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.