SEASON OPENER! - WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

Ah, finally! A little later then our usual crack-fiend trips up to Vermont for opening weekend. We really tried to get things rolling early but it just didn't happen. So my first days of the season were December 9th and 10th at Mount Snow. Nothing crazy to report, just a good weekend, decent snow and great weather. I'll post a few more pics up soon once I get the ol' flickr fired up!

WELL, THERE GOES OUR VIEW!

Before we even got the chance to have a good fire escape party, or a long summer of gazing at the skyline of manhattie, 4th avenue developement SMACK! upside your view and its gone! What were once basketball courts and part of a nice park are now home to you guessed it, 12 stories of condo bliss.

YOU AIN'T FLY, YOU AIN'T FLY!

Ok, I guess I'm sort of a purest. Do your grinds, slides, backside 180s, slob airs, tabletops and kickflips on one of three things, skateboards, bikes or snowboards. All these other inventions, rollerblades, shoes with wheels or plastic sliders, scooters, snowskates, veedoo boards, those weird bindings on skateboards things, that new Segway 4-wheeled thing etc. DO NOT COUNT AND WHEN YOU ARE STYLIN' YOU LOOK GAY!
So here's the new one to add to that list, the flybar. At first I thought it would be a link to some new snazzy Guido bar, but its equally as yawn inspiring after 30 seconds. Yes, lets update the pogo stick! I can't sleep till I get one! Sure, Andy MacDonald can rock six foot high "tabletop ollies" on the thing. But he's the kinda guy that can ollie garbage cans on one of those mini 12 inch Toys R Us skateboards. Give him a unicycle, a three wheeled bike with a basket and axel pegs, a skateboard with 1 truck. I'm sure he can do equally impressive things on any of those. Can Bob Burnquist ride this thing switch? I wanna see a miami hopper! Maybe Natas can hop up on a fire hydryant with this thing and do a few spins? Or better yet, hey Danny can you hop over the wall of China on it? Can ya can ya? Can I strap it to my back and transport it around town on my bike or skate? Hmmm it looks kinda clumsy and heavy.
I myself can't imagine dropping $300 plus on something that you can't get across town, down Killington Mountain to the Skyship Quad or at least down the block. There are kids out there who love to jump off of shit and maybe when they are grounded at home this thing will be their solace.
When I was at the age that this thing is trying to impress I built a 4ft high mini ramp that was 16ft wide to a corner transfer ramp that was 6ft high and also 16ft wide. (Not to mention they were completely funded by local area construction sites) I didnt have a car and it wasn't even on my parents property! I've had more fun with a wheelbarrow then I would with one of these.
The only thing I want to see is the Jackass crew or the Bam crew get a hold of one of these an attempt "flybar twist airs off 3rd story balconies to hotel pool type tricks" If you know where that video is posted up hit me with the link!

GOOD REGISTRATION MARKS

As soon as I heard that Kanye joined forces with Jon Brion I knew his next record was going to be quite different then the earlier leaked "Late Registration" that had a bunch of roughed out tracks and a few tracks that we may never see again. The new record is amazing but I wonder if Kanye will be a victim of his own design or over-designing for that matter. The record may sound too good, too wide of a spectrum? Too many instruments, real musicianship and more like actual "songs" and not enough Rocafella rap tracks with the sounds that a large part of his audience are familiar with. It's more along the lines of a tribe called quest meets Dan the Automator. The beats are lush, colorful, and contain a lot of instruments that are most likely considered "wack" in the hip hop studio du jour. Did you see the xylophone set up next to the MPC 3000? I didn't think so!

You can hear John Biron's influence easly on over half the tracks as he was brought in by Kanye to Co-Executive produce. Interesting instruments and Biron-esque chord progressions mix in seamlessly with Kanye's compositions. I'm a big fan of Brion for his work with Fiona Apple and the movie soundtracks I Heart Huckabees, Punch Drunk Love and Magnolia simply for his sonic vocabulary and ability to play some 20 or so instruments well enough to record. He's also a sort of perfectionist in that its been said he's written some newer music for his own solo project that I'm sure will never see the light of day for he's never completely satisfied.

Standouts for me are "Heard 'Em Say, "Touch the Sky", "Gold Digger" (for how the beat drops with the Jamie Foxx sample alone), "Drive Slow" (hey, Paul Wall ain't half bad!) and "Gone" which in hip hop terms is a epic track timing in at just over 6 minutes. There is less skits this time around and they are just as funny as last album. The guest spots are good and well placed, I would have liked to hear The Game spit a few bars on "Crack Music" The only song I'm not feeling is the Brandy infused "Bring Me Down". I've heard a previous mix of that with a less grand orchestra beat and minus the Brandy contribution.

I hope that the record does well and that its not too much of a variety for Ye's audience, well see what happens. And he's dropping the same day as that Tony Yayo fool.

EVERYBODY SO LOVED THE POP MUSIC

Every once in a while I get one of these emails on friendster. I think they are funny. I actually wrote back to one who was much hotter but got turned off by the random info, bad grammar and form letter feel. She's cute with that Euro-Hilton look and has the cute snooty face when she's annoyed talking Russian on the phone smoking filter-less cigarettes. It must be rough trying to date while learning a second language. I'll give her credit for that!

Hello, I write you from agency where 
have found out yours profile. I have 
decided to write to you. 
I the lonely girl from Russia also hope after that 
letters to you it to stop and become possible we 
can good friends. My name Sidorkina Natalia. I 
Live in small city in Russia. I work in shopping 
center as the seller of footwear. At leisure I try to 
visit sports halls or to walk on park. Sometimes I 
with girlfriends visit club. I like to dance. I so love 
Pop music. At present I live one in a separate 
apartment. My mum lives in the other city. I was 
not married and I have no children. More you can 
learn about me having looked my structure or to 
write to me the letter on mine email: natal.sid@gmail.com

NOW WHAT?

Sunday nights are officially now boring! For the past few months my Sunday nights revolved around Six Feet Under in some manor. Reading spoilers, watching the episode previews, and alas downloading each episode and either waiting for it to be finished at 1-3 AM or anticipating the viewing next morning. Watching the episode was always the first order of business, and also a first in my TV career is watching a few episodes several times. (I'm not a big TV person folks!)

SFU is over and now Sunday nights will be quiet and will have lost their distinction from the other days of the week. I'm not a huge Sopranos fan and I'm not even sure I can be bothered to chase down each episode. So I'm wondering what all this free time on Sunday nights will have in store for me? Break out the book! Clean the house? My trackstands need some work, maybe I'll do that!

KICK A DOPE VERSE AND THEN WE GHOST!

Man, Ebay continues to amaze me. I put up two used CDs that are selling for major cheese. Brand new they are fetching close to $200! and yes people are buying them. I assumed they would take a few days to go and below my "buy it now" price, I was pleasantly surprised and now they are in the mail.

Both Fondle Em' classics; MF Doom's Doomsday original pressing and The Cenobites featuring Kool Keith and Godfather Don from the late 1990s. Both are stellar examples of what Hip Hop can be. These were just a few of the timeless records that Bobbito released on the defunct Fondle Em'. Within 6 hours I had a cool $80 bucks in my pocket! Its always nice to have the new school hustles going on! I miss the old Kool Keith, who's very dear to me since we go by the same street moniker.

CLASSIC BROOKLYN GRAFFITI SPOT TURNED INTO DANCE VENUE?!?

No wonder graffiti is dead, with classic paint spots such as McCarren park in Brooklyn being turned into a dance and public events venue? It's getting harder and harder to find a chill spot to paint.
All you had to do was mill around outside, look for cops and at a quiet moment... hop the 8 foot high fence to get in. One time we spent a whole night there doing rollers only to find a bum sneaked in at daybreak and smoke a few "rocks" in front of our wall. We were across the pool waiting for some light to get pics. Ah, those were the days! Back in the early 90's between the Brooklyn waterfront warehouses and the McCarren pool, you could catch some good simple styles, upcoming writers and classic styles from Brooklyn. Long gone are the days of abandoned buildings and slow moving real estate in New York. Here's a link to check out the big plans! :sigh:
Ok, I guess its cool they are going to put in a half pipe and skatepark!