projects!

The Food of jQuery and BookBlock

Originally this story seemed perfect for a website with a parallax scrolling effect. The parallax scrolling approach is great for narratives, among other things. There are plenty of resources online that explore really great parallax websites and even some tutorials that take you through the steps to create one. JavaScript is at the heart of the parallax design approach: changing presentational styles based on scrolling position/activity. There are even many JavaScript libraries out there devoted to executing parallax. The one that interested me most was the Super Scrollorama plugin, but that ended up being too much of a handful for what I wanted as a first stage of using The Food of Paradise on the web.

When I’m looking for inspiration and great uses of code, I often check out CoDrops. Recently I saw a tutorial they posted exploring the use of the BookBlock jQuery plugin to make a Fullscreen Pageflip Layout. It was the perfect starting point for The Food of Paradise. I went through the tutorial, built my own local version, applied my own styling and tweaked some code and settings, and voila:

TheFoodofParadise.com

The site uses cool things like Border-boxgoo and Modernizr to achieve an accessible, degrading, page-flipping bonanza of good, rhymed reading.

[UPDATE March 4, 2013: I created a Github repo of this project in case others find it inspirational as well, or in case people find ways to help make my iteration even better.]

I am looking forward to the ways I will be able to freak and tweak this body of work to thrive on the web in ways beyond the static literary read for which I originally conceived the story.

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Less short but still short version:

One of the many great things about being a DJ is that you get to create a new name for yourself. Whenever you want! Of course, if you ever achieve any name recognition you are essentially throwing that out the window, but a dramatic shift in identity is not only a right and an option, but also a great thrill!

It looks like these thoughts will ramble on, so instead of trying to make the space and time to write it down all at once, instead I’d break it down in small pieces. Some of the things that I endeavor to touch on include:

• reflecting myself (personality, strengths, and flaws) in the expression of my name.
• Changing my DJ name after 21 years; does a new name make for a person?
• grappling with how the world identifies you vs. the way you identify yourself.
• letting go and taking risks.
• the truth that in the end of it all, ego gets ya.
• society’s preoccupation with static self-identification (how easy is it to change your name?)
• social media and online presence as tied to unhealthy identity and conceptions of self.
• the realities and implications of the web as a utility-like resource for the connected individual.
• the historical struggle around Gender Identity as a platform for exploration (and vocabulary) of notions of self.
• My experience grappling with identity in preparation for having a child (name research, name picking, feelings of ownership over individuals).

Quite a list. I hope I get to it all and manage some insightful writing. My experience of Fatherhood so far has been the catalyst for these thoughts and this writing.

Reflecting myself in the expression of my name.

What’s In a Name?

I was named by my Mother and Father; they gave me a name in the Arabic language – actually two names, my fist and middle names. Both my names are very meaningful to me: my first name is more of a title of leadership than a proper name, while my middle name is an attribute anyone would want associated with themselves. And it turns out that these names have effected the path of my life in no uncertain way.

Growing up in the United States and having an Arabic name has meant having to explain and correct its pronunciations ad infinitum. Occasionally it’s been embarrassing; like when cuties I was already nervous to approach would force me to repeat my name so many times and still not get it right. Converversely, quite often it’s been an occasion to be defiant, proud, and unapologetic; like when I get to loudly correct someone who has loudly and rudely mispronounced my name (high school teachers, I’m lookin at you). Beyond that I honestly try to embody and infuse the definitions of my name(s) into my actual personality every single day. There hasn’t been a day yet where I’ve been completely successful, but it’s a virtuous routine that I believe will be with me forever.

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Because I’m interested in the development of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, I’m a regular listener of the Shop Talk Show podcast, hosted by CSS-Trick’s Chris Coyer and Paravel developer Dave Rupert. These guys are down to earth, speak in English I can understand, and bother breaking stuff down.

The format of the show involves a short news/ [hot]drama section, guests, and listener-submitted questions answered by the hosts. One of the projects on my horizon is the Sass-ification of an existing large scale website. In other words, I manage a big ol website built on a handful of templates all styled by a single massive CSS file. As an exercise in Sass, Compass, and Scalable and Modular Architecture in CSS, I’m looking to re-create and organize the website’s CSS file. Fun!

I had a fleeting thought that I should ask the Shop Talk Show guys how best to approach this kind of large-scale project. So, as [another] exercise in executing the decent ideas that cross my mind, I went ahead and recorded the question and sent it to the Shop Talk Show. Hopefully they’ll play it and answer the question!

Before I recorded anything, I drafted a super long version of my question and then cut it down to something more reasonable. Here’s my first version of the question:

“Live from the planet of Brooklyn, this is Qa’id and I have a question about sissifying – if you will – an already existing biggish site. This might be a bit redundant considering the recent episode with Harry Roberts, but I think it covers some new ground.

For one of my projects I’ve inherited a Drupal 5 site built in 2008 with a heavily and cryptically customized theme featuring lots of browser compatibility hacks. There is one traditional style sheet that governs all presentation on the site and it’s 1200 lines of sorta disorganized code when compacted.

(Did I mention that I’m a WordPress developer by preference? You can imagine how much I’ve loved holding up this aging install).

Over the years I’ve made small improvements here and there like replacing background images with CSS, optimizing then re-uploading all the images, and implementing a CDN and minifying to files pulled in http requests in order to reduce load times. All the while I’ve been campaigning for a redesign and a migration to WordPress which is finally coming to fruition some time in the next year.

In the mean time I’ve been studying and implementing Sass when writing code for my other, smaller scale projects and getting comfortable with with the tool set of Coda, CodeKit, and Git repos using SourceTree. As my final hurah for that old version of our website I’m determined to completely rewrite the site’s css using Sass and Compass. Not only will it be a great exercise for me, but will ostensibly further optimize and organize the code of the site making it more accessible and a better resource.

The advice I’m seeking from you guys is how do you think I should approach this RE-organization feat?

• Do I scour the CSS looking for repeated declarations and styles and create variables based on what I find?
• Should I use CSS Lint as my first diagnostic step?
• How about CSS Comb – is it going to be useful to use on a set of code that probably won’t live to see too many more months or edits by anyone other than me?
• It seems to make sense to split this big ol chunk of CSS  into separate includes (right term?) that Sass can then compile, but what criteria should i use to determine the organization and separation of that single style sheet? How do I modul-ize it?
• Any other wisdom I can glean in order to get the most erudition and fun out of this task?

This was a long question and I appreciate you taking the time to listen. Your insight into any one or all of these quandaries is much appreciated in advance. Live from the planet of Brooklyn, Qa’id out.”

Cheesy – I know – and long! So I cut it down to this:

“Hey folks – this is Qa’id and I have a question about SASS-ifying – if you will – an already existing biggish site. This might be a bit redundant considering the recent episode with Harry Roberts, but I think it covers some new ground. 

For one of my projects I’ve inherited a Drupal 5 site built in 2008 with a heavily and criptically customized theme featuring lots of browser compatibility hacks. There is one traditional style sheet that governs all presentation on the site and it’s 1200 lines of sorta disorganized code when compacted. 

In the meantime I’ve been campaigning for a redesign and a migration to WordPress which is finally coming to fruition some time in the next year. As my final hurah for that old version of our website I’m determined to completely rewrite the site’s css using Sass and Compass. Not only will it be a great exercise for me, but will ostensibly further optimize and organize the code of the site making it more accessible and a better resource.

 The advice I’m seeking from you guys is how do you think I should approach this RE-organization feat? 

Would it be sensible to use CSS Lint as my first diagnostic step?

How about CSS Comb – is it going to be useful to use on a set of code that probably won’t live to see too many more months or edits by anyone other than me?

I gave Snook’s SMACCS a read, but honestly found it a little obscure upon first read – is there an easier way to understand how I can “modularize” the existing css code?

Should I start a Kickstarter and record my process in order to achieve wealth and fame? Just kidding there, but any other wisdom you can offer in order that I might get the most erudition and fun out of this task would be super appreciated.

 Live from the Planet of Brooklyn, Qa’id out.”

And here’s the audio I recorded:

We’ll see what happens.

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