Whacked!

I've been watching Whacked from the get-go, and loving it. It's described as "Abbott and Costello meet The Sopranos", and I couldn't agree more. Fellow GP member Kirk Diedrich plays Vinny.
This one's my favorite:



Visit vinnyandtony.com for more info.

Dante David Thor Lorde: The Fact Sheet

The little man in his hospital-provided toque (uh..."woolen hat" for those of you outside of Canada).

• Full Name: Dante David Thor Lorde
• Born: November 12th, 2010 at 2:00 PM. Right on time, and two weeks late.
• Parents: Sarah and Allan Lorde
• Vital Stats:
  Weight: 8 lbs., 12 oz. | Length: 20¾ inches
• Temperament: Mellow. Becomes agitated when hungry, like his old man. Working on the sleeping thing. This kid's got a weird internal clock.
• Name Breakdown:
  Dante: Dante's namesake is legendary rap insider Dante Ross. I first heard him mentioned in De La Soul's classic debut 3 Feet High and Rising, specifically on the skit "Can U Keep a Secret?" ("Dante is a scrub!") As a 14 year-old kid, I though "Dante" was a pretty cool name, and it stuck with me. I'm glad Sarah thought it was pretty cool, too. For the record, I found out about Dante Alighieri a few years later.
  Fun fact: Mr. Ross is represented in the 3 Feet High and Rising liner notes as a talking duck with a brush cut. Awesome.
  David: Carrying on the tradition – there are three Davids in the McCulloch family, and it's also the middle name of Sarah's father.
  Thor: This one's for Sarah's mom. She had suggested it for years, half-jokingly. We thought, "why not?" There are Swedes in Sarah's family. Norse mythology in the house!

• P.S.: The pesticide and wrestling connotations in his initials (D.D.T.) are no accident. I won't lie...it made us laugh a little. It's a built-in nickname! J.R.R. Tolkien crossed my mind a few times, too.
• Bonus link: Dante Ross talks about a Ol' Dirty Bastard/LL Cool J collab that never got off the ground. Classic!

Barbra, Burton, and Me

You know about that Duck Sauce joint "Barbra Streisand", right? You don't?
Watch this, then come back here.



Ah, you're back. Dope vid, eh?

Now, give this version a spin:

   Barbara Streisand (Co-op & Hunnicutt Winnipeg Edit) by DJ Hunnicutt

It's the Winnipeg edit, brought to you by my homies Co-op and Hunnicutt.
Hunnicutt ran into Sarah and myself at Kimich'i On Albert a few weeks ago, and he asked me to contribute. I was more than happy to.
Download it and dance with yerself.
Also, check out Co-op's free instrumental EP, Nice Work If You Can Get It, on Marathon of Dope! 19:44 of goodness. FOR FREE!

A Dubious And Tenuous Connection For The Greater Good

Some friends of mine and I have been having a conversation for the past few days via Facebook about blackface during Halloween, and how fucked up it is (at any time of the year, not just October the 31st). I mentioned on a related note how I'd like to dress as Rastus, the Cream of Wheat mascot someday. This needs to happen.
Anyway, this was somewhat fresh on my mind when Wordburglar's "Cream of Wheat" came up randomly on my iPod this evening. That made me smile.
Good music and cultural mockery shouldn't be mentioned within the same breath, I know this; but I'll use any excuse to show you this cool video:

iTunes Canada's Serious Defect

[melodramatic]Canuck iTunes is broken. You know why? LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out isn't available for purchase. Neither is Walking With A Panther, but I'm getting ahead of myself...the fact that his finest moment on wax isn't legally available on the digital juggernaut is a travesty of musical justice. If things were right in the world, I should be able to have "Eat Em Up L Chill" and "To Da Break of Dawn" come up randomly on my iPod, so I can bug out at my fucking cubicle. iTunes Canada...do you really like me to be sad? Apparently, you do. Your omission of this album and Walking With A Panther kills my (natural) high, dawg. And what's up with keeping 14 Shots To The Dome around? Nobody likes that fucking album! It's quite clear that you have a hate-on for me, and I don't know what I did to deserve this kind of treatment. I'm so done with you after I buy this exclusive iTunes Session with the Black Keys.[/melodramatic]

Kanye's Runaway

I watched this a couple of hours ago, and I kinda liked it. Yeah, there were some goofy moments, but there were some dope tunes and a ton of explosions. I can't get mad at that.

After watching this, I couldn't help but compare this to the work of Matthew Barney. At that moment, I realized I've never actually watched a full Matthew Barney film, but I've seen plenty of stills; many perplexing stills. So...I hit YouTube, and watched several lengthy clips from the Cremaster Cycle and Drawing Restraint 9. Mind-boggling shit. So, my comparison to Barney's work isn't warranted, really. Kanye's symbolism is easy to interpret (his chick is a phoenix, and he's smothering her. Phoenixes gotta burn, homie!), while you need a series of charts, diagrams, and Coles Notes to figure out what the fuck is going on in the Cremaster Cycle...and there's a good chance you'd still be wrong.

Man, those explosions were cool.

Random Thoughts: October 20th, 2010

The Wrestling Ring, by fellow Flickr user Podknox. Used under a CC Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

• Three ropes, fool. I can't tell you how pissed off I get when I see illustrated depictions of wrestling rings with two or four ropes, and I do believe I saw two examples recently.* It really speaks to the importance of having reference around, and a simple Google image search should kill any doubts you may have. Now, having said this, you now have free reign to call me out on the next thing I fuck up graphically. However, there's a chance I actually did my research, so the error can be chalked up to ineptitude.
  So, get it straight, chump: three ropes = wrestling ring, four ropes = boxing ring.
  Two ropes? I seriously don't know what the hell that is.
  
  
• Lack of Francais. I was listening to A Propos on Saturday, remembering the time I made my elementary school French teacher cry.
  No, I'm not boasting. It's one of the many regrets I have.
  She overheard me expressing my frustrations with learning the language, and how I didn't plan on taking it in high school. She lost it. My imposing sixth grade teacher (he's the tall Belgian in the photo Jeope is holding) made damn sure I apologized to her in front of everybody the following day. If I remember correctly, I did take French in junior high, but didn't for the latter years.
  Years later, I can say searching for female nudity on CBWFT during my youth cultivated an appreciation of French cinema**, even though I have to read the subtitles, which I don't really mind. It'd be cool to understand it a little more beyond the handful of words I know, though. Sometimes, I think it'd be dope to try and re-learn it, but I'm still trying to remember all of the Japanese stuff I've forgotten.
  
  
• Don't sleep on Winnipeg. There's a lot of good shit coming through before the end of the year, rap-wise. You already know mcenroe dropped a tight EP. You should also be aware that Yy's new full-length will be coming in December. And via the good folks at Marathon of Dope:
  
  
  • The Gumshoe Strut's Too Long In The Tooth will be available November 2nd. He had a release show on the 15th of this month, compete with physical copies of the EP, and I can tell you that it's very good. It's about being broke down and ragged, so I can totally relate. For the moment, check out this dope video he shot for "On The Move". Man, I love that beat!
  • Birdapres' got some raw shit for ya. This sounds serious, y'all. Of course, I'd expect nothing else from Bird. I'm stoked!
  • John Smith's collab with producer Murdock, It's True Because It Rhymes, is finally seeing the light of day. I've been bugging both of them for so long about this album's release date, that the interlude I appeared on ended up being a cruel joke, so it got dropped.*** All of that doesn't matter, because people need to hear this shit. For the moment, read homie's bio and stay tuned.
  
  That's a tidy, jam-packed list that'll keep tongues wagging throughout 2011. Don't front.
   
• Covered/Repaneled. Covered: Classic/not-so-classic comic covers re-imagined. Repaneled: Same concept as Covered, except individual panels get the treatment. Both rule very hard.

*I won't link to them, because I'm classy. And, uh...I can't remember where I saw them.
**Playtime is one of my favorite films. There's no nudity in it.

Potent Quotes

"... I one day expect to find him perched on my couch prattling on about Oxo bouillion cubes or something."

– Illustrator Rod Filbrandt on Douglas Coupland.

"At least pornography has a function."

– Steve Albini on fashion. This GQ interview he did is typically acidic.

Random Thoughts: September 22nd, 2010

Thanks to my wife, I have curtains in the workspace.

• Paper Champion! mcenroe's The Paper Champion EP is now available via the Peanuts & Corn site, iTunes, and eMusic. It's great to have him doing rap shit again, and that's no disrespect to his Edge of Town album (which I enjoyed quite a bit). I'm telling you right now...I can't listen to "Gearing Up For Getting Down" without wincing a little, as it's about being an aging hip-hopper. I'm happy to say that Rod is far more positive about getting older than I am, so while it hits home, it's also a fine example of acceptance. You'd best cop this. Do something good with your life for once!
  
  
• The best Who tribute by an emcee goes to... Another EP of note is Blueprint's Who. I wrote a lil' something about it at my other blog. Favorite track? "Pain". He used the same beat on the equally ill "Cold Out Here" and married it with the "Won't Get Fooled Again" organ break. 'Print writes shit that I can relate to, and his verse on that joint is proof positive.
  
  On a related note, can I say how much I like Bandcamp and how I wish more folks would use it? The design is slick, the sound is top notch, and I can properly preview an album before I buy it. Take Ghettosocks' Treat of the Day: I've been meaning to cop this for ages. Holding out hope, I've been looking for the album at various local outlets to no avail. Yeah, I could order it from one of them, but I have to admit that I'm a little burnt out on the special order thing, as it doesn't feel special anymore (yeah, I went there. Stop groaning!). And this is from a guy that still favors the physical product over a (legal) download. Amazon kinda took the fun out of that by getting it to me faster than they would.
  But I digress...I can get both the digital download and CD of 'Socks TOTD right from his Bandcamp spot, and preview/download tracks from his Teenburger and Twin Peaks projects. Snazzy.
  
  
• Patton Oswalt Talks About This Age We Live In. Here's his quote in GQ, as posted by comic dude Dean Trippe. I agree. I reblogged it and added an observation here (where else?). With that said, I do miss the '90s...just a little bit.
  
  
• Tough Design Love (NSFW). Good Fucking Design Advice. I downloaded the "Stop fucking procrastinating" desktops for my Mac and iPhone. They're effective shame tools.
  Props to Aaron Draplin for the heads up on the link.
  
  
• Massimo Vignelli Ain't Boastin', He's Truthin'. While working last night, I heard a terrific interview with design legend Massimo Vignelli via the Design Matters podcast (conducted by the lovely Debbie Millman). Through school, I was aware of his work, but I don't think I was really aware of the man until I saw Helvetica. I can't really recall the last time I heard a man so sure of his skill, and it comes through in this interview. He can back it all up though, unlike a million people I could mention. Watch him expand on his belief that we use too many typefaces. He uses no more than three or four, while I'm often looking to use something other than Trade Gothic Bold Condensed No. 20. Is it bad that I downloaded The Vignelli Canon (grab it here) a year ago and merely flipped through it? I should cop the print version when it drops.

Random Thoughts: September 16th, 2010

Inspiration station, before and after. Photos taken July 11/14, 2010.

• A Synopsis. Been busy. Work has been a mix of frustration and tiny victories. I'd elaborate, but that'd be really fucking boring (and the last thing I want to do is incriminate myself). Baby room-wise, things are coming together, in addition to making the rest of the house comfy. I've posted progress pics of my workspace's transformation here. I have to admit...I've really been pissed at myself ever since I discovered my drawing desk is actually backward. Seems I need to spend more time at it! Fuck. On a related note, Veronica Hebard has a dope workspace. Natural light, cool trinkets, stuff on the walls...I've got everything except that last one.
  
  
• Afflicted with Tumblritis. Currently, a lot of my writing takes place at my other blog, Mr. Lorde Should Be Drawing – that is if you can call it writing. Via the power of reblogging, I often find myself making sure folks know who certain artists and models are, because I'm all about attribution, and a lot of folks using Tumblr are not. Being older than your average Tumblr user, I feel like an iconoclast swimming against a wave of entitlement. As maddening as that sounds, I really do enjoy it. It's the immediacy of it all, I guess. In the three or so hours it takes me to write a simple Blogger-based post, I can say a whole more with a video or photo and a few explanatory lines in Tumblrland. I'm not ready to drop The Place Where Al Dwells yet, but some things might have to change. I think I'm one of those things.
  
  
• Speaking of blogs... Did I mention my wife started one? She's off to a great start. For the record, she feels the same way I do about some of the parenthood advice we received a while ago. My missive wasn't unilateral.
  
  
• An End to the Whingeing. In an earlier draft of this entry, I was going to continue bitching in the style of the aforementioned blog post, but I think it's time to dead that. Instead, I'd like to shout-out the folks who gave me solid, real, down-to-earth advice when Sarah and I announced that we were expecting. I'm eternally grateful.
  
  
• John Smith's "I'm Rollerblading!" I was just re-listening to Blunderbus, or "In Transit" and got to the controversial "I'm Rollerblading!" (apparently, skating diehards weren't too fond of this joint), and I wondered when ESPN decided to drop inline skating from the X Games. According to Wikipedia and other sources, 2005 was the year. I was wondering why I hadn't heard Arlo Eisenberg's name for a while.
  This Kids In The Hall sketch was inspiration for that track, by the way.
  
  
• All Things Garage-y. About a week ago, I finished reading Eric Davidson's We Never Learn, and it was truly a joy to flip through. Even though I had only reached the 33rd page, I decided to give the book a healthy nod via Tumblr reblog last month.
  
  
• Masticators! I started a food blog with my homies Evan and Mark last month. I don't think I'll ever run out of things to write. I think I'm gonna whip up a couple of post drafts as soon as I'm done with this. They've been stewin' in the noggin a little too long. In the meantime, holler at us via Twitter.