Fresh Soccer Unis
Beware the small one in the front, their most feared assassin.
Shaolin shadowboxing, and the Wu-Tang sword style. If what you say is true, the Shaolin and the Wu-Tang could be dangerous.Do you think your Wu-Tang sword can defeat me? En garde, I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style...
- Wu-Tang Clan, Bring Da Ruckus, from "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" (1993)
[via Kenny Bloggins]
The Top Albums of the 2000s
Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Sigur Rós, Modest Mouse and Jay-Z all make the final cut.
Bar Prep Lyrics (Part II)
Black Thought In Action
- Life is hard in general / and we can't complain if things are hard - Talib Kweli
- He caused earthquakes / just from / ex-per-i-ments / some thoughts got lost / not knowing where it went - GZA
- The half-truth is a whole lie - Fly Union
- Stay fluid even in staccato - Mos Def
- I saw The Wizard when the curtain fell - Talib Kweli
And my new mantra for the Bar...
- I'm exhausted but I'll never ever forfeit - Black Thought
[Image via http://black-thought.com/]
Rap Lyrics Appropriate For Bar Prep
Saul Williams
It was a cold night. Not cold like the Winter/ just cold like an energy / was in the air I generally / don't like. / The Driver had to dip / so he left me in the whip / turned round said "You know you're on your own, right?" - Black Thought
In order of progress from Start to Finish during this two-month marathon of study...
- I'm workin' while the Boss relaxin' - Black Thought
- I'm the shaky hand that touched George Foreman in Zaire - Nas
- Bone gristle poppin' from continuous grindin' - Mos Def
- Everybody knows me like the Contra code for extra men - Wale
- Cuttin' up bodies and talkin' to the pieces - Notorious B.I.G.
- I know where I'm goin' even when it's dark - The Roots
- I'm half dead / never felt more alive - Peedi Peedi
- Who's gonna stop us? Not a god damn one o' ya - The Clipse
Three from Lil Wayne:
- I like brain so I f*ck with a whole lotta nerds
- If it's bullsh*t you want, it's bullsh*t I share
- I do what I do and I do it right
And my favorite, by Saul Williams:
These words are not tools of communication
They are shards of metal
Dropped from eight story windows
They are waterfalls and gas leaks
Aged thoughts rolled in tobacco leaf
The tools of a trade
Barbers barred, barred of barters
Catch phrases and misunderstandings
But they are not what I feel when I am alone
Surrounded by Everything and Nothing
And there isn't a word or phrase to be caught
A verse to be recited
A man to de-fill my being in those moments
I am blankness, the contained center of an "O"
The pyramidic containment of an "A"
I stand in the middle of all that I have learned
All that I have memorized
All that I've known by heart
Unable to reach any of it
There is no sadness
There is no bliss
It is a forgotten memory
A memorable escape route that only is found by not looking
There, in the spine of the dictionary the words are worthless
They are a mere weight pressing against my thoughtlessness
But then...
Who else can speak of thoughtlessness with such confidence?
[Like this post? Check out my Muxtape.]
KGB On The MTA
I hate the omnipresent announcements and signs in most areas of major travel, such as airports and trains, about making sure we pay attention to our luggage or report any suspicious activity. They sow fear and paranoia while enforcing stereotypes, and do so in the name of preventing a possible act which is so unlikely to happen that it should be laughable.
An article in the NY Times took a look at one such sign posted on the MTA. More specifically, it was the second run of the "keep your eyes open" MTA sign. The sequel. Part II: "The Search For More Terror."
After 9/11, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority coined the slogan, “If you see something, say something,” and put it on posters encouraging subway and bus riders to call a police counterterrorism hot line if they encountered anything suspicious. Then, last July, the authority trumpeted results on new posters and in television ads: “Last year, 1,944 New Yorkers saw something and said something.”
But the new posters, also placed in the commuter railroad trains, left out two things: What, exactly, did those 1,944 New Yorkers see, and what did they say? Presumably, no active terror plots were interrupted, or that would have been announced by the authorities.
Now, an overview of police data relating to calls to the hot line over the past two years reveals the answer and provides a unique snapshot of post-9/11 New York, part paranoia and part well-founded caution. Indeed, no terrorists were arrested, but a wide spectrum of other activity was reported.
The vast majority of calls had nothing to do with the transit system.
Great article. Even better, the article inspired a t-shirt mocking the sign. Buy it here. My favorite, of course, is the MF Doom version.
Heard On The Radio Today
Atmosphere
Driving home from a cafe, listening to Live 105...
CALLER: Sorry man. I just have a question. I know you already said it, but my goddamn kids keep yelling and my wife keeps running the goddamn vacuum cleaner while I'm trying to listen. Who were those last guys?
DJ: Atmosphere
CALLER: A-T-M-O... thanks man.
DJ: We aim to please.
Same 15 minute drive, now circling for parking. Switched to NPR, and listening to their Science Friday team discuss Al Gore's speech calling for all U.S. energy to be renewable in ten years:
It's important that we move quickly. Most people understand that China is on pace to start consuming much more than the U.S. But fossil fuels are a limited resource. So, in effect, They'll. Drink. Our. Milkshake!
A Sign The Composition Works
From The Plantation To The Penitentiary
I've generally been in an internally beastly mood while prepping for the Bar Exam. I find it's helpful. If I'm too at peace, I get complacent while studying. Though relaxation allows for Brawny-like absorption of rules and elements, over time that relaxation also draws in anxiety, which builds and festers till it paralyzes. I'd guess that a mongoose experiences the same euphoric calm before it realizes it's been ended.
So instead, I've chosen snarling aggression as my study mode. To keep me in the mood, I've been listening to a lot of angry music: conscious rap, beats by The Rza, passion-imbued compositions. It also follows that I've been avoiding jazz - normally effective study music as so much is sans lyrics - like the plague.
This morning, while studying at SF's Best Neighborhood Cafe, I turned on some tunes to escape the enraptured yells from a trio of preschoolers, at once shouting for Tour cyclists to "go faster!" while marveling that they could ride so close together and, not understanding what they wanted, shouting for the riders to "crash and break their necks".*
Headphones on, my thumb spins through options on my iPod. Let's see... Genre will quickly filter for mood. Hrm. Jazz? Well then. Who's here? No, no, no, no, Ah. Wait... Wynton Marsalis? I'd forgotten. Haven't listened in a long time. Sure, why not. Give it a go. Perfect. Exactly what I wanted. Which disc is this? Tap to illuminate screen, and... Of course: From The Plantation To The Penitentiary
And what have I been studying all morning? Criminal law. I guess Wynton hit his mark.
[* Have the little tikes already seen Michael Bay's "work". Did they think a bike would burst into a giant fireball if it crashed? If only Hollywood would think of the kids when letting guys like Bay make movies...]
Wale: NPR's Song Of The Day
Wale
I love when quality rap and NPR collide. First was the most tremendous Fresh Air interview ever, a full hour with Terry Gross and The Rza. And now Wale's Nike Boots is featured as the Song of the Day.
Wale is one of the best around. I still can't thank sansserif enough for introducing me to the kid. Wale's 100 Miles and Runnin' is one of the best hip hop cds of the last couple of years, and I'd never have heard it if not for her suggestion. Via Elitaste:
After releasing a popular mix tape (100 Miles & Running) last year, D.C. rapper Wale signed a deal with Interscope; his major-label debut is due early next year. Known for rapping over beats from unlikely sources — including French electronic duo Justice and English singer Lily Allen — Wale is a blogger favorite, and the song responsible for much of the buzz is "Nike Boots."
Featuring a dramatic, Southern-tinged beat from producer Osinachi, the song pays tribute to the downtrodden people of the DMV — as in the District, Maryland, and Virginia.
Wale's latest mixtape, a tribute to Seinfeld, is called The Mixtape About Nothing. The Washington Post loves it (free download here).
Audio Hilarity For The Weekend
David Sedaris Reading On Letterman
Nothing like listening to David Sedaris read his own stuff...
June 9, 2008 ·Whether he's lancing boils, getting crabs from thrift store pants or sitting in a hospital waiting room dressed only in his underwear, one thing is clear: David Sedaris is not shy about sharing those embarrassing, cringe-worthy incidents that members of the general population tend to save for diaries or therapists.
In his sixth collection of essays, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Sedaris continues to bare his body and soul, detailing the aforementioned boils and crabs as well as an uncomfortable incident in which he accidentally spits a lozenge into the lap of his seatmate on an airplane.
Though some critics have questioned the strict veracity of his essays, defenders maintain that even if Sedaris stretches the truth, a certain degree of exaggeration is expected in humor. In a 2007 Washington Post article defending the humorist, Peter Carlson wrote, "Did Mark Twain fudge facts about how far the frog jumped?"
While his magazine pieces do get fact-checked, Sedaris points out, he agrees with Carlson. For a humorist, he says, "it comes with the territory. I exaggerate about how much I exaggerate. If someone nags [in real life], in my writing they nag nag nag."
Sedaris lives in France and England with his partner, Hugh Hamrick, and is a frequent contributor to This American Life, Esquire and The New Yorker. His previous books include Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.
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Hilarious interview with his sister, Amy Sedaris.
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An interview with Jack Handey.
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My all time favorite Fresh Air interview: Terry Gross interviews The RZA of the Wu Tang Clan.