A co-worker of mine directed me to this site, Flip Flop Fly Ball. Created by Craig Robinson, the site his a happy merger two of his personal interests – baseball and data visualization. While most all of the infographics are baseball focused, there was at least one dedicated to basketball. Along with a clear illustration the game’s evolution, I think he really captured essence of Bird and Anthony here.
Besides the infographics, there is also a collection of pixel portraits depicting some of his favorite players. He calls them “minipops.”
I’m partial to the A’s era Barry Zito (second row, five from the right).
This cut right here, “Who Is He?”, is a rich, autobiographical journey. The track boasts an infectious hook – partially re-purposed from Mike’s first first hit single, “Rumors” – you may remember it. The song twists and turns as he chronicles some of his toughest life lessons. No punches are pulled, no skeletons dismissed. But don’t be sad. Our boy Meezy is just fine. Married, kids, making music and thrivin’. Right here in the Bay.
And, you gotta’ love the A’s cap with ear warmers. Classic.
Gd.
Oh, and look out for what might be this Summer’s anthem, “Drinks R on Me“, featuring E40 and Mistah FAB.
I had the pleasure of being present for this interview as it was something of a work-related production. I work for the public media organization that produces the PBS Series “Independent Lens,” and Terrence Howard is the host for the series which will be presenting the Baron Davis-produced documentary “Crips and Bloods” on May 12th. So, that’s how the dots connect.
The interview was great and both Baron and Terrence were good sports. The whole production was smooth sailing. I guess for dudes like Baron and Terrence, doing taped interviews is the equivalent of me going to a staff meeting. Really, the only thing that stood out was everyone seemed to be intrigued by Terrence Howard’s cane-sword. Probably because it gave him that English Gentlemen meets Gentlemen of Liesure vibe, if you catch my drift, and well, there’s not too many people walking around The Hollywood Hills with cane-swords I imagine. Anyway, both Baron and Terrence had similar upbringings in Los Angeles, so this was a nice opportunity for them to reflect on their experiences growing up in a world of Crips and Bloods. Enjoy.
Hey kids, don’t be scared. That’s just the diabolical one – with a bat hat and bad vampire accent. Yes, Biz Markie, making music with his mouth. Actually, that was a great album. Nobody Beats The Biz, The Vapors and Pickin’ Boogers. Classics. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of the Biz. Particularly when he does “Bennie and the Jets.”
I would have posted this last night, but after watching The Warriors lose another meaningless game at the end of a meaningless season, I was stricken with complete existential paralysis. I’m surprised I was even able to pour milk in my cereal this morning. That’s the nice thing about the internet though. It’s a nice way to distract yourself from facing your own irrelevant existence. And so it is that I have finally returned to post this little interview with The Lonely Island courtesy of Pitchfork. Just in time for Friday - the weekday where this blog probably sees the least amount of traffic, woo hoo!
Fred Armisen of Saturday Night Live is doing the interviewing. The Lonely Island guys don’t say much but they do let us know they’re from Louisiana and grew up listening to Zydeco. That’s funny because all this time I thought they were from Berkeley, CA. I knew I couldn’t trust those people I’ve met who said they “went to school with Andy Samberg.” People love to lie about celebrities they say they know. In fact, someone just the other day told me that they used to hang with Baron Davis when he played for The Warriors. Hahaha. That’s a good one. Baron Davis on The Warriors - like that ever happened.
I wish I had discovered Rammellzee at a much more influential time in my life. If I had, then maybe instead of heading off to work right now in an office building in Soma, I’d be putting on my Gundam Warrior outfit made of beer cans preparing to do battle with Scraper Bikerz from Galaxy NGC4414. That would rule. Unfortunately though, I wasn’t knowing. I’m up on Basquiat. I watched Wild Style, but for some reason I wasn’t hip to Rammellzee. But it’s not too late for him to change my life. I’m now inspired to create a “View” style talk show featuring Rammellzee, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Kool Keith, and Buckethead all just choppin’ it up about life and the issues of the day. Adult Swim, contact me when you’re ready.
Oh, and did I mention that his name is based on a mathematical equation? According to Wikipedia, in a recent interview, he stated that his name is derived from “RAM” plus “‘M’ for ‘Magnitude’, ‘Sigma’ (Σ) the first summation operator, first ‘L’ - ‘longitude’, second ‘L’ - ‘latitude’, ‘Z’ - ‘z-bar’, Σ, Σ - ’summation’.”
Sure, it’s not Friday yet, but I couldn’t wait. Please welcome the newest member of the Internet-fame fraternity, Ophir Kutiel, aka Kutiman. Technically, he’s a DJ, but given the insanity of the mashup shown above, there really hasn’t been an acronym invented yet to describe what he’s achieved. By taking random clips from individual, single-instrument tracks on YouTube, he literally “built” songs. As in plural. No, no. It doesn’t end with the video above. Head on over to the wee little site he launched, thru-you.com and check out the other tracks.
Personally I favor the old-school talk-box flavored “Wait for Me.” Check it out. Then click on “credits” and follow the trail of breadcrumbs into the forest where you’ll find the newly famous talk boxer fielding comments innumerable from people who had never heard of him only a couple of weeks ago.
While the track shown above is anchored by one of the awesomely awesomest session drummers ever to anchor a session, Bernard Purdie, most of the material is from amateur musicians recording for exposure, friends and family, or just for the helluvit. Kutiman managed this all with minimal pitch correction, some hitchy but effective video editing, and a giant sidestep around all known copyright law. A great article on the subject can be found on Wired’s blog. His creative process sounds positively monklike, but no doubt the product of someone on an exponential mission of musical discovery.
“I moved to Tel Aviv when I was 18 or 19,” Kutiman said, “and met friends who introduced me to all this wonderful music. I discovered Parliament-Funkadelic, Fela Kuti, King Crimson and so much more. It was like gold, and I discovered it all at once, so my mind was completely blown. Once I discovered funk, afrobeat and psychedelia, I locked myself in my studio and just started playing. On this project, I was searching for the same thing.”
Searching is the key word. For Kutiman, time blurred as he crafted the project, punching musical search terms into YouTube to find and download what he was looking for. Once he did, ThruYou took on a life of its own.
I remember searching. In some 20 years as a DJ. On my knees in Amoeba or Rasputin’s or any number of other record stores, hoping against hope that this would be the day that I found Grant Green’s “Alive,” or any number of other rarefied vinyl sides. Those days are gone. And Kutiman is an ambassador of something totally new. What Wired’s Kevin Kelly–in a lecture earlier this year–called the great giant movie, the great record of humanity, that we are all hard at work recording, mastering and remixing.
Make the jump for some funky talk box, a short piece of the Bernard Purdie legend, and then let’s talk about it,
Turman
PS. Yeah, I know. Warriors lost. I watched some of it. It’s painful. No Jack for the rest of the season either. Turf Toe. At least Morrow got off to such an extent that he might cloud the picture at small forward. Oy.
Okay, I know Mr. West’s entourage (fig 1) were going big for Paris Fashion week, but dang. When was that last time tight-ass leopard leggings with cowboy boots was a righteous look in the world of Hip Hop fashion?
I’m not exactly sure, but I have a feeling Grand Master Flash (fig 2) and his extra Furious Five would know. Seriously, a gold lamé tasseled coat-cape thingy, bright yellow Speedos (sans pants), white and gold cowboy boots, topped off with a pith helmet? WTF?!
Actually, Kanye’s gear is alright, and same with his pea-coated homie rocking the orange fedora. Regardless, I’m sure those LV cases are filled with whatever they’ve been smoking. Welcome to the good life.
Gd.
Read Kayne’s blog to keep yourself fashion forward or you can make the jump and lament the lamé.
A poster of President Barack Obama, right, by artist Shepard Fairey is shown for comparison with this April 27, 2006, file photo of Obama by Associated Press photographer Mannie Garcia. Fairey has acknowledged the poster is based on the AP photograph. AP
I’ve done it. And, so has my boy Tony.psd. Frankly, at one point or another, most designers and many artists have. Question is, is it criminal?
If you haven’t heard the mounting saga, Graphic Designer and Street Artist, Shepard Fairey (the man behind the now ubiquitous Obama “Hope” posters) has been charged with copyright infringement for the use of an image taken by an Associated Press photographer.
For me, the question is two-fold. When Fairey traced (yes, he traced it on his computer), then slightly rotated, simplified and re-colored the image is he bound to give the original photographer credit? Then if he uses this image for monetary gain (even if for a politician we really really like), is he obligated to share (or offer to share) the wealth?
Um.
NPR has run few great stories on the matter. Here, here and here.
