Alright well my whole inspiration for return to the blogosphere was the above video. Obviously finally being done with classes and not having a summer job yet, combined with endless downtime from having my tonsils out, were contributors. The thing that gets me about this video is its cultural-line-crossing. This is mostly a nerd video, yes, but it speaks heavily into the literary world, and because of its literary subject matter the whole world. The background behind this video is as such: obviously it takes on a very 1984 heavy theme, from the drab color schemes and obedient slave people listening to big brother propaganda, but it more exactly speaks to a 1984 apple commercial. But it also alludes to valve's ( and in my opinion the whole video games industrys future) software distribution program Steam. For those of you that don't know, steam is an amazing program developed/distrubted free of cost by valve that allows you access to video games. It was kind of a precursor to iTunes, but in the video game world. THe grea thing about steam is, that because there are no cd's and none of the associated packaging and distribution cost, games are usually available at a cheaper cost, and more immediately. Instead of waiting in line at some midnight nerd fest of a line at your local EB games or gamestop, you simply download the game itself a few days ahead, and it activities midnight the day of release. This also gives greater control of everything to the game developers, as they dont have to play to the needs and wants of some distributor. It also opens the door for massive amounts of immediate feedback, and accurate data collection of how many people are playing when and where (my 4th amendment sense is tingling). It also opens the door for big time down loadable content, whether or not that's a good thing, ill leave up to you. This software obviously recently came to macintosh, and thats what this commercial is speaking of. But it's excellent execution, and cultural and literary merit speak volumes to me, and I'm sure culture nerds everywhere. Also, it should be pointed out that the crowbar that Alex throws is kind of the icon for the Half-Life series, which is without a question one of the best, most prestigious, video game franchises of all time and happens to be one of my favorite.
I don't know if I have mentioned Jim Jones before or not, but this guy definately deserves some recognition. While he is certainly one of gritty grimier, gangster-er rappers left in the industry, his intelligence is not to be undermined and his influence on hip hop culture is second to none. While he is probably most famous to inudstyr outsiders for his Jay-Z beef, he is worth his weight in hip hop gold for a myriad of other reasons. He, and his former (but soon to be reunited ) band mate Juelez Santana single (double?) handedly moved hip hop, and urban culture in general sort of, away from baggy jeans and into the premium demin, skulls and guns rockstar fad thing. While they probably mostly brought on the whole wallet chain, swarovsky crystal ed hardy t shirt phase, it can't be argued that-that fad was the catalyst for the general dressing up movement prevalent in current urban trends. In fact Jimmy's now defunct clothing label (find a link and you can haz 10 internutz) was really at the forefront of all that. Aside from that, his ear for the underground really helped bring a lot of up and coming artists to the forefront. It could be said that these artists would have found success anyway, and that some other artist would have remixed them at some piont, but they didn't, and that matters. I am specifically referencing Jim Jones MGMT Electric Feel remix (which actually put me hip to the song) and his I love college remix. To an extent, his day n night Kid Cudi remix probably had some effect on the songs popularity and overall street/hip hop credit, but i think the latter two were less affected by Mr. Uptown's blessings as MGMT's. Also, his twitter, (when hes using it ) is one of the best out there, hip hop wise. If Jay-Z is rap's Greatfull Dead (travel the world, and break bread) then Dipset was ("is" soon!) the Van Halen. Lol @ Jim Jones in spandex doing stage acrobatics.
I can't believe I haven't mentioned Kabob Palace in past musings, but I am too lazy/short on time to go back and search for mentions. This place is beyond epic proportions and in my opinion is an equal cultural landmark to DC as any Five Guys/Hellz Burger/ maybe not chilli bowl, but you get the idea. It is extremely well known among the greater metropolitan area Pakistani population, as well as every cab drive that has ever been within 100 miles. I should really stop telling people about it, as it is already crowded with its only slight popularity amongst yuppies and drunkards. I guess its distance from hardcore drinking sptos like clarendon and ballston/g-town/wherever is helping that, but i fear the day there is a line 24/7 instead of just 12/7. The chikpeas are amazing, service with a smile. But the real point of the post was to post my noob rules. Stemming from an errant twitter I squeezed out sometime in the past, I like'd it too much not to blog about (EGO WARNING!). So here we go: #1. Call ahead. It takes 20 minutes pretty much no matter what you get, whether there is a 20 person line, or no one in this store (by that I mean 5 cabbies and random law enforcement agent). The wait only gets longer as the line grows, and at peak hours (breakfast, lunch,dinner, 12pm-2am) it can grow to 40 or 50 minutes. I get take out a lot because my parents bought a house close for convince (not really, but this food is good enough to boost real estate prices). 2. Sit while you wait. Obviously this rule mostly applies to callin-take out. At first, it is kind of confusing what you are supposed to do. But there is almost always a cabbie/pro who is sitting down, then gets his number called, gets his food and leaves, that shows the way. Few people actually go ahead and follow this lead. There aren't a lot of seats in KBP, and it does at first seem like it might be rude to take a seat just to wait for food. Thats whyt he take out wait-ers have to realize they need to sit next to strangers. It probably didn't occur to KBP that we Americans dont like to share tables with strangers, for cultural reasons (and thats awsome) so I almost always make it a point to sit down next to someone who is also waiting (after asking if seats taken first duh). This is such a noob rule that they actually put a sign up recently, asking patrons to sit while they wait. Tacticly, it doesnt mention wether your supposed to sit alone or with others ;) . 3. Never forget your number. This rule is, again, especially important in take out. In all my visits (over 9000) I have only forgotten one time, and even a pro like me got scolded. I knew it was coming though, so it wasn't so bad. I think there hatred of you forgetting the number might stem from them not really liking the take out. The phone doesn't seem to ring to often except at peak hours, but I presume it's off the hook at lunch. 4. Scold at infidels. Also, make donation in mosque box for brownie points 5. No salad. KBP isnt cheap, there is no way around it. The salad, wether your like it or not, simply doesn't have a good enough calorie-to-cents-ratio. If your a pro you need the extra chikpeas/spinach/whatever for perfect ratio naan+meat+sides+yogurt bites anyway. 6. No Drinks. Atleast not from KBP. All drinks cost 1.25 no matter if its water, Cocoa Cola, Nantucket, whatever. Theres free water that comes in the smallest styrofoam cups known to man, and that is probably one of the biggest contributors to me eating out. I will say, that when they have that really good sweet tea in glass bottles, I'll buy it, but that only happens one time. They have the sweet tea (GOLDS PEAK! just remembered, ill be blogging about that shiz later) now in the plastic bottles, but that's a whole'nutha stowie.
Had to post something about future ghost buster related plans, but I cant spoil it yet!
I don't see why rappers hate on nine to fives. Yeah we all wanna be rockstars, but nothin wrong with gettin-yo-grind-on while the mixtape in the works! Especially around DC, a job is almost like a status symbol. Landing yourself a summer internship at some big beaurea downtown, or NPR (HEYYY HOWS PRAGUE) or some bad-ass-gov't-contractor can really boost your personall moral/social clout. Nothing gets in you laid in clarendon like dropping a big name over some yuppet's head, then explaining it to her ignant'ass (atleast thats what they told me).
Cant do a blog post without shoutting out D F A C! They're house parties are second to none (atleast in arlington), I tell ya, they are some real animals at night ;) .
Let me just say the Kodak Playsport is an amazing piece of technology and needs to picked up by all kinds of people. 720hd video at sixty frames per second, a rigid construction, its slim size and the fact that its not only water proof, but shoots 10 feet underwater. That is amazing. This is a go anywhere, record everything in amazing quality, type deal. CNN should pass these out, just because it would document so much news and events in so much quality. I think the fact that this camera cost $150 is literally going to chanage culture. This powerful of a recorder available to so many people is culturally significant, even if you have to buy a SD card with it.
Poser is dope. There is no way around it. His voice bugged me at first (I think everyone has that reaction) but he grew on, and he grew quick. Now he's blossomed (NH). This video is dope, and I am actually a little mad that this vid is soooooooooooooooooooo much better than the Chillin vid. It's also a better song collection. Im just venting cause in like, 10 days (maybe 10 hours) posner is gonna be 20x the celebrity that Wale is. I think he deserves it, yeah, but I think wale just deserves more. How did this go from a Posner blurb to a Wale one? Whatever. Go get Posner's Mixtape and BUY WALE'S FREAKIN ALBUM! Its good, hes good, and its worth the money to say you bought it 6 months from now when DUDE IS RUNNING THE (roc)NATION.
Let me just say that I got really dettered from bloggin with school, but also from the high calibre blogs i started reading: www.gizmodo.com www.jalopnik.com (the whole gawker family, is really better than like most magazines, and as good as the rest) and www.brightestyoungthings.com I hit up www.huffingtonpost.com every once in a while but some of that hippy shit makes me want to vomit shared labor.
I have been playing the starcraft beta and have masterd terran and zerg to atleast a gold leauge level, even if I'm not ranked as such. The HDH invitational was freaking awsome and re-ignited my hopes for pro-E-Games sports leagus in the future.
whole inspiration for blogging was this commercial, sorry for previous sloppy posts but dont expect much better lol
Sorry the pics and vids are messed up, I'm lurking how to fix it righhhee neeyyyaa...
Pps sorry for lackluster grammar/punctuation/layout of previous and current post but don't expect much better. I wouldn't do this if it wasn't fun, and mechanics editing inst much fun.
