There's Something Strange

A while back I posted the trailer to Michel Gondry's upcoming movie, Be Kind Rewind. The premise is pretty cool: basically Mos Def and Jack Black accidently erase a bunch of movies at their video store so they decide to remake the movies themselves, and hilarious, low-budget creativity ensues. As you can imagine, this gives Gondry plenty of opportunity to work his magic (at least that's what the trailer leads me to believe) and it's never more apparent than in this clip, in which Gondry gives his own "be kind rewind" treatment to the original trailer. Watching him sing Jack Black's version of the Ghostbuster's theme song is pretty classic.

If It's The Last Thing That I Do

One shot videos rule. The Mountain Goats rule. This song rules.

I'm looking forward to the album...

Walking On Sunshine

The sun didn't quite come out yesterday but the rain let up long enough for us to ride around Mission Bay for a little while. Here's a photo of the new bike I bought a couple weekends ago. I picked it up last weekend and it wasn't built up exactly how I wanted so there are a few parts I need to get swapped out. Hopefully the bike shop is cool about it and if not, I'll just buy the replacements somewhere else.

Fight The Power!

So my brother pointed out Choose Your Candidate to me, on The Washington Post's website. Basically, it's a quiz that covers some of the more important issues in the upcoming election. The answers you have to choose from are based on the answers of the Democratic or Republican Presidential candidates, depending on which party's quiz you choose. At the end of the quiz, you can see how your answers align with the candidates (and your stats can be tracked during the quiz as well).

Being that I don't follow politics as closely as I probably should, this quiz was pretty interesting and eye-opening. I was able to see how the candidates compare to each other and what I have in common with them. It's a pretty good run down of what the candidates have to say and it's nice having all their answers in one place. I think it's good start for someone who needs to learn and wants to learn about the candidates but hasn't gotten around to doing so yet. It helped me get started, but I'm still left a little hesitant about which candidate to choose.

One of my problems with voting (and with politics in general to a certain extent) is that all the answers are still based on winning an election. That may sound obvious (and dumb) but I find it a little difficult to predict how much of a politician's agenda is what he or she actually stands for and how much of it is based on giving people what they want to hear. And on top of that, who knows which issues a politician will actually fight for and which ones will be forgotten once he or she is elected?

I could go on but I won't. Instead, I think I'll fill out my absentee ballot now so I don't forget to send it in like last time.

Who'll Stop The Rain?

I picked up my new bike from the shop yesterday. Perfect timing...

We Major

I've said it before (but maybe not here) and I'll say it again: Kanye's blog is awesome.  He's always dropping these quick hit entries about the latest in design, art and music. Basically he blogs about stuff I can't afford. The latest dope gadget he posted is this cool beat machine:

He also recently put up a post about the Fossil Starck watches. A few months ago I was looking into getting this one but Macys didn't have one to try on. I didn't want to risk getting something that wouldn't look right on me so I didn't get it online. Now it's sold out but that's okay because I'd feel a little weird buying it after a million people saw it on Kanye's blog.

Lately I've been thinking about getting this watch (which happens to be on Fossil's homepage) but I'll probably hold off for a while. I spent the last few months gearing up for a few major purchases and now that the spending is underway, I don't think I need to buy things that aren't near the top of the list. More on that later...

Bang! Bang!

Hypebeast posted this last week. Peep the pictures:





And I thought the bike tires were crazy...

Ohhhh...

DJ Mike Relm gets his "oh face" on:

Vote Or Die

I never liked Chris Bosh much but this may have changed my mind:

Princess Leia Where Are You Tonight?

A couple weeks ago, my boss gave me a Star Wars Lego set and an iTunes giftcard for Christmas. Seeing as I still haven't put together the Erector Set motorcycle he got for me last year, I figured I'd actually open this one.

I got to work on it yesterday, while watching a DVR-ed episode of The Office. About ten minutes into the show, I finished my very own V-wing Starfighter. I had forgotten about how much I liked Legos as a kid. Here's the finished product:

I still haven't used the iTunes giftcard. Any suggestions?

That's How It Starts...

Last month, Jamie hosted a little mix CD party so a few of us could showcase our favorite songs of 2007. I wouldn't say my CD was made up of my absolute favorites of last year but these songs were definitely up there. Here's my tracklist and some notes:


1. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

Almost everything written about this song is true. It's probably in my Top 2 or 3 of the year. I can't explain why I like it so much because I suck at writing but there's just a feeling about it. I love the way it builds up in the beginning and just drops off at the end.

2. M.I.A. - Paper Planes

M.I.A. is actually singing on this song, as opposed to yelling/whining. She sounds really good but I'm pretty sure I'd like this song no matter who sang over it... within reason. That being said, I can't imagine anyone doing it much better.

3. Wale and Catchdubs - W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.

Almost four minutes of fast rapping about streetwear and being awesome, with references to Lindsay Lohan and Saved By the Bell.

4. Dizzee Rascal - Bubbles

I like all of Dizzee's albums but I especially like finally being able to understand what he's saying on Maths + English. Almost...

5. UGK - Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You) (Feat. OutKast)

I love these things: Andre's "too soon, don't do it!" line, the way the beat knocks in at the start of Pimp C's verse, Pimp C's whole verse, the "whooaa-oo wailing, the stuttering drums at the start of Bun B's verse, sneaking in some screwed and chopped even though no one actually likes the screwed and chopped sound. Also, I think this is the best video of the year.

6. Kanye West - Flashing Lights (Ft. Dwele)

Probably the stand out track on Graduation. "Straight from the page of your favorite author."

7. Lupe Fiasco - Can You Let Me Know (Feat. Verbal & Sarah Green)

This is off a Deckstream mixtape that I can't seem to find online. This may be true for every rapper but Lupe just sounds so much better over good beats (and if you have a decent set-up, this one knocks). Verbal is the trilingual Japanese rapper in m-flo (see next track) who drops some Transformers-related lyrics in the second verse.

8. m-flo - Summer Time Love/♡日之内エミ & Ryohei

When I got back from Japan, I started compiling a mini-collection of Japanese music that included almost the entire m-flo catalog. It's mostly electronica-leaning pop rap. If the Japanese Grammy's have a Best Rap/Sung Collaboration catagory, m-flo probably have had a few nominations. I don't even know if the Japanese Grammy's exist.

9. Amerie - Take Control

Amerie's latest album hasn't been released in the US yet and I don't know why. She doesn't quite have the pipes as some other R&B ladies but she has made some really good songs. The Cee-Lo produced Take Control was probably my favorite girl R&B song of 2007, better than "to the left, to the left" and on the level of "umb-er-ella, ella ella ay ay".

10. The Pipettes - It Hurts To See You Dance So Well

I grew up on oldies and I like indie pop. Of course I'm going to like this group. Musically, lyrically and vocally, they're not doing anything new. I can't tell if they're really paying homage to girl groups or just ripping them off but I don't really care either.

11. Feist - I Feel It All

This is my favorite song on the album, next to 1234. Side note: We discussed the Shins and Garden State at the Mixtape Party but I didn't really chime in. Now, partially wanting to stir up debate, why do people hold GS against the Shins when Feist is hawking iPods? I like Garden State. I like the Shins. I like Feist and I like iPods too. I think I just view over-exposure and selling out in an entirely different way than most people who "care" about music. Maybe so.

12. Iron & Wine - Flightless Bird, American Mouth

Now that Sam Beam has proven he can make great songs with a full band and lush instrumentation, does anyone else want him to go back to his whispy-vocaled, stripped down songs like this one?

13. Bat For Lashes - Prescilla

The video for "What's A Girl To Do?" reminds me of Donnie Darko.

14. Kenna - Baptized In Blacklight

Solid pop rock produced by Chad Hugo of the Neptunes.

15. MONKEY MAJIK - 卒業、そして未来へ。

I tried to find an American equivalent of MONKEY MAJIK but I can't seem to find one. This will sound awful but they're sort of a Japanese version of Maroon 5, who sing more ballads, whine considerably less, utilize harmonies, rap occasionally and suck less. Yup, that sounds awful. Oh well. Also, notice that Japanese bands have this weird love/hate relationship with capital letters.

16. T.I. - Help Is Coming

T.I. vs. T.I.P. was only a let down in that I wanted it to be the album of the year. It started out on shakey ground because an alter-ego concept album is never a way to push your music to the next level. My list at the moment: T.I., Kanye, OutKast, Lyrics Born, Jay-Z, MF DOOM Ghostface, NaS. List subject to change...

7. Jay-Z - Say Hello

Beeeeiiiiitch!!

18. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - The Lost Brigade

I've put this song on the end of a couple mixes this year because I like listening to the beat ride out...

I'll try to post more links later...