Never Forget The Importance of Entertainment

MOVIES!!!

So, I was poking around Reckless Records last night and came across the 2008 version of Michael Haneke's Funny Games for $8.99, and, of course, HAD to buy it. Haneke said of the film, that it was the only movie he made to, "provoke", and that any viewer that watched the title to completion, "needed it", that they, "needed to be tortured during that time to understand." I wonder what dear old Michael would say about those of us who purchased Funny Games on DVD so they could watch it over and over again. A couple of non-spoiler thoughts on the movie itself. The remake, is basically shot for shot, the exact same as the original, (except the mother in the American movies spends much more time in her underwear) which to me is bonkers in itself-really, remaking a movie shot for shot with out any substantial changes? That my friends is self confidence to a T. Also, all the actors in Funny Games, really fucking do their thing, even the shorty do-wop throws down some alpha dog acting. Naomi Watts, who also produced the American version, is exceptionally amazing, to the point where I think she deserves Oscar consideration for best leading actress, of course, this will never happen, because Hollywood would never reward a movie critical of the American Film Industry. Anyway, go watch this movie if you have not already, and please holler at me about it, we can trade insights!

Here is a nice little YouTube Jump comparing a the egg scene in the original to the American remake.



Here is an amazing overview of Michael Haneke's Work from the Nov. '07 Harpers.

Habits Of Seeing-The Unsettling Films of Michael Haneke

MUSIC!!!



So A-Trak, Kanye West's DJ (back before West became Phill Collins) and the little brother of skinny-tall-dude from Chromeo, is one of my favorite musicians right now, and yes, I do consider DJs musicians, so stop hating. Dirty South Dance, was one of my favorite albums of '07, and I always am into his remixes.
Anyway, I'm uploading the Final three parts of a live set he did in Vancouver (the intro is him mostly scratching and juggling, which I think is only really entertaining live) called, Oh No You Didn't! I think the last part is probably my favorite, but they are all really really fly. Whether you are cruising your city scape, getting your exercise on at the gym, or just leaning back at the crib, you will be sure to enjoy! As always, if you like what you download, hit the artist back, by supporting them anyway you can.

A-Trak- Oh No You Didn't Pt.1

Download

A-Trak- Oh No You Didn't Pt.2

Download

A-Trak- Oh No You Didn't Pt.3

Download

ART!!!



I would strongly encourage anyone living in Chicago that has the time to visit The Renaissance Society's Francis Alys Exhibition to do so. It's going on until Dec. 14th and is free. Alys is a Belgium Architect who has been living and making art in Mexico City for well over 25 years now. The Exhibit features two pieces, The Politics of Rehearsal and Bolero. The Politics of Rehearsal, which will be especially poignant to all my international development homeys, is a film that visually combines a striptease with a Shubert rehearsal, and layers in excerpts of a Harry Truman Speech and voice-over commentary by art historian and cultural theorist Cuauhtemoc Medina. The short film touches on modernity, mas production, temporality, and the development of Latin America, likening the political promises of the past and present to the fantasy suggested by a stripper's dance. Bolero is a short animated feature that combines small clips of a shoe being shinned with succinct musical phrases. The animation is created the old fashioned way, with serial freehand drawings, and represents another artisan process, shoe shinning, that like so many other things that are done manually in the labor sector are being marginalized by modern technology.

The Renaissance Society at the Univeristy of Chicago

There Is No Singular Reality.

ME!!!

Great news, everyone. They fucked up the fingerprinting/F.B.I clearence process of my application for my Illinois nursing license. So now, after going back to the janky fingerprinting joint today (who would have ever thought a private security company based out of 26th and Wabash would have been incompetent) I get to wait even longer to start working again, yeah!

Um, other than that I just had a great time celebrating my Sister and Moms, birthdays, respectively in New York City. My sister threw a party at her loft the first night I was there, and upwards of fifty people showed up to celebrate, I know, you thought I was popular. The next couple of day we went to some museums (saw the Van Gough Exhibit at the MoMA and Catherine Opie at the Guggenheim). Ate some amazing food (BBQ at FetteSau and Katsu at Katsu Hama). Watched the Bears get their asses handed to them by the Packers at a lesbian bar in BK called the Cattyshack, there truly is something about watching football with ladies that know more about sports than you. Also, is it odd that I have a thing for butch lesbians, you give any skinny chick a short hair cut, some flannel, and a couple of tattoos and I'm all over it. The only real bummer of the trip, and i guess, there always has to be a bummer, was getting into a drunken fight with a homey, but you know, shit happens, and old friends die hard (I Hope).

MUSIC!!!

After basically no one downloaded my Re-Up zip from last post, no I'm not salty, or anything- y'all are missing out, not me, I have that shit already and it's awesome! I've decided to keep it simple stupid, and just work with single tracks that people can listen to on the page before deciding whether or not to download (obviously with the intention of supporting said artist, by buying actual product or checking out live sometime in the not to distant future).



So the first artist I'm trying to showcase is an extraordinarily young lass (she only 20) from the UK called La Roux. La Roux, more formally know as Elenore Jackson, is on some pop synth with soul shit, so all of you eighties heads out there, and I know you are out there will really feel this. Honestly, think about the potential love child of Prince and Debbie Harry, and you will get the punky, upbeat, hooky stylings of La Roux.

Quicksand- La Roux

Download

Fascination- La Roux

Download

FOOD!!!

So my favorite breakfast place in the world is kinda bourgeois, and i know, a lot of dudes are not trying to pay lunch/dinner money for the first meal of their day, but M. Henry is worth every penny you pay extra over what you would at a typical diner. It's like heaven over there, everything fucking tastes better, the sugar is sweeter, the bacon more savory, the coffee is richer, fuck, even the water- well maybe not. And I'll be real, too, it's pretty girly, i'll just throw out there their motto, chow for now. Yeah I felt weird ordering blueberry bliss cakes (hotcakes layered with warm blackberries and vanilla mascarpone cream, topped with a brown sugar & oat crust), but that strange feeling was a sacrifice work making for how fucking delicious these jumps are. So dads, don't not order something because of it's name, the more you feel like a Nancy requesting it, the more amazed you will be with the flavor. Also, they have two different types of flavored bacon, I'm just saying...

Look, drool, and then go.

WORDS!!!

So I think this might be a big deal, depending on how much coverage it gets in the international news. Ehud Olmert, the former Prime Minister of Israel, basically admits
that security strategy of his state has been flawed for the past 50 years, and that it's time for a major change in Israeli policy towards Palestine and Syria.

The Time Has Come To Say These Things

A Landslide Made In Chicago

BLACK PRESIDENTS DAY:

So I basically ran the gambit on election day. Woke up around 11 am (yep still waiting for that Illinois license) and rolled over to the Kenwood Academy gymnasium to get my vote on- the process of which in total only took about 10 minutes. The fact that so many election jumps are in gyms says something about something I'm sure, just not exactly really sure what. Anyway, my crib is literally with in striking distance of two polling station, a block in each direction respectively, however because I live on Dorchester and not 49th or 50th, I missed out on voting at the same joint as Barack, himself, but whatever, i would have also had to vote with William Ayers and Louis Farrakhan, too, and we all know how dangerous those men are. I then went for a long ass bike ride in our freakishly unseasonably warm weather along the lake, took the city all in and then returned to the crib, and ate dinner with the fam. Around 8 I drove downtown, parked in the south loop, and then skate boarded over to John's Essex Election Day party-down town was on serious lock down-I shudder to think of all the crime that took place on the city's periphery. Chilled for a little with Big Head's and Jessi's Court, got SAD (social anxiety disease), too many fuckers I didn't know in too small of a place, and rolled out to watch the landslide become official at the Rainbow, with my boy, Nicky. yes the TV actually works and was on there, I know, crazy, I never thought I'd live to see the day either. Evidently they also turn it on for the oscars, who the fuck knew? Went up to watch Obama's speech at the Clipper with Lucifer, who was crying like a little baby the whole time Barack was doing his thing, exuding intelligence, compassion, and authority on stage. Drove down South to the Skylark to celebrate a little more, great vibes, hugging and cheering, and generally revelry abounded, blah...

VIDEO:

Diplo is the truth and now we have video evidence.


diplo "banned in libya" from sleep [lazydig] on Vimeo.


PHOTOGRAPHY:

Do not sleep on the Chicago Cultural Center! Not only is it in one of my favorite buildings in Chicago, the old Harold Washington Library, is truly enlightening architectural experience in itself. But the CCC almost always delivers a grip of, interesting to totally wack, exhibits, as well, that are always free- I think the were a total of 5 shows the last time I went. YO, right now, until Jan 4th there is a totally sick, photography exhibit going right now on the fourth floor. The show is called, Made in Chicago, and curator Whitney Bradshaw basically raids the Bank of America's photo collection, supposedly one of Americans oldest and largest, for important works either taken by a Chicago based photographer or created in the Go. Being a hack of a photographer, myself, I found the variation of style, technique, and subject edifying to say the least-big shout out to Jay Wolke and the Dan Ryan expressway for blowing my mind. Also with the Institute of Design, Columbia College, The Art Institute, UiC, IIT, and even the U of C representing so hard at the show, it's also hard not to be creatively inspired by all that goes on artistically in this fantastic city.

RE-UP!!!

yo, sorry to have faked the funk soooo erroneously on my blogging. ( i'm sure some where out there on the evilnet there is some patron nerd of one post blogs-he ain't fucking with me, though!). in my defense, i've been a busy, busy boy- moving my shit from dc to chicago, living in central america for 10 weeks, and now, trying to get a new job in chicago. also, i really was not that stoked on life there for a minute and didn't want sinus bradycardia to be some sort of pity party. word, but i'm back to feeling great and have lots of shit that i want to post about that has been going on with me. so let's re-up, mother fuckers.

MUSIC:
who's to say whether the music selection of this post has to do with its title or its title has to do with the music selection? i don't even know, so i guess no one ever will. anyway, to me, the re-up gang fucks with any hip hop out there in terms of lyricism, beats, and subject mater. it was formed in 2004, while clipse was in between albums/battling jive records. re-up features malice, pusha-t, ab-liva, and sandman- on some virginia beach meets philadephia shit. the two albums that i'm uploading, we got it 4 cheap vol 3 and the saga continues have been in heavy rotation on my ipod all year long and are sure to please all of those who have been fiending for that uncut, gangster shit.

"RE-UP GANG"

FOOD and WORDS:

every hyde parker i know has their go to breakfast selection at salonica. right know you are looking at mine- ham, egg, and cheddar sandwich with a cup of egg lemon soup. now, breakfast is typically not the most healthy of meals (it think the saying goes: eat like a king at breakfast, a queen at lunch, and peasant at dinner) and there is not really a lot of nutrition in this jam, aside from protein, calcium, and maybe some fiber. But all comfort food offers numerous psychological benefits, to offset their deleterious effects on the body. anyway, the composition of the meal, with the tart lemon soup complementing the savory grilled ham and melted cheese, is simple, but very effective. here is a link for egg lemon soup or souppa avgolemono, if you want ot get technical, for all you would be chefs out there. it's basically the simplest recipes ever- all you need is broth, eggs, orzo or rice, and lemons and you are in business.

RECIPE

i'm geeked about The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer, which is now being preformed at the shakespeare theatre at navy pier. i guess i've always been intrigued by christopher marlowe, himself. what's not to like about the homosexual, atheist, secret agent playwrite, who influenced shakespeare? the story of edward the second is also pretty interesting, too- a homosexual king is deposed by his wife, son, and barons for favoring and promoting the interests of his flattering cronies/lovers. so if anyone out there is interested in checking out the production, holler at your boy!!!

MORE WORDS:

i know everyone is worried about the election. some of us more than others (special shout out to all my boys and girls pounding the pavement in ohio and indiana for america's future). here is a link to a great New York Review of Books feature of short essays by various pundits on what's at stake this presidential election. so if you were not stressed out enough all ready, read this, and fret some more!!!

WHAT'S AT STAKE

Comedy of Bummers

Yo, what better time to break in a blog, distraction being the most potent drug, then after a traumatic week? Root canals and shady run-ins with your exes be damned, I'm starting this piece up to share what's going on in my life, in order to let you all know what's really good. So please look forward to songs, pictures, and references to what I'm reading, watching/looking at, eating, or doing.

MUSIC:
So, I ran across an amaaaaaazing mix cd by some dude who goes by DJ Food Stamp. I don't know much about him other than his jump off, ATLiens Resurrection, is the absolute shit. Basically, he just blends choice nineties hip hop jams with some of ATLiens and Resurrection finest tracks. What could be better? Anyway here are a couple of my favorites

"luchini (babylon)"

Camp Lo's anthem from Uptown Saturday Night, "Luchini AKA this is it" blended with Organized Noize's "Babylon" and a little of No I.D.'s "Some Shit I Wrote".

"tried by 12 (orange pineapple juice)"

Probably East Flatbush Projects most sampled and remixed production, "Tried by 12" staring some emcee who went by DeS (who never, from what i can tell, did anything else) blended with No I.D.'s "Orange Pineapple Juice".

FOOD and WORDS:

Yo, so it took my 28 years of my culinary life to come to this conclusion: oatmeal is the shit.




That right there, courtesy of Adam Morgan's Diner, is my breakfast of choice- Oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins mixed in, sliced banana on the side, and black coffee and water to wash it all down. This meal gets it done. It runs the gambit on flavor, from sweet to bitter, consistency, from gooey to crunchy, and temperature, from cold to boiling hot. Oatmeal, a nutrient rich alternative to poisonous egg farts.

Anyway, when I'm not enjoying breakfast with a friend (which is about 90% of the time -I work weekends, what do you want from me?), I'm always sure to bring along some reading material to enrich the mind, while enriching the body. This particular breakfast I feasted on the words of Peter Green-

The Great Marathon Man

Green reviews a much needed new book of commentary on Herodotus' Histories and a not so fresh or insightful translation of the aforementioned magnum opus, all the while fanning the flames of the Herodotean and Thucydidean historiography rivalry. Where my University of Chicago nerds at?