US ELECTION 08
THANK YOU AMERICA
November 04, 2008
November 03, 2008
the candy election
Mounds vs. Almond Joy—the time is now! Choose, vote, eat! On one side we have a dark chocolate exterior with a palatable, chewy white center. On the other side we have a white core encased in a milky shell surrounded by nuts. Yumm-o! Never has an election been so delicious.
October 27, 2008
the diva inside
is anyone still not totally in love with Supernatural's Jensen Ackles? if you've yet to be convinced then check out this outtake from last week's episode. the episode itself was pretty funny with Jensen's Dean character getting infected with a "ghost sickness" which turned him into a huge pussy (and also explains the otherwise odd arm scratching in this clip), you know, as in scared of anything and everything -- a total reversal of the uber-manly Dean. Jensen always does a good job of walking the line between serious drama and slapstick comedy, testosterone-fueled action and sentimental emotions. here we get a behind-the-scenes look at Jensen's own humor as he delivers a rousing lip sync performance of "Eye Of The Tiger". woof.
punKpup
October 20, 2008
break the system
It's been quite a while, about 10 years—way too long—since I last made a DJ mix. Something about entering into a full-time wage-slave existence erodes away all the simple pleasures that once seemed so crucial to your sanity... Despite losing access to the over-abundance of time and energy I felt I needed to make a good mix, I never lost my love of good beats and the spiritual connection I get from rockin' out to some hot tracks, especially when those beats are booming out of a slamming club system through the heart, mind, and fingers of a like-minded DJ. Seriously DJ Icey, you'll never realize just how big an impact your set at the Smartbar recently had on my emotional well-being—experiences like that are far too rare these days. So after my recent re-invigoration I decided I needed to spend some time getting back to my more tribal instincts and celebrate my musical heritage. Although my dance music collection goes back about 20 years through many different genres (New Beat anyone?), I decided to concentrate on some more recent breaks for my latest outing. I hope to do some "retro techno" mixes in the future since there was plenty of good stuff from the early days of the scene. But for now enjoy this quick 42 minute breaks mix I titled "Break The System." Although there's some technical issues that could definitely be improved upon, I'm pretty happy with my first try in 10 years and I think the strength of the tracks themselves carries it through.
Binarystatic -- Break The System (download link—high quality MP3, 57.4MB)
TRACKLIST
- Who's Your Daddy? (David Guetta & Joachim Remix) -- Benny Benassi
- 4 Bit -- Uberzone
- Supercrazyillbomb (Original Mix) -- Rennie Pilgrem
- Gimme What You Got (Alex Metric Remix) -- Black Daniel
- Torque Of The Devil (Subs Remix) -- Plump DJs
- I Love To Move In Here (Crookers Bass In Here Mix) -- Moby
- More (DIM Pop Em All Dub Rework) -- Junkie XL
- Dynamite Love (12'' Version) -- Freestylers & Krafty Kuts feat. Dynamite MC
- Electronic Battle Weapon 9 -- The Chemical Brothers
- Handz Up (Stanton Warriors Remix) -- Ed Solo & Deekline w/ MC Flipside
- Beats & Rhymes (Original Mix) -- Napt feat. G-Double
- Push Up Word Up (Stanton Warriors Remix) -- Freestylers
- Down Low Radio (Curtis B Remix) -- Attack & Chunk
September 29, 2008
Icey beats
Well I finally got to see DJ Icey live, yip yip! He, Baby Anne, Keith MacKenzie, and Local Hero rocked the Smartbar in Chicago Friday night and kept me dancing for four hours non-stop. And I got to meet Icey himself before his set and give him a shirt I designed for him (see the shirt at the bottom of the post). Everybody looked like they were having a great time, including the DJ's themselves. I couldn't have had a better time dancing in front of the DJ booth while Icey laid down some slamming beats. Much fun and I left the club a huge ball of sweat. It was about as close to a religious/spiritual experience I'll ever get... I can't wait until he comes back to Chicago—hopefully I won't have to wait a whole year or more. But he does have a new mix CD called "Amplified" coming out October 14 on top of his latest album "Offshore Jedi" which is an amazing work of funky breaks.
Some good beats and good weed is all I really need.
—ancient proverb
And don't forget this mash-up I did of Dennis Kucinich's speech at the Democratic Convention and DJ Icey's new song Bass Electrix from "Offshore Jedi":
September 19, 2008
dead Dean walking
holy shit batman! Supernatural is back with a vengeance. first up we got the standard "the road so far" montage, and what a great one it was. anyone not watching this show should take the time to just view this 30-second intro and then tell me you're not hooked.
on to the new. we start up right where we ended last season—Dean in hell, chained down and squirming. but wait, what's this? now he's waking up four months later in the dark... in a coffin... in his own grave! he's forced to claw his way up through the dirt and emerge reborn. i'm sure most of us have seen similar scenes in movies or on tv by now, but watching my boy Dean poke his way up out of the ground was just downright painful to watch. and although we find out it really is him, and not some demon or revenant, there's definitely something powerful at work as the trees surrounding his grave are all blown over away from the site and some force is following him turning on electronics and blowing out glass. Ruh-roh! and not only does he have a hand print branded on his shoulder, but his hellhound mangled torso is completely healed. and looking hotter than ever, i must add. Jensen Ackles must have used his time off working on his form because he is supernaturally sexy this season and they wasted no time getting him to lift up his shirt and show off his abs. woof!
once Dean is able to reunite with Sammy we start to get more hints that all might not be well between the two. First Dean says he doesn't remember anything about his Hellish experience, but we do know he's seeing some sort of flashbacks. also Sam insists that per Dean's dying request he hasn't been using his powers, that is until we find out he has. he's been working with their demon nemesis Ruby (in a new body) and is able to exorcise demons with the power of his mind—by making them barf up their soul nonetheless. and although Sam gets Dean to promise he won't call for the entity that saved him, he does so anyway. and what omnipotent presence was able to rip Dean out of hell (and burn the eyes out of anyone who looks upon his true form)? it's none other than a heavenly angel here to set Dean on a righteous path. and with Sam working with demons it looks like we're setting up for a good vs. evil showdown with Dean on the side of light and Sam in the dark. another hint at this could be in the scene when Sam psychically forces the demon to vomit it's way back to hell. it's eyes were burned out when it viewed the angel and when Sam asked what it was she replied, "it's the end. we're dead. we're all dead." is Sam included in that "we"? only time will tell...
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punKpup
Democracy is dead
Is democracy failing us? (No, seriously now, this won't be my usual light-hearted post, so get ready for the ride.) I may frequently demonstrate a penchant for alternative viewpoints and a general love of rabble-rousing, but things have gotten so out of hand that I no longer have confidence in our government's ability to pull us out of this mess any more than they were able to pull the residents of New Orleans out of the Katrina mess. Nor do I have confidence that the general public has the wherewithal to make rational, informed decisions concerning the upcoming election. How else can we explain the means with which the Bush administration was able to secure the presidency in 2000, and even more alarmingly, a second term in 2004? Maybe the people didn't actually vote him in, and it was all supreme court wrangling, blah blah blah. Unless we're willing to talk extreme conspiracy theories here (and don't get me wrong, I love a good conspiracy theory), there were still enough voters sufficiently enamored by his charms (really?) to get him close enough to make such events possible. And what the hell is up with the electoral college? Can your average voter (or even the above average voter) explain our election system with any degree of certainty? Maybe this goes against my screed that ignorance and apathy signal the death of democracy, but should the general masses really need to understand such a convoluted process? Isn't democracy supposed to be easy? You cast your vote, the votes are tallied, and the majority wins. Simple. No wonder only 60% of American's able to vote actually did so in the 2004 election, even if it was the highest turnout since 1968. The common refrain that "my vote simply doesn't matter" rings truer today than it ever has.
This is America and
you are being watched.
In the mid 19th century Karl Marx famously stated that "religion is the opiate of the masses." But if we view an opiate as that which sedates, calms, and mellows then maybe a truer phrase for today's world would be "religion is the meth of the masses." Religion is not placating the population, it's energizing them, pushing them to extreme views and teaching them to organize against anyone, any idea, different from themselves; energizing them to hate thy neighbor, covet thy neighbor's happiness, and push their morality on anyone who dares hold an opposing view. Let us not forget that this country had much of it's start with those seeking respite from religious persecution. Freedom of religion means the freedom of all religions, or even more importantly the freedom from the influence and oppression of religion in totality. You may discount my views based on the fact that I simultaneously embrace the labels "atheist," "agnostic," and "Buddhist," but there is something that those beliefs offer that I don't see coming from the major organized religions—that of clarity of thought, openness of mind, opinions formed through thoughtful reasoning, and the belief that we should individually be in control of our own destinies. I don't need you, your minister, or your God telling me what to do with my existence. You may wholeheartedly believe that I am going to Hell (with or without the designer handbasket), but at least allow me the freedom to chart my own path there. If my life is a gift from God then I reserve the right to do what I will with that gift—there is wisdom in childhood mores: "no take-backs." My life is my own, stay out of it.
Democracy is dead. Long live democracy.
September 17, 2008
the shit storm
Andy and Doug discussing the brewing shit storm that punctuated the Weeds season 4 finale:
Andy: I gotta go.
Doug: Wanna smoke out first?
Andy: I can't, shits blowing up.
Doug: How come you always have shit blowing up? Where's my shit? I used to have shit, it used to blow up all the time. Now nothing. Shit just sits there.
Andy: That's some tough shit.
Doug: Shit.
August 30, 2008
Kucinich gets high
Dennis Kucinich. He's basically the red-headed step-child of the democratic party that makes a lot of noise but everybody ignores. It's too bad because he's consistently one of the most progressive politicians in the U.S. and hence I have a serious man-crush on his brain. His speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention was not only spot-on but engaging, energizing, and effusive. Thank you Kucinich for leading me to believe that all is not lost.
And here's a little mash-up I did of Kucinich's speech and Florida breaks god DJ Icey's new song Bass Electrix:
Bass Wakes Up America (mp3 download)
August 15, 2008
hey marijuana!
Hey marijuana!
You make me wanna
sing really stupid fucked-up songs all the time.
But I don't know
exactly where I'm gonna go,
just as long as I can still get high on marijuana.
—"Mary J" by Desirable Sun (featured in the end credits of Weeds Season 3 Episode 4)
After originally posting these lyrics in a post about the new season of Weeds, I've noticed quite a few people coming here after searching Google for the lyrics. Not surprising as I had a hell of a time tracking down the name of the song when I was first looking for it. Well, for all you who are wanting to buy this killer track (and it is quite good), here is a link to the Amazon MP3 store
August 04, 2008
death from within
Will it or won't it? Will the soon-to-be-ready Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator create a black hole that will, well, swallow us whole? How the hell would I know. But if I were to design a universe destroying death machine, it would look a little something like this:
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[via Boston.com]
resistance is useful
Sirius Boombox is easily my favorite "radio" station (thanks DISH!). Of course they play a lot of funky breaks led by genre pioneer DJ Icey (come back to Chicago soon! I couldn't make your last appearance!). Another interesting sound coming from this station is that of the mashup. Recently on Boombox they played a mashup featuring Underworld's classic "Born Slippy" that rocked my socks. I can't say why I've never gone searching for mashups online before, but this one got me to do just that. Not only did I find this tune (download link), but I stumbled across several more sites celebrating the mashup genre. One other really interesting find is the Bootleg Is Resistance three volume release of mashups centering around Nine Inch Nails. Nine Inch Nails is another long-time fave of mine—"Pretty Hate Machine" came out when I was in high school and really spoke to my angst-ridden existence at the time. Well who knew that his industrial noise would mesh so well with so many varied artists. This collection alternates between mixing Trent's lyrics over other's songs and mixing other's lyrics over Trent's music. Nine Inch Nails and Bjork? The Commodores? Lynyrd Skynyrd? Yes there's all this and more, and, for the most part it really works!
Now I need to actually take some time to check out the official Nine Inch Nails remix site. There's bound to be some good stuff on there too...
July 17, 2008
blah blah blah
life is just blah blah blah.
you hope for blah, and sometimes you find it.
but mostly it's just blah.
and waiting for blah.
and hoping you were right about the blahs you made.
and then,
just when you think you've got the whole blah'd damn thing figured out,
and you're surrounded by the one's you blah,
death shows up.
and blah...blah...blah.
—Andy Botwin, Ganja Guru, on Weeds Season 4, Episode 3
June 28, 2008
god loves weed
The Best Kind of Jesus Freak:
Pot is natural; it's not processed.
It's made by god himself,
so it's spiritual.
It elevates you; opens your mind.
And that's what god's love is all about...
...i can see your boner.
—Tara (played by Mary-Kate Olsen) on Weeds Season 3, Episode 6
June 27, 2008
The Joint
Not every new skyscraper being built is in Dubai. Currently under construction in Chicago is the residential tower The Chicago Spire. Upon completion in 2012 it will stand 2,000 feet tall, making it the third largest building in the world, the tallest building in North America, and the tallest all-residential building in the world. While the design is not as futuristic as some of the new buildings going up in other parts of the world, it certainly is eye-catching and supposedly references the spiraling form of shells as well as representing "an imaginary smoke spiral coming from a campfire near the Chicago River lit by Native Americans indigenous to the area." I think that last part is closer to the mark, as what it really looks like is a giant, tightly-rolled joint... Want to live the high life? Condominium prices range from $750k to $40 million. That's a lot of MILF weed...
Below is my own interpretation on The Spire, which I call The Joint:
