hadda post before i lost it...
portable solar energy. they bes' run this shit across the globe right quick. too smart.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
please welcome to the stage... ghostface killah (and other musical awareness updates)
ghostface rocks a mic. i've literally loved everything the man has done. he can do it all, including his new stage show that accompanies his new album, twelve reasons to die; a collaboration with american composer adrian younge. the album is nice and deserves a proper listen. i'd see the show if it came this way.
tyler, the creator is the next big ting in hiphop. he's controversial. he's talented. he speaks freely. people hate him and he's cool with that. he's been called a satanist after his album goblin which i can't speak to since i haven't heard it; having only caught up with the scene since his latest record, wolf, drop. one listen through drop and you'll feel the same way. he's on the come up. listen close to track 6, answer, where he imagines a phone call with his father.
the beatles have a new album! okay, they don't have a new album but if the beatles of the late 60's were producing music today it would sound like tame impala. their latest release lonerism is excellent. i doh know what else to say but check it.
scientifically accurate spiderman and scientifically accurate ninja turtles. stumbled upon these while pulling youtube music links. ridiculous.
boy did we get lucky. new daft punk is out. pharrell produced it. nuff said. (video is not surprisingly pretty weird)
i doh needa link anyting i doh think, but major lazer's free the universe is bes' as expected. it has barely left my ears since it drop.wind up
anyway>
there's so much more: flaming lips, alt-j, jt, kid cudi... i could go on. like i said, i'ma hafta send you more music sooner or later.
i'll leave you with something from local nola. a project called bloody sunday sessions where a film crew and band mount up onto a horse drawn carriage that parades around the french quarter while the music happens. the result is pretty awesome. go to the sessions tab and check out treme brass and/or edward sharpe. good stuff.
fete on. walk good.
tyler, the creator is the next big ting in hiphop. he's controversial. he's talented. he speaks freely. people hate him and he's cool with that. he's been called a satanist after his album goblin which i can't speak to since i haven't heard it; having only caught up with the scene since his latest record, wolf, drop. one listen through drop and you'll feel the same way. he's on the come up. listen close to track 6, answer, where he imagines a phone call with his father.
the beatles have a new album! okay, they don't have a new album but if the beatles of the late 60's were producing music today it would sound like tame impala. their latest release lonerism is excellent. i doh know what else to say but check it.
scientifically accurate spiderman and scientifically accurate ninja turtles. stumbled upon these while pulling youtube music links. ridiculous.
boy did we get lucky. new daft punk is out. pharrell produced it. nuff said. (video is not surprisingly pretty weird)
i doh needa link anyting i doh think, but major lazer's free the universe is bes' as expected. it has barely left my ears since it drop.
anyway>
there's so much more: flaming lips, alt-j, jt, kid cudi... i could go on. like i said, i'ma hafta send you more music sooner or later.
i'll leave you with something from local nola. a project called bloody sunday sessions where a film crew and band mount up onto a horse drawn carriage that parades around the french quarter while the music happens. the result is pretty awesome. go to the sessions tab and check out treme brass and/or edward sharpe. good stuff.
fete on. walk good.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
world book night #2
happy world book night #2, sweet trini!
this year's book to was bradbury's fahrenheit 451. as a child this was one book that made me love to read and immediately think of all literature as terribly important. to potentially gift a similar experience to another is an honour.
20copies boxed up. passed by the secondary school too late to dish 'em out before school bell ring but found 3young boys, aiden, andre+alex (ages 8,9+10) waiting for the public bus to head to their primary school. i approached and offered them each a copy. it went down like this:
"hey, fellas. how are ya'll? you wanna good book?" books already in hand.
all 3boys replied "yeah!" with a moderate amount of excitement. i hand them the book.
"what's is it?"
"fahrenheit 451. do you know why it's called that?"
"no." "nope." alex stays quiet.
"because that's the temperature at which paper burns."
"oh?" confused looks. "so why is called that?"
"it's sci-fi." all their faces light up.
"i love science." says aiden. "i read all kind of science and fantasy fiction." says andre, looking like a young malcolm x. alex still a bit skeptical says "so what's it about?"
"it's about a future based not too far from our own where literature has been outlawed and books are now destroyed instead of created. the firemen who used to save lives and put out fires..."
"start them!" andre proclaims. "he burns their homes and everything, doesn't he? cool!"
"that's right!" i state, immediately impressed and a bit stunned by his answer.
andre, a little proud of himself, asks "are you gonna come back around?"
"well, i hope so. we'll see each other again someday, i'm sure."
they all thanked me enthusiastically and i headed into the job. those were the best 3books i gave away all day.
17copies left... a work day later, i pass by the students of the secondary school still awaiting parent-pickups and invite 'em to take a copy of bradbury's novel. they were gone in less than 5minutes. most of the students were absolutely interested and appreciative for the free book though not one questioned why i was able to give them away for free (i told them anyway) and only 1 turned it down.
the experience of giving to kids was bes'. they were interested+excited+grateful to be given something for nothing. some were even thrilled it was a book. at least 2youths told me they've "always wanted to read this." i hoping them 2 and at least one other read the damn thing, or they at least give it to someone who wanna.
the experience was in stark contrast to last year where i hadda plead with other grown adults to even gimme time a day before they eventually accepted a free book. most figure there hadda be some catch... "what kinda ting you selling attitude?"
seems as we age we learn to expect that nothing free, that there always a hidden agenda, that we, by nature, are selfish beings and act accordingly. and this by all practical reasoning and in my experience is pretty much true. the human condition so poor that we find ourselves flabbergasted when someone truly do for no other reason but to do good. i often feel ashamed+sickened by that condition; like a disease we damned to pass to the next generation. as though there is no hope for them. they doomed to retreat to selfishness. there will be no enlightenment, no advancement, no renaissance. human beings will just continue to slip further into ourselves. but world book night flips that on it's head. publishers+libraries+bookstores+givers coming together for the joy of sharing literature with the masses; no selfish tendencies, no payment, no reason but a pure one; giving art. alex+andre+aiden made my art giving experience one i'll remember. and they remind me to hope for the future. minds like theirs can make the difference.
"always do right. this will gratify some people and astonish the rest." - mark twain.
this year's book to was bradbury's fahrenheit 451. as a child this was one book that made me love to read and immediately think of all literature as terribly important. to potentially gift a similar experience to another is an honour.
20copies boxed up. passed by the secondary school too late to dish 'em out before school bell ring but found 3young boys, aiden, andre+alex (ages 8,9+10) waiting for the public bus to head to their primary school. i approached and offered them each a copy. it went down like this:
"hey, fellas. how are ya'll? you wanna good book?" books already in hand.
all 3boys replied "yeah!" with a moderate amount of excitement. i hand them the book.
"what's is it?"
"fahrenheit 451. do you know why it's called that?"
"no." "nope." alex stays quiet.
"because that's the temperature at which paper burns."
"oh?" confused looks. "so why is called that?"
"it's sci-fi." all their faces light up.
"i love science." says aiden. "i read all kind of science and fantasy fiction." says andre, looking like a young malcolm x. alex still a bit skeptical says "so what's it about?"
"it's about a future based not too far from our own where literature has been outlawed and books are now destroyed instead of created. the firemen who used to save lives and put out fires..."
"start them!" andre proclaims. "he burns their homes and everything, doesn't he? cool!"
"that's right!" i state, immediately impressed and a bit stunned by his answer.
andre, a little proud of himself, asks "are you gonna come back around?"
"well, i hope so. we'll see each other again someday, i'm sure."
they all thanked me enthusiastically and i headed into the job. those were the best 3books i gave away all day.
17copies left... a work day later, i pass by the students of the secondary school still awaiting parent-pickups and invite 'em to take a copy of bradbury's novel. they were gone in less than 5minutes. most of the students were absolutely interested and appreciative for the free book though not one questioned why i was able to give them away for free (i told them anyway) and only 1 turned it down.
the experience of giving to kids was bes'. they were interested+excited+grateful to be given something for nothing. some were even thrilled it was a book. at least 2youths told me they've "always wanted to read this." i hoping them 2 and at least one other read the damn thing, or they at least give it to someone who wanna.
the experience was in stark contrast to last year where i hadda plead with other grown adults to even gimme time a day before they eventually accepted a free book. most figure there hadda be some catch... "what kinda ting you selling attitude?"
seems as we age we learn to expect that nothing free, that there always a hidden agenda, that we, by nature, are selfish beings and act accordingly. and this by all practical reasoning and in my experience is pretty much true. the human condition so poor that we find ourselves flabbergasted when someone truly do for no other reason but to do good. i often feel ashamed+sickened by that condition; like a disease we damned to pass to the next generation. as though there is no hope for them. they doomed to retreat to selfishness. there will be no enlightenment, no advancement, no renaissance. human beings will just continue to slip further into ourselves. but world book night flips that on it's head. publishers+libraries+bookstores+givers coming together for the joy of sharing literature with the masses; no selfish tendencies, no payment, no reason but a pure one; giving art. alex+andre+aiden made my art giving experience one i'll remember. and they remind me to hope for the future. minds like theirs can make the difference.
"always do right. this will gratify some people and astonish the rest." - mark twain.
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