We Be Clubbin'!

Sometime last week, I was having an email conversation with Kathy about clubbing baby seals. I was wondering how "clubbing baby seals" became the default phrase for doing something really cold-blooded. I understood that baby seals are really cute and clubbing them is mean, but I could think of several awful things to do to cute animals (punching kittens, for example). So I emailed Kathy, asking her if she knew why the phrase was so popular. She sent me this Slate Explainer article, which explains why people club seals in the first place and offers some insight into the power of the phrase "clubbing baby seals". Here's a quick excerpt:

"By law, you have to keep clubbing the seal in the forehead until you know for sure that it's dead. Sealers are supposed to 'palpate' a pup's skull after they've clubbed it, to feel the caved-in bone beneath the skin and blubber. Or they can perform the 'blink reflex' test, which consists of touching the seal's eyeball—if it blinks, you've got to club it again."

Umm... Now I can entirely understand why "clubbing baby seals" is the barometer by which all mean things are judged. You learn something new everyday...

(I pulled the pic from www.bergoiata.org)

The King Lives On

I already posted this song but I figured I'd post the video too (unfortunately, Kanye beat me to this one). Despite the cheesy, 80's-ish effect of T.I.'s face fading in and out in front of a black background this is still one of my favorite songs out right now.

Cartwheel Of Scratches

Pretty amazing if it's real. (I think it is.)

Now Watch Me Yoooouuuu!!

If you're up on rap news, err, celebrity drama, you'll probably laugh at these. You might laugh even if you don't know what's up...





Plenty mo', where those came from. See here.

Misguided By The 405

On Go Skateboarding Day, some dude hit the freeway.

Skating on 405

Play Your Part

I think Girl Talk exists for the egoes of music snobs. Even more than giving indie hipster kids a chance to dance, GT gives music fans even more reason to pat each other on the back. Nerds and elitests are already all over the "name game" for Feed The Animals which came out online recently, Radiohead-style. I chose to pay $10 since I got his last album for zero dollars (and because I want the CD when it becomes available).

It's not as immediately likable as the excellent Night Ripper but I'm guessing it'll be a real grower. He's using more classic rock and pop tracks this time around (or at least he's putting them in the forefront more, I think) and it doesn't disappoint. After about one and a half listens, a few highlights so far: Jackson 5 over the Umbrella drums, ODB over Autumn Sweater, No Diggity and Flashing Lights (I'm down with that beat no matter what), Roc Boys and Radiohead, Kelly Clarkson over Quad City; also, appearances by The Band, Tom Petty, Paula Cole, Looking Glass, Chicago, Rick Astley and Journey (with some thump!). Amazing stuff, really. And I admit, it is fun listening to it while checking the samples on the Wiki page.

Meat To The Shizzake

One of these steaks (the smaller one) is three times more expensive than the other one because it was made from a cow that was fed grass instead of corn. Can you taste the difference? Yes. Is it worth the 3x price bump? Probably not.

Take The Chapstick, Put It On Your Lips

Yesterday, MTV premiered the video for my favorite Vampire Weekend song. I love single-shot videos but this one is just okay.

Quinn Run The City

Yesterday on Nah Right:

This song rules.

A Milli A Milli A Milli A Milli

Congrats to Weezy on breaking the one million mark after only one week. Watch him thank his friends and fans:

Oh me, oh my. Lil Wayne is crazy. Absolutely insane. But hilarious, no?

With This Crazor I'm Razy

I got this song on a Kanye mix tape from a while back, just after The College Dropout came out I believe. I hadn't listened to it in a while but some bloggers posted about it a few days ago. They got down on some of Mr. West's beats over at Metal Lungies. Check out "Beat Drop: Kanye West". It's a good read and you can listen to/download some tracks you probably didn't know Kanye produced.

And speaking of Eminem, is he ever making his comeback? Will it even be any good???

A Girl Looks Like A Pony

Holy crap! What do you get when you mix Fatboy Slim, David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal, with a heavy dose of Spike Jonze thrown in there? You get this ridiculously awesome video:

Via Hypebeast.

Still I Wait Another Round

I've gotten a fair amount of new music recently. Most of it's been pretty good and some of it's been great but I'll have to write about that some other time. I just wanted to post "Lights Out" by Santogold which sounds a bit like The Cars, if they had a female lead singer. This track might be my favorite song right now... It's in the top three for sure.

Beef Is When I See You

Just got back from a pre-Father's Day lunch with the family. We went to Pearl's Deluxe Burgers in Nob Hill. It had crazy good reviews on Yelp (some people said it's the best burger in the city) so I wanted to give it a try. I ordered the Pesto Burger and we split some chili cheese fries and sweet potato fries too. I'm not sure if it was homemade or not, but the pesto sauce on my burger was delicious. The beef had a good meaty flavor, as opposed to tasting like a gritty sponge full of grease. I don't know if it's the best burger in SF but Pearl's definitely warrants another visit, especially since it has over ten different milkshake flavors and it's open until 2am on the weekends.

Step In The Name Of Love

In honor of today's big news:

I'm Focused

I like several Focus Features movies, so it's no surprise I want to see this:


Pretty much all my posts come from KW, right?

You Or Your Memory

A few nights ago, I watched Eternal Sunshine for the first time in a long while. I had forgotten how great it is. Not that you care but here are a couple of my favorite scenes.

I'm The King Of Wishful Thinking...

... or maybe I'm just a moron. Either way, I kept confusing my months (June and July, in particular). I was all set for a nice purchase come Wednesday when in fact I have to wait more than a month. Oh well, I'm still excited like my gmail photo.

Give Him Dap

This is probably old news in the blog world but watch it anyway:

Interesting that they cited slangsite, which I had never heard of, rather than Urban Dictionary...

Whispers

I lost count of how many times I got the chills while watching this:

With Both Eyes Closed

I hadn't listened to Scapegoat Wax since early college but I recently threw Okeeblow on my Powerbook so it's been getting some play. You can easily write some of it off as cheesy pop fluff but hey, at least they were signed to the Beastie's Grand Royal label before it went under.

Here's unofficial "videos" for a couple of my favorites, which also happen to be the least "hip hop" tracks on the album. Just listen, don't watch.




Corny, I know...

Come Dance With Me

This is fun:

Maybe it's because his newer stuff is actually more coherent, or maybe it's because I've been listening to him for 3 albums now, but I can finally understand *most* of what Dizzee Rascal is saying.

You And Me Now

At first I wasn't too impressed by it, but Mason's latest album is actually pretty good. It's definitely not his best effort to date but there's enough on there to like. Along with the closer, "In Your City", this song is one of my favorite tracks on the album.

You Remind Me Of Something

I got an email tonight that reminded me of this hilariousness: