Things on my mind

OBSESSING OVER THIS SHOW

HOMESICK

HERE, ALL DAY URR DAY

READING THIS, AND MORE, SO MUCH MORE

FINALLY LIVING IN THIS CITY

Transitions bleh

I haven't updated the ol blog in 3 months. But I also haven't cut my hair in 3 months. I'm leaving the bay area (again) next week to move to Southern California (again) so I can begin what I hope will be my future career (again). I decided one way to commemorate this transition would be to occasionally list different things I'll miss about the Bay Area. Since I am at times filled with negative energy, I'll throw in some shit I really won't miss as well. Since moving back in January I feel much more like a citizen of the bay area than I previously had; the Berkeley bubble, combined with lack of a car, isolated me from the massive chunk of land filled with cool stuff. For the most part, this changed. yay.

STUF I'LL MISS, PART ONE:

1. The Cathedral. My relationship with my own Catholic faith is odd. That said, I try to make it out to mass on occasion, say my prayers when I can, avoid meat on Lenten Fridays etc. Having a nearby church makes this easier to do, and having an imposingly gorgeous cathedral a few blocks from my house definitely didn't hurt. I really dug going here and thinking things over quietly, checking out mass and trying to understand the priest's accent, or showing it off to visitors. I also really enjoyed trying to scale its walls on a drunken walk home from BART. Cathedral, I'll miss you.

2. Giant Burger. This place is emblematic of alot of things that make me love Oakland. Care free, fun, sociable, diverse, drunk and crazy people all arrive here between the hours of midnight and 3 am. EVERY time I went here I'd strike up a great convo while waiting for my fries. Chatting with the blunt-rolling dudes about going to space, the fur coat wearing lady about her son's graduation, the bum about how he can't sell white people razors fo black hair....good times. Alot of my time in Oakland was spent in a pseudo-hipster bubble, but trips to Giant Burger made it clear that I lived in a badass place with lots of different social niches. We were totally different in so many ways, but we loved Oakland and we loved drunk food. That's all the connection I need.

3. Lake Merritt. Or as I've recently heard it called, "the lake of 1000 smells." Yes, that one part by Harrison/Grand stinks. Yes, the birds eat rocks and bums sprawl out on the benches. But it was sweet living by a nice little body of water, the views were cool, and it was the perfect distance and flat-ness for me to have a good jog.

4. Grocery Shopping. I'm convinced I lived in the world capital of grocery shopping. Everything was within a fifteen minute drive. Aside from my staple Safeways, there were so many cool ethnic stores that exposed me to some new dankies. Koreana Plaza was a serious haven of cheap food. TWO DOLLAR STEAKS, SERIOUSLY. If I got broke and needed a cheap meal, I could go buy a steak? wah? And they had those crazy awesome popsicle-yogurt things; I ate about 4 of them each day. Nearby Chinatown had really cheap produce and a fun vibe. A little further down the freeway, Fruitvale's Mi Pueblo had some serious awesomeness. Fresh tortillas, aguas frescas, hispanic seasonings, mexican sodas, asada-friendly cuts of meat, and ambiance! The cinco de mayo specials were great: cheap tequila and a DJ blasting ranchera music. Oakland groceries, I will miss you.

Bookz

One of the perks of being out of school is that I actually get to enjoy reading again. It's not something I need to do for hours a day, and I get to pick the books I read. I just finished Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap. It's by Eithne Quinn, and it was lent to me by Tyler.

This book rules. I'm pretty sure no one reads this blog, but if anyone does, try to locate a copy of this. Hip hop as a movement and as a culture has often been discussed; however, gangsta rap seems too often tossed aside by serious cultural observers as either "just fun and benign" or "crude and vulgar." Quinn does an amazing job of breaking down Gangsta rap (primarily West Coast based rap between the years 1988-1996). She breaks down the following aspects of gangsta: its massive cultural significance, its role in African American culture, its reflection of 1980s capitalistic individualism, its candid discussion of sex and gender, its positive AND negative impact on the black community, and its reflection of a culture ambiguously fixated on authenticity. 

It's a pretty academic book, unlike other pop-culture savants like Chuck Klosterman, and considering the subject matter, that really helps the book's potency. Quinn demands that we take gangsta seriously, that we consider Snoop Dogg to be a vital pop cultural figure, that we not dismiss certain genres as simply mysoginistic or silly. This book expresses everything I wish I was eloquent and intelligent enough to say about my obsession with hip hop.When I am derided by people for not listening to more "conscious" or "indie" hip-hop, I sometimes struggle to defend myself. This book clears it all up for me. If you love commercial rap, read this book. If you hate commercial rap, read this book.

It's hot as hell, I'm gonna go look for a kiddy pool.

AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:

http://www.amazon.com/Nuthin-but-Thang-Commerce-Cultures/dp/0231124090

Oh hey well look at that

Oh cool, a video from the ol' band's noise pop performance last year. Watch carefully as I stare downward and play the cowbell with minimal competence.

Muzak

How come I haven't heard this sweet mixtape track before? Kanye and Pharrell and other over Thom Yorke's "The Eraser." It's really good.

I have trouble acknowledging Jamie Foxx as a musician, but I'll be damned if his new auto-tuned club banger "Blame it" isn't great. And his video is absholutely nuts, with some of the most bizarre cameos of all time. peep it.

Eff this guy

I just perchanced upon this article in the SF Chronicle by one Peter Coyote about travelling to Cuba.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/02/26/petercoyote022609.DTL&type=travel

This article is an immense pile of shit. In the first paragraph, he calls Cuba a, "little Carribean upstart nation that has insisted on socialism as its economic form (read: "sharing what you have)."

This was the first sentence and I already felt like punching through a wall. Cuba embraced Castro when he first took over, true. But at the time he had not declared he was a socialist. As time progressed, his popularity dwindled so significantly that he has to take measures like banning people from emigrating and not allowing people access to the internet or alternate media sources, just so he can maintain his control. And even then, it's not quite socialism. It's authoritarian communism. He's a dictator, not someone who oversees the "sharing" as this piece of shit article declares. Party officials ride around in Benzes while my grandfather's small business was taken away and he was forced to work in a movie theater. I call complete and utter bullshit.

The second quote that drove me nuts was "On the ride in from the airport, I was delighted to see the gaily, hand-painted vehicles of my childhood cruising the road in good working order." Cubans don't drive those old ass cars because they think it's quaint and badass, it's cause they have no options. I'm really glad that Mr. Coyote was able to get nostalgic at the expense of a nation's poverty. That'd be like visiting a poor American's house and commenting how much their 1994 computer reminds you of their youth. He's missing the point: Cuba is in drastic need of repair, and it has almost no capacity to modernize and to provide amenities like efficient transportation for its citizens.

The next line I loved was "There is a level of decrepitude that covers much of the environment like a fine mist." Way to romanticize their poverty by making it seem like a more authentic reality than America's stuffy, superficial capitalism.  Like being decrepit is more "hardcore" and hip than being boring and financially stable. If Coyote stayed in the country for more than a few days, he might notice that the decrepitude is not a "fine mist." It's a lingering cloud that has stood over the country for over half a century. The decrepitude is a day to day reality of the Cuban people. It is evidenced in the lack of toilet paper, and in the need for almost everyone to secretly have a 'black market' job just to support their family. 

To romanticize a people's suffering is disgusting. This article says volumes about what Coyote hates in the US, and his general points are at times valid. Sure, American capitalism has an ugly side of conspicuous consumption, greed, and carelessness that has contributed to our current financial crisis. But to assume that Cuba stands as a perfect antithesis to American capitalism is silly. To assume it's a nation of content socialists is practically laughable. Coyote comes to Cuba with a disdain for his own affluent, comfortable life in a US city, then projects his white guilt onto a poverty-stricken nation by fetishizing and romanticizing their suffering.

Was he aware that this quaint little upstart country doesn't allow people to have computers, out of fear that people will gain access to free media? This ban is regulated by block captains, party officials who oversee all activities on each street to ensure people are living lawfully. What a quaint "big brother"-esque activitiy they have chosen for themselves! Is he aware that the lovely "upstart socialist" government puts homosexuals in exile, forcing them into far off camps or into prison? Is he aware that the government does the same for AIDS victims? Is he aware that when my uncle tried to leave the country by boat in order to reunite with his wife and his infant son, he was jailed for seven years as a political prisoner?

This article is a disgrace, and it gives a bad names to liberals everywhere. Peter Coyote, fuck you.

YES

The first trailer for Tarantino's next movie, which I kind of suspected he'd never get around to actually making. Brad Pitt's sweet mustache, Tarantino's usual ass-kickery, and WWII.....I'm stoked.

Pissin me off....

Obama acting like a badass when he gets all angry. I like it.

Also, choice audio snippets from Obama reading his book.

http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/phlog/archive/2009/02/05/barack-obama-is-tired-of-this.aspx

Thoughts from Oakland

I've been living in Oakland for about a month now. I have random musings. Here goes.

I feel like I have an awkward front row seat to the recession right now. I'm doing my part by remaining underemployed, juggling part time jobs etc. I have a friend that got laid off, others who can only find part time jobs. Stores and restaurants are closing. It's very scary, and people my age are getting seriously shoved out of the job market. Since there's such a crunch for even the simplest employment, everyone applying for a job is overqualified; I applied for an assistant position in a law office. The lawyer got 100 applications, 30 of which were from attorneys. It's hard for someone like me, with a great education but only internship work experience, to compete at that level. So I find myself getting jobs in which I am the overqualified person, simple tutoring or subbing, etc.....it's all very bizarre.

For the most part though, the move has gone excellently. I am loving my new surroundings, and I feel like myself again now that I'm out of my home. 

I thought Slumdog Millionaire deserved neither the giddy hype nor the hatred being thrown on it. It was cool....It was not that cool. The Wrestler and Milk are my two favorite movies this year.

I've been enjoying jogging around Lake Merritt. I can't figure out if it smells yet. The birds freak me out. One day they shall turn against me. I'm also digging my new gym. There's some excellent crazies. Today there was a fat lady in a tight workout suit doing intense interpretive dancing. 

There's a super hot lady cop who patrols the general Lake Merritt area. I think Lil Wayne would strongly approve of her.

Oakland tacos are good, but not nearly as good as LA tacos. I do live in the perfect area for an array of grocery shopping. Koreana plaza sells NY Steaks for 2 bucks and has the most drinkable beer in the world, or at least in all of Asia. I'm a brief drive away from the granola foody paradise Berkeley Bowl, also a brief drive from some autentico Mexican stuff in Fruitvale. AND there's a trader joes, safeway, and whole foods all within a 5 minute drive. Very very excellent.

Oakland pedestrians are fearless. 

That's it for now.

The time has come...to choose our better history

I want to write more about the recent move to Oakland. But I wanted to jot down how incredibly excited I am about today's inauguration. 

I caught the speech at Berkeley's Sproul Hall on a jumbotron. Seeing it in a place that means so much to the development of my own political and personal identity, as well as a place with a storied history of change, activism, and service, was pretty great.

Obama's speech was really good, like, really really good. That man can fucking write. One of my favorite moments was the line about choosing our better history. It seems to me alot of the time that our country has two histories. On the one hand, we are a country of constant change, of the redemption of hope, of the validation of ambition. On the other hand, we are a nation with a sometimes shameful history of slavery, systematized discrimination, and increasing inequality. The latter history tempts me to become a cynic, and in the past 4 years I have many times succumbed to cynicism. But Obama's call is the one that brings out the best in all of us, to choose the first history. It's an eye-opening moment for me to experience a sense of sincerity about politics, about service, and about the American promise. It's an unprecedented emotion for me to get teary when I hear the star spangled banner. But it's also one of the best feelings ever. I've always loved this country, but there is a depth to my feelings that I have never allowed before, one that has finally pushed cynicism aside and makes me eager to move forward by choosing our better history.

The other line that really moved me, and that ties into the better history, is the mention of Obama's dad not being able to eat at some restaurants only 60 years ago. This inauguration is a profound thing for me to witness as a Hispanic. When I was younger, my dad would get a promotion every few years at his job with LA County Public Works. Every time I'd ask him "so are you gonna be director, be in charge?" He'd reply "no," and if I asked him enough about why he never would make it to the top, he'd admit, "they wouldn't hire a Colombian immigrant as director." This was a shattering sentiment. As a 5 or 8 or 12 year old, I thought my dad was the smartest man who could do anything he wanted. Yet he freely admitted that there was a limit to his own achievement. For minorites this country has always been a place of vast opportunity, but that opportunity always had a cieling, a limit. There was a line drawn in the sand and we couldn't cross it. To see that line increasingly diminished, and at such a significant level as the highest office in the country, is astounding and still brings me to tears. Our country proved my dad wrong. Our country proved my own thoughts wrong. I still think it's a silly thought to entertain a hope for a political career in my lifetime; I think it's wishful thinking, egostistical, etc etc. BUT, part of my thinking was always tied in to my ethnicity. I never thought, oh maybe one day I could be a senator or a governor, because I was a brown kid in a white world. For someone about to start a legal education and ultimately a career that *might* include public service, this is very very very very significant and endlessly inspirational.

Yes, he has substance. It helps that I agree with almost all of his policies. But I thought I would take a minute to address the immense symbolic significance of this for me.

This is a great day for our country