Done with 08!

I don't know about anyone else, but 2008 was NOT the year for me. That being said, I will say that there were a few things that were awesome about 08 for me (in no particular order) that I can look forward to in 09 as well.

The Co was Created
What most people don't know, is that if it weren't for a group of people sitting through a tremendously long taping of the new American Gladiators, the Co would most likely not exist. It was during the hours of sitting in chairs, eating passed out snacks, and laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole thing that some of us met and planted the seed for a blog, though nothing of this size was planned at the time.

Obama was Elected President
If you haven't figured it out yet, we kinda like Obama around here so to say 08 was a good year, politically, might be an understatement.

 

Kanye Killed it With The Glow in the Dark Tour
Love him or hate him, Kanye finally reached stadium status this last year and he took concerts to a whole new level. Kanye continues to impress and surprise everyone constantly, it will be interesting to see what comes in 09 on top of his already announced rap album.

San Francisco Beer Fest Celebrated 25 Years
2008 was my second year going and it was even better than the 1st year. As if SF isn't awesome enough on it's own, it hosts this amazing event. Amazing beer, great vibe (no fights, everyone seems to be happy drunks there) and good times to be had by all, I have been counting down the days till Beer Fest 09 since the minute I stepped out of Beer Fest last year

SNL if Funny Again
Sarah Palin Skits, Justin Timberlake Skits, The Blizzard Man, Andy Samberg, need I go on? For all the fans from SNL's golden years saying it'll never be as funny as back then, get over it, the golden years were hilarious but humor has changed and moved on and so should you. SNL had some crappy years but it's officially funny again. The viral skits floating around the internet have me rolling on the floor every time, they are utilizing guests well, and the show is more and more consistently funny.

|¢ontinue|

Out With the Old, in With the New

image cred: designboom.com

As the second day of the new year comes to an end, I'm realizing how different things are for me compared to this time last year... and I mean that in a good and bad sense. It's been one crazy roller coaster ride, but looking back on everything I now know that I wouldn't change a thing.

Seeing as this is not my own personal blog, I'll keep the self-reflection to a minimum. I'm sure that all of you can relate when I say that this year has been full of major setbacks, but also significant growth. This can obviously translate to an individual level as well as to the grander scheme of things.

Yet, despite all the hardships that I've faced (on my own and as a ¢ollective) I remain grateful for the many lessons learned and hopeful for what lies ahead. I've never really been one for new year's resolutions; probably because I've always had trouble seeing them all the way through. However, after getting through a year that I never thought I'd see end, I now fully understand how important it can be to set new goals in an effort to find a new beginning... or maybe just a little balance.

So instead of leaving you with a list of things I want to personally change or improve about myself or habits I want to get rid of, I'd like to leave you with this challenge for 2009:

Promise Yourself
Christian D. Larson

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large to worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.


I wish you all peace & progress in the new year.

Let's shine in '09.


|¢ontinue|

Twitter? Let's see

SEMTEX TV - ?UESTLOVE BREAKS DOWN THE HOTTEST MC'S FOR 09'.

Social Networking is nothing new to the internet but ever since the sale of Facebook and Myspace for more money than I would EVER know what to do with, next to buy a country, everyone wants some of that pie.

I've been hearing about Twitter for a while now but never though much of it (as if a facebook and myspace weren't enough). Then, while listening to Talk of the Nation: Science Friday on NPR, they were talking about how they were twittering and people were asking questions via twitter. This made me a bit more curious, but not enough to join. Then a couple weeks back I was watching the video above and when asked what 2009's big blog will be, ?uestlove responded with Twitter is THE blog for 2009 because of the ADD society and people needing everything quick and right now.

Then just this last weekend I'm at my homegirl's house and notice she has twitter so I open it up to take a look and basically it is facebook updates....THAT'S IT. You can post no more than 140 characters, no pictures, no embedding, no hyperlinks, no bells and whistles, it's just news feeds from whoever you choose to follow. Depending upon who you follow you can get anything from the news (NPR shows are on there), to a link to a funny video to "I just worked out" (from one of your friends).

On top of that. Twitter can be done from your mobile phone. Twitter was actually the first source to know that the roots tour bus got in a wreck a while back (?uest twittered from the ambulance). So I figure, what the hell, let me see what this is all about, if it's whack I can drop it. So if you care to join in, create and account, find me, and let's see what's up!



|¢ontinue|

Happy B-Day Agent Dee

A BIG Happy Born Day to Agent Dee, a girl with GREAT taste in music and possibly the most preserverence of anyone I know. Will we ever forget the bike ride from hell?! These are what memories are made of right J¢?

So enjoy your exteneded weekend of festivities Dee, thats what birthdays are good for! I'm sure your husband (pictured above) is bummed he can't make it.

|¢ontinue|

Doesn't It Look Nice?

The Max Planck Institute, a well respected research institute in Germany, wanted a Chinese poem to adorn the cover of their newest journal. So what did they choose for a beautifully hand-written piece of literature? A brothel Ad.

Sort of makes you wonder what was really on the shirts of all those white kids in High School...

|¢ontinue|

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me-An NPR Reality Check

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is probably the best radio show on the weekend (at least in San Diego). For those of you who don't know what it is, think of it as The Daily Show meets Jeopardy meets Real Time with Bill Maher. You have got the quiz show of Jeopardy, the humor, wit, and sarcasm of The Daily Show and an intelligent, humorous panel of people like in Real Time.

By listening to the Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, you can learn a good amount of what went on in the world over the past week (some of it you probably didn't want or need to know, but it's funny none the less) while laughing almost the entire hour some shows. Besides providing an hour of infotainment, this show (and the other shows like it) provides an important service to it's listeners, SARCASM.

I might be a little biased (I got a crash course early on in Sarcasm and the like due to my mom being Australian and my dad being the King of BS) but I believe Sarcasm is an important tool for someone to posses. While it can provide entertainment at someone else's expense, possessing it also creates small voice of doubt in our heads, a useful doubt. This doubt causes us to question anything that doesn't sound plausible, or anything that might be too good to be true.



It used to be that on April fool's day, newspapers would go to great lengths to publish satirical stories of aliens landing and the like (think terrible tabloids but more believable) that would be sprinkled in with the rest of their news. As time has progressed, this tradition has become less prominent as people have become more and more dependent on being fed information without question. We, as a general public, tend to take the information that is fed to us without question, especially if we decide a source is trusted. Even growing up in the intelligent, sarcastic household I did, I find myself guilty of this more often than I would like to admit. This belief and following of information closely mirrors the partisan politics we have witnessed in recent history, and our overall rejection of the unfamiliar and outright acceptance of the comfortable can be dangerous.

The ability to question ourselves and others is an important ability to have in life and it is shows like Wait, Wait, Don't Tell me that help to not only lighten the mood of the news and world around us, but help put into perspective the information that we receive on a daily basis.




|¢ontinue|

single ladies

can't get enough of it:

"dance biscuits..." LULZ


|¢ontinue|

Barack Obama. That's My President!

Yes. We. Did.

I couldn't agree more Dee. There is not much more to be said that hasn't been said by every person the media. On November 4, 2008, I witnessed what was the most significant event of my generation. Electing an African-American as President of the United States was truly historical. It forever changes how we talk about the impact of the struggle for civil rights. While it does not come anywhere near ridding the US of the ugliness that is racism, it does change the meaning of "you can be anything you want when you grow up."

While the historical significance of this election is huge (1st black Presidential elect, 1st woman to come that close to being the nominee, 1st Woman Vice-Presidential nominee, most uneducated person to ever be nominated for Vice President, l-o-n-g-e-s-t e-l-e-c-t-i-o-n r-u-n EVER), what was just as important was how the election was won.


Obama revolutionized the way a campaign is run. Early on he described how he would run his campaign and he was told he would fail with his tactics. Through his experience in grass-roots organizing, and understanding of the younger generations, he was able to organize support in ways no one had before. Obama was able to take a generation with apathetic tendencies and get them excited about a candidate and a cause. He utilized the internet, facebook, youtube, and most importantly, the energy and support of the people who believed in him.

Obama raised far more money than had ever been raised and he did it in ways never done before, through a lot of small contributions. I, who never thought I would give money to a politician, gave more money than I thought I would ever be willing to and it was the best investment I ever made (so far it's doing better than my Roth IRA).

Obama branded himself early on. His message of change was so powerful and effective, that every single candidate on the left and the right adopted it and abused the hell out of it all the way till the end, everyone was all of a sudden "the real change candidate." Using simple words such as "change," "hope," and "yes we can," while never dumbing down his message or his eloquence, allowed him to speak to a a diverse country of people and be received well.

While he might have wavered on his policies or changed his view with the changing times (he WAS running for almost 2 years), Obama never changed his message. With so much money and so many opportunities to attack the right, Obama refrained (for the most part). He stayed true to how he believed a campaign should be run and it paid off. Obama showed that not only could you win an election running a positive campaign, but that you could win a campaign having expectations for the ctizens of the United States. Rather than appeal to the lowest common denominator, he appealed to the ideals and goodness of the American people. He promised to work for the people if they would work for themselves.



Obama proved that a black man could become president. He also proved that a young, intelligent, educated, respectful, idealistic dreamer could also become president. Not only did he win the election, he killed it. No one I talked to could remember an election being decided by around 8pm pacific time. He used his knowledge of the electoral college and ability to move people, young and old, to show the world how you not only win an election, but get people excited to work for you and with you, and move forward during these trying times.

Congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama, I have never been so proud to say that I am an American. While I am proud of you and the way your ran your campaign, I am equally proud of the American people, WE did it.

Now stop reading this blog and go do something for your community, he may not be president yet, but it's never too early to start helping out.


|¢ontinue|

Yes. We. Did.

Well, damn... isn't the ¢ollective a day late and a dollar short...

I'm on my way out, but our blog definitely needed to be updated with Tuesday's monumental moment:

I'm still at a loss for words. We still have a long road ahead of us... but damn, didn't this moment feel. so. damn. good?!

Check this out too.


|¢ontinue|

Lil' Wayne Takes Home BET's "Joke of the Year" Award

So after a long day at work, the Bus ride home, some visiting with my incredible neighbors, and dinner, I sit down to watch TV before dinner. As I flip through, I find myself watching the BET Hip Hop Awards just in time to see Pharrell and Common perform Universal Mind Control. I'm absolutely hooked on this song. Does anyone else think they should do an album together right after Common does the Album with Q-tip and CRS finally drops an album?!

So as I am about to shut the TV off and go to bed, they announce the "Lyricist of the Year." The nominees are Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Nas, Kanye West, and T.I. The winner you ask? Lil' Wayne, officially making the award, not necessarily Lil' Wayne, a joke. Lil' Wayne is a great many thing but a lyricist, at least in what I would consider the classic sense, he is not (especially when you're against the likes of NAS).

Now I'll say what you're thinking, "HATER!"

On a lighter note, it was great that BET focused on voting and giving back to the community. They also had some DOPE world wide cypher sessions which you can see below

|¢ontinue|

Don't Sleep...

If you haven't already copped it, you. are. missin. out. Get up and get the new Foreign Exchange album, Leave It All Behind. Seriously, don't sleep on this one.

Check out the video for the first single off the album "Daykeeper" featuring Muhsinah.


spotted on okayplayer.com

<3.

|¢ontinue|

Q-Tip Update

The blog needed something fresh and new so here's a quickie before I finally leave work.

A new Video from Q-tip entitled Move. With a beat by J Dilla and a video reminiscent of Michael Jackson's classic Rock with You, what's not to love?!

Enjoi your weekend everyone!

|¢ontinue|

I Prefer No Reservations

About a month ago I got into a nasty accident that has resulted in me being on a liquid diet for about 2 months and unable to work for the time being. This means 2 things: I have gotten pretty creative with smoothies and soups, and I watch more TV than I would like to admit.


On the surface, these two things seem completely separate, but after 2 weeks of eating through a straw, even Homer Simpson chowing down on some fried chicken can make your mouth water. Around this same time, you begin having what I call SNACK ATTACK!! This is the complete yearning for something crunchy, sweet or savory, and all too satisfying. By week 4, an ad for a "complete pot roast" microwave dinner that doesn't look fit to be sold at Walmart can begin to look like a gourmet meal.


Knowing this, channel flipping can prove to be an excruciating task but Vicodine gives me a short attention span so I don't have much of a choice. One thing is for sure, the food network is off limits. Personally I have never been big on the food network or travel channel which is surprising since I love to cook almost as much as I like to travel. I think the reason is because I don't like cooking like Rachel Ray and I don't like travelling like Samantha Brown. But channel flipping through different times of day has led me to discover many new shows I wasn't aware of. One which I have become a big fan of is No Reservations.

No Reservations is a travel and food show by Anthony Bourdain, a long time cook, writer, and traveller from New York. What sets this show apart right from the start is its parental warning at the start (at least for some shows). If this doesn't set the tone of "This isn't your average travel show" (or show how conservative US TV censorship is), I don't know what does. What I enjoy the most about this show is that it focuses on the local life and the unbeaten path. Bourdain goes to many countries that most people wouldn't, such as Laos, and when he does go to a big cities, he ventures into the backstreet local markets and small towns just outside the big cities. He talks with a variety of people, from local film makers and musicians, to researchers, to cultural icons, to local icons. While the show is a travel shows and he talks about things to do and places to go, the focus is on the food.

While I have been sitting at home and healing, this show has been a blessing and a curse. While I enjoy watching the show with his witty and insightful documentation of far off places I wish to visit someday, my mouth can't help but water as he wanders down the spice market in Egypt, downs fresh oysters in homemade hot sauce on the beach in Jamaica, or chows down on a spicy local taco after a night of drinking in South Beach, Florida. Bourdain gets hope from the locals in finding the best places to eat, but what I enjoy the most is when he is invited to eat a meal with a local family. He is able to see who in the family cooks, what they eat, and their local dining traditions.

Bourdain shows an appreciation for the cultures and people that are different than his own and is genuine in the way he interacts with each human being he meets (or atleast acts like it on TV). His ability to show the inner beauty, if not, simply, the beauty that most pass over, in a country along with his knowledge of food and willingness to try new and differeent things makes this show great. While I am not one to sit down and follow a show, I always check to see if No Reservation is on when I sit down to watch TV.

(How can you not be envious of a spread like that?!)

|¢ontinue|

Art For Obama

Without the ability to make, what they thought to be, a significant individual contribution, 5 artists (Ahndraya Parlato, Elizabeth Moy, Gregory Halpern, Whitney Hubbs, and Dru Donovan) came together and formed Art For Obama.

Art for Obama is an online auction of photographs from over 50 artists. All proceeds go to MoveOn.org to support the Obama campaign as there are limits on proceeds to an individual candidate. The above shot is one of the shots for sale. You can peep a couple more after the jump but check out the website for all of the photos.




Shout out to Mike for the heads up

|¢ontinue|

I Can't Handle 4 More Years Of The Same...

Tonight was the Vice Presidential Debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. I thought Joe Biden was Strong and Palin held up better than I expected. Random ramblings of off-topic talking points and inappropriate winks aside, the thing that got to me the most about Palin was her use of the word "Nucular."

As a person who works in the science field and would consider myself half-way intelligent, I have cringed every time, in the past 8 years, that Bush has used the word "nucular" instead of the proper word "nuclear." It doesn't help that Bush seems to give a stupid grin whenever he mispronounces a word or misspeaks, but every time he says the word "nucular" he appears even less intelligent (if that's possible). It's one thing to pronounce a word like "potato" differently because of your accent or drawl but when you begin saying "nucular" you are cognitively changing the word and it makes you sound ignorant.

Now while Palin is trying to appeal to Joe 6-pack with her winks and referencing her middle-class status, which is questionable, I strongly believe that it is possible to do this without sounding ignorant. I believe you can be elite enough to run a country and still be able to empathize and understand what the lower-middle class American goes through, whether or not you were in their situation or not.

With Bush, it's been 8 years of no science (in government or schools), actually, more like 8 years of an eradication of any scientific consideration or thought. For me, "nucular" was just the icing on the cake of why I didn't like Bush. 8 year's has been plenty of scientific ignorance, I don't know if I can handle 4 more, the only positive thought that I can think about McCain getting elected is that at least he pronounces the word correctly. That being said...




|¢ontinue|