Today I'm Interested In...

Easter: Also Pagan in Origin

2009-04-10T08:51:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately I'm at work so I won't go into intense detail about the history of Easter or other Christian holidays that have their origins in pagan festivals/holidays. Also, as a disclaimer, I'd like to say that I'm not religious. But I was raised in the Christian church and I love history, so I like to study this stuff.

Ooh, and "Pagan" is not synonymous with "Satanic". Please stop listening to the zealots who tell you that if it's not "of God", then it must be of Satan.

Anyway, Easter. Easter gets its name from the Germanic goddess Eostre (also Eastre or Ôstarâ). During an old Scandinavian (Germanic? Same thing?) festival the heralding of spring by Eostre was celebrated. Not going to go into the particulars of the festivities, but it was believed that every year spring was brought by Eostre and that she must be kept happy in orer to ensure that she would return.

The celebrations were held on and around the vernal equinox (March 21st). Today in Western Christianity Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Eastern Christians link Easter more closely to the Jewish feast of Passover (Biblical history places Jesus' crucifiction and resurrection during Passover) and so place its date according to the observation of Passover.

While much of the history surrounding Eostre and her feast(s) are not written in stone, it is generally accepted that her animal was the hare and that she also was linked to the egg. Eggs in many culture represent fertility or new birth (both also ideas connected to spring). The hare and egg symbolism was carried over to the Christian anniversary and remain so today. Some Christians have adopted the egg and changed its meaning to represent the tomb Christ was buried in or to symbolize the rolling away of the rock at the tomb's entrance.

Just a skim. My friend is pressuring me to go to lunch with her now so I can't get into too much detail.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and the Damned | Screenshots!

2009-01-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

In 2008, Rockstar was in danger of being no more or worse: sold into the hands of a someone other than Take Two, its parent company. Take Two had some financial issues and for most of 2008 was pretty close to being the subject of a hostile takeover by EA (insert "ugh" here). Microsoft saw an opportunity to steal even more gamers from the Playstation camp (I'll admit I jumped ship) and struck a deal with the Rockstar guys: they would grant Rockstar a $50 million loan to help them make the most expensive game ever ($100 million) if the next GTA installation included two downloadeable expansions exclusive to Xbox 360. The Grand Theft Auto series got its fame on the PS2 but money talks. The deal was made and Rockstar/Take Two got the money needed to keep their place as the gods of console violence for the new millenium.

The first episode is here...well...almost. It'll be available to download via Xbox Live on February 17th and I'll be ready to send it through my broadband connection and into my box on the 18th (I'm teaching myself patience). No word on pricing or file size yet. But do I care? No. I'm setting myself up with an Xbox Live membership (finally...), a hard drive, and some HDMI cables in preparation. You'll be playing as Johnny Klebitz, a member of The Lost biker gang from GTA IV. To continue random acts of violence on innocent bystanders--I mean for more new missions with purpose and no casualties you need an Xbox 360, Grand Theft Auto IV, and an Xbox Live membership.

One issue: I haven't been able to decently handle a chopper in any GTA game during a chase. But how am I gonna look as a biker gangster in a two seater coupe?

Killer Instinct

2008-11-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

OUR New President

2008-11-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited about the upcoming presidency I can hardly contain myself! We have been so wrong for so long about so much! While it's obvious that America is not 100% ready to treat a Black man as an equal, what happened at the polls yesterday and last week has given me a sense of relief and hope that I haven't had since I was a child, ignorant to the bigotry and hate that still exists in our nation. No matter how many minorities showed up to vote, we could NOT have done this without White voters. That's first. So please don't look at this as a victory over White people. Look at this as a victory over hatred, ignorance, and passivity.

I woke up this morning and saw a little bit of CNN's coverage of people across the world celebrating our choice of leadership. What an impact our nation has on the lives of so many around the world! People who have never even visited this country! Our economy fails and people all across the globe go hungry. We go to war and the most powerful nations across the world will risk the lives of their own sons and daughters to fight by our side for our cause. Even if we have wasted their lives for nothing. Our charitable contributions dwindle and millions go without. It is so easy to be seen as a negative figure in the eyes of the world. Too easy. So this makes me so proud right now that we can shine as a positive example for those who still endure injustices due to hatred and misunderstanding. Even if it turns out to be temporary. A Black man will be the leader of the free world!

I am most proud of our decision not because he is a Black man. But because he is an AMERICAN. We CHOSE an American. He RAN as an American. I thank him SO MUCH for not running as a BLACK American. Even if he won it would have taken so much away from the victory. I can't explain why. Perhaps it's because I feel that it's more important for voters to elect a Black man as one of us; as opposed to electing him to "give a darkie a chance". More important for us to trust a man to lead us into the next few years, regardless of his skin color, rather than pretend to trust him BECAUSE of his skin color. I want this moment to be historical, but not sensational. I want it to be seen as progressive, but not as a blind leap. I want it to represent change, but not revolution. I may be asking too much.

I want black people to see Barack Hussein Obama not as our savior, but as proof that we had already been saved.

I Have Already Seen Enough Enough History to Last a Lifetime

2008-11-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

I was 10 days old when the Challenger shuttle exploded.

I was 15 years old when September 11th changed our nation forever.

I watched a woman run for Democratic Presidential Nominee. And be taken seriously.

And now we've elected a Black man president.

Oh my God. We did it.

Grey's Anatomy 10/23/08

2008-10-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

Did anyone see Grey's last night? It was pretty good. Not harrowing and hair-pull inducing like the premiere, but a good Grey's episode. To really get heart rates going they should've focused less on Grey and Derek and more on the piggy back surgery potentially failing. The way it almost came apart was just not dramatic enough. Last season I kind of fell off because it wasn't holding my interest anymore and I think that's because they strayed away from a lot of the sardonic humor that made the show interesting for me. I feel like it was more focused on drama b/w Grey and Derek, Bambi and Callie, etc etc. At least that's what it felt like to me.

Last night's episode reminded me of why I love the show with of one scene: the one where the residents are eating lunch and they've got the interns all lined up in front of them while they pick and choose which ones they want and which ones to give to Bambi (I cannot think of his name to save my life right now). Basically, Christina is taking notes and they are talking within earshot of these interns about them without censorship. Grey's sister is like "we're right here, we can hear you" and of course they ignore her and keep deliberating. Yang even yells at an awkward, doe-eyed intern just for putting his tray down when his arms start to get tired, in the vein of the old comedically anal Christina Yang instead of the more recent grindingly anal Christina Yang. The scene was evocative of the old ironic humor that put Grey's where it was a couple of seasons ago (i.e. before the writer's strike): an Emmy award-winning comedy cum drama at the top of America's network television lineups. It's the kind of scene that is worthy of its own YouTube or Hulu submission with 6-figure hits and a 5-star rating and it's been a while since Grey's had one of those I'm sure.

While it wasn't perfect—Grey and Derek still had some meaningless disagreement taking up 10-15 minutes of air time in all. Izzy still wasn't funny and hasn't been for a while now (isn't Katherine Heigl a comedy actress? Helloooooo?). Callie and the ugly heart surgeon are still having a go at this lesbian thing that's failing horribly as an attempt to keep viewers, and Karev….sigh….the bad boy image is looking a bit….forced. Hell, even the scene I loved could've done without Grey Jr.'s input (no need to have her point out the irony in the scene. We get it)--*ahem* while it wasn't perfect, I watched and will tune in again next week. Until then, Heroes and premium cable series will have all my attention.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Albums!!!!

2008-10-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

So…lately I'm finding it hard to please myself. As far music tastes go that is. I've been noticing more and more that I don't buy/download full albums except for rare occasions. And even that is just so I can pick and choose the songs I want to put them on my iPod and then I never ever listen to that album again. I buy most of my music a la carte; a track here, a track there--all different artists, and more importantly, all different types of genres. I have no idea how to build coherent playlists out of the hodgepodge of tracks in my iTunes library.

I remember reading years ago when iTunes became popular that this is how music was going to be consumed in the very near future and I'm experiencing it first hand. This is probably the very reason why music sales are down the past few years not piracy! Back in the day the only singles you could buy a la carte were officially released. So you had to cart around a whole CD or (God forbid) cassette (what's that?!) with just one song on it; maybe a few remixes on the B side. Now every track is available for consumption as its own little piece of that artist's catalogue, if you want it, it's yours. I actually find it hard to justify the old model of putting out a 10-15 track album every few years when faced with the new ways music is being consumed. Look at Billboard: on the singles-plotting charts platinum diamonds and gold circles decorate way more singles than do their full-length counterparts on the album charts. Ringtones, singles….we don't need no stinkin' albums!

Still can't post from my iphonE as you can see from the blank body.

2008-08-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

Pandora Going Out of Business? (For Real This Time...Maybe)

2008-08-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

The RIAA is really really trying to fuck music lovers over. Remember when that was ironic?

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/pandora_on_the_verge_of_closing_shop.php

Where Have I Been?

2008-07-29T16:55:00.001-07:00

So I haven't written in my blog since april of 07. Why not? It hink i felt like i had nothing to write. Which i stupid cuz i've been more opinionated than ever. While I'm not an expert in any field except me (haha!), I pretend to be very well. So tune in and maybe I'll write something in here soon.

BombingForPeace.jpg (JPEG Image, 500x638 pixels)

2007-04-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

BombingForPeace.jpg (JPEG Image, 500x638 pixels)

Hippies always have the best way of saying things.

Big Changes for Hip Hop?

2007-04-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

While most are focusing on the negative aspects of Don Imus's comments a few days ago, there are some who are using the controversy as a ray of light and hope. Hope that change will come. Don Imus (wisely?) turned the harsh eyes of criticism towards Hip-hop culture when he stated that the double standard wasn't fair. He complained that he couldn't call women hoes, but Snoop Dogg can. Is he lying? I don't think so. Oprah Winfrey started a mutli-part special, the "Town Hall" meeting sparked by Imus's comments. Part 2, which aired on Tuesday, April 17th, gave the hip-hop industry a chance to respond. Unfortunately, I was in my car as it was airing and I haven't gotten a chance to see it. I do know for a fact, though, that hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons was there, along with Kevin Liles, Common, and others.

If you don't know (and you should know), Russell Simmons formed Def Jam Recordings along with Rick Rubin in Rubin's dorm at NYE. This was back before my birth so I won't speak too much on it. Do keep in mind, however, that some of hip-hop's most prolific MCs have called Def Jam home at some point or another from LL Cool J (who is currently recording his 13th LP under the label) to EPMD and everyone who ever inked a deal with Roc-A-Fella. Kevin Liles is likewise a legend in the industry. He's had a role in the success of a lot of our favorite artists like T.I. and Jay-Z among others. He's not vice president of Warner music group. I think.

Anyway, if you didn't get to check it out earlier today, use your illegal online search skills to find the episode and watch it.

In related news, Russell Simmons has called a closed door meeting of his own including some of the industry's most powerful execs and artists.

Just a Few Links I Love

2007-04-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

I'm bored and I haven't written in a while. I'd review Joost, but it's been running really badly on my machine even though I exceed the minimum system requirements to run it. Sad...

Anyway, these cheered me up and will make you laugh or say "ooh aah" or something else. Enjoy.

1) This is Lasse Gjertsen. He's super creative and I watch this video about once a month just so I can say "wow....". I don't know why I never shared it before. Check out his other video "Hyperactive" on YouTube.

http://www.zappinternet.com/?video=fodCyoDmiV

2) This is a simple game you can pass the time with. mouse dexterity. It's called "Particle"

http://www.mooarcade.com/games/play-6143-Particles.html

3) Check this little boy out...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1fkzx_too-much-beyonce

Joost

2007-04-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

Ha ha!!!! I GOT JOOST!!! SWEET!!!!!! I'm installing it as we speak and I can't wait. I'm getting rid of the cable bill. Check back here for my review of it sometime....not so soon.

R. Kelly

2007-03-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

He's really giving it to the fans isn't he? The Pied Piper just set up a hotline where you can preview songs off his next album. The number is 312-278-3965. Ironically, the first track is called "Blow it UP". Blow that phone line up if you're a true Kelly fan. Once again, brought to you by me, Tatiana.

Music history is now. Open your ears up.

For Your Sonic Pleasure

2007-03-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

DJ Khaled feat. T.I., Akon, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne & Baby

Go white boy

I'm Sick of Hearing Urban Artists Say...

2007-03-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

"I've poured my heart & soul into this album" (so what the hell were you doing on the previous albums? Bullshitting me?)

"This album is the real me." (same question)

"I'm about to change the game." (don't count your chickens...)

"I feel like I'm Tupac or Biggie." (nigga please!)

"I don't care about album sales. I make music for the people." (what the hell are you doign on a major label then?)

"This album is gonna be a classic" (again with the chickens...)

"Basically the label didn't do their job as far as promotions go." (why you so lazy???)

Will the Internet Kill Television Too? (cont)

2007-03-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

The first installment of this ...article (?) is somewhere lost in cyberspace. I can't remember what web site I put it on. But here's the second part. It speaks for itself.

Will the Internet Kill Television Too? (cont)

I KNEW IT!!!

Bill Gates, Nikles Zennstrom, Steve Jobs, Janus Friis. Guess which of these names prompted my copy of Microsoft Word to go crazy with squiggly red lines. People are asking. "Who are they anyway?" Nobody important. Just the founders of Kazaa, that P2P file-sharing network that enabled you to completely fill your old 20 GB hard drive back in 2001. Did you know that before the entertainment industry lawyers moved in, Kazaa was managing over 3 million downloads per month? Per month?! "Whatever. That's great, but everyone knows that Kazaa isn't the hot app that it used to be. No one even uses it anymore because of all the lawsuits and arrests and stuff. Those guys are finished." True. Coming out of 2006 having paid $115 million in lawsuit payouts during the summer must have Zennstrom and Friis backpacking across Europe on $5 a day to get back home to Denmark. "Duh."

But wait, didn't they bail out on Kazaa to form Skype? "What the heck is a Skype?" (chuckles) You have so much to learn, non tech-savvy one. Skype was (is) the free voice-over-IP telephone system that took the web by storm and made the traditional telephone guys sweat all over. Right down to their Gucci loafers. Skype meant free phone calls. "Well I've never heard of Skype, so it must not be that great." Well…136 million worldwide users and a 2.6 billion dollar sale to eBay say different. And these guys still work a regular nine-to-five (Zennstrom and Friis, are the CEO and executive vice president of innovation, respectively for Skype). But in that cute habit that Internet billionaires have of doing whatever they please, ZenFri are starting yet another side hustle: The Venice Project.

Now called Joost, as it nears release to the general consumer population (it's now in beta testing), the two European geeks are embarking on a path to change yet another major industry: television—but this time, they don't want to step on any toes. After losing $115 million from Kazaa and just barely sidestepping a plethora of lawsuits after Skype, Niklas and Janus are sending us another gem from their nerdy minds. Here's what Joost seeks to offer:

..[if !supportLists]-->1. ..[endif]-->Taking the best from the Internet and television (two of the most influential and complex systems of the 20th and 21st centuries) and putting them together. Joost allows users to stream high-quality video clips of their favorite shows (emphasis on high quality) while allowing them to search, view program guides, create infinite numbers of "smart channels", create a buddy list, IM, and options to "Rate it!" and "Share what I'm watching!" Web 2.0? Yes. Television 2.0? We sure hope so.

..[if !supportLists]-->2. ..[endif]-->Make massive amounts of quality live video streams possible. Kazaa was originally slated to include video streams/downloads, but sluggish turn-of-the-millenium Internet speeds made it impossible and MP3s were pushed to the forefront instead. With today's average broadband--or something like it--speeds hovering somewhere around 500 Kbps for U.S. consumers, the use of P2P networks (the same tech behind Kazaa, BitTorrent, and Bearshare) for streaming videos is not only a possibility, it's about to be a reality.

..[if !supportLists]-->3. ..[endif]-->90% less commercial time. "Okay, now the industry most DEFINITELY will not like this." Or maybe they will. Advertising companies need to start looking at the quality advertising time over the quantity of ad time they buy. For example, on the net, an ad agency can buy all of the customers in a zip code and beam a commercial to only those users. The only question is, if this Webivision thing takes off in a few years, will we be able to laugh about all the same commercials as our friends?

..[if !supportLists]-->4. ..[endif]-->Real content that YOU want to see. In the Joost offices, meetings between programming directors and representatives of major U.S. broadcast channels, music majors, and other such heavy-hitters are the norm. One channel will even have a modified PBS strategy: classics, documentaries, and independent dramas in healthy doses. To summarize: the Venice Project isn't trying to push obscure programming through your Ethernet cable. This is real television. Like the kind that says "Samsung" across the bottom.

..[if !supportLists]-->5. ..[endif]-->High-quality video images. "I can already watch all of this stuff. There's Google, YouTube, MetaCafe, E—" Warning. Low-res video, 6-inch viewing screens, and horribly un-interesting user-created content ahead. GooTube, MetaCafe, and the others have their merits (actual good user-created content jumps to mind), but with lawsuits coming down (Is Fox Preparing to Fight YouTube?), it's only a matter of time before they become watered-down shells of their current glory. With Joost, I'm talking DVD-quality, full screen, licensed content here. To quote Friis: ""It even looks pretty good hooked up to my plasma." Touché.

"Okay fine. What's the point of you telling me this? I already pay Comcast for my cable service, and I'm happy. It only costs me $45 a month."

In reply, I'll leave you with a little snippet from Spencer Reiss's article on Joost from Wired News:

"We want to be in the space where people are doing what they do now with TV, watching four to six hours a day," says Henrik Werdelin, 30, another MTV defector who spearheads overall product development. And he can't resist taking a little potshot: "That's a lot of YouTube clips."

To pull that off, the history of both the Internet and television suggest an obvious price point: zero. "The ultimate value of Skype is free phone calls," says Friis, who cheerfully mixes rabble-rousing populism and cold-eyed business. "The ultimate value of what we're doing here is free TV."

Unfortunately, at this time, I have no received an email back from the Joost gods granting me access to their beta testing.

Update: I just received an email from them yesterday saying that my access to beta testing is coming SOON!!! So excited...

Just Thinking About...

2007-03-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

.....Kelly Rowland's upcoming album. Hello???? Kelly, what's wrong with you??? The album is coming out on Music World/Columbia Records...a.k.a. Beyoncé World. Good luck getting a promotion budget out of what's left over from the re-release of B-Day (April 4th). Kelly's a talented girl (some would argue more so than Yoncé), but this album is labelled a certified FLOP. to the left.

...Beyoncé's affect on black boys, LOL

...Ugly music icons

...Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They're the first hip-hop act to be inducted into the Hall. hearts smile for hip-hop pioneers, and these guys are still keeping us cheesing decades after their first break beat.

and

...How I told ya'll niggas to log out your Google accounts before searching for illegal shit two years ago. Maybe now ya'll will listen. People are getting convicted for crimes based on their recent Google searches! There's another story of someone poisoning their spouse, but I coudlnt' find the link. Matter of fact, I'm sure they keep your I.P. address too. so the next time you want to learn how to "torture a nigger", use someone else's computer.

New Music Biz Trend?

2007-03-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we've seen any true collaborations where two semi-rivaling artists get together and make a good song. In urban music that is. (No, all the compilation hip-hop remixes don't count. They're not even in the studio together). And by rival, I don't mean "beefin'". I just mean two artists w/ the same core fan base. Brandy & Monica "The Boy is Mine". Whitney and Mariah "When You Believe". Yes, I'm showing my age (or lack thereof) by only naming '90s collabos, but what do I look like commenting on music from before my time?

Last week, we got the first whiffs of the Beyoncé and Shakira partnership on "Beautiful Liar". I'm sure most of you wouldn't say that they have the same exact core audience, but you can't deny they're both heavyweights seeking the championship in the That's-One-Sexy-Mutha-Fucka circuit. While that song isn't even finished climbing the charts to the top (where it will eventually fall in the next few weeks, mark my words), Omarion goes and recruits Usher for his "Ice Box" remix. I know right? I was like...what happened to Da Brat? This one is a much closer match. While Usher's last album shot him up beyond superstar sex symbol status and into we're-gonna-be-tellin-our-grandchildren-about-him calibur, there's no denying that Omarion is probably the true heir to the Usher Jr. throne. (Sorry Chris.)

That being said, who's next? Jay-Z is on a Nas track. Can we hear Fantasia and J. Hud throw 4.5 minutes of sonic ecstacy our way? Fergie and Nelly Furtado? Keyshia Cole and Mary J. Blige (a hoodrat's anthem)? Bow Wow and Li'l Romeo? Okay I just wanted to make you say "what the fuck???" on that last one. On that note, I'm out of here. Look out for the next classic collabo.

History-making music is now. Keep your ears open.