Meet The Twin Andre Ben

I'll embed it later:
http://pdl.stream.aol.com/newline/gl/newline/trailers/semipro/SemiPro_DomTr1_High_dl.mov

Can I Getta Encore?

Here's the news and for no reason at all, here's the encore:

Merry Christmas And Happy New Year!!!

Happy Holidays!

Bruce Wayne Of The Game, Have No Fear

Heath Ledger was an interesting choice but this looks good:

Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum

I don't remember how I stumbled upon this video a few months ago but it's pretty cool and I've got a story to go along with it. Back in April I went to Japan for 2 weeks with Lauren, Max and Wendy. On our first evening in Kyoto, we noticed a crowd around one of the entrances to a rail station. We went to check it out and found this little boy playing drums like a mad man. As you can tell from the video, he was really good. Too bad the camera guy didn't pan across the audience to film the crowd's reactions because I think I was standing just behind and to the left of him.

Head Over Heels

This kid is sick:

Come On Chemicals!

Since last Friday, Pitchfork has been posting their year end lists. While they haven't dropped their songs and albums of year lists yet, they've got some good stuff up there. If you have 20 minutes or more to kill, take a look at their Top 50 Music Videos list. I haven't gotten around to watching all the videos but at first glance, I'd have to agree with several of their selections. I would have liked to have seen some commentary accompanying the videos but I guess they're saving all the witty batter and music snobbery for the songs and albums. I'm a little disappointed that Kid Sister didn't get any love but I'm hoping that the video was just released too late for consideration. I'm also putting money down that there was a one video per artist limit, or else Kanye would have had at least two more videos on the list. Anyway, definitely check out he videos by Bat For Lashes, Dizzee, Dude 'N Nem, Feist, Jay-Z (Speech!), Justice, LCD (one of my favorite songs of 2007), rjd2, Robyn, Snoop (possibly his best video since Doggy Dogg World), Spoon, UGK (video of the year!!!) and Kanye, to name a few. Oh yeah, and don't forget about Of Montreal.

Wallpaper For The Soul

This is a pretty crazy story. I think it's cool how the building owners are treating the wall as a valuable piece of art and history. It wasn't long ago that something like this wouldn't have been the slightest bit important. And I don't know what's more amazing, the fact that the wall wasn't painted over in the first place or that the developers realized the wall was important enough to halt construction.

Get Your Mind Right

In the past few weeks, I've discovered, learned and confirmed some things:

- Sometimes it's creepy when people are too honest.
- Eating IHOP two days in a row is a recipe for disaster.
- I'm not very good at picking gifts for people.
- The worst part about going in to work on Saturdays is not being able to sleep in.
- The second worst part about going to work on Saturdays is getting home at 10:45pm.
- I purchase more DVDs than I have time to watch.
- Tire blow outs on the freeway don't always end in uncontrollable skidding or fiery crashes.
- From time to time, my house gets cold enough for me to see my breath.
- NSFW is very relative.
- I drive fast through the city.
- The 49ers aren't good at all.

Word.

Free Pimp C!

Underground Kingz is one of my favorite rap albums of 2007. With Pimp C out of prison and done with the solo thing, UGK put together a damn good double album. Unfortunately, Bun B will be on his own again... R.I.P. Pimp C.

Did You See They Way She Got Her Toes Did?

Get That Ice Cream

Head down to the "grand opening" of Little Tokyo in the Richmond District. The food's decent (giant rolls!) and they give you free ice cream after the meal. There's always room for ice cream.

Y'all Hear That Nolia Clap!

Once again I found another good link from a Fatlace blogger. Maybe it's because I'm tired but I could not stop laughing at this:




I'm even laughing now... still...

What Can I Get For 10$?

This year I avoided the crowds by doing some pointless Black Friday shopping online. I was going to get a few things from bestbuy.com but when I was checking out, I noticed they charge for tax and shipping. While debating whether or not paying $15 was worth avoiding "Jingle All the Way"-like madness (see below) at the store, I decided to see what amazon had to offer. I've said it before and I'll probably say it again: amazon rules. I don't think they had the crazy limited number half-off sales on laptops and expensive stuff like Best Buy, but they matched the prices for most of the DVDs, CDs and other small items that I was seeing in ads. I ended up getting a large handul of DVDs, a bike helmet and some Christmas gifts.

Oh, I also signed up for Amazon Prime. Part of me realizes that was probably a bad idea because now I'll be inclined to spend a lot of money online. Knowing the way I buy things, I could be on a slow path of needlessly whittling away at my savings. Really, I guess I should have signed up for it a while ago though. My absolute least favorite aspect about buying stuff online is waiting for it to get here, especially because most shipping companies and online stores don't feel the need to keep tracking records up to date and the delivery estimates are usually wrong anyway. What's up with that?

Without further ado:

P.S. I've never actually seen "Jingle All The Way" but after watching the highlight reel and seeing the Governor punch a reindeer in the mouth, I might have to get someone with Netflix to rent it for me. Put that cookie down! Now!!!

This Ain't Fantasy Island

Adidas is dropping 20 different "remixes" of Gilbert Arenas' signature shoe. As if I didn't think Gil was crazy and awesome enough, they're using these GilTV videos to promote the kicks. Most of the shoes looks pretty awful but at least we get to see Gilberto interact with some guy in lobster outfit. Watch Glbert's "Hibachi" episode to get some cooking tips and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Thermos Full of Wild Turkey

On Saturday, we had our annual Turkey Extravaganza. We had a smaller group this year but there were still good times all around. We had two deep fried turkeys, mashed potatoes (minus the gravy), chicken stuffing casserole, salad, bean salad, rolls, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, Cranberries a la Jamie, cider, beer, egg nog, pear upside down cake, pumpkin pie, ice cream and maybe some other stuff that I can't remember right now.

Unfortunately, I forgot to grab pics of the full spread but here's juicy photo of the first bird frying:


On Sunday, Thomas, Maksim and I threw the turkey carcasses in a pot and got our stew on:


Next time, I'll have to take more pictures of people eating too. Those are always funny.

No Joke

KRINK markers are dope.

I'm So Hood

First off, the song isn't that great. Actually, it's probably one of the worst posse cuts that is associated with DJ Khaled. Jeezy, Ludacris, Busta and Big Boi completely tear it up but everyone else stunk up the joint. I'm just posting this because the video is chock full of unintentional comedy. Mainly, it's hilarious to see Khaled jumping around and waving his arms. I thought he was ridiculous before (because I still don't know what he does other than getting a bunch of famous rappers to appear on songs together. He only produced two or three songs on each of his own albums and he's a DJ! What does this guy do?) but after seeing him posing and yelling in this video, I can't help but be reminded of a chubby 8 year old trying to act cool. It's hilarious.

When The Lights Go Down In The City

Thomas and I took a ride out to the ocean on Sunday. I haven't bothered pulling the pictures off my camera yet, so here are a few of Thomas':

Cliff House


Before the road turned into a muddy, gravely path that forced us to walk


We met up with Max and Evgeny who found a cool spot with a good view of the bridge

I Believe In Miracles

My friend over at alanstanwyck posted a link about this baller status hot chocolate. Damn, putting gold in your food... Really? How nuts do you have to be to drop that kind of money on a dessert? But it did in fact remind me of my dream to one day make my dookie twinkle. I thought you knew:

Speeech!

Last night, Esquire's 2nd Best Dressed Man in the World and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient was on Letterman. He walked on stage to a dope live band version of the Izzo instrumental, talked about American Gangster and his short-lived retirement, cracked a few well-timed jokes and performed Roc Boys. Check on it:

Thanks to Kanye and his crazy blog skills for the link.

Is Your Game MVP Like Steve Nash?

Crazy Crazy Wonderful

HIMYM has been on fire this season. Case in point:

A similar approach can give you the Hot/Annoying Scale, the Hot/Dumb Scale and the Cool/Not-So-Hot Scale. Use them at your leisure.

Heart Of The City

I pulled this pic from Fatlace blogger J. Martinez. It's sick, no?

Keep It In The Pack

From the guys that brought you Vans:

This video is pretty great.

No Surprises...

I have never been the biggest Radiohead fan. Don't get me wrong, I think they have made some great albums and great songs, but my interest in them never lasts too long. That being said the deal with their latest album is beyond interesting. As you probably already know, they are letting their fans buy the album off the Internet for whatever price they feel like paying, even zero dollars. Apparently, the album has already gone platinum and approximately 33% chose to download it for free (according to a poll conducted on 3,000 buyers). Hopefully, the record industry (and CD manufacturers) take notice. I'm not saying that this is the solution to all the RIAA's problems, but it will take some experimentation and risk if the record companies want to increase sales. As for me, I haven't purchased the album yet. I've read good things about it but I just haven't bought it yet. And yes, I will buy it if I decide to acquire it, to support the band and the idea if nothing else. In the meantime, I feel like listening to this song:

I'm A Bathing Ape Fanatic, Red Monkey Junky

Condé Nast Portfolio did a pretty interesting profile on Nigo and A Bathing Ape. The article focused on the business side of things, as was to be expected, but it also touched on Nigo and his relationship with the Japanese fashion industry. I knew Nigo was a huge nerd and a recluse but I didn't realize people in the industry thought so negatively of him. Even Hiroshi Fujiwara, the man responsible for the name "Nigo" was accusing him of falling off. I wonder if this will stir up streetwear beef because of Fujiwara's words. (I'm definitely joking but Nigo and HF are the Biggie and Pac of Japanese streetwear fashion. Well, based on their longevity, maybe Nas and Jay-Z are a better example...)

It would have been nice to get a fresh look at the Bape phenomenom (sure, it initially gained popularity through word of mouth but I still wonder exactly how/why that worked out so well) but I guess that story's been told before. I just think it's crazy how Nigo has been able to keep the exclusive feel around his company when it has clearly grown into a well-known brand. I guess he had a vision, something he focused on from day one and that has allowed him to keep people interested in what he has to offer. I just think what he has been able to create and achieve is incredible.

Lastly, I found it amazing how a company that's worth upwards of a billion dollars is supposedly on the verge of selling out. You know your company's big time when "selling out" means opening more international stores. Damn...

Read it.

All Aboard! Or, Are All Y'all Bored?

Japanese artists Paramodel use toy rail tracks in their work. It's pretty amazing stuff. If you want to look at more pictures and read about Paramodel, online magazine PingMag did an interview with them here.

I Got Connected Like Tetris

I've been trying to keep this thing going but sometimes it's difficult. I was thinking of splitting this stuff up into a few different posts but it doesn't matter. Here's some stuff you can check out if you like:

The Arcade Fire did an interesting little interactive video for Neon Bible. It's kind of creepy looking at Win Butler's face for the entire song, but it's worth a couple viewings to see what kind of things you can do.

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If you're like me, you love How I Met Your Mother. Barney's always talking about his blog and it actually does exist. And yes, it's awesome. So is this.

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People can be so creative sometimes...


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I'm interested in trying out this movement called Five Sentences. I'm not sure it applies to the use of email in my social life, but I definitely want to try it out at work.

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I'm Sorry For The Fact That I Did Not Know

Last weekend I went to see Transformers in IMAX. The movie didn't start on time because the projector guy was busy doing something that made him out of breath. It was pretty hilarious. My roommate got some video:

The movie was supposed to start at 4:30:00 pm. At 4:30:42 pm, a crazy white trash lady turned around and screamed, "COME ON!!" to the projector room. She did it again at 4:44:00 pm and stormed out of the theater about 10 minutes later but that's beside the point. Who yells at the movie when it starts a minute late??? I wish we had video. That lady was nuts.

After This Flow You Might Owe Me A Favor

This is old but you should watch the ALife Sessions. Just Blaze and John Mayer jam.

Alicia Keys Tried To Talk Some Sense In Him

SNL:

I Didn't Know He Like That

This is much better than the Kingdom Come artwork so if it is indeed the official cover, they did a good job.

I Just Keep On Pedalin'

It's "Chicago Rappers' Black & White Videos Day" here at I Told You So...

Yes. The Cool Kids have a video. Still waiting on the album...


Watch Lupe the Killer use his hands. A lot.

You Should Be Honored By My Lateness

I love watching people make beats.

From Kanye's Blog.

Gotta Be In It To Win It

Arsenal have gotten off to a great start this season. I thought Fabregas' go-ahead goal on Saturday was going to be the best of the weekend until Adebayor absolutely crushed a volley at the end of the game. That one could be the goal of the year.

NOTE: Youtube pulled the last video I embedded. This video only has Adebayor's goal instead of highlighting all of them.

And I Love It

Today, I rode out to Japantown to hit up Super 7 and the Fatlace store. I stopped by the Nijiya Market to pick up some Pocky and to my surprise they had some Kirin milk tea in stock. Last time I was looking for that stuff one of the clerks said they don't get it that often because the milk can go bad. This was the last bottle on the shelf. I hope it wasn't sitting there for a long time.

I Go For Mine

All I gotta say is...

Your Loving Makes Me Crazy

Kala is pretty great. This is one of my favorite songs right now. The video is kind of bizarre but I would expect nothing less from Ms. Maya.

Hate It Or Love It...

Part of me agrees with what this guy is saying but another, smarter part of me realizes that the record industry isn't changing a thing just because 50 and 'Ye flop. It doesn't matter though, because they're going to sell a lot this week anyway.



I could go on and on about this stuff but I'll leave you with this: I'll gladly buy overpriced albums and deal with a stubborn, out-dated industry if the future of music is subscription-based services.

People Are People So Why Should It Be

Very creative and really well-executed:
http://www.little-people.blogspot.com/

And We'll Run For Our Lives

Today I felt like doing a 10K so I went for a long run after work. I was just estimating the distance as I was going and I ended up about 1.5km short. I averaged under 8.5 minute miles which isn't too horrible considering I haven't been training or anything. I didn't feel great but I wasn't dragging my feet either. Next time I'll just run longer and faster.

We're The Chipmunks, Guaranteed To Brighten Your Day

I went camping with some friends at Lake Tahoe this weekend. This chipmunk was bumming around our campsite, trying to get our food, so we tried to catch it. We put a peanut under the box and caught that little guy on our first try. It bounced around inside the box for a few seconds until the box popped up and it ran away. It came back and we tried to catch it a few more times but we couldn't do it. On one hand, that chipmunk was pretty dumb to coming back to our trap, but on the other hand, it got a ton of free peanuts and we ended up with nothing.

He Is I And I Am Him

Just cracked opened Season 3 of The Office. Man, I forgot how good it is. I haven't gotten to this episode in the DVDs yet, but the picture of Jim as Dwight on the packaging made me want to watch the scene. "Want to get t-together later and have sexual intercourse because you're my girlfriend?"

I'm really looking forward to the new season. I'm not going to lie, I mainly want to see how the Jim and Pam saga plays out. I need a life.

The Impression That I Get

I acquired a leak of Kanye's Graduation. My first impression is that it's really solid and definitely enjoyable. It's doesn't have any huge stand outs, aside from "Stronger" and "Good Life" but the songs fit together as an album really well. I don't know if it can match the highs of The College Dropout but it's more consistent front to back and it doesn't get bogged down with pointless skits. The only dud is "Drunk and Hot Girls", which is probably the single worst song 'Ye has ever been involved in. He's done some real junk in the past but this one takes the cake. It's also further evidence that Mos Def is close to irrelevent when it comes to music (Has anyone else ever made me jump from "forget movies, stick to rapping" to "please, please put down the mic and focus on acting" so fast? I doubt it.) Anyway, back to Graduation... It's growing on me with each listen. Even though I have the leak, I still can't wait to buy the official release. You should buy it too. You won't be disappointed. Go 'n' get ya some.

P.S. I'm waiting on the remix of "Big Brother" featuring Jay-Z. They have to trade lines on that song. It'd be legendary.

Now I Want You To Save Me Again

I took the day off on Friday. It was the first day off I'd had since Japan and it was much needed. I spent the day bouncing around the city (Japan Town, Haight St., Golden Gate Park, Noe Valley, Russian Hill), with the highlight being eating my favorite white pistachio ice cream from Mitchell's. And the weather was great too.

Step Ya Game Up

I actually got home from work at a decent hour today so I killed some time reading blogs, like I do. I discovered something pretty cool (via a Fatlacer's blog). Check it out:


Check out the website and the Yahoo love:

Not that we've been able to play recently, but this makes me want to take Officeball to the next level...

Burnin' Up

Last night I checked Pitchfork's Forkcast for the first time in a while. Man, it has been on fire lately. Here's a sample. It's like an indie rock version of one of those rap songs that feature every rapper imaginable, only instead of trading verses, they all hand clap and sing at the same time.

Dear Mr. Toilet

This may sound weird but toilets are pretty important to me, particularly the flushing ability of toilets. Think about it, a poor flusher can range from being a minor, harmless threat to being a huge inconvenience. In the wrong situation, it can cause massive embarrassment. This usually isn't a problem for me (seriously, I don't clog toilets often but I'm mildly concerned about it when using an unfamiliar toilet or one that I know is sub-standard). My main problem is that I hate having to clear OPP (other people's poops). I'll stop there...

When I think of the best things about my old loft, my toilet is near the top of the list, right next to my awesome shower and my garage parking spot. (People all over San Francisco complain about parking but who really complains about toilets? Am I the only one? Maybe I'm just the only one willing to admit it.) When I think of the worst things about where I currently live, the upstairs toilet tops the list, all by itself. It had a weak flush when we moved in and it's gotten worse and worse each week. About a week ago, it pretty much stopped working entirely. We finally got around to calling our landlord this week and yesterday, the fix-it guy came to take a look at it. Apparently, he pulled a tampon out of there, which could have come from previous tenants or from some female visitor we've had over, but it still doesn't flush right. Today, he was supposed to replace the whole thing so hopefully when I get home I can use a toilet that has the power to clear urine.

Yeah, this entire post, this whole bizarre rant was just to let you folks know that we're getting a new toilet.

By the way, we're not getting a squatty potty, despite evidence of numerous health benefits, in addition to being more sanitary than conventional American toilets. I just wanted to show a picture of one.

The Record Company's Gonna Give Me Lots of Money

"If nothing else, this album is a reminder that it's not the bands that sell out, it's the business. "

That sentence was a great closing line to this review, which is more of a critique of the record industry than a review of This Is Next. The 0.0 score probably reflects the same sentiment.

I Can't Wait, No Can't Wait...

Superbad was so good I almost forgot about this:

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night

A while ago my sunglasses broke and I've been in the market for a new pair ever since. I've been trying on different glasses for about a month now. (No exaggeration. Before this weekend, I'd been to Union Square four weekends straight for various reasons and every single time, I've looked for a new set.) I have always had a hard time finding sunglasses that fit my face and so far these are the only ones I really like. The problem? They're Gucci. I originally wanted to spend less than $125 but now I'm considering paying a lot, lot more. I don't know... But it may be worth it, just so I don't have to drive to work wearing sunglasses that have only one arm.

It's A Done Deal

Beckham got his first goal for the Galaxy yesterday. He assisted Landon Donovan's goal too.

I Had To Bring The Hog Out

I've been trying to cook more lately. Yesterday, I made some spare ribs with a citrus glaze. I used a recipe online as an outline but I had to switch up some of the ingredients because I didn't have everything in stock. They came out pretty good actually. The meat was nice and tender (fallin' off the bone!) but the sauce was too sweet. It tasted a lot like lemon chicken sauce or orange chicken sauce without the spicy. I probably shouldn't have poured the rest of the sauce on the ribs after they were done grilling... Maybe that was the problem. Anyway, I think I did a good job for my first crack at ribs with homemade sauce but they definitely could have been better.

Move That Behind Like Clockwork

Some of you readers (yeah, all five of you...) have been asking about the Uniqlock. It's a promotion for Uniqlo, which is the Japanese version of Gap, if it were trendier and of a higher quality. Specifically, I think they're pushing their new dry polos. My friend picked one up for me from the US flagship store in SoHo and it's a really nice shirt. Anyway, I know the Uniqlock is a little annoying but I'm trying to win a limited edition G-Shock x Uniqlo watch. They're giving away one watch everyday for 60 days to people who post the qlock. We're 36 days into the giveaway and so far I'm a big loser. Oh well, I didn't expect to win anyway. It was just too easy to enter this contest because I didn't have to write down a mailing address or give away my phone number. So bear with the bizarre, mildly annoying music for the time being. At least you get to see cute Japanese girls do weird dances. And every hour a famous dance duo does some crazy pop'n'lock routine. If you're ever reading near the bottom of the hour, you should stick around a few more minutes to check it out.

Always Fine Tuning Everything

Today, a few of us went out the Nihonmachi Festival in Japantown. I used the opportunity to check out the Fatlace store again. It's a pretty awesome shop because it's clean and simple, and it reminds me of some of the streetwear stores in Tokyo. But more importantly, both times I've been there (today and on the store's opening day a few weeks back) I had good experiences. Yeah, I know that's a weird thing to say about a small clothing shop but it's pretty refreshing when the customer service is noticeably good. Maybe I'm getting older and pickier, or maybe I'm just sick of going into stores that have employees who think they're too cool for school. They're the people who ignore me because I don't fit the "profile" and so they can check out the latest Youtube video or send text messages to their friends. At Fatlace, Ronnie and Victoria were helpful in answering my questions and showing me the latest goods without trying to get me to buy every last thing. After a quick chat, I ended up getting a pretty sweet shirt for my brother.

Oh, and while it's nothing special, the gift wrapping was definitely a nice touch.

Please Be Kiiind...

It's finally here.

You Know What It Is

If this were a movie...

Touch The Sky Now And Then...

Holy crap.

Since Prince Was On Apollonia

Pushed back to Sept. 11th? Not cool. A song called "Drunk and Hot Girls"? Pretty awesome. More cover art by Murakami? Even better.

Hurray, Hurray

Listen to this song. I think it's pretty awesome. I like it better than their last one, which was good but not great. The album comes out August 21st.

... Like a Pele Soccer Ball, Kick 'Em All, Drop 'Em In The Bay Say...

Hot damn...

Back, Back, Forth & Forth

Last month's Critical Mass ride took us down the most famous curvy street in the world as a part of the 15-20 mile bike tour of the city. If you look closely, you'll notice a few fixie riders walking down the street.

You Make My Heart Sing

Great book. Solid cast. Good writers and director. I can't wait.

Can I Have It Like That?

I know I'm not the first one to post it on a blog but the Sprint Ahead ad campaign is awesome. It's probably one of my favorites in recent memory, right up there with the Impossible Is Nothing commercials from Adidas, HP's Personal Again series and Nike's Joga Bonito ads from the last World Cup. There's something about creative advertising that makes me want to buy whatever they're selling. Take a look:

Sprint Ahead


Impossible Is Nothing


Personal Again


Joga Bonito

It's Gotta Be My Swag

As far back as I can remember, I've been picking up free magazines, catalogs and brochures from different shops I visit. They make for good, quick reads and are often of a quality you wouldn't expect in a free product. Usually, the magazines have at least a couple interesting articles; stuff that's specific to a particular subculture or region that I can't find in regular magazines. The brochures and catalogs that showcase new product lines/bands/artists are pretty interesting too, sometimes for design reasons if not for content. My problem is that if I don't throw them away within the first couple weeks, I'll probably keep them for years. I'll go back and look at them every once and while but they're hardly something I need keep.

Big Watch and a Pair of Bapestas

Tim Blanks from men.style.com toured Japan and made a few videos about different clothing stores in Tokyo. Here's the one about Bapexclusive, which is definitely one of the coolest stores I have ever visited. I went to a couple Bape shops in Tokyo and this one was clearly where it's at.

Also, Kanye West filmed a few scenes for "Stronger" inside the store so it must be cool, right?

But In The Morning...

This morning was interesting. It started out like a normal Tuesday. I woke up groggy and got ready for work as usual. I was actually a little ahead of schedule until I walked out to my car. Walking up to the spot where I parked it last night, I noticed some people milling about and a tow truck backing up to a BMW. Oh crap, it wasn't there. I must have gotten towed. I asked the guy if he towed my car and he said he didn't but I could call the number on the side of the truck if I wanted.

While I was waiting on the phone, I talked to the landlord of the complex we were in front of and the painters working in the area. They said there wasn't a car parked in that spot all morning. The tow truck driver said he hadn't towed any cars from the area at all. I wasn't panicking but I definitely wondered if my car had been jacked.

So I was on hold with the towing company, asking the landlord about the "No Parking" signs (they weren't there when I parked last night, I swear) and talking to the painters about whether or not they saw a car there earlier, when a DPT metermaid drove up. I told her that I thought my car had gotten towed and she told me that no one had been towed from that spot today. She said she'd look into it though and asked me for my license plate number. I was about to go home and get the number (I haven't memorized it yet) when she asked me if I was sure I parked there. I was pretty damn sure but I glanced around anyway, trying not to second guess myself. A half a block down the street, at a similar corner, I saw my Acura sitting there waiting for me. Damn.

Man, I'm a moron. Good thing I didn't make an ass of myself by freaking out or yelling at the landlord for not posting the "No Parking" signs until this morning. Good thing I didn't cry. The people (painters, tow truck driver, DPT lady and landlord) were cool and understanding about it. Sure, it doesn't happen all the time but it's easy to get confused when people park in different spots everyday. They laughed it off with me and I went to work.

I hate Tuesdays.

They Got The Money, Hey, You Know They Got Away

Last night I went out to Le Colonial for my friend's birthday. It started out really fun. I guess it ended up being fun in the end too but that's not the point of this story...

Midway through the night, we were all dancing, having a good time, when one of my friends noticed a purse on the ground. He asked around to see if anyone dropped it and a guy near us, who was dancing with a couple girls, said it was his friend's purse. So he handed it over, not thinking much of it.

About ten minutes later, a girl walked by, frantically asking everyone if they've seen her missing purse. We told her that we gave it to some guy and pointed him out. She approached him and he played dumb, saying he didn't know what she was talking about. His two friends said they had their purses and they hadn't seen any others. We went over to talk to them about it but they still acted like they had no idea what was going on.

At that point, that group was sticking to their story and I didn't know where the purse was so I told the girl to ask the bartender if anyone turned it in. Right as she started to walk through the crowd, the shady guy and his girls left. A couple of my friends followed him outside and watched him walk down the street. He stopped with his friends after a block or so and then came back to give the doorman the purse. My friends found the girl in the bar again and told her that her purse was at the door.

When it was all said and done, the girl had about $80 stolen from her wallet but her credit cards, her ID and other things like that were still in the purse. We were glad she got most of her stuff back but it still sucks. It pretty much ruined a small portion of the night for a few of us and we didn't get robbed ourselves or even know the girl who got robbed.

It makes me pretty pissed off that there are people like that out there. The three people who took the money weren't poor. It's not like the were taking the money because they needed it to survive. They were hanging out in a relatively expensive bar, so I highly doubt and extra 80 bucks would help out their situation that much. They just jumped at the opportunity to take something that didn't belong to them, without even thinking twice about it. They looked the girl straight in her face and lied to her, knowing that were ripping her off. Ah, things like this make it really hard to believe in the good in people sometimes...

Aside from that little incident, the night was good. Le Colonial is a fun place even though the drinks are expensive and the temperature is extremely far from desirable. (Without turning this into a review of the bar, I do feel compelled to complain about the water situation at Le Colonial. They don't give out ice water for free. You have to spend $5 for a bottle of lukewarm Fiji or drink out of the faucet in the bathroom if you don't feel like buying a drink. That's a solid 9.9 on the Lame Scale in my book.) Anyway, the music is pretty good most of the time and it was decent last night too, even though the DJ refused to play T.I. and snuck in too many techno songs. I met some cool people, danced around a bit, lost about 5 lbs from sweating and had a good time. I think the birthday girl had a good time too and that's the most important thing, right?

Darkness Falls Across The Land

As if Michael Jackson wasn't weird enough...

I Can't Let Go Of It

Spoon's "The Underdog" is easily my favorite non-rap song at the moment. Here's the song being performed on Letterman:



Not only does the horn section sound awesome but their style is impeccable. Check out the guy wearing the sunglasses and the man in the magenta sport coat.

King Kong, King King King K-Kong

A few weekends ago, I ate dinner at a restaurant. After finishing my meal, the waiter cleared my plate. In an effort to rest (and look cool), I leaned forward and placed my elbows on the table. Then a significant portion of the table broke off and fell in my lap. I must have eaten a lot.

I'll Be On Time Like Big Ben

I've been having the same conversation a lot lately, so I wanted to clear things up:

"Yes, it is a nice watch. Thank you... I know it's really white. I like it... No, it's not that big. I just have small wrists."

Work It Out, Take It Easy

... Or "How A Guy With A Congenital Hip Defect Can Skate And Dance Better Than Me"...

rjd2 - Work It Out

I Read This Off A Cue Card

I went home today and spent most of the day cleaning out my closet so my dad could put more of his stuff in my room. I found this sketch when I was sorting through some papers from high school. I had saved a fair amount of drawings I had done, most of which were on binder paper because I didn't pay attention in class. Half of them make me think that I could have been a pretty good artist if I had ever taken it seriously (or if I had ever taken an art class). The other half, well, they're pretty terrible.

I'm A Pisces Fish & A River Runs Through My Soul

I saw this in a bathroom last Saturday.

Google Maps Is the Best

Check out the new feature that's on Google Maps. It rules.

"Danny Tanner Is Not Gay"

Today, my roommate got hooked up with Bob Saget tickets from work so instead of going to the gym, then watching the NBA Draft and the USA vs. Argentina game, I made the short trek through the Tenderloin to the Warfield after work. I think trading David Stern and American soccer for a free comedy show was a good deal.

I'm skipping a quick review of the opener Ryan Stout because I'm tired, not because he wasn't funny... Okay, maybe I'll say something about him because he was pretty funny. He liked to make fun of certain groups of people (little people, special people, poor people, the homeless) and then shake his head at the audience in disgust. I can't remember many of his jokes specifically but my favorite bit of his involved 25 Chinese kids who died in a fire. Apparently, they evacuated the burning school only to run around the building and then right back inside. All of the students were found in the wrong seats. Think about it...

Bob Saget was entertaining. While he was probably the most vulgar person I have ever listened to for an extended period of time, he was pretty hilarious too. He spent most of the night cursing, swearing, cussing, using profanity and apologizing for cursing, swearing, cussing and using profanity. His material ranged from making celebrity jokes to cracking on the audience to singing songs and they all involved various amounts of sexual references and innuendos. Sometimes it was over the top and awkward and sometimes it was right on. Like most good comedians, he spent a lot of time making fun of his family and himself. He also told his joke from The Aristocrats and talked about Half Baked, Dirty Work, America's Funniest Home Videos and Full House. I thought the Full House jokes were the best, which worked out seeing as most of the set was based on Full House references and stories. There were multiple jokes about him having sex with Kimmy Gibbler and him being gay with John Stamos. He also did a bit about San Francisco and slipped in jokes about Pan's Labyrinth, Gollum, the weird old guy from the Six Flags commercials, ET and leprechauns. The evening culminated with a song called "Danny Tanner Is Not Gay", which parodied the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way". I thought that was pretty great.

... Since O.J. Had Isotoners...

I know this blog has been a little Kanye-heavy (partially because I'm avoiding all things T.I. so I can be surprised when the album drops next week, and partially because everything that interests me in rock and indie aren't coming out that soon) but here's the video for "Stronger". It's a departure from Hype Williams' usual work and I think it's pretty decent in an "Akira meets hip hop meets 80s fashion" kind of way. Also, Cassie is in the video and she's very nice looking.

Fight! Fight! Fight! Bite! Bite! Bite!

Not quiiiiite right, but maybe close enough.

You can do it too.

Let Me Upgrade You

Remember a few weekends ago, when I got robbed? Here's a quick update:

Last Saturday, a couple police officers stopped by the house. Apparently, they caught some guy trying to steal a bike and upon searching him they found my checkbook. They asked me a few questions, I identified the checkbook and they were on their way.

For some reason, they were more interested in the burglary from the loft (Robert's bike), which happened months ago. I guess they stopped by the loft looking for me so I'm guessing they caught the guy some where in SOMA. All that seems a little moot considering the item in question (my checkbook) was taken from my current house, but what do I know?

So that's that. I haven't heard from the police since the weekend. I know it's unlikely but hopefully they can recover some of my stuff, especially all that crap I had that can't really be replaced.

Don't Leave Me Hangin' on Like Yo-yo

As if I don't love Judd Apatow enough already...

Michael Cera gets fired from Knocked Up
Uploaded by TstarV

All I Want to Do is Ride Around Shinin'

It only took me 8 minutes to realize that Pedal ID is more fun than my blog.

I Know a Girl, She Puts the Color Inside of My World

Check out this video of John Mayer and Kanye West:



A few observations:
- John Mayer's head is 'uuuuuge!! I mean, physically... I know he's about 6'4" and large people have large heads, but still...
- Kanye has been saying "stuntastic" a lot in recent interviews. I wonder if it's the thesaurus next to "fergilicious" and "hyphy".
- In an interview with Mayer a while back, I remember reading about him trying out stand-up comedy. His agent and manager were thinking it was a bad idea but I think he's actually pretty funny. Even though he's obviously one of those smug, intelligent types, I can't say I didn't laugh.
- The song actually sounds pretty good but I still think Graduation has a decent chance of flopping. On his first album, he came in on a huge wave of hype with "Through the Wire" and the car accident; people weren't impressed with "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (until Hova tore up the remix) but he still had the Jon Brion collaboration hype, the "Gold Digger" single and "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People"; this upcoming album doesn't seem to have that sort of fire behind it. Even with all the John Mayer and Chris Martin talk (and Jon Brion again) I am skeptical. Maybe all the the John Mayer and Chris Martin talk is what's making me skeptical. Who knows? I hope it is great but as a fan, I'm mildy concerned...
- Finally, John Mayer is the singer-songwriter version of Justin Timberlake. Like JT, he started off doing the teeny bopper pop bit, moved on to more mature themes gaining some street cred along the way, dated a pop star who isn't as hot as people tend to believe, starred in some well-received sketch comedy skits and managed to overcome the fact that he's just a big nerd. I don't know where his incredible ability to shred a blues lick comes into play though... Maybe it's equivalent to Justin's dancing? I don't know... I'm just waiting for him to carry a crappy movie in a supporting role (as JT supposedly did in Alpha Dog).

The Week Never Starts Around Here

This weekend was fairly uneventful. I didn't go out at all at night or do anything social at all, for that matter. I relaxed a bit, killing a lot of time on the Internet and in front of the television. It wasn't completely unproductive though. I got my car serviced, visited my parents, did some laundry, went for a run around the steeps near my house (a couple of which I ended up skating later in the day) and cleaned up around my room. I also took the second step in replacing my stolen goods (I'll write about the first step later this week) by getting a new watch. Coming off of three consecutive action-packed weekends, this one was a much needed, low-key couple of days. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

All I've Got is a Pair of Ice Creams

I love ice cream and frozen yogurt. This is me shoving my face full of ice cream in Japan, at a place called Ice Cream City. I don't remember what flavor I got but it was delicious.



It's not exactly Ice Cream City but the corner store, which is less than a half a block from my front door, just got a frozen yogurt machine. Hopefully, I don't look like a sumo wrestler the next time you see me. I think I'm in trouble...

My Partner Yellin' "Too Soon! Don't Do It!"

UGK (feat. OutKast) - International Player's Anthem

This video rules. Hard.

When My Next Album Drops I Ain't Wearin' No Shirt

I was going to write something more interesting today but I didn't get around to it. I will try and come up with something in the next couple of days. In the meantime, here's a post I've been sitting on for a few days...

I'm pretty excited about these albums and you should be too:

T.I. - T.I. vs. T.I.P.
The Cool Kids - The Bake Sale
The New Pornographers - Challengers
Kanye West - Graduation
Interpol - Our Love To Admire
Common - Finding Forever
Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight
Arthur & Yu - In Camera
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

Also, Lyrics Born, Kid Sister, CRS, Bonde Do Role, ?uestlove/Pharrell, M.I.A. and some others...

I Want To Ride My Bicycle!

My bike.

Waiting for the Universe

Apparently there is some balance in the universe. In exchange for getting a ton of stuff stolen last Saturday, I get to see Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch against the A's next Tuesday. I'll be sitting in the bleachers surrounded by legions of drunk people who take hyphy a little too seriously and I'll probably barely be able to tell that Matsuzaka is asian. I guess that's okay because I bought tickets for the game in hopes that I would get to see him play. It looks like my hopes were fulfilled and all it cost me was roughly $4000 in personal belongings, in addition to the price of admission. Man, I'm lucky!

Chasing the Cool...

How cool would I be if I learned to do these things?

Wait 'Til I Get My Money Right

New Kanye video:


Here's the single cover art, by Takashi Murakami. I think I like the artwork better than the song...

Joker and the Thief

Today sucked. While I was enjoying a nice day at SF MOMA and an excellent lunch at Katana-ya, some moron was breaking into my room and stealing my belongings. I think he (I'm only assuming it was a he) climbed into my room through my closet window with the barely-functioning lock. Things that I have noticed are missing: Mac Powerbook, Ipod, guitar, Nike backpack, Chrome messenger bag, two watches, bag full of change, shoebag, box of random stuff and Jamba Juice mug full of beads. Most of those things can be replaced by spending various amounts of money but among the many items in the messenger bag was my travel journal from Japan. I'm probably not going to get that back.

Step 1...

I went to Bay to Breakers last weekend. I didn't walk much of the course but I saw every runner and walker pass. It was pretty early in the morning so I probably missed out on some of the craziness that happened in the park but I think I got a good taste of the spectacle. There were some good stuff and some bad stuff, with a lot of drunken madness in between. Here's a rundown of the lamest and coolest themes/costumes I saw:

Lamest of the Lame:

5. The Garbage Crew. These guys wouldn't have been so bad if one frail-looking, drunk girl wasn't constantly screaming, "Reduce, reuse, recycle, get trashed!!!" They posted up in front of Thomas and me for about 20 minutes and this wacko was yelling at the top of her lungs at anyone who was too polite to ignore her. Anyway, the costumes ranged from full-on, official garbageman jumpsuits to half-ass sweatpants and dirty t-shirt ensembles. They were pushing around a garbage bin filled with beer but even that couldn't save them from being one of the lamest of the lame.

4. Girls Gone (Not) Wild. Several groups of hot chicks were dressed up in sports bras and skimpy shorts with cardboard signs over their naughty bits that said, "Censored". I guess it was a little creative but definitely not for this event. There are naked people all around at Bay to Breakers! Come on, they should have worn those costumes to their middle school brother's Halloween dance instead. Don't they realize they could just have gone entirely nude and it would have been more true to the "Girls Gone Wild" theme?

3. Pirates. There were at least 4 different groups of pirates and all of them were obnoxious and unoriginal.

2. Dick in a Box. Yeah, the skit was funny but it was also probably the most obvious choice for a costume this year. At least if you are going to do it, do it right. I saw not one Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa-themed costume. Most of the people weren't even wearing 80's suits. Way to take a played-out idea and put in the least amount of effort as possible and I'm talking to all 200 of you.

1. Naked old men. For the tenth year running, naked old men were the lamest costumes ever, for obvious reasons. I don't even think old women or old gay men want to see all those wrinkles...

And now, the Coolest of the Cool:

5. Bananas. Sure, there were a lot of bananas but there's something funny about seeing a group of large yellow fruit run by in a line. There were a couple different banana groups but no where near the number of pirates. And bonus points goes to the banana costume for the group of topless young ladies with yellow body paint, moving against the traffic.

4. Never-nudes. Probably lost to most of the crowd, the Never-nudes were straight from Arrested Development. They automatically get ten cool points for that. Most of the never-nudes were dressed appropriately in short, cut-off jean shorts, just like the short-lived tv show. In every other possible situation, cut-off jean shorts are entirely unacceptable but the Never-nudes represented well.

3. The Wild Goose Chase. There was a crazy lady chasing around a giant goose. What's not funny about that? The goose costume was legit and the lady was, for some unknown reason, dressed like a genie (I think). I wanted to take away cool points for the lady's get-up but at least she had a huge net which she kept swinging at the goose. Every few minutes the goose would get tired and take off his head to have some beer. It was twice as funny seeing this and it probably had a lot to do with how tired the guy looked from running around with a giant costume on.

2. Synchronized Swimmers. A group of old ladies were dressed up as synchronized swimmers. They were spinning circles and jazz-handing their way down the street. It was pretty funny and impressive. It all looked very well choreographed and they didn't splash at all.

1. The Aquarium. Maybe it's because I like aquariums but this one was the absolute best. It consisted of a big black PVC pipe frame with blue mesh draped over it. Inside, people were dressed up as fish and they were walking back and forth as the frame moved down the street. Incredibly creative and well executed, this one blew the others out of the water.

NOTE: A few of my friends participated in the Faber to Breakers Animal House toga party. It was cool but it didn't make the cut because there were so many different colored togas that it looked like a bunch of separate groups as opposed to one huge toga party. The deathmobile was really, really cool (it had more than 15 kegs hidden inside and it had the largest sound system of any float, complete with a DJ booth that towered over the crowd) and it obviously had a lot of work put into it. Maybe I'm just being picky but with such a well-done float, it's a shame the toga partiers didn't live up to it by all dressing up in white...

So that was my best and worst (for the most part) of this year's Bay to Breakers. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.

Intro

So, here's my first blog entry. Ideally, this would play out like the intro tracks that many rappers use on their albums but I don't have the energy right now. On top of that, I can't simulate the clap of gunshots or the sound of hundreds of screaming fans because I'm not that computer savvy. Oh well, maybe next time...

Anyway, I just want to warn you all: most of things I am going to post here probably aren't that interesting or informative. I probably won't update this as much as I'd like and I'm probably not going to be as funny or insightful as I'd like to be either. That being said, I hope you visit here from time to time and I hope you enjoy it.

I'm not off to a good start am I?