Jun/100
Broken Bells.
Ever since 2006, and his release with Cee-Lo entitled St. Elsewhere, Danger Mouse has been blowing my mind. St. Elsewhere went platnum in 2006 and for good reason, that whole album was plastered with some dirty, heavy tracks. Even The Odd Couple of 2008 held ground to almost out do St. Elsewhere. In my opinion it was the writing, as Burton (Mouse), garnished some epic quotable lyrics like, "anyone that needs what they want and doesn't want what they need, I want nothing to do with. And to do what I want and to do what I please, is first off my to do list." Damn, that's solid. Gnarls Barkley's sound is definitely original and 
thanks to Cee-Lo's incredible vocals and Danger's chronic ability to lay out killer melody, baselines and sounds to meld together, you would be a fool not to be excited for anything that Danger comes out with next. Well, Danger Mouse is back, and quite well it seems. Broken Bells is his newest collaboration. James Mercer of the Shins has teamed up, and I'm impressed with the new album, eponymously named Broken Bells. Tracks like High Road and The Ghost Inside nail down how well Danger Mouse can meld his sounds with talent and great vocals coming from another fertile mind in Mercer. I highly recommend this album, its excellent for a SHINdig (no pun intended), complete with a patio, some beers and good people. Here is High Road, my favorite new track.
Jun/101
Bzzzz.
So I spent Friday evening watching the "riveting" tie between South Africa and Mexico, actually a decent game to start off the World Cup. I'm jazzed up, but am I the only one finding it annoying that instead of a killer cheer here and there throughout the 90 minutes of play, for the teams in attendace, my ears are drowned and battered by the sound of a bloody hive of bees?
Its the sound of the World Cup horn, or the "Vuvuzela" horn, like the kind the one fan from a CFL game brings to compensate for the lack of 35,000 other fans... This vuvuzela horn has been the only sound heard at World Cup 2010, as tens of thousands of South African fans take them to games, and blowthem as loudly and for as long as they can. So there is my point, its annoying as hell, but now its a danger? Read on.
Jun/102
LAND.
I recently had the pleasure to view a debut screening of a documentary by local Toronto director and friend, Julian Pinder. The film is called Land, and tells us an intimate story of recent neocolonial issues in Nicaraugua. The film deals with themes of power and corruption, as former revolutionaries clash against gringo land developers from the north, vying to construct luxurious condominuims and hotels in a quiet town along the coast as they seek to transform it into the "Nicaraguan Riviera."
But the tables turn, and the political battles that took place in the elections of 2006 bring about land reform and power is returned back to the people. But it is the corruption of this power that ironically renews itself in the hands of the Nicaraguan natives.
LAND trailer for feature documentary from Julian T. Pinder on Vimeo.
Power corrupts, and the 28 year old director captures the essence of this fact with some ballsy documentation and filming with almost no budget, yet with great ambition. This film has garnished rave reviews, including a rare 4/4 stars in the Globe and Mail. It screens this week on Wednesday the 9th at 9:00 p.m. and Thursday the 10th at 7:00 p.m., at The Royal Theater on College Street in Toronto. I highly recommend this film to anyone who supports Canadian film and for those of us who can appreciate relevant, provocative and informing media from an entrepreneur like Julian. With a potent mix of the eye opening truths that can be compared to those of Noam Chomsky, and the raw vision of a budding new director, I too give this Canadian Doc a 4/4 stars. Big ups, yo.
Jun/100
Shad.
Canadian Hip Hop cat Shad released a new video and song from his latest album, TSOL. He big ups Sauga, Brampton and calls out Glen Beck like a true muffugin' poet, yo! Turn it UP!
Produced By DJ T Lo.
Jun/100
Helmut Newton.
A German born Jew in the 1920's, Helmut Newton or Helmut Neustädter, began his work from the age of twelve working in the fashion industry in Germany. The war and Nuremburg caused his family to flee the country and he soon found himself working as a reporter in Singapore. Eventually, Helmut made his way to Australia after being comissioned by the British army where he joined and served as a truck driver, constantly working on his film as he served. Helmut created his own studio in Flinders Lane, a fashionable area in Victoria, Australia. He quickly rose to fame sharing success in the affluent post-war years with Wolfgang Sievers, a fellow German refugee and architectural photographer. Helmut eventually left Australia for London, and in 1956 landed a publication in Vogue Magazine, the rest is of course, history.
The vanguard of women in this first photo wear their skin as if it is a costume to which they are more or less indifferent, having removed themselves from their personalities, they become "specimens." Fine ones at that. Newton's portrait skills from 1930's Germany showcase well, and even Andy Warhol, the veritable king of pop art, new age, 1960's portraits, was a subject of Newton. These photos above and below, represent "Big Nudes," an erotic urban style that pinnacled in the 1980's.
Jun/100
The oil teet.
Let's face it. We are addicted to oil, and by we, I mean the entire developed and developing world. Energy is at the core of economics. You cannot mine, make, move, or grow anything without it.
What we demand most of all is oil. Earth Day came to be, in part due to the blowout of an oil platform off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. In 1973, OPEC and allied oil producers in the Middle East showed how quickly they could derail international economies by withholding supplies. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 demonstrated the damage crude oil can do to the environment. And now we have the Deepwater Horizon disaster on the Gulf of Mexico, spilling 5,000 barrels of oil into the sea each day, maybe more.
Will this latest disaster spur further efforts to wean the world off petroleum and toward the development of new sources of energy? History suggests not.
"We are absolutely addicted and we have no methadone. All we have is the hard stuff," Larry McKinney, director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, told the Associated Press. "The reality is we're on it, this incident has happened and what we have to do is figure out how we can move forward."
In my opinion, we're a long way from curing this addiction, but we have taken the first step of admitting it. This is more than an oil spill, it has to be. We need a catalyst that will bring about a significant change in the way we view how we live on Earth, and like the polluted waters of the Gulf Coast, the political systems and policies that surround the consumption and harvest of oil, must be cleansed.
Jun/104
The human soul.
I decided some years ago, because of my personal beliefs and for the purposes of such an occasion that may warrant a discussion on the matter, that the concept of the human soul is complicated, misunderstood and somewhat of a blurry concept. Yet I believe it is an intrinsic and real phenomenon, something tangible. For what it’s worth, I believe that the human soul is the complete collected experiences, interpretations and memories that every living creature, capable of such complex processes has gathered from the contact, be it small or large, insignificant or not, of a human being from the duration of his living life and in the legacy he or she leaves behind.
Everything from scratching an itch on a dogs ear, the camaraderie of childhood rivalries, the intangible feeling someone felt from a kiss, the admiration from a kind gesture, the relief from a helping hand, the pride felt in the accomplishment they created to the images, smells, touches and sounds of a brother or sister, son or daughter, nephew or niece, friend or foe, acquaintance or colleague, all coalesce in a living bubble of memories and experiences that is carried in the minds and hearts and stories of the literal thousands of people and living beings that came into contact with a human being. It is of course something that cannot last, but this is important to note, for like the whole, the sum of its parts are fleeting and each and every thought and memory should be cherished, held true and given meaning. Such is life, and in this day and age, it is important to understand the value of such a thing.
PH0T0ADAY.
FLICKR TAG W0RD.CA.
