DragonBoy - 0.5

DragonBoy - NextGen

DragonBoy - 3D character

Working on a 3D-character for a book cover, let me introduce Dragon Boy.

Glasvegas - okay, I get it!

Listened to them a few times, they are not bad actually. Not my kind of music, but they have a special feel to their sound that is unique, and I can appreciate. Now the singer, Allan James, check out his pompadour on this video. I bet ya he will either have to go Tom Morello soon (baseball hat) or Axl Rose (fake braided-on dreads), or Rob Halford (pool ball). Anyways, I had to diss a little, but they are pretty good. I won't play them much, but I get what the critics are raving about.

Surfer's, like, speak in codes, dude?

Like dude, what is this dude sayin, like, gnarly...

Grow up, Kidult!

A fun word, Kidult. Fits in very well on yours truly. Someone who refuses to "grow up" and won't "do what they they told me" as Zach de la Rocha would have put it. Usually Kidults don't have kids, so I really don't fit in as a Kidult but it's close!
Here's a british article about Kidults:
I turned 40 two weeks ago. Even as I write those words I still refuse to believe them. Me? 40? It doesn’t make sense. My calendar must be malfunctioning. I still feel like I’m 20 . . . unless I am walking up some stairs. I still behave as if I am 20. In fact I behave more like I am 20 than I did when I was 20. So I can’t be 40. I am nothing like a 40-year-old.

When my dad was 40 he had been married for 17 years, had three children, two of them teenagers. He had worked hard as a teacher all his adult life and recently been promoted to headmaster, wore a suit and tie every day and had proper grown-up hobbies like listening to classical music, gardening, golf, DIY and making elderflower wine.

I, conversely, am single, I’ve never been married and am childless. I am sloshing around in the insecure (in both senses) world of stand-up comedy. Most nights I go drinking with other people in their twenties (“other” because I am in my twenties, remember), most daytimes I play on my Nintendo Wii. I have the latest Arctic Monkeys CD, wear Converse trainers and recently acquired a skateboard – though tellingly I am too scared to be on it when it’s moving, but it’s good to casually hold, while walking down the road, nodding at other sk8erbois (it means skater boys, grandad). I have no practical skills whatsoever, paying other people to mend broken stuff and even do my cleaning. cont'd.

Californication Season ending

Ends off in a strong note, with Hank finally getting back to writing, has a black baby, sorta, and Karen decides to move to NY to work(!). I guess the scriptwriters have read Calibjornia, and figured they better get rid of this dame... Anyhow, strong season ending, unfortunately rock producer Lew Ashby dies in a coke overdose. Really dig this series, hope it stays smart, here's some clips from episode 11:

Glasvegas I don't get it!

Okay, so all Swedish music press is totally in love with Glasvegas. They are the best thing to happen music since the electric guitar. I've heard a few songs on the radio and dismissed them as some 80's inspired Joy Division-light-clones. But they won't go away, they top most of the year's best album lists, heck, the press even loves Glasvegas' christmas album!
Okay, I listen to them right now, they sound like what I heard going round in '82 when I was into new wave. They are quite ungroovy, and the singer is like any indie-singer, not very good at singing, more of a personality.
What is it about them? I am now going to listen to them this christmas, at least three times, to see if I get it.
I have a little suspiscion going, the singer looks like indie/new wave god Joe Strummer, the recently passed away singer from The Clash. Could this be what makes people go bananas after them, they feel it's Joe Strummer reincarnated? (The Clash were a fantastic band, love them)
Glasvegas dude:

Joe Strummer:

Keep on 30 Rockin me baby

30 Rock with Tina Fey is in on its third season and doing really great. Funnier than most movies, episode 1-6 are out now. Cameos by people like Steve Martin and Jennifer Ansiton. Episode 6 is a christmas special, and was the weakest episode, otherwise brilliant comedy. I've downloaded season 2 now, which I skipped since I thought season 1 was okay, but not great. Tina Fey is not as funny as Sarah Silverman, but a whole lot saner!

MURS interview and live Footage

Wow, great to see a really good rapper who just stays out of the shootin' people gangsta vibe, and none of the usual bitches and ho's stuff either. Which I thought was really interesting and raw when Dre's and Snoop's first albums came out in the early 90's. This interview just makes me like MURS more. All rap don't gots to be ghetto, ya hear?
Interview:

Performance:

Matthew Bone is da shiyat

Hey, check out great new artist Matthew Bone, exhibiting at Copro Nason Gallery in Santa Monica, LA. Reminds me of Koons and Barney, mixed up with early 80's airbrush art. Interesting, a bit seedy, stuff! Not family friendly! Great name for the exhibition: Like Giving a Kid a Loaded Gun

MURS is the best rapper right now

Haven't heard any real good hip hop since the last album from Ice Cube or Q-Tip. MURS is an upcoming cat I had missed, his new album MURS for President is really good, his style is a bit old school, but very personal, uplifting, non-gangsta hip hop music. Makes me think of Kanyes first albums, before Kanye lost the plot and went hipster fashionista.
This here MURS video is a bit silly, but as I said, he's movin' on up, and still can't afford any expensive videos. Great rapper and musician though:

Calibjornia Products

http://www.cafepress.com/calibjornia

Hipsters...The Burg

They are from Williamsburg, apparently, the guy who wrote The Hipster Handbook is from there...
The Burg is an Internet TV show that "follows the antics of five twentysomethings living in the neo-hipster capital of the world." That, of course, would be Brooklyn's own Williamsburg, a very special place where "trust fund kids pretend to be starving artists, starving artists pretend to be able to live completely off of credit cards, and everybody pretends not to notice."

I am so not a hipster---

They're from Williamsburg, apparently...

More hipsters...

Hipsters...

Hey, hipsters, can't get enough of them:

UK Hipster music

The last posting is old stuff, this is spanking new:

http://www.clashmusic.com/

Hipster Lingo - So deck!

Fun stuff, from The Hipster's handbook:


bronson - beer
sentence: "I drank a sixer of bronsons last night while watching the game."
Origin: Watching Charles Bronson movies while drinking beer is deck. The term spawned from this ritual.

bust a moby - to dance
sentence: "Let's go to the Tunnel and bust a moby."
"Did you see her moves at the party last night? She really knows how to bust a moby."

chipper - a woman who's easy
sentence: "She's a real chipper and will sleep with anyone after one bronson."

clothesline - the gossip that is on the scene
sentence: "Yo, I heard on the clothesline that she is sleeping with Billy. She is such a chipper."

cronkite - boy
sentence: "Have you seen Anne's new cronkite? She met him at the cafe and he is such a frado."

deck - a key word for most Hipsters, similar in meaning to the antiquated fresh. To be deck is to be up on the latest trends, cutting edge, and/or hip.
sentence: "That tassel we met at the gallery opening sure looked deck in her cowboy boots."
" Have you checked out the new Jonathan Lethem book? It's deck."
A Frado
a frado

fin - the opposite of deck, similar to outdated terms like "wack" and "lame." Something that is fin is bad or undesirable.
sentence: "How can you like that Vin Diesel movie? Every film he's ever starred in has been fin."
"My date with Larry was so fin. He took me to Applebee's and ordered cheese fries as an appetizer."

frado - an ugly guy who thinks he's good-looking
sentence: "Bill thinks all the girls love him, but they all know he's a frado."

the frigidaire - the cold shoulder
sentence: "I don't know what her problem is, but she gives me the frigidaire every time I see her."

jerry - a stoner or hippie
sentence: My pits smell ishtar. I feel like a total jerry.

juicer - a ladies' man. An individual who has undeniable sex appeal.
sentence: "I wish he would ask me out, he's such a juicer."

jug - a 40 ounce bottle of domestic beer.
sentence: "Tassels respect me. I can drink a whole jug and still bust a mean moby."

kale - money
sentence: "Yo Kim, can you slide me some kale? I'm still waiting for my mom to send rent."

kidsman - one who rounds up children to educate them in thievery. (Oops-this is Victorian slang, not Hipster slang)

midtown - uncultured or unhip
sentence: "He's never heard of Spike Jonze. He's so midtown."

piece - cell phone
sentence: "John is such a nerd. He doesn't even have a piece."
"I must have been on the subway, my piece didn't ring."

shitter - someone who constantly looks like he/she is taking a shit.
sentence: "Dude, Jake is such a shitter."

tassel - girl
sentence: "Jim is definitely a frado, but somehow he gets a new tassel every night."

Not yer Common rapper

Check out this new song from Common, I like it, it sounds like as if Kraftwerk & Devo were involved, remixed by Break Machine, and a little Dang-Diggy-Dang ripped off from Teddybears Sthlm: (Produced by Pharrell, he's such a talented hipster!)

Calibjornia products

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Generation Y - Here Ya R

Wow, found this on American Sports Data, interesting:

A STEREOTYPE OF GENERATION "Y"

"Generation Y" members, also known as "Millennials," "Generation Next," the "Echo Boom," or the "Digital Generation", were born (depending on the source) between 1977 - 1994, and are the latest issue of a genre that includes four other living cohorts: "Generation X" or "Baby Busters" (1965 - 1976); "Baby Boomers" (1946 - 1964); the "Silent Generation" (1933 - 1945); and the "World War II Generation", born before 1933.

Beyond the general contours of age, there is no precise definition of these generational stereotypes; they are based on ascending proportions of fact, anecdote and fancy. While some of the defining behaviors (i.e. consumer purchases, health habits, suicide rates, etc.) are retrievable from the public record, the true essence of psychographic typologies — personality, lifestyle, opinions, attitudes and social values — remains largely undocumented, simply inferred by sociologists, trend-watchers, the media and other purveyors of popular culture. In brief, generational typologies are merely demographics aspiring to be psychographics.

In many ways, "Generation Y" is a souped-up, improved version of "Generation X." Like its immediate predecessor, "Y" is laid-back, individualistic, resourceful, but also cynical; unlike "X," which was white/middle class/suburban, "Y" is socioeconomically, ethnically and sexually diverse. If sub-teens in the previous cohort were very advanced for their ages, Echo Boomers are dangerously precocious, an unsurprising characteristic of the most coddled and fawned-over children in history. Whereas "X"-ers were latchkey kids, "Y" returns from school to housekeepers; and if financial necessity forced many of the "Bust Generation" to live at home with parents, older Millennials are ensconced in their own apartments — often subsidized by parents.

If "X" was contemptuous of authority, "Y" is downright inimical — outrageously disrespectful to elders and constantly on the verge of a coup in which children will displace parents, teachers, employers and all other dinosaurs of the old hierarchy. And while Millennials have mutilated the language even more horribly than did their Hippie ancestors — they are the best-educated generation since.

In the 1960's, television sounded the death-knell for the American language, ensuring the demise of both spoken and written word. In the 1970's, open admissions erased all elocutionary differences between the educated and uneducated. The mortal blow was struck in the early 1980's, when spell-check foreclosed any possibility that young writers would ever again read — let alone re-write — anything that came out of a computer printer.

Generation Y has delivered the final coup-de-grace via email. Misspelling is not only tolerated, but celebrated! Grammar, punctuation and syntax have suffered even worse fates, and woe to employers who seek applicants with even the most rudimentary communication skills.

The single greatest cultural achievement of "Generation Y" has been to expunge from our language the cherished pleasantry, "you're welcome" — a time-honored utterance that once was the courteous, civilized response to "thank you." They have administered a multiple coup de grâce to propriety, civility and the mother tongue with a single linguistic bombshell: NO PROBLEM!!! And this verbal monstrosity is no longer a subtle defiance of politeness and conformity; it pervades every corner of their lexicon, an all-purpose rejoinder to any statement imaginable!

Their great-grandfathers were called "Sir", and grandfathers in turn were demoted to Dad by their children. Today, in rare interactions with parents, Generation Y is on a first-name basis, or any basis it chooses.

Any member of the Silent Generation has borne witness to the parallel disintegration of authority, courtesy and the English language. In 2002, many find public dining impossible. Consider the evolution of a restaurant greeting, as an 18-year-old waitress seats a couple older than her grandparents:
1960: "Good Evening, Sir"
1975: "Hello, Folks"
1990: "Hi!"
1995: "H'ya guys doin'?"
2002: Her cell phone conversation interrupted, an annoyed, distracted waitress points to a table ten feet away and grunts the ultimate Millennial concession to politeness: "NO PROBLEM!!!"

Their great-grandparents accepted corporal punishment for children as a birthright; invariably, a grandparent receiving a physical reprimand at school received a second beating when they got home. Parents of Gen Y were already immune to teacher discipline, the mere hint of it enough to trigger a flood of complaints to the P.T.A., District Superintendent and local Congressional office. Next came the lawsuits.

Generation Y has pushed educational tolerance to its logical extreme: children of the third millennium go to school, put their feet up on the desk, and say "entertain me".

While "Generation X" exhibited the highest rates of suicide, homicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, and pregnancy in teenage history, Millennials — riding the coattails of a falling crime rate (easily the greatest unsolved mystery of 20th century social science) — have apparently reversed this trend. Quite inexplicably, this welcome reduction in teen misbehavior coexists with the Columbine stigma and a Millennial reputation for inwardly-focused aggression, substance abuse and generally antisocial behavior.

Culturally and economically, Millennials are the most egalitarian generation in American history. In 2004, the most affluent love Hip-Hop, while the most impoverished own a cell phone, Play Station, DVD player, and at least a dozen expensive video games. Children of all social classes have been sighted paying for ice-cream cones with credit cards. Most of Gen Y — rich or poor — plays on a travel Soccer team, and eventually goes to Acapulco on spring break.

Not roundly criticized as slackers, "Y" kids are nonetheless characterized as apathetic, lazy and spoiled. But unlike "X" — which was decidedly aimless, underemployed and pessimistic about its economic future — "Generation Y" is pragmatic, worldly, materialistic, driven by technology and optimistic about its prospects. Indeed, if "X" was alienated and numbed, "Y" is very much alive, even passionate. There are signs of a paradoxical return to traditional values, most notably a renewed confidence in government leaders; and even more remarkably, a return to religion.

The technology-driven Millennial culture bears directly on its leisure preferences, especially participation in sports. "Boomers" were bred solely on network TV, while "Busters" added Cable, Atari and the PC to their repertoire. Millennials on the other hand, driven by email and the Internet, are able to detect emerging trends at virtually the speed of light — a capability with enormous implications for the life cycles of fads and trends, both of which are in danger of serious time compression. Brand loyalty and product preferences are also subject to change at hyperspeed — a portent of even shorter product shelf-lives for sporting goods (especially footwear and apparel). The life spans of emerging sports are also potential casualties of time dilation.

Torn jeans, inverted baseball caps, colored hair, nose rings, tattoos and stubble all seem to proclaim their arrested state of emotional and intellectual development; but these are clever Millennial decoys — symbols designed to conceal huge reserves of guile, determination, and a worldliness so keen as to cut to the very edge of paranoia.

"Generation Y" has an inbred mistrust of major brands, resents obvious ad campaigns targeting their psychographic, and on the whole, poses a formidable challenge to all but the most astute teen marketers. Their razor-sharp defenses tolerate only the most subtle and "truthful" marketing messages; and these must be crafted by a copywriter who is indeed the supreme arbiter of "cool". But once the defenses of this super-savvy group are finally pierced — as they have been by Tony Hawk, the 34-year-old cultural icon and one-man marketing phenomenon said to be the Michael Jordan of Skateboarding — it can be a gigantic breach that invites the marshaled hordes of ESPN, Nickelodeon, The Simpsons, Interactive Video Games, films, CD's, books and a plethora of endorsements. It's only a matter of the right siege engine.

Worst Week - Wicked & Wacky Witcom

Very funny new sitcom. A ripoff from Meet The Parents, and the first episode is as funny as the first Gaylord Focker-movie with Ben Stiller and DeNiro. Many laughs, great thing is you can watch the whole first episode on Youtube:

Nerd Town, Beam Me Up!

Check this out, a Canadian town that's gone all Star Trek:

Nerdboard, Finger Me Up

One of my kids is into Fingerboarding, it's da hype in his class. Turns out, there are "pro" fingerboards, and even sets of ramps and rails you can buy... Nerdy, fun, stupid, why do people waste time on stuff like this? Anyway, check it out, If you are into board sports, you will be a little bit amazed:

Takin it back old skool, really old

Grandmaster Flash is bustin' out with a new CD in the end of February, supported by Q-Tip, Snoop and others. Maybe could be okay, with a good producer.

Remember the first rap song I ever heard, Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight from 1979. It blew me away totally, and I couldn't say I was just into punk and new wave anymore. The song consists of a break from Chic's Good Times, just looped for seven minutes, and a bunch of young rappers freestyling over it.

In this live uptake of the song being performed, one can easily see this is something coming out of disco, if you look at the dancers and all. The clothes... Maybe one could say it's disco, that was quite white, being turned into something funky, by some black cats?

Whatever, great, fun video, and all the rap stuff that you hear quoted still today, coming out of this song:

Mormons overtaken by hormones

Check out this "crazy" rawker from The Osmonds:

DEVO + Johnny Rotten? Branson 2 stoned

Here's a fun little story from Blender:I once heard from some punk that Johnny Rotten was supposed to sing for Devo. Any truth to this?
Patrick Day, Lynchburg, VA

Weirdly, yes. It was January 1978, and the Sex Pistols had just broken up. The band scattered to England and Brazil, but frontman Johnny Rotten was stranded in L.A. with no money and no way home. Desperate, he called his friend Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin Records, who agreed to fly Rotten to Jamaica, where he was vacationing.

Branson hatched a plan and invited nerdy post-punkers Devo down to Jamaica as well. Having procured a bushel of the island’s finest herb, he proceeded to get the band insanely high and make his pitch. As Devo’s Mark Mothers­baugh recalled: “[Branson] says, ‘We have Johnny Rotten in the next room, and he wants to be the new lead singer for Devo. We have the press from England here, and they’re ready to take photos and do articles.’” The band was flattered, but politely declined. “We were stoned, so it made it even worse,” Mothersbaugh said. “We started laughing … until tears were coming out of our eyes.” Keyboardist Gerald Casale was even more blunt: “It was an absolutely stupid idea.”

What was Branson thinking? He must have been stoned outta his skull? DEVO and Rotten are from two different solar systems, besides DEVO had a lead singer already, who was what set DEVO apart.

Here's a fantastic little video from DEVO on Letterman from 1982. Imagine I was in high school in Michigan that year, could have seen it...

Californication losin' it

Californication has been going for shock value all of season 2, and has been quite good at it, keeping at least me interested up to episode 10, where things get way silly. Hank and Karen have a flashback episode to when they had just met, back in the 90's, and they are supposed to be grunge rockers, 15 years younger, it just don't work, they look like a pair of 40 year olds, trying to fit in with the kids. Stoopid. Couldn't find any clips.