With all the attention paid to Girl Talk lately, I feel like we should get to know another big name in the mashup game: The Hood Internet. The Hood Internet is made up two deejays from Chicago. (They actually released a mixtape of songs entirely by Chicago bands/rappers, which is pretty neat.) Their style is much different from Girl Talk’s, though. Whereas GT likes to skip from popular song to popular song, Hood Internet’s trademark is mixing indie rock and electro with hip-hop. And instead of quickly fading from one song to another, they tend to let the beat ride a bit more, which isn’t necessarily bad.
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I’ve been obsessed with the amazingly hilarous site Regretsy for the past few days. After going through hundreds of back pages, looking through the worst shit human hands have ever created, I found myself inspired to find some Etsy artists whose work I wouldn’t be ashamed to display in my home. I’ve shared a few of my favorites below. Continue reading
Time for another music post. Today I’m going to hit you with a bunch of stuff from two artists who may or may not wear striped shirts and berets and smoke Gauloises. Here’s a small taste of two dope French musicians, Sebastien Tellier and Martin Solveig.
Alors…. ecoutez a la musique!
First there’s Sebastien Tellier. He’s this skeevy-looking crazy man who kind of sounds like a lounge-singing version of Giorgio Moroder and Simon Le Bon.
“Kilometer”
“L’Amour et La Violence”
“Roche”
“Divine”
“Sexual Sportswear”
And here’s some stuff from Martin Solveig. He’s more of a producer god than a singer. At one point there was a Facebook petition calling on Solveing to produce Michael Jackson’s next album. Silly euros. Despite making REALLY pop-friendly music (in English, even!), Solveig is criminally overlooked over here. C’mon people! Pay attention!
“Everybody”
“Rejection”
“Linda”
“Something Better”
“Something About You”
“Madan”
“Jealousy” by Martin Solveig
Editor’s Note: I’m reposting this today in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Has there ever been a more talented human being than Bill Cosby? Yeah, he may have gone far off the deep end of get-off-my-lawn crankiness in recent years, but not only was he maybe the greatest standup comedian of all time and starred in and produced one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, but he actually is a pretty amazing composer and musician.
Here’s “Martin’s Funeral,” his requiem for Martin Luther King, Jr. (It was later sampled by A Tribe Called Quest).
Well.
For all of my best intentions, I made it to the pool twice.
Hit me with your results and I’ll add them to this post.
| Name | What you did | How you feel |
|---|---|---|
| SWC | 2x Swim | Feeling okay, but unimpressed |
| MOL | 3xYoga; 2xWalk/Elliptical; some other |
I’m not going to make any excuses for myself, so I’ll give you one of my favorite one mile swim workouts. It’s a broken mile. It’s easy, but you do have to keep track of things in your head – AND you have to pick up speed as you go. Take about 10 seconds in between each.
1×275 (11 lengths of the pool) – warm up
1×250 (10) – moderate
1×225 (9) – moderate
1×200 (8) – faster
1×175 (7) – faster
1×150 (6) – faster
1×125 (5) – faster
1×100 (4) – sprint
1×75 (3) – sprint
1×50 (2) – sprint
1×25 (1) – sprint
Then do a 100-200 cool down.
Buying a Nikon doesn’t make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner. ~ Anonymous
It’s time for the first book in our book club to be announced! Continue reading
Why am I, a nearly 40 year old woman (gah! How did that happen?) obsessed with Teen Mom? I was secretly looking forward to last night’s premiere of Teen Mom 2. I set the DVR to record it twice just in case some of it got cut off. I have a theory that 30-40 year old moms are watching most of MTV’s docudramas. I bet if you could get people to really admit what they watch, you’d find out that I’m right (someone is watching all those episodes of True Life). Every time one of my friends has a baby, they tell me they spent their maternity leave watching 16 and Pregnant or My Super Sweet 16 or Jersey Shore or My Super Sweet Shore or 16 and At The Shore.
I did some self-analysis and here are some of the potential attractions that Teen Mom 2 holds for me:
- I was obsessed with the original Teen Mom, so this is a natural progression.
- I have little kids and this show makes my life look way easier.
- Leah lives near my hometown so I see glimpses of where I grew up.
- No matter how dumb I act, I still have more sense than Janelle (or Amber. Pick your season and there will be an applicable trainwreck).
- Lawd, 17 year old boys should not be parents. Teen motherhood is a concern; teen fatherhood is a tragedy.
- It makes me so glad I did not have children until I was in a stable relationship.
- I am a huge dork for an underdog love story and am rooting hardcore for Leah and Corey.
- Damn, is my husband ever WonderDad.
- When I get irritated about spending Saturday night surrounded by tantrums and Goldfish crackers, I can remember that I spent my 20s going to so many clubs that I was sick to death of them
I continue, despite the critics, to think this show is a good documentary. It makes teen motherhood look like hell. I am soooo glad I waited. It’s so much easier when you’re older and the child’s father is older. I suppose it’s possible that some teen somewhere got pregnant on purpose just to get on this show. I’d have to question this teen’s ability to make any kind of good decision in general. Even if you’re a pregnant teen in the right age group, what are the odds you’d get on this show? Anyway, now I’ve publicly admitted my guilty TV watching habit (one of them). Now I’m going to watch the deleted scenes on MTV.com and count down the days until the next episode.
Crossposted from bbqcornnuts.typepad.com
OK, kids. Strap on your day-glo backpack and floppy Kangol hat because we’re going back to 1998. It was a simpler time back then. Justin Bieber hadn’t been invented yet and the ecstasy flowed like wine. Here are some tracks to take you back to that sketchy warehouse party that was probably thrown in a former asbestos factory. You’ll have fun, as long as you avoid the bathroom. It’s filled with ravers and is almost definitely disgusting.
“Re-introduction” by The Wiseguys
A billion different samples, a never-ending scratch. The 90s were not the most subtle time for music. We generally liked to go overnboard. This one turned into a classic b-boy jam, so I can’t hate it.
“Trip II the Moon” by Acen
Science-fiction. We loved it back then. Basically, if you needed an idea for a song in 1996 and couldn’t think of anything else, you knew you could ALWAYS make it about space robots and call it “Flight 2 Da Moon” or something.
“Fucking in Heaven” by Fatboy Slim
Ah yes. Fatboy Slim aka Norman Cook. Here he pounds a single naughty phrase into oblivion. People just wanted to hear what samplers could do back then. Leave us alone, it was the 90s.
“Loaded” by Primal Scream
A psychadelic Stones homage made with a drum machine and a bucket full of drugs. Somehow it all works.
“King of the Beats” by Aphrodite
Here’s our first jungle track of the night. Aphrodite was known for putting out a BILLION records that all sounded very much like this one. Eventually his name kinda became a punchline. Still, I can’t hate on “King of the Beats.” When it gets all dark at the 2:00 mark it takes me back to my younger days when everyone wore thugged-out puffy jackets and huge boots to the rave.
“Under Mi Sensi” (Jungle Spliff X-Project Remix) by Barrington Levy
For a few years there, the huge trend was to mix dancehall reggae with jungle and call it “ragga jungle.” For some stupid reason it eventually fell out of favor. I say stupid because… jesus, this music is awesome. It makes me want to light a car on fire.
“What Goes Up” by Blackwing vs. Headhunter
Here’s another dark drum ‘n bass track. I think the music was so foreboding back then because we had a sneaky feeling the aughts were really going to suck.
“Drop That Beat” by Richard Humpty Vission
Ok, that’s enough jungle. Here’s an acid house/hard house joint from RHV. This music is just stupid frenetic and sounds like it was made for someone who just ate about 10 pills of E. I fully admit that this music is basically annoying as shit. I left it in because well, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. So cutting out this song would be like denying that genocide happened. Are you happy now, monster?
“The Funk Phenomena” by Armand Van Helden
This song was an absolute scorcher in the clubs with that weird little keyboard riff and cool vocal line. I think this is one of the tracks that truly has aged well.
“To the Three” by S.P.1200
I love how on this record’s label it thanks “all the djs who like to spin the hard tracks.” The airhorn sample, the sped up vocals, the huge cymbals and claps… so so 90s. I don’t know why we thought it was so cool when the producer sped the vocals up to make it sound like a four-year-old was rapping, but we ate that shit up.
“Infatuation” by Onionz & Master Dee
This record was made by hippies from the West Coast, so it’s all “musical” and doesn’t give you a splitting headache. Whatever, hippies.
“Freed From Desire” by Gala
EUROTRASH! It’s not just a recent phenomenon, kids.
“Release Me” by Industry
“Get Get Down” by Paul Johnson
Ok, there are only three words in this whole song, but dammit, the way Johnson keeps shifting the vocal pitch down was ahead of his time. (I have a feeling he was using an akai sampler instead of ProTools but I’ll defer to the experts on such questions.)
“On the Run” by DeBos
We all dressed exactly like this couple back then. And we’d ALWAYS smash our dinner table to bits. That was funny to us.
“King of my Castle” (Roy Malone Mix) by Wamdue Project
A few years ago here in Atlanta I happened to meet a guy named Chris Brann who I rode motorcycles with a few times. It turned out he was the producer behind Wamdue. Small world! I love this anecdote from his wikipedia page: “Wamdue Project famously appeared on the initial nominations list for ‘Best British Newcomer’ [3] at the 2000 Brit Awards, before embarrassed organisers were forced to withdraw the nomination on account of the fact that Brann is American.”
“Little Fluffy Clouds” by The Orb
This song contains maybe the weirdest sample of all time at the beginning when the trippy-sounding hippie farmgirl talks about the “little fluffy clouds” in the sky.
“King of the Death Posture” by Van Basten
Technically this is what trance sounded like before trance grew into something that made you want to stab yourself in the face.
“Pumpin” by Bad Boy Bill
“Didjital Vibrations” by Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai was sort of the house band of the 90s rave scene. This was the perfect track for the chill-out room. Do they even have chill-out rooms anymore? It was where you went when your body was simply too exhausted to continue dancing but the drugs weren’t going to let you pass out just yet. I don’t think that exists any more with the invention of Red Bull.
Last month, while pondering what I wanted to do differently in 2011, I thought about what I put in my mouth.
For about seven years (age 14-21), I was a vegetarian. Back then, there weren’t nearly as many ready-to-eat or veg-friendly ingredients carried in regular grocery stores. Now, even Wal-Mart has organic and veg-friendly options.
Needless to say, I fell off the veg wagon and was OK with that for many years. Then, in 2010, after putting on some unwanted weight, I started working out with a trainer. I still didn’t change what I was eating, but knew that would need to change sooner than later.
While identifying what I wanted to change in 2011, I wrote down that I wanted to institute vegan Mondays and Wednesdays each week to force myself to really think about what I’m putting in my mouth and to start preparing healthier meals for myself.
A friend told me about the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine and their 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program. I signed up, bought a few recipe books, and put together a meal plan for the first week.
Since January 2, 2011, I have been eating a plant-based diet and I feel great. Seriously. I’m a life-long insomniac, but have been sleeping really well lately. Also, I find myself waking up and wanting to get out of bed. My body feels energized. Usually, I felt sluggish around 2PM or 3PM while sitting at my desk. Last week, I breezed through that time with ease.
I’m now in my second week and feel like I could do this for much longer than 21 days.
Of course, it helps that I love to cook and throw stuff together in the kitchen. It also helps that I live in a city where there are tons of vegan-friendly restaurants in addition to the options available in the grocery store.
Because of my access to veg-friendly options, I consider myself quite lucky to be able to even do this. I know not everyone in this country has easy access to quality, fresh vegetables, which is something that needs to change.
Being on a plant-based diet has made me realize how important it is to keep track of what’s going in my body if I want it to continue working properly without slowing down.
Vegan Lasagna
1 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, thawed (or a bunch of fresh spinach, rinsed well and chopped)
1 Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and cut into small chunks
4-5 Fresh basil leaves or 2 tablespoons of dried basil
1 container of firm tofu
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
About 2 jars of marinara sauce (or use your own)
1 cup of vegetable broth
About 12 dry (uncooked) whole-wheat lasagna noodles
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Place the cut butternut squash in a large pan or stock pot. Pour in enough water to cover the squash. Put on medium-high heat and cover. Cook until the squash is tender. Remove from heat and drain.
In a food processor, add the cooked squash, garlic cloves, and tofu. Purée the ingredients. While the processor is in purée mode, slowly add in 3/4 cup of the vegetable broth. When all ingredients are mixed, turn off the processor.
In a large sauté pan, add 1/4 cup of vegetable broth and the spinach. If using fresh spinach, sauté until it’s wilted. If using frozen, sauté until it’s warm. Remove from heat and add in the marinara sauce. Mix together.
Coat the bottom of a 9″×13″ pan with the marinara/spinach mixture, then add a layer of lasagna noodles, overlapping noodles slightly. Then, spread on a heaping amount of the butternut squash-tofu mixture to cover the noodles. Then, add on another layer of lasagna noodles. Repeat this process again. The final layer should be the marinara/spinach mixture. Sprinkle nutritional yeast all over the top.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Stick a knife through the center of the lasagna to make sure the noodles are completely cooked. Let cool for about 15 minutes, uncovered, before serving.
Enjoy!