Chopard is a Geneva-based luxury watch, jewelry, and accessories company founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard at the age of 24. Chopard initially concentrated on developing precise pocket watches and chronometers based upon innovative ideas. Chopard is regarded as a manufacture, in other words that they make many of their watches and movements in-house rather than using the base movements (ebauches) of other manufacturers. Chopard, which also has production facilities in Fleurier, is one of four participating brands in the Fleurier Quality Foundation (together with Bovet, Parmigiani and Vaucher), which certifies a very high level of quality to manufactured watches (www.fleurier-quality.com). The “Qualite Fleurier” standard is meant to compete with the Geneva standards such as the exclusive Geneva Seal manufacturing standard.

SEE CHOPARD COLLECTIONS HERE

I never thought I’d quote an Ice Cube song for a blog post title, but it works for me.

Today I didn’t even have to use my A.K.
I got to say it was a good day.

Another Sunday come and gone.   Francy and I have started to get back to our old habits.  This is a very good thing as our old habits are 10x better than our new habits.  Old habits include Sunday morning happy time and late afternoon walk to enjoy how awesome this city looks at Christmas time. New habits were bitching about the relatives who make our lives miserable, 6-hour lunches with the aforementioned relatives and/or staying inside all day.

Today, Francy’s Zia Maria came over with her husband (Zio Enzo) and son (cousin Giuseppe).  Zia Maria is the best of all his relatives.  In a family where ball-busting is the sport of choice, Zia Maria minds her own business and has a kind word for everyone.  When you spend time with the relatives from Francy’s father’s family you wonder how he managed to avoid becoming just like all the other crazies on mamma’s side of the family.  Then I realize I shouldn’t  ask why, but just be grateful and shut up.

Francy is cooking away and I get to sit here and relax.  Mi sono sposata davvero bene-Grazie Francy.

DOWNLOAD: Snoop Dogg – Blasten!! (Feat. Ice Cube) [NO DJ]

“I remember when I was abroad on Antioch’s Comparative Women’s Studies in Europe program (one of the most amazing and eye-opening experiences of my 22 years of life), every time we would go to a museum our program director would remind us to consider from where the objects we were staring at came.  Pretty much, most of the stuff we were looking at was straight up stolen.  And yeah, some might think reminding students of this fact before they take a museum tour is a bummer but it changed the way I looked at the artifacts and viewed museums in general.  And that’s a good thing.  That’s my mind developing and becoming more critical and that’s what education is all about.” Read more.

Spotted @ OnSmash

Download – Snoop Dogg – Blasten!! (Feat. Ice Cube) [NO DJ]

Each day I get an “Afternoon Update” email from the Chronicle of Higher Education and though not all the featured articles are riveting, there are a few that always catch my eye.  They tend to be articles that deal with power and privilege in the education system and just state something straight up absurd like, boys don’t like to read or something.  Last week there was a fascinating article on the creation of Fat Studies as a discipline.  Reading some of the comments elicited by the article (like along the lines of- we shouldn’t be studying fat people- they should be studying us!) was perversely illuminating.  Today, there was an article titled “U. of Minnesota Takes Heat for Proposal to Gauge Future Teachers’ Sensitivity” that irritated me no end.  In fact, it irritated me so much that I’ve decided to blog about it (The most interesting blog posts to me are ones that either offer advice or discuss irritants- hence my obsession with career blogs and blogs commenting on power and privilege and hence, my blog).

This article talks about how a “Race, Culture, Class, and Gender Task Group” (boy I’d like to be a part of that- or should I say person I’d like to be a part of that) asserted that teachers should be able to position themselves culturally and understand how power and privilege functions in society.  Now, this doesn’t irritate me.  In fact, I think this is a fabulous statement and there should be more discussions concerning how teachers represent their disciplines as it can change education.  I remember when I was abroad on Antioch’s Comparative Women’s Studies in Europe program (one of the most amazing and eye-opening experiences of my 22 years of life), every time we would go to a museum our program director would remind us to consider from where the objects we were staring at came.  Pretty much, most of the stuff we were looking at was straight up stolen.  And yeah, some might think reminding students of this fact before they take a museum tour is a bummer but it changed the way I looked at the artifacts and viewed museums in general.  And that’s a good thing.  That’s my mind developing and becoming more critical and that’s what education is all about. 

I also remember sitting in a Bates Anthropology class on the first day of the semester and my female professor saying that we could refer to her either by her last name or her first name but before we made that choice we should consider what we call our other professors.  She stated that she noticed that many students addressed their male professors using last names and female professors using first names.  She said if this was the case for any of us, she’d like us to use her last name.  What!?  Making us think about gender norms on the first day of class!?  Bad ass!

So yes, I believe teachers have a responsibility to think critically about themselves so that they may help guide their students in doing so.  But noooooooooo, of course this is not okay.  Of course people said this was “unconstitutional and morally unconscionable” and “a severe affront to liberty.”  You’ve GOT to be kidding me.  What’s unconstitutional and morally unconscionable is the amount of racism and sexism that exists in this nation!  Being asked to consider one’s social position and one’s privilege is not a severe affront to liberty.  Is liberty having the right to be ignorant to the point that you may oppress others in your daily interactions?  I’m all for being what you want and thinking what you want as long as it’s not systematically hurting anyone else emotionally or physically but I’m sorry- not recognizing your white privilege hurts people in ways that you can’t even see- BECAUSE YOU DON’T RECOGNIZE IT. 

So, like Ali G and Ice Cube have said, “Check yourself before you wreck yourself.”  That’s all I see this issue being- this is about asking teachers to check themselves so they don’t wreck themselves or others.  As a teacher you have a responsibility to make sure your classrooms are safe spaces for all students.  And you do this by looking deeply at yourself and at the subjects you are responsible for teaching to others.  If you don’t, then sitting in class is no better than reading a crappy middle school history textbook that talks about how white dudes got things done back in the day.  No thanks.

Shhhh,

Steph

Recap: #100-91 – #90-81 – #80-71 – #70-61 – #60-51 – #50-41 – #40-31 – #30-21

#20: Epica Cry For The Moon (The Embrace That Smothers, Part IV)

#19: Final Fantasy VII Advent: One-Winged Angel

#18: 3 Doors Down Kryptonite

#17: Trivium Shogun

#16: Guns N’ Roses November Rain

#15: Nightwish The Poet & The Pendulum (Part 1 only)

#14: N.W.A. (Ice Cube & Dr. Dre) Natural Born Killaz

#13: Sevendust Live Again

#12: Rob Zombie Dragula

#11: Evanescence Bring Me To Life

World AIDS Day 09 - Check Yo Self!

World AIDS Day….have you been tested?
It’s YOUR responsibility so in the words of Ice Cube Check Yourself!

HIV/AIDS remains largely a taboo in the Hip Hop World and far too many people have already lost their lives to this illness. Many people living with HIV still lead full and meaningful lives, but only if they are diagnosed and treated soon enough. Please do not become another statistic, play it safe, take responsibility for your life and get tested!

Check Yourself!

For more information about World AIDS Day or the HIV/AIDS pandemic, go to http://www.worldaidsday.org/

“After much delay, Woooha reports that Ice Cube and Mike Epps movie, Janky Promoters is being released on Digital Video Disc. No word as to when it’ll be in stores, but the film was scheduled for a summer 2009 release. Due to financial restraints however, The Weinstein Company pulled the plug. In a Rap Radar interview earlier this year, Young Jeezy said he was approached by Cube to co-star in the film. Above is his performance of “Put On”.”

Ice Cube x Janky Promoters. Cube’s next movie Janky Promoters has been dropped by the Weinstein Company which was set to market and distribute the movie. It was originally postponed for a March 27th release but then Variety reports that the Weinstein’s decided to drop the movie altogether.

While Cube is trying to find a studio home for the project, it’s not all bad news. Cube has just been confirmed to star in the New Line Cinema action/comedy flick Ride Along which is about a rogue cop who is overly protective of his sister. When she reveals she’s engaged to a rich white psychiatrist, the cop (Cube) sets to destroy the relationship by inviting his future brother-in-law on a ride-along. New Line has a deep history with Cube as they were the one studio back in 1995 to take the chance on a little movie called Friday.

Via: WoooHa.com

First let me just say Happy Thanksgiving to you all reading this blog. In the past year and a half things have grown a lot and I’m just thankful for all of you interested and supporting the cause.

Anyways, it’s about that time again… you know, for another Weekly Thursday Freebie. Continuing where we left off from last week, we got the 3rd and final free mixtape from Chops. This one has a pretty comprensive list of artists from all over the country. It’s a pretty packed release so this should help add to your music collection quite a bit.

Here’s the tracklist:

Bun B ft Lil Wayne, CHOPS – Damn Im Cold
Young Jeezy – National Anthem
Chamillionaire – We Breakin Up
Bun B – Keep It 100
Cowboy ft Young Buck, All Star – Flossin
Keak Da Sneak ft San Quinn, Bra Heff, CHOPS – I Get It In
San Quinn – Double Dose of Gangster
CHOPS & Kanye West – Live Ya Life
Chamillionaire – MM5 Intro
Kapone ft Lil Weavah, San Quinn – Here Comes Trouble
All City – Get Out My Way
Fabolous, Magno, Paul Cain – Smokin n Sippin
San Quinn ft Mistah Fab, CHOPS, Too Short – Devoted
The Game ft Ice Cube, WC, E-40, Crooked I, Paul Wall, Chingy, Lil Rob, Techniec – Lowrider
Lil Weavah ft CHOPS – My Rims
Keak Da Sneak & San Quinn ft CHOPS – The Streets Dont Lie
Sway – Stereo
Johnny Spanish – Shining
CHOPS – In Love With Your Momma
DJ Clue, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Bun B – Grill and Woman
Keak Da Sneak & San Quinn ft CHOPS – Welcome To Scokland

Link after the jump!

Get it HERE!

Released: August 19, 2008

Label: William Morris Agency

Length: 64:34

Tracklist:

Unfortunately, I can not say many good Things about this Album.

Ice Cube has clearly lost his N.W.A. Magic, and this is album is a very good example for artists knowing when to stop or not. Yes, Ice Cube has gone Mainstream, and it doesn’t sound very good at all. The beats are partly very whack, and Ice Cube’s flows aren’t what they used to be either. Regardless of my critique, this Album does deserve a bit of good critique too. Although the artist has gone mainstream and “newschool”, atleast he did not try combining Hip Hop and Lovesongs like others try to…

Personal Favorites: Cold Places (Only Beat)

My Rating: 1 / 5

New mixtape from Snoop .. Hosted by Whoo Kid, Skee & Scream .. This will hold you off until “Malice And Wonderland” drops .. Which will be in stores December 8th. Tracklist and Back cover after the jump!

Download

Jag skrev ju i det tidigare inlägget vad jag gör i snitt 18.66% av veckans timmar, jobbar.
Resterande tid spenderas i runda slängar enligt följande; 35% sömn och 46% mat, träning, häng med flickvän & polare, tv-serier, böcker och självklart; några timmar inne i den så kallande dimman på fredag/lördags-kvällen. Så, då vet ni hur mina dagar vanligtvis ser ut.

Vad jag ska skriva mer om här vet jag inte riktigt så först ska ni få en lista. Personligen tycker jag bloggar fyllda med listor är ointressant, förutom när till exempel Strage listar upp 90-talets 100 bästa låtar. Men listor där man får reda på vilken person de pratat med senast eller vilket djur de skulle vilja födas om som scrollar jag snabbt förbi eller stänger ned. Så att jag själv gör en, av personlig karaktär, kan ju ses som ganska dumt och onödigt. Men hey! Jag har varken något bra ämne att skriva om i kväll eller orken till att lista upp låtar. Så jag får väl resonera som mor förmodligen gjorde när jag gav henne alla de där fula vaserna i julklapp, som sen placerades längst in i något skåp. Det är tanken som räknas. Jag menar, jag skriver ju något i alla fall. Kvantitet före kvalitet. Eller hur var det..

Listan är i alla fall som så att jag listar det bästa med varje månad hittills i år.

Januari: Vaknar upp i Sälen efter nyårsfirande och är kvar där veckan ut.
Februari: Jag blev klar med majoriteten av momenten i mitt projektarbete.
Mars: Sista veckan i mars åkte vi till New York med familjen.
April: Ice Cube-konsert i Stockholm.
Maj: Grillsäsongen började och betygen blev satta.
Juni: Studentveckan och balen. Det följt av en relaxe-vecka i Bulgarien.
Juli: Arvika festivalen.
Augusti: Weekend på Gotland.
September:  Vecka i Nice med dagsbesök till Cannes, VilleFranche, Eze och Monaco.
Oktober: Weekend i London.

F

Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell should top this list, for playing ‘Hollywood guys’ who are ‘qualified’ to find America’s next top singing talent.

(Jokes) but Forbes Magazine has released their list of the ten most overpaid actors in the Hollywood film industry for 2009. The findings are based on what actors got paid by studios and what they returned per dollar back to the studio via the box office.

The findings weed out the older talent posturing themselves as big stars and make room for the newbies like the Efrons, Lautners, Pattinsons of Hollywood’s rising stars.

Here’s the list of most overpaid actors:

1. Will Ferrell ($3.29)
2. Ewan McGregor ($3.75)
3. Billy Bob Thornton ($4.00)
4. Eddie Murphy ($4.43)
5. Ice Cube ($4.77)
6. Tom Cruise ($7.18)
7. Drew Barrymore ($7.43)
8. Leonardo DiCaprio ($7.52)
9. Samuel L. Jackson ($8.59)
10. Jim Carrey ($8.62)

Ouch! Sucks to be Will Ferrell. In fairness to these blokes on this list, it was a recession so they can’t be held entirely to blame for low box office returns. For a woman to even appear in this list, like Drew Barrymore is an achievement, not an embarrassment when competing against the blokes. So go Drew Barrymore!

[image courtesy of TopNews]

~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.19.09~

La revista Forbes, puñetera ella, acaba de publicar la lista de los actores menos amados en Hollywood. En realidad, lo que recopila esta publicación es la relación de los intérpretes menos rentables. Pero tal y como está el patio, con Hollywood más en plan industria que nunca, mirando cada céntimo invertido en una producción, no resultar rentable equivale a no ser querido… o, directamente, a ser odiado. He ahí el pecado de estos hombres (y una mujer): sacarle poco jugo a sus sueldos, más o menos generosos, pero soñados por cualquier mortal.

Se lleva la palma Will Ferrel, actor ¿cómico? que no deja de embarcarse en proyectos a cual más fallidos y que recauda 3,29 dólares por cada uno que se embolsa. Esta cifra, así, sin ponerla en contexto puede dejarnos fríos, pero acudamos a la socorrida comparación que nos proporciona la propia Forbes: en el extremo opuesto, la antítesis de Ferrell, el tierno Shia LaBeouf, gracias a sus dos Transformers, genera 160 dólares por película. ¡Casi 50 veces más que Ferrell! Tremendo.

Aquí se puede consultar ambas listas, la de los losers y la de los winners. Para los que sientan pereza ante el trámite, vaya por delante que a Ferrell, entre los menos rentables, le siguen Ewan McGregor, Billy Bob Thornton, Eddie Murphy y Ice Cube. Menudo plantel. Salvo Billy Bob, y en menor medida Ewan, el resto son para echarles de comer aparte (Ice Cube no debe ser siquiera considerado actor). En el otro extremo de la balanza, a LaBeouf le siguen James McAvoy, Michael Cera, Daniel Radcliffe y Robert Downey Jr.

Conclusión: para ser rentable hay que saber actuar (un mínimo), elegir bien el proyecto y, a poder ser, caer en una de esas superproducciones que hacen muchos dólares. Claro que a estas listas tampoco hay que concederles más importancia de la necesaria: si tu caché es bajo, es fácil que salgas bien parado en términos de productividad, y viceversa. Lo grave para Ferrell y compañía es que, a buen seguro, los ejecutivos de Hollywood sí se toman estas cosas muy, pero que muy en serio.

Ice Cube – Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It (2008)

Have you noticed something that rap stars seem to have in common?; their universal eagerness, almost pathological, to turn themselves into movie stars.

There are rock/pop examples of course. The music careers of Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Sting and Madonna have been accompanied by ambitions – unrealized to their great frustration – to make an impact on the big screen. Music itself has a long history with the cinema – from Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra through to Elvis Presley, The Beatles’ and beyond. But rap’s affinity for film – or is it acting? – goes much further and deeper.

I’ve been prompted to raise this observation with the news that 50 Cent is having his tattoos removed to save himself the hours in make-up having his body art covered up. Here’s this guy – and a lot of the rap stars are like this – who has spent a lifetime creating the physical persona that comes with his artistic expression, who is now prepared to sacrifice all of that to satisfy his acting ambitions.

Look at the list of prominent rappers who’ve rushed into acting – 2Pac, Ice T, Ice Cube – you have to put Will Smith to one side – and it’s actually a long and ever-growing list, a list of people you wouldn’t think would be so keen to then want to be someone else in front of our eyes. Is that in fact the key? Does this thirst in rappers tell us something important about rap itself?, that it IS a fiction, that all that anger, bluster, apparent violence, misogamy, and so forth is just an act, like the “dissing” that comes with rap, each performer trying to outdo the other, be more outrageous, more nasty. Are the rappers more like the professional wrestlers than we realize?

If the world of rap IS more fiction that fact, it’s a fiction that has also in the process turned into an aweful reality, the parade of rappers facing the courts and jail over weapon possession charges and most famously the shooting deaths of 2Pac and the Notorious BIG, the latter inevitably turned into a major release movie.