Have a Good Weekend

I'll be in Banner Elk, North Carolina getting steezy with my people. Don't act like you're not impressed.

I'm All About THE WIRE Right Now

Big ups to Mel for putting me on to my favorite show (and current obsession) right now, The Wire. Seriously tho, it's the best thing on TV. There's lots of interesting characters (almost all are dynamic with a couple of static characters sprinkled in) as well as a full representation of the population of Baltimore.

My favorite character is Omar Little (pictured above with fan art). He's the hardest stick-up kid around B-More and tends to use a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun more than any other weapon. Other than being an all-around bad mug, Omar also refuses to curse, and is full on homosexual. His signature catchphrase ("indeed") is always delivered in a way that cracks me up.

Other than Omar, I'm a big fan of Stringer Bell. I'm only halfway through Season 2, but I have a feeling that either Stringer will kill Omar, or Omar will kill Stringer. Their story lines seem to be heading towards a conflict between the two baddest dudes in Charm City. String is Avon's right-hand man. He handles the everyday business of having the dope game on lock in Baltimore's west side projects. You got to respect String, but all respect to Omar for getting at him and Avon's operation numerous times.

If you aren't/haven't yet, peep The Wire. We got the DVD's at the library, so stop frontin.

Some More Oscar Steez

Last night, I got together with this guy, this guy, this girl, this girl, and Rob to watch Michael Clayton. I dug it, for serious. That means that I've seen 4 of the 5 Best Picture nominations (and I have no plans of seeing Atonement--I won't even post a link for it). I think the Academy got it right by giving Javier Bardem the best supporting actor nod, but Tom Wilkinson was damn good. Very high recomendations for this one. I'm really starting to think Clooney is the next Eastwood.

Oscar Reflections

I watched the Oscars last night. Most of what I thought would happen went down: No Country For Old Men winning for adapted screenplay, the Coen brothers winning best director, Javier Bardem winning best supporting, and Daniel Day-Lewis winning best actor. I even called Diablo Cody winning best original screenplay (but I think a lot of people saw that one coming). That French girl winning best actress was a big surprise, but the biggest surprise was that my favorite movie of the year (No Country for Old Men) won best picture. Nice to see the Academy giving the Coen Brothers their due for something not named Fargo. Seriously tho... between The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, Oh Brother, The Man Who Wasn't There, and many other masterpieces it's a shame these guys don't have a whole shelf of statues. Maybe it's because they give horrible acceptance speeches. It was nice to see Josh Brolin give them a statue, and Scorcese's presentation speech for best director was really nice. I wonder what he said to Ethan Coen on the way off stage. Prolly something like "real funny, asshole. I waited my whole career for one of those and you tell a joke for your acceptance speech". I actually laughed both times he did it, though. I wish Into the Wild didn't get completely snubbed, but at least the Academy recognized how good No Country was.

Once Again, J. Rocc

I'm always raving about my favorite DJ to my friends, but I figured I'd post EVEN MORE J. Rocc videos here on the blog. This freestyle routine right here is the reason I know J. Rocc is the illest:

Don't front...

Some Historical Steez

In case you haven't heard me rant about this before (or if you have and you just need the links), I'm all about The Rub. For those not in the know, it's a DJ crew based in New York. They got a series out that's got me crazy opin: The History of Hip Hop. Every week, they put out a new mix of their take on the best hip hop from a specific year. You can read about it here and here. Earlier this week, 1996 came out (my favorite year due to the introduction of Jay-Z and Company Flow as well as Dilla TAKING OVER hip hop), and I figured I'd spread the word. If you want to listen, you can go here to stream the mixes, check track listings, or even set up a podcast to automatically get updates to your iTunes. Big Ups.

Some Educational Steez

I know not everyone is an AV nerd like me, but I pept out the College of Charleston John Rivers Communication Museum yesterday and it was really steezy. Rick Zender (the curator of the museum) is a super cool guy. He caught on that I'm a DJ and record collector pretty quickly, and we talked records, music, technology, history, and lots of stuff in between. If you're at all interested in the history/technological advances of mass communication, drop by the museum (on the corner of George and St. Philip) and say hi to Rick.

Things Are Looking Up

I got my power adaptor in the mail last night, and everything seems to be working just fine. Along with the adaptor came a shipment of new records. I'm moving in a more upbeat direction (more disco and new school funk ala Cymande and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings). My favorite record in the new shipment is a James Brown beat collage called Stealin' James. It's super illy. I stayed in last night to practice and get a feel for the new records and how I want to use them. Not exactly your normal idea of Valentine's day, but everyone who knows me knows that I love my records and turntables more than pretty much anything else. So I guess I spent the holiday the way it was meant to be celebrated. Have a great weekend. I'll be practicing and trying to save money.

I Think I'm Cursed

If you've been following the ongoing chronicles of DJ Bird Flu, you know that I've had to replace both my turntables in the past month. On top of that, my in-ear monitors (don't you dare call them headphones) broke 2 weeks ago, and the power adaptor for my mixer was acting up, so I had to order a new one. Also, problems at the spot where I was DJing (like they haven't been open all week so I never got paid for last Thursday when the owner didn't show up) and a lack of creative spirit is holding back my steez. I get the new power adaptor in the mail today (hopefully) and all I can do is hope that the problem is not my mixer, just the power adaptor. More to come, but if the problem is my mixer... I'm going to lose my mind.

Half Nelson Was Good

Last night, Alex and I watched Half Nelson at my apartment. Like the title of the post suggests, I liked it. Ryan Gosling was pretty good, as usual (although I haven't seen Lars and the Real Girl, Tyner reccomends--so it must be good). It was kind of depressing, but that feeling my come from the ambient (almost eerie) soundtrack by Broken Social Scene. In any event, the movie was really well shot and had a good message. I give it high reccomendations. It even made me want to make some changes--like "get my life together" (apart from "do it big in oh-eight" the most uttered phrase of the year by far).

Trend Setting... It's my new hobby

So, LP started a blog last week. You may remember her from this post. Apart from running Charleston and being a rockstar, she is now working here and being a general badass. Aparently, I'm not the only one who gets bored at work, because LP has a blog now. You should peep it out for random thoughts, musings, and a glimpse of what it's like to live in the mind of Chucktown's biggest pimp (ladies is pimps too, gwan and brush ya shouldas off).