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News Bits

Emptying the contents of my RSS reblog recycle can.

Phew.

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Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

On Friday night on my way to the gym I was fortunate enough to catch a performance by the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble on the west side of Union Square. This young eight piece band--composed of seven sons of Sun Ra Arkestra trumpeter Kelan Phil Cohran in addition to the drummer who is practically an unofficial member of the family--is one of the standouts among the static of New York City street performers and buskers. The New York Times describes their sound as follows:

Their syncopated, often lyrical tone — incorporating jazz, funk, soul and hip-hop — is produced by horns that now look like world-worn hand-me-downs. Still, the instruments do the job, resonating off buildings blocks away.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/2253211]

Listen to a few tracks from one of their albums. Enjoy.

[audio http://www.switchpod.com/users/mrod/01Track01.m4a]

[audio http://www.switchpod.com//users/mrod/04Track04.m4a]

[audio http://www.switchpod.com/users/mrod/07Track07.m4a]

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News Bits

1. Ugliest dog in the world dead, 9. 2. Touching strangers.

3. Dexter dining table chairs. I want.

4. Celine Dion and her son have matching haircuts. So wrong.

5. Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" is the top selling catalog track on iTunes and the only track to have gone double platinum there.

6. 50 facts about President-Elect Barack Obama that you may not know. These are a few that impressed or surprised me.

  • He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics
  • He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream
  • He can bench press an impressive 200lbs
  • He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal

7. Ballot initiative to overturn an old racist Florida amendment from around 1913 banning Asian-Americans from owning land fails because "voters incorrectly assumed it would prevent illegal immigrants from owning property." IDIOTS. But I was also having a discussion during lunch recently with Krunky Munky about (generalization alert) the lack of political mobilization and activism among Asian Americans which is often crucial in overturning even obvious injustices such as this amendment.

8. Broke man tries to pay bill with a drawing of a spider. LOL.

9. I only read it for the articles, but Grace Kim, a former Guitar Hero publicist, will grace the cover of the November issue of Playboy.

10. Stunning video captured with the new Canon 5D SLR. I WANT.

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Louis Armstrong: Collage Fan

When not being a musical genius, Louis Armstrong liked to spend his time also creating collages. Neat!

The works are untitled and undated, but he was making them as early as the 1950s; in a letter from 1953 he wrote, “Well, you know, my hobbie (one of them anyway) is using a lot of scotch tape . . . My hobbie is to pick out the different things during what I read and piece them together and [make] a little story of my own.”

Read rest here.

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Raddest Rock Band Axe Ever

At the office we finally got the game room complete with Rock Band 2 AND Guitar Hero World Tour. I did kill it today getting 100 percent on guitar. Twice. Okay, fine. It was on medium, but still! Shut up Moye about how you play on Rock Band on expert blah blah blah. Anyway, the game room is pretty sweet. It would be a lot sweeter though if we had THIS guitar. Behold:

[Via]

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Estelle Remix: First Asian Boy

To the catchy tune of Estelle's American Boy featuring Kanye, this Thai guy amusingly explains why girls should date an Asian guy in this video. His "pho" line around 2:40 is pretty great. Clearly he's doing something right: the fly girl in the video is his gal IRL. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CqbZNHaf1o]

[Via]

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Weekend Update

On Friday I had a half-day because our office is moving buildings from midtown to wall street. Went out later that night with Lauren and Nnamdi. Saturday afternoon I did some phone banking for the Obama campaign and then I went to my friend Jon's nice birthday party which was held in a private loft space. Sunday was brunch with buddy Hector and fighting off zombie hordes later in the afternoon. The last sunset from my company's office in midtown.

The view of uptown Manhattan from our 41st floor.

On Friday night, I met up with Lauren who was visiting for the weekend and had a fun dinner with her and Nnamdi at my new favorite restaurant. This is my insanely delicious short rib (which also came with a side of perfectly baked mac 'n cheese). Hilarious conversation.

Hopped over to Max Fish where Lauren got her pinball on.

Then we went to Botanica predictably with these people. I forgot all their names, but I had a great time. Of course we got the dance party started here, even if it meant I had to get accosted and sandwiched by two very old women. The bouncer also that night was fantastic.

Nnamdi giving a peace out to Brooklyn!

"You want another?" "No, I'm still finishing this one." "Great. Two for me."

I forgot this kid's name as well but he was passed the f out. Luckily Botanica has some comfortable couches.

Nnamdi said to me, before I snapped a photo, "Nah, that kid's going to wake up if you take a photo. He's been on and off." Sure enough, right at the flash, he opened his eyes. Haha.

Saturday night despite the terrible weather I headed out to Jon's birthday party. For once I decided to class it up and left my ripped jeans and v-neck t-shirts at home.

Kevin and Chris! Chris also runs and creates the comics of this popular website for soccer enthusiasts and also founded this soccer website as well. Sorry, football.

Sophia trooped in from the rain as well and brought partisan mints.

Nnamdi and Stephanie!

Sophia pulls it off much better than I do. Hahaha.

Kevin does an AWESOME job of ruining what was supposed to be a nice photo of Chris and his girlfriend. Haha.

Kevin and Natalie (I think?).

Sophia actually does carry a calculator around in her purse. Dork.

Sunday early afternoon I made my way to Esperanza for brunch. On the walk there I was silently cursing for having picked a place so far from me and a mere step away from his apartment. And then I stopped being mad when I saw him, because he was in crutches after having quite recently broken his ankle.

Hector outside the restaurant. Sorry for cursing you in my head, Hector! Haha. Hope your ankle heels soon!

Big pig roast outside a bar. I wish I knew about this earlier.

Two Chileans.

Hector's roommate Will and me. The brunch here is a good deal (10 dollars for a small drink, coffee, and dish), except the wait can get hectic sometimes.

Pig slaughter. And boy does it look good!

In Union Square I ran into a zombie procession.

Aggressive zombie antagonizing a street vendor.

Flannel and Mexican zombies.

The zombie-ness is the least frightening thing about this couple. That rabbit costume alone is the stuff of nightmares.

Pretty decent band performing.

And then I went to Barnes and Noble to pick up a Rushdie novel. Instead, I walked out with Dan Simmons's The Terror and Frank Miller's seminal graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knigh Returns.

The End.

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Johnny Cash Remixed

Johnny Cash Remixed featuring Snoop among others is dropping January 2009.

"My father made his stead by defying the expected and accepted way of things" says the Man in Black's son John Carter Cash, an executive producer of the remix along with Snoop and others. "He would have loved this remix record. While it stays true to the original recordings, [it] touches on undiscovered ground. This is what my father was about: staying true to tradition while creating groundbreaking new music."

Click here to listen to Apparat's excellent remix of "I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow" from the album.

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