A lull in my day, Jan 28th 2010

It is around lunch time and I am kind of in between writing assignments, so I decided to do a little browsing and writing on my own.

This first picture brought back a lot of memories of middle school where I was heavily into the Pokemon Craze.  I feel bad for children now, because they don't have anywhere near the amount of cool stuff that I had when I had when I was kid.  Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Pokemon, GI Joe, X-Men...the list goes on.  Kids just get fat and play video games these days...pathetic.  Put down the Cheetos and get off your asses you little porkers!

Any way heres the picture, its a traditional style Japanese Art of the original Pokemon.  Found this on Digg. 

As you may well know Apple Fan boys all over the planet have been falling all over themselves concerning the release of the iPad.  First and foremost I give it to Apple on their buzz build and their high security press team.  In an age of internet leakage, Steve Jobs may be one of the only CEO's in full control of the content his company projects.  I also give it up to Apple for creating a need for a new market.  The device is somewhere between an iPhone, and a Macbook...which is cool, but making too many cool devices too quickly can cannibalize sales.

Here is an article that I thought was funny about the iPad which somewhat douses the device's flame.
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/01/8-things-that-suck-about-the-ipad/
I laughed a little after reading.

Last is some pictures from China I found on Digg that reflect the floating Islands on Pandora, from Jame's Cameron's Avatar.  Enjoy:

Pretty eerie spires of rock, makes you wonder whether they sprouted from the earth's crust or were carved away by some environmental force?  Thats all for now.  Back to work for me.

Pictures of the Day

Just some random ones that I found in my travels today.  The last one with the ferris wheel reminds me of the movie Spirited Away

Revisiting the 25th Hour

While in New Jersey I found some of the remnants of my DVD collection.  One of the movies that I rediscovered was an old favorite: The 25th Hour starring Edward Norton and Rosario Dawson.  

From IMDB:
The 25th Hour depicts the last day of freedom for a young man before he begins serving a seven-year jail term for drug dealing. Prowling through the city until dawn with his two close male friends and his girlfriend, he is forced to re-examine his life and how he got himself into his predicament, which leads to a shocking, disturbing finale.




My first thoughts on this movie are "Wow a Spike Lee movie with intelligent white characters."  As racist as it sounds, it is true, ask Seth McFarlane.  Anyway, a very emotional movie.  Edward Norton remains as one my all time favorite actors.  It is rare to see a movie so driven by dialog these days.  His rant concerning the various people groups of New York is something that I'll never forget.  Norton has a knack for being able to scream hate filled dialog (see American history X).  Another interesting aspect about the movie which I  forgot before viewing, was that it is set in post 9/11 New York.  As a resident of Northern New Jersey, 9/11 struck very close to home (no pun intended).  It is moving to see the world trade center post attack and to this day seeing the New York City Skyline without it is haunting.  


One of my favorite images from the movie is a poster on one of the billboards surround the world trade center wreckage.  It reads: "You cant stop New York City"


Lastly, the final dialog by the father is great.  Brian Cox builds up the final scene very well leaving the audience hanging at the end.  I found myself wondering what I would do in the same situation.


The movie is an all around great view.  Most movie watchers have seen it but it is definitely worth a second look after a long hiatus. Enjoy.

A Random Day

Slow Day, its cold outside,  Hence a blog reflecting my travels through the internet today.  Often random, but I am sure you will understand a little about me through the pictures here

The Carters: A Documentary Battle

Post New Years is always a time of recovery, so in my time of lounging about the house this weekend I viewed the The Carter Documentary as well as Sean Carter's Fade to Black. Both Sean and Dwayne Carter are very talented musicians and have enjoyed large sums of money, fame, and females. Each documentary was unique in its portrayal of its respective artist. Many feel that Dwayne Carter, or “Lil Wayne” is the upcoming star of the Rap and Hip-Hop world, while Sean Carter or “Jay-Z” is the successful entrepreneur who has been “too good for too long”. There are many differences between the two artists including style, and background, but the biggest difference is their positioning in the music world with Wayne establishing himself as an iconic rock star, and Jay continuing in his Rap mogul status.

Dwayne Carter is, as you probably know, from Holly Grove Louisiana. He will never let you forget it. He apparently has been rapping since he was eight and went to a very predominant performing arts school during his early years in the South. He signed with Cash Money records at twelve years old and has been tearing apart the rap world ever since. Although I do not bow to Wayne I will give him one thing, he has made himself an icon. He has created a larger than life persona with his dreads, tattoos and southern slang. The man lives by his own rules. What he lacks in talent he makes up for in charisma. He has the look and the work ethic to go far, but I wonder if his personal life will be the death of him. During the the documentary, Wayne seems debilitated, like a leashed dog, its like everyone has to take care of him. At times he would speak and no one would have any clue what he was saying. The man is constantly smoking weed throughout the movie and his manager and friends seemed very concerned of his addiction to the fabled “Sizzurp”.

To educate you a little, “Sizzurp” is: prescription strength cough syrup containing Codine and Promethazine which is mixed with sprite or some form of sweet drink and sipped throughout the night. It is very popular in the south and is sometimes referred to as “lean”, “drank” or “purple”

Wayne's addiction to the substance has become public knowledge and has struck a rift in his camp on long tours. The artist is constantly stating in his music that he'll smoke weed and drink “Sizzurp” till he dies, and I don't doubt it for a second.

The Carter Documentary emphasized Wayne's work ethic. Showing various recording sessions. It has been said that he never goes a day without recording at least one song. It also explains clearly the difference between the freestyle and .the mixtape methods. Lil Wayne also made it very clear that he never writes anything down and that the only thing he wants to leave behind is his music. Intermittently, the documentary would show him in the booth spitting his lyrics, the music cannot be heard over the soundtrack.

I do have some issues with lil Wayne the main one being that I don't think he is as good as everyone says he is. I am not denying the man's skills at all, but if you were to graph lil wayne's great songs, they really peak at the Carter 2 and Da Drought 3 and I don't think he has proven himself since. The Carter 3 was decent, but people bought it out of hype and were disappointed. There is also rumors that Wayne has problems with taking, and retaking in his songs as well as lot of help from Auto tune software. Everyone needs to get it out of their head that he can sing. During the documentary they show him attempting to sing, and what comes out of the man's mouth is not how it sounds over the track. He also has some problems with voice inflexion in his songs which his producers fix a lot of.

Lil wayne has also popularized the mixtape methods, where he records thousands of songs and releases them for free. So of course if you do this, you are gonna produce a whole lot of garbage songs and a few gems.
To conclude, I do enjoy Wayne's music and I do think he is a great artist. His popularity is undeniable and I wish him the best during his journey to the top. His fans are all waiting at the edge of their seats for next installment of lil Wayne, and I hope he does not disappoint.

Next I'll speak about Jay-Z, Mr. Hova himself. Jay-Z, or Sean Carter is one of the most financially successful rap musicians weighing in at a fabled 150 million dollar net worth. He co-owns Roc-a-fella records, the 40/40 club and the New Jersey Nets. Originally he hails from the Marcy projects in Brooklyn, NY. He also has recently married Beyonce Knowles. Let us also not forget that Jay-Z came right after Biggie for New York Rap and has been labeled one of the greatest of all time.

To be honest Wayne and Jay are not even in the same ballpark as of right now. Jay-z is out of this world as far as financial status, popularity and overall clout. Fade to Black was a decent documentary, it probably should have been labeled “Jay-Z live at Madison Square Garden”. The performance included some of the biggest names in rap music and was the first hip-hop act to completely sell out the legendary arena. In review, the show looked like it was unbelievable, those who were there witnessed history in the making and probably one of the best live shows of all time.

While the Carter, Documentary portrayed the up and coming rock star, Fade to Black was more of a review of Jay-Z's career in light of his retirement, which we all know didn't actually happen with the recent release of the Blueprint 3. Also, Fade to Black was directed by Mr. Sean Carter himself so I am sure a lot of foolishness was cut out rather than the sort of live feed style of The Carter Documentary.

We all know that Jay-Z doesn't write any of his raps down, and although Wayne does not embark in penmanship as well, Sean Carter definitely takes the belt on this one. Fade to Black shows Jay-Z absolutely destroying beats, he hears the song, begins to mumble to himself, gets in the booth and comes up with some of the most complex lyrics Rap has ever seen. I am not saying that the guy is the next Einstein, but there is something to the complexity of his lyrics that are spit on the fly. Jay-Z also has an incredible memory, I would not be surprised if he has every single one of his songs over his 15 albums committed to memory.

Finally, it is tough to really compare Wayne and Jay. Their styles as well as backgrounds are so different, and it is unfair to put these two artists on the same level simply because Wayne is so relatively so new to the game in comparison to Jay-Z. Those who are claiming that Wayne is going to take Jay-Z's throne, or that he is more skilled, are a little premature in their predictions, but only time will tell.