Random Stuff 12.6.2008

- The first post I made on this blog was over a year ago, in October 2007. Of course, you remember every word of it anyway, but here's the link to it. At that time, Side Bar (of Where's Luke superstardom, of course) predicted that Teaneck's Five-Star Cafe would go out of business quickly with a Dunkin Donuts across the street. Well, lo and behold, Five Star is fully operational. Infact, Sunday 11/30 I enjoyed a Hobo Con Queso to go. Of course, arriving home an hour and a half later, I had to pay the price on the toilet for a few minutes, but it was well worth it. Delicious breakfast and a laxative in one, can't beat it.

- Back in the 90s, a guy named Darcy Frey went into Coney Island (apparently, very ghetto there) and followed around three basketball players and chronicled their struggles to make it to success after high school basketball in a book called The Last Shot. (Joey may have gotten this as a gift for me.) Anyway, the story also touches on a cocky freshman who was on the team with this group of seniors named Stephon Marbury. After recalling his background, I'm not that shocked that "Starbury" self-destructed eventually when he was not having his ass kissed from all angles. Consider an excerpt from this review that touches on Steph:

The book does contain a fourth player, less involved in the central events of the book than the other three, a tiny freshman phenom of a point guard and basketball savant, with blazing speed, a yo-yo handle, otherworldly court vision, and a deadly shot. He is the most cocky and the most jaded of the four, always flapping his mouth and even deriding Tchaka's abilities to his face. He had not one, not two, but three older brothers show promise in high school but ultimately fail to make their 700 and end up in some sort of juco purgatory, and the experience has clearly impacted his family; his father approaches Frey directly and asks him how much he's going to be paid for Frey's book, having seen too often how young players are chewed up and spit out by those looking to profit off them and left with nothing. Unlike the other three, the freshman is shameless about hitting up Frey for meals at McDonald's and soda money, and is clear about his intentions to get his from college recruiters, admonishing the other three for not asking for any illegal gifts; he dreams of getting hooked up with a white Nissan Sentra, which are, in his own words, "milk." But he also benefits from his loss of innocence -- he vows that he won't turn out like his brothers, and puts in hours with tutors every day so that he can live up to that vow. He turns out to be the book's lone success story, propelled out of Coney Island by immense talent and confidence and a drive forged by the crushing failure that had preceded him. His name? Stephon Marbury.

- Man, I can't stop (re-)listening to Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere album. My current song du jour off of it is Necromancer. Just weird, quirky, and clever music. Has anybody heard that song Big Brother on Kanye West's Graduation album? Interesting description of his feelings about Jay-Z. Any thoughts on that?

- Just rented the Muppet Movie. It was ahead of its time and a lot of fun.

Kanye West

"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever."

- David St. Hubbins, from This is Spinal Tap - if you haven't seen it yet, go rent it right now. It's brilliant and way ahead of its time.







Watched the Grammys last night. Pretty standard as far as Grammys go. There were highlights (Beyonce and Tina Turner performing together stands out, as well as "A Day in the Life") and lowlights (Why do they trot out guys like Tony Bennett who can't read the teleprompter? How long until Amy Winehouse goes Britney Spears on everybody? She needs some time to adjust to fame and get her head straight, before she's chilling with Dave Chappelle pretty soon. Her album was so good, and I hope she remains with us putting out good music. Hopefully my Janis Joplin comparison is not prophetic.)

But most of all, I was annoyed by Kanye West, and something he did specifically.

The pros of Kanye:

- His album "Graduation" is good, as good as his other albums. In his speech in winning "Album of the Year" he talked about how he's trying to keep hip-hop alive by continuing to incorporate other genres of music and push the art form, which I think he's doing. He's famously a mediocre lyricist, but his strength continues to lie in the eclectic and interesting sounds he appreciates, and continues to absorb and incorporate into his music.

The cons:

- I truly hope that his egotistical "I am the shit" attitude is put on, a persona through which he feels comfortable. He certainly has achieved a level of fame. He has carved his specific niche in the entertainment world, and I'd bet he's at the point where your average middle-American probably has heard of him and knows he's a rapper and thinks George Bush hates black people (even if they can't name any of his songs or pick him out of a lineup).

The lyrics he comes up with in 90% of his songs are the same kind of self-promotion that hip-hop is usually about. I don't listen to much hip-hop anymore. I got the Jay-Z and Kanye West albums as they came out these past couple of years, and friends lent me albums by Common, Talib Kweli, and Mos Def. That being said, at least with Kanye and Jay-Z, most of their lyrics are attempts to make their rhymes, flow, and wordplay as clever and, well, flowing as possible. I get that. I understand that each song doesn't necessarily have to be "about" something. However, it's strange when a song performed at the Grammys has the lyrics


Cause is Louis Vuitton Don night
So we gon do everything that Kan like
Heard they'd do anything for a klondike
well I'd do anything for a blonde dike
And she'll do anything for the limelight
And will do anything when the time's right



Yes, it's a fine line between clever and stupid. And Kanye crossed it when he didn't take off these sunglasses when he was done performing.

If people are offended by the lyrics because it's sexist or whatever, they don't get that he doesn't mean it (well, maybe he does, but that's not the point.) However, it's just seemed kind of stupid to perform songs like this.

I found it ok that he performed with his lit-up vest and white-plastic-framed sunglasses. *** TO BE CONTINUED ***

Continued - Friday, March 7, 2008

Been a while since I blogged. Man...

Anyway, I was saying that I was offended by Kanye's insistence on waiting until the music was on so that he could start talking about his mother's illness and then complain about not getting respect since they had the gall to keep the music on. I was disappointed that the Grammy people didn't keep the music on despite Kanye's whining. Bitch.

In retrospect, the most surprising thing though was Amy Winehouse's bizarre performance and the lack of media discussion about her.

Ah well, on to newer and better things...