Movie Review: WANTED

Okay, short review. If you want to go see an action packed summer blockbuster. Go see Wanted. If you want something with a deep and possibly true story like the Bourne Trilogy, be ready to be disappointed.

The movie is two things: Action Packed and Angelina Jolie's body worship. So I would give it a B- (without Jolie a solid C).

WANTED - Trailer



(IF YOU ARE GOING TO SEE THE MOVIE STOP HERE. ITS NOT A SPOILER ALERT BUT IT STILL MIGHT BE TOO MUCH INFO)


My biggest issue is the story/plot. It completely took me out of the film because it's way too corny and I guessed the twist half way through the film (my friend Cassidy can vouch for this because I told it to him while we were watching the movie). Okay so its based off a comic book. Cool. But in the comic book the league is a bunch of super villains not assassins. Okay. The assassins get the names of their targets from a cotton weaving loom. Wtf? Yep, its that stupid and after watching our hero go through all that crazy training, just to find out that the organization is insane because they get their orders from a cloth spinning machine that gives the names of their targets through a binary code hidden in the misplaced threads of the weave?! Are you serious?! Plus they never really explain how these Assassins never get caught, how their weapons work or really where their skills come from. NOTHING IS REALLY EXPLAINED EVER!

Honestly there are three redeeming factors about the movie. (1) The computer graphics are kind of cool. (2) Their biggest action scenes do blow you away like the Matrix did and (3) getting to see what I think IS Jolie's F-I-N-E ass. She is definitely the hottest woman alive because she is Angelina Jolie (plus they totally rewrote the screenplay to give her character more scenes).

I wouldn't go see it again but if it was on TV (uncensored) I would watch it. WANTED is a decent summer movie.

The Nation's Capitol - The Best Weekend Ever!

Well it really wasn't DC's best weekend ever...but still its pretty good.

The Washington Nationals beat the Baltimore Orioles - This fake rivalry played to the largest crowd ever at the new stadium, which I will say is beautiful stadium and a great place to watch baseball. My only issue is that there is only one funnel cake stand and all of us who are standing in the long line are like..."Why is there only one funnel cake stand?" Please fix this.

DC United beat David Beckham and the LA Galaxy! - Wow, I thought we sucked. Granted everyone who didn't go to the game wearing black (it was like 99 degrees outside) sat at home waiting for Spain to beat Germany. So honestly I didn't pay much attention to it, I was just very surprised that it was 4-1.

Metro Bus #31 - On Sunday, the DC Metro Bus system changed up the dreaded 30 bus routes! People you need to recognize this. BUS 31 is NEW!! Don't get it on it if you are going down town. Only 32 and 36 go downtown! Hopefully this new system will speed things up and give us riders who are going to Georgetown a crowd-less bus. (That would be awesome) So please pay attention because I really hated having to listen to the bus driver explain to people at EVERY single stop that he wasn't going downtown. Seriously it was annoying.

TOP FIVE THINGS I FIND ANNOYING ABOUT THE BUS
5. Overly crowded buses
4. Shouting aggressive driving rude bus drivers
3. LOUD people on cellphones (in any language)
2. Teenagers with no respect for personal space
1. Smelly homeless people (especially those who urinate on the bus)

Well besides getting stuck on the metro rail with both crowds from these games...I would say it was a solid weekend. I got to see Wanted (review coming later). Visited the Lake of the Woods with Leif and ran into my old pal, Adam Wolf. Got to help shoot a film on Sunday and my girlfriend came back from the beach. Alls well that ends well, so I can't complain.

Bring it, Monday.

FRESH MUSIC #4 - Flying Lotus

"Flying Lotus (aka Steven Ellison) is a hip-hop music producer, disc jockey, and laptop musician from California. His debut album, 1983, was released on Plug Research Records in 2006. He is most famous (yet also uncredited) for the music in the many of the segues of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim...He is affectionately referred to as 'FlyLo' by fans and critics."
Flying Lotus -- Wikipedia

I love listening to chill music at work and FlyLo just lays it down. I love it. It's great hip hop and its real music. Also check out his crazy website where you can play this Flash video game that is basically Asteroids.

This is my favorite song of his...

Flying Lotus - Tea Leaf Dancers Video


I really want to try and make a video like this.

Here's To Good Health #1 - Photoshop

As a video editor, I use this program like everyday. I know what it can do but I'm still amazed at how easily it is to abuse its power. This is bad for our culture, so love your body and only workout for your health.

The Photoshop Effect

ATM Strategy

This guy is crazy but for those of you who live in the city and hate drawing money out of the ATM late at night (like me) I think its worth having a backup plan. TRUST YOUR GUT! CrossFit - ATM STRATEGY with Tony Blauer

DURKL

I was talking to a client about awesome concerts and he mentioned a clothing line that a friend of his runs. They sell stuff world wide and are kind of known in small circles. He might hit it big by the end of the year so I figured I should spread the knowledge about DURKL. Their colors are a bit crazy but if you're a guy into 80s fashion then you should check them out.

DURKL Clothing

Oh and if you are in DC they're having an event on Saturday at 1223 in Dupont Circle featuring Miami Horror and Gameboy/Gamegirl. I'm probably going to swing by, it should be pretty interesting.

"Us Placers" - Music Video

"Us Placers" by Lupe, Kanye & Pharrell (CRS)


Found this video made last year. I've never seen it because its a FAN MADE video! Wow, I never would have guessed. Well I thought they did a pretty good job. Just sharing the love and giving some mad props to my talented big brothers - P Williams, Lupe and Mr. West

VA$HTIE, so hot.

Keep It Short: "Orgesticulanismus"

It's the inner mind of those who have become handicapped. This French short animation is brilliantly made.

Orgesticulanismus

Orgesticulanismus
by Camera-etc

Mathieu Labaye's short-movie, Camera etc (Belgium, Liège): Great tribute to his father Benoît Labaye, suffered from a multiple sclerosis at 29 years old. Benoît Labaye had been confined to a wheelchair since age 40 and died at 55 years old the 04.22.2006, as a result of a pneumonia.
Atelier Camera Enfants Admis (French)

Taking Chuckie Cheese to the Streets

Now this is what I call a protest.

Colorful Balls in Protest of Garbage

I'd Hate To Make it a Race Issue...but it is

The beautiful Kristin Kreuk best known for playing Lana Lang on the show Smallville which keeps sucking with every new season (did they do a musical episode yet and yes I was a fan at one point.) Well this hot Canadian actress is making her permanent leap to the big screen.

Kristin Kreuk - Smallville pool scene!


Well these days comic book and video game movies seem to be the next BIG thing, so why not make a NEW Street Fighter movie. Better yet, lets make it about one of its most popular characters that everyone loves, Chun-Li Zang! Then lets cast it to a white girl......huh? Kristin is set to play Chun-Li in the new Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li movie...wtf?

The issue is not white people. The issue is people with money who make movies about ethnic characters and still cast them to white actors when we OBVIOUSLY know the characters are ETHNIC. In 300, they slid by and got away with it (and I still loved the movie). We didn't know in the original comic book that EVERY character was black not just Xerxes and his Persian crew. But come on I've been playing Marvel VS Capcom for more then a decade and WE ALL know she's Chinese. Her name is freaking Chun-Li! Also they casted Ming-Na Wen as Chun Li in the '94 Van Damme's UPN classic Street Fighter.

Street Fighter Alpha: Chun Li AMV


Well it's 2008 and we just might have our first black president this year. Could you maybe cast an Asian person as a kick ass Asian character in an American movie? And yes Asians don't get good roles in films. Its an issue in Hollywood most people don't know about on the East Coast. (There are A LOT of Asians in California. That is why Piankhi moved there.)

TCM's 'Race & Hollywood: Asian Images in Film' #1


So what I'm trying to say is that out of the 3.5 billion people living in Asia, you couldn't find someone Asian to play Chun-Li. Well I'm boycotting the movie until its on Netflix. Then maybe I'll watch it. Just maybe.

"The only thing to question is her ethnicity - Chun-Li is Chinese character, as obviously pointed out in the game. Kreuk is born in Canada, but she does have a similar look, in a far-fetched (and attractive) way. Besides that, she's definitely hot enough to play Chun Li."
Kristin Kreuk Cast as Chun-Li in Street Fighter Movie -- FirstShowing.net

Shame On You: Lost Tribe is a Fake?

"A few months ago, mainstream news outlets...reported that a photographer had found a lost tribe of warriors near the Brazilian-Peruvian border. Photos of the tribe backed up his claim...As it turns out, the story is only half true. The men in the photo are members of a tribe, but it certainly ain't 'lost.'"
The Not-So-Lost Tribe--buzz.yahoo.com

"Tribal guardian admits the Amazon Indians' existence was already known, but he hoped the publicity would lift the threat of logging..."
Secret of the 'lost' tribe that wasn't -- Guardian, UK

Well this is a real bummer. ONE, because I even blogged about it though the issues surrounding logging are still relevant. And TWO, because we really shouldn't be surprised since the media has been lying to us for years.

This is in response to a past post called Undiscovered Life On Earth...No Way!

The Truth About Time Travel

I often look back at my life and review all the mistakes that I have made in my life. Most of them I needed to make, some of them I really didn't need to repeat. (haha) Well imagine being able to really go back in time or maybe just even being able to send something back in time, like that Denzel movie. A find like that would be Earth shattering and its kind of scary that we figured out how to do it on paper.

Ronald Mallett: The World's First Time Machine


Also there should be a movie coming out in a few years base off his life...I'm really looking forward to it.

"Spike Lee will co-write and direct an adaptation of Ronald Mallett’s memoir Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality. Spike Lee describes Time Traveler as a 'fantastic story on many levels (and) also a father and son saga of loss and love.'"
Spike Lee’s Time Traveler--Slashfilm.com

Arnel Pineda - From the Philippines to a Rock Legend

Short story: 40 year old international B-list singer's band post videos on Youtube of them performing covers. Rock legends Journey finds these videos and eventually hires the singer to be their NEW lead singer. Yep, just like that. This is about Celebrating Life.

Arnel Pineda grew up singing his whole life. He's been in numerous bands, has done hundreds of different projects and has been signed by a major label. You've probably heard a song he sang at one point in your life and just didn't know it. He's really an international star that never made it outside of his section of the world. But one day he gets an email from a band member of Journsey stating that he should come to their tryouts and he does and scores big. (I think the best part is that his girlfriend's name is Cherry, I'm seriously jealous.)

Sometimes you really do forget that the whole world is watching and that includes famous/rich people, so just put yourself out there! (I really need so start making those Dead Season videos again.) Well the most exciting part out of this whole ordeal besides watching someone go from nowhere to somewhere...is the fact that Journey can write NEW songs that have a REAL potential of being added to their hit list of bar classics. I'm so excited that I can't stop believing.

"In December 2007, Journey hired Filipino singer Arnel Pineda of the band ZOO. Journey had discovered Arnel via cover videos of Journey songs posted on YouTube."
Journey's discovery of Arnel Pineda (CNN) -- Youtube

Journey (& Arnel) performs @ Ellen DeGeneres Show



Thank you Lauren for letting me know about this odd story. Cheers to downtown Happy Hours.

Artist You Should Know #2 - Paul "Moose" Curtis

I love people who think outside of the box and if you can tie that together with art, activism and making money...then you really are on a whole different level. I love what Moose does as a graffiti artist and I hope try it out in DC sometime. It's really brilliant.

"Moose is the pseudonym of Paul Curtis, a British graffiti artist. Instead of the typical methods of graffiti, Moose works by cleaning dirt and grime off surfaces to create his art. He is a commercial artist (Symbollix), and has been paid to create works for products such as Xbox and Smirnoff."
Moose -- Wikipedia

"A British street artist known as Moose creates graffiti by cleaning dirt from sidewalks and tunnels -- sometimes for money when the images are used as advertising. But some authorities call it vandalism."
Artist Draws 'Clean' Graffiti from Dirty Walls--NPR


The Reverse Graffiti Project


Check out the Reverse Graffiti Project.

It's a Simple Life

I Guess You Do: A comical, cynical cartoon about marriage.


Great job guys, this made me LOL. Yet sadly its kind of very true for some people, so let's take a step back and think about what we want out of this life and aim for something better. Like my mother told me when I sent her this video, "Life is made up of moments, memories, and goals that we get to share with those we love....Kevin Garnnett said last night when he won the Finals - ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!!"

So dream big.


(Check out others videos from this hilarious comedy group Runawaybox. Their average rating on Youtube is 4.5 stars. Now that's comedy!)

Monkeys and Kung Fu = Crazy Delicious

I like monkeys and I like Kung Fu. Luckily for me they get mixed together often from the Kim Possible villian Monkey Fist and his Ninja Monkeys to Jet Li as the Monkey King in The Forbidden Kingdom.

Well I usually don't rep the Happy Tree Friends because their level of violence though funny is sometimes WAY too much, but this time they did something pretty creative. Be warned its very graphic but I thought for a cartoon the action is intense.

Happy Tree Friends - Books of Fury


Also check out this real live Karate kick butt chimp.

Kung Fu Monkey

Must See Viral Video #1 - The Great Office War

AMAZING, that is all I have to say. I've thought about doing a video like this when I was in high school but never at this level. This is truly a great war, so hilarious! Definitely a much watch.

The Great Office War: Witness the biggest and greatest office confrontation ever!


Also check out others videos from this hilarious comedy group Runawaybox. Their average rating on Youtube is 4.5 stars. Now that's comedy!

Coldplay VS Creaky Boards

Creaky Boards swears that Coldplay used the melody of their original song "The Songs I Didn't Write" to compose "Viva La Vida"

You can download the Creaky Board's song on MySpace (or watch the video below). Well I listened to this and I'm not sure if Coldplay really jacked the song from them. There are really only so many chords and melodies you can play. Music theory proves this. Plus look on the bright side. An already popular band may have borrowed your melody like Kanye West does with everything. It would hurt more if they were a new band using the melody to break into the music scene. Honestly it turns out that Coldplay wins this one because they claim to have written the song "in March of last year", but I will say I'm a Coldplay fan and I'll still buy the album.

"We're one of the world's worst—but most enthusiastic—plagiarists as a band. We'll try and copy anything but tend to fail, so we come up with something...that sounds like us..."
Coldplay: "We'll Try and Copy Anyone"--E online


Coldplay + iTunes steals Viva La Vida from Creaky Boards!


VIVA LA VIDA iTunes Spot - Coldplay

Why didn't I think of this?

The Babysitter: What happens when a high school babysitter finds out she's sitting for a quarter-life slacker?

AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | Comedy Central

Artist You Should Know #1 - SheOne

SheOne - Graffiti Artist

SheOne (aka James Choules) was born in London in 1969 and has been making graffiti for over 20 years, exhibiting in Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Berlin and Milan. His own brand of abstract typography is rooted deep in the new wave graffiti era of the early eighties but his stylized shorthand and uniquely expressive approach to paintings keep him firmly in the present. His highly personalized work has crossed over into fashion (most recently working with Addict and Kswiss) product and audio collaboration, causing Refill Magazine to refer to him as a leading cultural artist.

"Sidelining the usual multicolored pictorial approach to graffiti painting I chose instead to focus on the visual language of writing and the expressive possibilities of the name (my tag) as a subject. My approach to image making is to re-render abstracted hand drawn typography. Hip, data injected splats, over spray and accurate spills relay an emotional slang mapped out in a highly personal shorthand." - SheOne

In 1998 he appeared in the the first Scrawl book Dirty Graphics and Strange Characters as part of a generation of artists who were taking graffiti to new levels and in new directions.

Check out his Blog and his first London solo show EXIT on Flickr.

SheOne Artist Interview



I found out about him through Atomic-Element. Thanks.

100 Things To Do

Its about Celebrating Life!

Ben, Dave, Duncan and Jonnie left home in the summer of 2006 to complete their list of 100 things to do before you die. For every item they accomplish they help a stranger with an item on their list. This is the The Buried Life! (Also check them out on Youtube.)

What Do You Want To Do Before You Die? - The Buried Life

FRESH MUSIC #3: Black Kids

The Black Kids simply remind me of some 80's band with a great mixture of pop punk. Looks like a fun group but what really gets me about this band is their remixes! The Twelves from Brazil remix of "I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You" is pure fun and The Cansecos from Ontario are so smooth with their remix of "Hurricane Jane". Both of these songs can be heard on the Black Kids MySpace and trust me they just kill it. These are must buys if you are into Daft Punk or Justice at all. Of the two I enjoy The Twelves music the best. They just has a little more rhythm and an upbeat vibe that reminds me of a perfect Friday night. Well back to the Black Kids...

They "are an American indie pop band who formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 2006. Rolling Stone called them one of ten 'Artists to Watch' in 2008 and were also included in the BBC Top 10 Sound of 2008 poll." (Black Kids -- Wikipedia) They're getting really big in the BBC but I feel the US needs to show them some love. Their sound is unique enough for the average listener. Well their album "Partie Traumatic" drops July 22nd. Download it on iTunes.

Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend (Official)

Dance Post #3 - Miley's Back

This is the 4th video of the M&M Cru vs The ACDC Crew dance battle series. I'm sure it started as a joke that kind of grew into the publicity thing but its promotes dance and teamwork which are positive things in this life. Well besides having to watch Miley Cyrus dance, this video is really impressive (watch it for the dancing). These dance crews are hot and pull some moves I've never seen. They really did go all out and I'm sure the 5th video will be historic (where's Michael Jackson?). So enjoy.

M&M CRU FINAL DANCE BATTLE - Cyrus Blaine Seacrest Tatum



This relates to post, "Dance Post #1 - Miley VS Adam"

Stick it to the man. A man called YouTube.

So anyone who spends too much time on the Internet knows about YouTube and if you spend too much time on YouTube you should know about all the controversy--the blocking, the spamming, the censorship and the legal issues.

Well though I'm not sure if its illegal, you now can watch any video you want in high quality! Just paste this code at the end of any YouTube video URL address and it will be played in a higher quality. → CODE: &fmt=18

Why? Well here's Wikipedia's answer...

"A standard quality YouTube video has a picture 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high, and uses the Sorenson Spark H.263 video codec.....In March 2008, YouTube launched a feature which allowed some of its videos to be viewed in 'High Quality' format. This format offers the possibility of better video definition (480x360 pixels instead of the standard 320x240 pixels) for any video uploaded after this date. YouTube decides which videos are capable of this improved quality based on the standard of the original upload. Users can choose "always show me higher quality when available" on their video quality settings page in their account pages to switch automatically to the better quality. YouTube's high quality videos are available in two versions, both of which have a picture size of 480 x 360 pixels. By adding &fmt=6 to the web address of a video, it is played using the H.263 codec with mono sound, and by adding &fmt=18 it is played using the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec with stereo AAC sound. Asked why YouTube did not choose HD format, the site answered : "Our general philosophy is to make sure that as many people as possible can access YouTube and that videos start quickly and play smoothly. That's one reason why you don't see us racing to call this 'Super Duper YouTube HD,' because most people don't want to wait a long time for videos to play."
Standard and high quality videos, YouTube -- Wikipedia.com

All in all because people lack the patience YouTube will stick with the crappy picture but you can bypass that by adding the code. Yep, freedom still rings.

PS> In more controversy news, this video by Cut Chemist has been seen more then 80 million times on YouTube but isn't ranked, I wonder why? Anyways, its still a great song.

Cut Chemist feat. Hymnal "What's the Altitude" Music Video

Donate Life

My friend Rachel posted this a while ago on her Facebook but I wanted to share this because it was the first time I have ever heard of the U.S. Transplant Games (aka The Donor Olympics) and I feel it fits perfectly with the Celebrating Life theme. I'm not listed as a donor on my license because of my mother and I will be sure to change that when I renew my license at the end of the year. Life is beautiful so become a donor or at least donate funds to something good like the National Kidney Foundation.

"I wanted my donor family to know what their daughter had done for me. They had given me my life back!" - Barbara, Liver Recipient

2006 US Transplant Games

THIS SHIT IS BANANAS (Remix)

I can't remember how I came across this song but its pretty sick. I love remixes so I got to give mad props to ptc1973 for posting this.

BRITNEY vs ENUR vs GWEN STEFANI (THIS SHIT IS BANANAS)


The beat is from Britney Spears - Break The Ice. (Youtube blocks popular songs from being embedded on to websites so I couldn't post it. Hey, its still worth checking out.) Its her anime music video which honestly could be its own series. Hopefully one day, its very Dark Angel.

Also the remix uses one of the hooks from this hot song by Enur. The video is pretty sexy, plus singer Natasja Saad died last June in a car accident.

Enur feat. Natasja - Calabria


And it uses a hook from my hot baby mama, Gwen Stefani.

Gwen Stefani-Hollaback Girl

Radiohead VS Prince

This is a funny story about musicians who are so not into sharing their music without getting paid versus those who are into this free music for all vibe. It's weird how Youtube and their censorship has become this battle ground for debates about free speech and ownership. Though I do agree if you cover someone's song then they should have some say if it stays up on Youtube or not.

"...when Radiohead caught wind of Prince's cover of THEIR song frontman Thom Yorke and company wanted to watch it, only to find that it had been pulled down by Prince's peeps from YouTube. 'Really? He's blocked it?' Yorke told the AP....'Well, tell him to unblock it. It's our ... song."
Radiohead Start Beef With Prince Over Coachella -- Mog.com

I Steal Cars For Kicks

Grand Theft Auto 4 is as cinematic as any game can be. Seriously its amazing and they did a wonderful job, though I will say that they shouldn't have removed somethings that we all loved...aka the Jet Pack and the Tanks. Anyways...I love viral videos about video games, so if you are a GTA fan, you can't miss this. Great job Germany!


GTA 4 - STUNT MONTAGE