Lupe’s new mixtape I’m talking about! A side order of dopeness to go with that turkey. Have a good Thanksgiving with your families everyone.

DOWNLOAD ENEMY OF THE STATE

Speaking of enemies and land and such, no Thanksgiving is complete without knowing the history y’know? The real history. Here’s the infamous excerpt of this holiday from James W. Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me. I remember reading this in about seventh grade. Certainly an eye-opener. And honestly, it has not made me pessimistic about Thanksgiving’s purpose(s) or anything of that sort. It just always helps to have a bit of truth after that pie. Enjoy folks. No one ever said you CAN’T learn on holidays.

THE TRUE HISTORY OF THANKSGIVING

(Via James L. Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me)

RIP to all devoured turkeys.

-Ish

This album needs to be purchased. You all need to buy this album! Please do, please support an artist like Wale, for the sake of the genre, and that’s without dramatics.

I’ll have my personal take/review/post on this dope dope, SUPER DOPE album soon.

-Ish

Placement in art is as important as placement is in music. Ask Christian Marclay: the artist-slash-musician who’s also the proclaimed “inventor of turntablism.” The guy compiles classic LP covers to make compelling exquisite corpses as he does scratching up symphonies on the 1’s and 2’s. The New York artist examines gender and race in his works, clashing iconic faces with unknown bodies.

Alright, this week are mainly songs that will make you dance, dance, dance! And maybe after, you will watch Pulp Fiction. Mmmm Cheeseburger Royale. Enjoy dudes, and watch out! More updates coming, including a mixtape which is pretty much awesome NOT GONNA LIE!

-I am seeing PEACHES ANNNNND AMANDA BLANK TOMORROW AT THE MÉTROPOLIS!!! It is going to be so sick. I’ve waited so long to see her. The day she came to Edmonton, she played at my FAVORITE venue ever, the Starlite Room, but it was also the day before moving out east. So blah. But, her new album, I Feel Cream, is solid solid peaches. Dirty. Raunchy. Gender bending. Back bending. ASS UP! It is only so fitting that Amanda Blank opens up for her. She is also promoting her new album which I happened to review!  Stick around for the review of this show! AND VIDEOS! I can’t wait!

• MP3: Peaches – Mud
  

-My favorite dance duo from Montréal released this single a while ago and it keeps up to the Chromeo standard. Fancy footwork. Cute dog drooly lyrics. Infectious pop synths. The Skream remix of this is SICK. I am currently looking for a good 320 quality of this. HOLLLA!

• MP3: Chromeo – Night By Night
  

-There is barely any info on the dude, but his full name is Ishmael Ledesma. He’s had a great great musical history, touring with the likes of Kool and the Gang, Natalie Cole, Rick James, and more. He was a part of many disco bands in the seventies and eighties. When I first heard this song, I was addicted. It had the Anita Bell-esque disco feel to it. It took me a while to realise that it’s actually a man singing this song. Awesome. Put on your platforms!

• MP3: Ish – Don’t Stop
  

-All I know is that they’re dutch. I guess that says enough. A.K.A. they know How To Party. They have so much knowledge that they christened their recent album with the title, The Art of Partying. The album is Italo-disco meets house. It’s alright…it’s an album that you’d definitely need more help with the first time, like maybe a few beers…shots of Jack’s…some wine perhaps? It doesn’t have the air of say, Modeselektor or Junior Boys, where you can chill out to it at home or dance to it at a house party too! It definitely has tracks that stand out but not many. Enjoy this one, my fave off the album =)

• MP3: Parra Soundsystem – Angel
  

-Six piece band of Indonesian awesomeness. Seven years of playing together produced two eclectic albums, Centralismo and Ports of Lima. You can tell they are influenced very very much by the West yet there is still the Pacific feel behind their tones. Centralismo is apparently one of the TOP FIVE Asian albums worth buying (according to The Times Asia). Plus, the Rolling Stones Indonesia praised PoL as the best album in 2008. And they really really do deserve it. Their music is genius and almost impossible to put into a genre. I felt such a release listening to Sore. Finally something away from all the Stereogum and Pitchfork hyped bands. This is super fresh. Get a glass of wine.

• MP3: Sore – Bogor Biru
  

-AAAAH yes. Another electro-pop duo from Montréal. Haven’t really heard much of their stuff…and I think Omnikrom’s alright, but their collaboration on this is pretty solid.

• MP3: Numéro# ft. Omnikrom – Chewing-Gum Fraise
  

-Vapours is easily one of my top albums of the year. UGH, Nick Thorburn and crew have done it again. the Islands, based out of Montréal (WHAT WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!) create the catchiest indie rock with lyrics to match. I recently saw them at Théâtre Plaza and their magic on stage is no short of one feels while listening to the album. Dressed all in white, armored with silver vests and gold collars, they rocked out in style. I got there a bit late, unfortunately, and I guess they must have played my favorite song of theirs (ahem, below!) in the first fifteen minutes because I didn’t get to hear it. My heart ached a bit because of this…but I think it’s OK. This song, is defs on my top list for the year end and was my soundtrack song for New York while I was there.

• MP3: Islands – No You Don’t
  

AJ Fosik’s paint, wood, and nail sculptures look like Nicktoon versions of Chinese New Year masks (specifically Aaahh!!! Real Monsters). The Philly artist’s three-dimensional creations hang everywhere from Paris to San Fran. There’s always been the perception that art with eyes will follow you. With Fosik’s, I sure hope not.

photos courtesy of aj fosik flickr

]]> http://whatlittleboysdo.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/have-a-space-themed-birthday-party/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:47:36 +0000 formosacurry http://whatlittleboysdo.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/have-a-space-themed-birthday-party/

Since I’ve been busy these past few days, and I haven’t uploaded the pictures of our Boy Scout camping trip yet, I’m going to post about Ish’s 4th birthday party which we had at home. Since Ish’s and Emm’s birthdays fall during summer vacation, we celebrate their birthdays before schools close.

Ish had asked for a Space-themed party, and I’d prepared for days before the actual day. The big spaceship in the top picture was made out of a refrigerator box. The kids and I shaped and taped it, painted it red, and then I stuck silver foil squares on it. The fins were made out of a corrugated plastic sheet  found at stationery stores.

Here are the masks (green foam sheet, Styrofoam balls, silver foil, pipe cleaners, hot glue gun) and the invitation cards (both inspired from Family Fun website’s birthday party ideas):

I’d prepared an activity involving decorating pre-cut rocket-shaped foam sheets with colorful foam shapes. We had this activity as Ish’s friends trickled in. Then, we played Space Bingo (I borrowed it from Ish’s kindergarten) and then we had a fun Rocket race game (no picture )

One of my talented friends had prepared an amazing piñata by using a Chinese lantern (yes, no flour-and-water mess!) :

My not-so-successful attempt at making a spaceship cake:

I must say, I set high standards in the family regarding birthday parties, and when Ish wanted another elaborate affair when he turned 6, I gave him a choice of a buying a nice toy or having a big party. Well, after some “guidance” regarding the matter, he chose the toy!

Here’s a new piece I just finished this evening. I’d really like some feedback on it if possible.

STILL LOVE H.E.R.

Falling asleep to indie-folk melodies

I fantasize of living by the light-house

Where woman of my dreams watches me dodge the wind chills of foreign vibrations

To sail to her heart—all over again

I used to love her prior to breaking her heart

With beat breaks of overused samples

After being fed up, she sat me down one night and said:

“Make your own sounds

Be more original

Be fresher

Declare your own voice

Pilot this vessel baby

Leave be autopilots and auto-tunes

My true rhythms won’t mislead you”

She still can lyric me in pleasant lilac shades, just because she’s cool like that

Shorty still makes me think, she continues:

“Don’t be the chameleon lying on society’s log

Blending in so much you never allow love and freedom to see you

Don’t be a gecko sticking to surfaces of nonsense

Lizards lie

You are cub full of pride, the kind Disney couldn’t fathom

Because you followed the original rhythms

The ones that turned the world on its ear

And after thirty plus years of becoming the world’s culture

Executive vultures fxcking me and your favorites over

Babe, you still nod your head while your heartbeat syncs

Lemme ask you—do you still love me?”

Say no more babe, you know you have my heart forever

I just often miss the pages of your Essence

Because that’s when you’re issues were impactful as an asteroid of emotions

Missing the purest of you

Like how a lady who went natural subconsciously misses the salon

Sometimes…I still see the beauty in your third eye

Our hearts are getting heavier

Like usual, she caresses my ears more than my face

Because listening to her makes me smile anyway

The mood is calming as her introspective punch-lines

She speaks to my soul again:

“Baby, it scares me as to how you put me before God sometimes

After all I am his gift to you, don’t forget the truest originator

Even with that I indeed am number one in the oneness of you

All the verses in your veins

The snares and kicks in your arteries

The bass breathing through your heart murmur

I know you still feel it all, no matter how you switch on me sometimes

For grunge and ukulele strums and melodic hums of bizarre synths

I love how you’re a man of expanding

Besides you see all those elements in me

Just don’t forget the elementary of your permanent infatuation

Understand, no matter how many Award Tours you go on

The greatest thing that Glows in the Dark is the beat of your soul…”

We were the embryos of lively scat singing of jazz symphonies

Big band, enjoying the om bap, swinging with her for as long as I can

Bebop till we die, replace the B’s with H’s for her heavenly humanity

That’s why I stopped calling her a bxtch

Because she’s always been there for me since the year of ‘92

When I found H.E.R. with a heart of gold—that turned platinum

Her soul black and pure, oil-filled, rich she isn’t, but wealthy with spirit

And I’m glad she’s mine, brown sugar, going natural growing fro on me, I love it all

Fresh to life she is, the world’s greatest natural resource

Hip hop till we die, I still see beautiful verses in her third eye

I—love H.E.R. still…

And ya don’t stop

And we won’t stop…

——————————————————————————-

BUY THIS ALBUM RIGHT NOW!!

Going to Target tomorrow right after class to cop! Can’t wait.

Peace

-Ish

…Ish (2002)
Phil Pascoe
Big Finish #35
Starring: Colin Baker & Nicola Bryant

The Sixth Doctor and Peri attend a conference of lexicographers where an unfortunate murder has occurred. They learn of The Omniverbum, a term used to describe the mythical longest word in existence, and according to records, no one who has found the Omniverbum has lived to tell of it.

…Ish revels in words. Phil Pascoe’s script is erudite, full of wonderful little longeurs into language, and trots out that old argument of Americanisms (Tap? Faucet?) but gives it an interesting lexicographical twist that is central to the destruction of the murderer. For a script about language, both Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are both giving meaty lines of dialogue, and both actors deliver with panache. I often find Peri the least rounded of the Doctor’s companions that has made it to audio, but here Bryant is allowed to shine and develop. She gets many of the best lines.

Where …Ish fails is that in being so overly clever in his writing – going for lexicographical intelligence, Phil Pascoe has removed some of the clarity out of the situation – somewhere in the middle third of this production I lost track of what was occurring and found my interest waning drastically by the fourth part. Perhaps I was not giving his script my fullest attention – it was a very windy and cold day, and the sand was wrapping my face as I walked along the beach listening to this – but it did seem that the script did not come completely together. Nevertheless I found Pascoe’s writing sharp, and the performances a delight. I think perhaps it needed a story less enthral to language and more to plot: perhaps a good mistake to make, though, as most stories have that problem reversed – they’re great on plot, terrible on the writing of them. Pascoe is clearly a good writer.

…Ish contains a good many in-jokes to fans of Doctor Who and TV comedy, and this insularity, though good for the fan, sometimes alienate the casual reader (or listener), and it seemed Pascoe sometimes wished set a scene up for the joke rather than for the story, and perhaps this is the cause, or at least a symptom, of the problem with his script. I shall think more on this one.

doodle portrait by Jackson Moad

Bubble Machine ‘Do by Stephanie Moye, photo x David Yellen.
I hope that shit’s battery operated.

Born in Manila and living in New York, Skye Nicolas is as much a fashion star as he is a fine artist. His most recent collection, “Disintegration” or “The White Paintings”, appropriates his strong eye for fashion, sexuality and symbolism with a 21st century approach to portraiture; as he calls it: a total “reclamation of negative space.”

My mother’s dental work is primo.
Ask T-Pain
I have so much respect for the guy now! Who can sing anything (let alone carry a tune) with tin foil in their mouth?

I met Justin Melnick at the door of some club my freshman year of college. Almost five years later (and with a trip to the Middle East under his belt), Justin Melnick has quit the life of club impresario to explore the world of socially-conscious photography. Most notably, his “Arm.Me” series; in which he uses weaponry to examine and exploit the disarmingly forceful effects of luxury designer brands, defines loaded statement. It’s also a perfect marriage of high fashion and hip-hop fit for Smoke & Mirrors.

photos courtesy of justin melnick

This is the very reason I wear fur.
Peta – get it together.

Ish went to Lazer Treks for the birthday party of a dear friend.

Lazer Trek is the latest craze in arcade games. Players engage in real life-like combat with preset conditions. During the 2-hour long session, the group went into the lazer gaming area about 5-6 times, with a different scenario each time. They engaged in group combat, police-criminal chases, ‘last man standing’ games and more! The arcade claims that the laser guns are safe, and the kids have to wear vests before going inside the maze-like game area. The place is suitable for school going kids; in fact pre-schoolers are not allowed in the gaming area.

During the drive back home, Ish made a wish for Santa to give him similar gaming equipment ‘without the heavy vest’. I’ve come a long way as a mother who wouldn’t allow even pretend guns in my house, to actually being happy see my kids have fun with them. Why boys love their toys (fast cars, video games, guns, T.V. …..) still remains an elusive mystery for me, but what’s a woman to do, except accept them?

Look who got new titties! Janet welcomes you to the club…
You’re in good company.

Missoni Hotel — wha????
Book your trip to Edinburgh today.

Cristi’s Book Pick:  The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds for ages 3-6

The Dot, by famed illustrator Peter H. Reynolds, is a must-read for any child who thinks they are unable to do something.  The book opens with a little girl named Vashti sitting at her desk with a blank sheet of paper on which she believes she cannot draw.  When her teacher sees this, she tells her to make a mark to see what happens.  Vashti, in frustration, angrily makes a dot in the center of the page.   The teacher looks at it and asks her to sign the paper.  The next day in class, Vashti walks in and sees her picture framed and hanging over her teacher’s desk.   Irritated, Vashti looks at the picture and decides she can make a better dot than that one, starting her on a journey of drawing throughout the rest of the book.   Due to her teacher’s clever encouragement, Vashti realizes she can draw.

Other books by Peter H. Reynolds – Ish and The North Star.

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds; Candlewick Press; $14.00; Copyright 2003.

The day that Ish was eagerly waiting for has arrived….. (drum-roll please)…….   Ish has a wiggly tooth!!!  His lower front tooth is wiggling and now the wait for it to come out begins…..

Hope your Wednesdays went well. I had a midterm review in my drawing class. It went well, got some good and helpful feedback and conversation with the professor. It certainly boosted mine, now I have the utmost will to go harder in that class–and of course everything else progressive.

SONG OF THE DAY

Theophilus London makes some goood shxt! Another Brooklyn artist. Leave it to us to do it the best.

ARTSY

"M I R R O R" ~ by Widjita

Latest piece by a photographer I’ve been following on deviantart.com for a while. He’s dope, and his models are beautiful. Click on the photo to check his profile.

May pleasant dreams flow into your mornings world. I’m gonna continue zoning out to Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue.”

Peace

-Ish

Over the past few years, it has become a tradition to make colorful Rangoli in our house during Diwali. It’s easy to get colored rice powder to make Rangoli back home, but here we have improvised by using salt. Just add a few drops of food coloring to a bowl of salt, and mix well (using a gloved hand works the best). Microwave for 30-40 seconds to let the color seep in. Put a glass of water while the salt ‘cooks’ in the microwave to avoid any damage to the microwave.

Ish looks forward to making Rangoli as soon as Diwali preparations start. This year he chose the design himself using a Google Image search, and we made the Rangoli a day before Diwali. I drew the Rangoli motif on a clean floor which we both filled out with color. Emm ‘helped’ a bit, and then was off to play.

We made a much simpler Rangoli last year. The good thing about that was that both the brothers could help without getting overwhelmed about making mistakes.

This is the Rangoli we made outside the door for Diwali 2007:

  You can find some interesting Rangoli information and activities by clicking this link.